SIXTY NINE

"I don't think that you should race, Larissa."

Toto Wolff spoke in a gently voice as his young driver walked in to her garage on the morning of her race in Spa, the same track where she had lost her best friend only yesterday.

He watched as she tried so desperately to cling on to her feelings, rubbing her eyes which looked a painful red color from all of the crying that she had done the day prior.

She had travelled from Liège, where Juan was being looked after in hospital, having stayed with him all night as she was scared that she would wake up and find out that she had lost him too, but thankfully, he was still fighting.

Then, she travelled back to Spa, to race.

She had the record for ten grand prix wins in a row and she knew that she had a high chance of that winning streak to come to an end due to how unstable her emotions were.

She was clinging on to life, just as much as Juan was.

"I can't let him down."

Larissa Cohen mumbled in a rough and gravelly sounding voice as she grabbed her fireproofs, climbing in to them without hesitating, as if she was on autopilot, though she looked more like a zombie than anything else.

"You're not letting anybody down if you don't race, as your boss I have to worry about you and your wellbeing and I do not think that you are well enough to get in to a car and drive at high speeds. You look like shit and I don't want you harming yourself or anybody else." Toto placed his hand on to his girls shoulder in an attempt to comfort her, his voice gentle but authoritative.

It was his job to look after his drivers, and he knew that she was not fit to drive.

"I can't let him down, I promised him that I wouldn't let him down." Larissa mumbled once again, obviously having not heard a word of what her team principal had said.

It appeared that she was completely in her own world, zoned out.

The Austrian man watched as she headed towards her car, noticing how her moves were sluggish and slow, looking as if she was dragging her body to get to her car, his heart aching for her.

She looked so broken.

"Lar, you are not fit to drive. Please, he wouldn't want you to do this." 

Esteban Ocon spoke with a pained look in his eyes, having himself lost his childhood friend. He didn't want to lose Larissa too.

"I can't let him down, I promised that I wouldn't let Anthoine down." Larissa mumbled once again, climbing in to her car, though the Ocon man grabbed her around her waist in an attempt to stop her, fearful for the girl in front of him.

He knew that cameras were on them right now, journalists talking about how the Cohen girl must be feeling and how much a mess she looked, how much pressure that she was under.

It wasn't right. Esteban knew that.

Everybody knew how much of an emotional day it was for everybody, how much a mess that she had been yesterday as she had ran to her friends as one of them lay dying, crying and sobbing until she had been forced away from them.

They should be leaving her alone, not filming her and talking about her.

The French man grunted in pain as the Cohen girls elbow collided with his stomach, sending him stumbling backwards which then allowed her to climb in to her car, clicking her seat belt in to place so that she could race at Spa.

She could not let him down. She had promised him that she would not let him down.

"Let her race, she needs to do this."

Lucy Appleton spoke with tears in her eyes, her hand gently placed on to the arm of the Wolff man.

"She is not fit to drive, Lucy." Toto shook his head from side to side, wanting nothing more than to comfort his driver and allow her to release all of the emotions that she was so evidently trying to hold back.

"I know, but she needs to do this. She has to do this, to accept that he's gone. If she doesn't, then her body will know that he's gone, but her mind will trick her in to believing that he's still alive." Lucy informed the man that was beside her, having known exactly what Larissa was going through.

She had been in exactly the same position when she had lost her best friend, Luiz. Larissa's father.

The Appleton woman watched with a sense of deja vu, her eyes following the cars movements as it lined up ready for the lights out moment when the race would start.

She was repeatedly chewing on her fingernails as she watched her best friends daughter burst from her second place on the grid as soon as the race started, though she was immediately overtaken by four drivers from behind her, putting her in sixth place by the time of the first corner.

As the race went on, the Cohen girl was repeatedly overtaken, dropping further and further down the grid, with her having made more mistakes in one race, than in her entire season.

She didn't check in to her radio engineer, she didn't pit when she needed to pit for fresh tyres, she just kept driving.

She battled for places once or twice, being able to stay ahead of Kubica's Williams, but that was barely, with the Polish man having tried to overtake her but couldn't as even though her brain had completely switched off, she was still subconsciously taking the defensive driving lines.

Her tyres were completely bare and her radio engineer was screaming desperately in to her ear for her to pit immediately, since it was only a matter of time before she lost control of her car.

She had driven her soft tyres completely bald and with Kubica behind her, he found himself warning his own team boss that she had to be pitted because he could see that her car was fighting to stay in control.

Until, it couldn't be fought anymore.

Her car spun violently at the last corner of her lap,  spinning at least twelve times before it came to a halt just after the finish line, with Kubica just about able to get past her without being hit so that he could continue his race.

