Rogue Fox Armageddon Soul REDUX
Chapter II
Pieces of a War in the Mind
SyxxFox~

"Rogue Fox Armageddon Soul REDUX" is a re-release (remastered) version of its 2007 predecessor.

The air was crisp. Well below seasonal. A gentle breeze filled the atmosphere, making tree's leaves rustle in the wind, shivering in the shallow gusts. Strong rays of light pierced through the gaps in the trees, falling onto grass and pathways of the park. The rays of light danced through the shadows in time with the faint breeze. A red furred man, a fox, sat beneath a tree, on a bench at the edge of the park, overlooking a great body of water. He adjusted the red bandanna around his neck, pulling it up a little bit farther to keep his neck warm, as his boots crossed one over the other as a few stray leaves danced across them. His paws sat behind his head, propping it up as he stared into the deep blue sky of Planet Corneria at the edge of the great Lylatian city.

The park was full as it often was. Children laughing and playing on the rich green grasses as their parents chased them. Young couples walked along the wide dirt paths holding hands, while the others sat under the tall trees, enjoying a book or playing games on their phones or holopads. Many of them enjoyed the crisp day, as Corneria City had little to offer them for cool weather. These days were often enjoyed more than the others for the citizens. A chance to get away from the heat and enjoy some fresh air was always appreciated and welcome here.

Fox McCloud, leaned back into the park bench and looked into the pure blue sky of Corneria. He thought about what his life had led him up to; every single event from his past leading up to this park bench, where he was now. And where he was to go next? Fox had lost it all. His team, his love, and his life. It wasn't his fault, or that was at least what he kept telling himself. Fox just wanted to protect her. He never wanted to lose her. He never would want to lose Krystal and especially to Star Wolf. His attempts to protect her were in vain, simply driving her into the hands of another man. And it never would've happened if he would have just understood in the first place. But, now that he did, it was too late. The vulpine learned to love, too late. Of course he understood now. He understood that no matter how hard he tried, sometimes there was no way to protect everyone in his life. And more importantly, it wasn't always up to him. Sometimes fate just had its way. But it didn't matter now. These were all lessons that were learned too late.

Fox had a lot of time to think lately. Enough time to think of what could have been, could lead a man to madness. With Lylat at rest once again, his duties as a mercenary were very little and he often struggled to find work. Often he'd thought of running away. Maybe, simply vanishing and living out a quiet life on Sauria alone was the way to go. At least it was one place he knew he was welcome. But even over the past few months of thinking, he still could not come to a conclusion.

After driving so many of his friends away, he felt awfully lonely, and even more responsible for it. Falco had gone off, on his old habits and rejoined the rebel space band that he had been in before. Fox had heard something about a team called StarFalco in the works. It was just one more team to compete for work with. It was probably for the best though. Fox didn't feel he could lead a team anymore; not in the state of mind he had been in lately anyway.

Slippy was mostly busy with work. The massive enterprise SFX, had head hunted him after the last war, and made Slippy Toad head of engineering on many of their new projects. It was the job the toad was born for. Finally, a chance to put his technical skill to real applications and more than just a team mechanic. The toad spent most of his time on MacBeth, or on the various Star Fighter X satellites and installations. It was the company that bought out Arspace Dynamics, just before the start of the Anglian War. They were the biggest military hardware installation supplier in the entire Lylat System, and got rich off of war.

Peppy was another story. He was a General now. Tasked with operations of the entire Cornerian Army, which kept him busy as well. Of course, Peppy would always make time for Fox, but in times of peace it was his duty to prepare for war. Peppy had really been like a father to Fox, since his own father had passed away so many years ago, at the beginning of the Lylat War against Andross and his army. Even after all these years, there were still colonies in the outer reaches of Lylat that were devoted to the self proclaimed "Great Emperor Andross". Many of the attacks from these smaller colonies, the Cornerian Army claimed as insurgency and acts of terror against the Lylat System and Corneria.

