Note:
Thank you, my dear readers, for following along and being patient with me. I was very nervous to write the wedding chapter, so I apologize that it has taken so long. I hope you enjoy.
"Orbiting close to the brown dwarf called Solar, Astropolis Station is the oldest continually occupied space station in Lylat. Although Corneria and Venom both began making space stations about two centuries before Astropolis was even conceived of, none of these stations lasted more than a few decades, and certainly none of the pieces survive to the present day.
Astropolis was not intended to become a permanent fixture of the Lylat system. It was originally constructed by Venom as a temporary fueling station for their first interstellar ships. At this time, it consisted of nothing but a ring of fuel tanks with four docking stations spaced evenly, rotated to provide artifical gravity (our modern system of gravity diffusion and confinement had not yet been developed.)
Only a few decades after it was constructed, Astropolis Station was the site of the infamous First Contact incident between Corneria and Venom. Although the Interstellar Accords resulting from the incident carved the Lylat Cluster into Venomian and Cornerian zones of influence, a useful exchange of ideas between the two worlds began almost immediatley.
Astropolis Station was rebuilt from its original tungsten framework to serve as a place of diplomacy between the two worlds, where disagreements could (hopefully) be settled free of distraction from the outside universe.
Unfortunately, although supposedly "intelligent" beings have proven more greedy and warlike than those original idealistic authors of the Interstellar Accords imagined, Astropolis Station has endured, changing hands between Corneria, Venom, and even Katina numerous times. It has survived attacks by kinetic weapons, gamma ray lasers, and even antimatter.
Today Astropolis Station is an independent political entity, with a population of twenty million people. It is self-sufficient in terms of food production, and gets most of its mineral resources from the handful of asteroids and comets that orbit Solar. It mostly exports specialized manufactured goods, and imports various chemicals which it cannot make on its own. It trades primarily with Katina, Macbeth, and Eladard. Astropolis Station still uses rotation to provide a comfortable gravity of 0.8 Cornerian standard acceleration, or 0.7 Venomian standard. Its inertia is so large that slowing it down to convert to modern gravity confinement would not be economical.
Now, let us examine the engineering which has made this all possible. The present day Astropolis Station is shaped like a cylinder, thirty kilometers long and five kilometers in radius. It is open on the ends, and features a large artificial light suspended at the center, powered by a dedicated fission reactor. The outer layer of this system is a framework of diamondoid members wrapped in graphene..."
- Excerpt from "History of Structural Engineering" by Ewe Arup
Fox awoke to the whirring of drills and the pounding of hammers. His eyes opened with an uncharacteristic flash of irritation. He sat up next to Wolf, who was somehow still snoring softly.
After a moment of indecision, he stood up and went out on his own to see what the noise was.
Fox rubbed his eyes, and his jaw dropped. At the center of the tent city, dozens of people were erecting a wooden stage with a podium at the front. There were giant pots of steaming food nearby, all attended to by a thin wolf and a hyperactive black cat, and even a band tuning their instruments.
At the edge of the chaos, Fox could make out Falco and Slippy talking to an imposing-looking tiger in a jade green suit.
Fox started running over to Falco, narrowly avoiding being knocked over by a giant green dragon carrying a stack of wooden boards.
Fox shot a look back at the dragon, but he just laughed and kept going.
"Hey, Fox, good morning!" Falco called over. "This is Mr. Ooshima..."
Fox huffed as he approached Falco, bowed briefly to the tiger, and immediately pulled the avian off to the side. Falco's eyes adopted a rare expression of wariness. He had to admit though, the jade suit looked very good on that tiger.
"Just...please explain," Fox asked, laughing when he saw Falco's countenance fall. "You obviously put a lot of thought into this."
"It's uh, for your wedding," Falco scratched his head. "We just figured we should do something nice."
Fox gulped and forced back a critical remark. Dammit, I can't believe Falco did all this planning without even mentioning it! I didn't really want to do anything special! Hm, that's probably why they didn't mention it, then.
Falco crossed his arms and leaned back on the tent. "I know it's partly selfish, but can't you let us have a celebration?"
Fox made a mock pensive expression and stretched his arms, noticing the tiger waiting patiently nearby with his book. Slippy had appeared next to the tiger as well, his big eyes darting between Fox and Falco.
