Bonus Feature - Deleted Scenes
A/N: All right guys, like I promised, this is my deleted scenes chapter. If you just wanted to read the story itself, there's no need to check out this chapter...but if you'd like to see how this story developed in my head as I wrote it, feel free to look through here and see some of the text and ideas I've thrown away over the years. Some of it may be very surprising given how this story ended up in the end!
Chapter 4 – George betrays Wolf to the police
It was George holding the gun.
"What the hell…? Why?"
"I don't want to do this anymore Wolf." George simply answered.
"You don't have a choice. Not if you want to live free."
George called out to the people in the street. "Hey! Would all ya'll stop shooting? I caught one of the shooters!"
The guns went silent. Someone hollered back. "Who's that? Ross?"
"Not exactly! We're coming out," George yelled back. He turned to Wolf. "Okay. Turn around and walk towards the road."
"Have you gone insane? They're just going to lock you up with me!"
"Just do it."
"Why?"
"One of the wanted posters in the office had you on it." George pulled a folded up piece of paper out of his pocket with one hand, showing it to Wolf. "There's a special message here for Venomian soldiers. If I turn you in, me and Alvin can go free. We get amnesty for our crimes. We can start over. I don't want to become a criminal. I want to get a good job somewhere with my engineering degree."
~X~
A/N: So yeah...believe it or not, originally I was considering having George betray Wolf during the shootout in Ruvac. He would've been unable to deal with needing to kill to avoid capture, and decided he'd rather let himself be captured. Then Wolf would've had to kill George alongside the cops to avoid capture.
This is the most radical departure from what the final story ended up with, given how massively it would have altered the plot. I'm glad I decided to not do it in the end, given George is so central to this story, and it was fun for me to write him gradually getting braver and more confident over the course of the story, plus earning Wolf's respect.
Interesting thing though… Notice that this text still hints at what's George's ultimate fate is at the end of the actual story. Also, I had George reference this deleted scene in Chapter 20, where he admitted he was considering letting the police arrest them all.
Chapter 8 – Wolf watches Neko Sentai Kittehranger
He slept somewhat easier after that, with the bad dreams stopping after that.
"Oi, wake up sunshine," Wolf felt somebody patting him on the side, in a male voice.
Wolf opened his eye, spotting Alvin looking down at him. "Your turn at the helm."
"Already?" Wolf checked his watch. Sure enough it'd already been eight hours. Unbelievable how fast the time passed. "Okay then. Thanks Alvin."
Wolf slid out of his bag, standing up. Rachel murmured in her sleep as he moved away, but didn't get up otherwise. Wolf put his own sleeping bag over her so she'd have a little bit more heat retention.
Sliding into the pilot's chair, he checked where they were. Looked like they were still a good distance away from Fortuna. It was about the midway point of their trip in terms of distance, although they'd have to be more careful and move slower the closer they got to Katina…
The door slid open behind Wolf. Confused by who it was, he spotted Rachel there. She held a little holoplayer in her hands, which you could use to watch TV or movies. It was about the size of a CD player. It was one of the things she wanted to take with her from her house, plus some of her videos.
"Rachel? What are you doing here?"
"Well…I thought you might get a little bored, so I thought we could watch a little something."
Wolf didn't know what to make of this. It was probably something really kiddy. Then again he'd heard that show My Little Peony was pretty poplar these days, even with the adult crowd. Even if it was a show about talking flowers…
"So what is it?"
She laughed. "Well, I think I want it to be a surprise. I think you might like it."
Hmm…we'll see about that.
She set up the holoplayer on top of the instrument panel and slipped in a disc. A high energy song started up, colors flashing across the screen, before the title appeared on the screen:
Neko Sentai Kittehranger
Wolf scoffed. "What is this?"
"Shush!" Rachel hissed.
