Photograph
By Spunky0ne
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Victor Nikiforov has been an inspiration to many, and the center of Yuuri Katsuki's universe. But when a tragic accident steals him from everyone, how will their hearts break? And amidst the shock and sense of loss, will Yuuri and Victor's friends realize that the spark they all clung to still burns somewhere? Can anyone find where Victor Nikiforov still skates for a mysterious captor, all alone in the darkness?
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Chapter 1: The Notebook
"Yuuri!" Victor's voice called from the hallway, "it's time to go."
Yuuri looked up from where he knelt at a low table in his and Victor's bedroom, a photograph of their wedding kiss held lightly between his fingertips.
"I'll be right there," he called back, turning the pages of a handsomely decorated notebook, past a treasure of pictures, each with a handwritten caption.
He set the picture in place and his eyes scanned the words he had added.
The most beautiful day of our lives, taken at our wedding, when Victor carried out his promise to marry me after I won my first gold medal. To honor the love that helped us to reach that place, we gathered our family and friends around us in a circle as we shared that precious moment.
A contented smile graced his lips as he studied the photo more closely, registering the faces and expressions of each of their friends.
Yurio and Otabek, Chris, Phichit, Yakov and Celestino…
His smile faded slightly as he spotted a man on the edges of the circle, whose face looked wholly unfamiliar to him, and whose expression radiated an odd aggressiveness. He looked youthful and athletic, much like the rest of their friends.
But I don't remember him being among the top skaters, Yuuri mused, studying the handsome, angular look of his face, the wavy, meticulously styled blonde hair and piercing blue eyes, I would definitely remember him if I had seen him before. Maybe he came with one of the guests. There were a few of our friends who brought guests, but then, why don't I remember him at all?
"Yuuri?" Victor called, breaking him out of his reverie.
Yuuri blinked and shook his head, then closed the notebook, reorienting on what was going on around him.
Victor stepped into the room as Yuuri stood and started towards the doorway.
"What are you doing?" his amused partner asked, giving him a look of mingled exasperation and affection, "The limousine is waiting."
"Sorry," Yuuri said sheepishly, "I only meant to add a picture to my memory book, but I guess I kind of got lost in it."
"Why does that not surprise me?" Victor chuckled, slipping an arm around him as the two left the room, "We really need to go. There's fashionably late, and then, there's just plain late."
"Sorry," Yuuri said, blushing.
"It's okay," Victor said, giving him a good natured wink, "You look so beautiful right now, once they see you, they'll forget about how long they waited."
"Victor!" Yuuri objected, his blush darkening.
"Come on," Victor urged him, nudging him out the front door of their home.
The limousine driver, a tall, young man with striking angular features, a stylish driving cap, dark, slicked back hair and dark sunglasses, exited the vehicle and moved to the back to open the door for the two.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Katsuki, Mr. Nikiforov," he greeted them in Russian, reaching up to touch his cap lightly.
"Thank you…um…" Yuuri said, frowning as he realized he didn't recognize the driver.
"Kazimir," the young man answered, looking back at Yuuri through his dark sunglasses.
"Usually, they send Feliks for us," Victor commented, rubbing his chin for a moment.
"Feliks became unwell, shortly before he was supposed to leave, and I was the only driver available to replace him, at the time," Kazimir explained, continuing to speak to the two in Russian, "I hope that does not present a problem for you."
Yuuri blinked and frowned in confusion.
"It's fine," Victor answered in English, "But, if you are able, Kazimir, can you speak to us in English? Yuuri is learning to speak Russian, but we are both fluent in English, so that is what we usually use in conversation."
"Of course," Kazamir replied, shifting to English, "Just let me know if you need anything, sirs."
"Thank you, Kazimir," Victor said amiably.
The driver took his place in the front of the limousine and he pulled away from the curb, following the instructions on the car's GPS. He stole quiet glances at the rearview mirror, which also gave him a clear view of the two men in the back of the vehicle.
"I was looking at your memory book the other day," Victor said conversationally, "You've done such a beautiful job with it. Do you think you could make one like it for your parents and for mine?"
