Chapter -39-
Home Is Where The Heart Was

Cerinia

The pressurization warning light flashed three times, and then the ramp to the cargo bay of the shuttle opened with a hiss, then it moved on hinges, smooth and quick to the ground.

Fox turned to Krystal and placed his paws on her shoulders. He rested his forehead against hers. Their HAE suit's force field created a slightly distorted effect when mixing with the matched frequency of her suit's field.

She lifted a paw and placed it on the vest he wore overtop of his clothes. "You're sure this wearable battery pack will last? I know you feel confident about it, but … I suppose I just need to hear it."

Fox nodded, causing his forehead to rub against hers. "Newest technology available. The Cornerian military designed it to go inside the exclusion zone and secure whatever was left of the old base. There are physical printed documents in some of the underground areas, and the military needed to have all classified material secured or shredded. These were invented to protect people from radiation. The suit filters your carbon dioxide through the shoulder pad on the left, and into the unit on your back, then oxygen comes out of your right shoulder pad. The torso covering section is all battery tech."

"I'm sensing from you that Slippy made modifications to these?"

Fox drew his head back and met her gaze. "Yeah. It takes static electricity from rubbing against her clothing, it takes capacitive electricity from touching us, and it takes kinetic energy from us walking around in them, and it continuously charges the batteries. In theory, the twelve-hour battery time could be used to sleep in it. Anyhow, I know we're supposed to be in a hurry, but right now Marcus has formed some sort of …détente with those Locust things. We have enough time for you to find some closure, all right? We have enough time to gather your belongings and make some repairs to the world … to set up a beacon that will reach out to any Cerinian survivors. All right?"

Krystal nodded. She drew back from him, gave his vest a firm pad, then exhaled. "Why does your voice sound slightly different?"

Fox shrugged. "Slippy explained it, but I was getting ready and only partially listening. Basically, the field these vests generate create a self-contained atmosphere around your body. It regulates temperature and all that stuff. But it also keeps soundwaves from escaping. So, these things are designed so that when you speak to me, the force field vibrates…? Wait, no … resonates … that's the word. The force field resonates putting out recreated sound waves that match the ones made on the inside of the field. But they're not an exact recreation, so the voice will sound a little distorted. Wild, right?"

"But soundwaves can pass from the outside to the inside with no issue?"

"Right. The field can be set to block soundwaves, light frequencies, certain types of air, certain molecules, other fields … but we're both using the same frequency, so by default, we can pass through each other's field and touch."

"Ta, love. All right, then. Let's not tarry about. If we have some time to ourselves, here, then let's make the most of it, yeah?"

"And there it is." Fox grinned.

"Mm?"

"Being home brought it out of you."

"Oh! Too right, it did. Caught it right off the bat, you did. Brilliant, love. C'mon. Let's get moving."

"It's your home world. You take point."

"On me, then."

Fox followed her out onto the rooftop and took a moment to look around. The city was nothing like he'd seen before. And, yet, the building they landed upon resembled something from Lylat, with a white marble-like dome at the top center.

But beyond the building, the city was a grid of mathematical patterns. Fox drew his small binoculars and gazed out into the morning sunlight.

Fox zoomed in on one of the street groupings roughly two miles out. "I feel like I've seen this shape before. Whatever it is that your street layout is using, I recognize it."

"It's called a fractal pattern," she replied. "And what you're saying is not a collection of 'streets' the way Corneria has. For starters, we used teleportation pads for local movement, and we used shuttles for going from city to city."

"No cars at all?"

"No. The infrastructure we had for land-based vehicles was phased out about eight hundred years ago. The last roads in existence from around that period have a strip of magnets in them for magnetic levitation."

"How did you have enough magnetic rare elements to build streets?"

"All our resources came from several resource planets further out in the star system. Back then, those vehicles floated on the magnets beneath the streets, which were actually paved in grass. However, as I said, that was eight centuries ago."

"Damn. What came next?"

"Our ancestors invented hovercars that no longer operated with magnetic levitation. No need for roads, only walkways. My people moved about above the city, and we never looked back to the old ways."

"Wow. That's pretty awesome."

"I wouldn't know."

