My chest heaved as I panted, barely able to catch my breath. I looked around at the stadium, turning as I soaked in the sight of them all cheering for me. For my team. We did it. We’d just won the championship. We were champions, and all because of me. I’d caught the puck. I’d stopped the other team from scoring, and that had saved the game.
I had no clue what I was doing. I didn’t know where I was or what sport I was even playing, but none of that mattered. All that mattered was that we’d won. It still didn’t feel real to me, but the screens around the arena flashed the score in our colours. They announced the win, making it impossible for me to deny.
“Grace!”
The wild shriek came from behind me, and I turned just in time to see a blur of bright blue and white throw themselves at me. Aurora’s body slammed into mine, knocking me off my feet. I was so glad we were still in our gear as we bounced a few times before coming to a stop, the plates on my back taking the bulk of the impact.
My arms tightened around the girl as she sobbed with happiness, and I felt my eyes begin to burn. I never expected it. Even when I was chosen for the team, I didn’t think I’d ever get to play, especially not in a game that size. I expected to be sat on the bench for the majority of my career, maybe have a few shots at playing in front of the crowd, but nothing more.
That wasn’t the case, though. I’d played in the final game of the league. I played in every game, actually, and I had just become a champion. Unrestrained glee exploded in my heart, and I clutched my teammate even tighter. It felt like a dream.
My body was shaking. No, not my body, I realised. The soft, springy ground, designed to look like grass whilst actually hiding advanced magtech and cameras, was vibrating. Fear crept into my heart as I looked around, terrified that it was all just a dream and that there was actually a monster tearing towards me, ready to devour me whole, but it was just my team.
The moment they neared us, they dove into the air, landing in a heap that blocked out the sun. A brief flutter of claustrophobia wormed its way into my heart, and I was terrified that I was about to be crushed to death, but it passed quickly. Somehow, I could barely even feel the weight of my team piled on top of me.
A laugh escaped my lips as a voice came through my earpiece.
“Let the kid breathe, you lot.”
The mountain of bodies above me shifted as my team started to climb off us until it was just Aurora left. She beamed at me before accepting Leila’s hand and letting her pull her to her feet, tears still streaming down her face. I sat up, resting my elbows on my knees as I stared around at the celebrating crowd, still not quite able to believe what I was seeing.
A hand appeared before my face, and I glanced up at the captain. Trepidation sparked in my stomach as I stared at the tall brunette before me. It was stupid. I knew Santana well. I trusted her with my life and loved her like a sister, but there was something about her that intimidated me.
Still, I took her hand and let her drag me off the ground. She didn’t let go of my hand once I was upright, and her eyes stayed on my face, her expression appraising.
“You know,” she said, cocking her head to the side. “I still think you’re a scrawny little thing, but man, am I glad we brought you onto the team.”
I couldn’t help the huge grin that appeared on my face as Athena pulled me into a hug, slapping my back so hard I could feel it through my gear. She was just teasing me, and I didn’t mind it. I was the skinniest one on the team, but I was working on that.
It didn’t really matter, though. The gear we wore evened things out a bit. They made it so the game was purely based on skill and ability rather than strength. It still helped a bit, obviously, but it was mostly irrelevant. What mattered most of all was whether someone was good at the game, and somehow I was.
I didn’t expect to be. I could still remember how pointless it had felt when we went on a school trip to the local club a few years back. The coach there insisted that everyone had the chance to try out the gear, and I didn’t want to. I huddled at the back of the room, hoping that he wouldn’t even notice me, but thankfully, he did.
The moment I slid the first glove onto my hand, something in me changed. I wasn’t sure quite how to describe it, but there was something that just… shifted. The gloves were too big; I could barely keep them on my hands, but that did nothing to diminish the absolute sense of rightness that had settled in my stomach as I realised I had found what I was born to do.
And I’d been chasing that feeling ever since. Every time I stepped out onto the pitch, every time I started to strap on my gear, or I passed the jersey hanging in the hallway of my apartment, I was reminded of how much I adored the sport, even though part of me still couldn’t quite remember what it was called.
