The events of the Tokyo skate were not easily forgotten, the paparazzi had hounded the Hatsuki Hot Spring Resort and the Ice Palace, most begging for more details about Victor's father, others still shadowing Yurio to figure out the identity of the mystery girl.
"My father and I are estranged, unfortunately, as you can see from the video. He never approved of my lifestyle." Was Victor's consistent answer.
Yurio would politely tell them to buzz off.
But as October shifted to November, bringing with it winter winds and a showering of crimson coloured leaves the three skaters trained tirelessly in preparation for the semifinals, Yuri would be traveling to Krakow, Poland, alone, while Victor and Yurio were traveling home, to St Petersbourg.
"Are you going to be okay on your own, Yuuri?" Victor asked as the duo waited at the airport departures.
"Yes, Vitya." Sighed Yuuri, for the hundredth time, "Minako is coming with me, so I'll be fine. And your competitions finish before mine, so you'll arrive on my first day."
"I just don't want a repeat of last year." Victor was sounding like a broken record as he stirred sugar into his coffee. The couple had decided to kill some time at the little cafe situated in the departures section of the airport. More accurately, they were waiting for Minako to arrive.
"It won't." Promised Yuuri, taking a sip of his tea. "This time will be different."
'Good, because I want to see you at the finals both as your coach and as a fellow competitor." Victor said slyly.
"You should focus on your own competitions then." Said a familiar, slightly tired voice.
"Hello Minako." Victor smiled up at the ballet teacher and all the bags she had just lugged to their mentally sighed, could no one pack light?. "We ordered you a scone but you took so long we got hungry and ate it."
"How very nice of you." She answered sarcastically.
"You better check those bags in, I think your gate is going to be called soon."
"Here, let me help!" Yuuri quickly stood from his chair as the woman wobbled on her feet as she hooked all her bags along her arms and grabbed her luggage.
"No no, enjoy your drinks, I've got this…" She said through gritted teeth.
"If you're sure…" Yuuri said, retaking his seat as Minako's inner self yelled at him that chivalry was dead.
"Though she's right, Vitya, "Yuuri continued, addressing Victor. "How do you feel about your competition?"
"Relaxed." He replied coolly, "A little excited to be competing against Yurio, and to tease him a little, I heard Ms Kane Osment will be there supporting us."
"And excited to be going home?" Yuuri prompted.
"Hmmmm." Victor said, sipping his coffee, it was still too hot to drink, "I haven't been to Russia since I became your coach, and we'll be skating near my old rink at St Petersburg so that should be interesting. I wonder, if I stumble upon an old lover, would you get jealous, Yuuri?"
"As long as you make it in time for my performance…" Yuuri left the rest of his sentence hanging as he casually sipped his tea, he was getting better at handling Victor's teasings, at times.
"Yuuri!" Victor whined.
There was a mechanical chime as a voice over the loudspeaker informed the travelers that the gate for the connection flight to Krakow, Poland had opened.
"I better get going." Yuuri said, drinking the last of his tea as he spotted Minako struggling to lift up her luggage at the check in.
"Wait! Before you go!" Victor jumped to his feet, hitting the table and almost knocking over his coffee as he did so.
"What?" Yuuri looked around expecting to have forgotten something.
Victor leaned in over the table and kissed him. "Have a safe flight" He whispered into the kiss.
"Same to you, tomorrow." Yuuri quickly said, turning red as a couple of girls in a nearby table giggled at their antics. And with that, the skater marched towards where Minako was waiting, turning every few paces to see if Victor was still there, he was, up until the loudspeaker declared that Yuuri's flight had started boarding.
"Mr Plisetsky there is a lady at the reception desk requesting to talk to you." A security guard informed Yurio a few days later as he impatiently waited for the rink to open for warm up, Victor was leaning against the door beside him, doing the same.
"Oh?" Victor raised a questioning eyebrow at the youth. "Could this be Ms Kane Osment having come to wish you luck in person? You really should have offered her a visitor's pass, she did come all the way from Canada to see you compete."
Yurio scoffed, irritated. "And why would I do that?" Truth be told he had offered to do just that a few weeks ago when Thalia had first told him that her parents had surprised her and her sister with a trip to Russia for their birthday. But she had politely declined saying she didn't want to leave her sister alone in the stands while her parents were out sightseeing. If it really was Thalia, it was kinda weird of her to call for him at the reception though.
