Felt the need to write this... You should feel the need to read it too.

March 11, 2016.
Friday.

After Friday night's training, Javi, Yuzu and Nam all left the ice first. While Sota and Melody did their warming down.

Circling the ice, they decided to add a touch of fun.

'Let's try doing twizzles! I love the Ice Dancers' synchronized twizzles'

'Yeah, we could try. Let's start with catch foot twizzles'

Took them a while to get it in sync, and by then, they were the only ones still at the club.

'This is fun... I have a great idea! Can we do the Shibutanis' twizzle sequence in their Fix You Free Dance?'

'That's hard!'

'But we can just do like simple Level 1 twizzle sequences'

'I guess so'

So starting from the instrumental part of Fix You by Coldplay, which was played through her phone and echoed around the walls, they tried to imitate the Shibutanis' choreography til the last sentence of the song:

Lights will guide you home.

And ignite your bones.

And I will try to fix you...

Where the final combination spin was suppose to be, they just did a pair spread eagle spin, holding hands and gazing into each other's eyes and smiling as if nothing else in the world mattered.

At the final chord of the song, Sota pulled Melody in to a hug.

She was a little shock but soon relaxed and hugged back, and said jokingly, 'You know, I think I really like this ending pose'

'Of course you do, I made it up,' he smirked.

'But I usually come up with better ending poses'

'Just cause you dance'

When they broke apart, she took his hand and sang,

Take my hand,

I'll teach you to dance,

Spin you around,
She spun him around.

Won't let you fall down.

If you let me lead,

You can step on my feet,
'Don't you dare though.'

So give it a try,

It'll be alright...

And on the ice, they dance and skated with laughter.

...

It was quite late when they had finally got their skates off and went to the subway stop.

The subway was about to leave when they saw it. So they ran to catch it, but it was just so merciless.

Sighing exasperatedly, Melody slumped against a pillar and pouted.

Sota looked to the brighter side.
'Hey, it's alright. We can just catch the next subway'

'But it doesn't arrive until like 30 minutes later!'

'Well, then we can...explore town! Come on, let's go!' He smiled excitedly.

She looked uncertain and continued to frown, atleast until he begged.

'Pretty, pretty please?'

'Don't you ever, ever feel, like you're nothing hahaha alright, let's go! After all, it is your last time exploring town as a Junior World Bronze Medalist. Next time we hang out you'd be the World Junior Champion!'

'Don't say that yet! I might not be'

'Not with that attitude'

...

March 12, 2016.
Saturday.
The day that Sota was suppose to leave for Hungary, Junior Worlds.
The day that would haunt Sota's life forever.
The day that it all went down.

On Sota's last training before he left for the flight to Junior Worlds, he was practicing his Lutz, when BOOM!

He came crashing into the ice like the Hulk. Something was off on the take off, he could feel it right as he lifted up in the air.

He tried to get back up but ended up howling in pain and writhing on the ice, close to tears at the searing pain coming from his right ankle.

Brian came instantly.

He was brought to the hospital as it was quite obviously serious.

And the Cricket Siblings all walked in to his hospital room, unable to look up from the floor after hearing the news from the doctor.

Another man in a white coat -Melody was really starting to hate men in white coats- explained the situation.

Sota just stared at the man in white.
'So...I can't walk for atleast two weeks. And I can't compete in Junior Worlds! I CAN'T COMPETE IN JUNIOR WORLDS???!!!!!'

Brian went forward, 'calm down, Sota. You've had a bad fracture and I have officially withdrawn you from the Junior Worlds entry and cancelled the flight.'

He looked pale and in shoxk and whispered in a steady voice, 'Can you guys leave for a while?'

They left not knowing just how devastated he truly felt.

...

Hours later, Melody came back to visit him alone.

'Hey'

'Uh, hey Dy'

Some awkward moments later.

'You'll get better soon'

'Whenever that is', he looked away.