“I am so proud of you, kid,” Athena said as she pulled back, finally letting go of me before turning towards the rest of the team. “Now, let’s go get some food, champions!”
Cheers exploded around me, and I found myself joining in without hesitation. I didn’t even think about it. It was like my body reacted before I could. Her words sparked something in me, though. They reminded me of just how hungry I was, and my stomach grumbled so loudly that I had to pull away from the world, slipping back into reality to make sure it hadn’t also made a noise there.
We were in the car, I realised as I looked around in surprise. I’d expected us to still be in the restaurant, but we must have left. I was sitting in the back of my grandparents’ car with my mom next to me. The radio was playing so loudly that it wouldn’t have mattered if my stomach had growled. I could have shouted, and no one would have been able to hear me over two people talking.
A smile appeared on my face as the dark world faded around me, and I slipped away.
“Fantastic job, everyone!” a familiar voice that I couldn’t quite place called as we streamed into the changing rooms, still cheering and talking loudly. “Rhea, that last stop was great! And Tatiana. Good attempt on the strike, but we need to work on your aim. I’ve got that noted down.”
“Sorry, coach,” Tatiana muttered, her expression frustrated.
She was annoyed at herself, though, not the coach. I didn’t know how I knew that, but I was sure. A flash of a memory revealed itself to me, and I caught a glimpse of Tatiana floating high above the pitch. Her eyes narrowed as she spun horizontally, swinging a strangely ethereal, somewhat transparent and glowing stick at the puck.
The sight of it surprised me so much that I felt the memory start to slip away again, but I tightened my grasp on it, eager to see more of the weird sport I was remembering. It looked almost like a hockey stick, the thing that she was wielding. It was longer and at a more extreme angle than any hockey stick I’d ever seen before, but that was the closest example I could think of.
It was incorporeal. The stick seemed to be made of pure light, but somehow Tatiana was holding it. And it managed to make contact with the puck, sending the small black disc shooting forward towards the target that had appeared on the ground. It didn’t hit it, though. More of the memory unveiled itself to me, and I watched as the puck slammed into the ground, narrowly missing the target, which immediately began to fade away as groans echoed through the stadium.
She should have hit it. It was an easy shot. No one was blocking the target; it should have been an easy ten points, but she missed. That never happened in training.
“And you!” the coach shouted. “Get over here, you!”
Somehow, I knew the coach was talking to me. I sent Aurora a grin before peeling away from her and squeezing around my teammates, who were already sprawled out on the benches scattered around the room.
The blonde woman’s expression was inscrutable as I made my way towards her. Her green eyes examined me shrewdly, and as always, she was clutching a clipboard in her hands. It was a little jarring to see at first. I mean, I hadn’t seen anyone actually writing on paper for years, not since I was in primary school, if that, but Nina always used paper. Real paper too. She preferred it for some reason, and her results were so good that the club didn’t question her at all. I mean, who would question the person who had led their best team to victory in the championships ten times in fourteen years?
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
Eleven times, after the last game.
As soon as I was close, her hands shot out, grasping my shoulders. She didn’t even drop the clipboard first, and I could feel it digging into my back as the coach stared at me intently.
“You,” she said firmly, “are my greatest find yet.”
Behind me, a smattering of laughs broke out. They weren’t mocking, thankfully. No one was disagreeing with her or making fun of me; they were just amused by how she was acting. Most of them had been trained by Nina since they started playing professionally, so they’d been with her for years. They were used to her behaviour, but it was still a little jarring to me. I could recall that.
I was so used to my old coach, Annison, who rarely praised me. That was good. It kept me on my toes, and I kept pushing myself to do more and be more. I had to because nothing I did was ever enough, but that wasn’t the case with Nina. She actually praised me when I did well, and that just made me want to practice more. I wanted to do better, to be better. Then, I’d get even more of that praise. I’d deserve more.
