...Chapter 4: Days in the line of duty can be emotional part 2...

Krystal was shocked at finding out what she did from the Elder, she was almost enraged but for the most part she was downright scared at what this meant. She calmed herself down a bit so that she wasn't deafening everyone in the cavern, "But... I have a life back in Lylat, a home, a..." she looked at Fox and a thought came to her mind and she changed it, "...Friends..." she murmured looking back to the floor. She knew what being Queen meant to her people, she didn't want that life. She wanted exploration and adventure, a life as to which being Queen couldn't deliver to her.

Fox, who had laid down to get some sleep, forgot about the binding ties of his exhaustion and shot up from the ground and jogged over to the other side of the cellar where Krystal was, with the highest ranking Elder, "Is there a problem here?" he asked in a bit of a demanding voice toward the Elder after he heard Krystal cry out.

The Elder spoke as Krystal looked down to the ground, mostly in shame, "Queen Krystal seems hesitant to stay were she belongs..." The Elder trailed off as Fox interrupted him,

"She belongs with m- I mean, Star Fox." Fox almost made the mistake of saying she belonged with him, as his mate-for-life. At the end of the sentence he wished he had have said that because that might've changed the Elder's mind, "We never expected to find you guys here. The rest of Lylat still thinks this planet doesn't exist anymore." every word said added more fear and anger to his voice, "Krystal and I both need to return-"

The Elder raised a paw to silence him and shook his head in strong disagreement, "You may leave, but our Queen must stay, we have waited years for her return."

Fox crossed his arms with hate and practically spat at the Elder, "'You' can't make her stay, just like 'I' can't make her come with me."

Fox and the Elder both fell silent as they looked to Krystal who was in deep thought, chewing her bottom lip pensively. She eventually looked up and locked gazes with Fox. The emotion on her face had him looking away with regret as her voice passed by in his thoughts, "He's right you know... I need to stay."

"Fox..." She started, as she reached out to him, to feel him one last time before she was abandoned, just like he abandoned her a couple of years ago to "protect" her. Fox just took a step back, and walked away. He knew if she gave him one last hug, she wouldn't let go and he too, would be forced to stay.

Fox got a few steps away from Krystal and looked over his shoulder to the heartbroken Krystal, "I don't fault you for your choice Krystal, these are your people, they need a ruler to become civil." he turned his head and kept walking to the stairs, then he stopped just shy of them and called back, "I'll be back in the morning to say goodbye and then I will be on my way home to report." he never looked back to them when he said that didn't want to let Krystal see that he had tears of his own and they were pouring down his face in pain, the pain of losing a love,

Krystal sensed his pain and blinked away tears of her own as she stepped forward, only to be stopped by the Elder. She looked at him in a loathing way and looked back to the stairway Fox was at prior and saw that he was gone...

She looked back at the Elder and communicated with him through thought and then they turned and went up a different stairway up to Krystal's private chambers.

X-X-X-X

By the time Fox got back to his shuttle he was crying like a heartbroken child that didn't get to go to the petting zoo. He entered the shuttle and collapsed onto the bed,

A few minutes later, Fox McCloud was still in the shuttle alone, sniffling every-so-often. He was still laying down on the hide-a-bed, holding a pillow like a girl would after finding out her boyfriend dumped her, a night before prom, 'Grow up, Fox... GROW UP!' he then sat up and called back to Great Fox to check in and report the results of the mission,

Falco answered the video call and his image appeared on screen, "Hey Fox, what's u-... have you been 'crying'?" Falco cocked his head to the side confused about his friends actions.

Not once has Falco seen Fox cry like he was now, it was really abnormal for him. He was always the professional that everyone else came to for help. He hasn't cried like this ever since he got word from the Cornerian Army that his father disappeared and was presumed Killed-In-Action.

Fox gave a silent nod and sniffled again as he wiped tears of sorrow from his eyes with the backs of his paws.

