AN: This work is deeply in development and can use all the feedback it can get. I'm still very new to this site and ignorant of its norms and goings-on, and tend toward using Google Docs for my writing and editing. I enjoy its comment system of highlighting text and adding comments to specific passages. That being said, I appreciate any feedback I can get, for better or worse. The Docs link is here: document/d/1s1pNabTNwT_WkOIOLudbblAg1Jer8JxZQRrYD_mn348/edit

I'm also eager to discuss what I'm doing, address concerns, or answer questions, especially now while the story isn't completely written. I've already delved about 15k words in, and the entire thing will likely approach 40k words or so by the time I'm done. The sooner I catch mistakes or inconsistencies, the better.

Also, thanks for reading. I really do appreciate it.

Chapter 1

"I'm down with it if you are, Fox, but… you're really sure?" Falco asked.

They'd gone over this a dozen times. Peppy was retired, Slippy was married and semi-retired, and Krystal was… gone, for lack of a better word. Team Star Fox, in effect, was no more; Fox and Falco remained, and they needed a third.

"Not unless you care to suggest a last-minute replacement," Fox replied. "Besides, we owe him."

"Bah," Falco spat. "Couldn't those senators have done us the one favor we actually asked for? I'd rather just have the debt paid off. Have one more excuse to leave him the hell alone forever."

"That's why I do this one alone," Fox said. Falco huffed and broke eye contact. "And enough with the attitude. I'll handle it alone and keep you updated. Besides, we've agreed-"

Falco finished the sentence.

"He's the only one who could keep up. Yeah, I get it." The bird leaned his back against the wall, crossing his arms. He gazed pensively over at his Arwing, which sat in the rented government's small hangar beside Fox's. "It's shitty that our options are recruiting him or splitting up altogether, but I'll accept it. It'd be a lot easier if Bill had been open to leaving the military, but I swear I'm not leaving again."

"Is that-"

Falco didn't wait for Fox to say whatever he was starting. He embraced Fox warmly and held him there as the vulpine returned the gesture. Fox was certain that, just like they rushed through his, memories of their recent nights together were rushing through Falco's head. Nights where Fox was full-swing on the rebound and Falco was desperate enough to drop the straight-as-a-needle act. Good nights. For a moment, he closed his eyes with feathers against his fur, and Fox flashed back to being physically spent and overall just happy to be alive in the moment.

"Sheesh," Falco said, releasing Fox and softly shoving him back. "I'm gonna have to screw girls until I lose count after this, you know that?"

The moment was gone. Fox fully believed that a week of debauchery was exactly what Falco had in front of him-what he felt he needed, even, and that killed the mood.

They'd gone down this road before. Fox was lonely after his breakup with Krystal, and Falco had… an addiction, to put it mildly. Falco had been willing to settle for Fox because he needed someone, and Fox was willing to accept that because he needed intimacy with someone who actually cared.

But that was all Fox was going to get out of his longtime friend and partner. Falco had been explicit enough to kill any false hope. Taking things any further was a pipe dream, always dismissed or laughed off, and Fox was gradually learning to accept the reality. Falco was at least a bit more open about how he felt than he was before, and Fox could live with that.

"Yeah? Well, keep your phone nearby," Fox said. "I'll call you every night."

"If I don't hear from you for two days straight, I'm coming back and kicking his ass," Falco promised. "He might think he's the best pilot that isn't Fox McCloud, but he ain't seen me pissed off yet."

They nodded in tandem. Fox trotted off to his Arwing without another word. He silently berated himself for wondering whether or not Falco watched him until his ship was completely out of view.

Their separation wouldn't be for long, but Fox knew he'd miss the bird.

The target ship, floating in orbit over the foreign planet, wasn't as great or as impressive as Fox had expected. With access to all the resources of Sargasso, Fox expected a pretty good flagship out for an expedition like this beyond known space, but the ship was… well… old.

