The ending continues, as Fox meets someone else. Considering where the story's taken us so far, I'm pretty sure you can guess who's up in this chapter.

However, it's not exactly a reunion or special greeting type of chapter. Well, not for Fox, anyway, but you'll see in a bit. Enjoy!

...

Again, the figure took another step. He picked up his pace, but failed to take in his surroundings very well. Stumbling forward, the stranger picked himself back up and hurried towards the two.

"Gatekeeper!"

Fox's ears twitched from the shout, and he glanced up at the cloaked deer. "A friend of yours?"

"Not quite." He spotted Fox reach for his weapon, and quickly added, "Though not an enemy either."

"Ok." Fox lowered his hand as the newcomer approached. "So then…?"

"If I am not mistaken, he is actually here to meet you," revealed Milu.

"Oh, hello!" Fox waved to the hooded figure, and he stumbled to a halt. Studying the individual, he appeared to be Fox's height, but no other features were visible; even his eyes were covered by goggles, and a mask coated his mouth. "Who are you?"

"This is—"

"Mar…!" The hooded figure stared in Milu's direction, then to Fox. "Uh…Mar…"

"Mar-Mar?"

"N-no!" He shook his head, and tugged on his hood. "It's…Mars. Mars Mc, uh…McConnell."

"Mars McConnell?" Fox tilted his head and folded his arms. "Is that right?"

"W-what, is this a game prompt?" The figure nodded. "Yes, that's me."

"You seem unsure."

"And you seem persistent."

"Wary, rightfully so," defended Fox. "I don't know you yet."

"Funny word choice," murmured Mars.

"What does that mean?"

"He hails from a future time past your own," elucidated Milu.

"Hey!"

"That only reveals enough for him to understand," insisted Milu. He turned to Fox, who glared and opened his mouth. "It is not my place to reveal his identity. And, before you question it, no, I do not know him any more than that much." Milu waited as Fox relented, shutting his mouth and placed his hands on his hips. "I am sorry."

"Yeah, we've never met, so don't hate him for that," insisted Mars. He mirrored Fox's stance. "In fact, I haven't met either of you, I just…know of you both."

"Do you not have a device that cloaks your appearance?" Mars jumped at Milu's question. "Is that not part of your disguise?"

"It's busted! Can you please stop telling him need-to-know information?!"

"But even I do not know which is what," confessed Milu. "Care to explain?"

"I'm still kind of backed up on the 'future time past mine' bit," recalled Fox. "What does that mean, exactly?"

"Supposedly, I'm from the future, your future," revealed Mars. "Currently, as we're connected, that puts me on a direct course to cataclysm."

"Uh…what?"

"Seriously, I know you've watched movies about this stuff," contested Mars. "Don't act like it's out of nowhere."

"But you…my future?" Fox scratched his head. "Does that mean I know you after all?"

"No!" Mars cleared his throat. "No, we just…I'm from at least twenty or so years after. We've never, uh, met…um, personally, I just…know of you." Mars deflated and gazed down. "In my time, you're…even that might be too much to explain." He shook his head and slouched. "Just…look, I can't tell you a lot right now, or that distorts time before I'm ready." He picked himself back up. "But, I do need you, and your team, because you guys are Lylat's best chance at salvation."

"Way to set up the pressure, then," muttered Fox.

"Can't you just accept that and be happy I offered that much?"

"Not really."

"Well, too bad!" Mars shook his head and turned his attention to Milu. "I need your help too!"

"His team is priority," countered Milu. "I can only deal with so many anomalies at once, which…" He sighed and tapped his chin. "I am encountering quite a number of those today, it would seem."

"Wait, where is his team?" Throwing his fists up, Mars faced Milu. "They're not supposed to be in danger here!"

"They are merely misplaced, or displaced, whichever you prefer." Milu sighed. "You can spend more time yelling at each of us, or I can continue guiding him back to the others."

"…Sorry." Mars lowered his arms. "…To, uh, both of you."

"It's fine."

"Quite all right." Milu placed a hand on Fox's shoulder. "Shall we continue, then?"

"Right."

Milu guided Fox across the field, softly humming as he ventured on. Mars followed after the two, and studied Fox with renewed intensity. After glancing back a few times at the stranger, Fox's nerves got the best of him.

"Can I help you?"

"Yes!"

"With how you're looking at me, I mean."

"Oh! Uh…sorry." Mars turned away. "You're…kind of a legend by my time."

"Should you reveal that?"

"Aren't you basically a celebrity or something now?"

"Sometimes, I guess," determined Fox. "I kind of hate it."

"Really?"

"Maybe not hate, it's just…annoying." Fox folded his arms. "Why? Do I get vain later on or something?"

"Um…"

"Too much?"

"For now…" Mars sighed. "It's early yet, but I promise, I'll tell you everything." He gazed down at the grass. "My future is one that I want undone…"

"How bad does it get?"

"Every single day is a fight for survival…"

"Got it, apocalyptic bad." Fox nodded. "I'll do what I can to help fix it."

"What?" He glanced back at Mars's higher tone. "But…but you barely know me!"

