Future me is looking back over these stories and cringing. Fuck, I was a lazy, sloppy, shitty writer. Read with caution. I never went back through this story to correct my mistakes, so I'm sure there are numerous ones. As I've often stated, I'm not a great writer. A decent one, maybe.
000
"Here is your beverage."
"Its about damn time Rob, I asked you to get this for me like 20 minutes ago."
"Lay off Falco. Rob has been acting weird lately. I think somethings wrong with him. Besides," he added, looking over at his wing man, "He's a service bot not a butler."
"Tell me something I don't know."
The vulpine rolled his eyes and turned his attention back towards the television. He didn't want to argue with Falco, especially over something as stupid as a soda. Besides, this week the whole crew had been told to relax and take it easy, and that was exactly what he intended to do. That's what they all intended to do. For the first time in what seemed like forever Team StarFox wasn't needed anywhere. No planets were under attack or in need of being liberated from some evil force, no evil empire was building up, other than the one they had been fighting for the last few years, and even Andross had been quiet as of late, as if he knew the team was given a break and had decided to take one himself.
Whatever the reason Fox enjoyed the vacation from all the fighting. He wouldn't have to worry about getting up early and making patrols or fighting off enemies. Instead he could spend time with his crew and hopefully, if he could find the courage, with Krystal.
He couldn't help but let a smile cross his face as he pictured the beautiful fox. Ever since she had joined the team he had found a whole new book of reasons to get up in the morning. Her voice, her hair, her smile, her eyes, her scent...just her! But even with all her amazing qualities the vulpine still found it incredibly hard to be around her, knowing she could read his thoughts and not wanting her to figure out how he felt about her. He had imagined them together countless times. He pictured her laying against him on the couch as they watched tv, but instead he was stuck with Falco who was slurping the soda and flicking through channels.
He was just too afraid of her not loving him back.
I probably don't have a chance with someone like her anyway.
The vulpine knew not to get his hopes up. He figured that she saw him as everyone else did; a teammate. Nothing more, nothing less. But in his heart he knew they were meant to be so much more. Letting out a sigh he stood up from the coach, stretching his arms in the air and feeling his muscles loosen. He looked up at the clock; 2pm. She would be in the hanger. She always spent her afternoons there for some reason. He longed just to be around her, to smell her scent and listen to her sweet voice.
"Where you heading?" Falco asked, not looking away from the screen.
"I'm just gonna take a walk, I need to stretch my legs." he replied, throwing a hand over his shoulder as he walked out of the room. "You should do the same. Before too long you'll become part of that couch!"
The only response was a loud belch from the bird, causing him to grin and shake his head before leaving the room.
I wonder what she's thinking right now? Does she ever think about me?
"Of course she doesn't." he whispered out loud. "She wouldn't want anything to do with a guy like me."
He knew he let his pessimism run his thoughts most of the time, always picking out the bad things and putting them before everything else. It was one of the main reasons why he hardly ever tried to make any moves on the sapphire vixen, as he was too afraid of being turned down. The way he saw it, as long as he wasn't rejected he still had a chance.
Letting out another sigh he made his way down the hall and into the command post. He looked around, surprised that Peppy or Slippy wasn't in here messing around with something. Shrugging he made his way to the window that looked down over the hanger. Searching the floor he finally spotted her, standing beside her Arwing with her iPod in as she ran a towel over her ship. He thought about making his way down to her, maybe getting to talk with her alone for a while, but the nervousness in his stomach was far stronger than any confidence he could muster.
How can you ever expect her to love you if you don't make a move?
Shaking his head he decided to just mind his own business, honestly convinced that he didn't have a chance in the world with her. Instead he decided to take a walk on the upper deck area of the hanger, knowing she wouldn't hear him from above with her music in. The vulpine walked up to the door, instantly jumping to the side as it slid open and Rob came rolling in.
"Rob what the hell! Wheres the fire?"
The robot stopped in his tracks and turned around to face the fox. At first the vulpine thought that Rob had been alerted of some danger or warning from outside the ship but no sooner had the thought left his mind did Rob stick his mechanical arm out, presenting Fox with a can of soda.
