Minutes to Midnight

Chapter 4: Reconciliation


A/N: I didn't expect to turn this chapter out until next week, but heavy snow canceled exams for a few days. Lucky me! I get to work on this more. But tomorrow, it's back to exams.


"I'm so sorry you had to see me like this, Krystal," Katt said as she sat down in her recliner. She was wrapped in a bath robe, dripping wet from hot and cold showers. Her familiar apartment was a comforting change of atmosphere, however, one that she was thankful for. Krystal had dragged a drunken Katt all the way home from the bar, through chilling cold and snow, and then made an attempt at cleaning her up. "I can't believe I was such an idiot... just wasting time like that... stupid..."

Krystal gave Katt a weak smile as she passed her another cup of black coffee. "Katt, don't be so hard on yourself. You can pull through this."

"I'm not going to sober up in time," Katt whimpered, slowly sipping her coffee. "It's hopeless. There's no way I can see Falco in this condition."

"Here, take some of these." Krystal pulled out a medicine packet, popping two pills out and handing them to Katt. "Anti-intoxication pills."

Katt didn't even flinch as she swallowed the pills and took another swig of coffee. "I'm an expert at taking pills," she explained. "I've had to take them... all my life." She suddenly choked up with tears.

"No, please, Katt, don't do this to yourself!" Krystal rushed over to her side, placing her comforting paws on Katt's shoulders. "You have to pull yourself together! It's not over yet, you have to push through to the end!"

Katt placed her paw on Krystal's. "I'm sorry about all this, and I appreciate your help, Krystal. I... don't know what I would have done without you."

Krystal gave her a warm, assuring smile. "Don't worry about it. But I really must be going; we're both running out of time."

Katt furrowed her eyes. "Both of us?"

Krystal nodded. "I have to find Fox. He's somewhere in Syvarris city." She patted Katt on the back. "And you have to see Falco."

"But I don't know where he is! They could be holding him on another planet for all I know."

Krystal whipped out a sheet of paper she had hastily scrawled on. "I've got everything covered; the directions are here. The prison's on the outskirts of Corneria City." She then stood up and rushed towards the door, turning around to look one last time at Katt. "I'll see you on the other side, Katt."

Katt nodded back. "Good luck with finding Fox."

A tear slid down the side of Krystal's face, dampening her fur. Finally, she stepped outside into the hallway and closed the door.

Katt sighed, her last friend in the world gone. She was now on her own. Katt slowly turned her attention back down to the piece of paper Krystal had given her. "I'm coming, Falco..."


"Hey, Marcus, isn't it a little past your bed time?"

Marcus merely returned Fox's question with a gesture upwards.

Fox raised his eyes to look through the web of barren branches at the distant sky. It was clearly no longer night; the blue early morning light was filtering through the trees. "Oh, I guess it's about the time you would be getting up, huh?" Fox was seriously beginning to question which one of them was the child in their present situation.

Taking his eyes off of the forest floor caused Fox to trip on an outstretched root. He plummeted over, landing face first in the snow. Lifting his head up and shaking it to disperse the snow, Fox looked ahead at Marcus, who disappeared beneath an embankment, the only thing he left behind for Fox to look at was the pure white snow. Fox narrowed his eyes, scanning the ground between him and the embankment. It was then that Fox realized Marcus was not making any footprints.

This stopped his laughter and made him doubt.

So he really was chasing after a ghost. It was hopeless, then. He would never catch him. He could never have him again. Fox let his head fall back into the snow again in despair. It was all pointless now. Curious how time could move so slow now that the world was so close to ending. He was giving up, determined to wait for the end right then and there. But something told him to move on, to just keep going until he reached the next hill. After that, he would finally be done.

He started off in a crawl, wiggling through damp piles of snow. Then he got up onto his four legs, pushing himself forwards and forwards. By the time he reached the top of the embankment, he was finally running again. Coming up on the edge, he suddenly found himself tumbling down a steep incline, sliding chaotically through brown leaves, melting snow, and loosened dirt. At the bottom, he slid out of the forest and onto a frozen stream, scattering dried leaves and mounds of snow. It was a rather large stream that must have frozen overnight, with a crystalline waterfall surrounded by large rocks and boulders on either side that immediately caught his eye.