"Of course! I mean, this is not what I was expecting, but I'm really touched. I couldn't have asked for more caring friends."
Falco and Slippy sighed and smiled. Seeing their relief, Fox extended his arms and joined the other two in a group hug.
"Okay," Fox began. "So, who is Mr. Ooshima?"
"Yes, right!" Falco snapped back to attention. "He'll be leading the ceremony. He's registered to perform marriges on Papetoon."
"Wonderful! It's a pleasure to meet you," Fox took the tiger's hand now, who gave a broad smile and returned the handshake.
"The pleasure is all mine," Ooshima replied. "I'll do my best. And don't worry, your friends planned out a nice, simple ceremony."
"Thank you, that's good to hear," Fox nodded. "Who's everyone else?"
Ooshima looked around. "Oh, that's Kouya and his band Musikus over there, and Shin and Shun are over there cooking. Tatsuki and his crew, Kyouji, Soutarou, and Juuichi are all building the stage. Kounosuke is somewhere, I'm sure."
"So you all know each other?" Fox asked.
"Yep, we grew up here, and we've all been friends since childhood!" Ooshima declared proudly. "And please, just call me Torahiko."
"Will do," Fox nodded. "So what is your normal job, then?"
"Oh, I run the Red Crane Inn, over downtown," Torahiko pointed, though they were too far away to see the city. "Uh, Tatsuki makes furniture. We've all got interesting jobs, I think."
"So I can't help but ask, what do you think about...well, everything?" Fox bounced on his feet. "I mean, between us coming down, wrecking Corneria's Space Force, declaring independence, and all."
Torahiko sighed and scratched his neck. "I dunno. I just hope you guys carry through."
Just at that moment, Fox felt arms wrap around him from behind. It was Wolf.
"What's going on here?" he asked, his voice still heavy from sleep. "Am I invited?"
"Apparently, Wolf, we're the main attraction," Fox laughed, and turned around so that he could hug Wolf properly.
"What!?" Wolf's eyes opened fully in surprise. "So you didn't do this? I was about to scold you for planning a big wedding! I didn't want to do anything special."
"Oh, Stars, you guys are impossible!" Falco groaned. "Slippy and I are just trying to do something fun."
"Oooh, I see," Wolf folded his arms, but somehow he appeared to shrink in front of Falco.
Fox's mind flashed for a moment to when Wolf and Falco first met. Surely they wouldn't tussle over something like this, right?
"Well, who am I to refuse a gift!?" Wolf patted Falco on the shoulder. "I'm honestly impressed! How much did you spend on all this?"
"We're not telling," Slippy shook his head definitively.
Out of curiosity, Fox pulled out his phone to check on Star Fox's various secret bank accounts, but found that there had been no recent transfers from them.
Slippy winked. "See? There's nothing to worry about."
Fox shook his head. "Alright, I won't ask."
"Great!" Falco and Slippy said together.
"Ahem," Torahiko cleared his throat. "Just so you two love-birds know, we chose to do a very simple, modern ceremony. I start the ceremony with a small reading from the Solar Analects, then you two do your vows, then we celebrate. Is there anything else you two would like to do?"
"I think I can handle that," Fox noddeed.
"You know on Venom, they'd break a wine glass after the vows," Wolf noted. "Can we do that?"
"What? Why?" Fox made a concerned expression.
"I see no harm in it," Torahiko affirmed. "Do you have one you want to use?"
"Actually yeah, I have one that should be perfect. I'll go dig it out," Wolf ran back to the tent.
"So what time are we actually doing this?" Fox asked.
"We were thinking around noon," Torahiko said. "So there's still plenty of time. And don't worry, my reading is very short."
"Okay," Fox leaned against a tree and sighed. "Sorry, I just..this still doesn't feel totally real yet. Am I supposed to get my own wine glass?"
Torahiko shrugged. "From what I know about Venomian weddings, they just break one together."
As it happened, Wolf came puffing back a few minutes later with a small crystalline wine glass, with a small yellow seal on the side.
"Oh, Wolf, that's surely too nice to break," Fox remarked.
