Fic resurrection!
I am aware that it has been almost two years since I last updated this fic! I mainly took the time off because I was starting up in University and I wanted to find my feet. I was also concentrating on my own novel- which is set to be published this July!
Anyway! I really am sorry for the huge delay and I will be flooring this one until I'm finished so there'll be no big long wait again!
Also thanks so much to all those who have favourited, reviewed and followed during my hiatus! I'll understand if you guys have abandoned this but I'm really hoping that you guys'll read on.

Once again,
hoping to avoid Ebony becoming a Mary-Sue so let me know if you're starting to get any Mary-Sue vibes from her and if you guys have any requests or ideas for future chapters, let me know!
Furthermore, if you'd like to use or name-drop Ebony in a fanfic or to use her in fanart- you are welcome to do that, but please let me know first.

Now, onward with the fic! In my time-honoured tradition, the song for this chapter is "I Think We're Alone Now" by Tiffany (The Birthday Massacre's cover is actually pretty good too!).

Sinedd wasn't a huge fan of the central city of planet Shadow.
It wasn't because he didn't enjoy urban life in general.

Hell, after growing up in foster home after foster home in the snowy back- ass of nowhere, (also known as planet Akillian), he had developed quite a taste for the flurry of city-life and the electric buzz of the town
When on Genesis, his favourite hangout was the café just across from the big screens. There was no better place to enjoy a coffee and to watch his latest replays on Arcadia Sports.
When he wasn't escaping an extra training session or waiting for word on the next Netherball match, he liked the hustle and bustle of the crowd around him.
The subtle roar of the crowd that passed him- the cacophony of chatter, shouts and intermingling murmurs- was almost soothing. It reminded him of the way the crowd in Genesis would erupt when he scored a goal, thus filling him with some kind of ecstasy.
Of comfort.

Also, lots of noise meant lots of distractions, which meant no time to be left alone with his own thoughts. As much as the Shadows' dark star hated to admit it- his own mind was a place that he often hated to retreat into.

However, "distraction" was one thing and "bombardment" was quite another.
Not only was the main city of planet Shadow both underground and thus, dark both day and night as well as cold, but it was also crawling with a million crazed fans and photographers who would gladly rip him to shreds like a pack of rabid Wambeezan tree-hyenas.
It wasn't that Sinedd didn't mind feeding his ego with one or two photographs or a couple of autographs, it was just that he didn't quite fancy having his clothes torn from his body or several layers of his skin to end up under the fingernails of several screaming fangirls.

Also, the fact that the match had only ended about two hours ago, meant that the streets would be swarming with three particularly dangerous predators: rabid Shadows fans, vengeful Cyclops fans and journalists, ravenous for a good story.
In fact, Sinedd would normally not have even entertained the idea of going into the city so early after a match.

He narrowed his violet eyes, stealing a glance at the bobbing blonde head beside him, her high-heels clicking on the stainless steel foot-path with every step.
Why the hell had he agreed to this again?

"So where are we headed then?" he asked Ebony in a lazy drawl.
She sighed, rolling her eyes beneath her mirror sunglasses. "You'll see." She cocked an eyebrow, smirking and adding in a patronising tone. "You don't get out in this city much. Do you, Sinedd?"

He stuck his tongue out at her, grunting. "I don't get out much here, by choice. Sorry, princess, but I'm not partial to wandering around underground streets in the dark with potential paparazzi lurking around every corner." Sinedd grimaced as he looked around at the buildings that surrounded them, shoving his hands into his pockets. "And it's a small wonder that we're not lost already. These streets are like part of a fucking labyrinth! They all look the same. You know, there's a reason why the Genesis Stadium theme park has an attraction called "The Shadow Maze?"

Ebony gave a snort of laughter. "Lest you forget, hot-shot, I've lived here for most of my life. I know this whole city like the back of my hand."
Sinedd groaned, giving her a shove and chuckling at her stumbling in her high-heels. "Ugh, don't give me another sob-story about your childhood to meditate on. Please."

"Watch it!" she squeaked swatting at him. Regaining her composure, Ebony shrugged, her tone softening a little as she spoke. "I didn't really start going out here, in the city, until I was well into my teens. Dad kind of…" The second striker's face creased a little. "My father didn't really want me going out into the city."
Ebony wandered over to a nearby fountain, sitting on the polished glass ledge, looking down into the glowing yellow liquid that poured into its main bowl as she mumbled something about wanting to take a break because her feet hurt.