Behind the brink of the waterfall, the warm glow of dawn was breaking, the sky turning cotton-candy pink and blue, but the sun was still below the horizon, as if waiting for the exact moment to make its entrance. Fox's eyes were immediately drawn to the top of the waterfall, awed at the beauty of the scene which was in stark contrast to his dark experience earlier in the warehouse.

A vulpine figure stood at the top of the waterfall, leaning on his knee and observing Fox. Jaw dropping, Fox recognized the animal as his father, wearing his favorite flight jacket, green cargo pants, red bandana, and signature sunglasses. Recovering after a few seconds, Fox called up to him, "Father? I-is it really you?"

James McCloud's ears perked up, and Fox expected him to answer. Instead, he turned around in slow motion to catch Marcus in his arms and swing him around, their uncontrolled laughs echoing like bells through the riverbed, an orchestra to Fox's ears. As they slowed down, James pulled Marcus into a warm hug that would have caused the snow to melt away, while patting him on the back and whispering into his ear, caringly.

Fox watched the scene, part of him glad that his father and son were together; that was how he wanted it to be. But the spectacle struck a chord in his heart that made him feel jealous and alone. His tail falling between his legs and ears drooping, Fox reluctantly turned his back on them and began trudging downstream, away from the waterfall.

"Where do you think you're going?" a quiet but commanding voice echoed through the riverbed.

Fox halted, turning around to face his father again. As he walked back to the waterfall, James put Marcus down and focused on his son below him. His father's perpetual smile turned into a frown. "Wow... just look at yourself, son."

Fox was again saddened as he looked down at his blood covered body. He held out his hands, spreading his fingers and turning them one way and another to see their horrible red stains. He opened them towards his father, at a loss. "I... I'm sorry, father. I don't know what I've done... it was horrible, the faces, the screams," Fox fell to his knees and covered his ears, squeezing his eyes shut at the memory that refused to leave him. Gritting his teeth and heaving with anguish, he went on. "I'll never be able to get rid of this. I can't chase the memory away, I can't forget what I've done, it will always be with me, like a stain... that nothing can wash away..."

As Fox cried his heart out, James took out his pocket knife, tossing it in his hands once or twice, only to drive it into the edge of the frozen cascade. Until then, Fox had never seen James or Marcus interact with the physical world, a thought that remained at the back of his mind.

"And the worst part is," Fox went on, "I've failed you. All my life, I've tried to live up to you. You were the bravest, the most daring, the most honest man I've ever known. You could not only take a life... you could also spare one. And that's what I remember you for. After you died, I swore to follow in your footsteps. That's why I took command of Star Fox. That's why I kept us on the narrow path, refusing to take any questionable missions. That's why I've always avoided killing when I could. That's why I took a wife, and had a son... it was all for you, dad. But now I've failed you, and my family. But there's no going back, no fixing it. I will die like this. The end. Finis."

"Fox, listen to me; just let go of it all. I know you are struggling with so much more than losing me. There are just some things you have to face. All your life, you pretended the world was a perfect little place for you to escape to. You didn't have to feel anything, you didn't have to hurt, you just had to laugh and smile and front for your friends and yourself. But this world you've created isn't working. You've seen that. It's not worth the effort you're putting into it. Life's not perfect. I wasn't perfect. Everyone makes mistakes, but you have to learn to move on. You will never live up to your ideals, son. Stop holding onto a perfect life you haven't even got." Pausing, James twisted the knife deeper into the ice. "Now, rise up, and let go." When Fox didn't move, he repeated the command. "Get up, Fox."

Reluctantly, Fox stood up, drying his eyes and facing the top of the waterfall. The sun was nearly bursting through the clouds now, like a river held by a dam, barely contained.

