Chapter 7-Hawke's Paradigm Is Born Anew

A/N I also posted Chapter 6 today. Go back and make sure you didn't miss anything. Cheers!

Hawke started the search for where to put his dishes, and he knew he should have asked as soon as he left the kitchen. He was hopelessly lost through the mansion, not knowing how he could even get this lost looking for one thing. It was then someone expressed his thoughts for him.

"Sir, I think you're really, really lost," a young voice giggled. Not as young as Ana, but still not mature. Hawke whirled around to see a young woman, 5'6, with brown hair and a pink coat looking at him with an amused smile.

"So it seems."

"You're looking for..."

"Where I put these dishes."

The girl laughed and suggested "I'm going to assume that a bedroom is the last place to do so in. Not even Kirby does that."

Hawke nervously chuckled as the girl gave him a short, scoping look and said "You're that guest Ana brought, right?"

Hawke nodded, preparing to go through that routine again with annoyance.

"Oh! Cool, Ana told me a little bit about you. I'm Natalia, but you can call me Nana." Nana gave Hawke her best grin and shook his hand without waiting for him.

"Nice to meet you, Nana," Hawke hesitantly greeted her. "I'm Hawke."

"Hawke. That sounds like a cool name."

"Don't I recognize you from somewhere?" he asked.

"Oh! Yeah, I work with Popo as part of the Ice Climbers duo. We're one of the top smashers here, if you'll pardon my bragging."

"No, by all means. Glad to hear you're doing well."

"Not as well as Meta," she replied with a hint of admiration. "You're doing a good job, whatever it is. I'm gonna have to see about working with you, Popo and I. Our coach is a bit of a King Saul, if you ask me."

"A King Saul?"

"Oh? He's halfhearted at what he does. Pardon me, I have my own idioms for things." Wistfully, she added "My mind, similar to myself, is quite the wanderer. Anyway," Nana took his plates, "I'll take these and you go ahead and talk with the others."

"You don't have to-"

"Nah, I insist! It's what I'd do at home. You enjoy yourself, Hawke!"

As she sped down the hallway, he called "You... too... Nana." That talk felt surreal, but he sort of enjoyed it. Interesting young girl.

Hawke was deep in thought as he made his way to the balcony. He didn't mean to be standoffish as he walked, unresponsive, through the mansion up to the balcony. There were just things that he needed to mull over. And someone he needed to talk to. Someone that'd understand. He wasn't counting on running into him, but he could hope.

Quietly, he opened the large glass door to said balcony and looked around, glad to see it was much bigger than he thought it'd be. While it wasn't laced in marble with statues of gods around the area, it was nice and relaxing. The balcony was mainly half of the roof of the house, lower than the other half. It had an assortment of lawnchairs and tables, and a stored-away canopy attached to the inside of the patio. It was almost entirely empty, but Hawke noticed the man he was looking for sitting on one of the chairs at the far end. The stars had just come out, and he was gazing with a grin.

The vulpine looked up and waved at Hawke "Good evening!" Fox shouted across the deck. "Care to take in the view?"

Hawke nodded and took a seat in another nearby lawn chair, reclining uncomfortably as he was not much of one to relax.

"Brilliant view, eh, Hawke?" Fox said with a smile.

"Not as much in comparison to you, seeing as you've been there up close." was Hawke's reply.

"I prefer it much better from down here, actually," Fox's mouth turned down a bit but not drastically so. "Up there, up close, I'm usually killing other people and shooting down spacecraft. Down here, though, I can just relax and enjoy it. Down here I see something completely different from up there. Less fire, and danger, and war. Much better."

Hawke had to smile at his reasoning. Fox was a true soldier. "You have a fair point there."

"Indeed, I believe I do. If nothing else it makes sense to me."

Silence filled the night sky for a few more seconds before Fox asked "So, what was army life like for you?"

Damn.

"It was average, I suppose. Can't say I drew a lot out of it," Hawke lamely mumbled.

Fox laughed and absentmindedly scratched at his ear for a second. "Pardon my french, but that's a crock of bullshit. No one ever goes through war and not take anything away from it, unless you're thousands of miles away and not experiencing it in the least, and though you are a commander I doubt you are that inexperienced in the field. So, tell a fellow captain straight, what was war to you?"