So much going on, and nothing for Fox it seemed. Though Fox had led a relatively quiet life in the time leading up to the latest war, it all felt different now. It felt like everyone had found their place, and he was the one getting left behind. The most painful to reflect on, was Krystal. A blue vixen that he had saved during the Saurian Crisis. A Cerinian, and her origins unknown, even to herself. His eyes searched through the pure blue sky, as if he was looking for something. As if he was looking for someone. But the sky offered him no answers.

He closed his eyes slowly, turning his head down and away from the heavens as he took a great sigh. The blue reminded him too much of Krystal, who was now a member of the Star Wolf team. Star Wolf was a group of bandits that terrorized for hire, and now controlled a small empire. No one dared to take on Wolf O'Donnell. Star Fox was the last group of independent pilots that would challenge the team.

Fox McCloud let out a soft breath of air as he thought about Team Star Fox. What was to become of it? And what it had been? He used to be surrounded by his closest friends. Sure, he still had the Great Fox II but, it compensated for nothing. He would have given up all his possessions to have it all back. And to take it all back, all the things that he had done and wrong things that he had said. He often thought about starting a new Star Fox team, but every time he did, he couldn't help but reflect on the past. It was hard to think about, but his mind ran wild with thoughts of guilt and error.

Fox thought lately if he had been suffering from depression. His mind's eye played games with him too. Every time the fox closed his eyes Krystal's face would fill his vision. This led him into nightmares. Every time he would wake, and hope it would all just go away, but it never did. It was always the same. Waking up in the middle of the night to an empty ship and an empty life. Everyone else had moved forward, and he was stuck in the past.

"Fox?"

The captain's heart jumped. He quickly looked up at the call of his name. There was no one. Not a soul. His mind was playing games with him again. The fox could have sworn that he heard someone call his name. He could have sworn that he heard Krystal. But he knew that it couldn't be true. The only sounds around him was the faint breeze and the farther off voices of children laughing and playing. Of course the hum of the city could never be escaped while this close, but this was a quiet place he enjoyed to retreat to as he carried out his duties on Corneria.

McCloud lifted himself from the park bench. He stood for a moment. He tried to decide what to do. He looked around for a second more, examining the things that he had analyzed so many times. He arched his back as he stretched out, throwing his arms above his head. His business on Corneria was now complete. He was to return to the only home he had ever known, aboard the Great Fox II. His only real companion on the ship was Rob, a robotic artificial intelligence that was paired with the ship and controlled it in his absence. He wasn't much to talk to though, just a piece of hardware.

Fox walked down the wide dirt paths, making his way back to the heart of the city. His paws found their way into the pockets of his jacket, keeping them warm on the cool day. His boots crushed the gravel under them, each step he took. As he walked past passersby he would nod to them, or smile weakly, as best he could. Often he was recognized, and it was true, somewhat of a celebrity of Lylat, or Corneria at least. Perhaps in the outer reaches of the solar system, he wasn't as popular. Not in a good way at least. But here, often strangers would even ask for an autograph, and he would entertain it, but there was something off-putting to him being such a strong public figure for just a set of hired guns.

Soon enough, he made his way out of the park, looking to the tall silver and white buildings of Corneria's city center. He walked the sidewalks. The operations base sat just at another edge of the city. Not what a lot of people would call walking distance, but he really had nowhere to be. Of course he could have taken a cab, or light-rail train to the facility but, he didn't care to be packed into such a crowd of people. This just gave him more time to think, which was all he had the time for lately.

He walked the distance, as his mind's eye ran circles around him, mocking him. As he walked down the streets he looked at all the citizens of Corneria city. They were just living their ordinary everyday lives, just like always. They had no idea how close they were to utter destruction. If it wasn't for him annihilating that Anglars, the Aparoids, then life might not even exist on this planet. Corneria could have been baron. There could have been no life, or it could be completely controlled by some evil force, that would rule their every movement, and even their very thoughts. He often wondered if the population knew how close they were to destruction on the regular basis of war. The Aparoids had even invaded the city during the war, but thanks to a fast response from Star Fox for dispatching the evil bugs, and Corneria's Army for keeping it contained only to a portion of the city, the threat was well quarantined, but of course, there were still casualties.

