Drip. Drop. Drip. Drip…

Drop. He listened to this sound for hours, floating between consciousness and unconsciousness; the slow, steady, maddening sound of the water dripping from a crack in the dank ceiling, into a dark puddle, in an equally dark room. He sat there, shackled to the stone wall in this cramped prison. He had no idea how he got there, or why. All he knew were the harsh realities of this near-unbearable place. When he wasn't asleep, the starvation was overwhelming. When his stomach stopped hurting for awhile, the humidity made him uncomfortable. And when the humidity gave way at night, there was the dripping sound.

The ever-maddening dripping sound. Day and night, repetitive and unyielding- with every drop his sanity was tested. In here, there were very few ways to escape it.

One was sleep. He slept quite a lot, nearly all day. The only thing he didn't like about sleep was that he never dreamed. What felt like eons ago to him, he remembered dreaming about things. That was one of the few things he did remember right now- dreaming. He was fully aware that every day bits of his memory would fade. He'd think of something one day, and the next day he'd have no knowledge about what it was.

This man despised losing his memories like this. At first, it was minor things he lost, like what he ate the last time he ate, or the phone number of a friend. Then it escalated into who he was, who his friends and family were, until there was only a select few memories left. When he tried to remember the other things, they'd slip away into a blank. It was painful for him to see his life get fainter with every drip of the ceiling.

One of the two memories he hadn't lost yet was his name; it was a struggle, but eventually he remembered it again- Fox.

Fox McCloud. He liked the name, it was catchy. His name, for whatever reason, brought him happiness. In this prison, only one other thing brought him greater joy: the other memory. This memory was fading even faster than the first one. At one time, it was so vivid and real; but after the countless hours he spent in here, it was reduced to one image.

Fox knew there were at least ten people originally, but now all of them were blurs, except for one. He swore every time he closed his eyes, she was there- she was a fox, like him, but her fur was a pleasant blue instead of the brownish-red pigment of his. Every part of her was beautiful and radiant. In the memory, it looked like she was laughing. Fox didn't know who she was, or what she had to do with him, but there was something he did know: her laughter made him positively jovial. This memory brought him happiness. He wasn't about to give it up.

This memory made Fox happy in the sad little world he lived in. The last thing he wanted was for her to disappear like most of his other memories. Fox loved her- he loved her, and didn't even know her name. It was a cruel feeling; as if he was being ignored by his own mind.

He smiled bitterly. Chances are, the vixen was a random person, without any real significance in his former life.

Or maybe she was dead. Maybe he himself killed her- that'd explain why he was in here, he reasoned. It was the only rational explanation he could think of for being in here, and for the persistence of that one memory. If by some remote chance he did kill her…

Involuntarily, Fox started crying. His tears were silent; he didn't want to show any weakness to his captors. He hated being in here. He hated the fact that he had to pass out from starvation before he was fed. He hated the humidity, and how it made his dirty fur stick to his skin. He hated losing his memories, and wondering about his past life. But most of all….

Fox weakly turned his head towards the puddle. As he did so, a droplet fell into it. He looked at his reflection and became blinded by rage; he punched the bottom of the small pond with his free hand, with enough force to make a considerable dent in the tile that lined the floors. He punched and hit yelled, until he sent one last blow to the tile. The tile broke into pieces. Unfortunately, the weakened bones in his hand did too.

Pain. Excruciating, blinding pain in his hand; it was bloody, and messy. Fox saw a bone stick out of the top of his hand. He writhed in all his pain, and for the first time since he came to this place, he screamed at his captors at the top of his lungs, in a hoarse, parched voice.

"KILL ME!!! I WANT TO DIE! PLEASE!" Fox hung his head and howled,

"STOP TORMENTING ME, YOU SICK FUCKS!!!" Fox ran out of breath, and stopped yelling. He started to whimper softly.

"Please… just end me… What have I got to live for, anyway?" Fox leaned back, and closed his eyes. "I don't even know who I am now, for God's sakes…. Please…. "

"Please kill me."