It was probably forty years old, decorated on the outside with the outline a fanged canid head that looked like it had been bleached by decades of starlight. It looked like it might have been nice when it was built, but its age showed even from the exterior. It was also small; the ship couldn't have been even a quarter of the size of the Great Fox, and clearly lacked the cannon range and overall functionality that a warship would have.

Was his situation really so bad that this was all he could muster?

From his Arwing, Fox sent out a series of antiquated bridge-triggering RF signals, hoping that one of them would click so that he wouldn't have to open comm channels. It'd be easier, for once, to handle things on the ground rather than in the air.

By fluke, Fox clicked the right button early into the one thousand possible wavelengths, and the docking bridge opened, much to his relief. Fox's Arwing flew into the hangar and parked by a notorious, familiar fighter ship that would not be firing its lasers at him today, at least.

The halls were… different than he'd expected. There wasn't much space on the ship, but every inch of the walls had some sort of memento plastered onto it. A few of the faces were familiar, and a few were completely foreign, probably from the owner's childhood or distant past.

A little on edge, Fox continued to prowl through the ship, careful not to be caught off guard. At the end of a somewhat long hallway, he found the room he was looking for, as well as its occupant.

"Looks like you've found me already, pup," Wolf said. Fox's rival stood at the foot of his bed, wearing nothing but a pair of boxer briefs. The gray canid's fists were raised, and a snarl rested on his face. "You know, I really thought I could escape it all if I came out here, but you've followed me all this way and intruded on my home. Not sure if I'm impressed or disgusted, but whatever. I'm pretty sure I know why you're here. Let's get this over with."

Wolf dashed at Fox, and in the blink of an eye, he'd nearly closed the distance between them. He stopped abruptly, crossing his arms at his chest with a disgusted look on his face.

"Don't make me do it," Fox warned.

"Don't give me that bullshit," Wolf snarled. His purple eye looked more insulted than angry about the blaster that faced it. "You have thirty thousand reasons to pull the trigger. If you had the balls to fire, you'd have fired already. Throw it away, and let's settle this like gentlemen."

"I'm not here to fight you," Fox promised.

"Then why the hell are you here?" Wolf demanded. "My team has left me and Sargasso is in ruins. You saw to that, made sure I was all alone, and now you've traced me all the way beyond the edges of known space. Explain yourself."

Fox took a deep breath.

"Alright," he said. Fox swallowed nervously. Wolf's remaining purple eye glared at him beneath a furrowed eyebrow, only an arm's length away from Fox's face. One wrong move or brief slip of attention, and it was game over; the heavier, taller wolf would be on him and no gun in the world could save him. Wolf's bared physique, just from the obvious musculature beneath his gray fur, would be more than a match for Fox. He hadn't prepared for Wolf being quite this imposing. "I have a story to tell. And a proposition to make. Some things I needed to say in person."

"Throw the gun aside," Wolf ordered. Fox hesitated, and Wolf gave a low growl.

Wolf loomed over him, his breaths loud and shallow, bits of growl slipping out on occasion. Fox guessed that his rival was four inches taller and at least twenty pounds heavier. He really didn't like his odds if he tossed away the blaster and Wolf decided not to let him talk.

If he's going to kill me, he wants us both to be in a cockpit.

With slow, predictable movements, Wolf pushed the blaster's barrel away from himself, uncurled Fox's fingers around it, and tossed it away.

The blaster clattered to the floor. Fox shifted his weight uneasily as Wolf walked up to the gun, stepped one foot onto it, and grinned at Fox with a menace that was uncannily reminiscent of what Fox always felt when his Wolfen showed up to a battlefield.

"Y'know. For a minute, I thought I'd made a terrible mistake not getting my own blaster when I knew you were here," Wolf chuckled.

"If you knew I was here before I got to your room, couldn't you have at least put on some clothes?"

