It's a cold, quiet late evening on N. Sanity Island. The sky is a dull, greyish blue. It's not dark enough for the sun to have gone down, yet there's no sign of it in the clouds. If they are clouds. Everything seems so foggy, distant, featureless…it's as if there's nothing there at all. Empty.

Gone are the wild sounds of the island. The screeching seagulls, the squealing boars, the chanting tribesmen…Sounds that everything on the island with two ears has stopped noticing due to their constant echoing through the trees…

…but not tonight. Tonight, if anything is to be noticed, it's the absence of these sounds, once thought to be ever-present. Even the waves have stopped crashing at the shores of N. Sanity Beach, and there are no winds either. In the place of the wind, an unnatural, unmoving coldness uncannily transforms the island from a lively summer paradise into a deathly, barren landscape. Empty.

Just beyond the beach, at the edge of the jungle, there is a small, wooden hut. Behind its walls, in a small bedroom, an orange marsupial lie awake in bed. On any other night, or day for that matter, sleeping would be no challenge at all. But, in the vacuum of silence his home has become, his mind has been left to wander. Wander and wonder. With no ambience to distract his thoughts and soothe him to sleep, he can only wander back to the memory of what he once had, and wonder if he has anything left. He feels empty.

Suddenly, finally, the silence is broken, by what felt like the first sound to come from the island in years…

"Cocoooooo…" a flat, weak voice groans, reaching the ears of another orange marsupial, sleeping in the next room. The voice is faint and shouldn't even be audible, but in tonight's deafening silence, it is equivalent to an explosion. The sound startles her awake. After a brief pause, she hears it again. In a moment, the bandicoot's widened eyes narrow down into an annoyed frown. With a deep sigh, she tears her sheets away and kicks her legs up, sleepily trudging down to the adjacent room in her pajamas, lamp in hand.

"What is it, Crash…?" Coco growls as she opens the door to her brother's room. "Is something going on, or do you just find it funny to creepily moan my name in bed? Ugh, it sounds even worse now that I'm describing it…" Coco scowls and covers her eyes with her free hand, shaking her head at her brother's never-ending ridiculousness.

"Why did she have to leave me…?" Crash whimpers, burying his face in his pillow. Coco rolls her eyes.

"Please don't tell me this is about Tawna…I thought you were over her…I mean, it's been ages, Crash. I don't think you've even mentioned her in years…And, come on. Look at me." Coco puts a hand on her hip, watching impatiently as Crash slowly pulls his head up from the pillow, and plants it back down, this time facing his sister's general direction. The sight of his lifeless, teary eyes quickly changes Coco's expression from one of annoyance to one of concern. She gasps.

"Big brother…" Coco says in a gentler, more serious tone. Big brother, she repeats to herself internally. Yeah right. As usual, I'm stuck playing the role of the big sister. Sometimes it's enough to make me forget I'm the youngest…but, he seems really beat up this time. I'd better be gentle with him, and act like the sensitive sibling I'm so obviously not…For his sake. It's not easy putting up with a big baby like him, but…someone's gotta do it.

Coco puts the lamp down in front of the bed and slowly approaches Crash. She drags a chair up next to his bed, takes a seat, and decides to get to the bottom of the sudden Tawna problem.

"Crash…? Why are you thinking about her again? And why now?" Coco asks with a somewhat artificial patience in her voice.

"I never stopped thinking about her…" Crash turns the rest of his body over to match his head. He makes brief eye contact with Coco and looks down, sniffling. Coco leans forward slightly.

"I just don't understand…why do you care anymore? I'm sorry big brother, but she's long gone…and, I know you'd rather I didn't bring this up, but if she really left you for a creep like Pinstripe…I gotta say, she's not worth it Crash. You can do better." Crash looks unaffected by her words.

"You're right, Coco…you really don't understand…" Coco sits up straight again, with an exasperated sigh. Oh boy, she thinks to herself. This is worse than I thought. Just keep it together. Come on Coco…be a big sister.

