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The afternoon sun crept into the skating rink, bathing the ice in a familiar orangish hue as Yuuri made lazy patterns and filled the otherwise quiet space with the sound of his movements. He was tired, sweat covering his forehead and eyes heavy. He’d been at the rink with Victor for the whole morning into the afternoon, one of their last together in Japan before they moved to Saint Petersburg together.
“Yuuri, is something on your mind?” Yuuri turned to his coach, and shook his head. He didn’t, and never did, want to bother Victor with his internal struggles. All he had to do was practice on his own for awhile, it wouldn’t be a problem.
“You wouldn’t lie to me, would you?”
He had made a miscalculation he often did: Victor knew him too well; could read him look an open book. Yuuri bit his bottom lip, but knew that saying anything other than the truth would probably upset the other man. “Just thinking about all the things we need to take care of before we leave.”
“Worried?” Victor gave him his best nonchalant expression, arms crossed. Looking every bit the coach that he was, even someone sweaty and in sweats himself.
“Always. But right now, I’d say I’m more nostalgic.”
“I’ll miss it, too. I love it here.” Victor let his arms fall to his sides, turning towards the exit. “How about we soak in the onsen, and spend some time playing board games with your parents again? That was fun.” Victor seemed thoughtful, looking up with a finger to his lips as he lazily skated to where the ice met the boards. “It’s getting late anyway.”
Yuuri smiled shyly, pausing for a moment and then following. Victor had caught on to his anxiety about leaving, and was doing his best to ease his worries. Yuuri was thankful, and wouldn’t question it.
And then, Victor stopped. His ears picking up something Yuuri’s hadn’t just yet. Screaming? Crying? A very high pitch, a woman. It was loud, coming from outside. And then Yuuri caught on, and his stomach began to sink. “I wonder what’s going on?” Yuuri moved a little closer to Victor, unconsciously needing the comfort of his proximity. He was unsettled, nothing like this had ever happened before.
“Sounds like whoever it is needs help.” Victor said, eyes locked in the direction of the noise, as he quickly put his skate guards on and began to unlace his skates.
They both quickly changed into their shoes, grabbed their bags, and went outside to look. The sight that greeted them was a strange one. There was a young lady on the sidewalk just outside of Ice Castle, dressed in sweats herself. She was sitting on the ground, with an empty leash in her hand.
Tears running down her face, and an expression of shock. Victor grabbed Yuuri’s hand, intending to gently push him to speak to her, ask her what’s wrong, due to the language barrier. But before Yuuri could open his mouth, he shut it. Victor cocked his head to the side, confused.
It was in that moment that Victor realized that his hand was empty. Had Yuuri pulled away? He looked down, and felt what could only be described as dust. Yuuri was … crumbling, fading, and flaking. It didn’t register. Didn’t compute.
Victor looked up from his hand and Yuuri’s face with a single tear sliding down his soft cheek was all he saw before
He Was Gone.