High above the planet's surface, Fox's arwing began experiencing some technical problems. At first, it was just an annoying rattling noise. But when a stray shot struck the engine, the entire ship began shaking. Fox knew he was in trouble.
Fox cursed as the ship threatened to break apart. He knew he shouldn't have accepted the mission, that Slippy didn't have enough time to repair the arwing. He knew what was happening. He knew the engine was slowly breaking apart after all the abuse it's been through. Before long, the main engine exploded, sending the arwing hurtling towards the ground. Fox activated the small emergency engines, but those had been damaged by the shaking and explosion and could only provide enough thrust to slow the descent into a survivable speed. Moments later, the arwing slammed into the ground.
Fox got out of the arwing, fearing that the fuel and bombs could explode at any moment. The first thing he realized was that the planet was cold. Very cold. It wasn't cold enough to snow, but was still cold enough to kill him at night if he couldn't find warmth. He looked up and watched as Krystal picked off the remaining few fighters. With the last of the fighters reduced to falling, burning scrap metal, Krystal's arwing quickly descended, landing not too far from him.
"What are you doing?" Fox asked as she got out of her ship.
"I can't just leave you here" Krystal explained as she ran towards him "I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if something happened to you and neither would Falco or Slippy. I'm already on thin ice ever since I joined and left Star Wolf."
They hugged each other for a few minutes until the sound of enemy artillery fire was heard. The pair was about to make a dash for Krystal's arwing when a shell hit it, reducing it to a fried empty shell. The pair ran as burning engine parts and other debris started raining down on them. An hour later, they had escaped the shelling.
"Doesn't look like they're going to come after us," Fox explained as he looked back at the craters and wreckage.
"How long do you think we'll have to wait until the others come to rescue us?" asked Krystal.
"Never" answered Fox "We never got around to installing any fancy emergency signals. Our only means of communication with them were the on-board communicators and those were destroyed with our arwings."
Krystal sighed. She had always wanted to be alone with Fox, but under better circumstances.
"I guess it not too bad" she thought out loud "There should be enough time to find shelter and start a fire."
"I don't know" Fox explained "While the atmosphere may contain plenty of oxygen, it's also contains poisonous gasses."
"You mean..."
"A few hours and we're dead. The gasses kill slowly."
Krystal hugged Fox, sobbing when she realized just how bad their situation was.
"I'm sorry," she told him as she sobbed loudly "I shouldn't have come down here so soon. I should have called Slippy or Falco. They would have taken out the enemy artillery first. You wouldn't still be stranded."
"It's okay" he reassured her "Pretty much every Mccloud male died on a mission. I'm just glad I'm spending my final moments with you."
"You mean you're not mad that I basically doomed you?"
"Not at all. I'm not thrilled that you're going to die too, but I'm not mad."
"Fox..."
The two foxes sat down, spending the next few hours cuddling. They ignored the freezing wind and the pain from breathing the toxic atmosphere. All they cared about now was their love for each other. Before long, they had both lost consciousness.