"Your own fault for wearing those stilts you call high-heels. I warned you not to wear them,"Sinedd thought with thin-lipped cynicism, but he bit his tongue and moved to sit beside her.
"Your dear Papa was the protective sort?" he questioned, sitting back and following her gaze into the fountain's contents.
Ebony gave a dry, sardonic bark of laughter and shook her head, pulling a cigarette from her black leather handbag and fumbling for her lighter. "Protective? Of my younger sister, anyway. No…towards me, my father wasn't really the protective sort. He was more the controlling sort. The neurotic sort. The ashamed-of-having-a-human-looking-daughter sort…"

Sinedd raised a slow eyebrow, watching as she crossed her legs and took a drag, thick sooty smoke spilling from her glossy lips. The unfamiliar bitterness in her voice was piercing.
"Your dad," he said slowly in response, trying to take in what she had just said. "Your dad was actually ashamed of you? Get the fuck out…that kind of dad doesn't pay a grand to get his daughter on a football team."
Ebony glowered at him for a moment but then shook her head again, leaning forward on to her knee as she took another deep inhale of her cigarette. "No. He was definitely ashamed of me. Father went to great lengths to make sure that I had a tutor instead of sending me to school with other children. He also went to great lengths to ensure that his business partners never met me. He didn't believe I was his own daughter until after five paternity tests. I looked so unlike him, he was convinced my darling mother had an affair with an Akillian born man though."

She rolled her eyes. "No such fucking luck for him though. According to five DNA tests, I am definitely his daughter and definitely a Shadow/Akillian hybrid. Then to complicate everything further, the drama with my lungs cropped up. So to make up for the first five years of my life- of hating me- he bought me anything I wanted, gave me everything I needed…all I had to do was ask." Ebony coughed and straightened up her back, taking another aggressive drag on the cigarette cradled between her fingers, as if she expected whatever toxin that was in the smoke to calm her down. "All I still have to do is ask." Her eyes slid sideways. "And he's still ashamed…" She started coughing again, puffing hard on the cigarette in response, allowing a smile to spread out across her face- though the smile didn't quite reach her eyes. "That's why I have to prove myself to him. Show him that he was wrong to ever be ashamed of me. To think of me as a burden. Make him notice me."

For a moment, all Sinedd could do was watch her, his brow furrowing.
Then suddenly and automatically, his mouth started moving. "I can relate to that, I guess," he sighed, looking up and staring straight ahead. "My first foster parents used to pretend I didn't exist sometimes." He shrugged. "They took me in for the welfare cheques, I guess…"
Ebony slowly looked to Sinedd, her own brow furrowing. "What?"
Her fellow striker groaned. "If you're going to talk to me, don't do it with a cigarette in your mouth and don't you dare blow smoke in my direction"
The young woman rolled her eyes, but obviously desiring to know more, she crushed the smoking stick of paper into the side of the fountain. "Fine. There. Good enough for you?"

Satisfied with her obedience, Sinedd took a deep breath and went on.
"Yeah, so my first my foster parents were quick to snap me up, alright," he recalled, looking up at the dark, rocky obsidian ceiling above them. "But when I was actually under their roof, they treated me as if I didn't exist. They even used to make me hide if they had guests over because they didn't want their friends knowing that they had a kid in the house." Sinedd ran his fingers back through his hair, feeling Ebony's eyes on him. For a brief moment, he considered asking himself why in all of the Zaelion Galaxy was he talking about this- with Blondie of all people- but it was as if his mouth had taken on a mind of its own and the words were spilling from his lips without his control. Just as the smoke had poured from Ebony's. "And trust me. This couple were not the most savoury of people."

He wrinkled his nose. "Most of the time, I didn't want to know what foster-mommy, foster-daddy and all of their friends were doing down in the living room while I was locked away upstairs." He let out a long exhale. "I did feel fucking invisible sometimes. So I broke out of my room. Went magna-boarding. Went to Planet Akillian and hung around with the gangs there. Got snacks and drink and football cards…didn't have any credits to spend but I got good at shop-lifting…" Sinedd laughed a little. "This was also back when I didn't really believe my parents were dead. I told myself that they were everything from secret agents to super soldiers and that as soon as the war was over properly, they'd come looking for me. Though, the only ones who ever came searching for me were the Akillian police force."

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Ebony's eyes locked on his face. Sinedd couldn't see if her expression was one of mirth or sympathy and truthfully, he didn't want to turn his head away from his view of the empty street in front of him to see.
The knowledge that a rich bitch like Ebony had a far-from-perfect childhood was somewhat sadistically satisfying and yet somewhat of a shock to him. Perhaps it was because he found her easier to dislike when she was playing the role of the annoying, spoiled brat than the role of a girl with a past as warped as his own.

He could see Ebony opening her mouth, about to say something.
But he didn't want to hear her saying something pitying or mocking, this time.
His pride caused his mouth to start moving again and something unknown to him, chose what he had to say.
"And look, Ebony. Remember what I told you back on Akillian about hardening up? Before we played against the Snow-Losers? Well, part of that is playing for yourself. Not for anyone else. You'll never get any better if you keep playing and trying to improve only for your precious daddy. You need to train only to advance yourself and play as if no one else in the galaxy matters." He finally dared himself to look at her and placed a hand on her shoulder, gripping slightly to emphasise his point. "And with the amount of improvement that you need, Blondie…" Sinedd cracked a smile. "You'd better turn into a hermit pretty soon."