His father continued. "This may be the end Fox, but its also the beginning. This moment won't be easy; sometimes the hardest part of ending is the starting again part. Now let go of all the pain, let go of all the fear, let go of the fake ideals you create for yourself. Drop them as you would chains that hold you down, and rise." He twisted the knife still deeper into the ice, causing cracks to spread down the edge. "You are washed of blood, you are cleansed of poison, you are relieved of sorrow, of everything you had to be. Rise up, and let go."

Fox mimicked his father's posture, closing his eyes and spreading his arms wide. "Rise up... let go..."

James grinned. "I forgive you of your sins and welcome you unto a new life, and a new year. Make the most of what you have, son." With that, he drew the knife out, and plunged it back in again with a savage thrust. The waterfall cracked, releasing a wave of roaring, broiling water, and shards of ice that caught and reflected the morning light like stars, all falling just as the sun broke through the clouds and over the ridge in a blinding glow.

Fox caught his breath just as the wave of water and ice crashed upon him, forcing him over, bending him, breaking him, consuming him, renewing him. He let himself be washed away with the icy current, losing himself in the up and down motion of its waves as it rushed through the random curves of the stream bed.


"Hello?"

Slippy gasped. It was actually Dash Bowman. He recognized the voice from the few years they spent flying together. He was talking to the man who held the universe in his hands.

"H-h-hello?" Slippy answered, already freezing up.

For a few seconds, there was complete silence on the phone.

"Is that you... Slippy?"

"Yes, this is Slippy. Uh... hey, Dash. How'd you recognize me?"

"You always answer the phone the same way, with that stutter."

"Heh, well, it's nice to know you still remember me. Uh, so, we haven't seen each other in a long time; what's happened to you since then?"

"It... it hasn't been fun, Slippy. I'll say that. After Star Fox split up, it was hard to decide where to go. I tried going back to Venom, you know, starting up a new life for the lost criminals and vagabonds of the Lylat System. But it didn't work out too well." Slippy could here the pain start to saturate Dash's voice. "I don't like talking about it, Slip, but... if there was anyone I could talk about it with, it would be you."

"M-me?" Slippy was completely taken aback.

"I know you'd have a hard time believing it, Slippy, but you were the nicest to me. Everyone else was so untrusting of me, so wary of my relation to Andross. But you didn't care. Somehow, it didn't matter to you. There are two types of people in the universe, Slippy. Well, admittedly, there are billions. But I always like to split people up into to categories; those who think they should please, and those who think they should be pleased. You were the kind that wanted to please, who always had to prove himself to everybody, and make them happy. That's what I've always liked you for, and that's the image you've left on me."

"Gee, I had no idea I had such an impression. Kinda ironic, the quietest guy is remembered the most. But I would still like to know what happened to you, that made you... well..."

"Do all this?" Dash finished for him. "So it took the end of the world to make you talk to me?"

"Well, yes. I won't lie. I know it's wrong. I know Star Fox should never have broken up. I know we should never have gone our separate was and forgotten about each other. I'm not making up excuses. I was wrong. Just, please, tell me your story."

Dash chuckled. "It will be like the last goodnight story to the dying world, or Nero's ballad sung to the burning city. Oh, how poetic, I can't resist; I just have to – "

"You know, you're becoming more alike," Slippy interrupted.

Dash froze. "Like who?"

"Like him."

There was a long pause of radio silence. The seconds began to draw on into minutes as neither of them spoke. Finally, Dash broke the silence.

"The only difference between me and my grandfather is that he bothered with the world in the first place. I will not... I know it's hard... I wish there was some way I could make you see... Here, it's about time I told you what happened. It's pretty simple. I returned to Venom, trying to create a place for all of the outcasts and the dregs of the universe. It wasn't easy. Terraforming Venom is something I'm sure Andross couldn't even pull off. It's much easier to destroy than to create. Even now, it looks like the project was off to a bad start. Then I had to gather all of the lost races. I searched for them in the dark corners of the System. I lifted them out of the hidden sewers and alleys of the city. I fought long and tedious court cases to get them freed from prison, intent on giving every, single, one of them a second chance. But every step of the way, Corneria was in my face, intent on keeping the reptiles and the primates and the outcasts forever separated, without a cause, without a pride, without a home. And I fought them," Dash's voice began to tremble with barely contained anger. "I thought them to my skin and bone. No matter what they did to stop me, no matter how many obstacles they put in my path, no matter how many lies they fed the people, I pushed on. I had finally amassed a sizable country on Venom, when it happened. You must remember it, Slippy; the Macbeth Crisis?"