Fox's ears lowered as he heard the whistle of the skytrain, making its way to the complex. A long train with cars that followed nothing but a stream of light that guiding them through the sky, hummed past. He watched the piece of machinery pass overhead, blocking the warm rays of Solar for a brief moment before it screamed by, following only on a rail of light, being guided with what seemed like magic.

It took him a fair while to get to the complex. And as he neared the gate to the hangers, and tarmac at the complex he noticed an armed guard there. It was the same as usual. There always was. It was just for security purposes. Everything was a little tighter now. And it would be for a while longer. It could be quite some time before everyone in the military and space forces settled down again from the latest war. After every war, things got tighter. Protocol changed and additional measures were put into effect. It made it a pain for law abiding citizens during times of crisis, but even Fox agreed that it was for the greater good.

A hound with long and floppy ears stood at attention. He was clad in a black uniform with silver army boots, knee pads that covered all the way down to his shins, shoulder and elbow pads. He had on a silver helmet with a red tinted visor that covered his eyes. His long and narrow tail almost touched the ground behind him and he approached the fox before he could enter the flight center. "Identification, please."

Fox was taken by surprise, it wasn't often that he was asked for ID. "You know who I am." He simply said in return. "Just let me through."

"I'm sorry Sir. I cannot let you pass this point unless I see some identification. We've had a lot of security problems lately.

"You're kidding me right?" Fox looked at the dog, feeling somewhat irritated. Even he himself could sense that he had become more irritable lately. His patience was much shorter than it was before, and his actions were starting to become reminiscent of Falco Lombardi.

The hound just extended his paw. He clearly wasn't going to let the Captain pass without proper identification. "I'm just following orders, Sir."

Fox reached into his vest, irritated. He made careful note to not show off the side arm that he carried. He never used to carry his Blaster with him, but times were changing, and he always had his side arm at the ready now. His paw reached over the Blaster, and snatched his wallet from behind the sling. He revealed his wallet to the guard and flipped it open. Inside was a fairly recent picture of him, showing a valid pilots license. And if that wasn't good enough, he lifted his forearm, as the silver communicator on his forearm lit up. A small hologram appeared between the two of them, showing the same picture that was on his pilot's license. It also showed all the additional information about him, including information on Star Fox and the Arwing II.

"We good?" Fox asked.

The hound looked at the piece of plastic, "Yes Sir. Thank you Captain McCloud." The canine reached into his pocket for a keycard. The guard didn't even bother to have a look at the information on the hologram. It seemed like he was just blindly following and carrying out his orders rather than really enforcing them enough to look for small detail. He swiped the card through the slot and the gate slid open. "Have a good day Captain. And, you have my thanks." The hound lifted his arm giving the captain a salute as he stood with a straight back and allowed Fox past.

"Yeah, it's what I do I guess." Said the vulpine dryly.

Fox tapped the communicator on his arm and it made a high pitched bleep sound, as the hologram disappeared. He returned the salute lazily, simply lifting his paw to his eyebrow and waving it upward and away. He walked through the gate and onto the runway of the massive air and fighter base. His Arwing was parked at the very farthest hanger. Yet more walking to be done, and the tarmac was a bustle with activity. Men in pilot's uniforms and flight controllers ran to and from their stations. Things seemed to be a little more active than they usually were, especially for a time of peace, and it had the fox interested as to what was going on. The pilots all wore their jumpsuits, with silver helmets and glassy visors that covered their eyes. The slots in their helmets allowed for the ears to perk through, and not to be squished down on their heads.