He started to stand up, his hand dropping to his side but he blinked in surprise, feeling Ebony's fingers suddenly reach out and wrap around his own. Sinedd swallowed, keeping his cool exterior but inside, desperately trying to cull the feelings that rose inside him.
The feelings that had first reared their ugly heads after he and Ebony's one on one match, when he had been so close that he could feel her breath on his lips.

He thought about snatching his fingers away but didn't, looking at her accusingly all the same.
"What?"
"Thanks…Sinedd," she murmured, slowly returning her hand to her side. "When you're not being a jerk, you can be almost…kind…" She stood up, a slow smile growing across her face.

"Hey," he said quickly. "I'm just telling you this to stop you moping around. For the team's sake. You're not the only one who's had it hard." Sinedd sighed, his voice softening. "Though, it's nice to know that I'm not the only one who's had it hard too."
Ebony nodded, her pink, gloss-smeared lips stretching as she looked up at him from under her eyelashes. "Your first foster parents were wrong, Sinedd…and I bet they're gagging seeing you now. Rich. Famous. You're not invisible anymore…the whole galaxy sees you…" She laughed a little, giving him a not-as-rough-as-usual punch in the bicep. "Makes me a little jealous sometimes, I'll admit."

For a split second, Sinedd had felt the warmth in her words penetrate him- seeping into his skin and making him writhe internally with disgust.
"Stop it! Stop it for fuck sake! Stop making it hard for me to hate you!"

However, the prompt confession of Ebony's envy was enough to dissolve that warmth and merit a squawk of laughter from her violet-eyed companion. "I KNEW IT! I knew that you were jealous of me! Me and my skills! You've been jealous all along, haven't you?!"

Ebony pouted, her cheeks turning red as her soft tone morphed back into a condescending one. "Fuck you, Sinedd, sweetie. I said I was a little jealous. Sometimes. Get your facts right!" She smirked, putting her hands on her hips. "Plus, I won't have to be jealous of you after the end of the Blitz tournament! Then the whole galaxy will get to see how superior I am to you and it will be YOU who is envious of ME."

"Oh really?"

Sinedd cocked an eyebrow, grinning darkly and poking her in the stomach, delighting at her startled response.
"Hey, don't do that!"
"Why? Ticklish?"
Another poke.
"Y-no…it just feels weird…stop, you idiot!"
Another poke.
"Come on now, Ebony. Ask nicely. What's are the magic words?"
Yet another poke.
"Stop fucking poking me or I'll tear you to shreds!"
Laughter and another poke.
"I'd like to see you try, Blondie. I could bench-press you if I wanted to, you scrawny little twerp."
"Hah! Now that I'd like to see you try…"

Without needing much more of an invitation, Sinedd lunged forward and grabbed Ebony, wrapping his arms tightly around her and swinging her up off the ground.
His fellow striker squealed and squirmed like a piglet, trying to worm her way out of his grasp.

"PUT ME DOWN!"
"Make me," he taunted, sticking his tongue out at her and laughing.
"S-Sinedd! You are so immature!" she attempted to rebuke, only barely preventing herself from laughing too and failing miserably in her attempt to banish the grin from her face.

"I'm immature?" he teased. "Look who's screaming because she's a few feet off the ground! If anyone's immature here, its y-…oh shit…"
Sinedd's eyes widened and he abruptly dropped Ebony back to her feet, the bottom just about having fallen out of his stomach.

"Don't just drop me like that," the disgruntled blonde scolded, smoothing her skirt down. "Now what the hell's the matter with y-?" Ebony's voice immediately left her when she followed Sinedd's gaze and saw why exactly he was suddenly petrified.

"IS THAT SINEDD…AND EBONY?!"

They were no longer alone in the street.

In fact, during their jostling, they had attracted the attention of a large crowd of people, leaving a nearby pub.
To make matters worse, during their playful tryst, both Sinedd's cap and Ebony's sunglasses had disjointed, leaving their identities very much exposed.
To make matters even worse than that, everyone in the crowd that was now staring at them was wearing a Shadows jersey.

Ebony froze up as badly as Sinedd and through gritted teeth, managed to choke out. "Sh-Should we just walk away?"
A tense silence hung in the air as the rabid fans stared at the two footballers like Xenonian bat-wolves ogling their latest prey.
"Don't make any sudden movements," Sinedd hissed out of the corner of his mouth. "It excites them."

Another few seconds of silence passed before…

"OH MY GOD! IT'S EBONY AND SINEDD!"
"I LOVE YOU!"
"HERE! SIGN MY FOREHEAD!"
"SIGN ME ANYWHERE!"
"CAN I HAVE A LOCK OF YOUR HAIR?"
"CAN I HAVE YOUR BABIES?"

Sinedd looked down at Ebony, eyes wide and pupils dilated with the kind of fear one only witnesses from those who have slept in and missed the first ten minutes of one of Artegor's early morning training sessions.

