(Author's Note: Please note that this chapter/Exhibition was later moved to be Yuri's GPF Exhibition in Ch1. I will eventually be swapping it out for 'Dark Eyes' instead (the song I picked for Yuri's Sochi-season SP)...I just haven't gotten that far with my major edits yet. Sorry! This whole sequence was basically just moved to Ch1 so most of it is entirely repeated content now. You can skip down to the end and continue reading so you don't have to go through it again.)
CHAPTER FIFTY SEVEN
"Ladies and Gentlemen...the final performance of this year's World Championship Gala Exhibition...your Men's Singles Gold Medalist, Four Continents Gold Medalist, and Grand Prix Final Silver Medalist, Yuri Nikiforov!" The announcer called overhead.
Viktor gave his husband one last kiss before sending him off, and Yuri flew out onto the ice like a phoenix reborn. Spotlights shone down on him from several places, extending his shadow out 20ft in all different directions. The audience was a dark mass beyond the edge of the rink wall.
"Some of you may recognize the outfit Yuri's wearing tonight for his Exhibition as his last season's Free Skate. He writes that he hopes people remember what he was like the last time he did this show on an international stage, at the Sochi Grand Prix Final, where he had a nervous breakdown and came in last place. He wishes for the audience to see him perform it again tonight and see how far he's come since Viktor Nikiforov became his coach last year. He also hopes his coach from that previous season, Celestino Cialdini, is watching, as this program is dedicated to him tonight."
You tried so hard to keep me in the fight back then, Coach Celestino... Yuri thought, putting on a little pre-show for the audience as he slowly made his way to center stage, If it hadn't been for you dragging me to the Banquet, practically against my will, nothing else would've happened. Thanks for sticking with me until the end.
And indeed, the man himself was watching with Phichit and a number of other skaters from the event hotel theater room, where the Gala was being projected on a massive screen.
Phichit was trying not to cry.
Ciao Ciao held up a glass of champagne, "You've got this, Yuri. You always had it in you to be great. Go show them what you're made of."
The skater finally pulled to the center of the rink, mesmerized by the whole thing. He knew when and where he was, but seeing himself with that costume from his 'dark past' on again made him a little anxious...but in a good way. He finally knew what he was capable of, and every muscle in his body twitched to show it off. He looked at his hands, seeing Sochi like before, but his ring helped ground him in the present, and he closed his eyes and drew in a breath.
He set his feet apart, kissed his ring, and crossed his arms over his chest, one hand on each shoulder.
The music was quiet, peaceful.
Yuri spun forward in an inside spread-eagle, rotating out again to skate further from center, his arms spreading out, descending from where they'd started, in front of his chest, and then out like wings. As the music grew louder and more intense, so did his turns and twists.
Flying sit-spin, rising into a camel-spin as the music got quieter again. He pulled away backwards, skating with his eyes nearly closed.
Viktor watched intently, practically without blinking. He'd remembered the last time he'd seen the performance himself, and the pity he'd felt for Yuri even back then as he flubbed most of his jumps.
.
"What's wrong with him?" He'd heard someone asking nearby in the prep area.
"He did well enough to place in the Final and now he's just falling apart."
"Is it GPF jitters?"
"Who knows? His Short Program was pretty good though..."
Viktor stuffed his hands into the pockets of his track-suit coat; the black pants and sheer magenta tips of his Aria costume were still visible, but he'd taken his skates off a little earlier. He had already done his Free Skate and was just waiting for the last handful of competitors to do theirs before claiming his gold medal. The large screens that had been provided made it easy for him to see every detail of every performance, but this one caught his attention more than the rest.
"Something happened to him." Viktor said to himself quietly, "This isn't like how he was before."
"What do you mean?" Chris asked, standing next to him and watching as well, "Didn't think you cared that much."
"I don't care?" Viktor repeated, looking at him side-ways, "That's harsh."
"You've never really paid that much attention to other skaters before, at least not like this." The Swiss skater pointed out, "What do you see that's gotten your attention?"
Viktor put his hand on his chin, "Yuri's Short Program the other day still had some excitement in it. This...even though we've all seen it half a dozen times leading up to today, it's different. There's a weird sort of melancholy to it. You're friends with him, aren't you?"
"Sure."
"Did he say anything about something happening?"
Chris thought about it, "No, but...he didn't seem like himself this morning when we all arrived. He's been looking at the ground since he showed up for early morning practice. If something happened, it was last night, after we'd all left already."