He kept marching across the tarmac, making careful note to keep out of the way of any fighters or ships that were on the move around the facility. He watched a squad of flight controllers jogging to a hanger all in unison. He didn't think anything of it at first, but he stopped at once as one of the doors slowly slid open. Fox watched from across the runway, getting the best view he could from where he was standing. It was dark inside the hanger bay. But soon, from the building emerged a silver and black aircraft. It was no bigger than his Arwing but it looked smoother and sleeker. It had a stealth design to it. It was a slick new design and it was a ship like he had never seen before.

Instead of a two wing craft like his Arwing was, it had four wings. This was a similar deign to the Wolfen fighter that Star Wolf had. They were not so spread out though. The two wings were very close to each other. It wasn't as big as a Wolven either. It was smaller, like the Arwing. In fact, it looked even smaller than the Arwings. The wings were sharp and had a their leading edge swooped back at each end of the wings. But if he could describe it as anything, he would just say it was an Arwing with four wings and a paint job, even though in reality, it wasn't.

The one thing that it did look, was fast. The fuselage was a deep yet gleaming black. The wings were bright shining silver. It had a few more markings on it. One stood out to him. It was on one of the flares of the wing. From his distance, it looked like a nautical star. Except, he couldn't see the white, just the black, like the star had been deconstructed. He had never seen one exactly like it before, and wondered what it represented. It wasn't any symbol of any task force he recognized.

Another beautiful thing about the craft was that the cockpit was covered by a one-way mirror. Fox couldn't see in from the outside, but that didn't mean that whoever was flying it, couldn't see him. The cockpit was placed nicely too. From a glance it appeared that you would have a good field of view, with less wing and streamlining to get in the way of the line of sight for a pilot. Perhaps it was a better design than even the Arwing II.

Fox stood from across the runway, admiring the fighter for a short while as it was pulled out on a set of wheels, and by hand from a half of a dozen crew members and two pilots. It must have just been some kind of new test fighter he thought. Maybe one of SFX's new designs for the space force that some lucky pilots would get to try out. Fox's pace turned direction, taking a few steps toward the new fighter, interested to investigate it further. But as it exited the hanger, Fox noticed a man in a black uniform marching out toward the group of flight control officers as they wheeled out the fighter.

Even from here, Fox could tell the man in the black uniform was shouting at them. It was feline. An orange feline with a striped orange tail, and a black cap over his head. A few golden emblems appeared on his arms and on his chest. He looked rather out of place on the tarmac, holding a clipboard in one paw while with the other he was pointing at the fighter, and then back at the hanger. Fox smiled from the corner of his mouth, just subtly, as he could tell that the men who had taken out the craft out from the hanger were getting their tails chewed off from the man in the black. Fox's sharp ears could pick up on a few high points of the man's yelling, even though most of it was just unintelligible from how far away he was. Not a good time to go check things out.

Fox's eyes tracked one man running from the rest of the group, quickly followed by another as they bolted back into the hanger. They quickly re-appeared though, with them a large silvery-white cover, as it took all of them to throw the cover over the fighter, where they hid it from the sight of others. Before they could completely cover it, Fox raised his communicator, scanning the ship from a distance before they could fully get the cover installed. With this action, Fox knew it had to be something highly experimental. Something that was not ready to be seen by the public, and even hidden from the prying eyes of anyone else at the flight center.

Fox soon carried on, looking away from the craft and kept marching onward. Soon he found his hanger. The doors slid open as two guards saluted him. The doors, tall, and silvery parted from the center and outward. Fox didn't even bother to return the favor. He didn't really care to, and since technically he was not miliary, he was not required to salute in return.

The hanger was only big enough for one ship, comfortably. It would be able to fit two for storage if need be though. As he stepped toward his Arwing, he lifted his wrist, giving the communicator around his forearm a few taps with his paw. He spoke into it. "Rob, ready the Great Fox for my return."

The reply came back right away, in a monotone and robotic voice. "The Great Fox is ready to go."

