I do not own Star Fox or any of the characters.


Coming Home

Fox turned and stopped, staring into the yellow eyes before him. The thing's lips pulled back, revealing its pointed teeth just before Fox's blaster began to go off, forcing the thing back before it collapsed, smoking.

"Not this time you piece of shit," Fox growled.

A growl rang out behind him and he took off at a sprint, back through the tunnel, back toward the light of his ship. He began to fire into the shadow, extending his mind to sense the creatures as he ran, using his telepathy to pinpoint them. Each time a shot hit, there was a brief flash as the laser illuminated them, then they were swallowed by the darkness again. He wasn't sure exactly how many he actually killed, very few, if any, but it kept his path clear as he sprinted. Finally, he pressed the buttons to open his ship and sprinted faster. As he reached the ship, he turned, firing backward and dropping several dinosaurs. Then, he leapt onto one wing, then to the cockpit, closing the hatch just before a dinosaur landed on it, two stingers driving themselves through the glass. They retracted and Fox pressed the barrel to the hole, blasting it back off. More jumped on and Fox lifted off, shooting upward. One dinosaur's stingers tore gashes into his left wing, another tearing a single gash the length of the underside of his ship. Another dinosaur tore the entire right wing off. Fox swore as he flew upward, quickly leaving the base and making it into the air outside as the fuel warning began to flash. He swore. One of them had hit a fuel line. He punched the eject less than a second before the ship shuddered and fell, crashing down into a fireball. He yanked his ripcord, extending his seat's parachute and slowing himself before he landed in a massive field, unbuckling himself and standing, turning back to the base, barely a half mile away. The cover exploded skyward, a piercing screech ringing out. He drew his blaster, beginning to fire just as soon as the bugs began to leave the base. He fired quickly but carefully, every few shots dropping a bug. Then, dinosaurs began to join the bugs and Fox swore backing away rapidly, the dinosaurs closing in at a sprint. Suddenly, ships began to arrive, blasting the creatures rapidly, one landing in front of Fox.

"Get on!" a voice ordered.

Fox sprinted to the ship, activating his magnetic boots and stepping onto the wing, the ship taking off again, turning back to the sea of creatures and opening fire. Fox began to do the same, but soon, the dinosaurs began to get impatient, leaping at the ships, taking them out of the sky rapidly. The ships crashed into the sea of creatures, taking them out a dozen at a time, but it wasn't nearly fast enough.

"All ships fall back!" the voice of Fox's savior ordered. "Commander, ready the weapon."

"What are they?" Fox asked.

"Bioweapons created by Andrew Oikonny," the voice said over the external speaker. "We've been ordered to eliminate them."

"They're also on Haven," Fox said.

"Were on Haven," the voice corrected. "Haven was overrun and bleach protocols were enacted."

"They destroyed Haven?" Fox gaped.

"These things are dangerous," the voice said. "Both species is born pregnant. And their venom is very dangerous."

"I know," Fox said, holding his stomach. "I've felt it."

"Then you can understand why they were destroyed in the way they were," the voice said.

Suddenly, a dinosaur leapt at the ship. Fox blasted it out of the air and three more leapt at it. Fox felt the ship shift and grabbed the edge of it, the ship veering sideways as the dinosaurs passed, only for an insect's acid to splatter across the thrusters.

"Shit! We're going down! Jump!"

The pilot steered over beside a new ship and Fox leapt to the new ship just before the one he had left fell, exploding in the bioweapons, the pilot not escaping. He felt bad, but before he could feel much worse, the ship he was on was hit with acid. It turned, flying away from the bioweapons, which had stopped spreading mostly in order to fight the cloud of ships above them. As the ship pitched toward the ground, the hatch opened and Fox obediently stepped inside, sitting on the pilot's lap, strapping both in before they ejected. Once they were safely on the ground with bioweapons charging them, Fox scrambled free, reaching back and grabbing a staff, pulling it out to find the red one. It zapped him instantly and he dropped it. He grabbed his own just in time to slam the end of it into the side of the dinosaur's head, knocking it away. Then, a laser slammed into the dinosaur, exploding as more continued in a trail through the bioweapons, drawing them back the other way. Fox looked up, seeing Star Wolf flying overhead, all four ships firing a smart bomb into the bioweapons, clearing a section of them before one ship branched off, flying back to Fox and landing, the hatch opening and Wolf climbing out, walking over and dropping to the ground. As soon as he was standing, the red staff flashed, sailing through the air to him and Fox huffed.

"Really? Him? Talk about low standards."

"No, is that any way to talk to your savior, Fox?" Wolf asked, grinning. "I thank you for the new weapon, and I've taken the liberty of calling your team for you."

"They're not my team," Fox growled.

"We fought them a few weeks ago, you know," Wolf said. "They gave me a message for you."

"And what's that?" Fox asked, a second before Wolf's fist crashed into his jaw, knocking him onto his ass.

"That's for, as Falco said, bailing on them," Wolf said. "I'm sure you'll hear it reiterated when they arrive. In the mean time, would you care for a lift?"

"Why are you helping me?" Fox asked.

"If I let you be killed by a bunch of freaky lizards, how would I resolve our rivalry?" Wolf asked.

Fox sighed and shook his head. "I've got to be insane."

He climbed into the ship, sitting in the second seat located behind Wolf's. The seat instantly turned, a gun extending from the back of the ship in front of him, a computer showing the underside of a ship with a second gun. Wolf lifted off, beginning to fly over the bioweapons and Fox began to fire the lower gun, then the upper one as Wolf pulled barrel rolls, flips, or u-turns. Finally, the Great Fox arrived, three arwings dropping from orbit, lighting up the bioweapons. Fox looked around at one until he sensed her. He reached out to her.

