The suspense of waiting is OVER! I finally uploaded a new chapter! Forgive me if it seems like it's coming slowly; my father is STRICT with my computer usage.
At around noon, Panther's computer had created about 1,700 credits ever since he launched the program last night. Panther worried somewhat, since he had only a few days left to pay off his fines, but he was going to be spending some time with his fiancée, which did help him feel more at ease. He planned on going to the mall with Krystal to window-shop, and simply kill some time with her.
His doorbell rang, and he went over to answer. Still paranoid about the incident, he looked out through the window at the side. To his delight, he saw the blue outline of his dream girl in a white shirt. He answered the door just as she was about to ring the bell again. "Hello, beautiful." Krystal simply stood with a vacant stare, "…Hello, Panther." She said, passively. It was becoming evident that she was tired of him addressing her with adjectives.
"Well," Panther said, making his way to his car (which now had new tires he had put on last night), "are you ready to go?" Krystal shrugged, "I believe so." She replied. They got into the car, and drove off. They didn't talk much on the way, and the car was apparently having a somewhat difficult time with the new tires, since they were different than the front two. Panther found the accelerator and brake to be somewhat more…touchy than usual. But he adjusted to the new control, and kept the car as steady as he could, so Krystal wouldn't get carsick.
When they arrived, they spent the first 15 minutes in the food court. Panther ate his food quite fast and grotesquely, but Krystal only took small, feeble bites. She couldn't get Fox off of her mind. She was worried about how to talk to him when she could, how Panther would reacted if he see her speaking with him, and if Fox would still continue their (…well, complicated) relationship. She couldn't keep eating; the worry and fear had made a knot in her stomach. Panther noticed her lack of appetite, "What's wrong?" he asked the vixen. Krystal felt it best not to tell him the truth, at least, not the whole truth.
"I've had a lot on my mind lately," she said, "I just don't know how to talk to someone if I feel like they won't listen." Panther wiped food of the fur covering his face. "Well, I cannot read minds, like you, but if you want to talk to someone about your problems, I'm all open." He said, smiling. Krystal simply shook her head, "That's not what I meant. I think I could have made someone very upset by now." Panther moved his hand in to place on her shoulder, "Who might that be?" the feline asked, just before Krystal swatted his hand away. She stood up from the table, "I'll talk about it later." She finally said, before gathering her used napkins and other trash, and throwing it away.
Panther pulled a small note out of his pocket and skimmed over it. "Oh! I have to pick up some dinner!" he quickly rushed over to Krystal and grabbed her hand. "You can help with that, right?" he asked. Krystal, however, was caught off-guard, as she was thinking deeply at the moment "…Huh? What do you-" Panther didn't wait for an answer before pulling her away "-AH!" After running this way and that, Krystal was carrying armfuls of large plastic bags full of groceries, while Panther only carried a few.
"This is shopping for dinner? How much do you eat?" Krystal asked Panther in shock, through the weight of the bags. Panther's ears perked up, and he glanced over at her. "…Hm?" he uttered, "Did you say something?" For a second, Krystal wondered how he didn't hear her, but just decided to play it lightly; "…Nah, nevermind." She replied, still slightly straining her voice under the groceries' weight.
Fox and Kathryn spent a good portion of their day at the same mall. They purchased clearance items, checked out some of the newer stores that hadn't been there on their previous visit, and generally picked up everything that Kathryn was looking for.
"Is there anything else?" said Fox, who was carrying about half of the bags of Kathryn's items. Kathryn simply shook her head, "Oh, it's fine. I've drained my credit card enough for one day." She glanced over at Fox and smiled, "I had fun, thanks." Fox bowed his head once, "Yeah, same here."