"Yeah," Slippy breathed out, "Venom rose up once again, for one last hurrah, one last strike against the rest of the Lylat System. They fired upon a factory network on Macbeth, with nukes... it was all over the news."

"Would you believe me if I told you It wasn't my fault? If I told you that I didn't fire the interplanetary missiles?"

"Of course, you can't control what your people do."

"And that it wasn't even the people of Venom who fired the missiles?"

Slippy was confused. "What? Then, who was it?"

"Corneria always gets what it wants, Slippy, one way or another. They disguised as radicals, took over city blocks, protested in every street, all in the name of Venom. We didn't even posses nuclear warheads. But after so many wars from the same people, no one would believe us. Corneria came in, and banished us from Venom, and decimated every single city on Venom. I was able to escape to a hidden bunker of Andross's, with a choice few of my friends and officials, and we've hidden there ever since. That is where we discovered Andross's most powerful weapon, one that even he would never dare to use. Do you understand it now, Slippy? Can you really blame me? There is no hope for me or for anyone."

There was a distinctive click that sounded over the connection.

Dash froze, tensing up. "Oh don't tell me. It was all a set up, wasn't it? They hired you to talk to me so you could find my location?"

"No, Dash, I didn't know!" Slippy hopped down off of the table and rushed over to the door, finding it curiously unlocked. Opening it, he looked around to find Bill Goats completely gone, and a single, blue phone in the middle of his desk. It was a set up...

"I can't believe you, Slippy! Even someone like you would stoop to this. So it was all fake?"

"Please, Dash!" Slippy pleaded with him. "I had no idea! They lied to me! I just wanted to talk!"

"No one in their right mind would call the one person who held the world in their hands just to "talk!""

Slippy was beginning to get frustrated; the inability to get anywhere with Dash was annoying him. "Look, I admit I called you to talk you out of dropping the world, but it was purely diplomatic! It was no trick!"

The outburst seemed to silence Dash for a moment. "Then you really mean it... I've never seen you get this angry before unless it was about something sincere."

"Of course I mean it!" Slippy shot back, seething.

Slippy could hear Dash's breathing slow down, and he noticed his own lungs were relaxing as well.

"Please, accept my apology," Dash said.

Slippy let out a long breath as he felt the tension in the room fade. "Sure. Of course."

"But, please, let's get our mind off of the current... situation. I need to talk about something else. Can you agree to that?"

Slippy's conscience began to nag him, urging him on to argue with Dash and convince him to save the world... but something told him to forget about it. "Right, no more diplomacy, no more business.. From now on, it's just two friends talking after years of not seeing each other."

"Thank you, Slip. I really needed this. Well, I've caught you up on my story. Where have you been since Star Fox?"

Slippy let himself relax as he continued the conversation with Dash. He walked back into the private room, closing the door behind him. Sitting back down on the desk, he said, "Let me see... after it all fell to pieces, I wanted to take up another job in technology. I could have gone back to Space Dynamics... but..."

"You couldn't face your father?"

"Exactly. So, I took the next best thing; a job at the Advanced Weapons Guilds."

A hint of genuine interest seemed to animate Dash's voice. "The AWG? I'm sure you know Andross use to work there. He basically founded the company with all of his inventions and research."

"Of course! Besides it being one of the largest tech manufacturing companies in the System, I would have to say its connections with Andross drew me to it the most. All of the work we've reverse-engineered of his has already set Lylat years ahead to the future."

"Have you ever worked with any of his tech hands on? I've gotten to use a lot of it where I've been hiding over the past few years."

