Chapter 10 – The Roses at Dawn
It was as if the sea had parted. All objects were cleared and the path was straight and true. This was how Krystal felt as she ran down Main Street in the heart of Corneria City. Buildings lined the street on each side, not daring to get in her way as she sprinted down the road to the Cornerian Flight Academy.
Still in her right hand was the hat that had once been worn by the foul dog, Kain. The gem in the brim glowed faintly. It once held Krystal's powers, as she placed all hope in the belief that it would once more.
The moon stood still at the horizon, casting a pale light down the street. It illuminated Krystal, who continued to sprint towards the building at the end of the street.
Krystal panted, exhausted from the day's events. She dared not to slow, however. She knew that if the gem she held died out, it could never be used again. As she thought of this, the vixen glanced down at the gem. It pulsed and faded a little bit.
"No," Krystal pleaded. If the gem's powers faded completely, Fox's life was gone as well.
Krystal's wrist communicator beeped as she sped down Main Street. Her heart jumped. Usually, Fox was the one on the other end. This time, however, it was Peppy.
"Krystal, where are you?" the veteran asked.
"I'm heading to the Flight Academy," Krystal answered through breaths.
Peppy sighed. "Krystal," he said slowly, "you just have to accept it. It's over. Fox is gone. He's dead."
"He is not gone!" Krystal shouted. "Fox is not gone! I can save him!"
Peppy began to say something, but Krystal did not listen. She was deftly climbing the marble steps of the Academy that she had just reached. The steps were scarred with burn marks and were missing chunks of rock. All results from another of Fox's heroic feats.
Krystal placed her hand on the large steel doors to enter the Academy. A surge of energy pulsed through her. She had touched the door in the same place as Fox had. A vision rushed through her head.
Krystal saw Fox smirking triumphantly in his Arwing as he sped away from exploding Venom. The scene switched to Fox shooting bombs at Andross with Sauria in the background. Krystal was greeted with a familiar sight as she saw Fox defeating the Aparoid Queen. Then, she saw Fox walking towards the Academy with Sergeant Carne in the background, surrounded by sensor bombs. A flash of light and then Krystal viewed Kain's flagship plummeting into the ocean, while Fox smiled.
Darkness overcame Krystal's vision, followed by the sight of a graveyard. She scanned over the tombstones. They read: Andross, Aparoids, Sergeant Carne, and Kain.
However, the last tombstone was set apart from the others. It was newer and the dirt in front of it was fresh, having just been laid down. Krystal leaned in to read the inscription.
She gasped in horror.
"Fox McCloud."
The vision abruptly ended. Krystal found herself standing at the door of the Cornerian Flight Academy. She was mortified by what she had seen.
Krystal felt a tremble in her hand. She looked down. The gem in the hat shook and dimmed to almost nothing.
Krystal sprinted into the Academy, heading for Fox.
The elevator descended the floors of the Cornerian Flight Academy. It rumbled and moaned as it slid down the shaft. The counter beeped incessantly with the passing of each and every floor.
The elevator's distracting sounds went unnoticed to its occupant, however. Krystal stood in the center of the elevator, breathing heavily. She was exhausted, but that was not the reason for her fatigue.
Krystal was stressed to her boiling point as she stared at the gem inside Kain's hat. It could have been called anything but glowing. A faint speck of blue light flared in the very center of the gem.
"Please," Krystal begged the emerald. "Please stay lit."
The vixen gripped the hat tight and closed her eyes in a quite prayer, hoping against hope, as the floors ticked off the elevator counter.
"You can't go. You can't," she whispered into the gem. "I love you."
After another minute of crippling anxiety, the elevator reached its destination: Sublevel 16. The machine pinged as the doors glided apart gracefully. Krystal dashed from the cramped elevator and into the rock hallway.
It all seemed familiar to Krystal: the elevator ride, and now the walk through the corridor. She had done it all before, in fact. Although the last time she did this she was unconscious.
Krystal cleared the hallway and emerged into the great chamber. Even though she had seen it before, Krystal still froze in shock as she looked at the top of the now stationary silo.
Fox floated motionlessly, encased in the fire-red gem. Krystal choked back a scream as she surveyed the horrifying sight for a second time. Fox, arms pushing against the side of the gem, was gone.
"No," Krystal told herself. "There's still a chance." She looked at the gem in her hand. The speck of light in the center flickered, threatening to vanish, startling Krystal.
It was not enough to keep her flat-footed, however. Krystal sprinted to the monolith of iron in the great chamber. She placed the hat on her head and began to climb faster than she had ever done anything in her life.