As he stared at Kathryn, he couldn't help but notice how much she resembled Krystal, though obviously there were some differences. Kathryn's fur was red, of course. Unlike Krystal, she had no brades in her hair, or bands on her tail; she simply wore both loose. She also spoke in a Cornerian accent, like his own, and in a higher-pitched voice than Krystal's (almost a late-teen voice, though Kathryn was in her twenties). Other than that, her facial and many other physical features seemed to strongly resemble Krystal's.
Fox immediately began to shift his attention from the blue vixen in his thoughts, but hesitated. No, he thought, I can't fall for Kathryn, I love Krystal. He continued to think for a few seconds, ...but I can't have Krystal since she's been taken. Does this mean I should move on and forget Krystal? He could hardly bear the thought of doing so. No, I don't want to forget about Krystal! Ow! Headaches… He massaged his temple. This is all so confusing. "Uh…Fox?" he heard Kathryn say as they walked. Fox glanced over, "Yes, Kathryn?" "Are you feeling alright? You were pressing the side of your head…" Fox took his fingers down, "Uh, yeah…bit of a headache right now." Kathryn didn't say anything in response.
Walking past them was a black cat holding a few grocery bags, and next to him looked like a pile of grocery bags on slender blue legs, held clumsily by thin arms of the same blue color. "Wait, was that…?" the person holding all these bags said as she past them. Fox froze, I know that voice anywhere… he turned to see Krystal. "Fox!" she dropped the bags, and Panther gasped and rushed over to pick them up. Fox was going to have a bit of difficulty talking to the last person he wanted to see right now… "H-Hello, Krystal. How's your vacation been?..." Krystal closed her eyes and shrugged, "Fine, I believe. You?" Fox nodded, "Same…" This wasn't true at first, but after meeting Kathryn, his break was lightened up.
Panther merely kept his attention on the dropped bags. "…could've spilled everywhere…" he muttered, stuffing a large jug of iced tea into a bag. Kathryn rushed over to Krystal, grabbed her hand, and rapidly shook it up and down. "Hello, Krystal. It's GREAT to see you in person!" Krystal was a little surprised, and then she felt a slight pang of confusion. "Fox, who is this?" she asked the vulpine, who was now some 5 feet to the left of her since the red vixen pushed him. "My name is Kathryn, Kathryn Sinclair, and I am a HUGE fan of Starfox!" She was talking so fast with excitement that it was enough to make a fatigued person alert in a few seconds. "Yes, I can see that…" said Krystal, who's arm was simply flopping around like a useless appendage as Kathryn continued to shake it.
After managing to wrench her arm out of Kathryn's steel grip (which surprised her, since her hands looked so scrawny), Krystal moved on to Fox. "Why are you with her?" she asked. Fox raised an eyebrow, "She's just a fan, I figured I'd let her get to know me better, and what we do, and…" he trailed off. "…anyway, why are you with him?" he said, pointing to Panther, who was now picking up a bundle of bananas ("…damn! They're bruised!..." he murmured when examining them).
"Well…" Krystal stammered as she had no choice anymore. She let out a sigh of regret, "…we're engaged, and we're on a date." Fox's eyes widened, "So it's true…" his voice was rich with disbelief, "…the sick bastard decided to propose to you, is that right?" Krystal made a nervous leg movement, "Well, yes…see, I didn't think it would be…proper…to turn him down…" she blushed under her fur, "…and on the other hand, I was hoping if it was alright for me to…y'know…use my arwing to go on a date…on another planet…"
Fox had been torn by this, but he didn't express it. All he did was turn to Panther, who was checking inside of a box of saltines ("…broken apart…splendid…") Fox snatched the box from Panther's hands. "Yeah," he said, sarcastically smiling, "they're broken apart, alright. And you know what else has been broken apart?" Panther stared idly. "My dreams. Every single thing I lived for had been taken out of my hands…" he pulled an unbroken saltine out of the box, "…and crushed." He crunched the cracker in his hand, and opened it to reveal small particles of it.
