Synopsis: past fic. What happened to some characters on Akilian just before the Ice Age.
Disclaimer: the animated show "Galactik Football" doesn't belong to me. I'm not making any money with this fic so please, don't sue me.
Before the ice age, chapter 3
The changing-room of Akilian Stadium, a few hours before the explosion
The coach was glancing at his wrist watch every now and then. Everyone was not early, as usual. Well, after all, the essential was that they were not late. Aarch, Adim, Artegor and Burns were already getting ready and he was waiting for the four other players to come.
Then Norata arrived. "I'm not late?" he asked.
"Well, you could have done a bit quicker…"
"Sorry but my wife was in a bad condition..."
"Well, congratulation on being such a caring husband but I'd appreciate if you got ready now. Do you know where the others are?"
Then Max, Sven and Sandi arrived and the coach started talking to them. Aarch took advantage of the situation to walk to his brother. "Bad condition?" he whispered.
"Nothing serious, she just had a bad dream. She saw herself forgetting the baby somewhere…"
The younger brother laughed. "I heard all pregnant women make these kinds of dreams! There aren't any other problems, I hope."
"No, don't worry. Your nephew is all right."
"So it will be a boy?" the blue-eyed brother asked.
"Yeah, but don't tell Kira. She wants it to remain a surprise. He never stops kicking, she says!"
"Good. I'll teach him galactik football when he's older."
The coach interrupted them. "As much as I don't mind people talking about babies, I'd like you to concentrate on the game. The Smog is a particularly powerful Flux and the Shadows won't let you win easily, believe me. I want you to remain concentrate, whatever happens. Same places as usual. Aarch and Artegor: strikers. Norata and Burns: midfielders. Adim and Max: defenders. Sven: goalkeeper. Sandrina, be ready to enter the field at any moment. They have a new player who looks particularly aggressive and I have a bad feeling about him. You're a great team and I know you can win this match!
Then the team entered the field. They felt tensed, nervous, impatient and excited. The Shadows were waiting for them. And the match began.
Ooo0ooo0oo
A house, a few hours before the explosion
Kira was watching the match, slouched in a reclining chair. Her husband had insisted that she stayed home and relaxed instead of coming to the stadium where she would be less comfortable. Two years earlier, she had never watched more than a few minutes of a GF match and there were still things she didn't get about it, like the reasons why some supporters attacked the supporters of other teams or hooted in the middle of the night when their favourite team had won or lost a match. Now she was quite enjoying watching it, though. You never now what life has in store for you.
A free kick was announced for his brother-by-law. He stepped back and exchanged a look with his brother, who nodded briefly. She watched him concentrating and then the image on the holo became blurred. Puzzled, the to-be mother got up, putting a hand on her swelled belly as if to ask her baby to calm down, and had a look at the holo. Then she noticed that the ground was trembling. The air became cold and she rushed to the window to close it. What she saw terrified it. It was snowing! But what was going on?
Then she remembered: two greenhouses out of four were opened and Norata had spent months working on the plants within! She went to close them as quickly as she could. It was snowing on the exotic flowers. White flakes were falling slowly like granulated sugar on the delicate blue, pink and red petals. It was a beautiful sight but the air was getting colder and colder and soon, the fragile plants would be dead if she didn't do anything.
She closed all the windows and went upstairs to take a sweater. A sound of broken glass made her jump. She came back into the greenhouse and saw that the cold had made the glass roof explode! Completely panicked, she found a cover and tried to fill up the holes.
Eventually, she sat down, completely exhausted, and turned on the holo again. On all the channels, they were talking about an unexplained explosion, an avalanche on the stadium, two players who were severely injured… her heart missed a beat. She tried to call people she knew but nobody could inform her. Then she decided to go to the hospital and see by herself.
She practically bumped into the neighbour when she left home. "Hey, I was about to go and see how you're doing", he said. "You're not going anywhere, I hope."
"I have to go to the hospital. Do you know it the roads are passable?"
"Uh? Maybe but I won't let you go anywhere. Think of your baby."
The baby?!! Suddenly she realised it hadn't moved at all since the explosion, as if it was afraid of something. This was getting more and more worrying. "Please", she said, "I'm worried about my baby's father and the hospital is not that far. I'll feel better when I'll know he's all right and anyway, what can happen to me in a hospital?"
