Chapter 1 - Unreachable Pain

Disclaimer: I do not own Star Fox, nor any part of it.

Enjoy!

Fox could run no more. His body simply couldn't handle it. His lush, silky pelt underneath ragged clothes was wind ridden and in disorder, showing just how much and perhaps how fast he had been running. He stumbled over his own feet, unusual since he had always been very controlled to where he was going. But he had run himself to the very end of his strength. The bloody trail he had left behind was only the beginning of it.

The fox's once proud head and tail were held low. A long, cold shiver ran heavily across his spine, and Fox stopped dead and raised his eyes to look about. It was only then that he realized that she had come a lot farther than she intended to. He had never been to these lands, known as the dead lands, but he had heard of the ghosts who haunted it. He took a deep breath and kept going, shivering for reasons more than the ghosts.

Fox found himself before a large stump, grey with death. It smelled of just that: death mixed with rot. Even to Fox's foul tastes, it disgusted him. The stump looked like some kind of dead, bloated animal. He crawled onto it and curled up as tight as he could. His fluffy, disordered tail curled over his muzzle, hiding his face from view.

His tainted heart may still be beating, but just barely. Truth be told, feared and respected by so many, he was slowly dieing.

So alas, the story was as this. Fox had been lead here...to this "dead land" that would become his grave. Could this really be where it would all end? After all he'd been through, could his story really come to its close here and now? Maybe, it was now the time for waiting.

A long, painful howl rose out of the dead trees, splitting through the deathly silence. Fox was not alone in the land of the dead. The howl song continued, crying for hope, for life, for anything. But the wolf did not howl for herself, rather she howled for the one who had been more troubled than herself. The song faded in tragic sadness, the last note the only one sung for the wolf herself, asking for help.

"You seem much closer to death than the last one." The voice had no identifiable source, for it rang only in Fox's head, and it's cold amusment of the pain was chilling. "Yes, you are very close, though your physical being is strong. I guess I admire you both, having myself died without a love. His heart is as light as yours, and yet it has long stopped beating for himself." Deciding that it wouldn't be to much of a hassle to pull out an easy form, from the ground thousands of glowing white dots quickly connected into the hazy vision of a sparkling ghost. She was young, or so she appeared, and though her paws touched the ground, leaving no mark nor did they make a sound. "Tell me, are you troubled?"

Fox, lifting his head weakly to look upon his company, saw nothing but thin air. Most beings would have been frightened by the sound of a voice in their head. But not him. He was too far gone in misery. So when he heard the wolf's voice, all he did was listen quietly. He had heard it's howl. He had heard her desperate note, her pleading. As the ghost came before him, he lowered his ears. "I'm so tired... living is so hard when my heart is so weak."

He paused, sitting up so he could speak more clearly. "Her name was Krystal. She was like a love, though I did not act as one myself. I left her for her own safety, but I couldn't help it. They were after her, and there's no going back. They took her, probably far away from here, to somewhere unreachable."

Fox's eyes closed as he remembered the scene. His heart throbbed and a tear slipped from his eyes. The cruel, heartless figure that had grabbed Krystal instintly. It looked much like a fox itself, but it was untelling.

The pain in his large wound bled, dripping to the ground constantly. The pain should have stopped his tears, but it only slowed them slightly so that he was not gasping for breath.

"Ooh, look. Fresh meat." A glowing spectre materialised not far away, glowing violet eyes scanning the area. She scowled at the faded ghost, a blaze of indigo-pink flames curling suddenly up from her coat. The flames licked in slow motion, more like trails of smoke than fire.

"Midnite, do behave. You've been hogging all the good ones recently." The white ghost stepped forward, her glowing trails following her lazily. Addressing the younger-looking ghost, her eyes roamed over Fox. "Another heart-broken one?"she sighed, sitting beside the stump. She met Fox's eyes, the violet glow brightening the dark lands. "Why are you in my lands, you scavenger?"She smiled widely, showing her pearly white teeth. "Wolves that come here to not live long. This is where they come to die. Are you going to join us, little one?"

Fox closed his eyes as the second ghost came forth. "My appologies..." He opened his eyes now just in time to see the ghost wolf's disgusting form. Not that he cared. "In all honesty, I know not why I came here. I had no choice... I couldn't go farther than this death land." Fox lowered his head in shame.

Midnite, black ears pressed flat against her head, turned to Fox, eyes flickering over him. "You can't stay here you know." Her voice was not accusing, angry, anything, just some sort of quiet concern. She noticed that his side was bleeding, and she couldn't help but be reminded that she and Fox were so alike in some ways. She herself had been guilty of leaving when needed. But that memory was one long since faded and pushed away in her mind.

Another wolf, Fox not knowing if it were a ghost, approached the three, looking at them with crimson eyes. But his eyes were soft and gentle, looking calm from where he stood. The wolf, known as Evan, licked the blood from Fox's wound, causing little pain, but also very soothing."I failed to keep the one of which I had forever given my heart to," Fox remarked quietly, his voice sounding rough.

As much as it would hurt to take the life this fox, Evan had felt bad for his suffering. "Fox, I know this pain," were his first words, and he didn't need to tell him that it was someone he knew who had caused Fox's misery. "No... I can't take this... I am gone... my heart is gone... my..."

Another voice cut into his mind. When Fox heard the voice again, he realized that it was inside his head. "Fox... Fox..." He starred wide eyed at nothing, thinking he must be going crazy. It was the soft voice of Krystal, and the last words she spoke to him before she was taken away. "Remember all you have lived through. There is always a way out if you don't panic. You, only you have the strongest heart to protect yourself against what others may have deemed impossible."

To be continued...