The fox made a quick check around his Arwing. His half-gloved paw drug across the leading edge of the wing as he admired it. His exposed fingers slipped over the cold metal of the wing and slid off the end, and his arm came back to his side. A set of steps folded down from under the craft, but he didn't use them. Fox jumped onto the wing of craft first, and then into cockpit. The canopy folded down over him, making a hiss sound as he was sealed inside. His paws each rested on the controls, but before he started the engines he sat there in silence.

The inside of the ship was completely silent, as the fighter sealed out all the outside noise, leaving him in absolute quiet. The silence was always the hardest part for him, and even though his paw rested on the starter switch, he hesitated to start the Arwing. Fox endured the silence for a long while, only listening to his own shallow breath and his own heartbeat, coursing blood through his body, and putting pressure to his head. He could feel each pump of his heart in his ears, as the beat became more rhythmic, and faster. A tear burned at his eye, and he quickly smashed the holo-controls to stifle the silence around him.

He lifted an arm, taking a deep breath, and wiping the back of his paw across his eye socket, letting out a low growl as the engines of the Arwing started to whistle. The hanger started to rumble and shake as the Arwing's engines howled to life, soon with enough force to lift the craft just a few inches off of the solid ground. The inside of the hanger became a whirlwind and a typhoon of hot air as the Arwing started to inch forward, maneuvering its way through the hanger doors. The ship whistled, as it hung just a few feet in the air and outside of the hanger doors.

Fox cleared his voice before he opened the communications line. "This is Fox McCloud. Requesting permission to leave the atmosphere."

The reply came in quickly. "This is Corneria City Base AT Control. Captain, skies are clear. You have green light for take off. Have a good flight, Sir."

Fox pushed the throttle forward, very gently. The Arwing slowly took fight, lifting up into the air for a low hover, just a few feet above the runway. He hit a few more switches on the controls, and the Arwing's engines started to howl louder, making a high pitched whistle as they charged and warmed up. He tightened his paw onto the throttle and jammed it forward. The engines reacted immediately, pushing him back into the seat, before the G-Diffuser went to work, and the interior of the craft returned to normal conditions. He made a low pass around the base, circling it entirely before starting to point the nose of the craft upward, into the deep blue sky of Corneria.

As the ship made its ascent, once again Fox was forced to stare into that familiar blue of the sky. He was forced to look at the radiance of the atmosphere, and the colour only reminding him of one thing. Fox felt his throat began to swell as he suppressed tears, but the tear soon trickled down his fur, and onto his red bandana that sat around his neck.

He wiped his eye with a paw. He whispered aloud in the cab, only to himself an no one else. "I miss her so much…" he couldn't even hear himself as the sound of the engines roared.

The fox looked down and away from the sky, but once again, he saw the blue of the ocean. Blue. He began to hate that color. Her face once again consumed his vision. The fox looked down at a certain switch on the console of the fighter. It was the deactivation for the G-diffuser system. If were to activate, or deactivate it while in the process of leaving or entering a planet's atmosphere, the small fighter could get torn apart.

In a moment of blindness, he even began to consider it. He looked down at the switch. He placed his paw on it, and began to think. He still watched the sky in front of him. It began to darken, which made him feel relieved. The blue gave way to black, as the sky began to fill with speckled stars as it grew darker. But he still kept his paw on the switch of the G-diffuser. It would be a horrible way to die. It would rip apart the ship and the components and shrapnel would skin him alive, likely before the heat of atmosphere would cook him, or the lack of pressure could suffocate him.

He pulled his paw off the console. He thought to himself. "What if, it didn't have to kill me. What if… What it just everyone… thought it killed me?"

The sky soon gave way to black entirely. The canopy in front of him splayed out with stars, and even the sight of a few of the larger orbital defence platforms that circled the planet. He turned his head, to see the horizon become rounded as the ship pulled free from the atmosphere. The sight of a massive Cornerian fleet soon became visible. Massive warships, of all types floated in a perfect formation between some of the defence platforms.