'Listen, I-'

'Actually, can you leave now? I'm sorry, but I don't think I want to see anyone who would remind me of figure skating right now. It just hurts. So please, do me a favor and don't visit me. But thank you for caring, if only time could be more caring.'

Rejected, she walked away with her heart so in pain for him. Just his disappointed face was enough to make her cry.

But of course, she never gave up.

If he didn't want to see her, doesn't mean she can't see him.

So she came to hospital again at night. When she was sure he was asleep, she snuck in his room and sat on a chair right next to his bed where he lay unconscious, and talked to him, without receiving any reply of course.

She did this for 5 days in a row but on the sixth night, he wasn't entirely asleep yet. A bad dream had woken him up drenched in sweat. So he just lay under his covers thinking what it would be like if he were where he was supposed to be now.

Then, the door of his room opened.

He thought it was the nurse and just dismissed it.

Til he heard her voice.

Talking to...him.
Well, more like talking to the moon.

"Hey, Sota. I miss you. We all do. The Cricket Club just needs you. I'm sorry this happened to you and I wish it didn't. But you can't keep hiding from skating. It's your life. This is what sport is, falling down and then getting back up again. Dad used to tell me that courage isn't having the strength to go on, it's going on when you don't have the strength to.

I miss talking to you. And you actually talking back instead of just me coming in every night to see you cause you refuse to see me.

You know, I'm sure you're very sad about this, so why don't you just cry? Crying's not for the weak, it's just away of expressing your feelings. You'll feel better after crying instead of just hiding your sadness inside all the time. In fact, I think crying proves you're strong, cause it shows how you dare to show your true emotions and aren't afraid of being laughed at. I mean lots of people cry. Even crying in public. I wish you'd open up your heart. But don't worry, I haven't given up yet, I'll still try to fix you.

You have to realize it's okay to not be the strong one. You can be both a leaning post and a leaner. You yourself told me that all will pass eventually. People cry all the time. Nam cried when he didn't make the world team after a not so good performance at this year's Nationals. I'm sure Yuzuru cried after the earthquake destroyed his town. I bet Javi cried when he just missed the podium in the Olympics and wounded up in 4th place and had to see his team mate and friend, Yuzuru, shine on the top of the podium. I'm almost certain Patrick cried after he lost that Olympic gold that he so badly wanted to Yuzuru. Even Shoma cried when he had that disastrous short program at US Classic and when he didn't do so well at 4Continents last year. See? Everyone cries in public.

And you know, you don't want to be the liar that says your life went exactly as you planned. Because no one's life goes exactly as planned. Things always get in the way. But you learn from your mistakes and from the hard stuff life hurls your way. Then you can show life who's boss.

...It's a quarter after one, I'm all alone and I need you now. I just need you now...'

All this time, he hid under his blanket listening to her talking to him, telling him things he never knew. When she stopped he finally lifted his blanket and peaked at her and saw that she was crying softly and sniffing quietly in her chair. He had to comfort her, he couldn't take this anymore. Or maybe it's him who needs the comforting?

He whispered gently so as not to scare her.

She gasp.

'Dy!'

'Sota! You're awake! How long were you awake for? How much did you hear? I'm sorry, I'll leave now. I know you said you didn't want to see me so-'

'Stay please! Don't go'

He sat upright on his bed and opened his arms and she walked straight to them.

And in a few seconds, he was crying. The tears just streamed down uncontrollably. As they were released from his eyes, the sadness and frustration was also released from his heart. But he let it out, cause he now knew that as painful as it is to be hurting mentally and crying, crying is also the vital process of healing. Slowly it will fade away, if he could just let it go.

In his ears, Melody whispered, 'When you fall down, I'll pick you up.'

Hey, I know this isn't part of the original story, but it doesn't kill to add another chapter which I've been thinking about all weekend. I've actually had a heated debate in my head if I should add this chapter or not. Hope you enjoyed it.
Thank you for reading.
Feels good to know that I've haven't just wasted time writing something no one would see.
#prayingforsota
#notgonnawatchjuniorworldscauseIdontwanttoseethatheisnotthere
#marchbreak!