Exile
A/N: Yeah, I finally caved and decided to write an ice-skating AU after watching Nathan Chen's free skate. Shadow and Sandy's respective ages are 25 and 24 in this, while Static is 20.
Shadow turned on the television, flipping through channels before hearing his name and seeing his front door on the screen.
An anchorman stood facing the camera as he said, "We are currently at the residence of Shadow T. Hedgehog, Talfryn's former renowned figure skating champion."
He sat back as the anchorman droned on, rubbing his hand over his face. He frowned at hearing Ice King, his old epithet as the anchorman knocked on his door. Shadow sighed, hearing Rune's claws click against the wood, he snapped twice trying to get the houndoom's attention as Rune snarled.
If he could get Rune away from the door without letting the news crew know he was home, that'd be great. But of course, Rune had to look through the window and start barking. Shadow got off the couch, pulling Rune away from the door and groaning as the anchorman spotted him. He opened the door and immediately had the microphone shoved in his face. The anchorman asked him how retirement felt.
"It isn't so bad," he supplied, hoping it'd make the man and his crew leave. He wished he didn't have to say that. Retirement was supposed to be something he did when he got old, not at twenty-five.
"Do you have anything to say to fans who wish to see you return to figure skating?"
Shadow swallowed, suddenly and intensely aware that a camera was here, an entire news crew was here. "I—As much as I hate to say this," he started, putting his hands in his pockets. "I can't see myself on the ice again. My former coach, Mei and I talked it over after my injury and we decided it was best for me to retire. I'm sorry to any fans out there, and I appreciate their support after all these years."
With that, he headed back inside, watched the camera linger on his front door before focusing on the anchorman again. Shadow turned the television off, sitting back down on the couch.
Two years. It had been two years since his knee injury during his free skate. Two years since the doctor told him he might not be able to skate again. Two years since he traded in his skates and the rink for smelling like oil and a mechanic's shop. He was mostly happy with his current job and since then stopped looking at the ice rink like it would accept him again.
But, sometimes, he wondered what it would feel like to skate again. If his blades could be on ice one more time. Shadow shook his head, made sure the news crew was gone before he went to check the mail. Most of it, as expected, was fan mail.
He just hoped one of them wasn't a marriage proposal again. Shadow breathed, opening the first one in a pile of many and found it wasn't fan mail at all. It was from a women's figure skater in Talfryn asking if she could meet him at a café nearby. He read the rest of the letter, learning she and her friend were a pair before her friend sprained his ankle. He knew a competition was coming up and one of the portions was a pair skate so he could. . .
No. He couldn't skate with Sandy simply because he wasn't a figure skater anymore. He had somehow gotten scared of the ice after his injury and well into his recovery. He hadn't even been to a rink ever since the doctor cleared him entirely. Shadow could at least meet with them and set things straight.