“Dial it back, Coach,” Athena said from behind me. “You might scare the poor child away.”
I glanced back at her, meeting her gaze for just long enough for the captain to send me a supportive yet proud smile that made my heart soar. Nina didn’t let go of me, though. Her fingers tightened on my shoulders, starting to hurt slightly.
“I refuse,” she said intensely before finally letting go and looking down at my hands. “How are the new gloves? Do they fit okay? No rubbing or chafing?”
I glanced down at my hands too, noticing that I was still wearing my gloves. Part of me was surprised to see the gloves on my hands. It was the real me, the one who was new to the world, who was caught off guard by them. The other me was used to the strange, thin gloves.
They were no thicker than rubber gloves and clung to my hands, seeming to fit them perfectly. There was only the slightest excess material at the ends of a couple of my fingers and around the base of my thumb, where they didn’t quite lie flat against my skin, but it didn’t seem too bad. I’d worn worse. I liked the colour, though. Most of the fabric matched the pale colour of my skin, but there were bright blue and white lines stretching the length of my fingers and meeting in a starburst on the palms.
“Yeah, no. They were completely fi—” I started to say as I eased the strangely stretching material away from my hands, wincing as my raw skin was exposed to the air. “Ah, maybe they rubbed a little.”
“Show me,” the coach said, holding her hand.
I finished peeling the gloves off and shoved them into the pocket on the side of my thigh before holding my hands out to her. She took them carefully, touching only the undamaged side of my palm as she turned them, examining the damage. Anxiety bubbled in my chest as I watched her.
If she thought it was bad enough, she might not let me play until I got cleared by the medic. I wasn’t injured enough for that. It was just a minor thing, something that I could easily practice through. We had a bit of a break, anyway. She’d told us if we won the championships, we’d get a week off practice. I probably wouldn’t take the whole time off, but that was more than enough time to get them sorted out.
“They’re not too bad,” I said as the deep cut at the base of my thumb, where the fabric must have bunched and rubbed, began to slowly ooze blood.
Nina raised an eyebrow as she glanced up at me.
“Have you got balm in your locket?”
“Yeah,” I replied, feeling relief slam into me that she wasn’t going to send me to the first aiders or medics.
“Okay. Make sure you use that, and—”
“Aurora!” someone shouted, cutting Nina off. “Are you in my damn shower?”
There was a moment of silence, and I looked back at the furious-looking woman who was glaring in the direction of the showers.
“No,” Aurora called back, the giggle in her voice audible even over the rushing water. “Yours gets hotter than mine!”
Astoria looked outraged.
“So call the plumber!” she shot back.
At first, her anger scared me. It seemed like she became enraged at the slightest provocation, which terrified me. After one of our first practices, she’d shouted at Tatiana for stealing her deodorant, and I had no clue how to react. I was so scared that she was going to punch her, and she must have noticed how much my hands were shaking as I dropped my uniform into the cart to be washed and worked out what was happening. After that, she made sure to always send me a wink or a grin whenever she was shouting at someone.
“I tried,” Aurora called back. “They said there’s nothing they can do!”
Astoria let out a loud, irritated sigh.
“I swear. I’m going to smother her one of these days,” she muttered, catching my eye and winking before the smile slipped from her face, and she continued mumbling murderously. “I really will.”
I’d gotten more used to Astoria’s outburst by that point. They didn’t really scare me anymore, and I smirked at her as Nina squeezed my shoulder again.
“Go on,” she said, causing me to look at her again. “Get your hands sorted out, and make sure you use some spray plaster on them, or the shower will be agony.”
A wince appeared on my face at the thought of getting tender and throbbing skin wet. She was right; it would be bad.
“Great shout,” I told her. “Thanks, Coach.”
“Don’t mention it. I’ll set you up an appointment with Equipment for next week. They should be able to get the adjustments sorted before then, but you have your old pairs if not, don’t you?”
“Yeah.”
