Fallen Idol
Disclaimer: I do not own Galactik Football and I make no money from this fanfiction.
From the moment Aarch was born everyone had known that he was going to do great things with his life. He was his parents' first child, his father's longed for son. They had saved for years before they had felt ready to support a child and finally it had all paid off when Aarch was born a large and healthy baby.
He had been what was called an 'easy baby'; he didn't cry much, he was rarely ill and he seemed to always be full of smiles for everyone. He was a clever little boy too; he picked things up easily and quickly. His parents pinned all of their hopes on him. His father came to hope that he would be the first in the family to get a degree and escape from the simple life of the florist.
"Maybe you'll be a doctor, or perhaps a lawyer," his father used to say to him, only half jokingly.
When Norata had been born, he'd immediately taken on the role of protective big brother. There wasn't that much gap between their ages so they were able to be friends as well as brothers. His parents always reminded him that Norata looked up to him and that he should set a good example. Actually, to say Norata looked up to him was an understatement; to say that Norata worshiped Aarch would be closer to the truth.
Norata's first word had been 'brother.'
He didn't know exactly when he had discovered football; it had always been there, in the periphery of his mind. He started playing when he was 12, at school in the playground. Like so many other things he was just naturally gifted at it. Everyone always wanted him on their team. He was always picked first. There'd never been anyone to match him, despite the talents of Norata and his childhood friend Adium- the only girl in the school who played football with the boys.
Then he met Artegor.
He would always remember the day Artegor joined their school. He was so different from everyone there; he didn't really speak much but Aarch got the impression it was simply because he didn't wish to speak rather than it being because he was shy or because he didn't have anything of importance to say. They were as different as day and night and maybe that was the attraction, somehow they became friends though neither of them quite knew how, it just happened that way.
Then there had been the announcement that they were holding auditions for a new Akillian team. Aarch knew he had to try out.
Telling his father hadn't been easy. He'd ranted on about Aarch wasting his life and how it was a waste of a decent brain, it was a dead end job. He hadn't been happy that Norata was going either. (Aarch had decided to be a footballer and so naturally Norata wanted to be one too.) Still, he'd worn his father down, he wasn't going to stop him from pursuing football, but he didn't really approve. He was disappointed in him.
Unsurprisingly, Aarch made it to the team, and so did Norata, Adium and Artegor. He never thought he'd be on a team with so many people he already knew.
He was made team captain; an exalted position. He knew that so many would kill to be in his place, to be the leader, the star a Galactik football team- a team that was rapidly rising to the top. The sports analysts predicted he would grow to be to one of the greatest footballers of all time, no-one had anything bad to say about him; he was almost universally loved.
He started dating Adium. It was what people expected and the media loved it, they were Akillian's star couple, there were pictures of them in every magazine. It wasn't that he didn't like Adium, he did, but he hated doing things just because he should. Adium wanted so much from him, she wanted them to be together forever, no doubt she was already fantasising about marriage and children. She called him her hero. It was all too much. He looked at Norata, made old before his time, and he couldn't resist the urge to flee.
When the planet got hit by and ice-age, Aarch knew that he was expected to try and lead people to the light, to comfort them. To help the planet get through it. But he'd thought 'screw it', he and Artegor had been approached by the Shadows and they'd taken that opportunity. He let everyone down all at once; no-one would ever look up to him again and he'd be free to do what he wanted for once. He ruined all he had and he felt much better for it.
Norata stopped speaking to him, and Adium and the others did the same. It wasn't good but it didn't feel all that terrible, he had the Smog and he had Artegor, it was simpler that way.
He'd made a mistake; he thought that Artegor was emotionless, that he really was as cold inside as he was outside, as cold as Akillian after the ice-age. He'd thought they could get involved with no consequences. That had been foolish. He'd failed to realise how much Artegor loved him, how much he needed him, how much he would hate him when he left. He'd never realised how Artegor would mutate from fury and pain; he would always feel responsible for Artegor's fall.
He ran of the Wambas planet, and got treatment for Smog poisoning. No-one really knew him on Wamba and that was good. His medic, Dame Simbai, seemed to take an interest in him, but he knew better than to get involved this time. It would seem inevitable that an attachment would be formed and it was better it not happen. He would leave as soon as he was better, for another planet, he moved on a lot after that, he never stayed in one place long.
As the years went by he started to miss Akillian, he started to miss everything that he had and thrown away so carelessly. He'd thought that the best way to be happy was to cut himself of completely, so no-one would respect or rely on him. But the problem with that was it meant having no-body, being alone, an outcast. Aarch felt empty inside and he eventually came to realise that the only way to make the emptiness go away was to try and fix his mistakes.
He went back to Akillian and despite the (justified) hostility towards him; he managed to form a team. Because of his past mistakes, no-one would ever mistake him for being perfect. It didn't matter, because when he watched the Snow Kids play to the best of their abilities, he knew what he had to do. He just had to be his best.
Author notes: I was mainly motivated to write this because I feel that sometimes the view of Aarch in my fics can be quite negative, probably because they usually focus more on Artegor, so I wanted to write something where he's a little more sympathetic. Please review; I love reviews so much!