The straightforwardness of Fox's reply caught Hawke off guard. "I'm not exactly a noble commander," he admitted.

"You don't go to war out of nobility," Fox replied casually. "You go there because you must defend those you care about. It's the difference between hunting to feed your family and hunting for a new trophy over your fireplace, and the latter is what going for nobility and pomp is."

"I beg to differ," Hawke responded with a sigh. "Though I wasn't there for nobility I could probably fill in the latter. I was on the darker side of the war for this one."

"Darker?" Fox's ears perked up but he betrayed no emotion.

"Literally. Second-in-command of the forces of the Black Hole army."

Fox nodded. "I'll make you a deal. You go on, be entirely honest, and I won't judge you."

"Truly?" Hawke was surprised.

"I swear on my dog tags," Fox replied. "Dog tags which look very ironic on someone with a stature such as myself."

Hawke smiled again, a wan grin this time. "Sounds like a fair deal. I swear on..." he couldn't think of what to swear on; he had no army mementos.

"No need to swear, Hawke. I trust you."

Hawke raised an eyebrow, thinking about how he could write a book on his misconception of the entire population of the mortal. "Thank you, Fox. Anyway, it started back quite a ways. The Black Hole was simply a war nation, born out a large group of seedy sorts who simply wanted to take as much land as they could get. The promise of power had its allure, and so I joined at twenty years old. Eleven years ago. A lifetime ago.

"Our leader was Sturm, a mysterious being. No one knew who or what he was- he wore a head-to-toe cloak and a strange, robotic mask which, in retrospect, looked quite amusing. He was deadly, impersonal, uncaring, single-minded, and determined, qualities he enforced and engrained on all of us." Hawke sighed at that line. Sturm had made him, brainwashed him, into who he was, and he was barely breaking out of it. "Natural killing machines.

"The nations we targeted were the nations of Orange Star, Blue Moon, Green Earth and Yellow Comet. They were four states of a formerly united continent of Cosmo Land and were still on tense terms. Sturm played upon that and sent them after each other through smoke and mirrors as he started to capture their land. It was then I was doing grunt work, but I was starting to rise through the ranks, because I could kill people easily and make decisions thinking strictly on strategic levels. Impersonal, calculating, determined. Just like Sturm.

"We lost that war, but Sturm was determined anyways. He elected four new commanders to serve under him- a strong, simple man named Flak, a vain, deceitful snake aptly named Adder, and..." Hawke noticed that dull thud, that echoing he seemed to get when he thought this far, of this person. He'd never understand it.

"Go on," Fox urged him.

"Oh, yes. An energetic, childlike young woman known as Lash, and myself, who had been chosen to be Sturm's right hand man. With the power of the armies was the large responsibility, and the punishment were we to fail. We did. In an effort to save my own life, I escaped the armies looking for me and ambushed Sturm, killing him before he could destroy all four nations, and escaped with our armies.

"Another commander took the place of Sturm unawares to everyone else, with commanders of his own to replace Adder and Flak for their exempt incompetence in the previous war. His name was Von Bolt. We accepted it, though, as he seemed to have a good amount of skill. I've never thought it good to act out or make a scene so I did nothing about it, and we launched an attack on the four nations' newly claimed territory in Omega Land.

"I started to notice that the more we attacked, the more deserted the land became. It turned swiftly from green and pleasant to gray and sandy. I did not understand why this was happening, and I was under the theory that surely winning the land was not worth it if it was worthless. So I began to investigate Von Bolt, whom people knew less about than they did Sturm.

"Von Bolt was a commanding officer of one hundred and fifty years of age who seeked immortality, and was sucking the life out of the land for his own personal use under the guise of a war. He had, through a process I didn't understand, converted the life of the land into energy for himself. Upon my discovery, he threatened to kill myself... and Lash, the only two remaining commanders not directly aligned with Von Bolt. Lash... was the closest thing I had to an ally, so to kill her would to seal the secret within closed doors.

"We escaped and defected reluctantly to the other four nations, who had aligned to stop Von Bolt, and told them everything we knew about them, and they hesitantly accepted us into their group.