"Well? Are you going to keep her waiting?" Teased Victor.
"Then why don't you let her in?" Yurio grumbled back.
"Actually, she's insisting you come to her, immediately." The guard explained, sheepishly.
Yurio frowned slightly, that didn't sound like Thalia much.
"Fine." He spat, kicking off the wall and allowing the guard to escort him towards the reception. Since the incident in Tokyo, the security of the competitions had been increased, especially here in St Petersburg where Victor was competing, N.E.K.O had already targeted him twice after all.
"Do you want me to come with you?" Victor called.
"I don't need you to hold my hand!" Yurio growled, choosing to ignore any other tauntings Victor sent his way.
"Mother?" Yurio stopped in his tracks as he saw the woman waiting within the crowded reception area. Natasha Plisetsky had never, not once in her life, ever entered any form of sports stadium, she associated such places with sweat and stinks and people with too much time on their hands watching some form of ball being passed from one person to another in some overly regulated way. Natasha Plisetsky did not fit in at the Ice rink. She was an older woman than one would expect with a son still in his teens, her silky blond hair reached just past her shoulders, her dark brown eyes focusing on her son the moment he entered the room. She tugged at the waist coat of her dark blue pants suit as she confidently strode towards me.
"You must have plenty of time before you game to leave me waiting this long out here." She said in greeting.
"It is a performance, not a game." Yurio sighed, correcting his mother. He had no doubt she knew the difference, but she didn't really care enough to correct herself.
"Yes, well I'm running late for a meeting…"
"Then what are you doing here, mother?" Yurio began counting to 10, better get a head start before she answered.
"Board meeting with the head of the sub branches, your father stayed in Moscow to supervise things there."
Of course, she'd never have taken time out of her schedule to see his performance.
"So what is it you want from me, mother? " Yurio clarified, the last he had spoken to her had been when she'd called to complain about his grades, what had he done so wrong this time that he'd been cursed with her actual presence, something that hadn't happened in years?
"You will be staying in Russia after your show here in St Petersburg is over." She declared, tartly.
"Huh?" Yurio's face scrunched up as he said the word. "Why? I've been keeping my grades up and you promised I could keep skating until university, I've got almost another year! You can't do this!"
"I very well can, you are still a minor and I am your mother. You've built up quite the reputation, the paparazzi have even made it to our office doors! Canoodling with women in Canada? And that amateur nonsense that has to do with the NEGO organisation?"
"N.E.K.O!" Yurio quickly corrected.
"Your father and I have spent more than two decades building a desired image for our company and your actions, and those of the people associated with you, are reflecting badly on us."
"But you can't stop me from skating! You can't stop me from leaving Russia!" Yurio blurted out loudly, attracting the attention of a number of passersbys who stopped, recognising the young prodigy.
"As of your final contest this week your cards and bank accounts will be frozen. Without that money you will have no choice but to stay here."
"Why would you do that?" He hissed, Yurio had no reason to ask if his mother was serious as she never joked, as far as he knew she never even smiled.
"Because you are our son, and a minor at that and it's high time you get your head out of the ice and into the real world, Yuri.'' Natasha scolded as her mobile phone began to ring.
"At least let me finish the season!" Yurio would never beg but, there and then he would have fallen to his knees and touched his forehead to the ground if that would change his mother's mind.
"And let you fly off to God knows where?" She hissed, pulling her phone out of her pocket. ""No, now that you are here you will stay here. That's all."
And, with what she had to say, said, Natasha answered her phone, walking away from her son without a glance backwards as she complained about St Petersburg traffic and undesirable setbacks.
The guard, who had unfortunately been listening in to the conversation, not knowing what to tell the teen and having no right to intervene, did the only thing he could, he led him back to the competitors' stage.
"Oh? Thalia's not with you?" Victor instantly enquired as he reappeared in the competitors section, the rink about to open for warm up.
But Yurio barreled past, ignoring him. Victor stopped his teasing when he saw the teen's face as he did so, like he had just been forced to jump overboard from a sinking ship, knowing he wouldn't be able to swim once he hit the water. Yurio went directly to Yakov and Lilia with the news. There was no use holding it off, there was no convincing his mother once she made up her mind.
