A/N: I was in a bit of a creative jam on my main story, so I decided it could be fun to write a oneshot to get the creative juices flowing again. I debated for a while on the subject for it, but I finally decided it would be cool to write a oneshot about an uncommon pairing. At last, I settled on this. Well, let's see if this gives my muse the jumpstart it needs, and maybe I'll do more of these in the future.
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No action. No missions. No nothing. Everything had been dull since their last battle with the Aparoids. It had been climactic, no doubt. And it had cost the lives of several important friends. General Pepper, their long time benefactor, and Peppy Hare, a man who had acted as Fox's father with infinite compassion after the passing of his real one, had both perished in the arduous battle. Fox had moved on by now. At this point, he was kind of accustomed to losing fathers. Everyone was stunned by his courage and integrity in the face of losing yet another. He acted pretty normal, setting an example for those to follow.
But of course, there were more pressing issues on the team leader's mind right now. Chiefly the fact that his dreadnaught, his home, and his father's inheritance, the Great Fox, had been destroyed in the fight as well, along with Peppy and ROB, the ship's mechanical operator. It was a very costly loss, but one that the Lylatian government had offered to cover free of charge as a reward for the Star Fox team's aid.
Fox looked up at the hotel. It was a luxurious looking hotel, not quite like something a group of mercenaries would be staying in. The hotel, like the replacement to the Great Fox, had been paid for entirely by the government. But it still felt a little awkward to be accepting this. Still, they needed a place to stay until the new ship was complete. A quick look to his second in command, Falco, and the others, the telepath Krystal and the technician Slippy, confirmed that they pretty much felt the same way.
"Yes, sir. We have two rooms on reservation to you." Said the receptionist at the front desk. Two? Thought Fox. The government sure was generous to us here. He turned to his team and decided they should sort out who would be in which room.
"Falco, you got any input?" He asked his lieutenant.
"Hm? Nah, I got no preference. I'll go wherever." The bird replied. Fox shrugged and asked Krystal and Slippy the same, garnering identical responses from both. Fox sighed. It looked like he was gonna have to work out the rooming arrangements himself.
"Okay, fine. Falco, you and Slippy can share a room. Krystal and I will take the other." He said, barely managing to not blush at the concept of sharing a bed with Krystal. He liked her, but he just wasn't that emotionally open on the inside. It seemed the others were about to state their agreement when the receptionist chimed in.
"I apologize, sir, but the reservation to room 355 is made to a Mr. F. McCloud and a Mr. S. Toad." She said. Fox looked at her curiously as his mind came to realize what that meant.
"So if Slippy and me are to one room, then the other one is..."
"Room 356 is reserved to a Mr. F. Lombardi and a Ms...Krystal." She said, looking quizzically at the information to verify she had the whole name right. Fox looked concernedly back at his teammates. Falco and Krystal looked at each other, wide-eyed. Fox broke the awkward moment by looking back to the woman behind the desk.
"You're sure we can't switch around anyway?"
"I'm sorry, sir, but when reservations are made, they are to be stuck to, for the purposes of convenience. We are a rather large establishment, after all." She apologized. Fox was about to protest further when Krystal placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Fox, I'm sure Falco and I will be ok. I hear he takes good care of his company." She said, causing Fox's ears to perk up in surprise. Krystal blushed furiously as the dual meaning of what she had said occurred to her. Falco quickly launched himself to his defense.
"Fox, you can relax, I ain't gonna make any unwelcome moves." He said. The vulpine leader looked at his friend. Falco had a notorious reputation as being what he called a 'chick magnet'. He was known to be rather friendly with the opposite sex, which could make anyone in Fox's situation feel a little threatened. But, Falco also had a reputation of keeping his promises and being a (mostly) faithful friend. After a moment of thinking, he nodded.
"Alright, I guess this'll do. Let's head on up, then."
--
"Woah, this is pretty cool. This hotel gets channels we don't even get from the Fox." Said Slippy, lounging on the bed flipping through with the remote. Fox looked at the TV and expressed his half-hearted agreement. In truth, he was still wondering what they were doing over there, across the hall. They'd been up here for a few hours, any number of things could have happened.
He was about to get up and go check on them when a knock came to the door. He opened it up and he could have sworn his heart skipped a beat. Krystal was wearing a swimsuit, and, as he already knew, she was a knockout. Behind her stood Falco in a pair of swimtrunks. He was muscular and fit, which didn't really help Fox's nervousness.
"Hi, Fox." Said Krystal. "Do you boys want to swim?"
The water was pretty warm, as the pool was kept heated. He was glad, too. He had had a few incidents on a planet called Sauria that had really made him dislike water, ESPECIALLY of the freezing cold variety. He still didn't like water that much, but he was kind of over it. He knew Falco hated cold as well, as the cynical avian had been quick to state at a few points during his time as a member of Star Fox.
