Well...That took a bit longer then I thought. I will tell you right now...There might be a few bits of this chapter that are kinda hard to follow. Also, something still feels kinda off with this chapter, not sure what. I'll think on that while I let you read it.

Star Fox: The ReArmed conflict

Chapter 4: Answers and Memories

Inside the rec room, Fox glanced at Falco, "If she hasn't launched within five minutes, go 'escort' her off our ship."

Falco cracked the knuckles in his hands "Gladly."

Krystal walked over with Slippy, Krystal who had probed Fox's mind while he was in shock had gotten some of what was going through his head. Krystal slipped her arms around Fox and pulled him into a hug, letting him use her to hide the two tears he let slide across his face and down his muzzle. She whispered, just loud enough from him to hear. "You loved her didn't you?" He nodded slightly into her neck and she smiled, pushing him slightly away so that he could see her. "It wasn't right of Fay to drop that on you, but you should at least hear her out."

Fox sighed "Yea, I still stand by what I said though, she needs to be okay with the team knowing. I'm not keeping secrets from you." He glanced down at Slippy then over at Falco. "Any of you. You don't keep secrets from family."

Falco scoffed "Stop getting all emotional geez." while Slippy laughed slightly.

The four of them turned as a soft knocking occurred on the rec room door. Falco turned to Krystal who nodded "Its her."

Falco grinned "Okay, time for Fay to leave." He went to hit the switch when Fox held up a hand. "Before you force her out, lets see if she has changed her mind."

Falco nodded and slapped the release switch for the door. As it slid up it revealed Fay, standing in the hallway, she had taken off her bow and was playing with it in her hands. They waited for a moment before Fay cleared her throat "Okay, I'm sorry, that was...well...it was a stupid and a bad thing to do. But I do really need your help." She glanced down at the floor, waiting for the answer.

Fox stepped away from Krystal "Fine, but you tell us everything. Right here. Right now. We made you a part of Star Fox, and even after you left with the Miyu, we still kept in contact, then we get a crap transmission saying that you died during a raid for some mission and that's that." Fox paused and took a step forward "Then you show up over four years later and ask for our help and to go in blind. When we refuse you try to manipulate me into helping you." Fox glared at her "Not a good way to get this team on your side."

Fay sighed, "Okay, look I said I'm sorry already, please, just hear me out now." She glanced at Fox, tears in her eyes. "You were right, I will lose a friend if you guys don't help. But I also wasn't lying earlier Fox, Fara. Is. Alive. So is Miyu, but Fara is the only one in danger right now."

Fox gestured towards the couch. "Well then, time to explain, and no hiding anything." He glanced behind him at Krystal "We'll know."

Fay nodded and walked into the room, neglecting the couch, and moving towards the counter top and pulling out a stool. "You all might want to grab a seat, it's going to be a while."

After everybody had found a seat and they were all watching her, Fay tucked her bow back up onto her head and cleared her throat. "Where to begin..."

Falco spoke up from the green recliner he was laid back in. "Well, the whole part where your death apparently was faked sounds like a good place to me."

Fay nodded "Okay, I just want your word before I start, you can never breath a word of this to anybody. I already risked everything just revealing myself to you guys. If Cornerian High Command gets wind of this, I-"

Fox held up a hand "Wait, Pepper knew you were alive?"

Fay nodded, and Fox shared a look with Falco and Slippy. "What?" she asked.

Fox turned his attention back to her "Pepper was the one who sent the transmission about how you two had died."

Falco snorted in the background "I may not have been here when he first sent the transmission, but I've watched it. That old hound has some guts, he even had the nerve to let some tears slip during the transmission."

Fox raised a hand to stop Falco. "You have my word, that I will not talk about anything you discuss in this room." he glanced around at his team. "Agreed?"

The other three nodded. Fay nodded as well and cleared her throat. "Right well, my 'death' actually requires me going back a little further to explain." She turned her gaze to Fox "You remember when we first met on Papetown right?"

Fox nodded "Of course, you and Miyu were visiting and somehow ended up captured by the imperial army. We raided the base that you guys were in to get some shipment information and decided to bust you guys out while we were there."

Fay glanced around "Did you guys ever stop to wonder what a couple of 14 year old teens were doing being capture by the imperials?"

Fox said nothing, but Falco spoke up "You know, I did wonder at that time, I bet we're about to find out." He lifted his head off the back of the chair and glanced at Fay "Am I right?" At her nod he put his head back "Yea, knew it, come on, let's hear it."