"And now, we run."

A now extremely unkempt Ebony dragged an equally dishevelled Sinedd through the glossy revolving doors of a large apartment complex at the south end of the city.
The two immediately stumbled inside, hiding behind the nearest wall and breathing heavily, (much to the apparent mirth of the two security robots).

"D-do you think we lost them?"
"I…I think so…"
"Thank the stars. Thank the fucking s-stars…"

It had taken quite a few misadventures and acts of espionage to try to dupe the fans into losing their trail. Sinedd laughed in spite of his lack of breath, shaking his head.
"My fan-girls never cease to fucking amaze me in the lengths they'll go to, to get near me."

Ebony frowned, folding her arms and sneering. "Well it wasn't just you, they were chasing. Remember that."
Sinedd waved a hand dismissively. "Whatever, princess. You've played three matches. I've played over fifty-three. Remember that."
He looked around at his rather grand surroundings. The lobby was decorated in drapes and velvet carpets of a deep burgundy. These served to cloak the glowing onyx walls and floor and matched the erratics of dark purple stone that flanked the tinted glass doors as well as the wine-coloured flowers that were perched upon the fine mahogany check-in desk.
The centre-piece of the foyer, however, was most definitely the colossal, black crystal chandelier that floated above their heads, casting sparkling red lights all around.

Sinedd let out a low whistle; this was the kind of elegance that rivalled that of Genesis stadium.
"Remind me why we're here again?"

Ebony rolled her eyes. "I live here, dummy." She grinned. "I thought you might fancy a free dinner."
"Restaurant? You're paying?"
"Nope, up in the penthouse."
"You're cooking?"
"No, there's a cook. I'll have dinner ordered up to us…"

Sinedd snorted. "Typical. You just love having the chance to flaunt your riches, don't ya, princess?"
"Bite me," Ebony returned. "If you don't want a five-star meal, you don't have to accept my generous offer."
"Oi!" the dark prince of the pitch smirked, nudging her. "I may appear superhuman but I am a man. I don't turn down free food. From a prissy rich-girl or not."

Ebony laughed, linking his arm and tugging him through one of the polished doors to their left, leading into a nicely furnished, (and thankfully empty), lounge and bar.
"It's a bit early for dinner yet and this place tends to be fairly deserted during the day. It's not normally until the evening time that things start to get busy."
Sinedd nodded, only-half listening to her as he hopped up onto a bar stool.

The bar-tender turned around to them, his long brown hair pulled back into a neat ponytail and his black and white suit mirroring the black and white markings on his face.
"Two scotch and colas on the rocks," Ebony commanded, taking the bar stool next to her companion.
"Make mine a double," Sinedd added, wrinkling his nose at the sight of Ebony pulling another cigarette from her purse. "Do you have to light up again? Indoors?"
"It's a smoking lounge," she replied sharply, scrabbling for her lighter. "It's not illegal."

"Geez, Ebony," he groaned. "You really are stuck on those things, aren't you? Bet you couldn't quit them even if you wanted to."

Ebony grimaced but purely to spite Sinedd, shoved the cigarette and lighter back into her purse. "I can give up smoking whenever I want. I choose to smoke because it helps me to relax. I'm not addicted or anything like that. Contrary to what you may think."

"Whatever," Sinedd murmured, shamelessly peering into her open purse. "So what is in those things anyway? I've tried normal cigarettes before. I know what they smell like and whatever's in the ones that you're puffing on is definitely not nicotine…"
"You smoked?" she questioned curiously, completely ignoring his initial question. "I'm guessing that you quit early."
Sinedd nodded, looking faintly repulsed. "I never liked the taste. Never really got into them. Plus, the fact that those things rot your lungs from the inside out isn't exactly going to help a career in Galactik football."

Ebony murmured something vague and unclear under her breath, pulling out a pocket mirror and checking her make-up.
"Do you always have to keep layering that make-up on?"
"Gonna criticise something else about me? You're starting to sound more like a mini-Artegor than usual."
"Hey, I'm just saying that you don't need to wear that much make-up."
"You never know when a photographer might be lurking around the next corner."
"Yeah but there are no photographers in sight and you're still painting it on, Blondie!" He pinched her arm. "You're not even doing it right either. I mean it's not having much of an effect…"
"You're a jerk. You lack so much in terms of class, Sinedd, I almost pity you," she taunted, tossing her curls back over her shoulders. "You couldn't charm a girl if your career depended on it."
"So you just hang around with me for my looks then?" he teased back. "Because I'm just that irresistibly hot?"

Ebony leaned up close to Sinedd's face, their noses almost touching.
"You wish, hot-shot."
Sinedd dropped his voice to a bare whisper. "I don't have to wish, Ebony."

Before Ebony, (suddenly very pink-faced), could respond, the bar tender placed two glasses on the counter before them.
"Sir. Madam. Your drinks."
The blonde coughed, opening her purse to retrieve her credits key-card. "Uh…yes, thank you."