"You raise a good point. We should get out of my room. But I'm not getting dressed," Wolf stated. He spread his arms, gesturing down at his body. "It's the middle of the night, and this is my home anyway. What do you wear when you're home?"

Fox rolled his eyes, and Wolf motioned for Fox to follow him. Fox's eyes widened at the sight of Wolf's tail hanging through a dangerously wide gap in the back of his underwear. At least Wolf wasn't too hard on the eyes, but it was as if he had no shame… or maybe he just wanted Fox to feel uncomfortable?

Hell if Fox knew.

Wolf led him to what seemed to be the mess hall, and sat on one side of the dining table. He extended his arm toward the chair immediately opposite him. Fox stood until Wolf began to snarl, at which point he took the hint and sat as well.

"So how's business been?" Fox asked.

"You know full well," Wolf spat. Fox felt his heart drop into his stomach, because he definitely did know. "What was the big idea, anyway? Had your little politician friends forgive Leon and Panther just so I'd be all on my lonesome when you came? Thought you could demoralize me by taking my team away?"

"So it's true," Fox said. "They're gone."

Wolf nodded.

"Doesn't take a genius to figure that one out," Wolf said. "Panther and Leon were on the wrong side of the law and needed money, and I ran Sargasso in its heyday. Now that the senate cleared their names, what incentive does either one really have to stick with me? Loyalty? From their ilk? Pah."

Fox sighed. This was going to be tricky. He imagined Wolf's reaction.

I don't need your charity, pup.

"I tried to clear your name," Fox said. "Not theirs."

"Bullshit," Wolf said. Somehow, Wolf's outright disbelief hurt a little more than the proud dismissal Fox had expected. "You're Fox McCloud, savior of the Lylat Wars, destroyer of the Aparoids. If you wanted anything from Corneria, they'd have given it to you. What's your real game?"

"I came by it honestly. You saved my life. Twice. You're every bit the hero I am for your role in the Aparoid invasion. I should be able to get you pardoned. No question about it in my mind," Fox said. He struggled to meet Wolf's gaze, and ended up just looking at the floor as he rattled off the biggest failure of his past few weeks. "General Pepper usually took good care of Team Star Fox. But he's still in the hospital, and it's not looking good. I brought your case to the senate, and you know what they said?"

"Something about bringing my head in on a platter and collecting the thirty grand," Wolf guessed. "And then their great Fox McCloud can add one more heroic line to his resume."

Fox rolled his eyes, hoping that was a joke. Scarily enough, Wolf hadn't been too far from the undertones Fox had picked up.

"They said you were the face of Andross's army and the face of everything that threatened Corneria," Fox said. "They-"

"I never threatened Corneria," Wolf spat. "That was Andross's game. I threatened you. I'd have sided with Corneria if you'd decided to work for Andross."

There was no hate in his eyes or in his voice as he said it, which puzzled Fox. He said it as though Fox had messed up a simple elementary school math problem, and the real answer was one obvious correction away. Wolf's words sounded like the most natural thing he could say, and yet in spite of what they meant, there was no hint of hostility besides Wolf's usual habit of keeping sentences dry and harsh.

"Let me talk," Fox said.

Wolf crossed his arms.

"Fine. Be thorough."

Fox took a deep breath and eyed Wolf down. He soon wished he hadn't; Wolf, in this moment, was unreadable, probably on purpose. It took some reminding to convince himself that he, Fox McCloud, had consistently beaten Wolf in dogfights, and that his hard-won victories had earned him the older canid's lasting rivalry and a good deal of respect.

"The senate made you a villain to enhance their propaganda," Fox said. "And it worked a little too well. Any senator who forgave you would be labeled soft on crime, even if I spoke out about the debt Corneria owes you. They could pardon two nameless Star Wolf lackeys, but you? No way in hell. They gave Panther and Leon amnesty, and thought that would appease me."

He waited for Wolf to speak, but Wolf stayed silent, stone-faced, betraying nothing to Fox. He nearly chuckled; intimidating as Wolf's silence was, it was probably easier this way.

