Chapter Three
A man was sitting in front of a computer, reading his email. As he skimmed through the list of messages, his eyes widened at a particular one.
"Sir! We've gotten a report from one of the stations of a battle cruiser headed this way."
"Which station?"
"Kepler-7. They sent a message along with the report."
"What's it say?"
"Probe of Star Fox GPS shows en route to main hideout. ETA 2.5 weeks."
"Wait... Did you just say... Star Fox!?"
"Y-Yeah... Why?"
"Shit... The boss isn't gonna like this. Process that report and make sure everyone knows. And I mean everyone!"
"Got it."
A leopard in a black parka could be seen sprinting through the snowfall over a stone pathway, headed straight for a large building covered in snow. As soon as he entered the building, he was met with a blast of warmth, yet he still shivered. After going up several flights of stairs and flying through a maze of corridors, he found himself in front of a large wooden door with golden trim around it.
After taking several deep breaths, he opened the door, and stepped inside. A desk with a lamp glowing in the darkness were standing in front of a large backed chair, pointed towards the window.
"...Boss?"
As the back of the chair turned around, the glow from the lamp revealed the face of a lupine with a scar and patch running over his left eye.
Fox leaned back into the chair at his desk and sighed. He was sitting in his room on the Great Fox, formulating a strategy for infiltrating the enemy base. What worried him the most was that, despite the nest of pirates going after Corneria and her allies for nearly half a year, they were running on minimal intel. The sad part was that even minimal seemed like an understatement.
'Flying on minimal intel.' Fox thought as he looked up at the picture of his father on the wall.
A small tear managed to escape his eye.
Fox quickly blinked the tear away before more could form, and got back to work. All he was given was a rough idea of what the base looked like, and basically told "you do the rest." In his eyes, this was basically a giant middle finger to anyone willing to take this job, namely Star Fox. Despite the Cornerian Defense Force having over a hundred thousand space fighters, they still have to rely on a rag-tag team of nut jobs with a space cruiser.
All Fox could really do was draw out a plan, and hope for the best.
Hope was all he could have that himself, one of his teammates, or God forbid, her, wouldn't go down while fighting. Adding another name to Fox's list of deceased loved ones was something he was deathly afraid of.
A light knock sounded from Fox's door, and he got up and answered it. A pair of cobalt eyes were staring back into Fox's green ones.
'Just my luck.' Fox thought as he smiled softly. "Good evening Krystal, what can I do for you?"
"ROB made dinner, are you coming?" She replied, pointing her thumb down the hallway.
"Food sounds real nice right now," Fox said as he stepped out of his room and slid the door shut behind him.
As the two foxes walked towards the kitchen in the Great Fox, one could speculate that they were both thinking about each other; A speculation that would prove correct, if one were to guess.
'Fuck... I gotta tell her at some point.' Fox thought to himself.
Krystal picked up on this, and turned her head before Fox could see the blush growing across her muzzle.
The orange and blue mercenaries stepped into the kitchen, and were met with four bowls of spaghetti at the table, along with Falco and Slippy eating in silence. Fox frowned at this, already missing the energetic Slippy that always had something new to tell everybody, or the arrogant Falco that always looked like he knew what he was doing, despite rarely ever knowing what he was doing.
As they walked over and sat down to eat, Falco broke the silence.
"You got anything of a plan yet?"
Fox, annoyed at the lack of intel, did his best to sound like he actually had a plan.
"It's being worked on."
"Is that your way of saying there is no plan?"
'Shit...' Fox thought, Falco had seen right through his lie.
"It's not like they gave us much information to work with."
"Then why not ask for more? There's gotta be something they're hiding from us."
"Believe me, I tried. All we've got is a few pictures and some encrypted messages the CDF intercepted." Fox replied after swallowing a mouthful of spaghetti.
Hearing the word 'encrypted' seemed to make Slippy perk up.
"I could try and unscramble them."
All eyes turned to Slippy as Fox responded with a tone that even he was a little surprised at.
"You do that. See who's leading these pirate sons'a'bitches. I'm going to finish drawing up that plan."
Everyone was silent at Fox's slight outburst as he got up, tossed his empty bowl in the sink, and left the kitchen.
Fox, despite finally managing to get a semi-coherent plan together after nearly a week of pulling his fur out, was still worried as hell about the mission. The fact that this was eerily similar to the way James had died chilled him to the bone. As much as he wanted to drop the mission, the team really needed the money, as repairs and upgrades had gotten much more expensive over the years.
He now lay on his bed, his head resting on a pillow, and his hands underneath it. This could end up being the way he died, or even worse, the way she died; Something that he would inevitably blame himself for. She could die from someone getting a lucky shot, or get caught in the explosion from the base's reactor he planned to destroy. She would die without knowing that he-
A light knock came from his door.