The neighbour gave up. "I'll drive you, then. Just promise me to go back home and calm down as soon as you'll know he's ok."
She nodded and followed him into his car.
Ooo0ooo0oo
The hospital was crowded. People from all over the city were coming, some were hurt and some were only shocked. In a corridor, six out of the eight players of the Akilian GF team were sitting. Every now and then, one of them got up, went outside, made a phone call and came back. Nobody wanted to talk: they were too worried.
"You know what", Max suddenly said, "I think if that thing hadn't happen, we would have won the match!"
"I'd prefer the match to be lost and everyone to be ok", Sven answered. His girlfriend Sandi had entered the field only ten minutes before the avalanche. She and Norata were both severely injured and he was getting more and more worried.
Max stand in front of him. "I feel bad about it, you know", he said. "If I hadn't been hurt by that Shadow player, she wouldn't have replaced me and…"
"Don't be silly!" the goalkeeper interrupted. "Of course it's not your fault! How could I hold it against you? It's…"
"Ridiculous", Burns said coldly. "None of us is responsible for that problem and getting emotional about it won't help. Now do you mind if I leave? I'd like to know how my family is doing. Say get well to Norata and Sandi from me."
And he left hurriedly. Max stared at him, puzzled. "Do you think this guy has a heart somewhere?" he asked.
"Yes, but he prefers to use his brains", Adim sighed. She hated situations that were going out of everybody's control and having to sit and go through it was driving her mad. There was a long silence and then Max cleared his throat.
"Uh, you know, I read an article about Fluxes, last month. It said, I hope you won't be afraid but it said Fluxes can theoretically disappear when something shakes the planet. And I can't feel my Breath now."
The others stared at him and then closed their eyes and concentrated. Nothing happened, no unique feeling, no burst of energy. They had all lost the Breath. Aarch felt destroyed. His close brother was probably dying and the Breath, the very essence of his life, was gone. What worse could happen to him?
Then the door burst open and a distraught Kira entered. She nearly fainted when seeing her love was not among the people who were present. "What's happened?" she asked. "Is…"
Aarch had never felt so embarrassed. His sister-by-law was already a bit on the fragile side when everything was all right, so how could he tell her that her husband was severely hurt while she was pregnant with eight months? He tried to think of something but Sven didn't leave him time to say anything. He got up and embraced the to-be mother.
"We'll need to be brave", he whispered. "Be brave. They'll need us. Your Norata and my Sandi… well, they got the worst of it. The doctors are now taking care of them and they said they'd do their best. I'm sure they will recover and… uh, your kid's just kicked me!"
She laughed nervously. "One good news, at least. It hadn't moved at all since the explosion. Do we know what they have, exactly?"
"Not yet", Aarch said quickly. The mere though of his brother lying unconscious on a stretcher was enough to make him sick. This looked like a nightmare. It could only be a nightmare! He tried to change the subject. "So, why don't you go back home where you'll be more comfortable?" he asked.
"No, thanks, I'd rather stay. I want to be there for him when he's awake."
Aarch and Sven tried to convince her to go home but she refused categorically: taking care of her loved ones was more important than anything else. Max left them later, wishing them good luck. He was worried about his family and wanted to see if they were all right. Then it was Artegor's and Adim's turn. Time passed. People were coming and going.
Then a little kid stopped by the two players and stared at them. "Can I have an autograph, please?" she asked politely. "It's for my little brother, he just had his arm broken…"
Aarch was so upset that he didn't react but helpful Sven immediately nodded. He was about to ask for the little boy's name when a doctor appeared. "Does someone here know Sandrina Eef?" he asked.
He got up. "I'm her boyfriend. Tell me she'll be all right!"
"You're Sven, aren't you?" the doctor asked. "She asked for you. She'll recover but the cold affected the optical nerves. I'm sorry but she's lost her sight."
The goalkeeper nodded. "I was afraid it could be worse", he said slowly. "Don't tell her parents, I'll tell them myself. Can I have a talk with her?" And he followed the doctor into the room. Aarch and Kira remained alone and afraid.
Ooo0ooo0oo
Norata awoke with the feeling he just had a nightmare. But instead of lying with Kira in his bedroom, he was in a hospital bed, numb and with a woman in white staring at him. "How do you feel, sir?" the nurse asked.