She cleared the bas of the machine roughly as fast as Fox had. As she started on the actual silo, which stood four times taller than the base, the gem in the hat trembled. It started blinking.
Krystal picked up the pace as she felt the rumble on her head.
blink…blink…blink…
Krystal latched herself onto a golden band. She climbed hand over hand, pushing with her feet.
blink……blink……blink……
The vixen gracefully swung her body weight so that she jumped from one band to another. She was about fifty meters from the top. Still, Krystal scaled the silo as if nothing else mattered to her than Fox. And nothing did.
blink…………blink…………
Krystal threw her gloved hand and caught the ledge of the top of the silo. She pulled herself up quickly.
blink……………………
Krystal stood on the tiny platform with Fox's prison. She stared at Fox's eyes. They were open, but he did not blink or look around. But they were open. Open and full of pain.
Krystal took the hat and pried the gem from the brim. It popped out and she discarded the useless hat. It tumbled all the way to the floor.
The sweet vixen pressed the gem against the blood-red wall of Fox's cell, closing her eyes.
Then, Krystal spoke a most ancient, most sacred, most powerful spell of the now extinct Cerinians. It was a spell so powerful that it could flatten mountains, raise plains, and dry lakes.
Krystal spoke as if she was talking to Fox.
"The roses at dawn
cover the garden,
as the buck and the fawn
have a lasting affection.
The love that we share
cannot be undone,
although two people we are
our love is but one.
Through all the things we ever see,
I'll have you and you'll have me."
The gem flared to life. It pulsed an intense blue and shifted to a red color at the center. The red dot slowly expanded in the gem, canceling out the blue in the emerald.
Krystal opened her eyes. She gasped. However, this time, it was not in fright. It was in surprise.
The gem was slowly turning blue, as the piece of jewelry Krystal was holding turned red. Gradually, the two gems changed color.
Krystal cringed in pain. She could feel her power being drawn from her, being used by the gem in her hand. It hurt, but Krystal did not even think about stopping it.
The two gems had now completely switched colors. The gem in her hand was fire-red, and it felt like it, too. The gem burned like a flame, causing Krystal to throw the gem down, off of the silo.
The gem burned because it had absorbed all of the malevolent energy in the larger gem. The black magic that had been trapping Fox had been sapped from the once horrid prison. Now, the walls pulsed a cool blue. A wave rippled through the gem, and the magical barrier dissolved.
The gem's walls disappeared, starting from the top. Clean air replaced the space where toxic gas had been within the gem. The walls continued to disband, as Fox's head was revealed. The gem finally faded all the way, releasing the valiant hero.
Fox fell limp on the tiny platform. He began to roll off the side of the silo but was stopped by Krystal's hand on his shoulder. Krystal rolled him back to the center of the platform. She kneeled down as Fox lay unconscious on his back. Krystal ran her hand over Fox's face.
His eyes fluttered. Fox coughed violently, causing him to sit up. Krystal placed her hand on his back in a caring effort to comfort him.
Fox finished coughing and looked around him. He saw exactly what he wanted to see: a smiling Krystal.
"Krystal! You're alright!" Fox said, relieved. Moments after overcoming death itself, the first thing on Fox's mind was Krystal's wellbeing.
Fox propped himself up and rested his weight on his elbows. With Krystal kneeling down, their faces were right next to each others.
"So are you!" Krystal added. "I'm so eased to see that you're okay!"
Fox looked around him. He was a little dizzy from the ordeal with the gem and could not quite remember where he was. Fox scanned the great chamber and finally realized what had happened and why he was on top of this giant silo.
"The gem is gone! How did you-," Fox started.
"Remember that gem in Kain's hat? He had used my powers in it to make a shield. I just reversed the gem's powers and drew the magic out of the gem."
Fox was still a little puzzled. "But how did you get the gem in the first place?"
Krystal was delighted to tell him, although she wore an embarrassed expression on her face. "I dove down into the ocean and into his ship. I got his hat, and once I had the gem, I came down here for you."
Fox blushed. "You would do that for me?"
Krystal smiled at him. "You would have died for me."
Krystal leaned into Fox. She placed her soft lips on his and gave Fox the best kiss he ever had. She leaned back out.
"Wow," Fox said, amazed. "Does that mean…?"
"Yes, Fox," Krystal confirmed. "I would have died for you, too."
Krystal leaned in again. Fox wrapped his arm around Krystal and kissed her back. They were in love. Always had been. Always will be.
Daylight broke over Corneria City as sunlight poured through the hole in the ceiling of the great chamber underneath the Cornerian Flight Academy. Light surrounded Fox and Krystal as their lips were locked in a loving embrace.
TheEnd
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