XXVI. A Month to Remember
The two woke up in each other's arms, they were content for once in a long time. They had regained the rest they lost from their visions.
When the two of them finally got up they packed up and left back for The Great Fox. They were welcomed back by the crew and got back to their regular daily routine of training, missions and the occasional boredom. The two stayed as cautious as possible to avoid their visions, the vulpine never had feared death like he had now even though he wouldn't admit he was scared, Krystal knew. Months seemed to fly by and soon it was July and the time Fox was waiting for was about to come, Krystal's birthday was on the twenty eighth and he had gotten her something very special already. His birthday was the next day but he hadn't looked forward to it much. The only thing that kept him anxious for his birthday was Krystal had a secret gift she had been working on for him and he wanted to know what it was. The crew hadn't had a mission for about a month now so everyone was getting frustrated.
The vulpine woke up the next day later than usual to find a note on the table next to his bed: "Fox, Whenever you can come over to my room. I have a surprise for you.- Krystal." He was doubting she would remember and he walked across the hall to Krystal's room. She jumped slightly when the vulpine entered "Good Morning." She laughed slightly at him noticing his fur in a mess and seeing it was already 1 PM. "What's the surprise?" He asked her cutting straight to the point she shrugged at him prolonging his wait. "Oh well, I guess seeing your face is enough of a gift." Fox then moved over to sit next to Krystal, even though what he had said was cheesy it still brought a smile to her face, things like that always did.
"Just for that here, I want to see the expression on your face when you open it!" She hurried him on it,it was just a long box, no wrapping at all even though he hadn't expected it seeing as this was a totally different lifestyle from her old one. He used a knife to cut through the tape revealing something familiar, he shuddered slightly hoping this wouldn't have happened. "No..No, Krystal I-I Can't..." She smiled at him knowing he didn't understand. "I figured you should have one since you got so good at it." Her gift to him was her staff. "Krystal, really there is no way I am taking this." He pushed it back to her trying to not take it knowing deep inside he would end up with it.
"Don't worry Fox. Mine is right here I made that for you." She smiled seeing the vulpine was too shocked this time to push it back and that she was about the only one that could make him speechless so many times. "But how?" He had no idea how they were made. "Don't you need stuff from Cerinia?" "Yes but it was only a rare gem, I used a small amount from my staff. I know i won't have to use it again anyways with all this technology." He kept a slight smile but seeing that she took something from her's to make this one made him wish she never did it. "What are the downsides to your staff now?"He dared to ask knowing this couldn't get any better. He didn't want to take anything from her memories of life before Star Fox and that was the only item she had left other than her tribal attire. "The only downside is that it took away some of the energy of my staff. The energy mainly comes from the crystal, when you learn how to use the staff to its fullest you'll get more out of the crystal."
He sighed knowing the damage had still been done to her staff, but he knew he would cherish this item forever. "Atleast now you'll have something to remember me by." She smiled at him with that cute smile she normally shined at him. "I'll never need to remember you, you'll always be across the hall." He blushed and she instantly knew he didn't mean to actually say that. The vixen wanted to show the vulpine all of her emotions for him there but knew that she needed to wait atleast a little while longer, atleast until they actually started dating and the vulpine was too nervous and afraid of his team's reaction for that now but she knew they were getting closer as time went by.
The vulpine smiled and left the vixen with a kiss on the cheek. The rest of the team hadn't gotten Fox anything close to what Krystal had. New boots from Slippy that featured more gadgets for combat and provided less comfort, A joke gift from Falco a book on dating along with a new combat knife with the Star Fox logo on the blade. Peppy had gotten Fox an old picture of his father that he had dug up, making it a day of memories for the vulpine, the staff reminding him of Sauria and saving Krystal and the photo reminding him of his father who was always watching. He was worried on what his father would think of him at this point, knowing that he had gone slightly crazy over the vixen he had saved and not done many missions so far. His next big task was well on it's way, he just didn't know it.
Lodged between the two birthdays was the anniversary of Star Fox's creation, nothing special was normally done so this year the vulpine hadn't expected anything but this year was special, it was Star Fox's 15th anniversary. Even though Fox, Slippy and Falco weren't on the team then Slippy and Falco threw in to help make a nice dinner for everyone, Slippy actually cooked with Peppy while Falco did his best to set up a table for them. The vulpine was shocked at what the team had decided to do without him, once again he was talking to Krystal and not paying attention to the team's decision. Peppy and Slippy didn't mind but Falco ranted about how he had to work and Fox didn't for what seemed to be hours.
