Fox hesitated, his hand suspended inches from the door. Frowning, he forced himself to rap a few times on the thing.

There was the sound of approaching footsteps, then the whirring as the mechanical door slid open in front of him, revealing her—Krystal.

She looked so innocent, so fragile. He followed her eyes and noticed that his hand was still hovering in front of where the door had been. He brought it back to him, his face burning.

She spoke before he could muster the strength. "Fox? Do you need something?"

"Yeah, I—yeah. Umm..." He paused and scratched at his ears, forcing a smile.

"Why don't you come in?" Looking a little amused, Krystal looked directly at him, her cyan eyes boring through his being.

He wanted to say "no," but, instead, he heard himself say, "Sure."

"Alright." She turned and walked into the room. Fox followed moments afterward. He knew he was just making this more difficult on himself—prolonging the inevitable.

She sat down on her bed, dangling her feet on the edge and looking up at him. He stumbled a bit on his way over, then sat down beside her, trying not to get too close.

"So, what is it?" Krystal hadn't taken her eyes off of him.

He couldn't answer immediately. She was so beautiful, so pure, so innocent. When he looked at her, he saw everything that he ever wanted.

And that was what hurt him the most.

The Arwing groaned, the force of the roll barely able to deflect all of the enemy fire. Fox took a glance at his shield monitor, and his heart sank.

If he didn't get out of there soon, he was going to die.

The comm buzzed to life. He glanced down at it, thinking that it would be Slippy again, but when he saw it...

He froze, blinking a few times to be sure that he was seeing correctly.

It was Krystal. And her shield monitor...

"Fox, I could use a hand here! They're everywhere!"

He took a glance down at his radar, then at his own shields.

There was no way.

His heart started hammering. He couldn't do it. She was too far away, and if he went to save her, they would get him too.

A tremor shook the Arwing. His eyes snapped down to the shield gauge. "Damn." He punched the control panel.

He had been careless, not paying attention. Another mess-up like that would cost him his life—no, not just his life, the lives of everyone. He could handle the ships on his tail now if he put forth all his effort, but... Krystal.

His heart was racing. He couldn't leave her to die, but if he went for her, he would probably die himself.

"Fox!"

The vulpine threw his ship into a series of rolls before glancing down at the communicator again. Her shields had dropped.

A bright red warning flashed on the monitor. He looked in the mirror and saw a laser flying directly at him.

He jammed the ship's boost and swerved to the right, the force of the motion sending it spiraling out of control. When it recovered, Fox made the decision.

There was nothing he could do. It was too late.

Gritting his teeth, he switched the link off.

"Fox, are you alright?" She was still looking at him, her face calm and serene.

And then it was frantic. She was screaming, yelling, and there was nothing he could do to help her. His carelessness had reduced her perfection into chaos and fear.

It was all his fault.

He shook his head, and her face returned to calm. Nothing but a hallucination, he told himself. But he had seen it before, and it had been real then.

She leaned in closer to him and said, "You're scaring me. Tell me what's wrong." She placed a hand on his knee, and he drew away.

"Krystal, there's something that you need to know."

"Go on."

He hesitated again, clicking his tongue against the roof of his mouth. His thought turned back to that day.

Krystal deserved better than that. She deserved more. She didn't deserve all the pains and struggles he had to go through.

That was why he had to do it.

The words came to him, and he belted them out before he had a chance to rethink it.

"I don't think you should be a part of Star Fox anymore."

Krystal blinked. "You're... this is a joke, right?"

"No."

"Are you serious? Wh—" She stopped and rested her chin in one of her hands, staring at him for a moment as if she was digesting the information. "Did I do something wrong?"

"No, it's just..." He looked away. "I can't let you take those kinds of risks."

"'Take those kinds of risks?'" She was frowning, her body tense, hands on her hips. "Do you think I can't take care of myself?"

"No, it's not that, it's just that..."

"What is it, then?" Her voice rose. "Is it because I'm a woman? Is it because—"

"If Falco hadn't been there, you would've died!"

The words seemed to shatter the air. He hadn't meant to be so blunt. Krystal stared at him for a few moments, opening and closing her mouth a few times. "If Wolf hadn't been there, you would've died. Does that mean I can kick you off the team?"

He clutched his hands against his kneecaps, squeezing until his fingers were numb. "That's different. I knew what the risks were, and I had to—"

"I knew the risks, too, Fox, and I went anyway. Because I wanted to."

