Chapter 20: Three Orphaned Foxes

The next morning, Red in his hospital bed was just as tired as he was the night before. The bed sheets were messed up and cluttered at the foot of his bed. He had hardly gotten any sleep last night. The lighting in the room kept him awake for a while, but when he did manage to fall asleep, he was usually awakened in minutes, usually either by nightmares or pain. He only has nightmares when he is in a critical condition and they were usually about other bad experiences. After removing the needle from his arm and patching it up, he managed to get out of bed with difficulty and got through the restroom door. He was able to put on a different change of clothes and wash most of the dried blood out of his fur. He left the restroom and sat back down on his bed, still very shaken up from yesterday. He looked over at the table and saw the piece of paper. Written on it were the words he had carried with him his whole life: 'Use your powers wisely'.

As he read these words, memories of his family flooded his mind. "I'll never forget what you taught me, Dad." He tried to lie back on his bed, but was too restless and still in pain. As he stared at the ceiling, the memories of his family were replaced with explosions. He attempted to get these thoughts out of his head, but they wouldn't leave him. Finally, the emotional and physical pains had gotten to him. He sat up and had his hands in his face and tears started to flood his eyes.

He picked the worst time for this to happen, because Fox and Krystal just walked in and saw him in this depressed state. Red heard them come in and he tried to bring himself back to normal. They were shocked at what they saw, and were speechless for a few seconds.

Red removed his hands from his face and looked away from them. "What are you doing here?" he asked.

Fox looked at Krystal and said, "Maybe we picked the wrong time to be here."

He looked back at them and said, "No, it's okay. Come in."

They walked in and sat down and saw how miserable Red was.

"What happened to you?" asked Krystal.

"Nothing. I just have so many things on my mind right now."

"Is there anything we can do to help?" asked Fox.

Red slightly turned his head away. He wondered if this was the right time to finally tell them what happened. For a long time, he had kept this secret from Star Fox. In the past, he had only told a select few who he completely trusted and hardly any of those select few had ever broken his trust. But did he trust Fox and Krystal? Well, for the entire time he was here, Star Fox mostly welcomed him and was generous…and now they had saved his life. Another thought then entered his mind: Krystal had lost her family in Cerinia and Fox lost his father; they could fully understand what he went through. So yes, it was the right time. "Is it okay if you two sit down for a minute?" he asked. "There's something I have to tell you."

"Okay, sure," Fox said concerned as he pulled up 2 chairs for Krystal and himself.

Red leaned over his bed and picked up the photo next to the lamp. "Fox, you've already seen this and I know that you told Krystal about it."

Fox wondered exactly how Red knew that, but it didn't really matter.

Red resumed, "This picture was taken about 20 years ago in Corneria City. As you probably know, this was my family." He pointed out each one in the picture, "These are my parents, my brother, my sister, and me. We were all in the Cornerian army at that time."

"At that age?" asked Fox, "You and your siblings look like you were in your teen years."

"Well, yes, but we were all very talented at flying and we graduated flight school early. As a child, I had just barely discovered my powers and no one could figure out how I had acquired them. Through those years, I was learning how to make full use of my abilities and I even got a specially made ship that could amplify my shields; similar to the ship I have today. Anyway, after flight school, we joined the Cornerian army as apprentices to our parents. We all joined a fleet of about 30 total pilots." He then paused and looked down. "And it was going well for a while…But one day about 18 years ago, there was a disturbance somewhere at the far side of the system…It seemed unimportant, so our fleet was chosen to fly out by ourselves to find out what it was…When we got there, it turned out that this…small, unimportant disturbance was actually a deadly creature." He turned away again. It was hard for him to say this last part, but when he did, he said it a bit loudly. "It was an Aparoid!"

Fox and Krystal sat there in shock, for they knew which Aparoid he was referring to. Fox struggled to say, "We heard about that incident. During the Aparoid war, Slippy's father told us that years ago, an entire fleet was taken out by a sole Aparoid."

Red turned back to them, almost in tears. "I was the only survivor. We were overpowered…I could do nothing during the battle except shield my ship from getting destroyed. That Aparoid destroyed us one by one. It killed all my friends in the fleet…I saw my family die right before my eyes! I saw each individual explosion that claimed each of my parent's lives, my brother's life, and my sister's life! After everyone else was dead and I was the only one left, I could only flee." He had his hands in his face again. His eyes started to fill with tears.

Fox and Krystal didn't know what to say. Here they were sitting with someone else who had also lost someone important to them and they didn't know what to say or how to comfort him.

After Red had calmed down a bit, he resumed, "I spent the next few months afterward drifting through the system. I could find no meaning in my life. I didn't know how to live my life or even if I should live my life."

Krystal knew what happened next. "Then you found a peaceful planet and found some hope."

"Exactly. It was a small, isolated place that hardly anyone knew about, but I was able to settle down there. After calming down, at least I was willing to return to Corneria. It was there that a small company discovered my talents; the same company I work for today. I found a suitable reason to keep living, which is to help protect the Lylat System at any cost, to save the innocent, and most importantly to keep as many as possible from going through what I had to go through…and that's the way I have lived for the past 17 years."

Fox looked at him and said, "Wow, I didn't realize."

"I'm so sorry, Red," said Krystal.

"Thanks."

Fox asked, "Should you tell the others about this?"

Red thought about it for a second and said, "Probably not. Slippy is too lighthearted and Falco is too stubborn. Besides, you 2 have gone through similar experiences and know what it's like."

"But neither of us had it as bad as you did," said Krystal.

Red turned away again with his teeth gritted and his fists clenched, overpowered by both emotional and physical pain.

Krystal couldn't stand to see him like this. "Red, maybe you should lie down."

As he did so, Krystal stood up, walked over to him, and put her hand over his head.

"What are you doing?" Red asked.

"Just try to relax." As Krystal focused her telepathy, Red's eyes closed. He started to calm down. Slowly, his pain loosened, his fists unclenched, and his face calmed. He was finally able to fall asleep. After that, Krystal started searching his mind. "He wasn't kidding," she said.

Fox stood up and walked over to her. "What do you mean?"

"I'm sensing death…destruction…and pain. His mind is troubled; always has been. That Aparoid changed the rest of his life. In the past, he sometimes isolated himself from others and he always acts emotionless…but he's not emotionless. He always keeps his emotions inside him, hidden, and every once in a while, they overpower him, just like today." She pulled back her hand. "All of that because that one Aparoid that ruined his life." Her own memories started to flood in her mind.

Fox was standing behind her and he noticed that she started shaking. Fox put a hand on her shoulder. "Krystal, are you okay?"

He was taken by surprise when she quickly turned around and embraced him, crying. "Oh, I'm sorry, Fox, but I remember when the same thing happened to me on Cerinia, including the misery and depression that followed."

Fox tried to calm her down, "I know what you mean. The same thing happened with me when my father died. It's something that no one should ever have to go through."

"I agree, Fox."

This conversation answered several questions that Fox had, but he felt bad now because Red had to answer them. Still hugging a crying Krystal, he looked over at the bed and saw Red still asleep. "I think we should go ahead and leave," he said.

"Okay, then." She let go and followed him out of the room, slightly comforted.