Regret and Resolution

Two days had passed since the conclusion to the war against the Aparoids that had claimed so many lives. The Cornerian Armada had suffered heavy losses in the battle over the Aparoid Homeworld; and the number of deaths accounted for seemed to rise every day. Even the Star Fox team hadn't escaped unscathed—Peppy was still in recovery after being infected with the Aparoid virus, and the only portion of the Great Fox that was still intact was a small portion of the bridge. The warp gate that had been created for quick transportation to the homeworld was no longer transmitting, leaving the remainder of the Cornerian Army to begin the long, arduous journey home.

Star Fox had been given passage aboard the largest of the surviving Cornerian vessels, a battleship christened Empress. It was a kind gesture on the part of the appreciative Cornerians, but Fox and company were still disappointed. The financial burden of having to replace their mothership was overwhelming; but for Fox, the most difficult aspect of the scenario was having to deal with losing something that he held dear to him. The Great Fox had been one of his last reminders of his late father, and with it gone, he felt that his presence—however small—was lost forever.

The Empress and the other ships belonging to the Cornerian Army thundered through space at the highest rate of speed their jump drives would allow. Nevertheless, it would still take more than a week to return to the Lylat System, where the amount of death and destruction was nearly unfathomable. No one onboard was truly looking forward to it. It would be good to be home, but having to face the aftermath of the war… that was something else entirely. Much had been sacrificed for the survival of Lylat's residents, many of whom were now homeless or in a state of medical emergency.

It was thoughts like this that kept Fox McCloud awake, no matter how many times he attempted to force himself to sleep. The alarm clock by his bedside, calibrated to Corneria City Standard Time, displayed a time of 0200 hours—far too late for him to be awake. For the fifth time that night, he put his head down on his pillow and closed his eyes, hoping that sleep would overtake him. As expected, however, he remained awake. Looking out his room's reinforced side panel that passed as a window, he saw the blurry lines created by the stars as the Empress raced past them at greater-than-light speeds. This was where he knew he belonged, but it seemed so cold and empty to him. Perhaps he never truly noticed how lonely the realm of space was until the war was over.

The loneliness never seemed to bother Falco or Slippy. Both of them had pastimes and hobbies that could keep them occupied until the end of time itself. Fox, however, had very little that he enjoyed outside of piloting his beloved Arwing. Often, his colleagues would advise him to take up a new series of interests, but he never found the motivation for it. All he could think of was what he would be doing next. "Probably some speech for charity," he thought, attempting to predict his first task upon returning to Corneria City.

Fox continued to gaze out his large window, meaninglessly watching the trails of light streak by. If sleep would not come to him, he would have to content himself with doing absolutely nothing. Falco, Slippy, Peppy, and Krystal had all gone to bed before him and were surely asleep by this point.

"Krystal… this is all so new for her. I hope she can handle it. Nah, I'm sure she'll be fine. She's already been through so much. Her home planet was destroyed, she was imprisoned and tortured by Andross, and she barely survived the attack on the Aparoid Homeworld. She's brave—I'll give her that. That's not something I could have done, if I was in her shoes."

Sitting on the edge of his bed, Fox rested his head in his hands and sighed. Strangely, at that moment, he thought he heard a whimper through the wall behind his bed.

"Krystal's room."

He thought that she may have been having a nightmare, because he knew that Krystal's dreams tended to be far more lucid and 'real' than his own. He ignored the solitary cry and looked out at the stars until the noise repeated itself, this time much more noticeably.

With the noise from the adjacent room no longer a singularity, Fox stood up and trudged to his room's closed and locked door before opening it and stepping out into the ship's main corridor. Ignoring the fact that the only clothing he had on was a pair of pajama pants, he crept down the hall until he stopped at Krystal's door. He put his ear up to the synthetic plastic surface and once again heard the vixen sobbing from inside the room. Her pitiable cries nearly made his eyes water. One thing he couldn't stand was to see her in pain or distress.

He had first experienced it shortly after Krystal had come aboard the Great Fox for the first time. Back then, the memories of her destroyed homeworld of Cerinia were still fresh in her mind—torturing and tormenting her very soul with a savage ferocity that even her imprisonment couldn't match. All Fox could do was sympathize with her. At the time, he hardly even knew her; and thus, he wanted to avoid making a mistake that would drive her away from him. He had used the vixen's distress as a way to draw closer to her, and it had worked to great effect.

Now though, their relationship had deepened. Only a matter of days ago, Fox had slipped up and admitted his affection for the blue vixen. However, instead of being turned away by his careless admission, she welcomed it. After Sauria, the two of them had become nearly inseparable. In fact, Falco already considered Krystal to be Fox's girlfriend, even though they hadn't kissed…yet.

