Summary:

When it happens the puck has just left his stick.

It's a clean hit, but Shane takes it horribly, crumbling on impact and colliding with the boards. While he tries valiantly to keep his head up, he feels himself slide sideways and his last fully coherent thought occurs as his head cracks against both the ice and the bottom edge of the boards.

Immediately, the arena starts to wilt.

“… We just want a future.”

“I have only been in love with one person…”

Shane falls backwards and sinks, the ice turning to water beneath him.

“Holy shit. I love you too…”

“I love you…”

The words—memories?— are swimming amongst him, angled and distorted; they consume him, they’re are all he can process, even as someone else—a medic, maybe?— on the periphery now, says, "Just stay still Hollander."

-

Or, upon appearing in a parallel world, canon-Shane is on a mission to fix AU-Shane's fucked-up life. Stat.