"Eventually, we tracked down and defeated Von Bolt, and I shot him before he could destroy us. However, the building we were in started to collapse, and I decided that I was going to depart... the others. To pay for what I had done. I took Von Bolt's chair, the source and container of his power, and escaped, and started to secretly restore life to Omega Land. Then... I had nowhere to go, no place to start, so I came here, to a completely different scene, a different start."

Hawke sighed his conclusion, memories exhausting him. "That's everything."

Fox smiled. "Wow, that's quite a tale. Redemption, change, heroics, villainy. That's a regular blockbuster right there."

Hawke grunted his response.

"I suppose not."

"I'm not exactly that glorious about what I had done."

"Well, Hawke, it's simple. It's not what you did then, it's what you're doing now."

Hawke nodded. "Right now... I'm coaching two fighters in a galaxy wide fighting league. One of them's winning, and the other's in last. I live in a small cabin outside of town. It's barely decorated or personalized, just like its owner. I don't do much at all other than work. Just work, read, sleep, drink coffee, often in that order."

"So what's changing for you?"

"Huh?"

"You're here, for dinner, with the fighters." Fox explained, lazily emphasizing with his paw in the air. "You're not a social person, but you come in with a bright young kid as your company. You're talking to one of the most mistreated, frowned upon members of our league, and truly talking, not just discussing the weather. And now you're seeking advice on life from a fellow commander of war. I'm betting that something changed."

Hawke closed his eyes and tried to pinpoint where exactly things changed. It wasn't at dinner, hearing Ana and Wario talking about their adventures. It wasn't when he saw Ana coloring, speaking words of wisdom she didn't know were so wise. It wasn't when Ana made him think of Lash as she recounted her adventures and the ones she wished she'd gone on. It wasn't when Ana first told him that the flowers forgave him for his transgressions. It wasn't when she had picked the flower in an unaware attempt to get him to cheer up. It was-

"Ana."

"And so it is," Fox grinned. "I always thought kids were much more bright than they let on. They don't know hate, they don't know war, they don't know discrimination, at least not that well. That alone makes them okay in my book."

Hawke nodded. His next question was another peculiar choice, but one that had been plaguing his mind nonetheless.

"What is home like, to you?"

"Home? Ah, home," Fox replied with a dreamy, joyful lilt. "I'm not there that much, so I can't say much about my physical home, Corneria. It's nice, but I haven't been there as much to declare it my actual true home, honestly."

"So, where is your home?"

"Where? Home moves around a lot. Home is really wherever my crew is. In times of war or not, they're my friends, my family..." Fox's grin grew bigger as he added "and the girl I'm in love with. We've not really a concrete place we live, but we're together, most importantly- even when we're apart, as Falco and I are here, we still keep in touch enough to really call each other home."

Hawke contemplated his words, wondering what he had done so well for the answers to have found him all at once.

"Have you ever heard of Edward Sharpe, Hawke?" Fox asked him.

"No, actually."

"He created a song called Home, and the main line is 'Home is wherever I'm with you.' It's a catchy enough song on its own, but Edward Sharpe is the lead of a ten-person band that he does his music with. He sings that song with another woman the entire time and the other members of his band provide chorus vocals. Makes it much more authentic, and those are the guys I see my crew and my girl Krystal as- the song about home and of my life."

Hawke sat there, a smile creeping up his face. "Commander, that analogy makes things a lot clearer. I enjoyed talking with you."

"Same here, Hawke. Grunt to grunt, commander to commander," Fox shook his hand as the two left their chairs.

"You're a wise young man, you know that?" Hawke added.

Fox laughed, genuinely and loudly at that. "Ah! Trust me, Hawke. I may have leveled out on my time off, but I'm still a crazy, impulsive son of a laser gun and not about to change. That much."

"Well, make sure you don't." Hawke replied.

"You either, Hawke!" Hawke had to give a small grin at Fox's words.

"You have a nice evening," Hawke called on his way out.

"Oh? Haha, same to you, Hawke!" Fox called back as Hawke darted out the door.

Hawke smiled wider than he had in decades, if ever. Things were starting to fall into place now, and it seemed things were going to work out. Talking with Fox had been sort of a respite.

A necessary respite, as he could hear people shouting at each other through the living room, and Hawke recognized all the voices.

"What are you doing with my daughters?"