"That defeated the whole purpose, though. I didn't care about those two. You were the one I wanted pardoned. And not just because you saved my life a few times." Fox squeezed the hand that rested on his leg until his claws started to irritate his skin. He swallowed, trying not to show his nerves, and tipped his hand. "There's a situation. Star Fox isn't really a team anymore."

There. He'd said it. And Wolf, stoic as he tried to be, betrayed a hint of weakness-a momentary lapse in his cool where his ears pointed straight up and his eyebrows rose.

So he didn't know yet. Good news.

"Peppy semi-retired. Took over for General Pepper, as you probably know. Slippy got married."

Wolf broke his silence earlier than he'd probably expected to.

"You're joking. To a girl?"

"Yeah."

"Bullshit."

Fox turned up his palms and shrugged.

"I haven't told you a lie yet," he said. Wolf sat back in his chair and didn't protest further, so Fox felt free to continue. "But yeah. Slippy comes back for individual jobs if we give him enough notice, but he's been busier and harder to get in contact with. I haven't seen him in a month."

Silence from Wolf. Fox held his breath again along with one more thing he didn't want to say, but this one would be easier. He'd accepted it already.

"Krystal and... I had a messy breakup. She's not part of Team Star Fox anymore. We don't talk." Wolf blew out a long breath. "But there are bigger things than my personal issues, and one of them is the team, or lack of a team. Falco and I are all that's left of the Star Fox, and two pilots really won't be enough. We'd like to recruit until we have four, but we desperately need a third. That's why I'm here."

Still nothing.

"That's all," Fox said.

Wolf shrugged.

"Concise. I'll give credit where credit's due," he commended. "As for what you're offering, I'll consider it. I have three conditions."

Fox blinked a few times quickly, unable to think of a more appropriate response.

"Conditions?"

"For joining you. Or considering it."

Fox blinked a few times in rapid succession.

"You're not going to twist my arm on this first?" Fox asked, incredulous. He'd expected a major struggle, accusations, yelling, and a fight. He'd half expected to take a few bruises and be completely at Wolf's mercy by the time he gave the exhaustive speech he'd prepared. And even from there, he'd expected to have to bargain. Wolf never liked to make things easy for his nemesis. "Or grill me? Or accuse me of treachery? I expected you to be a lot more skeptical."

"One." As if Fox hadn't spoken, Wolf raised his index finger. "I do want that damn bounty removed. Not sure how many rumors you heard while you were tracking me down, but that's why I'm out here." Wolf's face twitched subtly, and he put another finger up. "Two. If I join you, we compete. I'll accept simulators nowadays, since they're not total shit, but we face off when decisions need to be made. I'll show you who's the best, and put that damn bird in his place. And when I beat you consistently, I call the shots for whatever the hell we call the team, which is not gonna be Star Fox. Got it?"

Fox nodded. Discarding the old name was a blow to his pride, but he couldn't really expect Wolf to throw away his own Star Wolf moniker and not expect Fox to meet him halfway. He tried not to cringe.

As for competing, he'd beaten Wolf consistently in the past. It was a lot closer of a match at Sargasso than it had been at Fichina or Venom, but Fox was confident that Wolf wouldn't prove the superior pilot. And even if he did… well, they'd talk if Wolf tried to do anything too crazy.

"Reasonable." Surprisingly reasonable for a guy who joined Andross in the Lylat Wars. Fox wondered where the trap would come in, but that was future Fox's problem. "What's the third?"

Wolf curled his fingers and put his hand down, shaking his head as though Fox had guessed the punch line to a joke.

"An understanding," Wolf replied. "Why you dumped your dream girl, why I made the shitty decisions that got me on the wrong side of the law, and a few more things."

That last part caught Fox's attention right away.

"Such as?"

Wolf bit his lower lip, conspicuously silent.