"Recently I've gotten to work with some. Quite fascinating, really. So you've worked with some, too?"

"Well, admittedly, my scientists did most of the work. I'm no technician, nor a scientist. But I still can appreciate Andross's work."

"I should think so! It's hard to imagine the raw power that could cause a star to go supernova! How did Andross do it? And how was he able to even get to the stars?"

"It's quite complicated, but I'll take a crack at it. It revolves around Andross's new theory of gravity. Space, what we commonly think of as nothing, or the three spacial dimensions, is actually a physical field with its own properties. Among these is how it interacts with matter. Normal matter, the stuff we and planets are made of, slowly suck in space like a vacuum cleaner. We call this effect gravity. Dark energy, the kind that exists between galaxies and solar systems, actually spits out space. This is what we call anti-matter, that makes things float simply by spitting out enough space to match the intake space of a planet's gravity. With enough dark energy, you could propel yourself from any direction simply by placing more space in between yourself and that direction. With the right amounts of matter and dark energy, you could play around with space in many different ways. Andross faced two problems. One, how to blow up a star; and two, how to get whatever mechanism he needed to said star. The three closest stars are, on average, six light years away from the Lylat System. Andross's space model allows him to actually bend space in many different ways. The rockets he sent to the three stars all were manipulating space; their noses used matter to eat up space in front of them, pulling them forward, and their tales used dark energy to emit space and push them forwards."

"But how did he do it? Did he just slap a blob of dark energy on the tail and a blob of normal matter on the front?"

"Well... in a way... yes. He developed extremely dense molecules of both matter and dark energy, froze them to nearly zero degrees kelvin, and then he slapped them onto the rockets. Yes, there is a lot more to it than that, but you get the point. The rockets literally remained motionless while space flowed around them. In that way, they were able to travel nearly the speed of light, without actually traveling the speed of light. Understand?"

"I think I get it... yeah, I do."

"Great, because no one else does. Anyway, that is how Andross was able to get the device to the stars so quickly."

"Then how did he blow up the stars when the rockets got there?"

"Strangely, screwing around with space solves the problem again. One of the leading causes for core collapse and subsequent supernova is the abrupt halting of nuclear fusion. Andross manipulated space so that he cut off the star's supply of hydrogen from it's core, making it impossible for nuclear fusion. He did this by expanding the space in between the core and the outer shell. The core collapses, and disperses all of the excess hydrogen on its outside in the form of a supernova."

"And Andross never was able to put his plan into action because of the Lylat Wars?"

"Well... not exactly. Andross did explode those three stars in the spectacular display you saw earlier this evening. You see, he discovered all of this while in the middle of the Lylat Wars. His plan was to force the world into submission by threatening to blow it up if they didn't obey him. However, no one would believe him if he did not first prove that it was in his power to do so. He built the rockets and sent them off to those three stars, hoping that he could hold out against the rest of the Lylat until they finally reached their marks."

"And that day was... today..."

"Yes, Andross didn't win the war, or hold out long enough 'til he could prove his power. I took the opportunity to cash in on my grandfather's work. The stars were expertly timed to blow on the same day, which happened to be New Year's Eve. Perhaps Andross meant it as a cruel joke. It was his greatest sense of humor, after all..."

Neither of them spoke for awhile, as Slippy took time to process the data. He stared out Corneria City, knowing it would simply cease to exist in a matter of minutes.

"Have you started it yet?" Slippy suddenly asked Dash.

"Started what?"

"The end of the world. Have you launched the rocket yet?"

Dash paused, causing more silence to ensue.

"No."

Then there was still hope, Slippy thought. Jumping off the table, he began quickly pacing back and forth. His mind began racing, much as it did whenever he began to figure out a complicated math problem, or when he found the bug in a piece of machinery and began repairing it. It had always been the best feeling in Slippy's life, the reason he existed.

"You don't have to go through with it, you know."

Dash sighed, already knowing where the conversation would go. "Slippy, I have to do this."

"Why?"

