Chapter 1

Fox leaned back into the captain's chair of the Great Fox II, his feet resting on a console in front of him. The others huddled near another station closer to the front of the bridge, discussing navigational data or something. Slippy talked away in his squeaky voice and pointed at things on the screen, while Falco waved a hand around as if frustrated about something. Meanwhile, Lucy Hare, Peppy's daughter, stood off to the side giving out the occasional comment. Since they were short one pilot, she'd joined up with them while they passed through Fichina. Fox didn't care what the others were talking about though, as far deeper matters stewed in his mind.

After a few more minutes, the doors at the back of the bridge whooshed aside, revealing Krystal standing there in a purple jumpsuit. Fox rotated his chair to get a better look. Upon spotting him, Krystal stared him down with narrowed eyes, Fox returning the glare. Nothing remained of the cheerful, cuddly blue vixen he knew from before. But he figured the first meeting after their breakup would be tense, so Krystal's attitude didn't faze him. After a few more moments of silent glaring, Krystal gave a little scoff, putting on a sarcastic smirk as she strode past him to the front of the bridge, her head cast high. Fox remained seated, only his head moving as he watched her pass by.

Oblivious to Fox's mood, Falco, Slippy, and Lucy turned up from their work, smiling as Krystal approached.

"Krystal!" Falco smiled.

"Krystal girl!" Lucy laughed, running over. "Great to see you again!"

Slippy jumped for joy, pumping his fists into the air as he leaped. "Krystal! Hooray! You and Fox made up!"

Krystal stopped, frowning as she glared down at the toad. "And what do you mean by that, Slippy?" She rested a hand on one of her hips, a cold glare on her face. "You never get tired of talking about what Fox does, do you?"

Slippy took a step back, his big mouth opening in surprise as if Krystal took an actual swing at him. Fox just sighed at the tense exchange.

Falco blinked, eyes going wide as he rushed to the toad's defense. "Geez Krystal… Give Slippy a break, would ya?"

"Why'd you do that?" Slippy sniffed. "That was so mean…"

Fox chose this moment to stand up and approach the rest of the group. "Okay Krystal," He leaned against a nearby console. "Let's get this over with. What's this secret on Titania you know about? How's it going to help us fight the Anglars?"

The Anglar Empire, made up of fishes and various sea creatures, rose up out of the Venomian oceans a few months ago and attacked the entire system in a blitzkrieg advance. Star Fox and the Cornerian military couldn't contain the threat. The only way to stop them for good would be to destroy their undersea kingdom. But as long as the seas on Venom remained acidic, no one was getting anywhere near that place. The acid would melt the fur and skin off your bones and corrode any type of known metal to rust. And Krystal was their only hope right now of finding a solution.

She glanced at Fox off to the side, not bothering to turn all the way to face him. "Okay, fine…I'll tell you." She pushed a strand of her hair away from her face. "A long time ago, Andross started developing a new machine…one that could deacidify Venom's oceans. This device would make Venom a beautiful place that could support life."

Fox rolled his eyes. "Yeah, sure…" Like he'd heard it all before.

Krystal growled at Fox's callousness, but continued on regardless. "Andross was deemed to be a dangerous fanatic and banished to Venom. He was condemned to a life of isolation and loneliness. Before then, he was Corneria's chief science officer. He was also a close colleague of General Pepper. But they were like oil and water. Their infighting was the precursor to war." Every time Krystal referred to Andross, she gazed off through the windows of the bridge, as though longing for the ape's return.

"Why are you suddenly an Andross fan, Krystal?" Fox asked. "Didn't he have something to do with Cerinia's destruction?"

"His motives were pure, Fox!" Krystal snapped her head towards Fox. "He just wanted to continue his research. He never asked for money or kickbacks of any kind!"

"Do you really feel about Andross that way, deep in your heart?"

Krystal opened her mouth, but no words came out. Grumbling, she turned to the window again.

Fox shook his head. She still doesn't remember…

Meanwhile, Falco called the meeting back to order. "Enough! We don't have time to blab about the past right now!"

Krystal glanced over at Falco, appearing thankful for the interruption. "Of course, you're right Falco." She cleared her throat, looking back at Fox. "After Andross fought you, he dedicated his remaining days to planet Venom. He wanted to leave some sort of legacy. That's all."

"Yeah…of course…" Fox rubbed his hands together. "So suppose we deacidify the oceans with this device. We don't have the Blue Marine sub anymore. That was on the old Great Fox when it got destroyed. So even if the oceans are squeaky clean, we're still not getting anywhere near the Anglars' lair."

