Edward's p.o.v

Eve was always good at gymnastics. She was a prodigy at it since she was a kid. I was young at that time but even I didn't have to be smart to know that the moment she put on that leotard and did those flips and stepped onto the beam, I knew that she was goanna be good at it.

It started when she was 3; I was watching TV while Eve was pretending to have a tea party with my action figures. I was watching an animated show about a circus boy and his two friends, a ninja and a fairy. Looking back, the show was bizarre to say the least.

It was also what sparked my sisters' hobby.

After she saw the way the circus boy did those flips and cartwheels, she went through a phase. She'd pretend she was at a circus and that she was an agile ninja. It was annoying yet hilarious and even fun at the same time.

When she learned about gymnastics when she was 4, she practically demanded our parents to sign her up for it. She managed to convince them after threatening to run away and join the circus.

While some of you out there might think that it's stupid for parents to believe such a thing from a 4 year old no less, you won't be saying that after you see her climb out the window and ride her tricycle down the streets towards god knows where.

That's exactly what Eve did and I thanked whatever luck or timing out there that made the ice-cream truck show up in our neighborhood. It distracted Eve and I managed to convince her to come home.

And so, that was how she came to be a master gymnast. I still remember the day she won her first medal.

Now, here I was, in a high school in Jasper, Nevada sitting beside my crazy thrill seeker cousin, Miko, a teenage boy who unlike her seemed responsible and sane and a brilliant 12 year old boy.

I felt a surge of pride when I saw Eve standing there in all her glory. I also noticed that she was wearing the mask that....that...that he gave her before he left. One of the last few things he gave her.

I saw the boys' reaction and struggled to keep a straight face. But I managed and then I smirked. "If you lads are goanna blink, do it now." I said.

Then Eve raised her hands above her head. I felt my pulse quicken ever so slightly. I would be lying if I said I wasn't excited to see this.

It's time for the robin to fly.

No one's p.o.v

Soon the applause died down and the air was filled with silence, the kind of silence that is so thick, you could hear a needle drop. Everyone was at the edge of his/her seat, some of them without even being aware that they were.

Some people didn't know why but there was something about this girl that separated her from the others. Her outfit was simple yet elegant and nice in its own way. Perhaps it was the mask on her face that brought an air of mystery to her. Either way, the show began.

The students watched in awe as Evelyn began to flip, somersault and handspring on the stage as though it were nothing. She performed them all, cartwheels on the floor and aerial, round offs, splits and somersaults. They watched entrapped as she leaped at almost superhuman heights and lightly land on her feet as though she was as light as a feather.

Her movements were careful yet graceful. Even the simplest split, the simplest cartwheel seemed so expressive.

(You can look at the gifs below for references)

Then came the beam. Evelyn propped her hands on the beam and spread her legs wide in a split before lifting them over her head and doing a round off on the beam. They watched as she easily stepped onto the beam and walked on it, closing the distance between her and the end of it in graceful leaps and turns. She paused midway and did a needle scale before standing straight. Then she did an arabesque and flipped over. She then spread her arms out and lowered herself into a perfect split before elegantly getting up thanks to years of training and muscle control. When Evelyn reached the end, she leapt up at an almost impossible height and executed a perfect yurchenko.

This caught the gray blonde woman, the judge who asked Jennifer to move it, interest. 'Interesting, she used a yurchenko. That's normally meant for vaults.' She mused.

Lastly was the ribbon.

At this, even more jaws were dropped as the ribbon twirled and zig-zagged through the air in air in wondrous random patterns. The ribbon almost seemed to have a mind of its own.

Jack wondered how the gymnasts always manage to twirl a ribbon around them and not get tangled. Raf's brain went into override as he did calculations and the physics. He couldn't help but try to calculate how much she had to angle herself to land like that or how much power or force she put behind it and so on.

All this time, as the audience wooed and clapped at her performance, Evelyn was in her own world.

It was like meditating. The people were cheering and breathing all around her, but the noise they made was nothing more than a faint background sound. She felt in control of everything yet at the same time, she felt detached. Performing all these amazing feats as though they were as easy as ABC.

It was like nothing mattered. All she had to do was go wild. She felt free. Like anything was possible. She could do anything and no one would care. She was in her own world.

She was as free as a bird, or rather....a robin.

Now it was time for the finish.

It's like what he always told her to do. 'Start it off with a professional, finish it with your own.' It was time to pull out her trump card.

She dropped the ribbon and held it between her toes. Then she raised it as high as her body allowed her to and twirled the ribbon with her toes. The ring twirled around her as though she was in the midst of a spinning coil. Then she extended her leg out put her hands up. Then she began to twirl like a ballerina and the ribbon blurred into a blue halo.