"I brought you a beverage Mr. McCloud. Here you go."
Timidly he reached out and took the soda from the robot's grasp, knowing that Rob had never acted like this before and trying to find another motive for his actions.
What is up with him? For the last week Rob has been on the fritz, almost doing everything on impulse with no order from anyone. Maybe he has a virus or something.
"Err...thanks Rob. But I didn't ask for a, er, beverage."
For a moment there was nothing but silence, the glowing white orbs that represented Rob's eyes locking onto the vulpine's. At that moment he was definitely freaked out. Rob was acting way too weird lately, almost as if someone else was controlling him.
Being way too creeped out by Rob and his strange behavior Fox slowly turned back towards the door, casting one last glance over his shoulder at the service bot who was still staring at him.
"I'll get Peppy or Slippy to check you out later Rob. You're acting way too weird."
Rob narrowed his gaze at the fox as he exited the room but the vulpine didn't notice, trying not to worry about someone as insignificant as Rob when Krystal was right below him. He walked along the balcony, casually looking down every now and then at the Cerenian as she continued to hum to herself and wipe down her Arwing.
Man she is so beautiful. What I'd give if I could just hold her in my arms.
He stopped walking and leaned against the railing, opening the soda that Rob had so unexpectedly brought him. He took a sip and continued to look down across the hanger at the vixen, knowing that this was easily the best part of his day so far. For the next few minutes that was all he did, sipping the drink and watching her down below. In his mind he tried to figure out some way he could ask her out but he always shot his ideas down as soon as they popped into his mind.
"What will I have to do to get her?" he mumble to himself.
No sooner had the words left his mouth did he hear the vixen below him let out a sigh of frustration. Looking down at her once more he saw that she had knocked over the bottle of sprite that she had set on the edge of her Arwing, causing it to run across the hanger and pool up in the middle of the runway. His first instinct was to run down there and help her clean it up, knowing that it would be an excuse to talk to her, something he hadn't done since yesterday morning. But then his doubt took over like usual, his mind telling him that if he went down there she would know he had been watching her this entire time, which could freak her out.
The vulpine squeezed the aluminum can in his paw, crushing it into a crumpled shape. He wanted to be with her more than anything else but he couldn't find the right reasons to get close to her.
Letting out yet another frustrated sigh he turned and began to walk back towards the command post, hoping that he would get another opportunity soon. But he had only managed to take a few steps back in that direction before he heard an all too familiar sound which stopped him in his tracks. Looking over the rail he watched as Slippy's Arwing slowly made its way over to the runway, positioning itself on the launch pad as if it were preparing to take off.
"What the hell? No one is scheduled to go out today, hell no one is scheduled to go out this week!" the vulpine narrowed his gaze down to the Arwing, shock instantly flooding his face as he realized the cockpit was empty.
There's no one in there? But that's impossible, you cant pilot an Arwing from anywhere other than the command post, and even then you can only launch it!
Turning his gaze towards the control room he looked through the window, knowing that no one would be in there. He was right. The room was empty, no one to his knowledge, was controlling this Arwing. From there anyways.
"What the hell...how...
He heard the Arwing's engine slowly power up, causing him to look back down into the hanger. Instantly his heart froze as he could see the scene playing out before him. Somehow an unmanned Arwing was fixing to take off from the hanger, the doors of which weren't even open and couldn't be opened unless someone was in the command post to do so, which there wasn't. But even that wasn't the worst part he realized as he watched the Arwing slowly turn and position itself over the launch pad.
The worst part was that Krystal was right in the path of the Arwing, on her knees in the floor cleaning up her soda, her headphones keeping her unaware of the freak accident that was soon to occur.
What are the chances of this all happening? No...HOW is this happening?
He knew he had no time to question what was causing all of this. All he knew was that it was happening right before him and that the vixen he cared for more than life itself was seconds away from death.