Falco made a conclusion as to why he was crying and Krystal wasn't there and spoke out what was on his mind, "What happened?! Is Krystal okay?"

Fox nodded again as he looked up to the holofeed, "She's just, 'royal'." he murmured, his voice was shallow because he was distressed that the elders of Cerinia told him that Krystal couldn't return to space.

Falco sighed on the call, "Whew... Well then, Why you cryin'?"

Falco was just as oblivious to the "royal" topic as Fox was. Not once had Krystal told the team about her past. Maybe it was because her planet was destroyed, maybe because she didn't want other people to recognize her the wrong way... news topics would go ballistic about that... tomorrows news headline; STAR FOX: CONTROLLED BY BITCHY BLUE QUEEN?... nobody wanted this, it would be terrible for business too.

"Just that... Krystal is a royal and she's not allowed to leave the planet." he sighed and looked down to the deck, "Ever."

"MY GOD! Really? How come she didn't say anything before?"

"She doesn't want the "Royal-pain-in-the-ass" treatment... she wanted to be normal, but the Elders won't let her." he raised his head and paw in unison, and gave his outstretched paw a few twirls in the air, "Something about her being the last royal to live on Cerinia, and having to get her ready to go into the villages to find a suitable mate to continue the royal bloodline of the "Cardinal Sun".

Falco shook his head in disappointment, "So what? We'll be down 'two' pilots now?"

"There many not 'be' Star Fox anymore." Fox sighed and shook his head as he looked to the deck and lowered his ears when Falco shouted at him

His Eyes shot wide, surprised, "WHAT!? What do you mean there won't be Star Fox anymore?!"

Fox then sighed and raised a paw and rubbed his brow pensively, "I don't know Falco, I just... I'll call you in the morning, before I take off. I need to do some debating and I need some sleep and I'll need to say my goodbyes and... I don't know I haven't been through 'this' before."

"Alright... just follow your instincts bro... talk to you tomorrow." Falco ended the holo-call and Fox eased back on the bed looking straight up at the bulkhead and then he heard a voice, "'Fox McCloud?'"

"Go away." He said aloud, not wanting to remind himself about his secret love's way of communicate was through thought only.

"'I wish for you to hear what I have to say Mr. McCloud.'"

Fox sighed and rolled over in his bed so his back was facing where he thought the Elder might be, "Like I could stop you..."

He heard the Elder let out a soft chuckle into his mind, "'No, but, I think you will actually like what it is that I have to say." He paused for dramatic effect, "Since Krystal first entered my range, I have been talking to her-"

"And what does 'that' entail Mr. Elder? That you finally see the keeping her, here against her will is wrong?"

"No... since I have been talking to her, I have seen inside her that she is always thinking of you in some way, shape, or form."

Fox huffed, "So, I'm the team leader. Without me, Star Fox is nothing. I've saved her life countless times which is no problem I don't care about that... That's why she thinks of me so much... Trust, that's why."

The Elder chuckled in his head, "Nope, wrong again young lad... Do you just want me to tell you what her thoughts are about you? What she deeply wants to make herself out to be with every fiber of her being, and why 'she' was the one who came back to 'you'"

"NO, those are her thoughts, not mine... What's hers is hers and that's that. So forget everything you saw, or I'll be the one to..."

The Elder laughed a little in his mind, "That's what I wanted to hear from you Fox."

"What do you mean, Elder?"

"You share the same mindset as Krystal."

Fox was quiet and then he spoke, "Oh."

"Don't be so quick to give up on her Fox. Two more things... One, if you decide to come back ever again and Krystal isn't there to greet you, you'll need a way passed the sentries, give them my name and they will bring you to me... My name is Garry, but you shall only address me as Elder Garry... Is that clear?"

"Yes, Elder Garry."

"Right... second of all, us Cerinians can't dive into a persons thoughts that deep. I only know what she truly feels, from the strong emotion that her heart radiates. Oh, and one more thing, you need to decide before tomorrow night... your shuttle isn't welcome here. It disturbs the peace."

