It's All Over
Disclaimer: I do not own Galactik Football and I make no money from this fanfiction.
Dedicated to indecisive-ays and GFSista because I feel that from reading their fics, I found this inspiration for this.
Title comes from the song of the same name by 'Broken Family Band'.
Also, I'm not sure what rating this needs- it's T at the moment but it might need an M.
Tia entered Rocket's room, without knocking (they were familiar enough for that a long time ago), greeting him with a cheery wave. He looked up from the notes he was making, pausing the holo-tv, to greet her in return.
"Hi, mind if ask a few questions?" Tia asked, turning her camera on, smiling. She was working on a video project about what was happening in the lives of the Snow Kids- she'd uploaded some of her other work onto the holo-web and there had been a surprising demand for more. And she figured, why not? They were on holiday (although Rocket didn't act like it, what with his constant study of various old matches) and she figured if she was going to do this, she might as well start with her boyfriend. They didn't really see each other as much as she would have liked, so here was the perfect opportunity to spend some time together.
Rocket got up off his bed and looked into the camera lens, blinking at it- he was more used to being in front of a camera than when she first met him but he still wasn't as self assured as he was on the pitch.
Rocket sighed, and then a wicked grin came to his face.
"Actually I had something a little different in mind," he said, pulling Tia towards him.
"If I didn't know better, I'd think you just wanted to avoid answering my questions," Tia said, placing her hands on her hips, mock indignation on her face. Her face broke into a smile and she put her camera down on the side-table, eagerly melting into Rocket's embrace.
"I love you," she half-whispered, brushing her hand against his dreadlocked-hair. It wasn't the first time she had ever said it, but it wasn't any less true now than it was then.
"I love you too," he answers, automatically, his attention more on getting her out of her puffy jacket. Smiling, she assisted him in this action, continuing to strip down until they were both devoid of all their garments. Free.
He crushed her mouth with his and like gravity they fell to his bed. And Tia felt so happy because she just knew that it would always be like this.
"Where is it? Where is it?" Tia repeated to herself, rummaging her room, searching desperately for her video camera. It was practically like a limb to her, she couldn't believe that she had lost it, she'd had it for years- they were pretty much inseparable. Taking deep breathes, she traced her steps back in her mind to try and recall where she had left it.
After thinking about it for a few seconds, she had a light bulb moment, suddenly recalling that she had brought it to Rocket's room to interview him, before she had gotten distracted by…other things…She breathed a sigh of relief and immediately set off to Rocket's room to retrieve her camera.
When she got there, he wasn't there, but he had given her the holo-key to the room anyway, so it wasn't a problem. She found her camera, safe and sound, sitting right where she had left it. She grabbed it, vowing that she would never allow herself to be separated from it again, and she walked back to her own room. Even though she was allowed to be there, she always felt somewhat uneasy lingering in his room when he wasn't there with her.
Once she was back in her room, she immediately pressed the 'on' button so that she could see what footage she had managed to get from Rocket, but to no avail. She furrowed her brow and pressed the button again, several times, but the screen remained dark. She hoped that it wasn't broken. Eventually she just tried plugging it into the charger and much to her surprise it became apparent that low battery was the source of the problem- she'd had a full battery when she'd gone into Rocket's room...
When the Camera was fully charged she turned it on to check whether the growing suspicion, that she had forgotten to turn it off, was indeed correct. And unfortunately, Tia's cheeks grew red when she discovered that not only had her camera not been turned off, but that it had been pointed exactly in the direction of Rocket's bed and had captured the entire 'show'.
Tia's first impulse was to delete it immediately before anyone could possibly have the chance to see it- the press would have a field day, she could just imagine what would happen if Sharkey managed to get a hold of it, the mere thought of it sent a feeling a shaky panic along Tia's nerve cells.
Her finger hit the delete key, all in a rush, but she hesitated before confirming her decision to erase the footage forever. It was against all her instincts as a filmmaker to just delete footage without actually viewing it…and she had to admit that she was curious.
Quickly, she decided on her new course of action; she would watch the footage through, just once, and then send it to the digital graveyard, no-one would know any wiser.
She started from the beginning, finding it all unbearably awkward to start with, having to cover her eyes because it was all slightly embarrassing- she couldn't quite believe that it was her that she was watching. Slowly, though, she started to get into it; it was making her feel hot and bothered in an entirely different way to her prior panic.
It was almost disappointing when it came to an end. She watched herself exit Rocket's room and wondered what was next. There was still quite a bit of footage still left, although she imagined it would just be of Rocket sitting there writing notes about football, she was still curious to see what he got up to when no-one was around. It could have been considered an invasion of his privacy, but it wasn't like she had meant to record anything and it was just natural curiosity.
Much of it was as she had predicted, containing nothing of particular interest, although it was always fascinating to her to see how much his facial expression shifted even when doing something such as taking notes. Then his holo-phone rung and he started to scramble to pick it up- it immediately brought a smile to her face, he wasn't much of a phone person, he only tended to use them under 'extreme circumstances'.