In various shots, five grown adults in colorful spandex jumped across the screen, battling strange creatures in a rock quarry. Or rather the strange creatures were all clearly just people in rubber suits. Every time one of the spandex guys did a jump, Wolf could see the wires. However the theme song kept belting out about how awesome the Kittehranger were, about how they fight for justice and crush evil and whatnot. Eventually each member of the Kittehranger team got their own still so you could see the actors out of suit. There was Lion Ranger, Tiger Ranger, Panther Ranger, Sand Ranger, and Snow Ranger. So apparently, a team of felid super heroes. The end of the intro cut to the team standing in a ridiculous group pose in front of a pyramid, before an explosion blew the pyramid to pieces behind them.
"Do they know how silly they look in all that spandex?" Wolf laughed.
"Oh, just watch it!"
As the theme song concluded, the show cut to a youth center (of all things) with the team just chilling around a table sipping on banana smoothies.
~X~
A/N: I completely forgot I wrote this until I looked through my deleted scenes document :P I remember now that I wanted to write an entire episode of this TV show while Wolf and Rachel watch, with both characters giving commentary. While I think that would've been funny, I remember I decided to not finish this scene because it didn't have anything to do with the rest of the story and it would've probably felt like filler. Oh well, it did give me the idea for HOSHI SENTAI KITSUNERANGER later.
Also, remember how Wolf mentioned Rachel had a My Little Peony backpack? Again, I was considering a scene where Wolf had to sit through an episode of that, but ended up not doing it for the same reasons. However, I did make notes for characters that would've been in this show, believe it or not:
Blaze – red – fiery personality
Festiva – white, with small red flecks, puffy and elaborate blooms
Coral – coral with yellow face – seems to have a dual personality
Majorie – pink- very eye catching – probably fits a Valley Girl stereotype
Halo – White petals with green accents – something of a cloudcuckoolander
Ascelepia – Unique dark violet peony jealous of the heroes because...reasons. She wants to take over the world, I guess.
Chapter 13 – Tadao sneaks around the Cornerian prison camp on Fortuna
Tadao grinned as he slipped through the encampment, moving low to the ground with speed and silence. At long last…after hiding in the jungle for so long, he was about to get back in the thick of things. He was going to meet Wolf O'Donnell today, and accompany him on a special mission…his lifelong dream!
A backpack was on his back, containing an essential tool for his part of the mission: a jammer, along with a remote control for it. His mission was to snip their hardline to their command post, and then plant this jammer in the vicinity of their communications post. The remote would be for when he'd switch it on later as they were escaping. Couldn't turn it on now, or the Cornerians would realize something was wrong once all of their communications gear quit working all at once. Also, cutting the hard line would put them on a timer too, considering it would only be a matter of time before they found his sabotage and raised the alert.
As he crept past a line of jeeps and a dark mechanic's hangar, he looked ahead. In front of him was a two-story prefabricated building, which was the outpost's operations center. He needed to slip in there and put this box in there.
Tadao crept around the back of the prefabricated building, finding himself next to the base's broadcast antennae and dishes. It was mounted on top of a trailer for easy repositioning. Slipping the jammer out of his pack, Tadao toggled a switch and slipped the metal box underneath the trailer, hiding it behind a tire where the wheel's shadow would conceal it from view. It wasn't much of a hiding spot, but if all went well it would only need to remain undetected for about fifteen minutes at most. They'd be long gone by then, and the Cornerians wouldn't figure out what happened until it was far too late to catch them. He checked the signal on his remote. Connection seemed to be good, everything in the green. Good. He'd finished his job. Time to make his way back to the spaceport, where hopefully the others would be waiting at the starship Momotarou captured.
He stood up, turning around…and spotted someone in the shadow of the operations center building, looking out from behind the corner right at him. The silhouette was unmistakably Cornerian, the figure having pointed canine ears and a fluffy tail, plus some of his uniform's details could be seen. He was watching the entire time Tadao put the jammer there. If I don't kill him now, he'll tell the others where the jammer is!