"I'm doing exactly what is necessary!"

"This is necessary? Goddamnit, you can't just call the police like that! The man is perfectly safe!"

Hawke quietly hid in the hallway, watching as Wario, Zelda, and Ganondorf, respectively were going at it in the living room, to the shock of the others who awkwardly kept their distance.

"You, Wario, are endangering your child by letting her frolic with this strange man! You don't know him!" Zelda yelled with force and determination.

"Oh, don't act like you give a damn!" Wario all but spat in disgust. "He's a perfectly fine man! I have a solid witness behind that as well!"

"You haven't even met him before today! How can you know!" Zelda countered.

"I've worked with him for weeks now!" Ganon stepped in.

"You're making a horrible case, Ganondorf!" Zelda jabbed a finger in his face. "You are the seediest, most dastardly pig I've ever encountered. If this man is any friend of you he deserves to be burnt alive!"

"I would appreciate it, princess, if when you are talking behind someone's back, you make sure first that they are not behind yours as you do so."

Hawke stepped in with no fanfare, the only one not yelling, which caused everyone else to lower their voices. Zelda looked slightly fazed but, determined, continued "He lets his six year old daughter run around with a thirty year old former commander, he takes her to fight sharks in a cove looking for treasure. Kat and Ana don't deserve a dangerous childhood like this, and that's why I'm reporting Wario for endangerment."

Hawke gave her the coldest glare he could muster. "Instead of a childhood doing what she does best, to fight danger, you're going to throw her into the cold, steely arms of a plethora of foster parents? An orphanage? Away from the man they love and who loves them?"

"You'd never understand, Hawke," she equaled his glare. "You're a cold, calculating, killer who has never felt a true emotion." Hawke raised an eyebrow, hiding his surprise at what she knew. Ganondorf volunteered an explanation knowingly. "She's sort of a psychic. It can come back to bite you in the ass sometimes."

Hawke nodded, and faced Zelda again. "I'm not the one trying to take a child from their father. No, excuse me, two children."

"You'd do well to leave out of affairs not your own, Hawke," she grabbed his shirt and scratched her nails gingerly, angrily, against his chest.

Hawke's eyes took up a vicious fire as he grasped her hand and took it off of his chest. "First off, never ever touch me if your intent is ill. Second, remove the peg from your eye before you start to point out mine. Ana is not your child, nor is Kat. You shouldn't care because you don't even like that fatass Wario, but maybe that's exactly why you do care."

Throwing her hand out of his grasp, he added "Third, I think you are a shallow, controlling woman who does not see through the outer walls of people to what they truly are because it does not suit you. Ana is not a dim, endangered six year old. She is a perceptive, creative and able girl who knows more about life than anyone else I've met. Wario is not a fat, disgusting, selfish old man. He is a caring, loving parent who sees to it that his children have the time of their lives. Ganondorf is not simply a power-hungry, evil wizard; he has a good spirit and is good with children, and shares a mantra with me that if you're going to have something like the world you may as well enjoy it."

Hawke continued on, for his own benfit as well. "And while I'm at it, Fox isn't just a quiet war pilot. He's a smart, levelheaded voice of reason who calls home those he cares about. Crazy Hand isn't just a jabbering, deficient psychopath. He's good-humored and wants to help others enjoy themselves. Nana's not just a simple, thoughtless teenager who cares nothing for the world. She's a confident, poised young woman willing to lend a hand. And Luigi's not just a jealous, quiet number two. He's a welcoming man who will help you despite not having met you. Have I listed all the figures who you have some sort of distaste for, or have I not even scratched the surface?

"Oh, yes, myself. I'm not a creepy, silent pedophile following Ana around. She came to me first and has taught me more than I knew a six year old could teach. I will admit that I am not the most cordial of people, but I'm not social. I'm starting to pick up on that now. If I worry you, then I'm sorry, but that doesn't mean any of this was necessary, or that you're right."

He stared at Zelda dead-on while finishing. "Fourth, I think you are a shallow, controlling woman who does not see through the outer walls of people to what they truly are because it does not suit you. That cannot honestly be what you are, though, so drop the pretenses, put down the phone and stop trying to ruin this man's life, this family's life in the deluded hopes that you're doing the right thing."

