Fox, still sitting on the log, felt nothing. He never did when Krystal had read his mind in the past. It had always been such an intimate thing, and yet, Fox could never even be sure if Krystal had read him or not. It was certainly something he didn't understand, and it was a very awkward thing to think or talk about. But this time, he had to concentrate on positive things, things he wanted her to be aware of.

Krystal sat up straighter, eyes still shut tight, and gasped as if she were witnessing something particularly breathtaking.

After a few minutes of waiting, concentrating as hard as he could on loving and reassuring thoughts, Fox found himself blurting out of curiosity, "What do you see?"

"You," she said quietly.

Fox bit his lip. He wished so badly that he could feel something, even if it was painful. Anything would be better than waiting through the silent agony he felt, knowing nothing of what was happening in Krystal's mind, or even his own. He endured it, just like he used to, but only because it brought such joy to Krystal. Keeping this fact prominent in his mind, Fox bit harder on his lip and closed his eyes, determined to keep his concentration up long enough to let her do whatever she needed to start the healing process.

"Fox," she said softly, her old accent more pronounced than it had been as of late, "Thanks for that." Fox opened his eyes to look at her. Hers were open too, looking into his own.

"Anything," he said hastily, embarrassed that he hadn't realized that she'd stopped reading him.

"Listen. Aside from something minor stuff, like this…" she trailed off

"Yeah?" Fox asked tentatively.

"I don't want to use my powers. Not like I used to."

"Krystal, don't do this—"

"I don't understand them, Fox. I learned that when I learned I could kill people with a single thought!"

Fox couldn't respond. At least, he was afraid he would do more damage if he did, despite how much he resented the notion of a Krystal who refused to use such extraordinary power.

"I had no idea what I was doing. I thought I understood it all. I thought I knew what I was doing," she said. She got to her feet, pacing and watching the ground as she spoke. "Telepathy had always behaved so predictably before. It was so simple!"

"Krystal—"

"No, Fox! An innocent man is dead because I didn't know what the hell I had! I was just doing my job, and then—he was—" Her throat was clenching up to where she couldn't speak anymore.

"Look, I hate to point it out, but you killed a good number of people while you were bounty-hunting," Fox tried to say reasonably. "Why was this one any different?"

She looked down at him. "You could never understand it," she said around her swollen larynx. "It's like someone just… turned out the lights. And nothing was left…" She stared off into space.

"You're right. I don't get it." Fox got to his feet and walked to Krystal's side. "But what I think you don't get is just how valuable your gift is." She stopped staring and looked back at Fox wearily. "Think about how many ambushes we've been bailed out of because you were able to warn us. Think of the number of lives you've saved, compared to the number lives you've taken with this power. That's, like, infinity to one! And, if you had been using your powers when we landed here, we wouldn't have come as close as we did to leaving Falco behind. Krystal, you underestimate just how much this is worth to us—to me."

Krystal's chest heaved. She waited a long time before saying anything, apparently still digesting Fox's words. Her face was blank.

But, just when Fox had feared that he'd crossed a line, she spoke to him smoothly, "Have I ever told you how much I love you?"

"Not often. But when you do, I get the impression that you mean it."

Fox smiled to himself. He'd forgotten how satisfying it was to see Krystal laughing with tears still in her eyes. Whenever he managed to get this to happen, he figured he'd done his job, and done it well. Krystal leaned into Fox's shoulder, getting his shirt nice and wet. He just hoped she'd taken what he said to heart. He didn't mention it, but more than anything, he was worried about the dream she had described to him. The part about Krystal dying if she refused to use her "birthright" was particularly unsettling to Fox's ears.

"Come on," Fox said, "You look hungry. Let me get you something." He sat her down on the leg again, and retreated back into the ship.

"How's it goin'?" Falco asked as Fox came in.

"Fine," he answered as he began rooting through their stash of food. It wouldn't hold out much longer.

"I heard some yelling out there. She broken any of your limbs yet?"

"Give it a rest, Falco."

"Psh. Resting's the only thing we've been doin' here."

Fox quickly left with some dried meat before Falco could start ranting again about how bored he was. Between his griping and Krystal's existential crisis, he wasn't sure if he'd stay sane much longer.

Giving the food to Krystal, he sat, again, on the log opposite her. She ate quietly, and Fox passed the time by rubbing his forehead. His mind was full of useless deliberation and reflected reflections, and it was giving him a headache. Krystal was worth it, if anything was.

"What about you? Have you eaten?" Krystal asked, offering Fox some of her meal.

"What?" he was jerked from his ruminations by the simple question. "No, I'm… I mean—yes, I have, I… What?"

She smiled. "Hunger. Do you have any?"

"Oh, no. No, I don't need anything."

She threw him a strip of jerky. "You don't lie much, do you?"

Catching the meat, he held it, realizing that he wasn't at all hungry. "No, I really don't need anything." He threw it back. "Honest." He forced a smile in hopes that it would put Krystal's heart at ease.

CRASH!

Fox's ponderings were cut short by what was unmistakably a sonic boom overhead. Krystal had heard the sound too, for she jumped up and looked skyward as if someone had flipped "red alert" switch in her mind.

"They came," he whispered.

"Who came?" Krystal asked in a clipped tone.

"Oh! I never told you," Fox said quickly, "Falco and I got the comm system up and running while you were away. We sent out an FTL transmission towards Lylat before the meteor shower destroyed our equipment. Someone must've come for us!"

Krystal was still looking intently up at the sky, searching for the source of the boom. Visibility was low in the evening sky, but Krystal was soon pointing towards something dark that was just coming out from behind a cloud.

"There," she said, but she'd hardly finished before another boom rattled the sky.

"Someone come?" Falco asked brightly, stepping out of the wrecked shuttle.

"Not funny, Falco," Fox said, not taking his eyes off the sky. He had, like Falco had, seen the irony in what he'd just said. However, unlike Falco, Fox had not seen the humor.

After lumbering over on his crutch to join Fox and Krystal in their sky-gazing, Falco asked, "I heard two drop in. Where's the second one?"

"I only see the one…" Krystal said.

"There!" Falco pointed off to the other side of the sky, where another, similar dark shape had just come into view.

But more surprising than the fact that not one but two ships had come to their rescue was the fact that they began to fire upon each other. The brilliant flare of hundreds of rockets and plasma cannons illuminated the twilight. The two gargantuan spacecraft bore down upon each other like titans, exchanging fire with merciless determination and frightening accuracy.

The three watched on quietly as the battle raged overhead. Both ships launched squadrons of fighters, which formed a swirling cloud of brightly flashing death between the two starships. Every few seconds, an intense white glare would herald the explosion of one craft, and the loss of one life. After a few minutes of this, the tightly knit wad of fighters had thinned down to a handful, and it became clear which side would win the victory when the ship that had appeared second erupted in a series of blinding balls of light. What remained of it plummeted towards the ground below like a great, flaming, rock.

"Damn," Falco said aptly.