Fay turned her gaze back to Fox "We'll, you knew that Fara was the youngest test pilot and that her opinion carried a whole lot of weight. The public knew her as the daughter of the Phoenix business powerhouse. But what only a few of the extremely high ranking members of the Cornerian High Command knew, was that Fara, Miyu, and I were actually black ops specialists."

Fox held up a paw. "Wait, so you're telling me, that Fara, the Fara that I knew and loved, was really a black operative?" Fox scoffed slightly "I don't believe it." He glanced behind him at Krystal. They stared at each other for a moment, before he sighed. "Okay, so you're telling the truth, but how come she never mentioned it?"

Fay looked apologetic "She couldn't mention it, not to you, not to her dad, none of us could."

Fox sighed again waving with his paw "Alright, just, go on."

Fay nodded "Anyway, on one of our missions, we heard about this group of people. They operated separately of the imperial army, staying in the shadows, but still secretly working for Andross."

Slippy spoke up "The Remnants."

Fay nodded "The very same, although they weren't the Remnants back then, just a shadow army if you will."

Fox glanced over at Falco "Alright, let's get it over with, if Fara didn't die in that shuttle explosion, then what happened, and whose body did I identify?"

Fay sighed "A week before her 'death'. We were on a data retrieval mission, and we found some solid information on the Remnants. Turns out that they were secretly working things from the background. Corrupting officials and buying out certain businesses, they were under orders to collapse Lylat if, for some reason Andross was killed before he could destroy Corneria." Fay looked around the room. "That data, was scary, from what we saw, they had an actual chance to pull it off." Fay turned her attention back to Fox "So, when we sent the data to command, they decided to slip one of us into the Remnants, to not only try and ruin this master fail-safe plan, but to also keep better tabs on them. They chose Fara since she had helped trained us and was our unofficial leader"

Fay paused for a moment. "I just want you to know right now Fox, that Fara wanted to tell your right then. I mean everything, the black ops, the mission to send her undercover under the guise of death. The only reason she didn't was because the brass threatened to throw you in jail, then send in Miyu or me in her place. I think that was the only time that Fara actually wanted to disobey orders. Guilt was the only reason she went on the mission, or rather fear of guilt. She thought we couldn't handle it, and we did nothing to rid her of her fears. So she went to avoid the fear of the guilt that might consume her is she let two of her friends go to their death, rather then try to save them by stopping these guys herself."

Fox said nothing, just watched, so Fay cleared her throat and started again. "So the shuttle, you see, Fara never really got on that shuttle. Or rather she did, but she actually just used it to get her into the atmosphere. She was inside a small blast capsule that would deliver her to the next planet she was to call home. From there she was going to try and infiltrate the Remnants."

Falco called out from his laid back position on the recliner "Hey, so if all this was faked, was the report about the bandits faked too? Because I was really annoyed at those guys for what they did to Fox."

Fay glanced back at Falco "Actually, the bandits were sorta planned, we spread rumors that an easy target would be passing over Macbeth. Easy loot, tech, you name it. We had no idea if they would show up, we just kinda hoped." She turned back to Fox "What we didn't plan on, was you finding out about that attack and rushing to help. Command practically had to threaten Fara to continue on the mission and to not contact you in anyway once she found out you had come to try and save her." Fay paused again "She couldn't call out to you, but she could hear everything you were saying, even after she had 'died'."

Fox's face hardened just slightly "The body?"

Fay sighed "We arranged for a another fennec to be on the shuttle, somebody who looked a lot like Fara. During the trip, she was given a copy of Fara's flight suit, just for the purpose of identifying so that we could claim her legally dead."

Fox raised a hand, stopping Fay again "Do I need to go find anybody related to this person and tell them that the government lied to them?"

Fay shook her head rapidly, causing the bow in her hair to flop around "No! They were informed that their daughter had helped saved the lives of countless passengers by sacrificing herself. We told them that the body was destroyed and that ashes were all that remained."

Fox sighed and waved at Fay to continue "Well, I don't know any details about Fara's mission, but considering that Lylat never collapsed in on itself like we saw in the data, I can guess that she stopped it somehow. How Miyu and I came to be 'dead' was a entirely different thing." Fay glanced around the team. "I just want to say now, that I'm sorry for that, if Fara hadn't personally requested our help, I never would have done that."

Fox spoke up "She requested your help?"