"Do I need to know more?" Fox shrugged. "You sound like you need help, and you told me that you'll fill me in more later." He turned away. "Once I get my friends and figure out how to get back home, I'll do whatever I can."

"Just like that…?"

"Sure."

"Da…ah." Mars tightened his fists. "Thank you, um, Mister McCloud."

"Ugh, just call me Fox, please." Fox shuddered and forced a chuckle. "That was way too formal."

"Sorry, and thanks again, Fox."

"Of course."

"You two sound adorable," teased Milu.

"Shut up," snapped his guests simultaneously. They faced one another, laughed a bit, and returned to following their grinning guide.

The three approached a bridge of stones, and Milu crossed it, but seemed to search around the sky around him. Fox looked around as well, trying to find what Milu was looking for.

"Did you get lost?"

"Hm? Oh, no, just making sure that your friends are going the right way."

"Wait, what?"

"Each of them should be following a small flower that pestered them enough to lead them toward me," revealed Milu. "This next field here should have a few portals for you to choose from, leading you back to a planet in Lylat." He gazed back out at the sky. "Your Arwings should be somewhere here as well, but…I'm not quite sure where…"

"How do you know about my friends?"

"This is a meeting point of the realms across time and space," reminded Milu. "So, I should have knowledge on all of you, theoretically." He shrugged. "Not always, though, so I admit that even I can be surprised. Easily, I admit as well."

"But then…"

"Here should make a nice spot."

Milu ambled to the middle of the new field, and turned back to Fox and Mars. Quietly, they stared in awe.

...

Yes, Mars is Marcus, who was Vulpes before. You're welcome for making that needlessly confusing.

See, to keep with the whole "Marcus is anyone's kid in this story," I left his appearance still ambiguous. Some parts of this chapter and the last one were written a few years back, so it comes across as maybe a bit awkward, but I stuck with that much.

For the Fire Emblem reference here, "Mar-Mar" is a nickname used by the dragon girl Tiki for the first game's protagonist, Marth. Yes, the one from Smash. An older version of Tiki, when she returned in Fire Emblem: Awakening, is also found in Smash as an Assist Trophy.

But enough on that. Marcus time!

...

This chapter is particularly short since I split up the remains of the final chapter between the last one, this one, and the next one. This section was isolated so the audience could focus on the arrival of Fox's son.

Originally, however, Marcus wasn't supposed to arrive in the plot until much later on. He was supposed to make just a very quick cameo and basically run off from Fox, trying to keep most of the future information hidden. Since that's more or less still his objective, I kept that much in tact.

In spite of that, Marcus still slips up here, nearly calling Fox as "dad" and talking more than he probably should about the future. You might be wondering, "Well, why doesn't Marcus just tell everything now right away?" The thing is, he knows that Fox wasn't supposed to be in the Nexus at the same time he traveled there. So, he understands that his father is already going through an "information overload" just being in such a new place, as is Marcus himself. Dropping the whole, "I'm your future kid with one of your teammates, lol, hi," well...I wouldn't consider it the ideal time.

...

His fake name choice isn't particularly exciting, I suppose. Choosing "Mars" was just a three-in-one gag: it was a planet name, it was a name that meant "male" (since I didn't want Fox being like "but who's under the mask" that much), and based on the god of war (Greek version is Ares) since Marcus comes from a land of war. Also, Marcus is a derivative of or refers to Mars, if I'm not mistaken, so, bonus points!

The last name "McConnell" was from looking up names that were nearest to "McCloud," and this one happened to translate to "hound/wolf" combined with a meaning of "valor," so I figured that was more or less perfect. Plus, it kind of sounds like Wolf's last name (O'Donnell), thus relating to his relation from the future (made up wolf Ulrich), and thereby establishes a secondary connection for Marcus to the main cast and honors his dead (or "dead" maybe) friend. Double bonus points!

...

If you're curious about Marcus's interactions with Fox outside of this, he does have Fox in his life for some time, mirroring Fox's experiences with James and Vixy. Fox is the one who ends up dying earlier on, with his spouse as the survivor that continues to raise Marcus, though Fox himself has a considerably longer amount of time than his mother had with him. Never quite settled on numbers, but Fox would have died after Marcus was at least 10 (if not older).

Hence, Marcus has actual memories of his father, though not cleanly sorted through, and would have varied based on his partner and reader choice. The fun stuff I never reached, sadly. It would've been fun to reach the point where Marcus takes off his gear, and Fox sees basically himself, but with a different color for the fur. Ok, that and a few slight differences along with it, but he mostly would look like Fox Jr., to make it easy.

...

Milu sometimes travels outside of the Nexus, though not for very long periods of time. It's how he's able to gain knowledge of the worlds that he visits and studies, more or less. So, he has brief snippets of knowledge on what he sees, as well as what drops in on him. It's not a lot, but he retains what he can, and countless years of practice have made him adept at it.

So, he knows who Marcus is, but their personal encounters are rather limited, depending upon how the story goes. (I may have toyed around with Milu being a very late story recruit for Fox, and also maybe a romance option too, just for fun. Because I didn't overload myself enough, clearly.)

...

Anyway, that's more than enough on Marcus. Last chapter will be longer and put a little bow on the sloppy package. Thanks for coming this far!