CHAPTER TWO HUNDRED SIXTY
Oh oh oh oh ohhhhh
The duo of skaters raised their right hands up, left skate twisting in an arc behind them, pulling each of them into a slow rotation as they brought their hands back down again.
Oh oh oh oh ohhhhh
Golden blades pushed into reverse, both arms each twisting and rising by their sides, sweeping low as they turned.
Oh oh oh oh ohhhhh
They kicked their left legs out, using the momentum to spin twice in a pseudo-twizzle.
Oh oh oh oh ohhhhh
The audience was eager, practically squishing themselves up against the glass or pressing in closer to the rink wall. The first jump of the program was coming, but no one knew what Viktor's rules had been...so when the pair made the entry-motion for the triple Axel, and then simply bunny-hopped through a half-rotation instead, people made incredulous looks and glanced at one another in disbelief.
I messed up tonight, I lost another fight, I still mess up but I'll just start again.
The beat of the music slowed a little, and the pair pressed into a dance element; they twisted and turned, moving hips and legs more than arms, blades swinging down to bounce off the ice and send shards of frost in every direction, hitting down with every other beat of the song.
I keep falling down, I keep on hitting the ground, I always get up now to see what's next.
They twisted out and paused close to the far end of the rink, hands moving from above themselves, down their cores to settle on their hips, swiveling their lower halves before bringing their hands up again as they rotated in place. On the last beat, they side-clapped their hands, and took off again.
Viktor glanced aside, knowing the first spin was coming up, and worrying about it nearly as much as he had the jumps he'd previously banned. His partner's body-language felt encouraging though, and Yuri stepped into the combo; camel variant, twisting into a sit-spin, switching to rotate on the other blade while pulling the first one underneath himself, then rising into a scratch spin, pushing out in preparation of what would've not-only been the program's first quad, but first combo-jump as well.
I won't give up, no I won't give in, 'til I reach the end and then I'll start again
No, I won't leave, I wanna try everything, I wanna try even though I could fail.
The quad-triple combo was, like the triple Axel, reduced to two small bunny-hops. Yuri grit his teeth, hating every second of the missed opportunity, but grudgingly following orders anyway. The closest thing to a jump that he was allowed to do was coming up in a moment.
I won't give up, no I won't give in, 'til I reach the end and then I'll start again
No, I won't leave, I wanna try everything, I wanna try even though I could fail
The duo scissor-kicked into the flying camel spin; Viktor rotated more slowly than before, watching how the other figure wobbled a bit to regain balance after the landing. Yuri's spin suffered for it, slowing down until he could transition to a different move.
Oh, oh, oh, oh, ohhhhh
Try everything
Oh, oh, oh, oh, ohhhhh
Try everything
He hopped and built up speed again on the other foot. The Russian pulled through the foot-change as well, but stayed slow on purpose to keep an eye out.
Oh, oh, oh, oh, ohhhhh
Try everything
Yuri reached back for his blade, pulling the whole leg up until he could feel the uncomfortable stretch. He'd done his best to become more flexible over the summer, but it was still a challenge for some of the more split-like maneuvers. Still, he pulled hard until the blade was up behind his head, rotating through the Bielmann spin.
Oh, oh, oh, oh, ohhhhh
Just as it had done when he first practiced it, holding his head back for the Bielmann made Yuri dizzy, and his current condition didn't make it any easier to deal with. Before he could do anything to stop it, his hand lost its grip on the blade, and the skater went spiraling down to the ice, spinning out in a dizzy haze even as the music kept on playing above.
The audience and media alike were as anxious as they'd been before the first 'jump,' hardly allowing themselves to draw breath again until the figure picked himself up again and refused to quit.
Look how far you've come, you filled your heart with love,
Baby, you've done enough, take a deep breath.
Viktor felt the relief as much as anyone, but was still nervous about the spin-out. The Ina Bauer was next; easier in every possible way, and they glided in tandem across the hoarfrost, blades scratching long white lines as they went. They twisted around and rotated out of it, moving along the rink wall to go faster again.
Don't beat yourself up, don't need to run so fast, sometimes we come last, but we did our best.
The pair suddenly came to an abrupt stop, frost breaking away from their blades; they stomped down three time with the last beats of the music, then twizzled off again towards the closer end of the rink.
I won't give up, no I won't give in, 'til I reach the end and then I'll start again
No, I won't leave, I wanna try everything, I wanna try even though I could fail
The side-by-side Charlotte spiral was next, the pair sliding along the long end of the rink as their left legs went straight up into the air, leaning forward and down until each of them was grabbing the boot on their right ankle.
Viktor pushed back up after about 20ft, getting ready for the next half bunny-hop with the backwards slide...but...