The bar tender smiled, raising a hand. "No need, madam. These are on the house. Those were some great goals that you both scored earlier today."
Sinedd grinned widely, taking a hearty gulp from his glass. "Thanks."
The bar tender bowed his head, his cordial smile becoming a bit of a smirk as he placed two extra shots of gin on the table. "You two make a lovely couple too. You remind me of my wife and I when we were younger. Already at it like a married couple."

Ebony opened her mouth. "We-…"
Sinedd quickly raised a finger to her lips as the bar tender turned around again. "Say nothing," he hissed, greed suddenly taking over. "We're getting free drinks, idiot!"
She raised her eyebrows but then shrugged, smirking and leaning into Sinedd's side, her head resting on his shoulder.

His eyes widened as the sudden bodily contact turned him into a short-term amnesiac . "Woah, what are you playing at?"
"I'm playing along, stupid," she simpered, winking up at him and taking up her glass. "If we keep this cutesy-couple act up, we might just get more free drinks."
Sinedd narrowed his eyes, about to shove her off of her bar-stool but then after considering it for a moment, shrugged and lifted his arm, putting it around her shoulders.
Her body seemed to fit perfectly against his

After a few more free shots and some playful banter with the bar tender, (following some skilful feigned flirtation on their part), Ebony dropped a tip on the table and the two of them headed off to the elevator in the lobby- the desk attendant only slightly raising his eyebrows at the quiver in both of their gait.
"Congratulations," Ebony crooned, pressing the button and leaning back against the railing at Sinedd's side. "That was a stellar performance, my darling! Five stars!"
She was more than tipsy, her face aflush . Sinedd in turn, was not much better.

"Yes!" he toasted them with an invisible champagne glass. "That, my sweetheart, was a scene worthy of an intergalactik dramatic cinema award! My acting in particular was out of this world…" Sinedd laughed, giving her side a poke. "I would give up football in order to pursue a career as an actor but my poor fans would all probably die of heartbreak. Plus, let's face it, left with you as a striker without me to clean up your messes, the team would be screwed…"

"Hey!" Ebony squealed, slapping his arm. "You'd only win best supporting actor as the role of my boyfriend next to my stunning portrayal of the impossible to play character of your girlfriend!"
He scowled as she flicked her blonde ringlets into his, twirling around and falling back against his side once more.
Yet again that evening, Sinedd contemplated shoving Ebony away from him. Though once again, he did no such thing. Even beneath the faint, hazy gauze of several layers of alcohol, his own actions, (or lack of actions), surprised him.

Keep your friends close but keep your enemies closer.
The words of the old saying vaguely sprang to mind.

Sinedd wrinkled his nose, thinking about the implications of that phrase. "There's no way I'd ever let D'Jok near me like this."

Then again, he didn't really consider Ebony an "enemy" anymore, did he?
At least, not in the traditional sense.
Still, he didn't know if he could quite put the label of "friend" on what the two of them had between them either.

All he knew at that very moment was that the feeling of a warm, human, female body against his own- particularly one that wasn't clawing at him for an autograph- was greatly appreciated.
Ebony seemed to fit perfectly under his arm, her hips gently pressing against his side and her fluffy head finding purchase in the smooth alcove of his shoulder blade, toned beneath his jersey.

"Have you had a lot of girlfriends, Sinedd?" Ebony asked suddenly, pulling him out of his torpor.
He blinked, slightly taken aback by the question but the alcohol had loosened his tongue enough to make for an answer.

He grinned down at her. "I wouldn't call them "girlfriends" as such. I've been with plenty of girls but I don't like to get tied-down."
Ebony laughed under her breath before sticking out her tongue at him. "Scared to get stuck to one person?"
Sinedd shook his head. "I just hate the idea of depending on people…of having someone constantly depending on you…" He smirked. "Plus, when you're an all-star player, you may as well play the whole field…if you catch my drift…"
Ebony rolled her eyes. "Slut."

"Look who's talking!" Sinedd returned, lifting his other to flick her nose. "With the way you flirt with everything that moves, you must have had your fair share of "boyfriends"…"

A soft, resounding bell announced that they had reached their destination and the elevator doors opened.
Ebony returned Sinedd's smirk and wagged a finger. "Not as many as you'd think. Maybe I like the idea of keeping my freedom too."
And with that, she unlatched herself from her team mate's side and beckoned for him to follow her out of the elevator. "This is the penthouse floor."

Sinedd raised an eyebrow, noticing with interest that the elevator doors didn't seem open out into a hall but rather into the penthouse itself.
However when Ebony activated the lights, illuminating the sumptuously furnished living room- the centre-point being the huge windows with the stunning view of Shadow City's sky-line- Sinedd had to bite the insides of his mouth to prevent his jaw from going slack.

