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Gem observes as Pearl steps onto the ice like a hawk. The air is still as the newly returned skater takes the ice. Pearl flashes her signature smile, which Gem has grown to hate, and starts her routine. She had run away from the sport four years prior, announcing that she needed to take the time to herself and her mental health. She had ruined Gem's dreams of ever competing, really competing, against her.
There had been a year, when Gem was starting her skating career, but fell through in a Grand Prix and didn't make it to the World Championship. She remembers sitting in her room and watching as Pearl won Gold, the same age as her but so much better.
Pearl is ten times as good as she was then, her skating capturing the eyes of everyone in the audience. It's just like four years ago, and Gem can't look away.
The soft music swirls through the air, melancholy and beautiful, Pearl the same as she glides on the ice. Her outfit is crisscrossing white and grays, the flowing end tassels matching with her hair. Gem searches Pearl's face for any hint of something to hold against her, she only finds herself lost in the deep blue eyes before they pull away into a jump.
Pearl's score components rival even Gem's—the only other skater attempting a triple axel for the competition.
Gem takes that personally.
When the program ends, she claps alongside the rest of them, but all the while she is staring daggers at her opposition. She knows the courtesy of the sport, but somehow she can't help but despise the woman for returning to figure skating.
This was supposed to be her year, she had fought hard the past three seasons for this. Now Pearl is here to come along and take everything out from under her outstretched hands. Gem gathers that she is allowed to hate someone for that reason, surely.
Pearl gets her short program score, and it tops Gem's personal best by five points. Pearl is put into first out of the skaters that have gone so far—everyone except for Gem. Her technical score isn't as high as Gem's usually is, sure, but her program score exceeds the bar that hers will never reach.
Gem knows why; no one else skates like Pearl.
She forces her face to be neutral at the best as Pearl exits the kiss and cry. She is beaming brighter than her outfit and bouncing after her coach, a retired skater Gem recognizes watching years ago after practice.
"Impulse! That was crazy, I can't believe it." Pearl exclaims as he laughs and pats her on the back.
"You're on track for a podium too, I bet. Just wait until the free skate." Impulse echos her enthusiasm as they take their seats. Gem can't help but glare at the pair until one of them looks up and catches her eye.
"Good luck out there Gem, you so got this!" Pearl yells at her and Gem grimaces, she's like an overexcited dog. Why does she even know her name?
She doesn't know why Pearl is trying to be nice, but the fake compliment sits in the air waiting for Gem to take it.
"Thanks…" she reluctantly says back as she passes to take the ice, slipping off her blade guards and handing them to her coach.
Pearl's smile grows even wider at the response, if that's even possible when it's already breaking across on her face.
Gem vows to forget about Pearl watching her: to keep her feet on the ice, her brain on the skating, and her eyes on the prize.
This is her chance, and she is ready to shine.
The music is a vibrating symphony, wrapping her up in its arms and lifting her to the heights she yearns to reach.
She takes a breath and pushes off the ice: a triple lutz toe into a triple toe.
Her pinned up hair, braided into a curling bun meant to resemble a rose, blends into her fiery dress. It is red and dashing, falling and rising alongside the music and her steps. She hopes it's enough, fiery fierceness decorated in maroon, as she leaps from one side of the rink to the next in an instant.
She readies herself and jumps: a successful tripe axel adds tremendously to her total.
Gem knows she can get the gold, it's right within her grasp and she's reaching, searching but all she catches are Pearl's eyes.
She locks them in hers and jumps: she ends the double axel on a wobbly foot, hand grazing the ice to keep her upright.
Gem has never been good at putting things behind her.
She ends the program stunned: staring at the ceiling with heaving chest and outstretched hand.
She will end up behind. Again.
This is a given in her mind as she trudges to the doorway, which swings open by the hands of her coach, Skizz, and he pulls her in to a crushing hug. He shakes and congratulates her, but she is too far gone for the words to push through the drumming of her thoughts.
There are no tears shed in the kiss and cry, just her blank expression when the scores are revealed and sympathetic musings from Skizz. They read out Gem's worst fears, she is behind Pearl by a difference of two points.
Skizz cheers, "You beat your personal best!"
Gem does not feel accomplished in the slightest. That doesn't matter if she's behind, not at all.
"Yeah. Yeah, I guess so." She looks down at her shaking hands, she wants to put them through Pearl's face the first chance she gets, no matter the consequences.
It's a silly feeling that only grows as she watches Pearl's bouncing form greeting the reporters rushing up towards her. She easily answers the questions asked of her, and Gem looses track of the number of times Pearl glances in her direction. It's too much.
Skizz shoos away the remaining people filming, the ones who can't seem to take the very obvious hint, and wraps his arm around her shoulders. "Gem? I'll tell you right now, you can so beat Pearl. What does she have on you, huh?"
"Everything." It comes out as a whisper, something only she can hear, but even saying it to herself breaks Gem to the core.
Skizz frowns—he knows when she's gotten in her head, and when it's gotten to the point where he has to let her sort it out herself. "Cmon, let's get out of here." He attempts, holding her hand to guide Gem away from the crowd. The last thing she sees is Pearl watching her disappear through the competition door.
Gem realizes halfway through being herded back to her room that she doesn't want to go, not without confrontation. It's foolish, she admits, but it's needed. She needs it.
She gives the bathroom excuse to Skizz and rushes away in the opposite direction of one—he only notices after she's two hallways down and running.
When she rounds another corner in search of her target, Gem comes face-to-face with the woman herself.
Pearl is dripping sweat, multicoloured hair tied up in a ponytail and bangs dipping over her freckled nose. Her blue eyes crinkle in surprise when she sees Gem, who only glares back with narrowed green.
"Hello?" Pearl is asking before Gem shoves her into the wall, using more force than even she was expecting.
Gem steps forward, crowding Pearl against the tiled surface. "Why did you come back?" Pearl doesn't even bat an eye, just watches from her acquired position.
She tilts her head like a puppy. "To ice skating?"
Gem sighs, growing impatient by the second. "Yes."
Pearl grins like this is a challenge. "Simple answer: I wanted to."
"Complex answer?"
"It brings me more joy in life than anything ever has, ever. I thought I could just abandon it and those who wronged me through it. But the sport was never about that to me. So here I am." She's still smiling stupidly down at Gem.
Gem suddenly understands, the difference in their reasons for even doing the sport. So she just echos the smile, her first real one of the competition, as a smile filled with sadness is still a smile.
She inhales sharp and tangled, replying, "I'm glad you're back, Pearl."
She means it. Gem walks away and leaves Pearl waiting there, but she means it.
And that has to be something.