Fay nodded focusing on him again "Yes, you see, four years ago, Fara made contact with her handler. Saying things were starting to get over her head, and out of control, she suspected that the Remnants knew about her. So she wanted some back up, but not just anybody, she wanted Miyu and myself. To do so, of course we had to get 'dead' as well. Miyu and I were up for it, it was a chance to see Fara again after so many years, and if we could help her end her mission that much faster, she could come back to you." Fay glanced at Krystal "Although I'm not sure about that now."

Fox glanced at Krystal as well, then turned back to Fay. "Continue."

"Well, since the only fame that Miyu and myself had was flying with you guys for a year or so. We didn't need such a flashy 'exit'. Instead we just bordered a cruiser bound for Macbeth and set a self destruct on it. We left on a small shuttle and went about disguising ourselves and landed on Macbeth to meet up with Fara. Once the shuttle exploded, we sent a tight beam message to Pepper to pass on the news, and start running the new report about how we had died during a military raid on Fortuna."

Fay sat up a little straighter on the stool "After we landed on Macbeth with our new names and looks." Fay paused and looked back at Falco who was dressed in blue jeans with a black shirt. "By the way, after having to be a black collie for a good four years, I really don't like the color."

Falco waved his hand in the air dismissively "Deal with it sister."

Fay smiled then turned back to Fox. "I can't go into much detail about the mission, because one it would take to long, and two, as a just in case. But we met up with Fara, exchanged stories for a bit then she took us to where the Remnants had set up base. We were to be brought in as trainees in the group and do what ever needed to be done to continue up the ranks." Fay paused and shuddered "I did some really dark things guys, if I ever get the clearance to tell you about any of it, I hope you'll still want to be my friends. Things were going great, or rather as great as they could go up until about half a year ago. Rumors started to circulate that their was a Cornerian Spy inside the group, sending out secrets one by one. The whole operation was to be moved to a different planet, but nobody knew which one. Fara was concerned that she was the suspect one, but was also worried about the two of us. When the leaders announced that they knew who the Spy was, Fara turned to us and told us to keep our cover, no matter what."

Fox held up his paw again. "Before you continue, do you know who the leaders are?"

Fay shook her head sadly "No, they only communicate by voice transmission, I don't think anybody at the base knew who was really pulling the strings. I still have no clue. Anyway, they gathered all of us at the Macbeth base into a auditorium one day and told us that they were going to demolish the base with everybody in it to kill the spy and stop her corruption from spreading to other cells. Fara made a big show of drawing her blaster and shooting the screen, then jumping on the stage and trying to take out the guards keeping people from the exit." Fay paused "She put up a hell of fight, but was eventually subdued, and taken away. Miyu and I kept our cover, I was moved to the Fortuna cell a few months later, but I think Miyu just escaped while she could to try and find Fara. She left me a note on how to contact her if I ever got out. Anyway, I was considering doing just that when we were told to get ready to fight Star Fox." she glanced around at them "I figured it was a sign and broke my cover to help Falco and Slippy. I hoped that after I reveled myself, I could enlist you guys to help me."

Fay paused and looked around "I think that's everything you need to know."

Fox nodded "Okay, I'm willing to take you at face value. Krystal backed up everything you said as truth. But you could have just as easily convinced yourself of that and Krystal would still sense it as truth." Fox glanced behind him at Krystal "Sorry to throw doubt on you." He said in response to her arched eyebrow. He turned back to Fay. "So, here is what I'm proposing: For now, we'll go with you to this meet up area. If and only if Miyu is there, and can back up your story, will I look into letting you hire us."

Fay raised an eyebrow "Hire you?"

Fox nodded "I take care of my family, that means that I treat everything like a job." Fox stood up, Krystal and Slippy copying him. "Second, I promised Falco our next job would be at full price."

Falco lifted a feathered hand with one finger lifted in the direction of Fox. "Sure, turn me into the bad guy." Krystal giggled softly behind Fox, while Slippy shook his head slowly.

Fay sighed heavily "Fine, we'll figure out something as payment."

Fox nodded "Don't sound so down, we won't discuss pay until after we rescue Fara. I may just end up waving our costs."

Fay looked up at him while Falco sat up in his chair and glared at him. "Aw dammit, I knew it was too good to be true."