"Like it?" Ebony asked over her shoulder, obviously only too happy to flaunt her high-class habitat in Sinedd's face.
He shrugged, putting on a nonchalant act that he knew would drive her insane. "It's alright."
Sure enough, Ebony glowered at him and muttered something about him having "absolutely no sense of taste, whatsoever."

"Papa?!" she called out aloud, frowning when she got no reply and leaving the room for a moment. "Vi?! Huh, my dad and sister must be still out with that Technoid representative."
Sinedd flopped down on to one of the sofas, throwing his feet up on to the coffee table but pulled a face, noticing that his feet had hit something other than the smooth surface of a table. "What the-?"
He peered at the sealed blue box, tilting his head when he noticed the label, emblazoned with a "T" flanked by two orbs: Technoid's logo.

"Hey, Ebony! Blondie! I think your dad's Technoid rep got a package!"
He gestured to it upon her return and she wrinkled her nose, examining it. "Why the Hell did he have it ordered to here?" She rolled her eyes, waving a hand. "Ugh, I hate it when my father's business partners get too familiar…" The golden haired striker poked her raven haired counter-part in the back of the neck. "I'm going to go check with the cook that the dinner is ready. Don't break anything while I'm gone. And stop fucking calling me Blondie! I thought I'd trained you out of that habit!"
Sinedd held up a middle finger to the back of her head as she turned to go, smiling.

Alcohol had always made him curious and only seconds after the automatic door had shut behind Ebony, Sinedd was on his feet, analysing the holo-television with interest. The photographs beneath the screen started to gradually steal his attention away.
He recognised Ebony's father, Senator Appex, from that time that he had seen him at the Stadium. He was a tall, Shadowarian man with thick black hair and in every photo, he seemed to have the same rather cruel, haughty stare.

"That vain look is probably the only thing he has in common with her at all," Sinedd thought, incredulously.

There was a younger girl in the photographs too. She had much more of the obvious Shadowarian traits than Ebony. While she was a little shorter than most native Shadows girls and her nose and face had a distinctly "Akillian-flavour", her eyes were the same dark red and her skin was the same pure white as her father's.

"That's her younger sister, I'm guessing."

There were a lot of pictures of Ebony at various events, presumable dance recitals, holidaying on different planets and simply just posing on her own. In one or two, she was clad in dance leotards, long, slinky evening gowns or flouncy holiday dresses-obviously chosen to show off her long, pale legs and rather nicely sculpted curves.

"Vain bitch," Sinedd muttered quickly, shaking those observations from his head. "Fuck it, after living on a planet where girls have fewer curves than an inter-space highway, I've gone desperate."
But to his own dismay, this thought was hard to cling to.

Thankfully, one particular picture caught his attention once again.
Or rather what was in front of it.

One particular photograph was blocked by something lime green and soft-looking. Upon pulling it away, Sinedd found that it was…a football?
It was a child's plush toy football- one that you might give a seven year old to kick around the house. It was a perfect green and burgundy replica of one of the Shadows' signature footballs yet it was a lot smaller and far too soft to break anything with.
Sinedd ran his fingers over the soft material surface, noticing how worn and faded it was. It had been well-used and it rather reminded the Shadows' star striker of one the toy footballs that he used to play with when he was a kid back on Akillian.
For a brief moment he experimentally dropped the ball on to the bridge of his foot, letting it bounce as he played a little game of "keepy-uppy" with himself.
His personal record was two hundred and forty five kicks, keeping the ball up in the air and he had only dropped it because someone had interrupted him.
This time, he only got as far as ten kicks… but that was because he had, for the first time, noticed the photograph that the football had been placed to obscure.

It was a picture of a pretty blonde-haired woman, somewhere in her mid-twenties and wearing a pale purple football jersey. Sinedd didn't recognise it so it was more than likely a small team or a local club. He did, however, recognise the snowy mountains behind her as being a range only found on Akillian.
The woman was playing with a little girl- a gawky little kid with crooked teeth, freckles and a dandelion clock of tight yellow ringlets. The two of them were smiling widely as they played in the snow, the little girl jumping on the woman with glee.
Around the little girl's neck, there was something glinting….a silver chain with star on the end of it…Ebony's necklace?

Sinedd's eyes widened with realisation.
The little girl was Ebony and that meant that the woman must have been her mother…

"Put it down….now…"

Sinedd raised his head and turned around, only to see Ebony, her eyes wide with horror at his discovery.

"Put down the photo and the football back where you found it," she commanded again, trying to sound threatening though her face was gradually turning bright red.
A slow grin spread across Sinedd's face and he looked back to the photograph.

"Awww…look at little Ebony! Isn't she just adorable?! Look at that chubby little face!"
"Shut up! I was five years old! Everyone is chubby at five years of age, Snowballs!"
"Yeah, but not everyone has those precious little buck teeth that you had…"
"Sinedd! Put the picture down!"
"Fine, fine…I'll put this back where it belongs…that image is logged away in my mind forever though. I bet Fulmungus and the guys will be delighted to hear all about how gawky you looked as a kid…"
"…You wouldn't."