"I don't know. Where am I?"
"In Akilian central hospital."
A hospital?!! What did it mean? "Was my son born?" the to-be father asked immediately.
"Not yet. But your wife is all right, and so is your brother. They are both waiting for you. Do you remember what happened?"
He remembered the earthquake just after his brother's free kick, the avalanche, and then nothing. "You say everyone is all right?" he asked cautiously. Then he realised he couldn't move one of his legs. Actually he couldn't feel it at all. Panic overcame him. The nurse noticed his glance at the sheets and tried to sound comforting.
"I'm afraid we were too late to save your left leg. We'll give you an artificial limb soon, don't worry."
Don't worry?!! How could he help worrying? What had he done to deserve to lose a leg? Had he not always a good, hard-working person, a good brother and husband? Why him? And how could he carry on protecting Kira, fragile as a flower as she was, with that kind of handicap? How could he protect his future baby in that pitiful state?!!
"Don't tell my wife!" he said.
"I'm afraid we already had to explain her everything. She'd like to talk to you."
The former midfielder thought he didn't want anybody he knew to see him in that state but he felt too tired to explain it. "And the rest of the team?" he asked.
"They are all okay, except for Miss Eef, who was also injured. She regained consciousness some time ago and…" the nurse couldn't help smiling "she actually told everyone jokes."
That was so typical from Sandi that Norata didn't even react. "Go away", he said simply.
"What should I say to your family?"
He sighed. There was nothing more important than family and he had to put their mind at ease, even though he'd prefer to be alone. "Let them enter" he said. The nurse nodded and a few seconds later, Aarch and Kira entered the room.
Kira fell slowly on her knees when she saw him and buried her face onto his shoulder. "I was so worried…" she whispered.
""What are you doing here?" he asked abruptly. "You were supposed to stay home. Think of our baby!"
She stared at him, puzzled, and tears started running down her cheeks. "I… I was worried!" she stuttered. I though you were…"
Aarch sighed. "I told her to stay home too, but she just wanted to be sure that you were all right, ok? Don't worry, I'll drive her home myself."
"How's the baby?" he asked. His wife getting so distressed was making him uneasy and he didn't want to show her how upset he was himself. He had to hide his fears because she needed him to be strong. However, she looked at him, surprised.
"I… think it's ok. Kicks all the time, as usual. How do you feel?"
"Nothing worth talking about it. Did you close the greenhouses?"
She felt slightly hurt. It was obvious that he was really upset, and him refusing to talk about it seemed to be a lack of trust. She told herself he was trying to cope with stress and nodded. "Yes, but the cold broke three greenhouses out of four. It tried to lessen the…"
"The COLD?" he interrupted.
"There has been a climate change for a few hours."
Then his brother spoke but the former midfielder didn't listen. If they had lost three greenhouses, they had to find another way to make their budget work. He couldn't play GF any more, of course. The greenhouses had to be repaired, so he would search information on plants that withstood the cold, he would also convince his bank to…
"Norata", his brother asked, worried, "are you listening to me?"
He shook his head. "No. Can you leave me alone now? I have to think."
Aarch and Kira exchanged a look. The captain of the team knew very well how stubborn his brother was, especially in bad situations. He decided to tell him later about the loss of the Breath. "Ok, then", he said. "I'll visit you tomorrow."
"Love you", the to-be mother said with a kiss. She waited for an answer, heard nothing and left.
Ooo0ooo0oo
They drove home slowly. The landscape was so beautiful the day before but now it looked like a battle field after the war. Aarch was feeling empty. He was so sorry for his brother. And what was he without his Breath? Nothing at all. He would never play GF again, none of his friends would and he couldn't stand that idea. This was just driving him mad.
He stopped by Norata's home, turned to his sister-by-law, who was crying silently, and patted her shoulder. "Listen", he said awkwardly, "you were good. Really good. Now go home, relax, eat something and sleep, you'll need it. Ok?"
This sounded like the speeches his coach made to the team players when he was satisfied with the training sessions but Kira guessed it was the closest to a warm, comforting thing he could think of. "Thank you", she said. She hugged him briefly and then stumbled to her cold, unwelcoming home. Aarch sighed and drove to him own home, feeling empty.
To be continued…