Once her car came to a complete stop, she immediately climbed out of the vehicle, jumping down on to the track despite marshals screaming at her to get back in to her car until she could be safely taken out of the way.

But, she was still in her own world, not even registering that anything was happening or that anybody had been screaming at her for the entire race.

She climbed over the barrier when she was able to, walking all the way back to her garage though she stopped as a hand clasped around her arm.

"Larissa- are you okay? You should not have been driving!"

Christian Horner spoke as he had grabbed her arm cameras immediately panning to the both of them, zooming in on the figure of the Cohen girl, who with her helmet underneath her arm, yanked her arm out of his grip and immediately clenched her fist, dropping her helmet.

THUD!

The team principal of Red Bull hit the ground hard as the fist of the Cohen girl collided harshly with his face, her face maintaining an emotionless expression, even as she turned her body around, picking up her helmet and walking away.

Lucy attempted to run and comfort her as she re entered the Mercedes garage with her name on it, though Larissa kept walking without saying a word, in to her driver trailer, locking the door before anybody could push their way in.

As her boyfriend won his very first formula one race and dedicated it to his childhood friend, Larissa was in her trailer.

Hugging a pillow as she cried herself to sleep.

Wearing Anthoine's sweater.

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Larissa never left Juan's side after waking up after her race.

His family knew that every day that they would go to the hospital that she would be there, next to him, so they always brought clothing, food and water for her, trying to comfort her since she had never said a word to them.

They worried for her, she hadn't spoken to anybody and it was almost time for Monza, it was nearly time for her fathers death anniversary.

Except for Juan, but he was in a coma so he couldn't respond to her.

His hand would occasionally twitch or clench, especially if Larissa was the one holding his hand or talking to him, so she knew that he was actually getting better.

Which was good, because she couldn't lose him.

"Larissa, hermosa, Charles is here to take you home." Juan's parents spoke as the Brazilian girl leant her head resting against her best friends hand, eyes opening and closing, noticing that her boyfriend, Charles was standing in the doorway of the hospital room, concern covering his pained face.

Larissa simply shook her head from side to side, clinging on to Juan's hand tighter, scared that if she let go of his hand and left, that he would succumb to his injuries.

She couldn't lose him. Not Juan. Not after everything.

"Ma princesse, please. We're all worried about you, you haven't spoken to anybody since it happened. We just want you to come home." Charles sat beside his love, placing his hand on to her shoulder since he was trying to comfort her, the pain in his chest becoming worse.

He knew that not having her by his side to help with the grief of losing Anthoine had made it so much worse, but he knew that he would never blame her.

She was grieving too.

She had literally ran on to the track and gotten to the cars first, before marshals, and had even cradled her best friends head as he laid dying.

That was not something that she would be able to get over. Ever.

Charles knew that. He knew that his girlfriend, his love, was tearing herself apart from the inside at having lost her best friend, he knew that she wanted to be by Juan's side, but it wasn't healthy for her.

She was running herself in to the ground.

He could cope with his grief, but he knew that she couldn't. He wanted to be there for her, she needed to be with her friends, her family, him.

He tried to gently pull her up, but she stopped dead in her tracks as her head shot down to the hand of the Correa boy who clung to life, eyes widening as she noticed something.

He had squeezed her hand. And he was still squeezing her hand. He hadn't let go.

Then, his eyes fluttered.

"He's waking up!"

Larissa shouted, taking the three people inside of the hospital room by surprise, her first words since the crash besides her mumbles when she would be lost in her own world, which had nearly made the three of them have a heart attack.

She had spoken.

"He's waking up! He's alive!" Larissa shouted, a doctor running in to the room as she clung desperately to the hand of the Correa boy, until she was forced to let go by the doctor.

When she was finally able to hold his hand again, she found that Juan Manuel Correa was looking straight at her.

"Juan! Nunca vuelvas a hacerme eso, no puedo perderte!"

Larissa clung to him, pressing a soft kiss against his forehead which made the corner of his lips twitch up in to a happy but pained smile.

She stayed with him for hours now that he was awake, until he was asleep, with Charles helping her away from the hospital so that she could actually have a decent night sleep, with him being there to comfort and love her.

However, he hoped that she would slowly begin to heal and grieve.

Juan was alive.

But she had still lost her Anthoine.

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A/N

Six chapters left until the end of legacy, its getting closer

What do you think of this?

I wanted to show Larissa's grief in this, and so her winning streak came to an end, Charles won, and she didn't speak until Juan woke up because I feel like that was what she was clinging on to, hope that he would survive

Anyway, I hope that you all enjoy this chapter and I'll see you all soon for the next one,

I'm so proud of all of you, my loves

Love you all,

-RUBY