"Don't bite off more than you can chew," Wolf warned. "First thing's first. Got any idea why I came out to this unnamed world out here in the middle of nowhere?"

An idea brought the smug hint of a grin to Fox's face.

"You thought I was after you, so you ran off to the fringes of unknown space? Despite all your efforts, I found you anyway. You can run, but you can't hide."

Wolf snorted.

"Careful, or we'll have to finish this conversation in our fighters," Wolf warned. He walked to the painted metal wall and opened a sliding drawer along the kitchen counter. Fox expected him to pull out a blaster and offer an ultimatum to make good on his threat, and his pulse rose, but there was nowhere to take cover in so little time. Wolf's paw left the drawer, holding only a fist-sized black box with several buttons and a single turn dial. "The remoteness is a coincidence. This planet we're orbiting has treasure like you wouldn't believe. I'm out here because this planet has the ruins of a gold-rich, primitive civilization. Their writing was easily translated algorithmically, and I now know where they buried an enormous stash of gold. I'm hell-bent on paying off my bounty and using the leftovers for a few upgrades on this ship. You know-"

"Upgrading this thing? I got in here using one of my dad's old RF fobs," Fox interrupted. "This thing is a dinosaur. Trust me. You'd save a lot of money by getting a new one."

"Fuck that," Wolf scoffed. "This is home."

It dawned on Fox that this was probably his time to listen, and Wolf's time to talk. The gray canid sauntered up to Fox and handed him the black box, which Fox observed up close, before sitting back down. It was lighter than he thought, and he had no clue what it might be for except that it seemed to have a camera.

"It's a translator. Top of the line. Deciphered the hieroglyphs that the extinct race used," Wolf explained. "There's a mountain of gold and an archive of technology in a temple. I've got us in geosynchronous orbit above that very same structure. The tech is nothing impressive, if the kinetic bullet weapons on the temple exterior are any indicator, but the gold sounds like just what I need."

"You're raid-"

"Tomb raiding. Yeah. Plundering the tomb of an entire civilization that couldn't survive this hellhole," Wolf said. "It's a shitty job to do alone, but I was planning on it. Yeah, I know. You can look at me funny. What do we have to fear from bulleted weapons, right? Modern shields laugh at those things." Wolf smirked. "Follow me."

"You're really not going to put some clothes on?" Fox asked, a little irritated at his rival's lack of modesty.

"This is home," Wolf insisted.

The lupine turned a few corners, reaching one of the few rooms Fox had yet to see, and pressed a few buttons on a keyboard beneath the large screen that took up much of the far side's wall.

"I've opened the folder containing info about the surface of this planet," Wolf said. "There are fungi that you'd never believe existed. Some as tall as trees. Some not too different from moss. But the worst is horrifying, even to me. Symbiotes. Every creature I've seen on the surface is coated in a fungal skin. I don't want to see any more of the surface than I have to, or…"

A picture of a creature resembling a feral hare showed up on the screen. Beneath a thin layer of fur, however, there was a pasty pink substance that resembled tofu. Fox and Wolf shuddered in unison at the sight of it.

"Pretty terrifying, and not just because they'll bludgeon you straight to hell. I don't want to spend any more time on the ground than I have to. I don't think we're biologically compatible with the parasitic fungi, but just imagine it, pup," Wolf said with a good deal of reverence. "One little slip. One little encounter. It seeps into your fur and grows into a squishy exoskeleton, and different fungi seem to have different cognitive effects on their hosts. Think the Aparoids were bad?"

Suddenly, Fox wasn't sure he wanted to be part of this. But if Wolf was committed to recovering that treasure, then odds were good that he knew how not to fall victim. Either that, or he was as desperate to fetch the treasure as Fox was to recruit him.