"It'll be more meaningful this way," Wolf said. "It's not like I use it much."
"Great!" Torahiko exclaimed. "I don't think there's anything else you two have to do right now, except work on your vows if you don't have them."
Fox brushed back the unruly fur on his head with a hand. Heck, what am I gonna say? What does Wolf plan to say?
"Yeah, let's work on that," Fox agreed.
"Good, since I have no idea what to say!" Wolf exclaimed. "Do you have any templates?"
"I do actually," Torahiko answered. "But frankly I wouldn't use them. Surely you of all people can come up with something better."
"Hm," Wolf grabbed Fox's arm and began walking off. "Let's get to work then. See you in a bit!"
Fox look flustered, but he waved back and followed after Wolf.
After a few minutes, they found a small patch of short, soft grass where they could talk.
"I really don't know what to say," Fox lay down on the grass and crossed his arms. "I'm afraid that somehow this will end up on the news channels everywhere, and everything will be taken as a political statement."
"Hm," Wolf sighed. He sat down cross-legged and grabbed a clump of grass to weave together. "Maybe we can spin that to our advantage. What if we were making a political speech to the whole Cluster? What would that look like?"
"I mean, there's the obvious stuff," Fox spread out his arms and waved them around on the grass.
"Like, 'War is bad.' and 'Being gay isn't a genetic disorder.' But people have been saying that for centuries, and we haven't made any progress."
Wolf continued his weaving. "That's true, but isn't it better that at least those people stood up? Even if they failed, they tried."
"I guess," Fox's hand encountered a flower. He considered plucking it to look at the petals, but thought better of it, and left it alone. "It's just depressing how there's been no progress. Who's to say we can make a difference?"
"Oh, we probably won't," Wolf finished his weaving, and placed the circle of grass on Fox's chest. "But isn't it something you want to do anyway? I'm honestly surprised you're not lecturing me about this."
Fox laughed. Maybe that was true. I'm supposed be the more optimistic and idealistic one, right? I guess it's not true.
"Eh, it's that Cornerian pragmatism, you know," Wolf lay down on the grass now, while Fox sat up.
"Cornerians are always focused on the results. That's why you conquered the stars first. Venomians focus on why they want to do something, and worry about the results later."
"But you're from Macbeth," Fox pointed out. "What's your characterisitc?"
Wolf smiled. "We do things in order to not piss off Venom, of course!"
Fox shook his head. "Haha, right, sorry."
"No, don't worry," Wolf assured him. "I certainly don't mind pissing off Venom anymore."
"Good!" Fox exclaimed. "I'm still not sure what we should say."
"Maybe we can just make it up then," Wolf suggested. "Then it'll be authentic, right?"
Fox gulped. "I don't know, I might choke up."
"Aw," Wolf sat up and wrapped his arms around Fox. "I might too. I'm sure they'd understand."
"Thanks," Fox sighed. "Hey look, there's clouds on the horizon!"
"Huh, so there are," Wolf looked over and saw an ensemble of big, puffy clouds marching closer ever so slowly. "I think those are the first clouds I've seen on Papetoon. Are these unusual?"
"Yeah, you only see clouds like that a few times a year," Fox confirmed. "Even the weather control satellites don't get it right all the time."
"Ha, just our luck," Wolf shook his head. "I hope it doesn't rain on us."
"No, that would be wonderful!" Fox stood, and pulled Wolf up with him. "Rain is very special here."
"Huh, interesting." Wolf said. "Venom is rainy all the time."
"I promise if it does rain, it'll be fun," Fox grabbed Wolf's hand again and began walking over to a hill. "You'll see. We can go see the clouds better up on that hill, and see when Torahiko and his friends are ready."
"Sounds good to me," Wolf replied, and the two climbed up the hill together.
"So, what does breaking the glass mean?" Fox asked. "Do they do it on Macbeth too?"
He was stretched out on the branch of an old oak tree, close to the ground. Wolf was sitting against the trunk of a tall pine tree.
"Yeah, they do," Wolf threw the cone to the side. "Every region has its own explanation for why, and I don't even remembe them all."
"What do you remember?" Fox continued.
