Edge of Glory

1

Lin Jingyan wouldn't say he had any regrets. He had always done his best. If anything he regretted not winning the championship with his team – either Wind Howl or Tyranny. However, there was nothing he could do. There was only one trophy every year, so only one team could win it. And there were so many teams that aimed for the trophy. Someone had to lose. Nine years was a long time. He had spent nine years of his life with playing Glory professionally. Seven year of those nine he had spent as a member, as captain of Wind Howl. The last two years he had spent with Tyranny. Both teams had given him so much.

In Wind Howl he had found his greatest partner. In Tyranny he had found hope and peace at the end of this career. It also was relaxing to have less responsibilities. Nice to be around people that faced the same struggle as him – age. And in Zhang Jiale he had found someone that also had left the team he had debuted with. Unlike Zhang Jiale Lin Jingyan had to give up his account, but this was a loss he could handle. Maybe it had even better that way. Serving all ties with the past to move on without grief.
He had seen how Zhang Jiale had suffered from leaving Hundred Blossoms behind. Was he too heartless? Or was it the fact that Wind Howl didn't want him anymore anyway that he walked forward without looking back?

Last night team Tyranny had held a party for him. Today was the day he would leave. Only a few moments would belong to him and the team. Yet he was calm. All he wanted to do today was to say goodbye to everything in peace. Just talk to them from face to face a last time.
The first person he met was Zhang Xinjie. He wasn't surprised. Zhang Xinjie was always the first, who got up in the morning.
They met in the hallway. Zhang Xinjie was on his way back to his room, while Lin Jingyan was on his way to grab some breakfast.
"Good morning", they greeted each other.

Their conversation was short, because Zhang Xinjie had a schedule to maintain. Not that it bothered Lin Jingyan much. During his two years at Tyranny he got used to the other one and his strict schedule. Also there wasn't much for them to say to each other. Just a goodbye and well-wishes for the future.

The next one he met was Zhang Jiale. They had gotten along very well. Every now and then they went out for some shopping – Zhang Jiale was a real sweet tooth and if it weren't for Lin Jingyan interfering so often, the other one would probably bought all the sweets in the whole city. Maybe the sweets should drown the feeling of loss, to drown the pain for "betraying" Hundred Blossoms. It was obvious that Zhang Jiale had his problems at the beginning. No one had doubted him for giving his all for the team, but they also could see, how hard it was for him. Since none of them had been through the same, they didn't know what to do or say. In the end, it had been Lin Jingyan who spent the most time with Zhang Jiale. Some nights he had stayed at the other one's room and just listens to the other's rambling. He also heard the stories of the past with Sun Zheping. Those stories reminded him of Fang Rui.
It indeed was hard to find a great partner. There were many good players; there were many good partners; but there was only so many perfect partners. Leaving such a person behind was not easy and forgetting them was impossible. For Lin Jingyan leaving Fang Rui was not so hard, because they still were together in the Alliance, just on different teams. He still knew how Fang Rui was doing. But Zhang Jiale had to lose his partner due to an injury and Sun Zheping also never contacted him ever since. Lin Jingyan could only imagen how painful that must have been.
Respect was all he could feel for Zhang Jiale, who always moved forward – even that little break he took during the eight season could be considered moving forward, it was just a more indirect way.

"What will you do from now on?"
"I don't know."
"You should write us every now and then."
"I will. And I will watch all your matches. I hope, you guys can win a championship."
"I hope so to and I am certain that we will. Besides us all men, we have Song Qiying and Qin Muyun. Those two are already so good and will only get better under our watch. I am quite confident in our team and out future."
"Sounds good. Song Qiying and Qin Muyun have a bright future ahead of them, indeed."