Krystal giggled again and Fox nodded at Fay. "Until then, I suggest you get some sleep, this new ship actually has room for more then four pilots at a time. I'll have ROB meet you here in a few to show you to a spare room." Fox turned to leave then stopped and turned back towards Fay with his hand out. "I want to see this note that Miyu left." Fay paused for a moment staring at his hand before sighing once more and reaching underneath her flight vest and handing him the piece of paper there.

Fox nodded his thanks "I'll see you in the morning Fay. I'll have Rob head us to..." he trailed off and glanced at the paper "Macbeth. I assume you understand the rest of the symbols here?"

Fay nodded "I can take over when we get there."

Fox said nothing just turned towards the door. "I think I'll actually have Falco show you the spare room."

Falco's insult was lost to the two foxes as the door slid shut behind them. Fox and Krystal turned to the left and headed for the elevator that would take them to the bridge. As they walked Fox closed his mind off and let his thoughts turn to his past. He stayed this way during the entire trip to the bridge. He only emerged from his meditative mood to tell ROB to put them on a course to Macbeth and to keep an eye on Fay.

Rob had replied with an affirmative and that their ETA was eighteen hours. Krystal had followed the silent Fox off of the bridge with an amused expression on her face. While her powers were still increasing every dat, she found it difficult to pierce the storm of thought that blasted around his head. She was able to sense that the thoughts were centered on Fara, and since he had already admitted that he had loved her. It made Krystal...curious.

Fox eventually made it to their shared room and they went about getting ready to sleep. For once Krystal was the first to doze off, and the last peg she had on Fox's mind before she slipped into sleep was that storm of thought still raging.

So when she awoke a few hours later and Fox was no longer in the bed beside her, she sat up looking around for him. She felt out with her mind and felt him in the living room area that was adjacent to their bedroom. Sensing that the same stormy thoughts still dominated his mind, Krystal got out of bed and wrapped a robe around herself before heading to the door.

She knuckled the release switch and the door slid open into the pitch black room. Krystal waited for a moment for her eyes to adjust before she saw Fox sitting on a love seat. He was dressed only in shorts and his muscled form called out for her. She walked over and realized that his head was held in his palms and that his eyes were moist. Krystal sat down next to him and leaned her head on his shoulder, just waiting.

After a few moments of waiting, Krystal probed his mind gently and realized what had woken him up with tears.

She lifted her head from his shoulder and instead draped an arm across of them. She put her muzzle next to his ear and whispered. "I caught a part of that love, please...let me help. Calm your mind and let me in."

Fox said nothing for a moment, but after a few seconds he nodded and Krystal stood up to move in front of him, she leaned down and put her forehead against his. She closed her eyes and concentrated.

When she opened her eyes she found herself floating in space, she glanced around and realized that she was in the Meteo area. Large chunks of rock tumbled past her floating form and Krystal was curios as to why Fox was thinking so hard on this area.

She turned around to see a giant red shuttle heading towards her. She watched it as it got close, moving to the side to let it pass her. Krystal watched the side and realized that the shuttle was a Phoenix Corp Transport shuttle. As it brushed by Krystal realized that its engines were damaged and a few of them were belching fire from damage to the core. Behind the transporter a fight was being waged between two Arwings and numerous bandits.

The raiders were using the old Venom Flea fighters that Andross had left abandoned in various bases and there were quite a few of them. The easily outnumbered the two sole craft by 200 to 1. Krystal watched amazed as the two pilots repeatedly pulled off amazing stunts to avoid fire, while swiftly cutting through the ranks of the fighters.

After fifty minutes of intense battle in which the Arwings picked off a good sixty percent of the enemy fighters a voice rang out through space.

"That's it, no haul is worth this. Why the hell is McCloud here anyway?"

Falco's cocky voice echoed around Krystal next "Ha, damn right, you back off, you don't want to mess with Star Fox man. Just leave that shuttle alone and we'll be chill."

That same dark voice that Krystal guessed belonged to an ape echoed out again. "Ha, I said it wasn't worth it, I never said I was leaving. I have no idea what the hell is on there that you two are fighting so hard for, but kiss it good bye."

Without warning a large red beamed erupted from deep in the Meteo belt, striking the now still carrier right through the aft section, skewering its plasma core. Before the captain could even think of dumping the core, the energy feedback caused the large device to explode. The massive shock wave blasting out from the huge fireball that only existed in space for a few seconds before dieing out, leaving pieces of the shuttle to drift off and every single direction.

Krystal closed her eyes and put her hand to her head as a sudden pain shot through her frontal lobe. A wailing voice full of grief and anger echoed around and in her, down to the very core of her being, almost deafening her in its power.