Tadao drew his machete out of its scabbard, charging the figure with his blade twinkling in the moonlight. Strangely, even though the soldier had a gun in his hands, he didn't fire. Instead he ducked back behind the building out of sight. Tadao tensed up. He's about to call the others! He sprinted around the corner, spotting the soldier still running away, fluffy gray tail flapping in the wind. The dog spared a glance back at him, a panicked look on his white muzzle jutting out from under the helmet's visor.
The iguana poured on the speed, trying to keep up, but the dog was just too fast. Two other dog soldiers walked out from behind a different prefabricated building, laughing and joking with each other as they did their patrols with rifle in hand. Tadao's heart stopped once he saw them. Weirdly, the guard he'd been chasing simply ran past them rather than calling for their help. They gave him a curious look, before they spotted Tadao. One of them pulled out his radio while the other one aimed his laser rifle in Tadao's general direction.
Tadao jumped behind a different building as red laser shots pinged off the surface. He pulled out the jammer's remote. No choice but to use this thing now. Here goes… He depressed the button.
~X~
A/N: So as you can see, I was originally thinking of writing Wolf's escape from the prison camp with Tadao's viewpoint. If I recall right, the reason I changed my mind was because I thought the chapter would flow better from Wolf's perspective, and Tadao showing up in the scene by surprise would've been a more fun and interesting way to introduce him in this part.
It's pretty common for me to change my mind on which character to tell the scene's perspective from like this, and sadly it does mean I have to throw out a lot of text like this.
Chapter 14 – Wolf almost kills Alvin in the bathroom
He needed to find somewhere quiet. Someplace he could stop and think. Unfortunately, everywhere they went they kept meeting his adoring fans. The Venomians they passed in the hallway still smiled or cheered when they saw him, some of them asking to shake his hand, but Wolf didn't even notice them, brushing past their outstretched hands. It all felt hollow now, knowing what he'd done to earn their praise. Knowing what had happened to Rachel because she'd had the misfortune of meeting him.
Frustrated, Wolf noticed a room marked '0213 STORAGE' and decided that sounded good enough a place to stop as any. He wrapped his hand around the door knob, and fortunately it opened right up, the room dark beyond, but with some shelves visible in the pool of light now leaking into the room from the door. Wolf flicked on a nearby switch, revealing rows of shelves stocked with miscellaneous boxes, herding Pigma inside. They stepped in without a word, Wolf shutting the door behind them, the hallway's sounds lessening to a more manageable din.
"The gorilla who brought Rachel here…Alvin. What happened to him?" Wolf asked.
"Oh, that guy?" Pigma smirked. "Bet he wishes he hadn't come here. They just made him a janitor." He let out an annoying laugh.
Wolf's face remained dead serious. "What part of the station would he be cleaning now?"
"Well, it's close to noon now. KP's usually cleaning the residential blocks' bathrooms around this time of day."
"Thank you." And with that, he stormed out of the storage room, back into the hallway.
Now he just needed to find out where the residential blocks were. Passing through the station's main atrium, he saw a map of the station pinned to one wall. He stopped to have a look at it.
Then someone grabbed their hand around his wrist. Snarling, he spun around…only to see George there instead.
"Wolf!" he said. "We've been looking all over for you!"
"Uh…?" Wolf mumbled. He'd been so surprised to see him there, his brain had to stop for a minute to process what he was seeing.
"We went to Jamal's office to find you again, but he told us Andrew took you to his penthouse to talk about something. What'd you two talk about?" Quint asked, moving up next to George.
Wolf's eyes hardened. He looked back at the map again, trying to locate the part of the station he was after. "Rachel…"
George's eyes widened. "So she is here?! Where is she?"
Wolf's ears drooped. Poor kid. He looked so happy right now, but the lupine was about to break his little heart, just like Wolf had his own little heart broken a few seconds ago… He let out a sigh, eye closed. "She's dead. Andrew had her executed."
"What?" Quint raised his eyebrow. "Why?"
"Andrew just said…he didn't want her anymore. Just had her thrown out of an airlock, like that!" Wolf waved his hand. "Just got rid of her like she was trash." His finger finally located the block he was after, Wolf quick to memorize the location. He turned away from the map, walking away from George.