Yuuri's brown eyes widened and he made a sound of surprise.
"Y-you like it that much, Victor? You think they'd like it too?"
"I love it, Yuuri. And of course they're going to like it," Victor laughed, "You've captured some of our most beautiful moments. And you and I aren't the only ones who want to remember."
Yuuri's face lit and his smile brightened.
"It was a really great wedding, wasn't it?"
"It was perfect," Victor agreed, leaning over to kiss him.
One kiss led to another, and within moments, the two were deeply involved in each other's warm, hungry mouths. Yuuri caught sight of their driver's face in the rearview mirror and felt heat on his face and throat.
With those dark sunglasses on him, I can't tell if he might be watching us. It makes me uncomfortable.
"V-victor," he objected, turning his head away and sitting up straight, "we're almost to the station. I don't want to be flustered and blushing all through the interview!"
"Sorry, you just make me lose it a little with how beautiful you look in that new suit and tie."
"You look great too," Yuuri complimented him, ducking another attempt at a kiss, "Victor!"
"Sorry, sorry!" Victor laughed, "I can't help it. You seduce me without even trying."
"You can kiss me as much as you want when we get home," Yuuri laughed, "Just let me catch my breath so I can answer the interviewer's questions. I'm anxious enough as it is."
"You could let me kiss you breathless and I could answer their questions," Victor offered, teasing Yuuri's flushed lips again.
"Th-then, why even have me there if I'm…V-victor, stop it…if I'm not going to t-talk!" Yuuri giggled.
"Yuuri," Victor purred into his ear, "your body sings, even when you aren't saying a word!"
"Victor," Yuuri managed, his heart melting and his comely face scrunching with helpless joy.
"Don't tear up," Victor chided him, removing a handkerchief from his pocket and dabbing at the damp corners of Yuuri's eyes, "Your nose will turn red."
"Well, don't say things like that if you don't want me to cry," Yuuri scolded him.
"We are here, sirs," the driver informed them, as he pulled up to the curb in front of the television station.
He climbed out and opened the door for the two, waiting quietly as they exited, then closing the door behind them.
"We will be finished in a couple of hours," Victor told the driver, "I will inform you if we run late."
"Sir."
Kazimir walked around the car and returned to the driver's seat, pausing for a moment to watch as Victor looped an arm around Yuuri's shoulders, then the two walked into the TV station. He pulled the car away from the curb and moved it to a nearby parking lot to wait. He turned the engine off, but left the car's radio on and pulled his cell phone out. Touching several buttons, he checked his work messages, then activated an Earth view program. He typed in a few words, then zoomed in on the map in front of him, honing in on an area of curvy road and studying one particular drop off closely.
A quiet, lightly traveled road.
No guard rail.
A vicious drop into swift, deep, icy water.
A hidden car waiting.
He nodded approvingly and closed the application, then he set his phone down and sat back in his seat, relaxing and listening to the radio as he waited.
Soon, Victor…
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"I don't know about you," Victor sighed, reaching an arm around Yuuri and giving him a squeeze, "but interviews make me hungry."
"Everything makes you hungry," Yuuri chuckled as the two walked down the corridor leading to the TV station's entrance, "Ever since you came to coach me in Hasetsu."
"What can I say?" Victor said good naturedly, "Before coming to be your coach, all I really thought about was making new programs and skating. Between choreographing, arranging for the music and learning the routines, I didn't have much time for enjoying other things."
"Well, I don't know how you're able to do all of that now, coach me, and still have so much energy."
Victor gave him a melting smile.
"I get to share with the ice with you and watch you skate every day. The beautiful music your body makes when you skate refreshes me when I feel tired. I never had that before I met you."
Yuuri's heart skipped almost painfully, and his hand clutched at his chest for a moment.
"I'm glad," he said softly, pressing up against his husband's side as the two exited the TV station and headed for the waiting limousine, "I owe you for everything you've done for me."
