A/N: This may be updated slowly but, only because I want to take my time with it. This was my original idea for Lament 2 and it's gonna stay that way. Thanks for the support and I hope this ends up just as well off as the original Lament. PS: Sorry if this is a bit short, but by about chapter 4 expect mass amounts of violence and several other aspects that will definately make this a rated M...sorry I just don't do Teen ratings that much...

BTW: Akuba Reiko, was a write in character from Mkll...thanks for the idea if you're reading this.

The footsteps in the darkness - SkullFox

-Chapter I-

-Lament-

It's been over a month since Krystal had last seen Lament before the collapse of the temple, she'd considered going back in hopes of finding him there alive and waiting for her...but her heart so often told her that she was hoping for a miracle that would never come, that her mind simply accepted it as fact. She could not bring herself to stay aboard the Great Fox...even if it was so much different than before, the memories simply would not allow her to stay on such a ship. The vixen had however honored the vulpine's last words. Krystal had stayed there on Sauria, helping Bella with whatever she needed...it only seemed right, the old vixen was after all the only other Cerinian she knew of, did that not make Krystal responsible for the old one?

Krystal managed to keep her sanity mostly in tact by doing the only thing she was any good at, bounty hunting...she hardly ever really had any work these days, it seemed that Lament's death seemed to remove all traces of crime from the Lylat system altogether. She knew that such a thing was ridiculous. Some of her weeks were entirely spent in space tracking down one scumbag or another. Somehow killing the scum of the Lylat system made her delicate mind travel to other places rather than on the fact that she'd once again lost everything she loved.

Alone, the light blue furred vixen sat, her mind and senses anywhere but where they should be. Space held none of the majesty that it once had to her, it only reminded her of him, just like everything else that she did or saw. Every night she feared her sleep, for the dreams it brought her were only full of visions of a light brownish-red furred fox that she'd loved. She'd fallen hard from the person she build up to being again, her soul continued along the path it had been on when she was endlessly searching for Lament. She hated everything and everyone she met, of course with the exception of Bella, the one person that seemed to understand what the young vixen was going through. Days would pass and nothing would change, her sleep was still haunted by visions of the lover she'd at some point condemned to death, and there were no signs of her loosing the feeling anytime soon. Her only purpose in life the hunt and where it would take her next...

-Stygian system-

-Planet Styx outer aerospace-

-Dreadnought class cruiser The Lancer-

-March 15th 11:35am GST-

The captain of the ship was no stranger to finding lagers hanging about in space...though he was still surprised to find a single wolfen dead in space. The light gray furred coyote was far from your average breed of space faring folk...pirates were a rare breed in the modern day, but, it was his only joy he felt in life anymore. Knowing that anything he wanted could be his at any time, it was what he considered to be the true embodiment of power. As he sat on the bridge of his ship, the coyote moved his shoulder length black hair away from his azure colored eyes most of the time he'd have ignored something as simple as a dead wolfen, but, times had been rough, his ship was in desperate need of repairs, and the wolfen was in relatively good shape, well......good enough to sell for spare parts, he was just surprised as hell to find that the vulpine in the cockpit was still alive even though he did seem to be in pretty rough shape. The only other real member of the coyote's crew was a young Minx named Leena. She was a caring creature, though kind of quiet...however her medical skills were a welcome asset to the ship. Today was no exception to how dull life had become, with Kursed knocking off anyone that even dared gather a price on their head, which left a sour taste in the captain's mouth, he hated staying in one place too long...getting rooted meant getting familiar and getting familiar meant getting sloppy, that wasn't something he wanted, the ones that became familiar were the ones that Kursed hit the fastest. After a short while of sitting on the bridge of the ship, the coyote sighed taking a sip of coffee from a black mug in his left paw, he'd been up for only 4 hours and he was already considering going back to sleep that was before a familiar voice echoed through the room...

"Reiko..." A rather alluring voice shouted, "Your guest just woke up....he seems pretty disoriented.. His legs are still broken but, he seems to be okay besides that wound on his head."