"Where are you going now?" George asked.
"Alvin." Wolf turned to look at him. "He dies. Now."
George hurried to restrain Wolf. However, much like when they'd first met, Wolf easily shoved away George, pushing him back to where he fell to the floor.
That didn't slow him down for long though. Before he could get far, George was by his side, jogging to keep up with him. "Wolf, let it go!"
The lupine shoved him aside once again, as they kept walking down the hall. George was now jogging ahead of him, walking backwards so they were looking at each other as they went.
"This isn't going to bring Rachel back, Wolf! Let's just get out of here. There's nothing else to do."
Wolf slid up to a nearby elevator, punching a button to call it to him.
George slid up beside him, still yapping away. "You think you can just kill Alvin in the middle of this space station and get away with it?"
"Watch me."
"This is suicide, Wolf!"
"If you're so worried about it, then stay out of my way. You're a coward, after all."
"Excuse me? I saved your neck, Wolf! If it wasn't for me, you'd still be stuck in a Cornerian jail cell at the Boneyard!"
"I was about to get out on my own anyway."
"They would've seen you taking off and scrambled fighters if we hadn't been there!"
"The others did most of the work. You were just tagging along. And besides, you're too scared to kill. I know this. I remember what you were like back in the village."
George was aghast. "They were civilians, Wolf!"
"And they were between us and the things we needed to survive."
"I don't believe this… You're like your old self again."
Wolf turned to him, glaring at George. "What do you mean? Old self?"
"You had this look in your eye, when we had that first talk after we picked you up from Venom. You talked about killing civvies like it was no big deal, like it was just an everyday job for you. You have any idea how much that scared me?
"But then when you killed Rachel's father, you changed. I could tell. You didn't have an appetite for doing that kind of killing anymore. And Rachel, you gave everything you had to keep her safe, even though the old you would have probably just blown her up afar in your Wolfen like it was nothing."
Wolf glared at him, while George continued to talk. "Please, Wolf. I don't think Rachel would want this. Killing Alvin is not going to bring her back. It's just pointless killing, like what you did before. Please, you've learned. You've grown. You're better than that now. You don't need to do this!"
"I don't believe you…traitor."
"What?"
"You still think of Alvin as your friend, don't you?"
"What? No of course not! He threw us both under the bus together! You know that!"
"But you're still trying to protect him. Stopping me from doing what needs to be done."
"No!" George shook his head. "I'm just trying to say…this whole revenge thing. It's eating you up on the inside. I can tell. You're burning with this need for it, like you were burning with this need to get revenge on Star Fox when we first met!"
Wolf narrowed his eyes, grabbing George by the throat and slamming him into the wall. "You'd bring them up again too?"
George coughed, struggling to speak.
"Like I said. Alvin dies today, whether or not you like it. Your only choice here is whether or not you help me do it. Sounds like you've already made your decision though."
With a ding, the elevator arrived. Wolf tossed George to the floor, the monkey on the floor still grasping his neck and coughing. Meanwhile, Wolf stepped inside the elevator, looking down on George as the doors sealed shut.
A few minutes later, Wolf arrived in the residential blocks. It was quiet here at the moment, given it was the middle of the workday and most of the soldiers here would be off doing their jobs elsewhere. The perfect time for Wolf to kill and then slip away… The corridors flew past as Wolf hurried through them, trying to spot anyone he could find in a janitor's uniform.
He was about to turn a corner when he heard the clattering of wheels on the metal floor. Wolf slid up to the corner, peeking around. A gorilla in an orange uniform was pushing it along, stopping in front of one of the marked bathrooms.
Excited, Wolf grinned as he hurried over to the door to the bathroom. But then he realized he didn't have any weapons on him… Frowning, Wolf looked back at the cart. A mop was still sticking out of the bucket on the cart. Shrugging, he picked it up, wringing the water out before brandishing it like a bo staff. He supposed it would be enough. He probably didn't want to be shooting off guns anyway. Didn't want to put the station on alert or anything like that.