"Well, I have to be honest," Victor confessed, "What made me go to Hasetsu wasn't just watching you skate, Yuuri. More than anything, I wanted to compete with the skater I saw in that video. The whole time I was with you, I wasn't just helping you…I was intent on that."
Yuuri grinned.
"And how is the reality?" he asked as the car pulled out, onto the main street and melted into the evening traffic, "I hope I've lived up to what you were hoping for."
Victor's warm hand curved around Yuuri's soft cheek.
"You are everything I ever dreamed, and you are more."
He sighed sleepily and looked out into the night sky.
"I think that the program we made together for you for this season is the best one yet, Yuuri. I can't wait for the season to begin."
"Neither can I."
Victor sucked in a deep breath.
"I'm really hungry."
"You can't wait until we get home?"
"No. I'll faint from hunger before we get there."
He glanced into the front of the limousine.
"Kazimir, do you mind if we take a detour and Yuuri and I have dinner? You can drop us off and send for a new driver if that doesn't work for you."
"It's fine, Mr. Nikiforov," the driver assured him, "There is a new restaurant at the top of Old Grade Hill. I've heard it's very good, sir."
"Why don't you join us and we'll try it together?" Victor suggested.
The driver smiled.
"Thank you, sir. I would like that," he answered, turning the car off of the highway and starting up a quieter inclining road, "I will just need to radio in and let the dispatcher know where we are stopping. Give me a moment, please."
He pushed a button on the dashboard, and a window rose between the front and rear of the car. Looking quietly into the mirror, Kazimir slipped a hand into his coat pocket and pressed the button on a small remote. Noting the waning light outside the car, he removed his glasses and continued up the hill, his eyes watching closely as the two men in the back of the limousine swayed and blinked in confusion, their eyes glazing over as they were gradually overcome. Victor's body slumped against the door of the car, and Yuuri collapsed partially on top of him.
Kazimir pulled the car to the side of the road and moved to the door on Yuuri's side of the car. He pulled the door opened and leaned in. Yuuri's hand grabbed his wrist and he gasped in dismay at the cold expression the driver wore. He squinted, his chest heaving as he tried to breathe.
"Wh-what are you doing?" Yuuri panted dazedly.
Kazimir's blue eyes went deadly.
"You're too much trouble. I was just going to send you over the edge in the car, but you require a more personal approach."
Kazimir's arm took hold of Yuuri and he dragged the struggling skater out of the car, ignoring his weak objections. He dragged the young man to the edge of the cliff and pushed him over, watching as Yuuri's body tumbled down the incline and disappeared into the brush that preceded the large drop Kazimir had seen.
As Yuuri's body passed out of sight, one slender hand caught for a moment on a gnarled bush, stopping his fall and dropping him onto a ledge. He struck the ledge with stunning force, and everything went mercifully black.
Still at the top of the hill, Kazimir carefully covered the signs left in the dirt, then he looked around, listening carefully and hearing no approaching vehicles. He quickly removed Victor's collapsed body from the car and shoved him into a patch of brush at the edge of the road. He returned to the limousine and set the car in gear, running it to the edge and sending it over.
He watched with aroused eyes as the car rolled off the cliff and fell, soundlessly at first, then crashing into a boulder and sending up a bright fireball and cloud of black smoke before it splashed into the deep, fast moving water and was swept away.
The sound of an approaching car spooked the driver, and he ducked into the brush, where Victor laid unconscious. The car slowed and through the bushes, Kazimir could see the driver staring at the plume of smoke that floated up from where the car had fallen. The driver of the car stopped on the shoulder and emerged, walking to the edge and looking down, frowning worriedly.
"Damn it!" Kazimir hissed, shaking his head as the other man removed a cell phone and dialed quickly.
He lifted Victor's limp body into his arms and fled down a small trail he had planned to use to escape to his hidden car. He reached the car and swiftly placed Victor in the trunk, then drove quickly down the hill, taking the fastest route back to the freeway.
Finally now, Victor.
Finally, you are mine alone.
Now, Victor Nikiforov, you…will only skate for me!