Minako flung herself at the glass, "Don't you even think it, Yuri!"
They suddenly heard the sound of a toe-pick, and the Russian barely had time to glance up before the blur of the younger skater going airborne caught his eyes. He could hardly believe it, and just kept sliding backwards as the jump practically carried out in slow motion as he went right by. He ran into the rink wall at the same time Yuri landed, and the shock of it made the legendary skater stumble, knocking him to the ground and forcing him to miss the result of the Lutz.
The sound of the crowd gasping couldn't tell him one way or another what happened, especially since half the voices that spoke were calling out each of their names. By the time he regained his focus and looked up, Yuri was already getting back up to his own feet and was skating off again.
I'll keep on making those new mistakes, I'll keep on making them every day...
I can't believe he did that... The Russian thought, almost angrily, but he quickly pushed up to his blades again and rushed out to catch up.
They both leaned back into the wide outside spread-Eagle, spinning at the end of it, then digging a toe-pick down to stop again.
Those new mistakes
Shoulder waggle.
The ballerina on the mezzanine was still somewhat stunned by the sight of the jump. She pulled her hands back off the windows and set them on either side of her head again as she fell back against the body waiting behind her, "...That was so incredibly reckless! Viktor's going to be mad!"
They descended low into the last required element of the Short Program; the 3rd spin. Flying and combo had already been knocked out, so all that was left was the sit. The shoulder-waggle pushed forward into a brief forward arc, sliding through the cross-over, and stroking into the rotation, descending evenly as one leg stuck straight out in a standard position, heel-pick narrowly gliding over the surface of the ice.
Oh, oh, oh, oh, ohhhhh
Try everything
The standard sit-spin twisted into a variant, left leg crossing in front of the right as their cores twisted over that in turn, left arm in the air, right pointing down towards the ice. The left leg then swiveled around, taking position on the ice for the foot-change, and continuing through the rotations in a broken-leg twist variant.
Oh, oh, oh, oh, ohhhhh
Try everything
The spin ended and the pair slowly rose back up to standing, twisting off with the free-leg swinging outward. They slid down the center of the rink, moving their hands up against their sides as they moved.
Oh, oh, oh, oh, ohhhhh
Try everything
Gold blades scratched and rotated the skaters, and they each lifted their left arms up behind themselves as the right arms went low in front, bowing low as they moved forward.
Oh, oh, oh, oh, ohhhhh
One final twist, and they stood with their backs towards the audience like at the start, but they each glanced up and past their left shoulders. The left hands came up as their skates set down for the final pose, and the music finally ended.
Try everything.
The audience was visibly relieved that the whole thing was over, but then something almost worse than that started up instead. Yuri twisted around where he stood so he could lean down and brush the frost from his pants, then paused there with his hands grabbing just above the knees so he could catch his breath. When he finally lifted up and looked towards his coach, his eyes got big and a nervous sweat beaded on his skin.
Viktor had a somewhat-unhappy look on his face, and his arms were crossed tightly over his chest, "I specifically told you not to jump. And you jumped anyway."
The younger figure pushed to standing upright, but put his hands together as though in apology, "I know! But I had to! I was going crazy!"
"You fell out of a spin, Yuri. What made you think attempting a quad was a good idea? You could've been hurt! There's no way to know you could've controlled that fall!" Viktor pointed out, hands going to his hips instead, "The Bielmann still makes you dizzy even when you're perfectly fine, but you have a head injury! You know you're vulnerable right now!"
"I felt like I could do it!"
"It was a quad LUTZ!" The Russian went on, right hand going out towards the skater as he took on an exasperated look, "You hit the rink wall the last time you did that one!"
"I know, but I had to try!"
"And you fell anyway!" Viktor wasn't sure if he was more upset than angry, but he felt a tightness in his chest. The gawking of the onlookers meant little and nothing at that moment, "You couldn't have done it on the Axel instead!? You just had to do it on the hardest jump in the latest part of your whole program!"
Yuri went down to his knees, fingers clasping together as he all but begged, "I'm sorry! I did what you wanted from the start but the Lutz was my last chance!"
A pale hand went back up to Viktor's forehead and he turned away from the defiant skater bitterly, not even sure what else to say.
"Please don't pull me from the Final, Viktor!"
The media and spectators were stunned into silence as they heard the lamentations go on.
"I just don't even know what to do." The silver skater said, pinching the bridge of his nose as he half-turned-away from his partner, "If you won't listen to me when it matters the most..."
"...Viktor...!" Yuri pleaded.