She kicked her leg up and did two round offs and an aerial cartwheel before catching the ribbon as it came down. Then she grabbed her left ankle and held onto it, her toes brushing her scalp before straightening up as she stood there perfectly balanced on her right leg and she continued to twirl the ribbon. 

(Something like this)

Then she purposely made the ribbon wrap around her right ankle before yanking it. The audience gasped as they thought she made a mistake. Instead, she used one hand to stop herself and stayed in a straight horizontal position keeping herself propped up with a single palm.

The audience clapped as they realized that it was a part of the show. Evelyn straightened her hand and pushed herself up until she was in a one hand handstand. Her other free hand still twirled the ribbon making it describe circles in the air.

(The one hand handstand)

She bent her arm and summoned all the strength in the muscles in that one arm and pushed herself up as high as she could.

She hugged herself as her body spun and flipped in the air.

 For a moment, she felt weightless as she soared through the air..... Then the ground came and she landed lightly with her arms spread out and her legs slightly bent to absorb the impact.

Her pointe shoes muffled any small sound she stood there with her arms spread out wide. Her chest rose and fell and she panted a bit from the exertion of it all. But even so, she still smiled as she finished it.

The judges thought about it and once again discussed in hushed tones then one by one, they showed her her score.

One 9.....one 10....and the other....the strict judge's steel blue eyes stared at her, her blank face revealing nothing. Then she lifted up a sign......a 0.

Everyone gasped and released shouts of indignation while Evelyn tried to keep a straight face herself. Then the judge smiled and added a 1. Making it a perfect 10. Evelyn's smile widened and everyone released a whoop of delight.

Then Edward stood up. "Let's give the Blue Robin a round of applause!" he said loudly before applauding. Soon, more people rose from their seats and joined in the applauds. Even the other tryout students did and soon, Jennifer reluctantly stood too but didn't clap.

Soon everyone in the gym was chanting it. "Blue Robin! Blue Robin! Blue Robin!" they said.

Evelyn smiled. She never thought she'd hear her old name again so soon.

((Small Timeskip brought to you by chibi Evelyn doing cartwheels))

After the tryouts, Evelyn went to the changing rooms and changed into a white tank top over the dark blue sweatshirt she wore earlier and a pair of grey gym shorts. She was too lazy to wear anything else.

She made her way to the school gates and got tackled by one enthusiastic Miko. She nearly lost her balance.

"That was so cool!" Miko said as she let go of her. "You were like whoosh and then flip and you literally soared through the air just like that! You were like some sorta frigging ninja!" Miko said with bombastic and exaggerated gestures for emphasis. "Are you a ninja? Have you secretly been one this whole time? Are you an undercover secret agent? What's it like to train as-"

"Woah woah woah, slow down and turn it down a notch." Evelyn said cutting Miko off. Man, she forgot how excited Miko could get. But she still remembers how she has to stop the ramblings as soon as possible otherwise it'll take a long time before she shuts it.

Thankfully, Miko stopped and caught her breath. "Sorry, got carried away a bit." She said. Evelyn raised an eyebrow. 'A bit she says.' She thought sarcastically.

"Look, Miko, I'm flattered but no, I am not some 'butt-kicking ninja'. That's not on my career list at the moment." Evelyn said. Her brother stepped forward and gave her a hug.

"You were marvelous out there, Eve. Good to see the robin can still fly." He said as he ruffled Evelyn's hair. She swatted his hand away and tried to glare at him but she couldn't stop the smile from twitching onto her lips. "He would be really proud of you, you know." he said softly so only she could hear. 

At that her smile widened though Edward could see a bit of sadness there now. "He would. wouldn't he." she said.

"What's with the robin name?" Jack asked. "Is it a title or something?"

"It is, it was one of Eve's old nicknames back then." Edward said. "Back in jolly old England, Eve decided to come up with a cover name for fun. Everyone always thought she could soar like a Robin and had such a free spirit and all so she named herself Blue Robin." He explained.

"It's also to honor someone." Evelyn admitted.

"Who?" Raf couldn't help but ask. At that Edward and Evelyn gained a sad look in their brown eyes.

"......someone....someone important. He was the one who supported me through this." Evelyn said after a while. Then she clapped her hands and her face lit up in a smile. "I don't know about you lads but I'm famished after that. Who's up for some fast food?" she asked.

At that, the sober mood disappeared. "We know a good place. It's called KO Burger. The food there's pretty good." Raf suggested.

"KO Burger, where every patty's a knockout." Jack quoted.

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's roll!" Miko said enthusiastically before running off. Then she turned around and smirked playfully and challenging at Evelyn. "Think you've enough left in you to race me, Blue Robin?" she challenged.

Evelyn smirked back. "Let's find out." She said.

As they ran off Edward chuckled. He looked at the happy faces surrounding his sister and felt happy for her, glad that she was able to make such good friends in a short amount of time.

Looks like Jasper, Nevada wasn't so bad after all. He could get used to this.