"And that it's! The first participants of the St Petersbourg skate was Victor Nikivrovo's 'Once Upon a December'. Having returned to his home rink after almost two years the stadium is filled with both local and international supporters! And with at least four successful quads Nikiforov's year out coaching in Japan seems to have had minimal influence on his performance." The crowd's cheers thundered around Victor as he waved at the audience, bowing slightly as they showed no signs of ceasing even as he skated to the edge of the rink where Yakov was waiting for him.
"You increased the amount of quads." Yakov complained as Victor joined him in the Kiss and Cry.
"I had to do better than Tokyo." Victor simply answered. He'd pulled out all the stops in his free skate back in Tokyo, a rookie mistake to make so early in the competitions, but there was no turning back now.
"And there you have it!" The presenter bellowed over the crowds as Victor received an impressive amount of points. "Victor Nikiforov, as the first competitor here in St petersburg has set an impossibly high bar, has first place for the short programme already been decided?"
"C'mon Yurio!" Victor called from the Kiss and Cry as the younger boy skated to the center.
"This is also Yuri Plisetsky's first time returning to his home rink here in St Petersburg after also training in Japan." The stadium erupted into cheers, a number of men and women's noses bled at the sight of him. Calling Yurio beautiful would have been an understatement, there was a mysterious aura about him, his costume was the same shade of green as his eyes, darkened by a black shear layer above giving the impression of glitter speckled wings.
Thalia cheered as Yurio stopped at the center of the rink, her sister was boredly sitting beside her, she'd been like that all morning. Thalia had honestly wondered why Nadia had insisted on coming to the tournament with her if she was going to look so agonised the whole time. But Thalia's cheering stopped as the big screen zoomed in on the performers face.
"He doesn't seem to be having the best day, does he?" Observed Nadia, perking up a little as she spoke.
She's right. Thought Thalia trying to recall the conversation she'd had with him that morning. He'd seemed ok until the warm up but he hadn't answered her last message since then. Could something have happened? Although the stadium cheered, Thalia looked at the face projected before her, as if something had broken behind his eyes.
"And now, performing to an orchestration of Defying Gravity, Russia's Yuri Plisetsky."
Yurio began by looking at his skates as, in time to the music he lifted his head and stretched and retracted a single arm at a time as he began with a dance sequence. He entered a short spiral in an arabess position before entering a small step sequence and performing the first jump of the sequence, a triple flip.
"Something's definitely wrong." Muttered Victor, leaning against the ice rink wall as the triple flip turned into a double..
"That is not Yuri on the ice." Lilia's stern voice boomed."That is just a soulless puppet moving to vibrations in the air. "
"His conversation with his mother has unhinged him." Growled Yakov, "And it's showing in his performance!"
His next jump didn't go any better, the triple salchow turned into a double. He was going through the motions, that's what it felt like as he entered the step sequence, moving his arms as he had been told to do in training, but he couldn't hear the music, couldn't picture the words, this was meant to be a song about breaking away from the expectations of others, of rising above that. But the more Yurio tried to reach out to the sky, the more it felt he was falling back. The next jump was a combination triple loop quad salchow, that was okay but he stumbled on the landing, falling to the ground as the music softened, there were gasps from the audience, mouths were covered, tears in the eyes of some. Even to the untrained eye Yurio seemed to be floundering through the air, struggling in his movements.
If he just stayed on the ground and let the music play, what difference would it make? This would be his last tournament, why should he care?
Thalia was one of many who could not believe what was happening before her eyes, not only due to the state of Yurio's performance but those broken eyes, they were unnervingly similar. She had seen them in Nadia after her accident, she'd seen them every time in the mirror since she'd promised to give up skating.
She shook her head, she couldn't believe she was seeing this again.
"Whoa! Someone's really blowing it today." Commented Nadia, the only one who seemed to be enjoying the show unfolding before them. The pace of the music began to change but Yurio had yet to stand.
"Get up." Thalia whispered. "Yuri you have to get up!" She yelled so loudly she caused the people around her to jump. Nadia raised her hand to the side of her face, pretending she didn't know her even though they practically had the same face.
