Hey guys, sorry this took so long. between training exercise's and writer's block, its been hard to write at all. this being a radically different story than i'm used to doesnt help. anyway, enjoy!


I slowly picked at the half eaten eggs on my plate, a small sigh slipping out. It hadn't taken the two of us long to reach the small café, and it had been surprisingly empty as well. Which I honestly took as a comfort, not having to be around people, at least for a bit. That being said, the two of us had taken a corner booth that had a very clear view of the whole restaurant, including the door. The two of us were just inches apart on the bench, even though we had plenty of space.

"You doing okay?" I glanced over at Mira when she spoke, noticing she had barely touched her food at all.

"Yeah. I'm fine Mira, just had some trouble sleeping last night. That's all." She cocked an ear at me and half-glared, another sigh slipping out of me from the action. But I remained silent, letting my gaze fall back to my food.

"I know you're not fine Will. What's bothering you? Don't shut me out, please." I could hear the underlying pleading quality to her voice, mixed with a very small amount of annoyance. I didn't blame her for being annoyed though, she had every right to be at this point.

"I keep thinking about them….." I barely managed to whisper that statement, not wanting to look at Mira at all. Instead, my focus remained on the plate of food before me, all of my nearly non-existent appetite now gone.

"Oh…" the one quiet word was all that broke the silence that began to stretch between us, neither one of us really knowing what to say. It seemed like a lifetime before I felt her wrap an arm over my shoulders, her head resting on my shoulder. "None of them are on you Will. You know that." I sighed, letting my eyes close as my head fell back onto the bench's headrest.

"I've told you before Mira, I had a choice. I was always the one behind that trigger. Not someone else. And nothing is changing that." She whimpered at me, my heart feeling like it had fallen apart. "Anyway, don't you have an interview to get to?" she let out a pained sigh as she slipped her arm out from behind me, the weight of her head lifting off my shoulder.

"Yeah. Will, not to sound rude, but you really need to figure this out. Before you start hurting the people you care about." I finally opened my eyes again as she spoke, seeing her already standing. Her brow was furrowed as she stared at me, both of her ears flat on her head. I could tell she was worried about me, and I hated the thought of saying goodbye to her like that. Can't be helped.

"I'll be fine Mira. Go on, I got the bill." She huffed at me and left, myself letting a small sigh slip out as I watched her go.


Blake heard the chime for his shop door ring out, sighing before he set the part he was working on down, rolling the cart he was on out from under the car. A voice rang out across the store before he could stand up.

"Hello? Is anyone here?" it was a woman's voice, soft and yet, there was a certain strength to it he couldn't put a name to. Although it was pretty obvious from her tone that she was nervous.

"Be out in a bit!" he shouted that as he stood, grabbing a rag off the car's roof to try and wipe the hydraulic grease off his callused pads. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get the stains out of his brown fur. He tossed the rag down onto the cart as he glanced around the small bay, unable to keep a smile off his face. The four car bay wasn't much, and was scattered with tools and even had a lift system to make working on the underside of vehicles easier. On the side wall clear across the bay from him was a long window, showing the small counter and lobby beyond. There was a brown haired woman on the other side, staring at the racks of tires he had on display. He quickly crossed the bay and stepped through the door, which caused her to turn around, revealing her mostly brown and tan fur, Blake easily able to tell she was a hybrid of some variety, Vulpine at the least. Her red flannel shirt had some specks of dust on it, but even so, he thought she was fairly cute. "Welcome to Slate's Auto Works! How can I help you today ma'am." He smiled at her, to which she brightly returned.

"I'm here about a job offer? Has on the job training." He frowned, remembering talking to one Mira Marshall over the phone, a few days ago. although, by that conversation, she shouldn't even be here yet. She honestly looks like she wouldn't be much help though… he was inspecting her as that thought crossed his mind, noticing that, although she wasn't overweight at all, she wasn't twig thin like most women. That said, she also did look like she was in fairly good shape.

"I take it you are Mira Marshall?" she smiled and nodded as he held his hand out to her, the woman not even hesitating to shake his grease covered hands, unlike most people. "Blake Slate. Owner and only employee of Slate's Auto Works. No offense, but you don't look like you'll be that much help in the shop." His words didn't even phase her, her smile brightening actually.

"I used to work on Arwings. I do know my way around tools." He gave her a skeptical look, which did cause her smile to falter a little.

"What kind of work?" he knew Arwings were high end military fighter craft, but a fighter craft was honestly very different from a car.