I’d never throw them out. I knew that some of the other women on my team did. They had no problem discarding equipment the moment they replaced it, but I couldn’t quite bring myself to do it. I still had the first pair of boots that I’d ever worn. They were secondhand, or maybe thirdhand at that point. The ankles offered no support, and the boosters would cut out randomly, but I made do. I had to.
My first coach had given them to me. They were her daughter’s first pair. She said I couldn’t keep wearing the rental ones from the club if I wanted to actually succeed. The association wouldn’t allow me to wear those in a proper game, even at such a low level, and my mom refused to buy me any gear. She thought it was a waste of money, but I loved the ones Colette had given me.
I tried to give them back when I moved on from the club and could afford my own, but she wanted me to keep them. She said that maybe someday, I could pass them on to a kid who needed a pair just like she had, but I wasn’t sure I could ever do that. They were outdated, I told myself. Broken and barely usable. If I met someone who needed some boots, I’d get them a new pair, and the ones Colette had given me would stay in the display case in my hallway, safe forever.
My hands burned as I walked towards my locker. The gentle, cool breeze coming from the air conditioning unit felt like knives stabbing into the raw skin, slicing it anew, and I could feel tears gathering behind my eyes. I refused to let them fall, but they wanted to. If I’d managed to hold it together when I’d broken my arm a few months back and during the torturous treatment to heal it quickly, I could cope with a little bit of glove rash. It wasn’t the first time I’d ever had it, after all.
I should have taped my hands up. Athena had advised me to, Aurora too, but I didn’t want to. They were new gloves, and I knew they didn’t quite fit, but wearing tape underneath always felt weird to me. No matter how hard I tried to follow the physiotherapist’s instructions, I could never quite get it to avoid all of the sensors and contact points. Even when it was almost perfect, it still felt weird. It was like I was wearing two pairs of gloves, and I hated it.
My hand closed around the tube in my locker, and I winced as I lifted it, spotting blood already beginning to drip down the white container. I’d need to deal with that before I could use it, I realised. A sigh slipped out of my lips as I put it down again and started moving towards the bathroom area to grab some paper towels to mop up the blood.
“No,” a voice said, slicing through the world.
I stumbled, catching my toe on the step into the house as dizziness pooled in my head, making my brain feel sluggish and off balance.
“Oh… you’re going to bed now?” my mom asked.
The hope in her voice was almost painful to hear, and I longed to leave the world so that I wouldn’t have to hear my grandmother’s response, but the pain in my foot was too much to ignore. It was nothing compared to the stinging in my hands in the other world, but that me was used to the pain. She could deal with it, but the real me couldn’t.
“Yes,” my grandmother replied as my grandfather walked straight past her towards the lounge.
My mom’s eyes followed him, and she was silent for a few seconds as the television turned on. The volume was so loud. We could hear every single word that the news reporter was saying, but my grandmother’s expression barely changed. It just seemed to become more challenging.
It was clear they weren’t going to bed yet. My grandfather always watched the evening news before he went up, so he’d be awake for at least another hour or so. Mom must have asked what they were doing now and obviously wanted to spend time with them, but her mom was basically sending her to her room as if she were still a child. I knew Mom wouldn’t argue with her. She wanted to spend time with her parents, but she wanted their approval more.
“Okay,” Mom said, her voice unnaturally bright as she turned towards me with a wide smile on her face. “I guess we’d better head to bed ourselves! We’ve got an early morning tomorrow.”
“Oh, yeah… right,” I replied, slipping my shoes off and placing them carefully by the front door.
The pain was almost gone. I only had the smallest twinge when I curled my toes.
“We’ll be going out at about seven tomorrow, Mom,” my mom called as my grandmother turned and began walking away. “We’ll see you in the morning. Night, love you!”
Her desperate shout seemed to echo down the long corridor, and there was a pause. It dragged on, and for a moment, I was certain that her mother was just going to ignore her, but she finally replied.
“You too.”
It was barely a response, but I saw my mom’s smile widen and become more genuine as she turned towards the stairs.