Slamming the cart aside, Wolf walked into the restroom. Tiles covered the floor and walls, a line of urinals to one side and stalls on the other. At the far end of the rectangular room, a gorilla in an orange uniform kneeled over a toilet, scrubbing it.
"Bathroom's closed," he muttered, not looking up. "Go away."
Alvin's voice. It was him.
Wolf smirked as he brandished the mop. He marched across the tiled floor, his footsteps echoing back. The man at the toilet stood up, turning around to face Wolf. The gorilla had an annoyed look on his face…right until he locked eyes with Wolf, his eyes going wide. Wolf brought the mop's handle crashing down on his head, the shaft splitting in two from the impact. Alvin collapsed to the floor like a ton of bricks, his head bouncing off the tiles once. After that Wolf grabbed him by the neck, hauling him off the floor and slamming him against one of the closed stall doors.
"Surprise!" Wolf laughed, picking up a shattered end of the handle and pointing the sharp broken end at his throat. "Bet you didn't think you'd ever see me again, huh prick? How 'bout I stick this into your neck right now?"
Blood dripped down the welt on his forehead, mixing with the tears escaping from Alvin's eyes.
"Are you crying? Seriously?" Wolf growled. "After everything you've done?" And then his smile returned. "Oh, I'm going to enjoy all the things I'm gonna do to you."
"Wolf!" George called out from the room's entrance. Despite Wolf choking him earlier, he'd recovered surprisingly quickly.
The lupine glared at his monkey companion.
"Wolf, please…" George cried. "You don't have to do this. Let's just get out of here…"
"It's not enough," Wolf growled. "He needs to suffer for what he's done to us. I nearly went to Cornerian prison because of this bastard."
"He betrayed me too but…" George frowned, looking at his old best friend. "Look, it's not going to undo what he's already done. It's enough, all right?"
Was he crazy? No it wasn't enough! Alvin wronged them. He needed to be given a corresponding punishment, ten times what he'd done to them. Wolf intended to make him suffer to the point where he'd be begging for a killing blow. Why couldn't George see that?
"You're scaring me Wolf…" George shook his head. "You're acting like you were when I first met you… When you wanted to kill everyone in Ruvac."
Ruvac… Wolf glared at him, his purple eye appraising the spider monkey who'd been his companion since the start of this journey. When they'd first met, Wolf slaughtered a village over canned food, a leather coat, and some other random nick nacks. He'd looked back on those events numerous times, having reflected upon them since he'd capped them off by killing Rachel's father, and felt saddened over how he'd acted.
But now… This feeling of wanting to kill Alvin. To kill Andrew. This feeling of wanting revenge…blood paid for blood… It was familiar. He'd felt this during the Lylat Wars, back when Fox shot him down the first time. It was raw, unadulterated hatred, the need to lash out at something and tear it down. It was the same feeling he'd had when plotting the cold-blooded murder of the people of Ruvac. While ashamed of his behavior before, now he let the same feelings he had back then wash over him, consume him…prep him for his confrontation with Alvin. He didn't care anymore.
He brought the splintered broom handle backwards, ready to thrust it straight into George's neck, make him die out from all the blood he'd be losing through the wound…
"Wolf! Stop!"
"Go away!" Wolf growled.
"Is that any way to greet your teammate?" a familiar, reptilian voice spoke up.
At first Wolf thought it was just George again…only to realize that voice a lot deeper, and familiar. Very familiar. He turned around, eyes widening as he saw who it was. Yellow slit eyes, a green triangular face, with a green scaly tail curled up behind. Leon. In the whole rush since he'd arrived at the station he'd forgotten he hadn't met Leon yet.
"Leon?" Wolf's eye widened.
Leon smirked. "I thought I might find you here."