Sinedd raised an eyebrow, holding up the plush football before placing it on the carpet beneath their feet. "Oh? Wouldn't I?" He sniggered. "Ok, how about this? If you can tackle me and get this ball off of me- I won't say a thing about your Ugly Duckling baby photo to the guys. Deal?"

Ebony looked sceptical, folding her arms. "How can I trust you?"
Sinedd raised both hands submissively. "I promise that I'm not bullshitting, princess. But hey, you can't really afford not to trust me at the moment."
The young woman pouted, looking annoyed before heaving a sigh and taking off her high heel shoes.
"Fine! Fine!"

She bolted towards Sinedd, immediately trying to tear the ball into her control, digging her heel into the plush-covered side. However, pre-empting her moves, Sinedd immediately stepped down onto the ball, squashing it flat and making it impossible to push from under his foot. After a few moments of pushing and shoving, the seriousness of the situation had been just about lost and the two of them were grinning madly. Also, neither of the two of them had managed to sober up quite yet either.

"You bastard! Standing on the ball is cheating!" Ebony shouted, though she was biting back intense giggles.

"Point me to the exact line in the Galactik Football rule-book that says that!" he taunted, steadfast on the ball until Ebony suddenly rammed her shoulder into his chest, sending them both toppling to the carpeted floor, still in fits of laughter.

"Foul! I've just been fouled! Where is the referee-bot?"
"Hey, it's not my fault that you have terrible co-ordination and can't even stand on your own two feet!"

It took a moment for Sinedd's head to clear, his sudden bout of childishness to subside and for him to acknowledge the manner in which they had fallen.
Ebony had managed to push him so that he was now lying beneath her, their legs entangled, her breasts pressing into his broad chest and he could feel her nose and powdery cheek grazing his neck. A moment of silence passed, in which Ebony seemed to realise their current position too and slowly she lifted her (reddened) face from his neck, straightening her arms and lifting herself up.
A curtain of blonde ringlets fell on either side of Sinedd's face as she came to rest, leaning on his chest and staring down at him. Apparently testing the waters.

His violet stare met her blue-eyed one for the hundred thousandth time since they first day that they'd met, almost five months ago.
Sinedd pulled a face as he moved to place both hands behind his head.

"Oooh…arrr…you're crushing me with your intense weight! Quickly! Your huge fat body will compress me to atoms!"
Ebony stubbornly stayed where she was and moved her head to lightly knock her forehead against his own. "Serves you right for coming into a lady's home and engaging her in heavy tackling."

Sinedd returned the light headbutt. "Serves you right for inviting me up here. Plus you're no lady." He blew one of her curls from his face. "Pft…and your hair tickles…"
Ebony smirked, lifting a hand and ruffling his black quills. "Yeah but your hair prickles. How much gel do you put in this?"

She lowered her head again to meet his gaze once more, only this time her nose was just barely skimming his own. Without the smog to act as a muslin gauze between the two, he could feel the warmth of her breath against his face.
He could feel her heartbeat beneath her shirt, rhythmically pounding against his own.

"No, this isn't happening…"

Gradually and automatically, he moved one hand from behind his head to lightly rest on her hip and ignoring her previous question, he responded silkily: "Your daddy wouldn't like this at all."

"Remember the day of the one-on-one. Remember how strong you are. Remember how you don't need anyone. Remember that you could have ANYONE. Remember who this IS who's lying on you."

"Wouldn't like what?" she asked innocently, deliberately not moving a muscle and continuing to gaze down at him. The next move was his.

"This is the alcohol talking. It's got to be the alcohol. Or maybe I've gone insane."

Insane or not, the dark-haired Galactik Football icon had decided a long time ago that whatever he wanted, he would claim. Sinedd picked up on the challenging tone in her voice and feeling obliged to respond to it, suddenly slid his hand to the small of her back.
Pushing her body even closer to his as he lifted his head slightly, his eyes lidded as hers were closed, his thin lips just touching her glossy ones as he whispered.

"This."

An awkward, embarrassed cough from the other side of the room caused both of their eyes to snap open as the two of them scrambled to sit up straight, (liberally pushing and shoving the other aside), only to observe an extremely uncomfortable-looking cooking-android standing at the other side of the room.

"Er…Madam?"

Ebony kneeled up, breathing heavily as she smoothed out her creased blouse. "What?! What do you want?!"
"Dinner is served, Madam."

Ebony rolled her eyes, standing up. "We had better head to the dining room then. Hadn't we?"
She slipped her heels back on and followed the Android out.

For a brief moment, as he got to his feet, Sinedd felt a ripple of anger pass through him but repulsed at the reasons for his anger, he resisted the urge to punch through one of the glass windows.

"So you just pushed Micro-Ice out of the way?"
"Yep. Aarch booked me for it afterwards but it was pretty fucking funny at the time!"