"Crushed into a superfine, subatomic powder!" Krystal and Kathryn walked over to see what was going on, but Fox kept his attention on Panther. "So now, you think you can crush other people's hopes with the simple bend of the knee joint, am I right? Damn, looks like I've horribly misjudged everybody here! But I don't care no more! No! As long as every single person has happiness in their lives…" Panther was thoroughly stunned, Krystal and Kathryn stood with confused expressions.
"…then I really have no reason to put any of that happiness into my life. Because that's what it's about, right? Caring about everything but yourself? If everybody is happy, then that means I should be happy, too, right? So that's what I'll do. I'll let you two go and date on some other world…far beyond this one, and let you be! But I hope your wolfen crashes and you die!" By the time Fox had finished his childish performance, Panther continued to sit on the floor, staring up at the agitated vulpine, with two amazed and shocked vixens behind him.
Krystal cautiously stepped towards Fox. "Um, Fox…what was that just now?" Fox panted and slurred, "Mmmbl…gffhg…throobmh…" All he did was mumble a bunch of gibberish. "Fox…?" Krystal asked desperately. "…nng…w-water…" Kathryn looked confused, "Huh?" she said. "C-can't talk…n-n-need…water…" Fox was panting heavily as he briskly walked away. He immediately went into a restroom and splashed some cold water in his face.
After he managed to contain himself again, he looked at himself in the mirror. "What was I thinking!?" he said out loud (thankfully, no one was in there to hear him), "What good would that ever do!? I can't just lose control like that! Krystal would never respect me again if I keep doing that!" He gathered his thoughts, and decided to try to handle this more maturely next time. For now, he's just going to have to let this one slide…
As he left the restroom, he found Kathryn waiting for him. "Oh! Kathryn…" he was about to apologize to her for letting her see what just happened, and for letting himself do it, but she just placed a hand on his shoulder. "Fox, it's alright, I understand perfectly how you felt." Fox tilted his head, slightly puzzled. "Whaddya mean?" Kathryn took her hand off of his shoulder, "You really care about Krystal, don't you?" she asked him. Fox blushed under his fur, "Um…yes, it's true. But what made you think-" "It's what a lot of fans believe. They think you two are perfect for each other." Said Kathryn.
Fox sighed, "So, anyway, what did you mean by 'you understand'?" Kathryn glanced around, as though she thought someone was watching them, "Well, about a month ago, my life was actually good." This sounds like it's gonna be a long story… Fox thought. "I had finally graduated from law school as a defense attorney." Fox was surprised; Kathryn was a lawyer? It didn't seem at first like she was the type… "And I was hoping to start my own law firm, but that was not what I wanted in the full run." She paused, but Fox didn't speak, "I wanted to hopefully become the assistant at a firm run by…him."
"Him?" Fox asked. "Alan." Kathryn answered, "He was the main goal in my life, I wanted to work alongside him. He was the most gorgeous vulpine I have ever laid my eyesight on. I wanted so much as to talk to him, he was simply the love of my life…" she sighed dreamingly, "but then came the day I found out he was already married to another vixen, Mariah. She was an actress, and had never made any interactions with him that I was ever informed of." Her eyes moved to the floor in sorrow, "He broke my heart…" she said, sadly.
Fox's face fell with sympathy, "Oh, I'm sorry to hear that, Kathryn." Fox placed his own hand on her shoulder to ease her emotions. "But I know perfectly how you feel. It turns out that Krystal is engaged with that other guy you just saw. It tore me apart as well, that's why I've been upset lately." Kathryn looked up again, "Aww, that's too bad. I also thought you two might end up together someday." Her voice was full of sincerity and understanding. "See…what happened with Alan and Mariah…is kinda the reason why I attempted suicide…" Fox simply let out a hum of agreement. Kathryn continued, "…but after spending some time with you, I completely regret walking down that path. There's too much to live for. Just because you lost the love of your life doesn't mean the world is over, right?"