Slippy was in his element. As an amphibian, he had lived the first part of his life in or near water, and thus, like the rest of his kind, was a spectacular swimmer. He zoomed through the pool like a bullet, performing various patterns with skill one would never expect him to possess by looking at him. Krystal moved with just as much grace as Slippy, but minus the speed and ease afforded by being a frog. In fact, Fox could swear he had never seen a mammal move as gracefully in the water as she did.
Fox and Falco both rested on one wall, both their arms up over it to anchor themselves in place. Still smiling, Fox looked over at his friend.
"So, how's it been going with you guys?" He asked.
"Awkward. You and Slip?" He replied. Fox breathed a slight, imperceptible sigh of relief.
"We've just been hanging out."
"Listen, Foxy, you seriously don't need to worry about me and Krissy. I think she's crazy about you. I got enough ladies waitin' for me all over the place to where I don't have to worry about stealin' one from my best bud." He said, smirking confidently at his best friend. Fox smiled back.
"Thanks, Falco."
Krystal swam over to where they were and inquired as to what they were talking about. Fox was about to try and spew out a halfhearted story when Falco took it first.
"We were talkin' about the new G-Zero machine models. Just came out, hadn't ya heard?" He devised quickly. Fox smirked at him. Ever the quick thinker, that was another thing they had in common.
Krystal giggled girlishly. "I should have known. Well, come on, boys, we came down here to have fun. Swim!" She demanded, kicking off the wall back to the deeper end of the pool. The two friends cast a glance at each other with growing smiles on their faces.
"Race to the other side?"
"Let's tear it up."
--
Krystal stood on the balcony to she and Falco's room, looking at the moon orbiting Aquas, and the stars beyond. Somewhere in those stars there used to be a true place she could call home. But now it, her family, and everything she loved about that place was forever gone. She didn't let it out much, but it was something that very much tortured her on the inside.
The vixen's heart sped up as she realized someone was behind her. She spun around to see Falco Lombardi leaning with his arms crossed in the doorway to the balcony, just like he would always do on the Great Fox during mission briefings.
"Falco, you scared me." She said, looking back to the stars as her heart slowed down again. Falco walked forward and stood next to her.
"You lost somethin' somewhere up there, huh?" He said, looking to the stars with a sense of loneliness in his eyes. Krystal looked at him, curious as to how he knew that.
"Yes. How did you know?"
"I've seen it before...you don't have to be a telepath to see when somebody's lonely."
Krystal, her curiosity even stronger now, dug into Falco's mind. It was certainly strong, stronger than most she had encountered, maybe as strong as Fox's, but she finally was able to see what flooded his mind. He was lonely. Because somewhere along the lines, he had lost something special to him, too. He had lost a few important people to him, but she couldn't discern who they all were. She was wrenched from the trance by his stern voice, the usual humor now gone from it, his Zonessian accent piercing the night.
"The first one was my mom and pop. They got iced by some thugs from a rival family when I was 12. I got to watch the show from the front row." He said sadly. Krystal couldn't believe that. That was horrible! She forgot her initial surprise at his ability to detect her infiltration of his mind.
"Who was that other one?" She asked next.
"Ringo? You don't remember him?" He returned her question. Her eyes went wide. Ringo was someone who had shown up a while ago pretending to be friendly, but ended up going crazy and kidnapping Fox, Slippy, and Slippy's girlfriend, Amanda while Krystal was on a job elsewhere. Falco killed him remorselessly.
"Ringo was that close to you? But if you used to be best friends, why did you kill him?"
"Because this is my place in the world now. Ringo and I had gone our separate ways a long time ago. When he showed up with the intent of hurting you guys, I did what I had to."
"But that's..."
"Enough. I don't wanna talk about this any more." He said. A silence followed in which they both just stood. Krystal finally broke it.
"My parents died too. All my friends as well. My entire planet was killed by that Andross as part of one of his pet projects. You and Fox killed him on Sauria, right?"
"Yeah. He ain't never comin' back after that. So, your folks got plugged too, huh?"
"Yes. It pains me always."
"I know what you mean, Krissy."
What happened next was a moment they never mentioned in public. They embraced, sharing a kiss beneath the moonlight. It held for a minute or two before it broke. Krystal looked at the man's face, a few tears starting to well up in her eyes as she buried her face in his chest. He was strong and supported her.
"You're not going to cry?" She asked. Falco looked away.
"Birds can't cry..." He trailed off.
"Falco, I can't do this. Fox-"
"I know. This never happened."
The beautiful vixen smiled at him.
"Thank you, Falco." She said. He smiled back.
"From here on out, I say nothin'. Fox ain't got nothin' to worry about."
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Kaboom. I know there aren't very many fans of the pairing, and Foxtal worshippers will probably burn me at the stake for writing this, but hey, I hadn't ever seen the pairing tried before, so I figured "Why not give it a shot?" So there it is. I'll continue work on Troubles Of Our Own now. The next chapter should be here soon.