"Hm, one explanation was about having restraint, even in your greatest moments of joy. Another was about how if you break something, like a marriage, you can't ever make it like it was before. Another is about remembering the destruction of an ancient city on Venom."
"That's kinda depressing," Fox twiddled his fingers. "Are you sure you want to do this?"
"Yes. It's important to me. " Wolf spoke firmly.
"Is there a particular explanation you want to use?" Fox continued, now fascinated and concerned.
"There is," Wolf affirmed. "My one friend on Venom told me, when she got married."
"What is it?" Fox looked intently at Wolf. There was still so much about him he didn't know.
"They took the pieces from their broken glass and made a small mosaic. Their explanation was to show how even if something is destroyed, it can find a new purpose."
"So that's one of a few nice memories from Venom, yeah?" Fox mused. I was really fortunate to have Dad, then, wasn't I?
"Pretty much, yep," Wolf was pick at a clump of pine needles on a branch.
"I'm sorry about that, Wolf," Fox went over and grabbed Wolf's hand. "You went through a lot that I'm sure I'll never understand."
"It's okay," Wolf shrugged. "It's what we're doing now, right? Taking the pieces of the past and making something beautiful."
"You really have a way with words," Fox stroked Wolf's ears.
"You help a lot," Wolf give Fox a quick kiss, and Fox pulled Wolf back to the branch where he had been laying before.
After a few hours of relaxing in the trees on the hill, they saw that everything looked ready.
"I'll race you back!" Wolf declared, jumping down across the hill.
"Haha, fine then!" Fox answered, who leapt out of his branch in the tree and began bounding towards Wolf.
By the time the two had reached the tents, the two were both neck-to-neck and completely out of breath.
"Hey, finally, you're back!" Falco exclaimed. "Did you two write a speech or something? Anyway, we're all ready."
"You'll see," Fox replied. He looked around, and saw that all of the two thousand or so soldiers had arranged themselves around the small stage, either sitting on the ground, or on makeshift platforms on the tents.
"Wow, is this everyone?" Wolf asked. "I wasn't sure if anyone actually wanted to watch."
"Of course they do!" Slippy came up, and handed Fox and Wolf cups of water. "It's kind of a historic event."
"Oh, thanks," Fox and Wolf replied, each taking a cup and gulping down the water.
"It is funny," Falco noted. "Who knew that Fox would be the first of us to get married?"
"Haha, clearly I was a bad influence," Wolf suggested. Everybody burst into laughter.
At that moment, a note from Kouya's guitar alterted everyone that they were ready to begin.
"Hello everyone!" Torahiko's booming voice filled the air. He waved over to Fox and Wolf, who made their way next to Torahiko on the stage. Kouya and his band were off to the side, while Shin, Shun, and the rest sat guarding several long tables overflowing with food. Fox was struck all of a sudden by the sea of faces around him, of all different colors, ages and species. They had all decided to wear their gray Cornerian uniforms, but many had scratched out or written over Corneria's seal. They had all been united originally by that seal.
I was sad to think about now, but there was a time when Fox would have seen them as no more than a mass of uniforms. Just a bunch of suits to help out in a mission, just cannon fodder.
He hoped that he would never have to think that way again. Now he could see all of them for the shining individual lives that they were. A twitch from Wolf suggested to him that he was on a similar line of thought.
"We're here today to celebrate the union between Fox McCloud and Wolf O'Donnell. I suppose they don't need introduction."
A wave of soft laughter.
"Still, this a historic event. The Hero of Corneria and the Scourge of Venom are uniting in the eternal bond of love. Surely this proves that love can overcome all boundaries."
Torahiko coughed, "We can only hope that the worlds they hail from will be as wise. To celebrate the occasion, I've decied to read a piece from the Great Master's Solar Analects."
Kouya's playing morphed into an ancient tune, one appropriate for reading poetry.
Torahiko looked up and noticed that the clouds were now above them. They were thick, gray clouds, and looked as if they were painted onto the sky, rather than floating. He cleared his throat.
Fox looked over at Wolf and gave a big, dumb smile. Wolf smiled back, just as big and goofy.
"At the age of 20, I felt love for the first time.
At 25, we were together under the law.
At 30, we each knew where we stood.
At 40, we finally had no more doubts.
At 50, we knew each other's will like our own.