"We can just fly the Arwings underwater!" Slippy piped in, his happy, bubbly voice filled the room. "We'll finish them off in no time!"

Fox raised an eyebrow. "And since when could Arwings fly underwater, Slippy?"

The toad blinked. "Uh… Fox? They've been able to do that for ages."

"They have?" Fox looked down at the toad. "I don't remember that."

Slippy glanced at Falco. Falco just shrugged, not knowing what to make of this. Turning back to Fox, Slippy said, "But Fox, I'm telling you I upgraded them! Don't you remember that?"

"And how did you do that, Slippy? I'm not an engineer like you, but I'm pretty sure you can't just take a fighter designed to work in space and upgrade it to work underwater too. How do you do design for one scenario without compromising performance in the other?"

"Well, you see…" Slippy stopped. When no words came to mind, he turned down to the floor, twiddling his thumbs together. "I…uh…I used this thing, to do this thing, and—"

"You don't know you did it, do you?" Fox crouched down on one knee, so he sat more at Slippy's eye level. "The Arwings just…work that way now, for some reason right?" Despite Fox coming down to his height, Slippy still tried to avert his gaze. Fox sighed at the non-answer. "Anyway, speaking of other things that don't make sense…" Fox returned his attention to the rest of the group. "We ran into Bill Grey earlier on Katina. You guys remember that?"

Lucy, Slippy, Falco, and Krystal shared confused glances, not knowing what to make of the question.

"I…guess we did?" Falco raised an eyebrow.

"Okay…" Fox stuck his hands in his pocket, walking around the bridge. "I remember Bill having gray fur." Fox looked back towards the group as he paced. "As in gray like his name, you know? By the way, do you spell gray with an 'E' or an 'A'? Eh…whatever." Fox shrugged as he stared forward again, continuing his lap around the room. "Anyway, now he's brown."

"But Fox…" Lucy stepped forward. "You've been friends with him since we were all in the Academy. He's always had brown fur."

Fox stopped in place, rolling his eyes. "No. He. Hasn't. He's supposed to be gray. And as for colors…" Fox strolled towards Falco, staring the bird down. "What color does Katt dye her fur, Falco? She's your girlfriend. You should know."

Falco took a couple steps back as Fox approached. "But Katt doesn't dye her fur! What are you—"

"Wrroooonng!" Fox pointed a finger in Falco's face. Falco stumbled backwards, throwing out an elbow as though Fox were trying to assault him. Fox didn't let up though. "She dyes it pink! Everything she owns is pink! She loves pink!" Spittle flew out of Fox's mouth every time he said that word. "How could anyone forget about that?"

"Uh…" Krystal's eyes looked a bit like saucers at this point, herself taken aback by Fox's outburst. She laid hands on Fox's shoulders from behind. "Fox, are you all right? I'll admit…I'm still mad at you, but even I'm a little worried about you now…"

Fox chuckled, turning around to face her. "Oh yeah…about that breakup. Why did I kick you off the team again?"

Krystal blinked, surprised by the casual way he asked the question. "You…you said were afraid I'd die. You were pretty loud and clear about that."

Fox nodded, still grinning. "Uh huh. That's what everyone keeps telling me anyway. But why?" Fox sounded like he was talking to himself at this point, laughing away. "Why? It just makes no sense. Krystal's an excellent pilot." He turned around to look at Slippy. "If I was worried about someone getting shot down, why didn't I take Slippy off the squadron instead?"

"Hey!" Slippy shouted out. "That's not nice, Fox!"

"Slip, I like you both as a friend and as a teammate. But let's be honest here. Your flying is just. Plain. Awful."

Slippy's oversized lip trembled, as tears started to form in his bulbous eyes. But Fox walked over with a warm smile on his face, patting Slippy on the shoulder.

"I will say this though Slippy. You're an amazing mechanic. I think your real place is here on the Great Fox II, where you can do that job full time. Keep our ships in even better working order than they normally are. Maybe even give you some more R&D time so you can develop new things for us. Don't you think that would be better?"

Slippy stared back at Fox, thinking it over. A faint smile appeared on his large mouth. "Actually…maybe yeah. I would like that. There are some things I wish I could spend more time working on, but then we have to go out and fly a sortie…"

"I don't know where you're going with all this Fox," Krystal interrupted. "But does any of this matter? You did what you did, and you can't take it back now."