In the Lylat System, there were many planets and stars, but few had the power of Corneria. That was where Fox McCloud was being held, and that was where his friends were searching. Fox's captors had planned this, and everything since McCloud's abduction, carefully. However, despite their insidious means, they themselves were not evil. They were just brothers, trying to make their dad proud.

It was just in their DNA. Speaking of which, two of Fox's three kidnappers were just putting the finishing touches on the next part of their plot.….

"How's it coming, Alex?" The youngest one asked inquisitively. He and his brothers were working hard on this. The inquisitive brother was an ape, just like his older, except he was a lot younger. But if they were the same age, people would think they were the same person; they looked almost exactly alike, right down to their brown eyes and white fur. Alex was a hard worker, and Ash (the little one) liked to help. Because all the hard work they had done up to this point had been put into this, it was hard not to be curious. The elder didn't respond.

"Alex?"

"What, huh? Oh, it's just you. Sorry, did you say something?"

"How's the experiment coming along?"

When Alex turned around, Ash stifled a giggle. His brother looked silly, wearing goggles. They didn't fit his face very well, but the pair was the only one around. Alex rolled his eyes.

"Ha-ha, yeah, laugh it up." Alex said sarcastically. He promptly turned back around to the work that needed to be done.

"You remember Dad, right?"

"Don't call him 'Dad'. I hate it when you do that! He's not our dad!" Ash fumed. Alex put down the test tubes he was holding, and knelled down to reach his brother's height.

"Sorry. I mean, do you remember…." Alex tried to find the right word. Ash found it for him.

"Andross?" Alex flinched, and stood back up. "Yeah, Andross. Ash, I know you don't like him, but can you please talk about him a bit more respectively? I mean," Alex put his hands together forcefully, causing a loud clap from the medical gloves he was wearing. "he did make us, after all, out of-"

"-Himself. Yeah, I know. He cloned himself a long time ago, and made Anthony. Anthony used Andross's DNA to make you, and then you guys made me."

Alex smiled, then his face turned blank. "I'm happy to hear that you were listening. But like I said before, do you remember him?" Ash frowned, and became lost in thought for a moment. Eventually, he shook his head.

"That's what I thought. He was a great man, Ash. But this man…." Alex bared his primate teeth, out of anger and shame. Every person in the Lylat System knew the stories of their family. "He killed him, Andrew, and Dash! He's a monster in disguise, Ash!" Alex pointed an accusatory finger at a nearby monitor. On it, the eldest of the brotherhood, Anthony, was treating Fox's broken hand while Fox was drugged. Alex was large and intimidating right now.

"HE TOOK THEM AWAY FROM US, ASH! I- I…." Alex broke down and slumped on the floor, a wreck of a person. Ash went to comfort him. While he didn't know Andross, Alex and Anthony were raised by him. The way they talked about him, he was the greatest thing God ever sculpted; it was frustrating to Ash at times like this, when he had no comforting words about their father. Truthfully, he wanted to meet him. Badly.

"Ok, the fox is ok now. In a little bit, he'll-"Anthony walked in the room. When he saw Alex, he understood what happened. His voice took on an irritated tone. "On your feet. We have things to do." Anthony walked over and took the goggles off of Alex and began working on what his brother was doing before the previous conversation. Alex got up too, and started helping. For hours, everyone was silent, until Anthony snapped the green gloves off of his hands, proud of what he accomplished.

"Behold, the fruits of our labor!" He held up a vial of transparent purplish water. Ash's face took on a surprised form.

"What is it?"

Anthony and Alex's faces were mirrored with joy. All the events in the last few hours were forgotten, for now. Alex was the first to pipe up.

"It's what we've been working so hard on, for all these months! Now we can finally proceed with the next step of the plan!"

"Which is….?"

Anthony chuckled. "We're going to give this to a very special someone, Ash." In the light, Anthony's face darkened with glee. "A very special someone indeed."