At 60, our minds were fully attuned.
At 70, we followed our hearts' desires, truly as one.
You ask, how can it take so long?
But surely knowing the soul of another must take a lifetime."
Wolf had to admit, he was struck by the frankness and sincerity of those words. Perhaps the old Cornerian philosophers weren't so full of nonsense after all.
"Now, Wolf has requested that we add a Venomian tradition to the ceremony," Torahiko's voice brought Wolf back to the moment.
"The breaking of a glass. Can you tell us what it means, Wolf?"
Wolf cleared his throat.
"Oh, yes, uh, this is something we do on Venom and Macbeth after the vows. Every region has its own explanation, but mine is that even when something is broken, it can still find a new purpose, and it can still be beautiful."
A round of polite claps from the soldiers. Falco and Slippy, though, looked to be literally on the edge of their seats.
"So Fox," he turned and took his companion's hands, "I..."
Wolf took a deep breath.
"I promise that I'll follow you to the ends of the Universe. Nothing will come between us."
Fox resisted the temptation to cover his eyes. He knew he was probably crying, but he didn't care.
"Good, because I promise I will never let you go. Forever and always." He hugged Wolf as tightly as he could, trying to feel every strand of fur, to know every curve and fold of the skin.
Wild cheers erupted around them.
"Now," Torahiko continued unfazed, "Let's break the glass."
Fox uncurled himself from Wolf. Torahiko held up the glass, then presented it to Wolf, who wrapped it in a white cloth.
The two of them put their heels on the glass together.
"Ready?" Wolf asked.
Just then, there was a crack of thunder, and a flash of lightning that briefly dyed the world blue.
There was a collective gasp from the soldiers. Kouya and his band stopped playing their melodic background music.
"Quick, go!" Torahiko exclaimed, covering his book with a plastic bag.
Fox and Wolf stamped their feet, and the glass broke. They were sure nobody had heard it, as the rain had started to fall in great sheets.
Wolf looked up and extended his hand, as if to catch the falling drops. They were much larger than the raindrops on Venom, and fell more slowly. It lacked the sharpness and intensity of Venomian rain, but was perhaps more pleasant overall.
All of the Papetoonites seemed entranced. Shin and Shun had seemingly forgotten about their food, and had joined Kouya's band. They were all waving their arms and singing nonsensically, as if enthralled by a water spirit. Tatsuki and his crew had summoned firecrackers out of nowhere and fired them off with quickly, suffusing the rain with a surreal array of colors. Even Fox had seeming lost his mind, and was dancing uninhibited in the new mud.
Despite all this, an orderly line of soldiers had formed, and was distributing food quite effectively. Fortunately, nobody seemed to mind getting wet, though it was all the more incentive to eat quickly. Wolf went over to Falco and Slippy, who were also in line to get food.
"Come on Wolf, let's go!" Fox yelled. "It's actually raining!"
Wolf handed Fox a plate of food. "What's going on?"
"I told you, rain is important," Fox replied. "So, we try to celebrate it!"
As if on cue, they heard a sequence of cheers and fireworks from the city.
"See, we're so lucky!" Fox added.
Wolf shook his head. "Alright, let's go."
Some hours later, Fox and Wolf sunk into their bed, entirely drained.
"Did you see Torahiko?" Wolf asked. "He's such a refined person, but he was like a maniac at the end. There wasn't even any alcohol!"
"That's just how it is," Fox replied, peeling off his soaking clothes.
"Well, I'm glad I got to experience it," Wolf peeled off his clothes as well, and wrapped himself in a big towel. "Hm, I think I'm just going to sleep like this."
"Good idea," Fox nodded. "Would you hand me one?"
"Sure," Wolf threw the towel so that it approximately wrapped around Fox.
"Good throw, Wolf."
"Thanks," Wolf yawned.
"So, it's real now." Fox wrapped the towel around himself the rest of the way.
"Yep."
"You know, we don't even have rings or anything."
"Why don't we use some fragments from the glass?" Wolf suggested.
"That would be perfect."
"Yeah, it would."
Fox yawned. "Okay, let's sleep. Love you."
Wolf set his still-towel-wrapped body next to Fox. "Love you too."