"General maintenance and combat repairs. Had to rebuild a couple of Arwings, gen twos and threes." She was almost pleading with him, her vibrant blue eyes fixed on him. Gen two and three? The military doesn't use those, do they? And isn't she a little young to have been in the military? "I was Mercenary fighter pilot, so I don't actually have any kind of official training but I promise I learn fast!"

"Alright. Come on in tomorrow, let me see how you do around the shop, then we'll talk." She seemed to breathe a sigh of relief as he spoke, smiling once more.

"That sounds perfect! I'll see you tomorrow Mister Slate." He rolled his eyes at her as she began to turn away, smirking.

"And don't call me 'Mister'. Just call me Blake." She nodded, walking backwards as she waved to him.

"Alright, Blake. I'm Mira. See ya!" he waved to her and watched as she left, unable to stop his eyes dropping to her rear as she left. Okay, maybe thinking she was cute was a little inaccurate… he slapped himself in the face as he walked back toward the bay, trying to knock his wild imagination off.

"Come on man, remember what happened with Anna…" his memories forced away his thoughts, allowing him to focus back on his work, jumping right back into the project he had been working on.


Fox glanced at the Map displayed on the windshield of his car, part of an integrated Heads Up Display most cars had, linked with his wrist transmitter's navigation system. By the map, he was right at the address Will had asked him to come to, looking up at the seven story apartment building now beside him. It was in the outskirts of the central city, near the north eastern sector. Corneria City was divided into six sectors on a star shaped man-made islands, over several dozen kilometers across. Each branch of the star was focused around a different purpose, with the central area being a massive downtown district, the Senate building being dead center of the island. The northeastern district was primarily residential, and was where Fox and Krystal's home was located.

The building itself looked well kept, its concrete structure completely devoid of cracks or damage, at least showing the place to be well maintained. He immediately pulled the SUV into the buildings underground parking garage, quickly finding a place to park and shutting the vehicle off. There was a small elevator bank at the back of the near empty garage that Fox headed straight for, summoning the elevator as soon as he was close enough. The ride up to the sixth floor did not take him long, quickly moving down the hall to knock on the door. It wasn't long before the door opened to reveal Will, who waved him in without a word.

"You wanted to chat?" he nodded as Fox spoke and plopped onto the couch, Fox noticing the already open beer bottle beside him, even though it was still morning. Fox dropped beside him, one glance at the human telling Fox that he was deep in thought, clearly trying to phrase what he wanted to say. After several minutes of silence, a small sigh finally slipped out of his mouth, his focus remaining on the floor.

"Can I ask you something personal?" Fox chuckled and rolled his eyes at the human, responding without even a second of hesitation.

"Ask anything you want Will." Will nodded, still seemingly lost in his own thoughts.

"When was the last time you saw your father?" Fox was almost startled by the quiet question, having almost missed it even with his sharp hearing. His mind became an instant battleground, unsure himself as to exactly what to say. It took him a while to finally settle on what he thought was the best answer, kicking backing on the couch and stretching his legs out before speaking.

"The day he died. He made me an honorary Star Fox member, gave me the crest on my jacket. The last thing he said was to take care of myself." Fox saw that Will was about to speak but Fox continued, stopping him. "But that wasn't the last time I spoke to him…" Fox kept his voice quiet, unsure exactly why he was telling Will this, having only ever told Krystal before. "During the final battle of the Lylat Wars, I went after Andross, or as we know now, the clone he left in charge of his main force, alone. After I destroyed him, it sent his underground base into a system meltdown. The way in had been a total maze, and with the explosions and collapsing tunnels, there was no way I was making it out. That's when an Arwing appeared out of a side tunnel, my father telling me to follow him." Will's eye's snapped to him, utterly confused. He again opened his mouth to speak, but Fox was faster. "Yeah, it was him. but it wasn't. I saw him leave the tunnel ahead of me, but when I exited, he was gone. The others never saw another ship leave the tunnel either. Just me. As I was breaking atmo to return home, I heard his voice. He told me to always trust my instincts, and that he was very proud of the man I had become." Will was still staring at him, completely dumbfounded.

"But he died years before the Lylat war, right?" Fox nodded, at his question, very curious as to what caused Will to even bring this subject up.

"I know he did. He wasn't there, but, he was. I can't fully explain it. And that wasn't the last time I heard his voice. In the battle with the Aparoid queen, I hesitated when she spoke to us using Dad's voice. I suddenly got this feeling, like he was there with me, almost like Krystal's telepathy, I heard him tell me to trust my instincts." Fox was shocked when Will didn't respond, just watching him as gears seemed to turn in the man's head. "Why did you ask about that?" Will simply shrugged, taking a long drink from the alcohol beside him before responding.

