Inertia
Disclaimer: I do not own Galactik Football and I make no money from the fanfiction.
Norata had never been one for action; he'd always preferred to be an impartial observer, standing on the fringes of Aarch's group of friends. It suited him just fine, he'd never hated his brother, never resented him, he'd always accepted that they were just different.
Playing football was where he came alive; he was able to move, to be a part of the team. He loved football and he was good at it, almost as good as Aarch. He enjoyed playing defence; it was less flashy than playing attack.
He and Aarch played in a local team, before they joined up with the official Akillian team. It was there that they started to get serious about football. It was also the place they met Artegor for the first time.
He stood out from the rest of the team, partly because his looks were so striking, but mostly because there was an aura about him, something that kept him separate from everyone else.
Norata was fascinated with him from the first moment he laid eyes on him.
He'd watch him carefully, noticing the slight changes in expression when he was concentrating or irritated. He watched him as he played, noticing his elegant yet powerful style, the effortless way he scored goals. He was poetry in motion.
Even though by the time they made the Akillian team they had been playing in the local team together for a couple of years, Norata still didn't know Artegor. They'd probably exchanged less that ten words in that time.
There was no way he could have breached the distance, Norata never acted, and Artegor only reacted. There were so many times he wanted to say something but he felt paralysed.
Artegor talked to Aarch though, somehow Aarch managed to get through to him. From what Norata could see Aarch was Artegor's only friend, the one person he trusted. Norata wondered what they talked about; he wished he could be the one who was privy to Artegor's secret thoughts. But he didn't hate Aarch, not yet.
Something changed when they were recruited to the Akillian team. They were sixteen and they were making it. Aarch and Artegor were sharing a room, a fact Norata was envious of, he was sharing with another guy on the team (a decent guy, they got along fine). Norata was felt even further from Artegor than before. It's like that room was some forbidden temple that only Aarch and Artegor had access to.
He remembered passing Artegor in the hall, one time, when Artegor had given him a particularly odd look. Norata's heart had beat erratically for a moment before Artegor had continued walking on. He wondered what Aarch had said about him to Artegor.
He'd been dating Keira for years. She'd approached him, asked him out, made all the moves; he'd always liked that about her. It wasn't that he didn't love her, he did, it was just that he couldn't stop thinking about Artegor. He started to forget why he was so obsessed, it just became a fact of his life that he was.
He could barely stand it. He couldn't stand watching Artegor watch Aarch. And the worst part was that Aarch seemed totally oblivious to the feelings of everyone around him; he was too wrapped up in his girlfriend, Adium. Norata would see the slightest flicker of hurt cross Artegor's face every time he saw them together. It gave Norata the irrational urge to punch Aarch.
But he still didn't hate him, deep down; Norata knew that none of this was Aarch's fault; there was nothing he could have done to make the situation any better even if he had been aware of it.
It was after the ice-age happened that he started to hate Aarch.
Keira had left for Genesis in hopes of kick starting her acting career, he should have gone with her but he was rooted to the spot. Akillian held so many bad memories for him yet he couldn't bear to leave.
Aarch didn't have the same programme. He took Artegor with him and together they made their new life with the Shadows. How he resented Aarch for that, he wished he could be taking his place.
But he was stuck. He lost football when he lost his leg; he came to a complete standstill, frozen like the planet. He hated the replacement, metal leg; he hated everything about it; the way it looked, the way it felt, the way it sounded as he walked- he hated that the most.
But in the end, the leg was just another excuse for not moving on.
Somehow, over the years, his interest in Artegor withered and died, even his hatred of Aarch reduced somewhat, there was nothing he could do with that feeling- Aarch was out of his reach. He tried to put the fact that his wife had left him, seemingly never to return, to the back of his mind. (It never quite worked; he still felt bitter.)
All he could do was try and make a life for himself (and his son) where they were but it wasn't until everyone returned that that life was complete.
I was trying to write the next chapter of 'The Obscured Path' when this plot bunny jumped up and violently attacked me. I'm not quite happy with this fic though, I can't pinpoint why…Please review; all feedback is appreciated.