Learning to Love the Cold

Chapter Six: Axels

Hi friends! So, as I mentioned, we're entering a new part of the story. You're finally getting to know more about the characters, and it so happens to be the Shiganshina trio this time around. As a side note, Armin is telling all of these stories that you'll see in the upcoming chapters unless otherwise stated. Even if he's not in the memory he's talking about, he obviously knows about it somehow. As I said, this chapter is mainly our lovely Shiganshina trio, and it's about them getting into skating and then a couple short drabble things of then to when they're about twelve.

One last thing. The point of these memories and flashbacks or whatever you wish to call them is to get to know the characters better, but I also want to show you other parts of figure skating you wouldn't normally see. You'll get to see what is basically the behind the scenes of the sport. The side of the sport that isn't competitive, the testing, what competitions are like, and so on. This chapter doesn't get too much into it, but the upcoming few will.

It's nearing the end of January and Jean's not sure if he can survive the rest of this winter. Yet, there he is, sitting in the rink next to Armin, watching Marco and the others as they get ready for the biggest moment of their lives.

"Armin?"

"Yeah?" Armin glances at him. He's been zoning out for the past twenty minutes or so, staring off into space (or more so, the ceiling of the rink).

"You okay?" Jean asks, sneaking a look out of the corner of his eye to see Marco do a perfect triple flip.

"Yeah," he says, his own eyes following Marco. "Well, no."

"Um, do you wanna talk about it or something?" Jean swallows—oh God, he can't handle when people are upset. It's like his mind completely shuts down and he forgets how to properly use words. It also happens when he's around incredibly attractive people, such as Marco. (Though he's been getting better around Marco! He thinks, at least.)

Armin hesitates. He opens his mouth, then closes it, only to open it again. He takes a deep breath. "Yeah, actually. That would be nice. But, it's going to be long, alright?"

"That's fine."

"Okay, here we go," he says.

Four year old Mikasa Ackerman stands proudly in front of the TV, pointing at the screen. "I want to do that!" She announces to the room.

"You want to be a figure skater?" her mother asks, a soft smile on her face.

Mikasa nods.

Eren tilts his head as he looks from her to the screen. After a moment, he pops up. "I'll do it too!" he says. Mikasa gives him an accusing look of you stole my idea, so he quickly adds, "To protect Mikasa! What if she falls?"

"You would fall with her," Armin says matter of factly.

"Would not!" Eren argues, a pout on his face.

Before Armin can respond, Carla speaks up. "Actually, it would be great if we could get all three of you into skating, wouldn't it?"

So the following week, the three children are signed up for Learn to Skate at their local rink. Mikasa's a natural, easily taking to the ice. They quickly move her from Snowplow Sam to Basic One with the older kids, and even then she's flying through the levels. Eren's a little powerhouse, but he's struggling with the elements. And Armin's still getting used to balancing on blades rather than his own two feet.

It's not until a year later that the three kids make it through Basic Eight and get into private lessons. All three of them have Petra as their coach—a young college student with strawberry blonde hair.

By the time they're all nine years old, Petra's graduated and moved away, leaving the three kids to other coaches. It's evident that they'll be sticking around for a long time, and while they're not the older kids, it's not like they're low level either. They luck out and manage to get the best of the professional coaches at the rink, Levi and Hanji. Levi coaches Eren and Mikasa while Hanji works with Armin.

"I think my knee is at least the size of Pluto," a now eleven year old Mikasa says as she dries one of her blades with a towel. "I hate double salchows so much."

"You're literally the only person I know who hates double sals," Eren says as he unlaces his skates. "They're easy."

"It's not that they're not easy, it's simply that Levi makes me do it so many times over that my leg gets too tired to support my weight."

"Isn't that because you're not getting two full rotations though?" Armin's pushing one of his skates into his zuca bag as he watches Mikasa pull the soaker over her blade.

"I do most of the time! But not enough, according to Levi." She sighs. "Ugh, I need to have it for this competition! There's no way I'll get first place if I don't have it."

"You're not going to get first every time," Mina pipes up. "Take it from the lefty, even if you do it perfectly, you might not get first. You're at that point now with skating." She's a level ahead of Mikasa currently, and also so happens to be gearing up for said competition.

Mikasa pulls her skate off, leaning it against her zuca. "Yeah, I know. But I have a better chance if I can land it."

"That's true," Mina says, standing up.

Twelve year old Eren slams hard into the ice, a groan escaping his throat when he rolls onto his back.

Armin stops beside him, leaning down towards him. "Are you okay?" he asks, looking somewhere between concerned and amused.

"Yeah," Eren sits up. "Oh God, I hate axels. I've had it for what, three years? And it still kills me to do it." He grabs Armin's hand and pulls himself up. "Thanks."

"Of course. What's your issue with axels?"

"They suck."

"No, I mean, why do you still struggle with it?"

"I focus too much on what my legs need to do and forget that my arms help with the rotation. It's something I'm still working on, I guess," he doesn't look happy about it as he says the final statement, but all he can do is keep working until it gets easier or he doesn't fall as much.

"I think I need new skates," Eren says one day as he and Mikasa rush down the hall, attempting to get to their first hour on time. "My feet grew again."

"Your mom's going to kill you," Mikasa sounds amused.

"Yeah, I know. But it's not like I can tell my feet to stop growing. Maybe I won't tell her."

"But that's uncomfortable for you. Also, it makes skating in general harder, and then you have to wait longer to get new skates and break them in and it would be better to do that while we're not in the middle of competition season."

They cross the threshold as the final bell rings and they both sigh with relief. Another tardy and then they would both be stuck in detention, which cuts into skating. Which would then cause a not so happy Levi, and therefore a not so happy Eren and Mikasa.

"So I guess I have to tell her," Eren whispers as they make their way to their seats. He looks absolutely terrified.

"Eren, Mikasa."

The two glance Levi's way as he skates towards them. Eren's brows furrow—are we in trouble? But then he notices Hanji trailing along behind him.

Before Levi even opens his mouth, Hanji nearly yells, "What would you two think if Levi and I paired you up to ice dance?"

I'm not sure how it works in other countries, but in the USA we have the Basic Skills/Learn to Skate program, which is what was mentioned earlier. There are three levels for young kids called Snowplow Sam, and then there's basic one through eight. After that, you get into the higher levels where you have two tests for each level (moves in the field and freestyle), which I think I've mentioned before.

Zuca bags are what figure skaters (in the USA, as far as I know. Again, I'm not sure if this is a thing in other countries or not. Though not every skater in the USA uses these, either.) use to carry their skates around in, and it has room for you to put your music, skate guards, towel to dry and clean your blades, gloves, and a bunch of stuff really. They're really nice.

I think that's all. I know, this chapter was definitely not super interesting, but it's important to know what was in this chapter for future chapters.