"You know, that reminds me of something else, Krystal…" Fox pointed a finger at his head. "I have all these memories. Not just from the past, but from the future too. It's like I've lived through this war with the Anglars over and over again, somehow. But each time, it's a little different." Fox looked over towards one of the windows, staring off into the stars. "I can remember the Anglars winning, but also losing. I can remember my deaths." Fox cast a brief glance back at the others. "Yes, deaths, plural. I can remember each of you dying at least once too. I can also see the Great Fox II being destroyed, multiple times, by missile strikes..."

"You can see the future now Fox, really?" Krystal just burst out laughing. She laughed so hard she had to stop and lean down, putting her hands on her knees.

"Yes, exactly." Fox said without irony, as he walked over to the blue vixen. "Krystal…in your future, I can see you leaving behind Lylat for good, everyone shunning you for helping Star Wolf. You take on the new name of Kursed. And yet I also have memories of us getting back together, marrying for real, and even having a son…"

"Oh this is rich!" Krystal smiled, rising back up into a stand. "What's the kid's na—"

"Marcus."

Krystal's grin dropped off her face. "Wha? That was the first name that popped into my head." Now with rapt attention, she said, "What other things can you see?"

Fox turned to Falco. "Falco…you and I disband Star Fox and we start a G-Zero team. We turn our Arwings into racers."

"What?" Falco grinned, as he turned away laughing, clutching at his stomach. "Get out of here! I don't even watch G-Zero!"

"Not just that. I've got memories of you forming your own team with Katt and Dash Bowman. You call it Star Falco."

Falco raised an eyebrow. "Star Falco? And who the hell is Dash?"

"He's someone you meet in one of my other memories. The grandson of Andross."

"Eh?" Falco winced in disgust. "Why would I want someone like that on my team?"

"I don't know…but I have other memories of Dash taking leadership over Venom, both with and without following in his grandfather's footsteps…"

"Uh…Fox?" Lucy stepped forward, reentering the conversation after having been quiet for most of it. "I thought we were here to talk about getting that device."

Fox narrowed his eyes at Lucy, then ignored her to return his attention to Falco, Slippy, and Krystal. "I'm trying to tell you guys. Something feels wrong here. All of Lylat feels wrong somehow. I have all these memories that just don't match up to reality. And so far as I know, I'm not crazy. Do I look crazy?"

Krystal, Falco, and Slippy stood there in silence, exchanging nervous, pained glances with each other.

"You sure sound like it Fox…" Krystal said. "Besides, memories are unreliable things. They're not like videos. Memories can change over time and become different from what really happened."

"Well then…" Fox folded his arms. "Explain how that causes me to completely forget about someone I should have known my entire life."

"Wh-who's that?" Lucy asked, her lip trembling.

Fox turned to the hare, staring her dead in the eyes. "It's you, Lucy. Peppy basically took over as my dad when my real father died. So how come my only memories of you are from the past few days, after the Anglars attacked?" With each word, Fox took a step closer to the hare. "Why did Peppy never introduce me to you? How come you didn't live with us? He never even mentioned to anyone he had a wife or daughter."

Lucy drew a hand close to her chest, backing away from the vulpine.

"Fox, what are you talking about?" Slippy called out. "We've all known Lucy. Peppy shows us pictures of her every chance he gets."

"Yeah Fox," Falco chimed in. "You told us all about how you were good friends with Lucy, since Peppy and your dad James let the two of you play together when you were younger."

"I sure as hell don't remember any of that." Fox glanced over at his teammates. "Lucy may as well be a total stranger."

"But Fox…they're right," Lucy stepped forward. "Come on… All this stuff you're saying. It's just stress. That's all. You've been through an awful lot the past few years. It's taken its toll on you." She offered a hug to Fox. "I'm here for you Fox, just like I've always been…"

Fox pushed her away, glaring straight into her eyes. "Bullshit." He heard a few sharp intakes of breath from the others. Everyone had their eyes on the two of them. Fox didn't let up. "This reminds me of something else. Why was Peppy chosen as the general of the Cornerian Forces?"

"B-because he's…done a lot of great things for Lylat?" Slippy mused.

Fox laughed. "Well, how come I'm not a Cornerian general then? I love you guys, and you're great support, but I am the one who leads the squadron and actually gets shit done that saves Lylat, you know. With all the things I've done for Lylat, I should be first pick. But Corneria's not exactly in a rush to call me up about that…" He glanced over at the comms station, with its empty call log displayed on the screen.

"Corneria values…age, wisdom, and experience?" Krystal asked.

Fox shook his head. "If that's true, why'd Corneria let a former mercenary take over as a CDF general? Why not someone who's been in the CDF his whole life, picking up lots of military experience and working his way up the chain of command for decades? Someone like that would know how the CDF runs better than anyone. Yet Corneria just lets some outsider take the helm? You'd think there'd be a massive outcry about Peppy just skipping straight to the top like that, and yet…" Fox took a moment to look everyone else in the face. "…nobody really seems bothered by it. Except me, of course."

