The deep snow made walking very difficult for. Each boot sunk down to an unstable footing. Occasionally he would lose his balance and fall face first into the soft, cold, white blanket that surrounded him. His facial fur was damp from the snow that his body temperature had melted, bringing a sensation of sustained freezing that ran through his entire body whenever he caught a breeze.

The smoke appeared to be in the next valley, but each hill he climbed proved that theory wrong. Fox would grab hold of tree limbs, slowly hoisting himself up each steep, slick incline. Most footings were insecure, and some tree limbs where weak, sending him tumbling down either to the bottom, or straight into a tree, whichever came first. Nevertheless, Fox continued on his slow trek, bent on locating Krystal.

He almost broke down into tears, sinking to his knees when the Cloudrunner came into view. It seemed as though it had been an eternity since he abandoned his Arwing. After composing himself a little, the vulpine jumped up and started down towards the crashed ship. The closer he got, the faster he moved as the cockpit came into view. Fox noticed that it still housed the pilot.

He dropped everything and sprinted the last few metres towards the ship. He jumped up onto the wing and tried prying the canopy open with his claws, but to no avail. His heart was racing as he looked for a sign of life. She wasn't moving, and the glass was too dark to tell if she was breathing. Quickly, seemingly without thinking, Fox took a step back and swung his boot through the glass.

He screamed out in pain as the shards from the jagged opening ripped into his calf. Carefully, he pulled his leg out and reached inside, pressing the release button.

As soon as the canopy latch released Fox flung it open, wrapped his arms around the unconscious vixen's body and lifted her out.

The pain in Fox's calf caught up with him. His knee buckled sending him and Krystal down into the snow. He scurried to his knees and over to the vixen. He rolled her onto her back and checked for a pulse on her neck.

There was a streak of blue and a loud smack as Fox's head whipped to the left.

"Don't you dare touch me," she said sitting up, glaring at him.

"Sorry... I… I thought that maybe… you were…" Fox started to say.

"That I was what? Umm… dead? You wouldn't be that lucky," she snapped.

"Listen it's not…" he started.

"If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't be here; stuck in this cold, forsaken hell-hole," she stuck her nose in the air and looked away.

Fox's nerves were drawing thing, line a rope held together only by a few threads. "If it wasn't for me you'd be dead, stuck in that crystal on Sauria. Don't blame this on me. I'd ask you how you are, but it seems you hit your head, and unleashed your inner…" Krystal backhanded him again before he could finish.

"Keep it coming, there's more where that came from."

"Fine then. Freeze to death, I don't care." Deep, deep inside, Fox knew that he cared. But that was seemingly besides the point. "We're a thousand miles from the nearest civilization, on the coldest planet in the system. No one else knows we're here and the ones who do don't care. No one is coming for us, NO ONE!" His anger grew as he spoke. He stood up and turned away, his fists clenched. A small trail of blood originating from his leg followed him.

There was only silence as the severity of the situation sunk in.

Krystal was first to break this awkward calm. "So, we're going to die?"

"More than likely." He slowly brought himself to around and look at the vixen. She was sitting in the snow, her long delicate arms wrapped around her legs, pulling them close to her chest. Her beautiful, petite muzzle was resting on her knees as her tail twitched back and forth.

"There is a chance we'll make it though, right?" Her voice quivered as she forced back her tears.

"Well there's the catch. Panther left you for dead, and Star Wolf isn't going to report anything, so your side's out of luck. As for me though, I'm expected to be back at the Great Fox in a week. When I don't show up, ROB will contact the local search and rescue squad. The wreck's so far off-course that if they do find it, granted that the weather is good enough to use radar, it will still be another two to three weeks." Fox paused, took a breath and continued, "The only radar they have here is short-range, along with their communicators. The comm. system in my Arwing is useless; no power left. I'm pretty sure your Cloudrunner is the same way."

"It worked long enough for me to hear... to hear what Panther said." She stared off into the woods as she spoke.

"Yeah, I heard, that mother-"

"Fox it's OK. I was expecting it, just not this soon," she said, cutting him off.

"Some charmer he is," Fox retorted.

For what reason, she didn't know, but Krystal decided that she would spite Fox a little more.

"Better than you ever were." Her stare turned towards him as her eyes narrowed into a death glare.

"OK, that's uncalled for!" Fox yelled, outraged at her remark. "I didn't leave you to die; I tried to protect you, to keep you safe so that I had something to live for. So that we had something to live for. I never intended to hurt you; you weren't supposed to leave completely, just stop flying with the team. I did what I thought was right, but you acted like I meant to upset you, like I was in love with someone else. Well I wasn't, I never could be, so just get over it. You're just as much at fault with this as I am. You thought that you were so high and mighty, that the team would fail without you. Well, you're nothing but an outcast now. I'm not responsible for our current situation, I'm…I'm..."

He looked at Krystal, and saw the hurt expression on her face, the tears streaming down her cheeks, the fear and pain in her brilliant blue eyes. That one look said it all; the look that had the power to stop Fox McCloud in his tracks. An impressive feat, considering the things that he had faced.

He had done the single thing that he swore never to even think about, let alone do.

"I'm… I'm a monster," the vulpine choked out, barely audibly. "Krystal, I'm sorry… oh no… please forgive me..." She scrambled to her feet, and started to nervously back away, shaking with sobs.

"There's a pack, and rifle back there," he said pointing in the direction of his earlier tracks. "It's got enough supplies for one week. And here's my jacket, and pistol," the vulpine said, shedding said items and tossing them at her feet. "Find shelter, start a fire, and keep warm. Take care, they'll find you soon. Good luck, and good-bye, Krys."

Fox turned and started off, unsure of where to go, but certain of what he must do. End her pain. End himself. He limped quickly across the snow, each step distancing the gap between love and pain, joy and hurt, her and him.

As he neared the edge of the woods his ears perked up at the sound of a faint cry.

"Fox, wait I… I can't do this alone. Please don't leave me..."