Chapter Text
It was a bitterly chilly day in Musutafu, winter has once again settled in like an old blanket, covering everything in the thick white plush material that was snow. A lone man in a trench coat walked along the path that led to a local park, soft footsteps of crunching snow was the only sound accompanying him. He knew this walk well as he has taken it before many years ago as young lad.
Once many years ago, in his youth, he would remember walking this familiar park before, eager but patiently waiting for the company of another to join his side.
As he looked in the distance, he swore he almost seen the sight of his old companion, a lithe female presence dressed in her own UA uniform, familiar shades of blues and grays with the exception of a red scarf draped haphazardly around her neck and a pair of ice skates hanging from her messenger bag by their tied together laces. Tricked by the light and blindness of the sun bouncing off the white snow, he looked again and saw no one there. Trudging on, in his walk he followed the path he knew well and moved forward till he came upon the park’s frozen over pond. There he saw several civilians skating, children sledding in the distance and others walking along the path. Settling on a bench further away from the rest of the commotion, he gazed out at the skating couples. Almost like he was a hawk instinctively gazing over the battlefield that was the wilderness, he found his mark.
Off in the distance, near the far side of the pond was a young couple, skating together but obviously with a much different energy and intent than the rest of the civilians laughing and leisurely going at their own pace. This young couple was focused, as sharp as the blades on their feet they practiced routines, jumps and twirls that the middle-aged man was not even sure what the names were for such moves. The couple was young, about as old as his second eldest he thought. As intently as he watched from a distance, he felt no chill from the cold but as his eyes settled onto the older woman who watched the couple with a steely gaze he felt a chill run down his spine. His intel was correct, she had really moved back. With silvery white hair and eyes of the deepest violet, she once reminded him of the aurora borealis. As a young girl she had such light to them it was bewitching but now that he sees her now. The once bewitching young girl he knew from his schooldays had grown into a icy, sleek mystery to him. The once beautiful icicle that refracted light had now become dark and mysterious to him like black ice.
With his large coat hiding his presence from the general public he continued to watch the dancing couple, gaining speed and practicing well-choreographed jumps with ease. His eyes often darting back to the woman on the sides, standing in her own skates and moving along smoothly to coach the couple like it was nothing. She had a camera, every movement they made she would follow along with them. Capturing everything that would be needed to review and watch back later, he was sure.
The man could stay there all day, awed in the spectacle of such disciplined training and the sight of the coach who without a beat skated as gracefully as she once did, if not even better than before. It was not until he received a notification on his phone did he remember how much time has passed, with a message from his oldest daughter it was a reminder about dinner and how for the first time in a long time he would have all three of his children home. Enji sighed at the thought of having his family, and without a second look he stepped to his feet and gazed at the icy older woman and her own kids one last time. Before turning back to where he came from, back to his old life and no longer thinking about the life he might have once had, had he fought hard enough and not given in to his own selfish ambitions.