"Fox…" Lucy tried to drag them back towards talking about the mission. "Shouldn't we be thinking about the Anglars and—"

"I'm not done with you yet!" Fox shouted at her, pointing a finger square between her eyes. "Since we've known each other as kids, like everyone says…what color was my dad's sports car?"

Lucy's eyes welled up, tears forming in her eyes. "Why do I have to answer that for? This is just—"

"Answer!"

"Fine! It was…it was…." Lucy chewed her lip. "…red?"

"My dad never owned a sports car. Too expensive. Dad saved every penny he could to start Star Fox, to buy the Arwings and the first Great Fox."

"What does any of this matter?!" Lucy cried out. "Why are you doing this to me?"

"For real Fox!" Slippy stepped in. "You've been acting mean to everyone here!"

Fox looked over at the toad. "I told you… Something. Is. Wrong. Here. Can't any of you see that?"

"Oh for gods' sake Fox!" Krystal stepped in. "You've just gone crazy; that's the only thing that's wrong here."

"Have I? Does being the only sane man in an insane world make you the insane one?" Fox turned back to Lucy. "Okay Lucy...I'll ask you an easier question. Your father…Peppy. What does he like to say about aileron rolls?"

Lucy drew a blank. "Aileron rolls? I don't follow you…"

Fox put on a mocking smile. "Oh come now. Everyone knows what Peppy says about those... Right? Riiiiight?" He cast a smile to the others.

Lucy seemed to be sweating bullets now.

Slippy started to mumble. "D…D-do a—"

Fox put a hand over Slippy's mouth. "No, she has to do this herself. No helping." Fox flashed his sharp teeth at Lucy. "Come on. It's just four words. This ought to be easy."

"Umm…." Lucy's eyes darted all over the room, anywhere except the vulpine's face. "Do an…aileron roll?"

Within the blink of an eye, Fox drew his blaster and pointed it square at Lucy's forehead. "Now I know you're not Peppy's daughter. Who are you?"

Lucy gasped, stumbling backwards and falling to the floor. "Wh-wha-what are you doing? You're insane! Get that gun away from me!"

"Whoa whoa Fox!" Falco shouted, holding his hands up. "Bit extreme, don't you think?!"

"Not in the slightest, Falco." Fox stepped forward, towering over the hare with the gun in hand. "Krystal?"

Krystal's eyes went wide. She looked like the last thing she wanted right now was the vulpine's attention. "Y-yes Fox?"

"Use your telepathy. Reach out to everyone in this room. Tell me what you feel."

Krystal looked back and forth between Lucy and the gun, the vixen's feet rooted to the floor. But after getting over the shock, she seemed to realize that Fox's request probably would be safe to grant. Giving a nod, Krystal closed her eyes, touching everyone's minds in turn. Fox felt a brief fluttering in his head when it was his turn.

As she finished up, Krystal said "Fox, I can sense your mind, Slippy's and Falco's. But Lucy… I can't sense anything at all… Like nothing is there."

Lucy trembled, shrinking away from the gun.

"Fox… I think you're right to be suspicious of her." The vixen looked over at the helpless bunny. "She's not a lifeform like we are…"

Lucy started crying. "Please…don't hurt me! I didn't do anything!"

"Start telling us what's really going on here…" Fox took another step forward, close enough to shove the barrel into her forehead. "Who are you? What is this place? It sure isn't Lylat, wherever we are. And why do I have all these memories that don't make sense?"

Lucy sat there with tears running down her face. "Fox, I can't believe you. Threatening your godfather's daughter with a gun…"

"How dare you claim Peppy as your father," Fox snarled. "I will shoot you if you don't start answering my questions. You will tell me how to get out of this timeloop or whatever we're trapped in."

Falco, Krystal, and Slippy stood paralyzed off to the side, holding their breath.

"I'm going to give you until the count of ten to start talking." Fox adjusted the charging handle on the side of his blaster. "One, two, three—"

"Fox, please! I don't know anything! I swear!"

Fox didn't miss a beat. "—four, five, six—"

"Don't do this… Don't do this…" Lucy shook her head, shrinking back until she found herself against one of the consoles. Fox paced after her, keeping the gun pointed square at her head.

"—seven, eight—"

Lucy couldn't take it anymore. She jumped up and ran for the bridge's rear door, running down the central aisle between the stations.

