Don't let me down

IV

Nervousness grabbed Mikaelas heart as she walked over an all to familiar bridge. It's been a while since she's last been here, considering that she almost died the last time.

Her hands were dug deep into her jacket's pockets, her long blonde hair flowing slightly in the breeze. As she got closer to the Ice Palace of Hasetsu, her gaze found a small shrine across from it.

Curiosity took the upper hand, as she then crossed the street to take a look at it. It was her shrine. In her honor. Flowers and candles stood there, some new and some old. A sad smile came to her lips.

"Junichirou, don't run there! We don't want to disturb her!" She heard a motherly sounding voice call.

Looking to her left, there was indeed a mother and her son heading towards the small shrine. The fact that people still payed their respects to her brought tears to her eyes.

The boy, Junichirou, placed a flower to the others, while his mother placed a candle alongside it, lighting it. Then the two of them clasped their hands together and closed their eyes.

Mikaela quickly turned away and headed to the Ice Castle. She didn't want to cry. Not yet, at least, as she knew that she would most likely cry as soon as she would see Yuko and her family again.

As she stepped into the building, a voice called "Sorry, we're booked for the day! Come back another time!"

Yuko stood behind the counter, sorting some skates — a habit Mikaela knew that Yuko had gotten accustomed to whenever she was bored.

When the sound of the doors opening and closing again didn't tune up, Yuko turned to the person that had just entered, only to freeze. Her eyes widened and for a moment she just stared.

"Mika..." the woman breathed, the blonde nodding. As she saw tears now rolling down Yuko's cheeks, she couldn't help but do the same. Now tears were rolling down her cheeks too, but there was a small smile on her lips, as she softly said "Hey there."

The next thing that Yuko did was sprint around the counter and jump into Mikaelas arms, beginning to sob as she cried into the other woman's shoulder. Mikaela held Yuko close to her, as she quietly cried along.

"Yuko, is everything okay?" That was definitely Takeshi. Mikaela looked over to him as Yuko pulled away from the embrace, smiling at her husband, the tears not really stopping.

"Mika?" Takeshi asked confused, as realization suddenly dawned on him. Mikaela nodded and said "I'm back."

Takeshi stood dumbfounded for a while, until the triplets zooming past him pulled him back into reality. Mikaela knelt down and hugged the crying triplets, smiling softly. She felt so bad for having been gone but on the other hand it had been good for her.

Takeshi was the next one to get a hug, the triplets still clinging onto Mikaelas legs though.

When everyone had finally calmed down, Yuko asked "Where have you been? And how are you here, I mean, we all thought you..." "I've been in Russia," Mikaela quickly said so that Yuko didn't have to finish her sentence. "I've been there because it's what Marie and the others of team Russia thought would be best for me, after so much happened here..."

"But why didn't you come back and tell us you were alive?" Takeshi asked, to which Mikaela bit her lip and responded "I'm not sure..."

For a short while there was silence, until Mikaela asked "Will Viktor come in today?" Almost immediately Yuko and her family nodded, the woman saying "He missed you the most, Mika. When you first were gone, he didn't leave his room for weeks."

Mikaelas eyes widened as she heard that and she narrowed her gaze. It hurt to know that Viktor's been through that because of her. But hopefully that would now change.

"They're coming in half an hour. Do you want to skate?" Takeshi asked and Mikaela nodded with a small smile "If you let me." "Of course we will!"

The blonde woman headed to a bench and sat down, pulling her skates out of her bag and putting them on. She still wasn't the securest on the ice, so she had to wear a brace for her knee. She noticed the worried glances of the Nishigori's but she ignored it.

As soon as she set foot on the ice, she felt like she was in a whole other world. She savored every moment she could spend on the ice. She skated around the rink a little, before she came to a stop in the middle and waited for Lutz to turn on the song.

It was Lose it by Oh Wonder. It was by far her most favorite program that she's ever skated. And it held so many memories. She was in her own world as she skated to the program. It's been so long since she last skated it but she still remembered every single step sequence like it was just yesterday when she had last skated this.

As the end came, she was a little out of breath. Maybe she had overdone herself with all those jumps, knowing that she shouldn't set her difficulty so high already.

Then a cough tore her out of her position and thoughts, her head whipping towards the direction that it came from. And so she came face to face with a surprised Yuuri and an even more surprised Viktor.

"Mika?"

Silence. Nobody dared to speak. She watched as Viktor took of his skate guards and absentmindedly place them aside, stepping onto the ice without leaving his eyes off of Mikaela.

Slowly he skated towards the blonde woman and came to a stop before her, staring at her in disbelief. "Is it really you?" He whispered and she believed to see tears form in his eyes.

A soft yet sad smile rested on her lips as she replied just as quiet "Long time no see, Vicchan."

In an instant he had his arms wrapped around the shorter woman tightly, holding her close to him. Mikaela wrapped her arms around his torso, tears threatening to roll down her cheeks. And when she noticed that he was crying, she began to cry too.

So there they stood, holding onto the other as if they were holding onto their dear life, crying until no tears were left to shed. Then he spoke up "I missed you so much..."

Mikaela pulled back a little and laid a hand on his cheek, smiling softly at him. "I'm so sorry for what I've done, but...happy birthday, Vicchan," she whispered, pressing a kiss to his cheek.

Viktor stared at her for some while, still speechless as well as happy and confused and whatever emotion there was to describe this situation. Then he whispered "Thank you, Mika."

He pulled her close once more, holding her tight. He never wanted to let go. He couldn't let her leave again like she had already left him.

"I'm so terribly sorry for all the things that I've done to you. I can understand if you don't want to see me anymore after this. I've hurt you and I hate myself for it," Mikaela quietly sobbed, not looking at the silver headed Russian before her.

Although she had no other chance but to look at him, when he gently placed his finger under her chin and pushed it up so she just had to look at him.

"Stop apologizing. You can't change what you've done. But I want you to know that I could never hate you. I love you from the depths of my heart and I hope you do too..." Viktor whispered, slowly getting closer and closer to her face, until he finally closed the gap between his lips and hers.