Feeling uncomfortable with himself, Fox quietly tapped on Krystal's door. The faint knocking sound was soon followed by the noise of bed sheets rustling, and then by the pattering of two bare feet on a cold, synthetic floor. Knowing that it was Fox who was outside her door—thanks to her telepathy—the Cerinian opened it for him. Fox swallowed when he noticed that Krystal was in the same state of undress as he was. Only the most basic form of underwear adorned her figure, although she didn't seem to mind Fox's eyes wandering over her body. To be fair, the attire Fox had found her in on Sauria was almost as alluring as the lacy, pink nightwear that she was wearing at the moment.

"What is it, Fox?" she asked, almost in a whisper.

Fox looked up into her eyes and immediately recognized the pain and agony in them. The fur below her eyes was darker than the fur around it due to the tears she had shed, and it was all Fox could do to avoid crying himself. He hated to see her this way; and he determined that he would do anything to help her overcome her sadness. "I heard you crying," Fox replied in response to her question. "Is something wrong?"

The vixen tried to keep a straight face in front of her leader, but she failed and began sobbing. She buried her face in his chest without thinking anything of it, letting her tears soak Fox's fur. While the vixen wept, Fox carefully put his arms around her, trying to avoid coming across as awkward but still doing his best to comfort her. Krystal didn't seem to mind Fox's touch—in fact, she relished it and quieted down when he started working his fingers into her shoulder blades.

She said nothing to Fox, but she continued to let him hold her close to him. The warmth of his body and the unmistakable kindness of his touch brought a powerful feeling of comfort and security to her tortured soul. His strong, musky vulpine scent only added to the effect. Repositioning herself and standing up straight, Krystal gazed into Fox's deep, green eyes and softly asked him, "Would you mind talking to me? I need to hear your voice."

"Well…um… sure, Krystal," Fox stammered, finding himself in a situation he was not prepared for.

"Thank you, Fox," said Krystal, gently pulling Fox into her room and closing the door behind her.

"So, what's the matter?" Fox asked, giving Krystal a pat on the shoulder as she led him to the side of her bed.

The Cerinian sat down on the edge of the mattress facing her window, where the scenery was exactly the same as it was in Fox's room. "It's Cerinia again," she explained with her head lowered to her chest. Her breathing was shaky, and her body itself seemed weakened by her own violent thoughts. "The Aparoid Homeworld…it went out the same way that Cerinia did. I looked back at it when it self-destructed, and all my old memories came back. It's not fair!" she screamed, "Why did they all have to die?"

Krystal sobbed hysterically, shedding numerous tears that fell to the floor around her feet. "Why, Fox? Why did it have to happen?" she cried, knowing that he wouldn't be able to give her an answer to the question that had burned in her mind ever since that day.

Fox looked over at the tearful vixen and was gripped with sympathy for her. In his life, he had experienced losses that would have turned a normal individual into a suicidal wreck—first with his mother, and then with his father. He couldn't even imagine the level of suffering that Krystal had experienced when Cerinia was obliterated. Because of her telepathic abilities, she had felt the pain and agony of every single Cerinian who didn't have the ability to leave the planet. The deaths of more than 5 billion people had threatened to crush her under their weight; and Fox could only marvel at how she had managed to cope in the wake of an almost unthinkable catastrophe.

Fox didn't have the answer to Krystal's question, but he elected to speak to her regardless of his ignorance. "I don't know why it happened, but I do know there's a reason for everything. It doesn't make sense now, but maybe it'll be different in the future."

The Cerinian stared at the floor, down at the moist area where her tears had begun pooling. "I don't think I'll ever understand it," she sobbed, "Some things are never meant to be understood—and I think this is one of them. If I had known about what was going to happen, I would have been able to save them."

Fox gently graced Krystal's back with his paw in preparation for his answer, which he knew she wouldn't like to hear. He didn't want to cause her any more pain, but he knew that her wishful thinking would only hurt her. "Krystal," he whispered, "What's done is done. You can't live in the past—it'll kill you if you do. Trust me, I know from experience."

Krystal sighed and shook her head. "I know, Fox. You're right, but I can't let it go. They meant so much to me."

Fox made no response. Instead, he continued to work his hands into Krystal's back, clearing out the stress points that had built up over the course of the war with the Aparoids. He attempted to block his thoughts from Krystal because he was almost ecstatic that she was letting him fondle her. Neither he nor the vixen said anything for the next half minute until Fox stopped rubbing her back and asked her, "Are you ready to answer one more question?"

"What is it, Fox?" she asked, confused and slightly curious as to what he would say next.

"The question is—are you going to move on and enjoy what you have, or are you going to live in the past and die a little bit every day? Only you can make the decision."

