From Deep End to Surface and Everything In Between (Sebastian Vettel FanFic)

Wood Anniversary

Tokyo, Japan - July 2020

She sat at the edge of the pool, hair pouring down to her waist, reflecting the pieces of the morning light shining through the windows, making the surroundings bathe in golden light. Her legs moved in slow circles in the water, forcing the water to break its smooth surface with waves. She stared at the moving water endlessly, thinking of the upcoming weeks, the clock ticking closer towards her last race. No matter how much she had screamed, yelled or cried, the retirement outcome hadn't changed; it was inevitable and something for her to wrap her head around.

Since the outcome was crystal clear, she had transferred her focus to herself with a self-critical analysis of her character. She snarled of being too eager, too driven, too blind to see the potential consequences of constant push, ambitious targets, the tunnel vision and passion for being best, no matter the price. She had always felt invincible. She rarely had had any problems with her body as she took all the necessary precautions early on. However, she should have checked up on her shoulder after she had felt the pain after the world championships last year. If she had done so, the outcome could have been different. She sighed angrily and kicked the water with force, making the water splash around her, and the drizzles landed on her.

She stood up when she saw the other swimmers strolling towards her. It was time for the warmup. She tied her hair into a ponytail whilst standing up as the self-pity and resentment moment was over. 'I didn't see you going this morning', Emerson murmured when he greeted her with an easy smile on his face and gave her a cache kiss to her lips. 'Yeah, I couldn't sleep', she murmured with a slight blush playing on her cheeks as it wasn't entirely true. Scar hadn't told him about her problem just yet as Scar was still debating how to blur it out to him.

She opened her mouth to say something to Emerson, but the coaches barked to start their high knee and jumping jacks drill. ' You were saying -?' Emerson questioned when they had a brief break in between the moves. Scar viewed over her shoulder if the coaches were spying them before she murmured. 'Later, love. Later.' Emerson nodded and dove into pushups, Scar following his lead. When her chest touched the floor, she felt the familiar stiffness sneaking on her shoulder. She exhaled slowly, closing her eyes to gain control of her feelings. It was downhill from there.

The day went into the calendars as an event when Scar broke down while training, the first time ever. The practice had been dreadful the moment she had jumped into the pool, and her shoulder's signals of stiffness were much accurate, which meant she had to push it to get it warmed faster. The warmup hadn't helped, and the pain had increased the further the practice went. It was worse than ever before, pulsing feelings travelling through her arm from her shoulder to the tips of her fingers. She had got up from the pool amid training, tears in her eyes, on the edge of piling down to her cheeks. Bob had looked mortified of her breakdown. She wasn't big on showing any sad and heavy emotions, no matter what kind of situation she had been in. As Scar rarely showed any emotions, she had got a nickname - Ice Princess. She had bit her lip until she tasted blood inside of her mouth and carried on as she saw the big picture. No pain, no gain.

She hadn't said a word to Bob as her mind was busy neglecting herself and beating herself of practising too much in the past, returning to her nonstop 'what-if'. If she hadn't pushed herself over the edge in every practice, stretching further and further, she wouldn't be in this situation now.

She was a heartbreaking sight when she hugged her knees, head buried against them. Her body was trembling when she struggled to breathe in and out deeply, crocodile tears flowing down her cheeks. Bob approached her with a towel, sat next to her and gave her a side hug, but not before he covered her with a towel, hoping she wouldn't get a cold. 'Oh Scar', he sighed when she clung on to him, as her life depended on him, sinking in any positive energy to push her forward. 'Now, now.' He murmured and patted her shoulder. 'We'll make this work, so you'll stumble through until the Olympics are over. One step at the time.' His soothing voice washed over, allowing her to hang onto his words like it was the truth. One thing they didn't have was time.