Zelda glared at him viciously for a full minute. Hawke would never admit it, but it was the scariest minute of his life. He almost considered praying, but decided against it. He just hoped Kat and Ana wouldn't be taken from Wario.

That Ana wouldn't be taken from him.

Finally, her gaze softened slightly as she sat down in defeat. "You're right this time, Hawke. Perhaps I've misjudged you."

"Seems to be the trend around here for the both of us," Hawke admitted.

Zelda sighed. "I suppose so. I'm used to being cautious, being the ruler of a kingdom and all. That's no excuse though. I... apologize to you and Wario."

"Hah, you forgot someone, princess!" Ganon sneered.

"Don't push your luck, Ganon."

Wario smiled a bit. "If you're willing to let bygones be bygones, I'll meet you there halfway!" He stuck his hand out. Zelda shook her head, and with a weary sigh, walked away from the living room towards her own room.

"She'll need to warm up a bit," Hawke explained from experience.

"But it's a start," Wario sighed, not losing his smile as he sat down.

Ganon sighed, looking up to the ceiling. "And here I was hoping she had some bad in her! Goddamnit, she's a boring little broad. She can't even keep it up for that long!"

Hawke chuckled darkly. "Gentlemen," he nodded as he started to walk out, "It looks like my time to go. I wish you the best."

"You too, Hawke!" Ganon called with a wave.

"Hey, Hawke!" when Wario spoke, Hawke stopped and waited. "I'm gonna talk to the Master, see about getting you in here more often! You're a cool guy!"

"Hah, thanks, Wario. I'll look forward to that." Hawke waved as he walked out the back door, to the trail that would go to the clearing and his car. He was tapped on the shoulder on his way out, and he looked over, surprised to see Ana standing on the picnic table, smiling.

"Thanks for coming to dinner, Hawke," she told him.

"The pleasure was mine," he replied. "There were some nice people here."

"Oh! I almost forgot!" she said, as she reached into her pocket and pulled out a tiny bag. "I got these for you yesterday!"

Hawke accepted the bag, asking "What is it, exactly?"

"It's flower seeds! I know you grew a buncha flowers, but I wanted you to have some you grew all by yourself without the magic chair."

Hawke smiled again. "How thoughtful of you, Ana."

"Thanks! They're Irises! My favorite!"

Hawke yawned, surprised at his sudden exhaustion. "Ana, why don't you play with the others that much?" he asked.

"Huh? Oh... I dunno," she sighed. "Everyone asks me that. I guess... well my sister's sorta bossy, so I usually do stuff for her when we play, and her friends don't talk to me that much, except for Nana."

Hawke had gotten a lot of advice that day. He figured it was time to give back.

"Ana, you're a smart, charismatic, and perceptive girl. You're a lot of fun with your stories of adventure with Wario. I admit I enjoyed that. You should try talking to the others. I'm not much of a fun person; if I can enjoy your stories like that, the kids will be in stitches. They'll like you. And as for Kat, she's your sister. Siblings have relationships like that. It happens. She still loves you like you do her."

Ana smiled, ever so slightly, and before Hawke knew it he was on the receiving end of a hug from her. "Thanks, Hawke. Have a good night!" she said into his ear as Hawke awkwardly wrapped an arm around her. He whispered "You too, Ana" before getting loose and walking down the path.

He knew the dinner was going to be a rollercoaster, but he was thinking along the lines of Crazy Hand starts a food fight and everyone destroys the mansion in a fraternity party. What he got was much better, much more defining.

But as he had hugged Ana, he knew something was missing. That was the first hug he had returned in his life.

Then it hit him as he figured it out.

It was the first he returned.

But it didn't have to be his last.

A/N WHEW!

Okay, everyone. Only the prologue left. Sorry I dropped 10,000 words on you all at once. And Souldin, sorry I dropped 30,000 or so on you altogether. We're nearing the home stretch. Whoowee!

So, yeah, not much more to say. The moral of the story is perhaps my mantra for writing fanfiction-don't go only skin/canon deep. And my god am I proud of this!

Big finishing letter tomorrow with the prologue!

MoD Out!

P.S. Foxpilot enjoy the big Fox part? XD I figured I had to, at least as tribute. :D