Fox smiled, "Tch, no way." Kathryn also smiled, "I mean…I'm sure there's plenty of other ways to be happy without love…" Fox shrugged, "I'm sure there is, too…" he realized that he couldn't get Krystal back, and would have to move on, but he wouldn't want stay single all his life. "Y'know," Fox said, whose blood pressure was starting to rise, "You remind me quite a bit of Krystal, almost as if you were…oh, I don't know…her counterpart…" Kathryn began to feel a warm flush rising in her face, "Well, to be honest…when I first became a fan of Starfox…I always thought you were kinda…well…cute." Fox felt as though his bones were being dissolved, like his blood had become too acidic.
"Well, it's just a…fantasy that I've lived with for a while…" Kathryn said, embarrassed. "Ah, yeah…I've decided that I should just move on from Krystal, and…" he didn't say anymore. He and Kathryn were locked in a stare. Fox felt as though this was coming too fast, but decided to go with the higher speed. Slowly, the both began to lean towards each other, with their eyes closing as well. They leaned their heads to the side. Their lips were just about to touch; Fox's heart was beating about ten times per second; he and Kathryn had become detached from the rest of the world…
"Beep-beep-beep! Beep-beep-beep!" a semi-loud sound was coming from Fox's pocket. He opened his eyes and straightened up again, so did Kathryn. "Is that your phone?" she asked. "Uh, yeah. Just a sec." Fox pulled out his phone and answered. "Hello?" "Hey, Fox, haven't seen you since mission success, am I right?" Fox recognized the voice, "Slippy? That you?" "Bingo! I figured I'd check up to see how you're doing right now." "Well, vacation is going well." "Hmmm, you sure? 'Cause Falco was just talkin' me up on how you became such a crybaby when you heard of Krystal's engagement." Fox lowered the phone from his ear, "I'm gonna get that guy's feathered ass later!" he muttered under his breath.
He heard Slippy say something over the phone, but couldn't make it out. "What?" he said, with the phone to his ear again. "I said he also told me you found another girl." "Oh, Kathryn, yeah it's-" "Oooh, Kathryn's her name, huh?" "Look, she's not what you-" "Oh my, God! You're hitting on girls, huh, Foxie?" Slippy was laughing hysterically over the phone. "Listen, call me back when you've learned the definition of the word 'Scandal'!"
With that, he ended the call, and turned off his phone for good measure. "Well, that sounded like quite the exciting call." Said Kathryn, sarcastically. Fox nodded, "Yeah, you have no idea." He said. Kathryn glanced at her wristwatch, "Well, I suppose I should take you home. I'm done here, anyhow." Fox agreed, "Yeah, let's head out."
It took about 5 minutes to find Kathryn's car, and Kathryn drove off to drop off Fox at his house. As they drove, Fox spoke up: "Listen, Kathryn, about what happened there…after you told me about Alan…you don't suppose…" Kathryn became anxious again, "Well, I guess we could…it does seem likely that…" she trailed off. They both continued to agree at the same level, over and over, until they reached Fox's street.
"Alright," Fox said, "I hope to s-see you soon..h-how does tomorrow sound?" Kathryn blushed again (she thanked God for her fur), "Y-yeah, that'll work out p-perfect!..." Fox nodded, "Alright, see you around." Kathryn waved as he shut the door. Fox took one last glance as she drove off, until she disappeared from sight. Fox immediately fell on his back onto his front lawn, and let out a satisfied sigh. "Wow…" he said to himself while staring at the sky, "…to think, even after just a few days, I've fallen for her. Plus, she had an interest in me before we even met…" he closed his eyes, "…this is fantastic." He laid there for a few more minutes, before finally entering his home.
WOAH! Bet you didn't see that coming, did you? It might have seemed a little fast, but I just wanted to end the cliffhanger between Fox and Kathryn. But…what is to become of Krystal? How will she react to this? Just be patient for the new chapter, and these questions will be answered. Bye for now. Keep holding on…