"See the rest for yourself," Wolf said, heading from the terminal toward the door. He turned his back to Fox and again, he opened a cupboard casually. Fox thought nothing of it until he caught a glimpse of what was inside. This time, he was quick enough, and had his hands on the blaster before Wolf could bring it toward him. Blaster in hand, grim resignation on his face, Wolf released his grip. "But before you do any of that, I need to know."

The gun's barrel hadn't been pointed toward Fox, but rather, toward Wolf. Only an arm's length away, Fox instinctively put his trigger finger where it belonged.

It was set to kill, not stun. Fox was one short click away from vaporizing a few of Wolf's vital organs. Had he really just made such a grave mistake?

"Your father," Wolf said. He stood right where he'd been, an arm's length from Fox, so close that the vulpine could smell the standard-issue space food on his breath. "I was there when he died. That makes you angry, right?"

No shit, it does.

Fox anticipated a trap, but it seemed downright impossible for Wolf to pull anything. There were no turrets in this room, and Wolf's antiquated quasi-residential ship probably wasn't outfitted with that kind of protection system in any of its rooms anyway.

"Is this a confession?" Fox asked, snarling.

"More of a litmus test."

"Risky game," Fox warned. "You know, if you had a death wish, you could've just cleared up a few details back on Venom."

Wolf shrugged.

"I take risks, or we probably never would've met. Right now, I'm offering you a choice. Check the temple exterior and you'll see why I'll be glad for your help tomorrow, clearing off the defense turrets. Follow through, and I just might form a team with you and your annoying bird. But if you're going to work with me out here, it's better to get this out of the way now," Wolf said. "I knew in advance that Pigma was going to betray your father. I fully intended to shoot James McCloud down and hand him over to Andross, dead or alive. I was on Venom when he died."

The temptation to pull the trigger was strong, but Fox had his reservations. He thought about Falco, and how crushed the bird would be if they couldn't find a third pilot, ran out of money, and had to cancel the construction of a new Great Fox.

Nothing like that could stop him. He'd hardened himself over the course of two wars to the point that ending one more life, even in cold-blooded murder at the expense of his best friend and longtime co-pilot, wouldn't stop him from sleeping at night.

"We have a rivalry forged from our experiences together," Wolf said. "But I have history from way before then. I need to know now that you can work with that. Take this opportunity to make me pay for my role in your father's death. Either shoot, or swear on your family name that you won't turn on me over what's in our past."

Gut instinct made Fox toss the gun aside. A few months ago, it probably would've made Fox shoot his old nemesis and finally enjoy the closure he'd craved for the better part of a decade. But a memory had been etched into the deepest part of his mind-one of falling off of a rooftop and finding himself unexpectedly saved from certain death.

I owe you my life on that one, Wolf. Thanks.

Fox took a deep breath as the gun clunked on the floor by his feet. It wasn't an easy choice, but for Fox, there was no alternative.

"I swear it," Fox pledged. He cringed at the words as they came out of his mouth. Wolf's unwelcome reminder brought back the sensation of being so absorbed in his vengeance that Andross never really stood a chance, and it colored the tone of his next words. "But don't you dare bring my father up again, or there's hell to pay. I might not shoot you, but you'll wish I had. Got it?"

While Fox tried to cow him, Wolf only stepped closer. Their noses nearly touched. Fox fought off the urge to strike him, wondering if Wolf felt the same animosity in the air, and was just doing a better job controlling himself.

"Bite me," Wolf finally said. "I'm no stranger to paying hell, or I wouldn't be out here in the first place. This room and all its files are yours to search. When you finish up in here, choose any room with a bed to be yours."

"Great. Yours looks nice," Fox said, smirking.

Wolf shrugged.

"You can if you're brave. I'm not relocating, though," he said. Fox immediately regretted his words. "Wouldn't be the first time tonight that you intruded on my turf. But whatever you do, make sure to sleep. Tomorrow, you fly your Arwing and I fly my Wolfen. We're clearing the hostilities so that we can walk in without being shot. Check through the images and 3D models so that you know what we're up against."