Krystal was silent. She alternated her gaze between Fox and the floor, pondering the wisdom in Fox's words yet still refusing to let go of the pain that defined her recent past. She felt that she needed to keep her friends, her family, and her fellow Cerinians alive, even if it was only in her mind. To let them die would be too painful for her. Taking a deep breath, she looked over at Fox—over at his toned muscles, his strong muzzle, and his caring, soulful eyes that were silently pleading with her to move on and accept her circumstances.

"I can't do it, Fox," she cried, wrapping her arms around Fox and resting her head on his shoulder. "I don't want to lose them."

Fox turned his head to glance into the vixen's sad, aquamarine eyes and said, "Krystal, they'd want you to move on. You believe that you'll see them again, don't you?"

"Yes, Fox?"

"Then stop worrying about them," he firmly replied, "Live for today, not for yesterday. You are loved, Krystal. As the leader of Star Fox, it's my job to make sure that my wingmen are taken care of—you included." He paused and then whispered, "I won't let you be miserable. You've got way too much to live for. I…I love you, Krystal; and I can't stand to see you like this. Whenever I see you hurting, it hurts me, too."

"Please, don't let how I feel determine how you act, Fox," she whimpered.

"I can't help it, Krystal. I care about you, and I just want to see you be happy."

The vixen sighed, removed her head from Fox's shoulder, and sat upright with her eyes focused on the stars racing by outside the Empress's side window. "So," Fox asked, "Are you going to choose to be miserable, or are you going to move on and accept that what's happened is over and done?"

"I guess I don't have much of a choice, now that I think about it," Krystal sighed. "There's just one more thing I'd like to ask from you, Fox."

"What's that, Krystal? If it makes you feel better, I'll do it."

"If you don't mind, could you stay with me tonight?" she whimpered, "I haven't been able to sleep since we've been on this ship."

"Me neither," Fox replied, shaking his head. "Well…I guess it won't hurt anything… I mean, we're not going to…"

For the first time in days, Krystal's face broke into a smile as she read Fox's thoughts and realized what had come to his mind. "It's your call, Fox," she slyly suggested, tracing the outline of her leg with her index finger. "I'm open to anything." However, what Fox failed to realize was that she was playing with him to see what kind of shocked, nervous expression she could extract from him—and his reaction didn't disappoint.

"Oh…um…that's not really what I meant—I was thinking something more like…um…"

"What, Fox?" she laughed.

The skin beneath Fox's fur turned bright red as he flushed in embarrassment. "I don't know, Krystal," he replied, covering his eyes with his palm. "Sorry about that."

Krystal smiled back at him as she stood up and pulled her sheets forward, making sure that Fox would have as much room as possible on the mattress that was only designed for one person. The vixen gently slid under the covers and turned onto her side, grinning at Fox and beckoning for him to join her. "Hey—I won't tell Falco..."

Fox felt his heart racing as he climbed into the small bed and pulled the sheets over himself and Krystal. In such close proximity to her, he could feel the vixen breathing on his fur; and when she unexpectedly put her arms around him and pulled herself to his chest, he felt her heartbeat and the warmth that radiated from it. The intimate moment was heightened when Krystal brought her muzzle within inches of his own.

"Feel like giving a girl a goodnight kiss?" she asked with the innocent, beautiful voice that Fox had come to love hearing from her.

"Absolutely," he replied. For months, he had dreamed about kissing the blue vixen and had considered every possibly way that he could screw it up; but something about the way that Krystal looked at him that night caused every fearful thought to flee from him. Gently, Fox leaned into her, put his mouth up to her tiny white lips and kissed her, with his pink tongue trying very hard to gain entrance to her mouth. Krystal willingly consented and returned his affection, gifting Fox with a memory that he would never forget.

"Thanks, Fox," Krystal gasped. She hadn't been expecting such an amorous expression of affection from him. In fact, she was so stunned that she almost forgot to breathe. However, in the midst of the shock was the unmistakable feeling of unrestrained joy that caused her to cling to Fox like a plank of wood in a turbulent sea.

"Anything to make you feel better," Fox replied, giving the Cerinian a loving pat on the head before both of them drifted off to sleep for the first time in what seemed like ages.

AUTHOR'S NOTE(S):

Go ahead and tell me what you thought about this. In all honesty, this was something I threw together over the weekend in time for today, September 23. Why is the 23rd significant? I'll leave you to figure that out. However, I believe there is a clue in the author's notes in my story called the Iridium Chronicle. Anyway, if you took the time to read this, go ahead and give me some feedback.

There is also a chance that this story will be re-labeled and modified into a collection of one-shots that I might add to whenever I get tired of writing the same two stories.

Anyway, thanks for reading!