"You have to understand, I'm not doing this for myself, because I hate the world, or anything like that. I'm doing it for all of the Lylat System. There's no fixing the wrong in the world. Every day we spend alive, we compound evil upon evil, sin upon sin. All of our evil is just piling up, like debt to a foreign country, or a hospital bill. There's no way we can change the evil in the world. The only solution is to put it out of it's misery. If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. Isn't that how the saying goes? Isn't that what our mothers have always told us? If you can't do anything good..." He left the statement open for Slippy to finish himself.

"So that's it? You're just giving up on the world?"

"There is a point when everything becomes pointless, Slip."

Slippy finally stopped pacing. He was right up in front of the window, glaring at his own dim reflection in the dark glass. "I don't believe you. You would be the last person I would expect to give up! You've seen firsthand how giving up has turned out! Fox threw his hands up in the air when Marcus died and Krystal left him. They gave up, and look how it turned out. Falco and Katt left the team after trying to keep it together and deal with a maddened Fox. Now there is no more Star Fox. I gave up working out the misunderstandings between me and my dad, and I haven't spoken to him in four years. Giving up is no solution."

"If there was any possible way I could change the world, I would. Admit it, Slippy, there is no other way out."

"How can you take away the world from so many people? How can you kill billions of animals? The adults and the infants, the healthy and the sick, the rich and the poor, the guilty and the innocent?"

"I can't help who dies, but I can help everyone through death. The world's evil will always outweigh its good."

"But who are you to weigh the good and evil of the world? Are you the world's Jury?"

"Anyone with a functioning eye in his head could plainly see the world's evil outweighs – "

"Who are you to decide the sentence of the world? Are you its Judge?"

"I am a victim of the world just like anyone – "

"Who are you to exact punishment on the world? Are you its Executioner?"

"Well some fool has got to – "

"Who are you that the earth is yours to destroy? Are you its Maker?

"Slippy, would you shut up and listen to me!?"

"Are you God?"

"It doesn't take a god to – "

"Are you Andross?"


Katt audibly gulped as a blood-hound guard opened the door in front of her, gesturing for her to enter. Hesitantly stepping in, she looked around the small room's interior. The prison's visiting room was not what she was expecting it to be. Katt had always seen them depicted as dark, dingy rooms with rows of stations for meeting, a long glass wall for viewing, cheap telephones, and guards with machine guns posted at every door. Instead, she found a small, neat room split by a glowing force field that cut it in half, and two chairs that faced each other on either side. But the atmosphere was just as cold and unforgiving as expected. When she had fully entered, the guard behind her silently excused himself and left her alone with the occupant in the other side of the room.

Katt nervously seated herself in the steal chair on her half of the room, resting her forearms on the cold, metal armrests that froze her limbs. Her eyes darted back and force across the room, trying to find anything else to look at, instead of the person seated in the chair opposite her. Finally, she bit her lip and looked through the force field at the prisoner. Katt had been avoiding him for far too long.

Falco Lombardi, dressed in gray prison fatigues, sat opposite her, slouching in his chair.

"Falco..." Katt trailed off, not knowing where to begin.

The blue falcon remained silent, refusing to even look at her with his head facing downward.

"Look, Falco... I'm sorry."

He did completely nothing, as if he wanted more from her.

"I'm sorry for what happened... It's my fault you're in here... I got you roped into the Hot Rodders after the team fell apart, knowing the work they did wasn't strictly..."

"Legal," Falco finished for her.

"Yeah," Katt agreed, sniffing.

Falco coughed. "That wasn't your fault. I knew the risk. I took it. I ended up here, and you didn't. Hard facts of life."

Katt continued, "But when the job went wrong, and we all had to run for it, I chose him... Kit Kool... over you. When caught, we betrayed you to get off with an easier sentence."

Laughing bitterly, Falco replied, "What? You don't think I know all this?" He leaned back and swung his arms in a sweeping gesture to indicate the prison. "Wouldn't this be a pretty strong indicator that I was sold out? Now tell me something I don't know or leave me alone." With that, he stood up from his chair and turned towards the door.