He began to think more as his own voice echoed in his head. "Maybe, I don't have to be a McCloud anymore. Maybe he could just die… and… and all the feelings would go along with him."

Fox would never commit suicide. He even found shame in himself in having his paw on the G-Diffuser as he escaped the gravity of Corneria. He didn't think he could actually pull it off, and it wasn't in his nature. It would hurt Peppy more than anyone. He didn't want to hurt Peppy above all. It wasn't fair to him.

"If I do it right, everyone could just think it was an accident. They could all just think it was a malfunction." But that was only if her did it right. Plus there were a few other key factors to work out, like; how would he survive himself? How could he make his body disappear? His thoughts ran wild like they often did these days.

The vulpine shook his head. Fox was shocked at what he was thinking. He began to think that he was going insane. What about his friends? What would Peppy do? "What would Krystal think?" He wondered aloud. "If it's not done right… she'll know." He fought with his mind, going back and forth with himself. It was like a constant conflict as he was in battle with himself.

He couldn't believe what he was considering. It was basically suicide, no matter how he wanted to tell himself to put it. He then thought, maybe he just needed a vacation. Maybe it was time to disappear to live out that quiet life on Sauria. But even for himself, a quiet life was nothing that he had ever envisioned. He feared that Sauria might just bring back those haunting memories even more, as he was forced to look at them daily. The quiet was already hard enough on him, and putting himself through that might just be a form of torture. As the Arwing neared the Great Fox, he knew he was correct; he did need a vacation, he needed a vacation from Fox McCloud.

Out of all things that haunted him, there was one thing. One thing that would never leave the fox's mind and it wouldn't matter where he was, and it didn't matter who he was. As long as he was still alive, these six worlds would haunt him forever.

"I'm sorry, you broke my heart."

The last thing that Krystal ever said to him. The last six words she ever said to him.

Fox swallowed hard. He hated to think about it. But, the harder he tried to keep his mind off of it, the more he thought about the six words that were tearing him apart. He tried not to cry. He was strong. He was tough. But it ripped right through him. His gaze started drifting around. He slowed the engines of the Arwing, remaining in orbit with Corneria, and cried, in the silence and in the vacuum of space.

He thought about how unfair it was. Fox. Fox McCloud. He was the legendary hero of the Lylat System and had saved it on several occasions. He was the defender of the system. And what was his reward now? His reward was that his life was taken away from him, from his own undoing. With the civil unrest in the system, he was often seen as a target. No one wanted to be in same building as him in fear that it would be bombed or worse. And yet, he was the hero. And he knew if it weren't for him, and if it weren't for his father, Corneria wouldn't even exist. Corneria would have been destroyed many times over. All he had to show for it, was a pay cheque. A pay cheque and pain.

Fox looked up into the blackness of space through the top of him cab. "Father, if you can hear me right now… I-I really need you. I need help. If you can hear me… please give me a sign… I never… I just wanted to protect her. I…" his breath stuttered, "I didn't want it to happen like this. Why did the all leave me!?" he smashed his paws down on the control panels.

His feelings of mixed rage and sorrow got the best of him. The red vulpine looked up into the starry sky. He expected an answer. He expected something. And when it didn't come, he began to get angry, angry at the world, angry at his life, and most of all, angry at Krystal, and those six words. The truth was, he did feel like he deserved a second chance. But, as in life, nothing is fair.

He gathered himself taking a deep breath. All of this was too much. He needed more time to think. It felt like everything was piling up on him at once. Now was not the time to being making and rash decisions. But still. Krystal's sixth sense felt like it had infected him at this point. The words that tore him apart, and echoed through his head.

"I'm sorry, you broke my heart."

He eased into the throttles, pushing them forward as he followed the radar to the Great Fox. He couldn't shut off his mind. The six words that echoed through his mind, the sixth sense of Cerinian vixen, and the six Krazoa's that he freed to rescue her. Everything came in sixes.

He just wanted to get onto the ship. He just wanted to sleep.