The Lucky Ones
Disclaimer: I do not own Galactik Football and I make no money from this fanfiction.
Set during Season 3, slightly spoilery for ep 9 (I watched it in French so I didn't really understand anything they were saying).
Dedicated to indecisive-ays, because she's awesome, and because she likes Norata/Keira!
Norata slowly trimmed the stems of the flowers he was currently making into a bouquet for a wedding. Weddings had never been his favourite events to work for, he'd become some what bitter to the ideal of marriage ever since Keira had left him.
Of course that wasn't the case now; she was sitting right beside him, working alongside with him making the task of preparing flowers for wedding a thousand times more enjoyable. She'd restored his faith when they'd reunited; he'd been surprised at how easy it had been to pick up where they had left their relationship all those years ago.
They mostly worked in companionable silence, occasionally stopping to talk about a certain method when cultivating flowers or just saying anything that came into their heads at that point. The atmosphere was entirely comfortable and relaxed, Norata no longer felt the need to fill every silence as he had done in his teenage years- he'd thought that all silences were awkward probably because with the Akillian team there rarely was a moment of peace and quiet (although, it wasn't usually Norata making very much of the noise.) Even back then, Keira was the only person who made him feel right, who made him feel lucky to be himself.
The silence was broken by the sound of an incoming call from the holo-computer. Norata hauled himself up and went to answer it, Keira following curiously.
As it happened, the call was from Aarch.
"Aarch; it's good to see you. Is Rocket okay?"
Normally when Aarch called him out of the blue like this it was usually because Rocket had run away or something else had happened to him. (Aarch wasn't very good at simply 'keeping in touch'; he always felt he needed a reason to call.)
"Unfortunately, Rocket has been sick, there's a strange problem with his Breath due to something called the resonance. We're looking after him though and it doesn't look too serious. I just thought you should be informed."
Norata sighed, heaviness in his heart. Keira put her hand on her shoulder for comfort but her expression was just as worried as his was. It just seemed like it was one thing after another with Rocket. Norata wished they could be there to look after him properly- he knew he hadn't always been the best father, but he'd always tried and done what he thought best. He knew Rocket was in good hands with Aarch though; he'd always thought it odd that Aarch had never had any children of his own, he would be a good father. He supposed it was because he was never really able to settle down long enough for that to happen.
"Thank you, Aarch, keep us posted if anything else happens." He paused, noticing that Aarch looked tired and unhappy. "And how are you doing? You don't look well."
Aarch sighed and it looked like the weight of the world was on his shoulders.
"I'm fine," he lied, unconvincingly.
Norata just raised an eyebrow, conveying his utter disbelief. Aarch was normally better at hiding his feelings than this.
"I saw Artegor and Adium together," Aarch, finally, confessed.
"Together, in what sense?"
Aarch shrugged.
"And now you're jealous," Norata filled in the blank. Sometimes getting Aarch to talk about anything other than football was like drawing blood from a stone.
Aarch just looked away.
"Over who? Adium or Artegor?" Norata asked impatiently, he never could work out what was going on in Aarch's love life, it was so unstable.
"I don't know."
"I think you need to ask yourself what you really want before you start jumping to any conclusions."
"Thanks. I'll keep you informed as to what's happening with Rocket," Aarch said, curtly, before signing off.
"He'll be alright," Keira said, without making clear whether she was speaking of Rocket or Aarch. Perhaps she meant both. She was a wise woman, Keira, being with her now made it so hard for Norata to believe that they'd really been separated for all those years over so little.
"There's nothing we can do now, we should get back to work," replied Norata, finding it easy to settle back into the rhythm despite the worry for both his brother and his son. Norata had always been far more simple than Aarch ever had been, he'd known what he'd wanted, Keira had been his only love and he liked it that way. He was happy with the simple pleasures of life, like gardening.
Aarch had always been too restless to really enjoy anything. Outwardly he appeared uncomplicated and natural but it was all a façade, Aarch was the most complex person Norata knew (even including Artegor). When they were younger it had made Norata feel inadequate, all teenagers 'knew' it was better to be complicated, being happy was just too shallow. Now that Norata was older he could see how ridiculous this was.
He'd always thought that Aarch was lucky; he had after all escaped the ice-age with his leg intact, and been able to leave whereas Norata hadn't had a choice but to stay. But Aarch just seemed lost now; Norata knew he belonged right where he was.
"I love you," he said, suddenly.
"I know, dear, I love you too."
That's it for this fic! I'm not really sure where this came from either, but at the moment I just seem to be writing non-stop! Please review; I'd love to hear your opinions!