Ebony took another sip of wine, giving a snort of laughter. "What did the Red Tigers players think?"
"They were laughing at that little idiot just as much as I was," Sinedd chuckled, finishing another chocolate-coated marshmallow. "Ugh, that was the last match that I ever played with the Snow-Losers. It still makes me sick to my stomach to think that I used to play opposite D'Jok."
"You prefer playing opposite me?" teased Ebony, dipping a strawberry into her chocolate fondue dish with one hand, the other toying with her necklace.

"Yeah, sure I do," Sinedd returned, pouring himself another glass of dessert wine. "Playing next to you makes me look like an even better player."

Ebony rolled her eyes. "I walked straight into that one, didn't I?"
Her companion sat back, wine glass in hand and thoroughly full after a three-course dinner. "Yes…yes, you did…"

She laughed for a moment but then leaned forward, groaning, knuckling her forehead.
"Mmmph."

"What's the matter? Can't hold your wine?" he jeered, swirling his own glass. "Unadarian wine can be strong but it's all about knowing your limits."

Ebony shook her head. "No. Headaches. Just need a quick fix."
She reached into her pocket and took out her canister, tapping two pills out and quickly putting them in her mouth. She took a long, deep inhale and slowly put her head on the table. "Mmm…that's better…"

Sinedd frowned, taking up the canister that she had set down.
He knew from his prior reading of the label that the drug she was taking was Metholine. He didn't know much about the drug- only that it was generally used to substitute the adrenaline-fuelled or intoxicating effects of powerful fluxes: the smog, in Ebony's case.

She frowned, seeing him reading the canister once more. "It's not illegal…on most planets…I have to get it on special prescription."
Sinedd put down the canister slowly, allowing her to take it back.
"Here's something that I don't understand, Ebony," he orated, sipping at his wine as he watched her. "I know that the smog comes natural to you but you've still got human lungs…but you said that you had surgery to correct that...to make it so that you didn't have breathing problems anymore…so why do you still have to take the pills? I mean, you don't really need them."

Ebony gripped the plastic canister until her knuckles turned milky and then shoved it back into her bag. "I do need them, though. The doctors gave me these when I was younger to help me get used to having the smog in my body. The smog…helps me to relax…it helps me to think clearly…but if I use the real smog outside of football, I'll be arrested by Brim Simbra and his High Orders…so I use the pills as an artificial flux…"
Sinedd put down the wine glass. "And the cigarettes?"
She raised an eyebrow at his nosiness but kept talking. "They've got a crushed-up version of Metholine in them. It literally feels like I'm smoking the smog."
Ebony ran her fingers back through her hair, sitting up straight.

Sinedd frowned a little. "But even with the surgery, you're still part Akillianish. You're still part human. The smog is still going to make you sick." He shrugged. "And I tried smoking back on Akillian. It just ruins you eventually. Why keep doing something that isn't going to fucking make you happier at the end of the day?"

Ebony gave a small, dry chortle and shrugged in return. "Because it feels good? That's the only real answer that I can give you."
Sinedd's eyes glinted in the electronic candle-light as he watched her, saying nothing.

"Addiction is a funny thing," she went on, smiling in spite of herself, breaking her denial for the first time in front of Sinedd. "Pills, cigarettes, alcohol, the flux…fame…doesn't matter what you're addicted to…what will always fascinate me is that…"

She took a breath and looked up at Sinedd, daring herself to meet that glinting gaze.
"It's amazing how you can find yourself so unspeakably drawn to something that constantly hurts you. How you can be so stuck on something that you actually despise. How you can want something that brings you so much frustration…"

For a brief moment, Sinedd found himself swallowing uncomfortably, but not allowing himself to even lightly reflect on what Ebony had just said, he changed the subject.

"Hey, does that holo-tv in your sitting room get Arcadia sports? They're probably doing re-runs of the match at this stage."
Ebony brightened up immediately. "Nice thinking! Hopefully they got my good side." She fluffed up her hair and beckoned for Sinedd to follow her.
"You've got one of those?" he goaded, joining her on the sofa.

BOOM!

The two of them jumped as the whole ground beneath them seemed to vibrate, a resonant echo seeming to rattle through the giant apartment.
Sinedd stood up. "The fuck was that?"
Ebony shook her head. "I have no idea…" She peered out the window at the sky-line. "There's something alight in the distance."
The other striker picked up the remote to turn on the tv. "Maybe they're setting off fireworks for us, or something?"

However the report on Arcadia Sports was far from one of celebration.
Sinedd's blood ran cold and the bottom just about fell out of his stomach when he heard the first words of Callie's evening report.

"…I have just received news of an explosion that has taken place in the Shadows' central city, just seconds ago, only a few miles from the stadium. We have not yet received any information regarding casualties or landmark damage…"

Sinedd looked to Ebony slowly and saw that she was shaking too.

Hope you liked that! Comment and criticise as you wish!