The gray furred coyote sighed a bit, at least the whole day wouldn't be boring, "Fine...I'll be down in a sec."

He yawned deeply, shaking the weariness form his head as he stood up and made his way out of the large room, the halls of his ship had always been empty and barren. There was always room on his ship, it was much too large for a single animal to live, all repairs and maintenance of the massive ship rested on his shoulders. However, unlike most animals these days who feared the blue furred vixen bounty hunter, Reiko made certain that there was no way at all that Kursed could possibly catch him, he'd made certain that his base of operations was simply set somewhere Kursed was not familiar with...and that was the Stygian System, where most of the planets were uninhabited or unexplored entirely.

The coyote made his way through the chrome halls, his boot steps echoing off of the hard metal floor. He remembered a time when the entire ship was full of such a sound but, not any more. There was a time when there was an entire crew of animals to call him Captain, now, there was only himself, and Leena...a simple stow away slave girl that proved herself useful, buying herself a place on the ship. Thinking about his old crew often caused him to look for the nearest drink he could find, that was probably the reason there was so much liquor on the ship...but then again, what kind of pirate, past or present, didn't have a bit of Rum on hand at all times? Luckily at the moment he'd already had a bit to drink and the memories didn't seem to bother him so much. As he finally stepped into the ship's small medical bay he found Leena sitting at the young vulpine's bedside, her fur was of a light off white color, whereas her long hair was a deep golden color, her eyes were a very light green that seemed blue at times, she often wore a two piece top that consisted of a gray tank top, and another piece that consisted of only a pair of sleeves and shoulders that fastened around her collar giving the appearance of a full shirt, and a pair of light blue jeans. The young fox that was sitting upright in the bed was more than strong looking, his muscular build was rather intimidating. He looked at the coyote through one green eye as the other was clouded white with blindness from the scar that trailed over his brow and down the cheek of his face, there was a white tuft of hair on his head, but for the most part it was still covered in blood from a rather nasty wound he had suffered at some time. The animal's gaze made Reiko's entire body feel heavy, as though he were staring into the eyes of death himself...

"Who are you people?" The fox half whispered.

"My name is Akuba Reiko...most people just call me Reiko."

The fox paused for a moment to study the Minx's face who sat at his bedside before looking up to the coyote, "Dead Eye Reiko, huh?" The fox replied, "I've heard a lot about you."

"Wish I could say the same." Reiko responded gently scratching his neck.

The battered vulpine looked to the captain, "Oh, I'm sure you've heard of me." He chuckled, "Most just don't seem to accept it at first." For a moment the injured vulpine simply sat there keeping eye contact with the captain, "Most of the time people...people don't call me anything, they usually don't get the chance, but, you did save my ass, so I guess you can call me Lament."

Reiko's short sided smirk spread across his face until he erupted into laughter, "You!? Lament?! HA!"

"I guess I found one of those idiots that actually believe that Lament is seven feet tall and can punch a hole in a Borrilium slab with his bare fists..." The vulpine smiled, "Believe whatever you want...I just need a ride back to Lylat."

Reiko bowed low showing thick sarcasm in his voice, "Well...Mister Lament." He said in a mocking tone, "I'm afraid you'll have to find another...IDIOT...somewhere else, cause there isn't a force in heaven or hell that'll get me anywhere near Lylat." The gray coyote replied, "Anyone with a record goes in there....Kursed kill their asses."

Lament couldn't help but to smile, "Yeah...that sounds about like her." He replied, "Well then, Cap'n..." He said with a mass of sarcasm in the last word, "What would you suggest I do then? You know busted legs and all."

Reiko already didn't like this guy, he was annoying, had an attitude, and was insulting what he believed to be the greatest pirate there ever was, "Far be it from me to just throw a cripple out into space. Hang around all you want, just don't expect much for food...I only buy enough to cover myself and Leena here."

"I've lived through my fair share of starvation...a few days in this place shouldn't be much."