"All right, Crash, how about this: Help me understand. Explain why you would ever miss such an unfaithful, ungrateful, trampy…" Coco clears her throat. "Ahem…explain it to me. Why you miss her." Coco stares her brother askingly in the eyes for an answer. Crash, trying to collect himself, rests his elbow on the pillow with his head on his hand. He stares wistfully at a wall.

"I miss her…because she was everything. I would've never gone after Cortex in the beginning, if he hadn't threatened her. She drove me, to take all those risks and travel all those miles."

"…And? That was just the beginning of your career. Since then, you've done all kinds of great things without her. Even bigger and better things. You found a higher purpose. You wanted to keep the world safe. Not just some girl."

"Just some girl…" Crash mutters. "Look. I love her. She was more than that…She was beautiful. Gorgeous. A real woman. She was mine. She was something I could look forward to after all the danger I faced…now I have nothing but sleep to look forward to when I'm not out there risking my hide. Nobody cares. She made me feel like I meant something, like I was something. Like…I had something to show for my accomplishments. Having her at my side made me a real man…Now I'm nothing…And I have nothing…" His voice quivering weakly, Crash buries his face back into the pillow, sighing harshly into it. Coco turns her head to the ceiling and slaps herself in the face from disbelief.

"Crash…really? That's all this is about…?" Coco sinks back in her chair, gaping at her brother.

"You make it sound like nothing…" Crash mutters into his pillow. Coco grabs the back of his head and turns him over so he's lying on his back. She drags her chair up and sits closer to the bed. Before she lets go of him, she glares into his eyes and says to him, in a louder, monotone voice…

"Crash. It is nothing." Outraged by those words, Crash shoots another glare back at her, but she's not intimidated. She leans back, calming down, crossing her legs and resting her arms on the chair. With a straight-faced look of calm seriousness, she continues to speak.

"Oh, Crash. Sometimes I forget how immature you are. I think it's time we talked about love. True love. And what it means to love someone."

"I don't need your lessons on how to feel…" Crash mumbles, crossing his arms and looking at the ceiling.

"Well, Mr. Broodycoot, you called this meeting, so you're getting the lesson anyway! Besides…I know how to make you listen." The edge of a smirk subtly sneaks onto the corner of Coco's otherwise straight lips.

"And, how will you do that? More of this? Hitting me while I'm down?" Crash moves only his eyes to look over at his sister sullenly.

"Story time!" Coco yells joyfully, springing to her feet and throwing up her arms with a huge, silly smile instantly taking over her face. She knows her brother loves a good bed time story. And even if I can't teach him anything, Coco ponders, I'll at least get him to sleep and put an end to his moping for a while.

After a long pause, Crash turns back to once again fully face Coco. His face seems a bit more relaxed, and he raises a curious eyebrow. He may not have the usual enthusiasm, but Coco is at least starting to get his interest and distract him from his woes.

"…Oh?" Crash replies at last, his voice a bit less shaky. It's not much, but it's the opening Coco needs.

"Yeah! It's an awesome story! About a handsome, brave, young bandicoot knight, and four lovely bandicoot princesses!" The goofy grin still on her face, Coco waves her arms around in an effort to add to the silly excitement.

"All right…" Crash utters, almost flatly. Noting that the "performance" aspect of her storytelling isn't adding as much as she thought it would, Coco returns to normal, sitting back in her chair. She clears her throat.

"That's what I thought! Now…Once upon a time…" Some of her smile still remaining, Coco begins to narrate.

"Wait. I have a request." Crash cuts in.

"Go on, then," Coco urges him, amused.

"Make me the bandicoot in the story. I wanna get together with those princesses…Even if it's just a fantasy, it's the closest thing I have now…" Crash sniffs again. Coco nods at him, keeping her smile.

"Sure thing! We'll call him…Sir Crash!" Coco giggles. "It's perfect. Now, shall we begin, or will you be interrupting me anymore?" She asks playfully.

"Continue…" Crash murmurs, lying down on his back in optimum bedtime story position.