"—nine, ten." Fox squeezed the trigger. A flash appeared on Lucy's shoulder, smoke pouring out of it. The hare cried out as she tumbled out of sight behind the consoles. Fox lowered the gun, a blank expression as he walked over to observe what he'd done. Lucy lay sprawled across the floor, twitching. Silence filled the bridge, aside from Lucy crying and whimpering from her injury. The others alternated between looking at Lucy and staring at Fox.

"I…I can't believe it…" Slippy stared at Lucy's crumpled form. "You really did it…"

Fox holstered his blaster, turning back to glare at the others. "She was a spy. It was either her or us."

"You would just shoot someone like her, Fox?" Falco stood there with his mouth open, a rare look of complete shock on his face. "What happened to you?"

"Krystal said it herself," Fox spoke matter-of-factly, like a robot. "She didn't have a readable brain, like the rest of us. She's not like us. Isn't that right, Krystal?"

"I-I did but…" Krystal took shallow breaths, her heart beating fast as she glanced between Fox with his gun and Lucy on the floor. "I didn't think you'd just shoot her…"

"It's official, you've lost it," Falco narrowed his eyes, stepping up to Fox. "I can't let you do this to anyone else here. Give me that gun."

"This is my ship, my PMC. My way goes here," Fox folded his ears back, exposing his sharp teeth.

"How do I know you won't shoot one of us later, just because you think we're spies?" Falco stepped right up to Fox, using his taller height to tower over him. "I don't care who owns this ship. You're not gonna shoot any more of us on my watch." Falco reached for Fox's holster.

"Let go of me!" Fox shouted out, trying to back away from Falco.

However, Fox tripped over one of the steps leading to the bridge's rear door, sending him tumbling to the floor. Falco went down with him. They tussled about, both of them fighting for control of Fox's blaster. Wild blaster shots rang out across the bridge as they struggled, causing Krystal and Slippy to duck behind the consoles. One more blaster shot rang out. Falco screamed, rolling off of Fox with a smoking hole in his Star Fox jacket. Blood began running across the silver fabric.

Fox jumped to his feet, but then he gasped upon seeing his friend on the floor. "Oh no….no no no no… Please no Falco…" Tears ran down Fox's face, sprinkling onto the bird's form. "I was…I was just trying to protect us and…" He couldn't say anything more, Fox's sobbing covering up any more coherent words.

Krystal and Slippy couldn't do anything but watch, both of them unable to believe what had just happened before their eyes. To think that just a few minutes ago, they'd been discussing a mission, just like any other time in Star Fox. And now…

A buzzing sound filled the bridge. When it ended, everyone in the room froze exactly where they were, not even chests rising up and down from breathing. Fox's tears floated in midair over Falco's body, unmoving. Seconds passed with complete silence and stillness. The walls, ceiling, and floors of the bridge began shimmering, as though they were desert mirages fading out of existence. One by one, the surfaces blinked away, leaving nothing but solid blackness behind them. The consoles and furniture did the same thing thereafter, shimmering and then vanishing. This left the forms of the five anthros where they were, floating in black space in the exact same positions. But soon, each of them began to fade away, one at a time, until only Fox himself was left, still in his hunched over sobbing position. But the unmoving, unfeeling form of Fox McCloud joined his friends after a few moments. First his legs faded away, then his arms, tail, torso, and finally his head vanishing…leaving behind a silent, dark, empty world.

A/N: I hope that wasn't too violent for you guys. It wasn't fun writing Fox shooting Lucy and Falco, I can tell you that. Believe it or not though, this isn't the end of the story. You'll see.

Back in September, I decided I wanted to write a horror fic for Halloween. My first idea was a comedy/horror fic where Falco and Katt basically enter a Resident Evil-type scenario. They would go to a creepy mansion in the middle of nowhere, fight zombies and monsters, solve silly puzzles, and defeat hammy villains. And the whole way I'd be poking fun at common tropes in RE games. However, I put the brakes on this plan pretty fast, because I thought I'd be the only person who'd enjoy reading a story like that. I don't think there are many other RE fans around here that would get the jokes.

So then my second idea was this fic. The idea came from a fan theory I saw on TV Tropes, which I thought was scary but also very plausible and intriguing. It was so good I literally couldn't think about Command anymore without considering this theory. You can probably guess parts of it from this first chapter and the title, but I'm still keeping a few elements hidden for the upcoming chapters. I expect this story's going to be about 3-4 chapters total, so it won't be all that long.

I won't have all the chapters up in time for Halloween, but at least I got this one up, right? Actually, I don't even really think of this as a Halloween fic anymore. Aside from having some horror elements, it won't have anything to do with the holiday.