The Sour Side
Chapter 1: Darkness
Disclaimer: I do not own Galactik Football and I make no money from this fanfiction.
He wakes in darkness- that's nothing strange, it is night. But there's something different about this- the darkness looks textured and there's the smell, like charred flesh. He's only smelt that once before and it's a stench he'll never forget. His legs feel cramped and he wants to run but he feels too afraid to even move- even to breath. He can feel the slow drip of sweat on his brow, feeling feverish and powerless to resist. He wants to shut his eyes but they're open, glassy and blank. He swears he sees something move; lurch closer, until the smell- the taste is almost too much to bear. And then it's gone. His eyes frantically search the room for it; it's so hard to tell with the lack of light. He can't see it; it seems to have gone for good. After a while he falls back to sleep and when he wakes he feels different. He had been sure it was real then but now he wonders whether it had all been a dream.
His father asks him why he is not paying attention- his tutor had told on him; he'd been looking out of the window instead of paying attention to the intricacies of magickal theory. He doesn't want to tell his father so he doesn't. His mother catches him sleeping on the library floor. She asks him why he is tired; he tells her. She tells him it was nothing, that he should go be a good boy and make up the work he missed out on this morning. He nods and walks slowly out of the room; he doesn't run, he knows she is watching. He tries to do as she says but his mind keeps wandering- he's dreading going to bed for fear of what might be coming. That evening, when he's meant to be asleep, he hears his parents arguing again. He can't tell over what; he can't quite make their words out, he never can. He tries to sleep and eventually he does. He doesn't see it again- except in his dreams.
He is Artegor Nexus; he is eight.
Eight years later…
He opened his eyes. Today was the day; his sixteenth birthday. He lay in bed for a moment, allowing himself a moment of calm before it all begun. He traced the patterns on the ceiling with his eyes, knowing that this would be the last time he'd see them for a while. He couldn't say he'd miss them. He glanced at the clock; it was seven-thirty- he wasn't leaving until midday. He wondered what he should do until then, his things were all packed (he'd done that weeks ago) and the wait seemed almost unbearable now- the time seem to stretch the closer he got. The weeks leading up to this had felt like months, the past couple of days like years- these hours felt even longer than that even.
Frustrated, he pushed his covers aside and swiftly got out of bed. He went to the mirror and looked at his reflection, flattening his hair a little with his hands. He dressed, trying to make it take as long as possible to fill the time- but even that didn't last long (he'd already picked what he was going to wear in advance too). He went back to the mirror and fussed for a little while longer over his hair.
After a little while, he heard a knock on his door. He groaned internally, that would be his father come to give him a farewell speech. A little thrill of pleasure ran through him as he remembered that soon he wouldn't have to put up with this any longer. His father would send letters, when he remembered to, but that didn't mean Artegor had to read them. Resigning himself to this last trial, he opened to door to his father.
Neither of them smiled or said anything by way of greeting. Artegor went and sat down on the bed; his father strode into the room but remained standing up, blocking out the light and leaving Artegor sat in his shadow.
"This is a big day for you, son."
Artegor nodded by way of response. That they could both agree on.
"I know that you will make us proud," he said, barely disguising the threat contained within his words. Artegor tried not to smirk at the old man's failure of an attempt at subtlety- he hated it when Artegor smirked. Ignoring Artegor's apparent lack of response, he continued, in the way he was wont to do. "I won't be there to see you leave, I have to leave myself- business."
Artegor nodded at the word 'business' like he was supposed to. That one word was his father's explanation for almost everything.
"I want to make sure you remember what I told you."
This was the part where Artegor was expected to speak. Bored, he rattled off everything his father had ever told him in the past few weeks- that he should keep out of trouble, that he should sure to associate with the Blackwell's boy and the Stone's girl, that he should avoid so and so. He recited it almost perfectly that spoke more to the amount of times his father had said it than to Artegor's (admittedly pretty good) memory.
"That's it then," his father said, briskly. "I shall see you at some point in the spring."
"Goodbye," Artegor said, watching his father walk away. He wasn't sure if he had heard but either way, he gave no response.
Artegor shrugged, at least some time had passed- although not nearly as much as it had felt like.
A few hours passed and it was finally time to leave. His mother was there to see him off, her face set and stoic.
"Be good," she said, and Artegor could swear that he saw the beginnings of a tear well in his mother's eye. He pretended he couldn't see it; he was going and nothing could change his mind. Besides, he knew the real reason that she was getting upset and he'd already decided that he wouldn't feel guilty over that.
He nods.
"I'll write to you." Artegor probably wouldn't burn those letters.
"I'll write back," he conceded. He kissed her cheek before crossing the threshold out of the house- the walls almost seemed to shudder as he left, as if resisting his abandonment of them. He wouldn't miss the creaking and shifts of the old house at all.
He climbed up onto the carriage where his bags were already loaded. He looked back at his mother standing in the doorway, full tears now streaming down her cheeks. He turned his face away and tried to think only of what was ahead of him as they drove him away.
That's it for this chapter! Usually when I write AUs, I do the type where it's based on one event being changed and how it affects everything else (I'll still be drawing on stuff that went down in canon though), but this idea was just too fun for me resist. Naturally, more information about magick and how it all works in this universe will appear in later chapters (I didn't just want to info dump it all). Aarch will also be making his entrance in the next chapter, yay! Please review; I appreciate all feedback.