"FARA!" Fox's voice echoed, surrounding her in its sudden shocking pain

The shout echoed and rebounded with in Krystal until she thought she would burst, and the serene area of space around her shattered as one of the Arwings broke off from the bandits and blasted at a reckless speed into the Meteo belt, following where the red beam had come from.

Krystal suddenly had Gravity pulling her towards the ground and she found herself standing on the bridge of a ruined cruiser. Out through the view port, a massive cannon could be seen with pieces drifting off of it and sparks still leaping from piece to piece. Her ears twitched as she heard the sound of fists repeatedly impacting on flesh behind her. She turned and covered her mouth with a silent gasp.

Fox was straddling an ape, who's arms lay limply at his side, his will to fight gone as the vulpine who straddled his chest continued to pound away at his face. Suddenly Falco came rushing in from the side.

"Fox, buddy, he's done, he can't fight back, get off him man." Falco put an arm on Fox's shoulder and was slugged across the beak for his trouble. Fox snarled at his friend then turned back to the ape beneath him. His fists continued their deadly dance across his skull.

"Why? Why? Why?" He shouted over and over into the face of the ape.

Falco got back up from where his sudden blow had put him and walked up behind Fox, wrapping an arm around his friends neck and dragging him away from the limp form. When his fists no longer found purchase on the apes bloody face Fox started kicking, his feet flying out to strike the primate in the ribs as many times as possible.

When he could no longer touch the ape at all he started struggling against Falco "Let me go, he needs to pay, he killed Fara, and for WHAT?"

Falco tightened his choke hold just a bit, actually starting to cut the air off from his friend. "Fox, Dude, I'm the angry one remember, you need to cool it. Now."

Fox struggled roughly against Falco for several moments before his fight died out and he hung limply from his friends arms. After a little bit he spoke up in a soft voice. "I'm...done Falco...let me go."

Falco released his friend, but instead of standing up Fox fell to his knees and let the tears start to fall. Falco left him to it for a moment, looking awkward before he walked over and put a wing on his friends shoulder.

The view faded from Krystal's sight and she blinked, finding herself standing in a morgue. Empty exam tables surrounded her except for one that stood in front of her covered in a sheet, partially obscuring the from that laid underneath, she glanced to her left and realized that Fox was standing next to her, Falco slightly behind him, they were both dressed in their flight suits and Krystal guessed that from the blood that covered Fox's sleeves they had just landed after the scene she just witnessed.

A doctor walked into the room and approached the boys, standing on the other side of the table in front of Fox. He glanced at Fox "McCloud?" The badger asked, looking to confirm his guess. Fox nodded and the Badger looked down at the sheet. "You're so young, how old are you?"

"Sixteen." Fox mumbled under his breath.

The badger sighed "I should wait for the parents, but you claim that you can ID her so..." The Badger trailed off as he put a hand down on the sheet."Brace yourself boys."

The Badger slowly pulled the sheet off and Falco turned his head slightly, Fox's gaze was stuck to what remained of the body. Fox stared for a minute at the decimated figure laying on the table before him. It was hard to be sure since the body was missing its head, but the pieces of the flight suit that still clung to the flash burned skin confirmed his thoughts. Only Fara had worn that style of suit. He had kissed her goodbye as she had gotten on the shuttle just a few hours ago.

Fox nodded and gulped heavily, his gorge struggling to come out. In front of him was all the remained of his first love and he hated having to be the one to confirm it. The Badger saw his nod and covered the remains back up. The badger wrote something on a piece of paper and looked up at Fox. "I'm sorry son."

Fox said nothing and the scene faded from Krystal's sight again.

Falco opened his mouth to say something and Krystal blinked to find herself standing next to a grief stricken Fox dressed in a dark suit, watching as a casket was lowered slowly into the hole before them. Somber music played in the background and tears ran down Fox's face. Across the pit, two fennecs stood side by side, a male with a female curled into the males arms and tears running freely down her face, the males face was tear stained as well, but he couldn't tear his gaze away from the brown box as it touched down on the bottom. A dull thump echoed out of the pit and light faded from Krystal's eyes

When light returned to her senses she saw Fox sitting in a bar, nursing a bottle of beer, there were several empty bottles next to him and even a few on the floor. Falco was sitting next to him, watching his buddy drink.

