Chapter Text
Neil watched the last of the dying embers from his hiding spot on the cliff above the beach where his mother's bones lay slowly cooling. It was dark and there was no one around. He was hidden up in a tree well out of sight in case anyone came by.
When he was sure her bones were cool enough, Neil gracefully jumped out of the tree and made his way down the cliff. He was grateful for his cat form. There was no way he'd be able to navigate this cliff as a human.
He shifted back to human and pulled out her backpack from where he'd hidden it under a fallen tree near the edge of the sand. Grief lay heavy in his heart as he pulled her bones one by one out of the car and put them in the backpack. He took that backpack and walked down the beach. The sun was rising when he found a good spot. It was a beautiful view, one he hoped his mother would have appreciated while she was alive. He buried her deep in the sand. Then he grabbed his own bag and ran.
The next few days were a blur of walking down highways, sleeping under dumpsters in sketchy parts of cities where no one would give him a second look, hitchhiking, and bus seats. Somehow he made his way to Phoenix. He bought a map of the area and found a little town that looked promising.
It was night when he finally made it to Millport. The sun had been down for at least a few hours but the night was clinging to the heat like he hadn't experienced in years. Neil shifted his duffel bag and started down a neighborhood road. He was hoping to find a house with an old for sale sign, a house that looked abandoned. He could hide his duffel bag away in the backyard somewhere out of sight and curl up for the night.
Neil did finally find one, an old house that was way too run-down to be livable. There was a collapsed shed in the back. He shoved his bag under it so that it was well hidden and then looked around to make sure no one was watching. There was no one to be seen but he wasn't taking any chances anyway. He ducked under the cover of the collapsed shed and shifted to his cat form. Crawling out from under the shed was simple enough,he could count on his cat instincts to balance and detect any danger. He was hungry and decided to go for a quick hunt before he slept. It wouldn't do much for him when he shifted back to human but it would help him sleep at night. There was always the free breakfast from school in the morning.
After a mouse he found under the shed and a lap around the yard to make sure he would be safe enough to sleep, he crawled next to his duffel and slept.
Morning came and Neil crawled out from under the shed, making sure that no one was around to see him. He found a spot out of sight where no one could see him and where he could fit in his human form and shifted back. He pulled his bag out from the shed and started heading into town.
He got the feel for it pretty quickly. It was a small town and not too many people lived there. Neil found quite a few abandoned houses where he could hide at night. The high school seemed large enough for him to blend in. He had his story in mind already, his parents would be super busy with work and he was 18 so he would be able to sign anything for himself. The people were nosy but not so bad that he felt like they might find him out. They did gossip and he figured that he could use that to his advantage. He decided he liked Millport.
-
Neil Josten let his cigarette burn down to the filter without taking a drag. He let his cat senses take over, his elevated sense of smell magnifying the acrid smell of the smoke that reminded him of his mother. He heard someone fumbling with the locker room door and Hernandez's footsteps as he came to join Neil on the bleachers.
"I didn't see your parents at the game," Hernandez said. He held out his hand and Neil handed over the cigarette. It was almost finished anyway so it wasn't much of a waste when Hernandez dropped it on the ground and crushed it under his shoe.
"They're out of town," Neil said. The same tired excuse but he hoped his coach would believe one last time. Hernandez sighed.
"You know, I thought they would try to make it for your last game.”
"They tried. They couldn't," Neil lied. "No one knew it'd be our last game. It's not like they missed much, anyway."
"Not yet," Hernandez said. "There's someone here to see you."
Neil started to his feet, grabbing his duffel in a fluid motion. He realized a moment too late that there was someone coming up behind him from the locker rooms. He turned to face a large man coming over to join them at the bleachers. He was wearing a wife beater and jeans, one hand stuffed into his pocket and the other holding a file that looked a little worse for wear. His exposed arms were circled by tribal flame tattoos.
Neil didn't see anything on the stranger that would have indicated danger but he knew that meant little.
"I don't know you," he said, getting ready to run if he needed to. The stranger stared at him, his intent gaze a little unnerving. It reminded Neil of a predator stalking its prey, even if there was no malice in the man's eyes.
"He's from a university," Hernandez said, getting to his feet behind Neil. "I sent him your file when he put out a call looking for strikers. I figured it was worth a shot, maybe help get you out of this dump."
Neil turned to stare at his coach, forgetting the stranger for a second in his shock. "You did what?"
"I tried to call your parents but they didn't answer. I was hoping they would come today."
Neil shrugged.
"Well, I can't wait for them," the stranger said. "It's stupid late in the season for me to be here, I know, but I had some technical difficulties with my last recruit. Coach Hernandez said you still haven't chosen a school for fall. Works out perfectly, doesn't it? I need a striker sub, and you need a team. All you have to do is sign the dotted line and you're mine for five years."
"You can't be serious!" Neil choked out, shock robbing him of his voice.
"Very serious, and very out of time," the man responded. He tossed the file he was holding onto the bleacher next to him. Neil briefly considered picking it up when he saw his name scribbled on the front in sharpie but he decided against it. There was no point.
He wanted to keep playing Exy with all his heart but he knew doing so would be a death sentence for him. He was weeks away from abandoning Neil Josten altogether and picking up another identity in another part of the country, maybe even fleeing the US.