The group ate like it was Thanksgiving on that special occasion and the usual sober team did have something special to drink on that night as well.
The group had a mission the next day, luckily none of them drank much and they kept their calm when they heard the call to help a Cornerian Battle Ship. They flew into the joy of combat once again fighting off almost a hundred ships from a rebellion of the planet they had taken off from, Fortuna. The job was quick and easy for the team, it made the simulators look extremely challenging even though those barely made you break a sweat. When the team returned Falco saw something strange and went to check it out, the team thought he was crazy and let the avian have his little adventure.
Days passed Falco still hadn't returned so they went looking for him, with how he acted recently they were scared he might have bailed on the team once again. Falco tried to head back to The Great Fox a day after they left but found them long gone and off radar and went searching for them.
Soon the day Fox had looked forward to for the past two months had come, the perfect time to give Krystal her gift was now but he knew his gift wouldn't even come close to her's. "July 28th... Finally." The vulpine thought as he got up and dressed in his usual apparel, grabbing a jewelry box out of the closet and heading for Krystal's room.
Knocking on the door nervousness crept up his spine, Noone answered, he groaned loudly and knocked louder. He heard a faint whimpering and opened the door manually finding Krystal on the bed, her body twitching and she was having another vision. He sighed and sat down next to her trying his best to comfort her but it didn't help any.
Her vision was one she had once before, She didn't know what was happening but she felt anger, fear and sorrow from it. Soon she felt Fox's body next to her and snapped back into reality, clinging onto him instantly. "You okay?" He asked when he saw she was conscious. "Now I am" She replied warmly. "Here I got this for you." He said and she saw him pull out something from his pocket, a small box. He put the small jewelry box in her hand and she stared at it, almost seeming like she was trying to open it with her stare. It didn't work and the vulpine nudged her "Well open it." and he chuckled. She opened it and her mouth went wide agape.
"Fox.. I can't take this it must have cost a fortune.." She muttered he could barely hear her words. "Krystal, I took your's you take mine." He smiled at her, apparently their gift dilemma goes two ways. "Fox, this..This must've cost a fortune to get, you need to take this back." It was the expensive necklace he had seen, he couldn't resist but buy it for her. "Take it you deserve the best anyway." She blushed "B-But Fox, do you even know what these diamonds are?" He slightly chuckled again "No I'm not good with diamonds." "These are ancient diamonds from Cerinia.." He knew it matched her staff's glow and even screamed her type to him, he could atleast get that right. "With Cerinia destroyed these must cost a ton..." She thought aloud. The vulpine smiled and left the room quickly, tore the receipt and came back. She knew what he did and accepted his gift, thrilled as he was with his. "Do you like it though?" He asked when he came back in. "Honestly, I love it but I cant make you pay for it.. I mean you saved me for that money and now you spent it on me." He smiled knowing everything she had said was true but he didn't mind it at all. "I don't mind, you're more important than money... Plus the Lylat System will soon be on the brink of destruction again and we will get a hearty payment for it." She laughed hoping he wasn't serious, but he actually was. The vulpine could sense the danger coming before anything bad happened, two days before he had to go to Sauria he had started looking up where any disturbances had been and it pointed him to fly to Sauria in the first place.
Noone else had known about Krystal's birthday so the night went by quietly for Star Fox. They kept a constant lookout for Falco and flew to the furthest corners of Lylat. The rest of the team went to bed without satisfaction, Fox was proud that he had blown Krystal away with his gift and Krystal looked down at her new necklace remembering old memories of family members. She knew that Star Fox was her family now and was glad to be with every one of them.
Fox felt angered at himself for not telling anyone about Krystal's birthday but he was focused more on her than the team and he knew he had to stop that very soon, no matter how hard it was.
-Author's Note: I forgot to do Author's notes lately so I'll basically throw it all in here I know some might not like how i went forward in time but I have alot more ground to cover with alot more action upcoming. Already 2,500 hits on this story which might not be alot but I'm very very impressed with it and i hope atleast 1000 are enjoying it. Thank you all for reading and reviewing I'll keep writing and hopefully you'll enjoy what I have to come.-