After a minute of staring Fox spoke up. "I killed her Falco, I couldn't let her go on her own. If I had just stayed clear they would have made off with some cash and Fara would safely be with parents right now." Fox lifted his half full bottle to his lips and pulled until the glass bottle was empty. He put the bottle down heavily on the counter and waved for another one. The Bartender glanced at Falco who shook his head slightly. He turned to his friend.

"Fox, you don't know that, you couldn't have had any idea that those bandits had a cruiser ship hidden in the belt."

Fox turned blood shot eyes to his friend "Yea, but if I hadn't shown up and attacked them they wouldn't have needed to fire that stupid thing in the first place." He turned away from his friend, waving his hand for another beer, when it didn't come he turned back to Falco. "Don't you get it Falco, I heard one little rumor that bandits were planning on attacking that shuttle and I leaped in without thinking. Because of that I caused her death, those bandits didn't kill Fara Phoenix, I did, it was all me. I don't deserve to be called a McCloud, and I sure as hell don't deserve to lead Star Fox." Fox turned away once more. Krystal realized that some time had passed and Fox had been doing this for almost a year now. Falco tagging along to make sure his friend didn't do something stupid and get himself killed.

Krystal found herself drifting towards the memory version of Fox, reaching out to put a hand on his shoulder. He of course didn't react, and Krystal wished there was something she could do to help him. Fox suddenly turned to Krystal and buried his head in her chest, startling the vixen who blinked.

As she cleared her eyes of tears with rapid blinks, Krystal found herself back in the darkened living area on the Great Fox. She was kneeling on the ground in front of the love seat while Fox left his face buried in his chest, having fallen off his perch to his knees. Hot tears streaming down into his fur while Krystal held him.

"Krystal, I-I thought that I had lo-lost her. That I had fai-failed to protect her. It felt like everything was my fault and-"

Krystal shushed him before whispering into his ear "Fox, you are an amazing creature with a huge capacity for love and emotions. But you bottle everything up when its negative and let it fester inside of you until its ready to erupt. It's not healthy..please...let me heal you..."

Fox sniffed "How could you help me..."

Krystal laughed softly "Well, since you asked." Krystal closed her eyes again and this time she opened her mind, enveloping Fox's inside hers.

Fox gasped softly as first, sure Krystal had mind spoken to him before...but this...this was on a whole new level. He could...sense...everything about her, her hopes, her fears, her secrets, her feelings, everything. It was all out for him to touch with his mind.

Fox blinked and instead of seeing Krystal's chest while she held him in the darkness, he was suddenly staring at himself holding out a staff towards his blue...no...her...blue furred grip. He blinked again and and suddenly he found himself standing on the lip of the hole that Krystal was dangling from. Her thoughts swimming about him.

The Vulpine pulled her up and Krystal's eye locked with his as she hung from the lip. Attractive...was the word that came to her mind as the statute head floated over them, shouting about his rebirth and to kneel before them.

"We will never kneel to you." she shouted, pointing at him. She turned her gaze back to the vulpine that had saved her. Realizing that he had her staff across his back She reached forward and grabbed it.

"Give me that!" She called out as she yanked it from his bag. She ignored his voice as she felt her mind reconnect with the staff.

"My Staff!" Her mind quickly turned to Andross and Fox realized for the first time that Krystal had met Andross already. On her home world. Krystal opened her eyes and turned her gaze to the statue above her. "You're back!" she quickly activated the fire blaster option and sent the burning plasma into the skies after Andross as he opened a warp gate and retreated through it. She was dimly aware of the Vulpine running off and hopping into his Arwing. Krystal fired a few more plasmic blasts into the gate as the Vulpine flew into it and Krystal blinked, lowering the staff slowly.

She then glanced around her, her gaze was directed to the heavens again though as green flashes made themselves known to her eyes. She focused on them and realized she could just barely make out the face of Andross's Statue Ship, and there...that little dot spewing lasers at it. That must have been. Krystal glanced down at her staff and focused her thoughts on it, reading the telepathic connection that the staff had formed.

Fox...McCloud...

Krystal turned her gaze back to the heavens. 'Fitting.' she thought as she watched the battle rage high above her. Eventually another ship like Fox's flew by and Krystal shielded her eyes as a giant explosion lit up the night sky. This repeated a few more times before the ship that was half Andross half stone just, exploded. Its light forcing Krystal to cover her eyes and duck her head from the heat that somehow made it down to her.

