Misery

Disclaimer: I do not own Galactik Football and I make no money from this fic.

Artegor never thought he would see this day. There were several reasons why not; Aarch's all-consuming obsession with football to the exclusion of everything else, Adium's stubborn refusal to forgive Aarch, or perhaps Artegor's own delusions. But here he was, witnessing the wedding between Aarch and Adium. Or perhaps it was that he wouldn't have thought that he would have been invited or that he would accept that invitation. It wasn't in his nature to be forgiving.

And he had a lot to forgive Aarch for, he knew that Aarch was the only person who could make him...happy- in his mind he spat the word, like poison, like Smog. He hated happy people. He hated Aarch for making him happy so long ago. He hated Adium for making Aarch happy, the problem with Aarch was that he could be happy with lots of people; he could be happy with Artegor but he could be equally happy with Adium, or Simbai, or whoever. Aarch loved possibilities, he never loved the Shadows more than he loved the Akillians.

Still, Artegor had thought that after the ice-age the Akillian temperment would be less sunny, but no, they bounced back, still happy Akillian idiots; even sour-faced Norata reunited with that wife of his. And all gathered for the happy occassion.

Still, Artegor was somewhat glad that he could feel that tinge of hatred and anger underneath the surface. He had supposedly given it up with the Smog but the Smog had come back and so had his feelings. It was better this way, without anger, without hatred he had been hollow; a shell. His obsession had hollowed him out, taken everything from him, and so it was a relief when the Smog had taken over, it had made things simple and easy. He belonged with the Shadows, he was barely human, he was a lot more like them.

He watched carefully as Adium walked up the aisle, if she was nervous then she didn't show it. Her hair was down for once and it was in soft waves. Her dress was a traditional white and she was so cliché in her radiance. Adium had been hard, tough, Artegor had been able to respect that somewhat but now it seemed that she had caved. Of course waiting for her was Aarch, in a suit, a wide grin on his face. Artegor could tell he was nervous, he always tried to hide his nervousness underneath too big of a smile. Artegor smiled his own bitter smile, that Aarch was committing to one thing, to one person, cutting off all other possibilities, was undoubtedly a big step for him.

The wedding was perfect, apart from himself and Sinedd; everyone seemed to be so ecstatically happy. Aarch's nephew, Rocket was sitting with his girlfriend Tia; no doubt they'd be the next couple to wed. And the rest of the Snow Kids, they all looked so proud of their Coach, they were all smiles. . Norata was the best man, it made sense, after all he was Aarch's brother.

Adium then reached the altar and the long ceremony began. He'd thought that the wedding would be many things, but he hadn't prepared for it to be tedious. He glanced towards Sinedd, who was sitting beside him, Sinedd was looking equally bored. Artegor wasn't sure why Sinedd had been invited, perhaps because he was an ex-Snow Kid. But he Artegor had been explicitly told by Aarch that whilst Sinedd was there that it was Artegor's duty to control him. As if he could. But 'luckily' Sinedd hadn't caused a fuss so far, it was surprising, Sinedd hated Aarch and the rest of the Snow Kids, he usually couldn't resist a chance to ruin things for them.

After hours of useless preaching (the duties of marriage and all that rot) and it was finally crunch-time. It was over quickly but it seemed to take an agonisingly long time. Aarch and Adium exchanged rings and then they kissed. When they kissed it seemed like those two were in their own world, everyone else was excluded. Artegor could have sworn that he heard the sound of a door slamming somewhere. It was finished.

Then came the eating/mingling stage that always came after the actual wedding. All the guests were excitedly chattering and eating. Artegor had briefly spoken to Aarch, given his not-so heartfelt congratulations but had not been called upon for more than that. Aarch moved on to speak to someone else. When he went to look for Sinedd, he found him making trouble. He was exchanging barbs with Rocket and it looked like they were close to getting violent.

"Sinedd!" Artegor barked. "We're leaving."

So yeah, that's it, it's a bit short I know. This fic was something I originally started about half a year ago before I got side-tracked with something else. I got another idea which got fused with what I had started to write and then this happened. But yeah, please review!