The fox yelled her name across the hanger, fear gripping his heart as he realized she still couldn't hear him because of her headphones. It was then he knew he had to make a move, and fast. His first thought was to run to the control room and try to shut down the launch, but he knew that was pointless as he didn't even know how the launch itself had started since no one was even in the command post. And even if he could get to the controls in time he wouldn't know what buttons to push to stop the ship.
His second thought was to take off across the hanger and try to reach the vixen in time to pull her out of the way, but he knew that he would never make it in time. The Arwing was only seconds away from launching and he was much closer to it than he was to her.
Knowing that he was left with only one option the vulpine threw himself over the rail of the balcony, falling the 15 feet to the ground and landing only yards from the plane. He felt the heat from the engines as they neared their required power to launch and he cast one last glance at Krystal, praying that the vixen had somehow noticed what was going on. But his prayers weren't answered as she was still wiping up the mess on the floor, silently cursing under her breath, unaware of the commotion almost 30 yards behind her.
A burst from the engine brought the vulpine's gaze back to Slippy's ship and he instantly threw himself up on the wing. He could feel the massive heat coming from the powerful engine only feet away, well aware that no one was supposed to be this near an Arwing at takeoff yet having to ignore the pain as it burned into the left side of his body. He pulled at the canopy, knowing that if he could get inside he could stop the launch manually simply by flipping the kill switch, which was designed exactly for this purpose. But no matter how hard he strained at the canopy it wouldn't open, and he had known it wouldn't. Once the Arwing was started, the canopy could only be opened from the inside.
He let out a groan of desperation, knowing that it would only be seconds before the Arwing would slingshot forward at an incredible speed, slamming into the hanger doors, and Krystal.
No. I'm not going to let this happen. Not to her!
Taking a deep breath the vulpine brought his hand back, knowing this was his only chance. He knew what would happen to her if he couldn't stop this ship from launching, and with that thought on his mind the vulpine felt a strength he had never felt before as he thrust his fist down on the side of the canopy, letting out a yelp of pain as he felt his knuckles make contact with the reinforced glass. He knew if he stopped he wouldn't be able to deliver another one so the vulpine reached back and came down on the canopy again and again, feeling his fingers break but ignoring the pain, his only thought telling him to save her. He looked down and finally saw the glass slowly crack in every direction. Not waiting see if it would eventually shatter on its own he brought his elbow up and began smashing at it, gritting his teeth and fighting through the pain as he continued to batter his right arm against the glass.
Don't stop...you can't stop...
Finally the entire pane busted in, shattering crystals all over him. The vulpine felt unbelievable pain in his right arm but ignored it, knowing he had absolutely no time to spare. Thrusting his left arm through the opening, ignoring the large slither of glass that cut open his forearm while doing so, he reached down below the throttle and flipped the manual kill switch, closing his eyes and waiting, knowing that he had been just as late as he possibly could have been.
Please...
He let out a deep sigh of relief as he heard the engine instantly die, the massive heat that had been scorching the side of his body finally fading away into silence. He slowly pulled his arm out of the Arwing, hearing endless shards of glass fall off on him and the ship onto the ground below. The pain in his right arm was unbelievable and he knew that trying to move it, or any of his fingers, would be pointless. But at least the blistering pain his right arm distracted him from the large piece of glass that was driven into his left.
He managed to look up to where Krystal was, a brief sense of satisfaction in his mind as he realized she was safe. He watched as the vixen finally stood up, her mess no longer noticeable anymore on the floor as she turned around to face him, instantly realizing something was wrong. The scent of blood was already all around her and she only had to allow her mind a brief second to wander before she felt his pain.
She's okay...I don't know what caused this to happen but nothing matters now, as long as she is okay.
As the thought left him the vulpine felt his mind go black, the pain in his arm along with the burning heat he still felt on half of his body becoming too much for his conscious mind to bear. Looking down at his arm he noticed glass and blood basically everywhere, his fur hardly visible. He took one last glance up in her direction before falling off the Arwing and landing on the floor with a painful thud, the image of the sapphire vixen running towards him, tears in her eyes as she screamed for help being the last thing he saw before everything went black.