When the light faded Krystal turned her gaze to the starts once more, watching the ship make for the giant dreadnaught in orbit. She was dimly aware of the fact that Sauria was being combined into its whole again, as the Krozoa spirits helped channel the energy back into the ground. Krystal blinked as she realized that this meant she could access her shuttle. Thinking quickly she made a critical choice, running off towards to where the Warp Stone could summon her back. Passing by the many celebrating Sharpclaw. The knowledge of the stones location implanted from Fox's many memories of passing through. She reached the area where she had left the ship, hidden in the trees a distance away from Thorntail Hollow.

Relief spread through her as she found that the ship was in one piece. She quickly opened the hatch and sat down at the controls, hoping that she still had time. She lifted off the surface and set her scanners to look for the dreadnaught. Fox watched all this with interest, still floating behind her. He felt her disappointment as her scanner failed to locate the dreadnaught.

It lifted a moment later when she detected another fighter, a twin to the one that Fox had flown. Krystal quickly set about following it, and was soon rewarded with her limited scanner detecting the dreadnaught. It quickly pinged her ship and the two computers traded information. The words' Great Fox' flashing up next to the dreadnaughts sensor icon. She flew towards it, a small smile playing about her muzzle.

Krystal quickly tapped out a communications request, reading a message to send ahead to the Great Fox. She brought her ship around towards the read docking bay, and quickly opened the canopy to hop out and head for the corridor that led towards the bridge. She eventually reached a small elevator and stepped in, tapping the the button for the bridge. As the elevator slid to a stop she could hear her message being played. She looked down at the floor as a grin crept across her muzzle. It was too perfect.

As the doors slid open, she spoke up. "And that's to say thank you." Krystal smiled at him as she walked forward, easily telling how flustered he was. Behind him the toad laughed, asking Fox if he was shy. The Robot standing near the back reported the Fox's temperature was rising while the falcon who stood next to him elbowed the vulpine.

Fox and Krystal shared a look and Fox blinked, suddenly finding himself back on Sauria. This time in a ruined temple on the surface. Outside he could hear the sounds of battle, he turned around as an explosion ripped through an archway behind him. Krystal tumbling out of the inferno with a shield barrier activated around her. It deflected the rounds from the Aparoids that were firing on her and she returned it in kind with her own blaster, quickly destroying the hatcher and all of the Aparoids in the temple.

Krystal shouldered the blaster as Fox watched himself run into the temple. Krystal turned her head lazily to look at him. "I'm fine Fox." she said, with Fox looking around at the destruction she had caused. He nodded approvingly before Falco reported that there were more reinforcements. "I'll take care of the land, go help Falco and Slippy." Fox nodded again and ran out of the temple towards his Arwing. Krystal watched him with a smile on her face and...

Fox himself blushed as he realized what Krystal had been thinking of at the time.

He blinked again and this time he found Krystal surrounded by Aparoids on their home world. For once wondering how she could get out of this with only an emergency charge in her blaster. As one of the bigger ones began charging its missiles, a lance of green energy slammed into the side of it. The Aparoid turned its head as Fox roared over the side of the area she was in. He landed the Land Master next to her and she hopped up on the side as he brought the barrel around, quickly destroying every Aparoid.

Krystal patted the hull of the Land Master as she slid off of it. "Thanks for the help Fox." She pointed towards the hill he had come from. "Now go finish destroying those generators." The Land Master turned around and boosted up the hill. Krystal watching him go with a smile.

Fox blinked again and suddenly he was standing next to a table. To his right sat Krystal, dressed in a blue gown that hung down over one shoulder with a strap running across the other. She was wearing her tiara and had her hair hanging loose with only a few strands being separated by her white beats. Her tail was bare as well and was waving gently back and forth as she leaned forward and put a hand out to grabs Fox's

She rubbed her thumb over the back of his palm. "Don't be so nervous." She said softly to the flustered vulpine sitting across from her.

Fox was wearing a black tux, complete with tie and had brought Krystal to one of the most expensive restaurants on Corneria. It was their first date, only taking place a few months ago and it had taken Fox so long to work up the nerve to ask her.

Fox had to admit it was confusing to watch himself as he stumbled over conversation. He gasped as he felt a presence on his shoulder and turned to see another Krystal standing behind him. He glanced back at the two sitting at the table and then back at her. Realizing that she was projecting her thoughts to him. Her voice echoed through and around him.

"You see Fox, you have plenty of good memories. I'm sure you have some of Fara as well. You should focus on those."