Reiko headed on his way out of the room but, stopped at the door, "We're headed for Balmirre. I guess once you get there you can sell what's left of the piece of shit wolfen for another ship. Better to have your ass in a hospital than on my ship stink'n the place up." The coyote said walking out of the room.

Leena made certain that Reiko was out of earshot, "Please don't look down on Reiko too much...he really isn't that bad. He, he just......He's been through a lot..."

"Huh...sounds like you know him pretty well." Lament said.

"Sort of..." Leena replied with a welcoming smile, "He really respects Lament...even though he's never really met him. I don't think you'd just lie about something like that either, nobody wants to be as hated as Lament."

The young fox smiled a bit, "You're a smart one...but, you'd be surprised what people would do given the proper motivation."

Several days passed before Lament woke one morning to find a gorgeous sight hovering outside the ship; a large blue and green world much like Corneria, with a small set of ten beautiful rings about it. The sight of the planet reminded him of the one he only hoped was waiting for him back in Lylat, but, unfortunately he was in no proper condition to be flying even if he did have a ship. He tried his hardest to remember what had happened to him, how he'd gotten out of the collapsed rubble of the temple on Uth'maria, but...everything about that place was a blur he could only remember pushing looking Kursed as something pulled him back into the falling structure before everything simply went dark. He was happy enough to be off of the rude fucker's ship, something about that Reiko kid just got to him. Luckily for Lament however most animals simply refused to believe that he really was Lament, buying in to idiotic little rumors and legends started in local bars. This made it easier for the injured animal to get a hospital room where his legs could be treated by professionals though he'd have preferred Kursed's healing...it hurt like nothing he'd ever experienced in his life, but, it was much faster than anything else. As Lament lay in his new room, a familiar white furred Minx made her way to his side slowly, holding something in her arms...she seemed a bit timid as she made her way to Lament's bedside laying the bundle of cloth in her arms next to him...

"I found these on your ship before I sold it..." She said, "The money for your new ship is in there too."

Lament chuckled, "Keep the money. I have more than enough of my own."

"Thank you. I hope you find your way home...but be careful...Reiko wasn't kidding about Kursed, and she's not your only problem."

"What do you mean?" Lament asked, sitting up in his horribly uncomfortable hospital bed.

Leena sighed, "You really have no idea do you? There's talk of war. There's no way between Stygian and Lylat without running into one armada or another..but, if you really are who you say you are. I don't think you'll have any problem with that."

As Lament sat there he removed the wrapped cloth from the bundle only to find two nearly identical long, curved swords, once held in a black scabbard with a white wrapped handle, and the other that was the weapon's exact opposite. He slowly ran his paw over the one hidden within it's black scabbard...he'd mistakenly placed them in their wrong scabbards apparently at some point. After Leena left the room, Lament looked about the room. He still lay there trying to find out what had happened to him to leave him in this condition, but, at the moment the only thing on his mind was Kursed...and finding some way to let her know that he was still alive. Unfortunately, there was no way of contacting her from such a distance, even through Tachyon Frequencies, there were no communications between Lylat and a warring star system...the only question that remained in Lament's head was. Who in Stygian would be stupid enough to start a fight with Lylat. As he sat there thinking to himself of the problems that this war posed for him, Lament turned his room's television onto the first news channel he could find...if he was going to make his way to Lylat at a time when all system boarders would be watched so closely he needed to know everything about the war that he could find out....

-Somewhere in Lylat-

On a small ship a light blue furred vixen looks onto the holographic image of a familiar brown furred canine wearing a military uniform, his expression more than a bit serious...

"Listen Kry---I mean Kursed." He said, "You're the last member of Star Fox that is still flying...we need all the help we can get on the front lines."

The blue vixen sat there, letting out a heavy sigh, she'd sworn she'd never go back to that sort of life, that the only thing left for her was bounty hunting...besides that what about the old one? Bella could easily take care of herself. Her thoughts shifted to a small photo that she kept on hands at all times, of her and Fox from so many years ago...

"Fine..." She half whispered, "Nothing left in Lylat for me anyhow."