Star Fox: Beautiful Love

Far away, I feel your beating heart/
All alone, beneath the crystal stars

Fox McCloud guided his Arwing into Sauria's upper atmosphere. He angled down towards the planet's surface, headed to the world's sole continent, hoping to find what he had come here to find- or more precisely, who; Krystal, the mysterious blue-furred vixen that he had rescued on the top of Krazoa palace, the young woman who had captured his thoughts and held his attention. She had come up to the Great Fox as the massive dreadnought was preparing to break orbit, after another successful mission. Fox remembered the scene perfectly; he had been on the bridge, celebrating with Slippy and Peppy over the salvation of the world below them, and also over the defeat of Andross, although they hadn't known until the fiend had revealed his oversized, ugly mug that he'd even been involved. Falco Lombardi, the cocky avian pilot that had left the team about four years before, was back with the rest of the group, and it felt as though life couldn't get any better for him then.

And then, Peppy had remembered they had received a communication from Krystal, and put the recorded transmission up on the main holographic projector. Simply seeing her face again was enough to make his heart beat faster, and hearing her gentle, lilting voice as she spoke to him had been even better. But the clincher had been when the recoding said, "I'm just left with one more thing to do-" and then he heard her voice, for real this time, behind him as she stepped out from the elevator and said, "And that is, to say 'thank you'." She was still wearing the bra-and-loincloth ensemble she'd had ever since he first saw her, and that plus the radiant smile she was giving him had rendered him inarticulate as he stammered a reply.

Krystal had been polite and friendly during her visit to he Great Fox, but had shortly left afterwards and took the shuttle she had arrived in back to the planet's surface. She had left quietly, perhaps thinking to spare him the awkwardness of a farewell, but he had fervently wanted her to stay, for at least a while longer. Hence, his current side trip back to the planet's surface.

Fox keyed the Arwing's life sign scanners and programmed them to search for mammalian bio-signatures. It was a bit of a long shot, but it was the best way he could think of to locate her on who-knew-how-many square kilometers of surface area. If of course, she did not want to be found, that was a different story, but he hoped… Yes, there was a signature coming from Cape Claw, the only one the computer detected that was not in the arctic regions of Snowhorn Wastes or DarkIce mines. The only real viable landing zone, however, was at Thorntail Hollow. He would have to set down there and then leg it over to the Cape, and hope he made it in time to catch her.

Staring into space, what a lonely face/
I'll try to find my place with you

Fox emerged from the cave that led out onto the sandy shores of Cape Claw panting only slightly. The time he had spent on this world before, running around everywhere, had certainly helped get him back into shape after nearly two weeks of non-stop work. He half-jokingly considered entering the Cornerian 

Marathon the next time it was held, but first things first. He searched diligently for Krystal, scanning the area both with his eyes and with the powerful hi-def binoculars that he had recovered from the Thorntail Hollow's shopkeeper. He didn't find anything until he scanned the small dock that overlooked the clear waters of the Cape, and saw the one he was looking for. She was sitting with her legs over the edge, leaning back and supporting herself with her arms as she stared up at the evening sky with a look of wistful longing on her face. He made his way over to her as quickly as he could, taking care not to startle her in the process.

What a beautiful smile/
Can I stay for a while
On this beautiful night/
We'll make everything right/
My beautiful love, my beautiful love

She looked up at him as he settled down next to her and jumped a bit in surprise. "Fox!" she exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

"Looking for you," he replied. "You left all of a sudden, and I was curious as to why. There's so much I wanted to tell you."

"I, um," she began hesitantly. "To tell the truth, I don't really know what I'm going to do now," she confessed. "I thought that my quest to find the answers behind the reason for my homeworld's destruction would take most, if not all, the rest of my life. But here we are only a few years after that, and everything has been concluded, and I still have most of my life ahead of me but I have no idea what to do with it."

"You could come with us," Fox said. "Krystal, I'm not quite sure how to say this, but…when I first saw you, frozen in time on top of Krazoa palace, I felt…like I had to rescue you. Not because you called for help, although you did, nor because the fate of the world depended on it, though it did, but… but because I felt that walking away from you would be the biggest mistake of my whole life. I want to be a part of your life, and I want you to be a part of mine."

Larger than the moon, my love for you/
Worlds collide, but heaven pulls us through/

The secret of the world is written in the stars/
I'm carrying your heart in mine

"Fox…" Krystal whispered, awestruck by the intensity of the emotion she felt coming from him. He wasn't trying to sweet-talk her into a one-night stand, he meant every word he said, and he was thinking for the rest of their lives as far as how long he wanted to be with her. That someone who had really only just met her could feel so strongly about her took her breath away, and brought a hesitant smile to her lips. "I…I don't know what to say."

"Say yes," he said fervently. "Say you'll come with me. I know we've only really known each other a short while, but to just let that possibility go without even trying would be a grievous mistake."



"All right, then," she said softly, putting her arms around him as she did so. He was surprised by the gesture, but she could tell that he was also grateful for it. "Yes, I'll go with you."

Maybe a greater thing will happen/
Maybe all will see/
Maybe our love will catch like fire/
As it burns through me

Fox felt joy surge through him as he returned her embrace. It was almost a tangible thing, a warmth that had nothing to do with the outside air temperature, nor did it have much to do with the vixen whose form was pressed so closely up against him, and instead had everything to do with the simple fact that she was there; the fact that she existed was enough for him for now. He wondered if she felt the same way about him, but realized that if she didn't she wouldn't be nearly so glad that he was with her.

Krystal let up a bit on the embrace, but only so she could pull her head back and look him in the eyes. She felt the regard he had for her, the respect that she was able to hold on to her life and her sanity even while Andross had been trying to drain the very life-force of her body away to fuel his own revival. As she stared into his eyes, she realized that this was what she had been waiting for; the sign that would tell her what to do, and the path her life should now take. The past was done; with Fox's help, she had been able to ensure that Andross did not gain in any way from his atrocity, but to dwell on it now would be to squander the life ahead of her. She needed to look to the future now, and the future, for her, lay with him and his group.

What a beautiful smile/
Can I stay for a while/
On this beautiful night/
We'll make everything right/
My beautiful love, my beautiful love

Krystal gave Fox a quick kiss on the end of his nose. His eyes popped open as wide as saucers and his face flushed such a brilliant shade of red she could see it even through the fur on his face. He was flustered by her unexpected actions but also delighted, and this conflict showed itself in the wavering smile across his muzzle. She reached a hand up and stroked his brow tenderly, before saying, "Let's get back to your ship, then. If I'm going to become a member of your team, I want to be able to pull my own weight."

He gave her a hand up in assistance, and then the two of them began walking back towards the entrance that led back to Thorntail Hollow. From there, Fox could give Krystal a lift to where she had parked her shuttle, on the roof of the Krazoa Palace, and from there, they could return to orbit and the Great Fox. No matter what the future held for them, it would be brighter for the both of them if the other was in their lives. Fox looked over at Krystal, and saw her looking back at him. He smiled at her and saw hers in reply, and knew they were both thinking the same thing; everything was going to be all right.