The Elder left Fox alone to his thoughts. He kept asking himself if he should still leave and report back home or if he should stay here, with the person he knew, deep inside his heart that he loved and cared about exponentially. He was fighting a loosing battle, his pros out weighed his cons of leaving, and he wasn't sure what he could do. If he left, he would be able to protect Lylat over again if needed. If he stayed, he would be able to protect his love, but not be able to protect Lylat. One person, Verses, 'billions upon billions' of people. New generations for instance, if Fox ever left Lylat, those generations could be in jeopardy. But the fact of the matter was, Fox was getting old... and he wasn't getting any younger that was for sure... maybe it was time to settle down.

Fox closed his bloodshot eyes and sighed, he cursed at himself for making this choice... he had to leave. He had to move on... with, or with out Krystal. So she was his butter to his bread, there was absolutely 'no' denying the fact that he still had duties to protect Lylat.

Did he blame Krystal for not coming with him, no. Did he blame the people? The Elders? Anyone? No. This was all the work of fate... Fate brought Cerinia "Back from the dead". And it just so happened that Krystal was born into a royal family, was it 'her' fault? 'Absolutely not'.

As Fox kept pondering the thoughts as he laid down on his back on the double size mattress of the well maintained, empty shuttle. It was a boring grey colour, the fluorescent lights in the ceiling were white and gave the ship light and somehow gave life to everything boring.

Boring... that's one of the words that kept reverberating itself around in his mind, 'My life will be boring without her... but I need to leave... It's my duty.'

Fox kept a wallet size photo of Krystal in his wallet, with Krystal's permission of course. He kept the photo with him in case he ever lost his mind for real and needed a kick in the ass, so-to-speak, to keep him running toward his goal, whatever that goal may be.

He got out the photo from the hidden compartment in his wallet, it helped preserve the picture from any wrinkles. The picture was a portrait of Krystal looking over her shoulder, through the corners of her eyes and up at the same time through her eye-lashes, smiling in a way that any man would love to see at any time of the day. She was wearing a tight pink strapless dress that hugged her curves flawlessly, she captured a lot of eyes that night the picture was taken, from single men, and a few from men in relationships and even a couple from jealous women. The single men stood back because Krystal asked that Fox be her dinner-partner that evening.

"Krystal..." Fox sighed as he stroked his thumb over the picture, imagining touching her again.

Her soft blue fur, rustling in the cool summer evening breeze, a picture perfect moment. She glanced over her shoulder and up at Fox just in time for him to take a picture of her at the perfect time. It was a completely unexpected photo, but it turned out so beautifully, it was the perfect portrait photo, "If you want, you can keep a copy in your wallet. Just in case you need some reminder to keep living your life spontaneously."

Fox who was reviewing the perfect photo that he had just taken, looked back at Krystal from across the table-for-two, "Wow, really?" He asked and Krystal nodded after she finished a small sip of the champagne that Fox was generous enough to buy, "Thanks, Krystal."

A small giggle escaped her maw and she smiled, "No problem, Fox. It's just a picture."

Fox smiled at Krystal as he put his phone back into his pocket and took a sip of his champagne. They both looked out over the bay at the beautiful Cornerian summer sunset and Fox sighed, "You know, that's the second most beautiful thing I've seen in my life."

Intrigued by his comment she asked, "Really? Second? What's first on your list?"

"Well, believe it or not, but, it's the girl who's sitting across the table from me."

Krystal looked left and then right and back to Fox with pleading eyes as she placed her fingers on her chest, "Me?"

Fox chuckled and Krystal lowered her ears a little, sceptically, "No, the Krystal next to you. Of course you."

Krystal blushed and replied as she blinked twice, "Aww, you're so sweet Fox. Thank you for being my dinner-partner this evening."

"My pleasure. Thank you for asking, it is after all a five star restaurant."

