Lost and out of sight

XII

XII

During the next competition day, nobody saw Mikaela and nearly the whole team of Russia, along with Yuuri, seemed depressed. Sara was the first to act, as she finally headed over to Aleksandrina and Mila, who were quietly talking.

"Where's Mikaela? Shouldn't she be with you?" Sara asked her competitors with a small frown resting on her expression. "She headed back to Japan." Mila said, a depressed aura surrounding the two females again, to which Sara frowned even more.

"But today's the day where she could've made it to the Grand Prix Finals!" Sara exclaimed, shocked in some way that the blonde German wasn't there with them.

"Sara, we don't know if she will ever set foot onto the ice again." Aleksandrina said all of a sudden, silencing the dark haired woman beside her. A short moment of silence hung between them, until Sara asked "What? What happened?"

"Mikaela went to practice yesterday evening, after she left you. She broke her knee, very badly. The doctors aren't sure if she'll ever be able to skate again." Aleksandrina quietly said, Mila then adding "She went back home early in the morning. She didn't want to deal with this here."

The dark haired woman slowly nodded, looking down. After trying so hard, one of her favorite opponents won't be competing against her today – and maybe never again.

"Hey Sara, there you are!" A voice pulled the women out of their thoughts and they came to face Michele. He immediately noticed the glum air lingering between them and a frown found its way to his face as he asked "What's wrong?"

Quickly they explained the situation to him, to which he actually joined them in their depressed aura. Opponent or not, it was always hard to hear if someone so passionate about their sport, like Mikaela for example, may never be able to perform it ever again. Nobody would want that.

-

At the airport in Japan, Mikaela was greeted by Yuko. Takeshi had probably stayed behind at the ice rink with their daughters, while Yuko had come to get Mikaela.

The blonde woman was unbelievably depressed, and as Yuko pulled her into a hug, she couldn't help the tears that decided to shoot into her eyes. But she managed to refrain from letting them spill.

"How are you?" The brunette woman carefully asked the younger blonde in front of her. In response, Mikaela only shrugged, not looking Yuko in the eyes. "They said I might not be able to skate again..." She mumbled, to which Yukos eyes widened and she again pulled the blonde in for an embrace.

After a short while, they then went to grab her bag and headed to the Katsuki's, as Mikaela wanted to go there – Yuko knew though, that Mikaela only wanted to go there because of Viktor.

Speaking of Viktor, he was quite sleep deprived. He didn't only have to worry about Makkachin, but also about Mikaelas wellbeing. He had no idea how big the outcome of Mikaelas injury was.

Mikaela had problems taking her left shoe off, not being able to crouch down, so she just kicked it off with one of her crutches, before stepping onto the laminated floor of the entrance hall at the Katsuki's hot springs.

"Everyone, Mikaela's back." Yuko called throughout the house and almost immediately a blur of silver dashed around the corner and Mikaela was engulfed in a hug by Viktor. She nearly fell over, but gladly managed to keep her balance.

"Viktor..." Mikaela mumbled, slowly wrapping her arms around his familiar figure, before breaking out into tears. She had at first tried to hold the tears back, but she couldn't. Having him here just made her somewhat incapable of controlling her own body.

Viktor ran a hand through Mikaelas curls, whispering calming nonsense in Russian, hoping she'd calm down soon. She did; tears were soon only wet stains and the only thing that was heard was her sobbing.

Viktor held her close to him the entire time. He was worried about what exactly made her as devastated as she was now. When she had calmed down, they went into the main area, the rest already awaiting them.

Mikaela sat down with the help of Viktor, placing the crutches aside. Viktor sat beside her and held her hand, wanting to show her, that he was there for her. "What exactly happened?" Mari then broke the silence, speaking out the question which nobody had yet dared to ask.

"I was invited to go eat with the Crispino's, Seung-gil, Emil and JJ, but halfway there I decided to turn around and go practice instead. So I headed to the ice rink I trained in during the days before. But during one of my jump combinations I accidentally crashed into the railing...

"I broke my knee. The doctors don't know to what extent, but they couldn't take the fact out, that I may never be able to skate again." Mikaela stared at her hands the entire time. She feared that, if she looked back up at the others, she'd break into tears again.

Then she felt Viktors arms around her, pulling her close to him. "I'm so sorry, darling..." Viktor whispered into her ear, stroking over her back calmingly. Mikaela leaned into his embrace, not saying a thing, when she suddenly heard a voice say "Excuse me, is this the hot spring place everyone's talking about?"

Mikaelas eyes widened as she recognized the voice. Turning around, she came to face none other than her best friend. Quickly – as quickly as she could – Mikaela got to her feet and halfway jumped into Maries arms, again bursting into tears.

Startled, the other woman took a short while to realize who had just jumped at her, before she then wrapped her arms around Mikaela tightly. "How are you Mika? Aleksandrina told me what happened. I just had to get here as fast as I could, after she told me you were back home."

Mikaela could only nod, as she continued to cry, holding onto her best friend tightly. She noticed though that Marie was about to cry along. Slowly she pulled back and noticed a tear already rolling down Marie's cheek. A weak chuckle left Mikaelas lips as she mumbled "Only I'm allowed to cry."

"I'm your best friend; I'm allowed to cry too, y'know. I'm suffering with you, Mika and you won't stop me from doing so." Marie quickly retorted, making the two of them laugh, before Marie then told her to sit down.

Sitting back down, Marie sat beside her. "Everyone, this is my best friend and sister, Marie Hansen. Marie, this is Katsuki Hiroko, her husband Toshiya, Mari, Yuko, her husband Takeshi, their annoying triplets-" "HEY!" "And Viktor."

Marie bowed slightly and smiled at everyone gathered. "I hope you've been taking good care of my dear Mika." Marie said, making Mikaela punch her side slightly, resulting in Marie laughing at her.

"I'm sorry, she's always this stupid." Mikaela quickly apologized, making the others laugh or chuckle. Marie pouted for a short while at her best friend, before then leaning forwards a little and saying "Oi Viktor." Named male looked at her and tilted his head a little.

"Break Mika's heart and I'll break your face." Mikaela only sighed and stuffed a pillow in Maries face, silencing her.