Wolf stepped around Fox and headed out the door.

"Where do you think you're off to?" Fox asked, stepping in front of him.

"Back to my room, and back to sleep," Wolf replied. "Dawn on the surface is in six hours. It's not too long after dawn that dangerous things start waking up, and some of them fly. Be ready."

He nudged Fox on his way out the door, and as soon as he was gone, Fox felt the tension release in his shoulders.

He'd done it, and it had been easier than he'd thought. Wolf had actually accepted his help, and that was one step closer to bringing him on board than he'd expected to get on the first day.

A nagging suspicion ate at the back of Fox's mind as he felt the onset of an adrenalin crash. What if, the moment Fox got in his Arwing again, Wolf decided it was time for one final dogfight out in the middle of nowhere? Could Fox really trust him to resist the temptation to prove superior now, when their rivalry and an old ship that Wolf insistently called home were all that the older canid had left?

Fox examined the files and realized just how dense the temple's defenses were. If it were anyone but Wolf, he'd have called it a suicide mission, and even with Wolf's prowess, he didn't like the lupine's odds of shooting out every single turret on the structure's surface without sustaining major damage. Maybe it'd be a stretch to say that Wolf needed Fox's help, but it'd be complete folly for him to give up the assistance just to settle their mutual grudge.

As for the distant future, when tensions got high and stress threatened to overwhelm them, Fox could hopefully figure something out. Perhaps they'd have a serious life-or-death dogfight at some point, but Wolf had seemed so certain that Fox wouldn't shoot him when given the chance. Perhaps the respect was mutual? Or maybe Wolf just knew in his heart that Fox would eat right out of the palm of his hand.

Fox couldn't decide, but in light of how badly Star Fox needed another capable pilot, he was able to halfheartedly convince himself that he didn't care. He tried to distract himself by studying the layout of the temple, but as he powered the screen off and chose his room from the few that had beds, he couldn't help that part of him regretted what he'd committed to.

"Fox! Now isn't this a surprise!"

The sarcasm in Falco's voice was as thick as ever. Fox missed him already.

"I did what I was supposed to," Fox said.

"Wow! That quick?" Fox noticed that Falco was almost yelling into the mic, competing with the constant heavy bass of a club. "Guess we're open for business as soon as we pay his bounty off, eh?"

Fox sighed, realizing the error of his words. He closed his tired eyes buried his face into the pillow, tilting his muzzle so that his voice made it to the mic.

"My mistake. I meant, I got further than I expected to for the first night," he said, yawning. "It's late. I can't sleep. But I'm here on Wolf's ship, and I got him to bargain with me. He's willing to accept my help out here and consider our offer. Good news is that we might not have to worry about that bounty issue at all. The bad news is that this planet is a giant fungus-coated deathtrap. It has gold, though, and lots of it. Wolf says if I work with him and we reach it, he'll join us."

"Pfft!" The bird gave a hearty laugh. "Sounds like he played you! Shoulda brought me along to keep you from getting screwed over by your own bad bargaining. You really think he won't just take the money and run?"

I could've shot him. Thirty grand and a house-ship would've been all mine if I'd pulled that trigger.

"I trust him," Fox said, mostly just to assuage Falco. From a certain point of view, it was true; all the money in the world wouldn't stop Wolf from flying, and Fox could count on that. "At least on keeping to his word."

It's what he hasn't mentioned that's made me worry. When will he challenge me? We always fight when we meet. When do we fight?

"There's a sucker born every minute," Falco scoffed. "But I'll let you work your magic, Wolf-whisperer."

"Sounds like you're working some magic of your own," Fox said.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm drowning in pussy. That's a better story to tell after the night's over and it's fully written," the bird replied. He chuckled a bit, barely audible over the booming speakers. "Hey, I gotta know. What's his ship like?"