"Been wanting to ask you for a while. Didn't want to ask over a call." Fox could tell there was a lot more to it than that, but he knew his friend well enough by now to know he wasn't going to explain until he was ready to. "Do you want to stay for a bit? Share a few beers with a fellow soldier?" Fox smiled and nodded, slipping to his feet and heading to the fridge to grab his own beer.


Krystal glanced up, smiling at the door as the doorbell rang. She had asked Mira to help her with a few last minute details on the wedding after her job interview. Although, to be entirely honest, there was very little left to plan, given that there hadn't really been much to plan in the first place. Most of their friends had few, if any, family, so it was a very small wedding. They were holding it in an open air pavilion in a gorgeous park not far from their home, they already had a caterer, music, almost everything. All she really needed was Mira to help her pick out both of their dresses. Truth of the matter though, was that Krystal wanted to talk to Mira about her time on Earth. Krystal glanced at her wrist computer as she moved to the door, shocked at the time. She had expected Mira's interview to take much longer, and by the time, it had barely been five minutes long. She opened the door and instantly saw Mira smiling on the other side.

"Hey Mira, you're here earlier than I expected." She beckoned Mira inside, stepping away so the younger woman could do so. They both crossed the home to sit on the couch, or more accurately, Krystal gently sat down on one end of the couch as Mira catapulted herself onto the other.

"Interview ended up less of an interview and more of a 'come back tomorrow'. I think I got the job though." Krystal grinned as Mira spoke to her, the younger woman idly played with her hair before getting distracted by a dust bunny on her shirt, immediately plucking it off. Krystal rolled her eyes at the younger woman, who was now almost completely distracted by trying to find more lint. Which she easily found several more bits. Her half-annoyed expression as she glared at the latest piece caused Krystal to laugh at her. "What!?" her half-glare near instantly turned on Krystal.

"You're just being funny is all. Why do you have so many dust bunnies on you in the first place?" Krystal artfully picked one off her sleeve as she spoke, Mira's expression returning to normal.

"I helped Will clean his apartment this morning."

"He couldn't do it himself?" Mira laughed, grabbing the remote off the end table and turning the TV on.

"No, he barely pulled himself out of bed this morning. Lazy bum." Krystal frowned as Mira laughed, able to feel just how worried Mira really was, even if she was trying to hide it.

"That isn't normal for him…" Krystal watched as Mira sighed at Krystal's words, the younger woman's eyes falling away from the screen.

"No, it isn't. he doesn't sleep. I can't tell you how many times I've woken up in the middle of the night to find him thrashing about or just staring off into space."

"I wish I knew how to help him…" Mira sighed and nodded, silently agreeing with Krystal. "At least you two's relationship has gotten stronger!" Mira shrugged, playing with another piece of lint as she responded.

"What makes you say that?"

"Oh come on Mira, you guys didn't have a, I quote, 'sex life' two months ago." Mira almost instantly shriveled up, visibly blushing as her ears went flat against her head.

"It was one time! And I barely even remember it!" Krystal laughed at the younger woman's reaction, only making her shrivel up even more.

"Oh?! Do tell!" Krystal shifted so she was facing Mira on the couch, sitting on her feet while Mira groaned and covered her face.

"Ugh, fine! We were both totally hammered, I remember getting back to the hotel room, kissing him, and waking up in the bed covered in more bodily fluids then I care to admit! Okay!?" Mira's voice seemed to increase several octaves, more squeaking that out than anything else.

"Really?" Mira finally uncovered her face and nodded, her expression starting to turn sad.

"It was right after his dad's memorial ceremony actually… I guess he just really needed some form of comfort. Plus, I've never seen him that drunk before." Krystal suddenly leapt off the couch, quickly pulling Mira after her.

"Well, let's go look at dresses, that was why I invited you over after all!" Mira smiled and followed Krystal out the door, the two of them setting off toward a nearby shopping mall on foot.


Oikonny watched as the human before him slowly stirred awake. His dark hair and sharp angular features might once have been considered handsome by other members of his race, but half his face had been burned away in an explosion, as well as his entire right arm. The man suddenly bolted upright, both of his piercing green eyes ripping open with a look of total fury on his face.

"Slow down. You barely even survived. It's a good thing I was there to find you." Oikonny glanced at the matte black lupine beside him as the man spoke. The human seemed to be panting slightly, raising the metallic armored arm that had been grafted to his body, flexing the fingers several times before he spoke, his voice cruel and dark.

"I assume you didn't save me without a plan, Andrew." The man heavily stressed the ape's name, something about it putting a sour taste in the ape's mouth.

"Of course, McDonnell."