He dropped Alvin, letting him slump to the floor. Leon spared a glance to the gorilla, deciding he wasn't a threat with how Wolf had damn near knocked him out with that blow to the head, and strode over to his teammate.
"Listen, why don't we go get a drink? We've got a lot of catching up to do."
Wolf looked back at Alvin. "But what about him?"
"Don't worry about him." Leon smirked. "He'll get what's coming to him eventually." He glared at George. "We might need to do something about him though…" Leon pulled a dagger.
"Stop!" Wolf cut him off, defending George.
Leon's slit eyes widened. "Do you even know who he is? Can we trust him?"
Wolf glanced back at George, then smirked at Leon. "I trust him with my life. He's already saved it a few times or two."
The chameleon looked over George with some skepticism. "Is that so?" He put away the knife, suddenly reaching out with his scaled hands. George winced, feeling Leon's practiced touch moving over George's body, examining his arms and chest tone. "Scrawny little thing, isn't he?" Leon looked back at Wolf. "You're not getting rusty, are you? Needing this guy at your back?"
"Hey!" George cried out. "You have any idea what I went through to get Wolf here?"
Wolf chuckled. "Hard as it is to believe, it's true."
Leon smiled. "Okay, I guess I'll take your word for it. You're the boss."
Within a few minutes they found their way to the Sargasso Station's bar, located right next to the mess hall and just off the station's central atrium. The place was a mess…smelling of cheap alcohol and hand-rolled cigarettes. Loud laughter and singing rang out from the soldiers already in there, puddles of drink and shards of glass scattered across the floor. By contrast, behind the bar all of the booze was in a barred case secured with a large padlock, a sober soldier with a blaster rifle standing nearby while a stone-faced monitor lizard manned the bar itself. They didn't seem to care about what was happening before them, so long as the booze behind them was secure.
Wolf approached the bar, reaching for his wallet…only to realize he didn't have it with him. It'd been amongst the personal effects he had taken away by the Cornerian soldiers. Sighing, he turned around, but then the monitor lizard called out to him.
"Ey, you Wolf?" he asked.
Wolf turned back around, nodding his head. The monitor lizard smiled, nodding to the guard. He quickly tapped in a code, reached inside for a white can simply labelled 'ALCOHOL' in black letters with serial numbers and barcodes next to it, and set it on the counter for him. So it was basically Venomian military-grade booze, manufactured very cheaply and in large quantities. Nowhere near as potent or rich in taste as the as stuff made by actual breweries back on Corneria, which Wolf dearly missed. He'd hoarded a couple cases for himself back on Venom, only taking them out for very special occasions and going above and beyond to avoid the cheap Venomian swill. Even so, that one can looked mighty tantalizing right now…
Wolf gently shook his head. "I got no money."
"Ah, don't worry about it," the lizard shrugged. "You've earned it." He shuffled two more cans to Leon and George. George grimaced, shaking his head no. Leon also rejected his.
Sighing, Wolf slid up to an empty bar stool, popping the can open and taking a few sips from it. God, this stuff tasted awful, but he needed it right now. Rachel was still dead after all... Leon slid into the seat next to Wolf, George sitting down next to the two of them.
"Is there something wrong?" Leon asked.
"It's a really long story…" Wolf scrunched his face up.
"I would imagine. It took you an awful long time to make it here. I was worried something happened to you."
Being Star Wolf's cold assassin and torture technician, Leon rarely showed concern like that for anybody else, so it felt weird hearing something like that come from his mouth. He must have really meant it to say something like that.
"I took some detours along the way, yeah…" Wolf nodded. "George helped."
"And I'm guessing you ran into a kitten along the way? Name's Rachel?"
"Yeah I did, and—" Wolf froze, staring Leon straight in the face. "Wait, how do you know that?"
"Psychic powers…" Leon waved his fingers in front of his Wolf's face, an amused look on his face.
"That's not funny." Wolf snarled. "I said…how do you know?"
Leon kept smiling away. "Andrew ordered me to kill her."