The voice barely reached Yurio, becoming muffled like the music.
"Get up!"
Whose voice was that?
Had he heard right?
Yurio blinked as his vision came into focus, feeling the chill of the ice slowly bringing him back to his senses. What had happened? Why hadn't he gotten back up the moment he hit the ice? This wasn't like him. He was Yuri Plisetsky the ice tiger of russia, even if this were his last competition he would be damned if he'd be remembered as the man who had wiped out on the ice.
To a silent stadium, the only sound was that of the music, Yurio got to his feet, the audience's breath was held, was he going to leave the rink? Give up on the short programme all together ?
But Yurio did not move as he closed his eyes, allowing his ears to listen to the music, he still had half his programme to go through, and, with a newly found spirit he kicked against the ice, entering the intended dance sequence without hesitation as the force and life of the music increased. He leaped into a triple axel quad toe loop combination, his best jump in his whole performance.
Victor let out a small smile. "Ah, now Yurio's joined us" and for a moment his eyes flickered to the stadium, his eyes pinpointing the girl who had somehow got him back to his senses. Another short step sequence to lead into a quad salchow, the first quad Yurio had managed to perform that day. Upon landing he entered a bielmans's spin, keeping it as long as the note, possibly the highest in the song, was held. His final jump, a trip flip trip toe loop was also successfully landed. And, as the song played to its dramatic ending, Yurio spinning from a crouch to a fully standing position, stopped perfectly on time, lifting on hand to the sky with the song's final note.
The audience erupted, so enthralled had they been by Yurio's performance if they didn't know better, they would have thought a totally different person had first entered the rink.
"Are you not going to tell me off for my performance?" Yurio grumbled as he sat at the Kiss and Cry besides Yakov and Lilia.
"I believe you have punished yourself already." Observed Yakov, folding his arms as he patiently waited for the results to be announced. Being the second competitor of the day Yurio was placed in second place, but with the glaring gap between his and Victor's results it was going to be very unlikely he'd be able to hold it for much longer.
"The show never ends." Lilia explained, solemnly standing. "Even if the free skate is your last performance as a professional figure skater you must remember, the show never ends."
"Right." Yurio coughed, pulling his hood over his head and stalking towards the changing rooms. He didn't need to see the rest of the competitors.
"Oh they let you in!" Victor nodded his head in approval as the guard led Nathalia Kane Osment to the competitors section of the stadium. The two exchanged some words in russian before the guard turned to return to his post.
"It's a little weird being specifically called backstage." Thalia admitted, running her hand through her hair nervously. Talking to the great Victor Nikiforov had a different feel to when she spoke with Yurio, she'd idolised them both but Victor seemed to live on a whole different spectrum then the rest of them.
"Can't be as weird as randomly yelling out in front of a whole stadium of people." Victor said, knowingly.
"Ah yes, not particularly sure what got over me, back then." Thalia admitted, sheepishly.
"There is no doubt that they are going to figure out who you are now. Not going to have another day of peace for a while."
Thalia shrugged, she'd deal with that somehow. "Is Yuri okay though? He seemed a little strange in the first half of his routine, like he wasn't really himself…"
"Ah about that." And, under the notion that Yurio would someday forgive him for spilling his secrets, told Thalia everything- starting with Yurio's family background, to his mother's recent decision concerning his skating.
A hollow feeling filled Thalia's chest as Victor finished explaining. So that's why Yurio had looked so lost during his performance. "That's horrible." She exclaimed, she had so many other words she could use, but they didn't feel appropriate to say in front of Victor.
"My sentiments exactly, and I doubt you and I are the only ones who feel the same." Agreed Victor.
"But what can we do? She is his mother, legally speaking, since he's a minor he has to do what she says…" Began Thalia.
"Ah! But what if that's not the case?"
"I hope you aren't suggesting Yurio isn't her son…"
"Oh, no no my dear Thalia, those are things for those spanish telenovelas Minako loves to secretly watch."
"So what do you mean?" Questioned Thalia, confused.
"How much are you willing to do to keep Yurio skating?" Victor countered mysteriously.
remembering the look in his eyes, so broken, so much like her own, she didn't want anyone to fall into the same darkness she and her sister had."Anything I can do."