The duet sat in silence for a while longer, mostly all of the rest of the customers left the restaurant after eating and talking a little. Soft lounge music could be heard being played, and the steward came up to them and asked them to politely leave because it was about two hours passed closing time,

"That late? Wow. I guess we should head home now eh, Krystal?"

"I guess so." she stood up and got a little dizzy, "Whew... shouldn'ta had that last glass of champagne."

"You gonna be okay?" Fox asked, worried that she might not be able to walk on her own.

"Oh yeah, I'll be fine," Krystal said to Fox and after felt a little cold as she didn't bring a jacket with her and she shivered a bit when she left the warm seat, Fox immediately saw this and gave her, his sport-jacket. She looked up at him in a thanking way and smiled when he nodded back in regards, he put his arm around her and they walked back to the hotel that the team was residing in, as they were waiting for the Great Fox to finish being refitted. Again.

Fox placed the photograph back in his wallet and then fell asleep, hating himself for the choice he made moments prior to his remembrance of a fine time, fine-dinning with Krystal.

...

X-X-X-X

A tri-tone alert filled the vicinity of the bridge on the Great Fox dreadnaught, Falco who was on morning post duty got up out of the Captains chair with his morning coffee and walked over to the communications terminal and pressed the accept tab on the touch screen controls. Not even second later Fox's image appeared over the terminal, and Falco smiled and greeted him with a classic "good morning" spiel.

Fox, who didn't get more than an hours worth of sleep last night, grumbled a sentence that was non-legible. It was for the better. The sentence contained more cuss-words than actual words, "It most certainly is NOT a good morning... but whatever, good morning back to you skipper. I am just about out the door and on my way back to the village to say my final farewells and then I'll be back up top and we can go home, relax, and get paid... hopefully this doesn't effect me as bad as it did when I told Krystal she needed to go, and then when I needed her she's nowhere to be found... drinking to get wasted every night... not eating... I don't want this to be a repeat of that... I'll just give Krystal a final farewell and tell her she made the right choice, maybe give her a hug, and tell her it's all for the better."

Falco sighed and shook his head, he never seen Fox give up on such a task so easily before. Fox would always be the last person to decide to give up on ANY mission... he tisked and crooked his head lightly, "Do what YOU, feel is right man... don't be doing anything special for us up here because its your job... Do it because you felt it was right in your heart... think about that when you say your goodbye." his stoic attitude that he had started to build rage in his bloodstream so he ended the call before he let his emotion explode.

X-X-X-X

"I'll think about it... I'LL FRICKEN' THINK ABOUT IT, THE SAME AS I HAVE BEEN FOR THE LAST EIGHTEEN HOURS! FUCK!" he swore as he exited the shuttle. Realizing what he just did he took a quick innocent look around the ship to see if anyone was around to hear that. When he thought that all was clear, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath and exhaled through his nose to calm him self down and then he started off to the temple of the Cardinal Sun. Grumbling all the way there, you could sometimes hear what he was saying to himself, "Why are all the hard decisions mine to make?" he asked himself in a whisper. Cluing himself in, he whispered to himself again as he came up to the front gates of the temple, "Oh yeah, that's why." Fox was the captain of the team, it was his duty to make all the hard decisions.

As soon as Fox got to the temple gates he stopped at a fair distance and waited. It wasn't long until Krystal turned the corner of the left side of the door. It almost seemed to Fox that she had been doing the same thing, practising what to say. He assumed this because as he showed up at the temple it was almost as if Krystal was on the other side of the door, contemplating things.

When he saw Krystal, his heart sank, he remembered meeting Krystal for the first time on Sauria and how she belligerently took her staff back from him. She was wearing her loincloth and brass coloured, bra-like top and also her shoulder, wrist, and shin guards, all were polished and decorated how royalty would have them and to top it all off she had her staff extended, using it like a walking stick. It too, was polished, it's finish was so shinny that it almost appeared to glow in the late morning sun.