"Come in." Fox called in a tired voice.
The door slid open, revealing the blue vixen Fox was thinking about.
'Oh, come on.' He thought to himself.
It seemed that any time Fox was thinking about Krystal, or more specifically him and Krystal, she always came running.
"Everything alright, Fox?" She asked in a concerned tone.
"No." Fox mumbled, muffled by the bed sheets.
"Well, then talk to me. I'll listen."
Fox turned over so that he was lying on his back.
"You ever get the feeling something bad is going to happen?"
"You do realize who you're asking, right?"
"That's not my point. This is how my dad died, taking a mission he desperately needed the money for and going in with minimal intel."
"Oh." Krystal's expression quickly changed.
She walked over to his bed and sat down next to him, using every bit of restraint she had to not lay down and snuggle him right then and there.
"Then we'll have to fight as hard as we can. We can't change what's going to happen, but we can prepare for it." She said as she put her hand on top of his, squeezing it slightly.
Fox couldn't help but get a feeling she was trying to say something else. That, and she seemed to have a little bit of pink just barely peeking through the white fur on her face. He sat up and crossed his legs, turning so that he was facing her directly.
"Alright... What's the real reason you're here?"
Krystal raised an eyebrow.
"In my room, I mean."
'Bingo.' Fox thought as her expression turned sheepish and she quickly looked away. As he leaned forward and put his hand on her shoulder, he turned her back towards him, revealing a blush that covered the entire bridge of her muzzle.
"There's something I need to tell you."
Fox's heart rate skyrocketed at this, excited to finally have a chance to say what he wanted to say as well.
'Here goes...' Krystal thought.
"I... I love you, Fox." She said, eyes shut in anticipation of Fox hopefully not rejecting her.
Fox was frozen, but quickly smiled when he saw Krystal's eyes open slightly and look at him. He pulled her into a tight embrace and laid back on his bed, holding her close atop his chest as he spoke softly.
"I love you too. I've been wanting to say it for so damn long."
Without warning, Krystal lifted her head up and pressed her muzzle against Fox's, their lips forming over each other in a passionate, long overdue kiss, this time for real. They stayed there, laying on top of Fox's bed for a couple minutes, until Fox broke the silence.
"I wonder what the media will think of us when we get back."
"No matter what they do or say, I'll love you no matter what." Krystal said, smiling up at him.
"And I, you." Fox replied. They both pulled away and sat up, happy that their love was reciprocated.
"I'm going to get cleaned up for bed. Goodnight, Krystal." Fox said as he grabbed his clothes and started walking towards his bathroom.
"O-Okay... Um, Fox?" Krystal asked, giving him a bashful look.
"Yes?"
"Can I... stay with you tonight?"
Fox was surprised at this, but he welcomed it. A blush crossed his muzzle as he responded.
"You may."
Krystal giggled slightly at his antics, and left to take a shower and change. Fox let out a happy sigh as he closed the door to his bathroom, readying himself for the night to come. Staring at himself in the mirror, he looked himself over, and wondered why the most gorgeous vixen in Lylat would choose him.
'Maybe it's because you rescued her, for crying out loud!' Fox's inner "quit-being-a-fucking-idiot" voice said.
Fox held off on that thought for now, and turned on the water to the shower.
Krystal stepped out of her room, and closed the door behind her as she couldn't help but grin in excitement. This was one of her dreams for a while, finally getting to confess to her captain, but also her feelings being reciprocated! And, as an added bonus, she just got herself a reserved spot in bed next to one of Lylat's greatest heroes, not to mention Corneria's biggest celebrity.
When she got to Fox's door, she stopped.
'He's probably tired of me knocking on his door all the time.'
Just as she raised her hand to knock on the door, it opened for her. Fox was inside, wearing a pair of camo pajama pants and a white t-shirt, as well as a warm smile.
"You don't really have to knock, you know."
Krystal merely responded by wrapping her arms around his neck and hugging him tightly. Something Fox responded to by picking her up like she weighed nothing. Krystal yipped as she was carried through the air and gently tossed onto Fox's bed. He sat down on the other side of the bed next to her, and his expression turned solemn.
"When we go on this mission, I want you to promise me something."
"What is it?" Krystal asked.
Fox cupped her face in his hands and stared into her deep blue eyes.
"Please... Just don't die."
Krystal gave him a sad smile and kissed him, wrapping her arms and legs around him as she did so. She sat there, straddling her captain's lap until he laid back, pulling the covers over both of them. That night, Fox felt the most at peace he'd ever been, being gently lulled asleep by his vixen's heartbeat.
Thank you again for reading! Don't forget to leave a review, they help me a lot and I love reading them!
Chapter 4 will be done soon!