Katt jumped out of her chair and rushed over to the field. "Wait! Falco, after we got out, I-I never saw Kit again... I promise. I left him for good. I had some time to think in prison, and realized I didn't care about him."

Falco stopped in front of the door and looked back over his shoulder. "However much time you had to think, I had longer. I've been locked up in this jail like a rooster in a chicken coop for far too long, longer than an 'I'm sorry' or an 'I love you' or any of that crud can make up for. What's done is done, Katt, and we can't change that... for the rest of our lives. We can't change it. Nothing will."

Katt glanced down at her watch, a tear dropping from her eye and smudging the glass. 22:08, only two hours left before midnight. Looking back up she said, "Falco, honestly, we can't avoid this anymore. If you haven't heard, the world is ending in a few hours, and I don't – "

Suddenly, Falco whirled around, grabbed the metal chair, and flung it straight at Katt. The force field deflected the chair, but Katt stumbled backwards out of instinct. In a moment, Falco was upon the force field, shouting at her in a mad rage. "WHAT DOES ANYONE CARE!? YOU THINK PEOPLE WANT THE WORLD TO GO ON!? THE UNIVERSE IS JUST A BUNCH OF MUDBALLS SPINNING AIMLESSLY ABOUT, AND WE HAPPEN TO BE ON THEM. YOU KNOW WHY PEOPLE DON'T CARE? PEOPLE STOP CARING WHEN THEY CAN'T CHANGE SOMETHING. THEY CAN'T CHANGE THE END OF THE WORLD, THEN THEY DON'T CARE. THEY CAN'T CHANGE A POLITICAL SYSTEM, THEN THEY DON'T CARE. I CAN'T FIX A RELATIONSHIP, THEN I DON'T CARE!" He slammed his head violently against the force field, then buried it in his wings as his body shook with silent sobs.

Katt waited a few seconds, watching the sad display of Falco's insecurity, then hesitantly approached the field once again. Laying her paws on it, she leaned in close to where Falco was pressing himself against it. "Shhh... Falco, calm down. Just wait. Everything will be okay. You just have to hold on, and don't lose control. Listen... can you do me a favor?"

Falco took his head out of his wings and looked up at her, sniffing. "What?"

"Promise me you'll stay with me all the way... until the end... until midnight. I don't want the world to end like this... after an argument, after a fight, all alone... do you?"

Falco pressed his hands against the field where Katt's hands were, coming the closest to touching as he could. His fit subsided as he looked back at her remorseful face and met her eyes. "No. I don't want this. I don't want any of it. But I still want you... I'm sorry, Katt, that it had to be this way. I know I'm an idiot sometimes... maybe all the time. I can't control myself... there's nothing I can do..."

"I don't care, Falco..." Katt whispered. "I'll take you however you are. Nothing matters to me anymore except you. Take everything else away, take the world away, and I still have you."

They closed their eyes as they pressed their heads against the field, Katt softly crying.

"You won't leave me, will you?" Katt asked.

"Never."

At that moment, the force field abruptly disappeared, uniting them once again. They fell towards each other, and Falco caught Katt in his arms, as they released their tears of joy. Sliding down to the floor, Falco rocked her back and forth as Katt lost herself in his comforting arms.

Behind her, Katt heard the door open again, as well as the footsteps of the guard entering.

"Look, you two, I don't know how to say this, but... you're free to go. I just don't give a dang anymore, and I'm sure no one else does. Now get out while you're still alive."

As he watched the reunited Falco and Katt leave the room, the bloodhound mumbled, "Well, I guess that Bowman fella knew what he was doin'."


A/N: Thanks to Qui Ludicant for pointing out all of science I failed to explain, and all of the science I got wrong in the first version of Minutes to Midnight. One of the things he wanted to see more of in this story was the mechanics behind Dash's evil little plan. The giant conversation between Slippy and Dash is dedicated to you, Qui Ludicant. I am expecting another scientific slap-down, though. Oh, and I made up all of the stuff about gravity. Einstein would probably kill me if he ever found out.