Oh god, the last person she met before she died was Leon? Granted, Wolf treasured Leon as a hyper reliable teammate, but he would never wish for any of his friends to die to him of all people… Wolf buried his face in his hands, ears curling back in despair.
"Cheer up," Leon chuckled, trying to lean in closer to Wolf's face.
Wolf shoved him away. "Leave me alone!"
"Wolf…I only said Andrew told me to kill her. Did I say I went through with it?"
The lupine's eyes widened, looking back up at his smiling friend. Leon grinned bigger, now that he noticed Wolf was picking up on what he was hinting. The chameleon glanced around the cafeteria, eyeing the other rowdy Venomians crowding the place. Even so, Wolf noticed distinctly that a few of them were staring right at them, no doubt due to their fame.
"Hmm… I don't think this is the best place to discuss a topic like this. Come with me to my quarters? George can come too, since you trust him."
~X~
A/N: The reasons I cut out Wolf beating up Alvin are complex.
The first time I wrote this part of the story, Wolf asked Jamal about Alvin right after arriving on the station, Wolf ran out to confront Alvin, and then he would've killed Alvin in the bathroom.
But then I changed my mind about Alvin dying, for two reasons. #1: I thought Wolf taking his revenge like this would clash with his character arc of becoming less of a villain and more of an anti-hero. #2: I wanted to save Alvin's death for Chapter 19, where George would kill him instead. Thought it would make for better dramatic punch.
However, keeping Alvin alive really threw a wrench in planning out this part of the story. I still wanted Wolf to fight Alvin, but I knew if they fought it would be to the death. Wolf would be after revenge after all, plus Wolf would know it would only cause problems if Alvin lived after the fight. Alvin might plan his own revenge plot (which did happen in the final product), or try to turn the station against Wolf.
So I then had to come up with a way for the fight to be stopped prematurely.
My first idea was for Jamal and Andrew to bring a group of soldiers into the bathroom to break up the fight. However, I figured if I did that, Andrew would then keep Wolf prisoner, and that would've caused more problems setting up other parts of the plot (like Leon telling Wolf about the coup, Wolf meeting Rachel again, and Wolf and Rachel trying to slip off the station).
So I did some more revision like you see here. I thought I could have George or Leon stop the fight, but then I thought "No, Wolf would still go for the kill." So then I scrapped this scene too, and I made my final choice where I had Leon interrupt Wolf before the fight even began. Eh...I still don't feel that satisfied with my decision, and I feel like I could've done better with this part.
Side note, but you can probably see this part of the story went through a lot of editing, given there were a lot of characters to manage on the Sargasso Station. I was playing around a lot with when and where Wolf would interact with certain characters. Like in the final product, it was Wolf and Pigma in the bar, and that happened before Wolf went to the bathroom to find Alvin instead of after.
Chapter 20 – Wolf admits he killed Rachel's father
"But, but I don't want to!" she cried. "You're a hero! You saved Katina!"
He gently tried to shake her off, so as not to hurt her, but she held fast. "Rachel, no…" Wolf crouched down, bringing his face to her level. "I'm not a hero. In fact I…" Wolf held his tongue. He didn't have to tell her this. If he kept silent about it she'd never know about what he'd done in that village. But even so, could he keep this secret within his heart for the rest of his life? Could his soul bear that burden? He looked into her eyes, unfocused but still intense, waiting for what he was going to say. No, I have to tell her. If I don't, I'll regret it for the rest of my life.
"Rachel…" He hesitated again. It was on the tip of his tongue, waiting to come out. "Rachel… I… I did it. I killed your dad." He looked up at Misty. "I killed Tyler."
Misty gasped behind her, putting hands to her mouth. Meanwhile, Rachel stared up at Wolf with those blind eyes, silent. Even though those eyes did not see, he could feel them piercing right through him, filling with realization, Wolf watching as her view of him changed in an instant, those eyes narrowing, somehow looking like they were peering right into his soul.
"You…you killer!"