"But that's different. There wasn't any reason for you to go out there and almost kill yourself, we could've handled it fine on our own."

Fox knew he'd made a big mistake as soon as the words left his mouth. Krystal didn't flinch, retaining her calm demeanor. She sat for a few more minutes before getting up and pacing across the room, her back turned to Fox.

"I had thought that, after all this... after being inducted... that I would be treated like any of the rest of you."

"I'm not saying that—"

She held up a hand, and he knew in that moment that if he said anything else, he'd just be making his situation worse.

"Maybe if you can't treat me like a normal member of your team then I'm better off on my own." She turned around, biting her lip.

Fox sat there in cold silence, feeling as if she was scrutinizing every tremor movement of his body and could read into his emotions by doing so. After what felt like several long minutes, she finally sighed and looked away.

"Fox, I'm sorry. I appreciate your concern, and I probably would've been disappointed if you didn't do something like this." She paused. "But maybe you're right."

He looked straight at her, not sure whether to be thankful for the acknowledgement or regretful of its implications. "Huh?"

"Maybe it would be for the best if we didn't work together."

"You... you think? Is it because..." He trailed off, not sure what he was going to say in the first place.

Krystal gave a knowing smile. "I like you, Fox, but it's been tense around here ever since I joined. I could sense it. Maybe me joining this team wasn't such a great idea in the first place. Our feelings, they..." Fox felt his fur bristle at the word 'feelings.' "They interfere with the work. Cause things like this to happen."

She paused.

"Maybe it'd be for the best if I left."

If she had screamed the words at the top of her lungs, they could not have had a greater effect. Fox sat there, unmoving.

She had said it. She wasn't even angry anymore. It was what he wanted all along... wasn't it?

No, not what he had wanted. It was what was necessary. It had to be done.

"Yeah," he said, swallowing. "For the best."

Moments later, there was the whirring of the door again, and Krystal walked out, leaving him alone in the darkness. Somewhere in him, that tiny inner voice screamed "betrayer!"

Rapid knocks woke Fox from his slumber. Thinking that he must have missed the alarm, he dragged himself out of the bed, stealing a glance over at his clock:

7:36 AM

That was weird. He was expecting at least nine. They had no mission today... so why get up early?

There was another loud boom. "Fox, you have to see this!" It was Falco.

Stifling a yawn, Fox said, "I'm coming, I'm coming..." He walked towards the door and looked through the peephole out of habit, then opened it.

"Wha—"

Falco snatched his hand and started dragging him toward the elevator. Fox gave in and followed the bird, stopping to ask the question only when they reached the elevator. "What's up? And what are you doing up before lunchtime?"

"You'll see," Falco said, not looking toward Fox. There was a ding, then the elevator opened. Fox stepped in and watched as Falco pressed the button marked "recreation." He looked over at Falco a couple of times during the ride, but the bird said nothing. In fact, he didn't even look in Fox's direction. It was as if he was deliberately avoiding contact.

A creeping sense of tension enveloped him. Maybe something had gone wrong? Issues with the ship? Problems back in Corneria? Personal problems on Falco's part?

The elevator dinged again and the doors opened. Fox followed Falco to the game room, where all the rest of the team was waiting, their eyes trained on him.

"What's going on?"

Peppy was lounging in the burgundy armchair, one of the three-piece set they had bought to go around the TV. He had the remote in his hand. "Fox... I know you're not gonna like this, but you gotta see it."

He really wished they would stop with all the suspense and just show him already. "What?"

Peppy motioned to the TV, which had a frozen image of a Furonics grooming kit on it. He pressed a button, and the familiar trumpet-heavy jingle of the Cornerian Seven-O'-Clock news filled the air.

The deer on screen began speaking. "Welcome back, this is Paul McDougal. Earlier in the week, the Corneria Military received a call about some disturbances in the asteroid field." A miniature picture of the asteroid belt appeared in the corner of the screen. "So, they dispatched a small squad to take care of it. No, it's not Star Fox, but another team that seems to have turned its game around in the recent weeks."

A picture flashed on the screen, showing the ships of all the Star Wolf team. There was one more than there should have been, Fox realized. And... and...

Nausea swept through him. The reporter was saying something, but the words didn't register.

The world seemed to close on him.

It was Krystal.