Glass heart

I. Eyes on you

Mary darted so gracefully across the ice that she almost looked like an angel: it was difficult to notice her presence if you trusted the noise, you had to use your eyes instead to see how great she was at skating.

She has been skating since she was four years old and it wasn't a case she became the greatest skater of the country. She also earned a nickname due to her talent and her tecnique: people used to call her The Black Angel, the Black Angel could seem the most vain person in the world but few people knew who was hiding behind those majestic wings. The Black Angel hid pain and a terrible past behind a enchanting two-minute performance.

Mary loved that nickname. It used to remind her that she was human too, that humans not always were perfect and that making a mistake wasn't the end of the world.

People loved Mary MacDonald and Mary MacDonald loved people, but not as much as she loved her friends there: Barty, Evan and Regulus. They were the brothers she never had and words weren't enough to show them how much she was grateful for everything, starting from the support at the competition, ending with the help outside the skating.

Everybody in fact attended at the same university, differents courses though. Regulus joined the medicine class, Barty and Evan studied law while Mary applied in photography.
Most of the times Mary hadn't plans with her closest friend in class, Remus Lupin, the four of them met to study somewhere, it didn't matter if it was Regulus' and his brother's house or a simple cafè, one thing was sure: nothing was harder than studying with Barty and Evan, it was impossible. They were able to be distracted by anything and whenever it happened, they ended up by ignoring the study and then begging for Mary and Regulus' help two days before an exam.

A classic, Mary thought. If only they applied themselves in school as in skating was the sentence she repeated the most, she couldn't control it but it made her officially the mother of the group. At the end she was just worried about her friends and perhaps a little mad at them.

In the skating no one could open their mouth though, they all turned to be different persons above the ice. Their strenght's points were not the same as each technique was extremely unique and not suitable for everyone.

"I don't want to see these on while you're skating, didn't I tell you the same thing last week?" watching her coach taking off her headphones was the worst show ever.

She sighed and rolled her eyes, she didn't fight back though. "I had classic music on, you should be proud." she blinked at him.

"I knew Regulus would influence you, go back to work." he smiled at her once she went back without hesitation.

"Classic music? Tu m'étonnes Mary!" Regulus' voice came near to her and before long they were skating along the ice rink side by side.

Mary's middle finger rose at an incredible speed. "Tchaikovsky isn't that bad."

"Don't insult him like that!"

By the time she took some speed, her legs flexed in the air as she made a perfect axel jump right before sliding on the left side. "I didn't insult him, I was listening The Nutcracket, it's beautiful."

Even Regulus started with a jump. "It is. It's pure magic, make sure it'll play at my funeral."

Mary glared at him. "You'll wake up from the death just to perform one last time, won't you?"

He smiled. "I will."

Regulus wasn't a religious guy, he didn't know what there was after the death. It didn't scare him though, he would have died for the people he loved and after all, Mary was one of the people.

Time had passed and they both continued their training until the break where they all were exhausted.

"Be ready to share the space with the hockey team." Barty said with definitely low enthusiasm. His face changed colour and from the pale tone he had before, the cold turned it into a vivid red, especially on the point of his nose.