"Long time no see," he said, sensing her surprise, then joy, then pain.

Then, she was actively blocking him and he retracted into his own mind. He felt his own chest ache. He had hurt her, badly.

"Be ready to switch ships," Wolf called back, pulling up alongside Peppy's arwing and opening his hatch.

Fox jumped out, running to Peppy's ship just as Katt flew below the clouds in her newly restored ship. She began to blast the bioweapons with its cannons before the bottom opened and several missiles and smart bombs fell out, carpet bombing a section of them. Peppy turned, flying back to the Great Fox and Fox jumped out, jumping into his arwing and starting it up, piloting it out of the Great Fox just as three landed on Krystal's. He fired instantly, blasting all three off before they could hurt her.

"Welcome back Fox," Wolf said. "Shall we?"

"Let's," Fox agreed.

The two of them flew low, opening fire, mowing down the bioweapons and firing every smart bomb they had, slaughtering them before pulling up at the last second, climbing into the sky then flipping and flying back downward, slaughtering more as they slowly leveled out. Then, they both branched off.

"The weapon's ready!" a voice announced. "All ships, clear out!"

"Fox, the weapon's nuclear," Wolf warned.

"Understood," Fox said, switching to talk to all of Star Fox's ships. "Everyone get back to the Great Fox!"

They all flew into the hangar, closing it and Great Fox pulled up, quickly getting away from the area. Then, just as they reached minimum safe distance, the blast hit, exploding and vaporizing whatever creatures were left. Fox sighed, sitting back in his arwing for a moment before taking a steadying breath and opening his hatch, standing only to be greeted with Krystal's fist. He staggered backward, tripping over the side of his arwing and crashing to the ground. Falco picked him up, dusting him off then punching him, sitting him back down. He stood and turned to Katt, holding his arms out invitingly. Instead of a punch to the face, she planted her foot between his legs, dropping him to the ground, hard.

"You son of a bitch!" Katt spat. "What the hell were you thinking going to that planet alone!? You could have died!"

"It's no less than I deserved," Fox said, standing, Katt falling silent. "I...I'm so sor-"

Krystal's fist connected with his jaw again before she turned, storming out of the hangar. Fox stared after her before his face fell.

"She'll cool off," Falco said. "Eventually."

"It doesn't matter," Fox said. "I don't deserve her."

"You're pathetic," Katt said. "Go ahead, ask. You do want to know how many men she's slept with while trying to fill the Fox McCloud sized hole in her heart, right?"

"W-Well...I..."

"None," Katt said. "Ever since you left, she's barely spoken to anyone. You broke her, Fox. And then when you left you took some pieces with you. She's never been able to recover fully. Even after all these months that you've been away, she still cries herself to sleep at night. Every night."

Fox stared at the ground.

"Well?" Katt asked. "What the hell are you still doing here?"

"I-I-"

"Go fix my girl!" Katt said, pointing at the elevator.

Fox walked to the elevator in silence, taking it up to the main level and then walking to Krystal's room. Already he could hear her sobbing. He raised his hand to knock, but before he could he sensed her getting closer. He knocked anyway, but the door didn't open.

"What do you want?" Krystal asked from inside.

"May I come in?" Fox asked.

"No," Krystal said. "What do you want?"

"I...I'm..." tears began to run down his cheeks and he leaned back against the wall beside the door, sliding to the ground. "I'm sorry. I so sorry for everything. For hurting you, and using the mouse to make you jealous, and yelling at you, and leaving. I'm so sorry for everything I did." He was long past sobbing at this point, managing to keep his voice steady so that she could hear him through the door.

"If that's all, you can go away now," Krystal said after several seconds.

Fox stared across the hallway in silence, numbness spreading through his body from his chest. A sob began to build in his chest, but it died on its way out, despite him not fighting it. He heard a strangled sob escape Krystal on the opposite side of the door, though. He stood, walking silently to the observation deck at the top of the ship, sealing the door before sinking to his knees, staring at at stars before beginning to sob. Usually he cried silently, years practice after his father's death teaching him to hide it. But usually he wasn't faced with the fact that the love of his life hated him.

Finally, the door opened and Katt stepped in, Fox struggling to force himself to stop, resulting only in him crying even harder. Katt sighed, kneeling beside him, pulling him into a hug. He continued to sob, but slowly it began to taper off.

"Your room is still yours," Katt said. "We're heading to Corneria for a vacation. It's been...a very stressful time for everyone. As a fair warning, I'm going to throw a party."

Fox didn't respond.

"You need to be there to win her back," Katt said.

"She hates me," Katt said.

"No," Katt said. "She still loves you. That's why she's mad. At the party, you can win her back."

"If I don't, if she...if I lose her, I'm not going to be around to see it," Fox said. "And they won't be able to save me by shocking me. I'm...I'm not going to come back like Falco did."

"Don't you dare," Katt growled.

"You don't seem to understand," Fox smiled. "Krystal is all I have, Katt. I'm in love with her. I've always been in love with her. If I lose her, I'm not going to commit suicide. I won't have to. I just won't have the will to live."

Katt remained silent before standing, pulling him up. "Go to sleep, Fox. Tomorrow we'll be at Corneria."

Fox nodded, turning and walking away from the observation deck, heading to his room and getting in bed, staring at the ceiling in silence, sleep failing to find him.


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