Fox got nervous as he realized that she wanted him to think back on their dates and...everything else. His nervousness was apparent and he wanted to try and figure out a way to tell her he didn't want to. The restaurant around them faded to black and Krystal walked up next to him.

She laughed softly as she threaded her arm through his. "Fox, our minds are linked, I can understand you. I realize that you don't want to go back to those memories. I understand why as well, you don't want me to be jealous of anything." She stared into his eyes. "Fox I love you, and nothing is going to change that. But if you don't let go of these bad memories that you have with Fara. You'll let it corrupt you and I'm afraid you'll push me away." Krystal glanced away from him. "Worse yet, I fear that you'll push everyone else away as well." She glanced back at him. "Please, I can sense you hiding them, even now, let me in, share that with him. Replace these bad memories with good ones, for your own good. But also for mine, I don't want to lose you."

Fox glanced away from her pleading eyes. He thought hard for a moment before he realized that he was doing exactly what she feared. Pushing her out. He turned back and nodded. Behind them a light shone and Fox saw his memories blast by in fast forward.

His and Fara's first meeting, his feelings, his nervousness again with the first date. Fox had gradually loosened up and they went on quite a few dates. Fara even flew with Star Fox for a short period of time. As the memories continued to flash past, Fox felt the dread that had settled in his heart earlier start to lift. He turned to Krystal who was standing next to him and pulled her into a kiss. His eyes drifted close as his lips met hers.

When Fox opened his eyes he was back in his living area and sitting in the seat with Krystal. They pulled away from each other and Krystal smiled at him. Fox blinked and rubbed the back of his neck. "That, was pretty intense, what was it?"

Krystal laughed softly "It's a mind link." She glanced down "It can be kinda rough the first time."

Fox nodded slowly "Yea."

Krystal probed his mind gently "I can still sense something there. Do you mind if we do it again?"

Fox shook his head and this time he didn't gasp when Krystal merged her mind with his. The couple spent the next hour, going through each others memories. Fox felt his own restrictions resolve and he freely shared everything with Krystal. Her pure heart merged with his and banished the last of the dread that claimed him. Fox finally sighed and pulled away from her, he cupped her muzzle gently and turned her face to his. "I love you, you know that?"

Krystal laughed softly again "I could piece that together."

Fox paused "Krystal, will you marry me?"

Krystal smiled and laughed again. "You already asked me that."

Fox grinned at her "I know, but I never heard your answer." Fox stood up and walked over to a dresser, taking a box from up top. He walked back over to her and guided her over to the love seat. He got down on one knee in front of her and opened the box. "Plus, asking while I slipped into a coma just isn't romantic." he paused and inhaled "Please, Krystal will you marry me?" He asked again presenting the ring inside the box to the vixen.

Krystal smiled and leaned forward planting a kiss on his forehead. "Of course." She answered, holding out a hand so Fox could slid the ring over her finger. As Fox's fingers released the ring onto its new home he grasped her hand tightly and pulled her down into a deep kiss. When they broke apart, both of them were breathing faster and their cheeks were burning with heat. "I don't know what I would do without you." He said softly.

Krystal smiled and cupped his muzzle in her paw "You would shake this system to its core with your team. You would wipe out any and all evil that showed its head." She kissed him again "Come on." She said standing up. "We still need some sleep. I have a feeling that Macbeth won't be easy when we get there, plus I sensed that Fay has more to talk about."

Fox stood up and smiled at her "Yea, and when has that ever stopped us?" he said holding out a hand which she took. "Never." She replied, leading him back towards the bedroom.

I hope I didn't lose anybody in the 'mindlink' areas. If you did get lost, let me know and I'll rework the chapter to make it clearer. [I'm really tired right now, so somethings don't always pop out at me] and just so some people know, yes Fox doesn't really snap and lose his temper like that in the games. But I had his loss of control actually be the crystal event that helps him focus his emotions and bottle them up so that he can be a better pilot. Focus on the fight and all that what not. Basically, make him the Fox we all know.

Okay so I also need to give out a few plugs to other people. First to Pen Vs the Sword. They helped inspire me to actually write this fic. The next to Kit for the same reason. But the last and biggest one goes to Times Quill. This guy has been going through my story and noting every little mistake for me to fix. That is some damn dedication right there. So thanks to all of you and see you in the next chapter. Macbeth and Danger. [I'm still working on the chapter name, hush up with the laughing now : P]