His next words were what really got her attention though. "Sinedd? I thought I told you never to call me again."
Tia frowned, why would Sinedd be calling Rocket? She hoped it wasn't anything to do with Netherball; he'd caused enough trouble for them the first time round.
Rocket appeared to be listening to whatever Sinedd was saying, his face full of conflicting emotions; a struggle and then…utter defeat…
"Fine, I'll come to yours, just don't come here…at 8.30," he said, curtly, before hanging up.
Tia's eyes flew to her watch, it was nine now, he'd be there by now- so it was already too late to stop him from going. She didn't know what Sinedd was up to but it couldn't be good, she already feared the worst. Tears formed in her eyes as she imagined losing him again; she just couldn't go through it again.
'Pull yourself together!' she thought, swatting the tears away. She could stop this, she could stop anything from happening- all she had to do was find Sinedd's hotel (because that's where she assumed they would be meeting from what she had heard) and she knew that he'd still probably be there.
A quick search on the web and she quickly discovered the information she needed, memorising the directions, she rushed out, calling a cab to take her to the Shadow's hotel. She had managed to find Sinedd's room number (the information being on the internet, thank god for stalker fangirls) and she pressed her ear to the door to try and hear what was being said. When she heard nothing, she thought it might all have been for nothing, that she had gotten the wrong room- or they had decided to meet elsewhere. Or perhaps he was gone, it was half nine by now.
She was about the walk away, dejectedly, when she heard something- a small muffled sound. She strained her ears even more and she heard it again. Heat bloomed in her cheeks as she realised it sounded like a moan. So either she was horribly intruding on some random person's privacy or, Sinedd and Rocket had met up earlier before Sinedd invited some girl back to his place. Quite honestly, she wasn't sure which scenario was worse. Again, she was going to move away but another voice stopped her.
And it was so much worse that she had thought.
"Are you satisfied now?" he said, and despite an unusually bitter tone in his voice, it was unmistakably him.
Had she had x-ray vision she would have seen Sinedd answer that question silently, with his typical smirk and a raised eyebrow. But she didn't so she had to wait torturously long minutes before she heard Sinedd speak.
"Close the door on the way out."
With that Tia set off in a sprint, the idea that she might have to face Rocket at that moment being too much for her. She ran furiously, until her breath was ragged, not even knowing where she was going. There were just so many ideas whirling around in her mind and it was easier just to run than stop and consider them all, there seemed a danger that they would all just completely overwhelm her.
When she finally had to stop, she was in the middle of no-where, an empty back street. Perhaps being in a dark alleyway at night wasn't the most sensible option, but Tia was too distracted to be scared. She leaned against the wall and caught her breath, images of Rocket with Sinedd catching up with her and flooding her mind. Her eyes prickled with tears and, despite fighting against them, they flowed freely down her face.
How long had it all being going on? Since Netherball? Or after that? Did Rocket love him? Did he love her?
There were just so many questions that she didn't have the answer for and it wasn't as if she could ask Rocket. She wouldn't be able to face him after this, she had loved him and he had betrayed her again.
The reality that it was over, that it would have to be, sunk in and she begun to feel nauseous and dizzied by what it meant for her future. She just didn't know what to do.
She just knew that she couldn't just stay there, as much as she might want to, she moved from the wall and dragged herself wearily to the nearest taxi. She went back to her room, collapsing into her bed, lying awake for several hours before eventually falling into a sleep that, whilst not entirely peaceful, offered some respite.
When she awoke the next morning she found that none of it felt real, that it was all just a bad dream, the very idea of Rocket having a secret affair with Sinedd seemed too ridiculous to be true.
But it was true, as much as she wished it wasn't, it was and she knew it.
Last night she had been engulfed in despair, but now she just felt numb, disconnected from the world around her.
Her holo-phone buzzed- Rocket was calling. She picked it up automatically, despite not wanting to speak to him.
"Hello," she said, her voice not sounding like her own.
"Hey, Tia, I was wondering if you wanted to come with me- I'm going to my father's for tea." He sounded the same as he always did, as if nothing had changed. She wondered how long Rocket had been lying to her that he had gotten so good at it.
"I'm sorry, I'm busy," she said simply, hanging up before Rocket could ask her any further questions.
If Rocket was going to be out as his parents' house then that would only prove to her advantage, as an idea formed in her mind. A crazy idea, a stupid idea, not an idea that Tia would normally have ever even considered.
But she was not feeling like herself, she wasn't the Tia who was going to have a happily-ever-after with her hero-boyfriend. And she wasn't going to sit back and cry anymore, she'd cried too much for him already.
She opened her wardrobe, her mouth set in grim resolution, drawing out a dress she had never worn; she'd always thought that it was too tight, too short, she'd only bought it because Mei had insisted that she had too buy it- that it was perfect on her. She put it on, noticing objectively that perhaps Mei was correct. Thinking about Mei made her stop for a moment, would Mei mind what she was about to do? She reassured herself that Mei and Sinedd were over and Mei was back together with D'jok, she had no real reason to mind. Having satisfied her conscience, she continued with her preparations, fluffing up her hair. Dully, she applied make-up to her face, far more than she would usually wear.