Viktor nodded, and then turned away from the screens, heading out to the rink-side area quietly. Chris debated following after, but his turn was still coming up and he needed to stretch out, so he went in the opposite direction to furl out his work-out mat in an open area.
Stepping out into the seating area, Viktor looked out quietly, standing near a railing that guarded a ledge. A few people recognized him, and called his name, but he was focused and paid them no mind.
'...Here comes the triple toe-loop...' He thought to himself, and winced as Yuri collapsed, sliding nearly into the rink wall before struggling to get up again and continue on, 'This is painful to see...'
.
Quad toe-loop followed by a triple-loop. Yuri was in top form, spinning with ease as he entered into his step sequence.
.
"Come on, Yuri...shake it off." Viktor whispered to himself. "Forget whatever is going on outside this place and just skate, for Heaven's sake."
Yuri Plisetsky was in the lower level seats of the arena, feet propped up on the empty chairs in front of him as he gawked at the Asian skater. He seemed fixated. The jumps were embarrassing to look at, but Yuri's spins and step sequence would frequently grab peoples' attention.
That's where Yuri felt most comfortable, and it was obvious to anyone who knew anything about how difficult figure skating was. Viktor would see it as easily as any other seasoned veteran of the ice.
'He obviously knows how to move...but it's like he forgets what to do when his skates leave the ice.' He thought to himself as he leaned against the railing.
.
Quad Salchow, single loop, triple flip. The audience was cheering, and the energy fed into Yuri's showcase like fuel. He was in the zone now.
.
Yuri's enthusiasm for the Free Skate was withering, and Viktor could see Celestino at rink-side, watching his student like he was a hair's-width away from complete nuclear meltdown. There was nothing he could do at that point though, so he crossed his arms and hoped for the best.
.
Quad Lutz, and the crowd roared with approval. Yuri pushed on into a low sweep, rising into a series of quick singles before finally dipping off to leap into a triple-flip, double-Salchow combo.
.
Viktor turned his eyes back to the ice; Yuri's only quad for the Free Skate was coming up. He'd changed the program up to emphasize combination jumps in favor of more difficult solo jumps. Viktor wondered if Yuri would even try it at that point...but...he did...and again, he fell. Celestino had his hand over his face, thinking it was too painful to watch, but Viktor kept his eyes open.
.
Yuri spun a few more times, but then burst out in reverse to build up speed for his final major jump...and he threw himself into the air, spinning four times, and landing the quad flip with ease.
.
The Asian skater was exhausted, but he pushed himself up again from where he'd collapsed and skated quickly to regain his previous momentum. He'd had to cut a few elements from the end of the program due to lost time, and so the entrance into his final spin sequence looked unpolished.
.
Flying camel-spin, hop to the other foot to continue on...Yuri lowered himself into a sit-spin to gain momentum, raising one arm above his head for added difficulty. Ice crystals flew off his blades as he carved his mark into the rink. When he rose up again, he back-walked a few steps backward before rotating one last time and reaching up with both hands for the final pose.
.
Sweat dripped off him, and his legs and back were a ruin of soon-to-be large bruises. Frost clung to his pants, leaving big, cold, wet patches as it melted against his skin underneath. The audience cheered, and gifts and flowers were thrown on the ice, but he had an angry, disappointed look on his face...wishing for it to be over.
Viktor sighed and shook his head, turning away from it all to go back into the prep area, "What a shame. I wonder what it would have looked like if his heart was in it? Can't force something like that...ah well."
.
The noise of the audience was deafening, and Yuri cheered from where he was in the center of the rink. He rotated a few times where he stood and waved to the audience, bowing his head in gratitude before finally sliding off to go back to the rink exit. His partner was there waiting for him, excited as the audience, holding his arms open for him. Yuri jumped into him happily, tears freely falling from his eyes.
"You could've won gold with that performance!" Viktor told him enthusiastically, "But there's just a few things th-"
"No!" Yuri protested comically, putting both hands over Viktor's mouth to silence him, "Not for this one. Firebird is off limits to criticism!"
The Russian just huffed a laugh behind the man's hands, and pulled them away to kiss him instead.
"Wow! Yuri really knocked this one out with a flawless performance of his old Free Skate! What a moment that must be for him! And what a week we've all had here at the conclusion of the World Championships..."