The Russian could hardly think straight through all the frustration buzzing in his head, but when he opened one eye, he suddenly became acutely aware of all the other eyes on him, wondering if this would be the moment the Men's Singles event would officially collapse. The other skaters who'd waited after their earlier-morning practice, the coaches, choreographers, and sponsors who'd been there for the Men's practice, even the other competitors...Chris, Otabek, Phichit...Viktor could even see Yurio gaping at him from the far left side of the mezzanine. The Russian grit his teeth and shook his head, "I can't make a decision right now."
"That's almost worse than pulling me!" The younger figure said in disbelief.
Slate eyes turned harshly towards him, "Well, I'm angry at you! If you want me to pick one way or another right now then I'll just yank you from the line-up and be done with it! If you want to keep competing, then give me ten minutes to figure out whether you're defying me because you're being selfish again or because you want to hurt me."
"What..." Yuri was aghast, "I would never do anything to hurt you on purpose! I just want to win!"
"Well you're not going to win if you're jumping your way to the hospital again!"
Chris was already setting blades to ice by then, and Phichit wasn't far behind. They each went towards their respective friends to stop the fighting, with the Swiss skater throwing a certain black and red jacket at the Russian's head to pull him out of his cantankerous mood. By the time Phichit was sliding down to one knee towards Yuri, Chris was already pushing Viktor back towards the rink wall like the man was an obstinate penguin.
Yuri just sighed heavily and went down to his elbows on the ice, "...I messed up..."
The Thai skater pat his back gently, "He'll get over it. He's way more sensitive about your condition than he would be if he was just a regular coach that you'd hired through the ISU."
"...I know, but still..."
"YOUCAN'TMAKEMEGETOFFTHEICEUNLESSI'MREADYTOGETOFFTHEICE." Viktor barked, fingers clawing to the edge of the open doorway even as Chris was still trying to push him through. The Russian was practically sideways over the younger skater's shoulder, legs kicking where they'd been tilted off the ground.
"Let go of the door, Viktor."
"I'MOLDERTHANYOUIDOWHATIWANT."
The blonde just raised a brow at him...and reached one hand forward, moving it up to Viktor's ribs and touching delicately. The Russian squeaked loudly and both hands came down as he reactively jammed his elbows down against his sides to protect them. Chris just casually hoisted him higher on that same shoulder and moved off again after that. Viktor simmered indignantly in his defeat, crossing his arms over the man's back as he watched the arena pass him by in reverse.
Otabek gawked at the duo in stunned silence.
It's like he's done that before.
Phichit laughed nervously, but clicked into his phone, "It's only about 1:15 right now...we still have the rink for another 45 minutes. Let's just do some laps to cool-down."
Yuri sat back, pushing up onto his hands as his knees got colder through his pants, "Did I at least get all four rotations in before I fell?"
"I'm not sure." The Thai figure answered honestly, pushing to stand up and reaching his hand down to offer it, "I actually closed my eyes as soon as I realized you were gonna go for it. You shocked Viktor so much that he forgot to brake, and backed right up into the rink wall."
The older skater gawked at him in surprise, twisting his head around to where Chris had finally panted the Russian into a seat in the 6th row, behind the hockey players' rink-side waiting-box. The man still had his arms crossed and he looked particularly irritated, though by then it was more at the Swiss man than anything else.
"Are you going to calm down?" Chris wondered, sitting in a seat next to the older athlete, resting a cheek against the knuckles of one hand where he'd bent that elbow over the back-rest, "Viktor."
"I don't like you right now."
"Viktooorrrrr. You're overreacting."
The Russian just buckled down, crossing his arms even tighter and slouching a little.
Chris just smiled.
Yakov shook his head, looking out through the glass at his former prized student, "He still has so much to learn about being a coach. He has to learn how to separate himself from his emotions if he wants to be effective as a teacher."
Lilia just huffed half a laugh at that quietly.
The gruff older man turned to look for his own athlete, spotting Yurio sitting on a couch nearby with his back to him, "Yuratchka, you should use the rest of the practice period to work on your jumps."
"I'll work on them later. I just want to go." The teen answered simply, already having his skates off and stuffed into his backpack. He rose to stand, pulling the bag over a shoulder, "Mikhail...I need to get my stuff from your room."
The elder silver Russian looked up and then over, past Minako's shoulder to where he'd heard the voice calling his name. He looked then to his two girls, and back out onto the rink, spotting Yuri finally back on his feet and meandering around slowly with Phichit. All around them, the media mob was starting to disperse, many wondering whether they should wait for Viktor's decision or if it was even likely to come that quickly. With a sigh, the Russian reached up to adjust his flat-cap and pushed off the wall to stand normally, "...Alright...I'm coming. Girls, ladies, let's go."