She knew that she was meant to feel feminine and beautiful like this, but she felt more like a soldier- putting on a uniform and war-paint before going out to battle.
She could have hesitated, called the whole thing off, but she wasn't thinking much at all- she was just felt driven by some mysterious force. So, she walked out the door and out of Aarch academy, again calling a taxi…to Sinedd's place.
It was clear when he answered the door that he was not expecting her, or visitors of any kind, it seemed like he had just gotten up.
"What?" he said upon seeing her, rubbing his eyes in a belligerent manner.
"Aren't you going to let me in?" she asked, an edge of irritation apparent in her voice.
He regarded her suspiciously, if the mere fact of her being there wasn't strange enough, there was also the fact that she was seriously dressed up to considerer. There was something that wasn't right with her, he could tell that much, despite not being particularly empathetic. He thought about just slamming the door in his face, but his curiosity won out.
He stepped back, leaving the door open so that she could walk through, which she did, sitting herself down, boldly, on Sinedd's bed. He frowned, closing the door behind them, wondering what on earth she was doing there.
"So, what brings you here?" he asked, finally, after a few awkward moments of silence.
"Take a guess," she said, in a tone of false-sweetness, looking doe-eyed at him.
"If I could guess the answer then I wouldn't have asked," he shot back, quickly; he always resented it when people started playing games with him.
"Sit down," she replied, enigmatically, patting the space of the bed beside her.
He couldn't say he enjoyed being ordered around in his own room, whilst a girl he barely knew acted as if she owned the place. He walked over to his bed but he didn't sit, he just crossed his arms defiantly.
"No, maybe Rocket likes playing games, but I don't."
Tia winced at the sound of Rocket's name on Sinedd's lips; he'd just said it so flippantly, like he wasn't doing anything wrong. She could feel Sinedd's eyes inspecting her and she desperately hoped that he hadn't noticed her reaction to what he had just said.
"That's not what I heard," she said, in an attempt at recovery, it coming out far shakier and far less flirtatious than she had intended.
"I don't want to use force to make you leave," Sinedd said, somewhat unconvincingly, he had that spark in his eye- she'd seen the same look on Rocket back when he'd been hooked on playing Netherball. That had been Sinedd's fault too, everything was Sinedd's fault.
She stood up, so that she was nauseatingly close to the Shadow's Striker. She forced herself to kiss him, just as she had planned. Revenge was what she had thought she wanted, but honestly, just being near him made her feel ill. She pushed Sinedd away, slapping his pale cheek, leaving a painful-looking red mark.
"I know," she said, before fleeing the scene, desperate to get away from there.
Sinedd said nothing in reply, but immediately grasped what she was talking about. He could hardly say he was sorry; after all, he wasn't. Much as he tried to ignore it, the only thing he really felt was hope, hope that with Tia out of the picture, that Rocket would finally be all his. Truth be told, he'd grown more attached to Rocket than he had intended. Had he been less stubborn, he would have admitted it for what it really was: love.
He briefly wondered whether he should call Rocket, to warn him that Tia knew, he wasn't sure whether Tia had confronted him before coming to his- probably not he guessed. But then, if he told Rocket what he knew, he might end up with the blame for telling her- and Sinedd was not going to take the blame for stuff he didn't even do. He smirked a little as he thought of the nasty surprise that Rocket had coming to him…
Tia went back to her room, quickly removing the tight dress and stripping all the make-up off her face, watching as she went from clown to ghost. Her reflection in the mirror looked back at her, tiredly, and she broke into the tears that she said that she wouldn't cry anymore.
She heard a noise in the hallway, startling her, and before she could do anything, Rocket had entered her room to see if she was okay- a gesture that would have been touching before; everything he did or had done was just so tainted with the knowledge of what he had been doing with Sinedd.
"Tia, what's wrong," Rocket said, so gently that she had to remind herself that it was his fault, putting his hand on her shoulder. He just looked so normal, so innocent of any wrong doing.
"Nothing," she lied despite knowing that she couldn't have fooled even the densest person, let alone someone how knew her like Rocket did.
"It's not nothing," Rocket replied, embracing her so naturally that Tia couldn't help but sob hysterically on his shoulder. "It's okay, it's okay."
She didn't say anything else, just clung to him, wishing the embrace could last forever because of what she was going to have to do afterwards. It was killing her because she felt broken enough inside already without having to break from him too. But she knew she had to.
Drying her tears, urging herself to be brave, she pulled away from Rocket. Looking him calmly in the eye, she finally said the words that she never thought she'd say.
"It's over."
And the story is over too! This fic ended up being way more melodramatic than I intended, and I'm not too sure I like the result but I hope you guys got some enjoyment from reading it anyways. Reviews are always appreciated!