She pulled out her claws, raking them across Wolf's uniform. Even with her small size and lack of strength, they easily ripped right through the fatigues he wore, burying down to the fur and skin underneath, leaving gashes upon his legs and torso. "Why did you kill him?!" she screamed. "I hate you Wolf! I hate you I hate you I hate you!
Wolf didn't even feel any pain, hardly noticed the blood dripping down underneath the inside of his clothes, staining his uniform crimson. He felt numb, not even looking at her as she went to work. The words she was saying hurt him far worse, as did Misty looking at him nearby.
The little girl eventually burned herself out, not having the energy to cut him anymore. The rage vanished from her, Rachel sniffling as she pulled her claws back in, sobbing with Wolf's blood on her fingertips now from what she's done
"Why?" she looked up at him, those blind eyes somehow more focused than even the most advanced space telescope. "Why did you kill him? Why did you kill everyone in the village? We weren't doing anything to you!"
He said nothing. What was there to say? That he used to be a bloodthirsty pirate who didn't care who got hurt or killed so long as he attained the wealth and power he wanted? That he didn't care about anyone but himself? He could give all kinds of explanations, tell them everything about himself and the person he used to be before he met Rachel, but doubted they would even be listening. It was an unprovoked murder, end of story, and nothing he could say would justify it. Tyler still wouldn't be coming back, as much as they all wished he could. What was done was done.
He turned his back on them, walking down the concrete pathway back towards the car. He opened the door, looking back at the two of them, just standing there staring at him, a mixture of shock and anger on both of their faces, Rachel bawling her eyes out while Misty tried to comfort her, giving Wolf a death glare. Her face… She wanted vengeance. He could see the way she kept looking at her blaster, stripped of its ammunition, wishing she could just gun him down right there on their front yard.
Wolf slipped inside the car, slamming the door shut, looking out the window one last time. He twisted the key, the electric engine humming to life, but Wolf didn't push down on the accelerator. He still found himself staring down Misty, the two of them with eyes affixed. They stayed like that for several minutes, neither of them moving, Wolf not sure about what he should do. Should he say something? What could even be said at this point? But he didn't want to just leave them like this…
"Misty…Rachel…" He fell silent. He doubted this would mean anything to them at this point, but decided he might as well say it. "Tyler didn't deserve what happened to him. Neither did any of those other people. I'm…" He shook his head. "I'm sorry…" He looked Misty square in the eyes.
He couldn't take it anymore, rolling up the window. He pushed down on the gas, the car smoothly gliding away from the curb and down the street. Wolf didn't look back, as their house faded from his mirror.
~X~
A/N: I mentioned before that I wrote the last two chapters of this story months before I posted them. This was what I originally had for Chapter 20. I'm glad I changed this now, after how you guys reacted to the final product. Several people mentioned in their reviews of Chapter 19 that Wolf shouldn't tell Rachel he killed her father right then and just let her figure it out on their own, and that's why I made the decision to save Wolf revealing this information to Rachel as an adult in the epilogue. In hindsight, I think it was for the best.
I could show the original version of the epilogue too, but I don't think it's different enough to justify showing it. The main differences are that George wasn't present for Rachel's graduation ceremony, and they didn't talk about her father's death (since they already got that out of the way in Chapter 20, after all).
Side note...I wanted to post this deleted scenes chapter at the same time as putting up a refreshed version of Chapter 1, actually showing the dogfight between Star Fox and Star Wolf, rather than just skipping to the end. However, it's been so long since I've posted something, I figured I should throw this out there, given I've had this deleted scenes chapter written for ages and I know I haven't updated in ages.
For whatever reason, it's been hard for me to get myself to sit down and write since this whole thing with the coronavirus started. I can't figure out why. Anyway though, maybe I'll get round to that refresh later, but I'm really trying hard to get the next Hazardous Contents chapter posted right now.
Anyway guys, that's everything I've got on Love is Blind now, so see you on my other stories! Maybe my Shoot the Tubes refresh will be the next fic I update alongside Hazardous Contents :)