"Old. You saw it. He insists that it's his home," Fox replied. "Furnished pretty well. Comfortable beds that I'm not used to sleeping on yet. Full kitchen with the standard space-food slop, plenty of free weights in a workout facility. Not the cleanest place I've ever seen, but it's orderly."

"Sleeping with one eye open?"

"I told you. If he's going to try to kill me, it's going to be in the sky."

"And when's he plan on having you in an Arwing?"

Fox checked the clock at his bedstand. It was already well past midnight.

"Three and a half hours from now," Fox replied.

The silence was palpable.

"Y'know. If you beg, I might be convinced to come back and save your ass one more time," Falco said.

The bird's voice was always hard to read, but Fox thought he could detect a bit of… pleading? He had half a mind to play the game and beg just like Falco suggested, but on the off chance that he was reading Falco right, that would put Wolf and Falco in close quarters before Wolf was officially on board with the new team. That situation could be nothing but trouble.

"I think this is something I have to do alone," Fox said. Falco and Wolf were two guys who didn't know how to shrug off trash talk. There was no way having Falco around was going to sway Wolf's mind in a positive way, even if Falco had fully agreed to accept Wolf as a teammate. "But I should be fine either way, right? I haven't lost to him yet or killed him in action thus far. If he has to challenge me, let him try."

Fox knew he didn't mean that. Wolf was a whole different level of trouble than anyone Fox had faced in simulators. During the Lylat Wars, Fox had been too preoccupied with Andross to notice that he was performing piloting miracles, so that when Star Wolf came to stop him, he hardly spared a thought toward how worthy of adversaries they had been. But back at Sargasso, when Wolf had called a ceasefire after some serious close calls on both sides, Fox recognized it in full.

It had felt like the end of a root canal, where everything was still sore, but at least it was over. He'd spent the whole battle wondering what trick Wolf would pull next to splash a little more damage onto his shields. And as much as Fox had effective tricks, Wolf had tons of tricks that Fox had never seen; the menace of them left Fox exhausted by the end of their bout.

"If you were anyone else, I wouldn't be willing to take that risk," Falco sighed.

"I'll be fine." Fox really wasn't so sure. "What are you doing, anyway?"

"What does it sound like I'm doing, genius? Getting laid tonight," Falco said. "Got two girls down for it and planning to take both home tonight. Matter of fact, I'm right about to introduce them to each other."

Fox shook his head. One thing he never understood was how Falco felt so comfortable with the party life. They'd bar-hopped a bit together after the Lylat Wars, but Fox had quickly realized that he couldn't keep up-couldn't give himself to the music and the drink and the girls for just one night, and then expect to do it again with a completely different set a night later.

"Getting your fix," Fox said. "Guess I shouldn't distract you."

"All good. Keep me posted on the adventures of kit and pup, would you?"

"Will do."

Falco hung up first, as Fox expected.

Fox sat in his bed, wishing there were an extra body of warmth there. Someone that breathed, and could be held. He envied Falco for finding company so easily; Falco could make do with Fox when they were alone in space, but he could always just find someone else to keep him company when they were on land, and he was happy that way. Fox craved the body contact that he'd become used to, though he knew it wasn't going to happen. Crawling into Wolf's bed and asking to spoon sounded like a good suicide mission, and was in the running for the worst idea ever to cross his mind for more reasons than he could list.

He wondered how much of the feeling that kept him awake was loneliness, and how much of it was genuine affection toward Falco. Thinking about it, he had to admit that part of it came from still being on the rebound from his breakup with Krystal; not much else could make him legitimately reflect on romantic feelings toward someone like Falco, who could so easily turn his feelings elsewhere.

Fox wondered if he'd done the right thing, wondered if Krystal was going to be okay after all, wondered if he'd started down a dangerous road with Falco that might someday bite him in the ass and leave him with a broken heart.

It's too late for this kind of thing. I have to be in my Arwing in three hours.

Fox closed his eyes, and this time, they stayed shut until the alarm rang.