Fox on the other hand was dressed in navy blue shorts that went down to his knees and a light blue shirt that he usually only wore around the Great Fox. But today, he didn't care, because after today, he would most likely never see his love again.

Fox slightly bowed his head in recognition, it was appropriate, but it wasn't necessary. He did it though just to show gratitude that Krystal made the right choice, "Krystal,"

Krystal sighed as she stuck the end of her staff into the ground and folded her arms. She didn't care about the shinny finish that her staff had been given. She liked her staff better the way it was before, dull and unimportant looking, just how she wanted to feel in the first place. Minority... like everyone else. She gave a nod and licked her lips to moisten them and swallowed hard to keep the tears at bay, "Fox," She murmured,

He looked down at the grass in shame and then looked back up to Krystal, "I'm sorry Krystal," he sighed as he looked back down to the lush green grass between him and Krystal, who was standing about ten feet away from him, "but... I need to leave... if I could stay... I would, but... I can't" she shook his head as he closed his eyes.

"I know Fox, I know." she turned back on her heel and gestured to one of the guards and communicated by thought to him momentarily. He then went into the temple and retrieved everything that was Krystal's that didn't belong to this world, and came back out and set it beside Krystal.

She knelt down and picked up her blue and black Star Fox bodysuit uniform and held it up, she relived all the good, bad and the ugly times with Star Fox, but the good times were the ones that stood out the most. It brought a smile to her face and then she folded the suit once in half, vertically, and three times horizontally. "I'm gonna miss this old thing," she said and knelt back down and put it into the pack that she had brought with her yesterday.

"Why not just keep it then?" Fox inquired as he raised a brow,

Krystal shook her head sadly, "I can't, because if my people see me with it they will think I don't want to be here or don't want to be the one to govern them. If that wasn't the case though... I'd wear it all the time, to have some kind of physical keepsake from Star Fox-"

"If that's the case then," He started as he opened his gauntlet menu and took the password off and pulled it from his wrist and held it out to Krystal, "Take this, it's small enough that you can keep it in your chambers and it's not very noticeable... maybe you could wear it..."

Krystal nodded and slowly approached Fox, "Thank you. I will treasure this." she said in a bit of an insecure voice as she took the wrist-computer, still biting back the tears. She slipped it onto her left wrist after she took off the guard, her lower lip trembled. Still she didn't cry. After she took a moment to look at it and try to think of what this little piece of equipment has gone through for her, she looked back at Fox and threw her arms around him and gave him a hug, her last hug to the man she loved, "Thank you Fox, this means so much to me."

"Anything for you Krystal..." Fox replied, still hugging Krystal and patting her back now and again. Anything for you Krystal... those four words, he heard them bounce off the sides of his skull and repeat themselves over and over again in his mind, Anything for you Krystal... 'Enough! I must go... it's my job.'

Krystal took a deep breath of Fox's scent and sighed as she let go and stepped back to where the backpack was and picked it up, she walked back to Fox and gave him the bag, he slung it over his right shoulder and started to turn away, "Wait, Fox."

He turned back toward her as she held out her wrist-guard, "This might be too small for you, but, I want you to have it."

He looked down at the shinny piece of metal and back up to meet the facial expressions of Krystal and back down, and up, "Really?"

"Yes, Fox. Fair trade."

He slowly took the guard and slipped it over his wrist. It fit like a glove, and he smiled similar to the way a man would the first time he holds his newborn son, "Thank you, Krystal."

"No worries, now go, the Elder told me that your ship disturbs the peace. I know I'm now the Queen and all but, there still is punishment to be dealt to people who disturb the peace... For that, I'm sorry."

Fox nodded still looking at his parting gift, "I... I understand."

Fox turned and walked away, when he got to the tree line he looked back, Krystal was still standing there, he waved and she returned the gesture. Though hard to see from the vast distance, she was starting to cry. Fox gave a sorrow nod and turned and kept walking to the shuttlecraft through the jungle.

...