The lights all started to change color, changing the hue of the arena from dark blue to bright red and orange. The pair hardly had a chance to even think about it before Viktor was shoving Yuri back out onto the ice, following after him, and in turn being followed by all the other skaters. The music above was upbeat, like a mix of techno and rock, and similar to the Gala's opening performance, the closing ceremony was loosely planned and choreographed earlier that morning. The skaters all clapped along with the beat, lining up on the ice in four big groups, each forming up with their own discipline and taunting the other groups to show off.
Ever the showman, Viktor went out first, doing his signature quad flip in the midst of them all before the Ladies Gold Medalist spun past with a triple axel. When the Russian came back to his place in the group, he shoved Yuri out to try as well, and the anxious skater did his best with the only thing he could think of...doing the final spin sequence from his YoI program. When he pulled up again, the group flocked around, and Viktor pulled Yuri back into it as they skated and clapped to the beat with the audience.
Yuri noticed them starting to converge by where a camera had been lowered over the ice on a long crane, and were posing for photos in front of it. Viktor saw the opportunity and pulled his phone out from his back pocket, jumping out in front of the group and holding the device up in selfie-mode. Everyone seemed to notice and posed for it.
The music faded away and left the audience with nothing but their roar of applause. The skaters chimed in as well once the photos were done, and slowly started dispersing a little further away from one another as the congratulations continued.
"All right, skaters! ALL RIGHT!" A different announcer called overhead, "It's been a great week here, and a fantastic Gala Exhibition to close it all out! Thank yoouuuuu!"
The winning athletes all pulled out into a long line before grabbing the hand of the person next to them to bow to one side of the audience; Viktor held to both Yuri and Chris, with Yuri at the end of the line. New music started to play after that, something more somber than before, but the skaters just flipped around and turned to grab hands again, raised them up, and bowed to the other side of the arena.
Viktor suddenly realized what the song was, and was looking around as though déjà vu was hitting him, "Hmph...wow..."
"What is it?"
"...This was practically my theme song back after you quit skating." Viktor admitted sheepishly.
(('Stay' by Gregorian))
"It's been an honor and a privilege to watch all of these amazing skaters this year. But now it's time to pack things in...and as much as we don't want to see you go...this is farewell until next time!"
The line of skaters started to move again, sliding towards the rink wall before turning to follow it all the way around, everyone waving to the audience for their final goodbye.
My whole life, waiting for the right time...
To tell you how I feel...
And though I try to, tell you that I need you...
Here I am without you...
I feel so lost, but what can I do?
Cuz I know this love seems real, but I don't know how to feel...
We say goodbye in the pouring rain, and I break down as you walk away... (Stay...stay...)
Cuz all my life, I felt this way, but I could never find the words to say... (Stay...stay...)
Viktor pulled Yuri from the line and held him close, skating backwards as he guided the shorter man out towards the middle of the rink. Yuri went with it easily, but could tell the feeling had changed from a moment before. This was a private dance now, no longer partial to the whims of the audience.
Alright, everything is alright...
Since you came along..
And before you, I had nowhere to run to, nothing to hold on to...
I came so close to giving it up.
And I wonder if you know, how it feels to let you go?
Yuri noticed a spotlight had come down on them...now two, then three...but he returned his focus to Viktor. He pulled his arms around the man and tuned in closely to his movements, following each turn like he knew it was coming before it did...and they just skated together as the song continued.
You say goodbye in the pouring rain, and I break down as you walk away... (Stay...stay...)
'Cause all my life I felt this way, but I could never find the words to say... (Stay...stay...)
So you change your mind, and say you're mine.
Don't leave tonight...(Stay...)
Say goodbye in the pouring rain, and I break down as you walk away... (Stay...stay...)
'Cause all my life I felt this way, but I could never find the words to say... (Stay...stay...)
Stay with me, stay with me,
Stay with me, stay with me,
Stay, stay, stay, stay with me...!
When it was all over, and the song faded away, all the other skaters had already left the ice, leaving just the two hopeless fools in the middle of the rink together. Yuri had become hyperaware of the audience after that, but Viktor pulled him back out of it. He had the same look on his face as he did when Yuri had first put the gold ring on his finger in Barcelona.
"I'd do it all over again if I knew it would lead back to this moment." He finally said.
The younger skater nodded, trying not to cry again, reaching up to put both arms over the Russian's shoulder, "In a heartbeat."