He thought of his mother, of what she would say if she knew he was even considering the man's offer. She'd already have beaten him black and blue for playing Exy in Millport. Playing for a college would be outright suicidal.
Then there was the fact that he would have to hide his status as a shifter. He'd been able to keep it a secret in Millport because he spent so much of his time alone, especially at nights. But going to college meant being around people all the time, sharing a room with someone, and never being able to shift. He wasn't entirely sure he could handle that. He couldn't even remember the last time he'd slept as a human. His instincts were so much better as a cat that he always slept in his shift form.
"Go away please," he said to the stranger, trying to keep the bitterness from his voice. He failed miserably.
"I know it's a bit sudden," the man said, "but I do need an answer tonight. The ERC has been hounding me since Janie got locked up."
Neil's head shot up to look at the stranger in front of him as pieces fell into place. "Janie? You're Coach Wymack, Palmetto State Foxes?"
He'd followed the Foxes since Kevin had transferred there. He'd read article after article about Kevin and Andrew, about the team that fought with themselves and everyone else, the team that was the laughingstock of college Exy but somehow managed to fight their way upward in the ranks.
The stranger - Coach Wymack - looked impressed at how quickly he'd put everything together.
"Guess you saw the news."
"I can't, I won't," Neil choked out. He felt like his insides were being torn apart with the desire to play fighting with the need to survive. He backed away towards the locker room.
"Why not?" Wymack demanded.
"I can't," Neil said again. "You signed Kevin."
"And Kevin is signing-" Neil didn't wait to hear the rest. He took off running towards the locker room. He ignored Hernandez's shout. He was already planning his route for the night. He could get out of town, run for a few hours. He could find shelter in a barn or under some brush and make his way to the border.
He was halfway through the lounge before he realized he wasn't alone. Light glinted off the yellow racquet moments before Neil felt it slam into his stomach. He doubled over and fell to the floor, scrambling for breath and fighting the urge to shift to his smaller and faster form.
By the time he had himself back under control, he realized Wymack was yelling at the man who had just knocked him down. Neil had recognized him as Andrew Minyard in the instant before Andrew had whacked him. Neil scrambled to his feet, looping his duffel bag handle over his shoulder.
Andrew gave him a two finger salute. "Better luck next time!"
"Fuck off," Neil growled.
"He break anything?" Wymack asked, looking at Neil as though he could see through his skin to see any internal damage. Neil shook his head.
"I'm leaving. Goodnight, Coach," he said, nodding towards Hernandez.
"We're not done yet," Wymack said. "Coach Hernandez, give us a minute?"
Hernandez looked at Neil, shook his head, and left through the front door. Wymack turned back to Neil.
"I flew out three people to see you, the least you can do is give me five minutes and hear me out," he said.
Neil stomach dropped. He knew, realized he could hear the third person in the room. Slowly, carefully, he spun around to see Kevin Day sitting on the entertainment center, the TV pushed aside and papers spread around him. Neil searched his face for any sort of recognition and was relieved to find nothing but arrogant expectation on the man's face.
It was unnerving to see him again after all these years. He remembered playing Exy with him, running through drills and a scrimmage with him and Riko. He remembered showing off his shift and both Kevin and Riko showing him theirs. Kevin had been a scrappy looking brown striped cat. Riko had teased him about being a normal and boring cat. Riko had been sleek black. He remembered being in a room, watching as his father sliced a screaming man into a hundred pieces.
Neil had sought out articles during his years on the run with his mother. She'd never liked his obsession with Exy or Kevin and Riko but she'd allowed him to indulge from afar through newspaper articles and magazines. He'd somehow convinced her that it was a good way to create a cover for all the things hidden between the sheets.
"Why haven't you signed yet?" Kevin asked.
"I can't," Neil said. "I can't play with a champion."
"You can and you will," Kevin said.
"No," Neil said, pleading in his mind that Kevin didn't recognize him. "There are thousands of strikers who would leap for a chance to play for you. Go ask them."
"We don't want them," Wymack said. "We want you."
Neil felt trapped between Wymack and Kevin. He desperately wanted to say yes, but, "I can't play with Kevin," he said. He hoped his desperation wasn't obvious on his face.
"You will," Kevin said.
Wymack shrugged at Neil. "Maybe you haven't noticed, but we're not leaving here until you say yes. Kevin says we have to have you, and he's right."
"We should have thrown away your coach's letter the second we opened it," Kevin said. "Your file is deplorable and I don't want someone with your inexperience on our court. It goes against everything we're trying to do with the Foxes this year. Fortunately for you, your coach knew better than to send us your statistics. He sent us a tape so we could see you in action instead. You play like you have everything to lose."
Neil stared at them as relief crashed over him. Kevin hadn't recognized him at all, he'd just seen Neil play. It was a stroke of bad luck that had led him here. Neil could deal with that.
"It actually works in our favor that you're all the way out here," Wymack said. "No one outside of our team and school board even knows we're here. We don't want your face all over the news this summer. We've got too much to deal with right now and we don't want to drag you into the mess until you're safe and settled at campus. There's a confidentiality clause in your contract, says you can't tell anyone you're ours until the season starts in August."
Neil looked at Kevin again, searching for his real name on Kevin's face. "It's not a good idea."
"Your opinion has been duly noted and dismissed," Wymack said. "Anything else, or are you going to start signing stuff?"