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Minako had made it the mile and a half back to the underground bunker, so it was just humiliating when the ladder to safety was too much for her. She fell off, landing hard on her wounded side, and just lying there for a second.
Of course, the thud brought feet. Almost everyone was out on some sort of resource or information-gathering mission; today was JJ’s day to stay behind and make sure they didn’t get locked out of their safe haven. It had nearly happened once, and that was enough for them to institute the rule of everyone taking turns to stay inside all day.
Skating to the Stars was supposed to be a fun trip, a cruise for figure skaters to tour the galaxy and perform for as many races as the producers could convince to allow it. The first few stops went well; some of the aliens enjoyed the performance, others were mostly baffled. Then they dropped out of hyperdrive in the middle of a civil war. Their ship had been hit and went down on an uninhabited moon that, thankfully, had once been home to a colony. There was water, there was food that was safer than nothing, the survivors should be able to stay that way until help arrived.
Of the fifty or so people on the trip – ship crew, skaters, coaches, trainers, and the people who took care of the costumes and the shipboard rink – only eight had survived. Minako spent most of the early time wondering why JJ had been one of them instead of Yuuri. Maybe it was kindness – Viktor was also among the dead.
Minako was the only surviving coach. Luckily, two trainers had survived, along with two of the ship’s crew who could try to get the ship running again and give advice on resources to look for. Then there were JJ, Emil, and Mila. Thank whoever was watching for Emil, too, because despite everyone he’d lost in the crash, he was the one to get everyone up, moving, and thinking ahead to how they could keep themselves from joining their friends and loved ones.
With the trainers naturally turning to each other for comfort and closeness, and the ship’s crew doing the same, and Emil and Mila having been close before, Minako had been worried. It was far more natural for JJ to go with the skaters, and while Emil and Mila hadn’t been JJ’s biggest friends before, they were good people with kind hearts who wouldn’t shun JJ at a time like this.
And yet, JJ had turned to her. Minako had never questioned it. She didn’t want to hear JJ say it was out of pity, not wanting to see her alone, or lack of choice, because there was something between him and Emil or Mila that even this kind of tragedy couldn’t overcome, and she couldn’t come up with any other reasons.
Now, though… JJ slid to a stop on his knees beside her. “Minako. Oh god, what happened?”
“I’m bleeding.” Minako held up a hand covered in blood. It looked pretty bad, even if the wound itself probably wasn’t.
“I can see that, love. What happened, so I know what I need to do and what can wait for Phil or Jordan to get back?”
“I filled up my pack and had just started back when I ran into one of the natives.” Not long into their exploration of the crash site, they’d realized that the woods were home to several animal species, including an apex predator that they’d taken to calling space tigers. “It lunged, I didn’t quite get out of the way, I stunned it with my pack and started running.”
“Dammit.” JJ scooped her up and carried her to the makeshift infirmary they’d cobbled together. “I’m glad you got away, at least. And even held on to the pack.”
“We’re running low on food. If Emil and Mila’s hunt doesn’t go well… we’re going to need this.” Minako clenched her teeth as JJ poured antitoxin onto a towel. This was going to hurt. She couldn’t help the scream.
“I’m sorry, Minako, I’m sorry, you need this.” JJ finished as quickly as he could and then hugged her tight. “I can’t lose you now.”
“Why not?”
“Because haven’t we both lost enough people we love already?” JJ held her tighter.
“Well, yes, I would think so,” Minako said, leaning into JJ. “But why me? Why did you pick me? We barely knew each other, before.”
“I don’t know if you knew this, but after my meltdown in that one Grand Prix, Yuuri and I became close friends. He knew what it was like to melt down like that and try to show his face on the ice again, and he helped me get through it and get the help I needed. He talked about you a lot. He told me that you were one of the people he could always count on to be there for him, even when he was away from home, and how much he regretted how long it took him to see that. We barely knew each other before the trip, yes, but I’d heard so much about you that made me admire you.”
Minako was stunned. She’d never expected that. She’d known, vaguely, that Yuuri and JJ were friends of a sort, but she had no idea just how close they had been. “Thank you. Help me back to our room?”
“Not yet.” JJ pulled away from her and grabbed a bottle of water. “You’ve lost a lot of blood and ran God knows how far to get away from the space tiger. You need fluids. Drink that, then I’ll help you back and stay with you until Phil or Jordan get back and can check your wounds.”