"But…"

Krystal cut him off with a shrug. "No buts, love. That was long before I was born. Around two centuries ago, we stopped using vehicles that congested a city. We found a way to teleport reliably with minimal energy cost, and from that point on, we used localized teleportation, capable of sending a person roughly two thousand Papetoon Standard 'feet' at a time."

"Holy smokes, for real? You've never told me much about this place, but it sounds really badass."

"Heh. It didn't take long to install infrastructure designed for people who wanted to walk across town in ten minutes time. We would walk from one hub to the next, and it helped us to cross town quickly."

"Will the teleportation pads still operate? Sauria is the only world where I experienced teleportation first hand, and it was awesome."

Krystal stared at the dome in front of her. "No. Our power generation facilities were designed to go into standby mode without constant monitoring."

"They're in standby?"

"I assume, yes. They were … they're nothing like Corneria fusion reactors."

"Okay, should we get one operating?"

"That's why we've landed here. Back to that in a minute. They are very complicated, but self-sustaining and low maintenance. Each facility had a tiny star at the heart of its core."

"Whoa, a star?"

"Yes, a star, but on a micro level. Its output powered an entire region. But a miniature suspended star generates enormous heat, so constant monitoring was important. It was monitored by computer, but without a small group of people to monitor and study the health of the power core, it was designed to go into standby status. Therefore, all powered places are … or should be currently disabled at this time."

"How would we access such a facility? You mentioned about landing here. Is it far to walk?"

"People who worked at these facilities were fitted for a subcutaneous badge, which they would wave in front of a sensor. For the sake of safety, the badge would automatically go 'out of date' after not being used for a while."

"Is there a 'but' coming?"

"Yeah, love. But … I was the daughter of the two highest ranking people on this continent. I was sixteen revolutions in age when I left Cerinia, which put me in my twenties by Cornerian years. I felt like an adult, but I was just a rubbish little twonk."

"I don't know what that means, Krystal, but your tone suggests…"

"I look back on when I left Cerinia … my mentality. I was just a stupid child. I held my chin up like an adult, whilst fulfilling my obligations to my family and my world, but I was just a scared little bint." She cringed, adding, "I shouldn't use that word. It's an awful word. I'm sorry. I'm really trying to get a handle on my emotions, love. Let's go have a shufti; see if my access really has a lifetime expiration. I've toured power facilities before, but … I've never used my access to … explore. Unfettered access came at the cost of responsibility, answering to a committee, and ensuring the people their trust in me was well deserved. But, on a world of telepaths, trust came easier than it does for Cornerians."

"Fair enough. So, you were a pretty big deal, huh?"

"I was. I disliked it at times. Was a lot of pressure; it's where my brandings come from. But, like I said, that sort of unrestricted power came from trust, after displaying responsibility with it. I guess … now is as good of a time as any to try and see if my access still works."

Fox nodded. "All right, how far away is the power facility?"

Krystal replied with a wry smile. "We're about a half-mile above it."

"Really? Your civilization put a miniature star at the center of a huge city?"

"On purpose, to prove the technology was safe. This was the first one of its kind built for our power needs. It was created about sixty years before I was born. Many more were constructed since then, and not a single one of them has exploded. They don't 'go super critical' like a Cornerian power reactor. It's already at its hottest temperature. The container, should it fail, would release the star … the power core … which would burn out and die in the facility that houses the core."

Fox rubbed his face. "A micro star beneath a city. That is scary, not gonna lie."

Krystal nodded in understanding. "There was a group of people who were trying to convince the population that our power core technology could be turned into small blackholes and weaponized, but they never were. The half-life of one of these mini stars was estimated at about two billion years. So, in theory, two billion years from now, the core would still be at fifty percent capacity."

"What happens if a power core expands, like a Red Giant or something?"

Krystal shrugged. "Once the star was to be replaced by something newer, or if it ever showed any signs of instability, the plan was to put the power core through a controlled 'burn out' then the mass would be deconstructed and recycled in some way. I don't understand the science behind it. It was maintained by geniuses, who were incentivized to stay responsible with the technology."

"That's … really fascinating. Uh. So, you brought us here to turn on the power?"

"Yes. After that, maybe I'll be … emotionally ready to look at what I've abandoned."

"Krystal…"

She stole a glance at the morning light passing over the frosted fractal layout of her home city, then she cut her gaze back to Fox. "There, love. I saw'r it. Now, let's have a gander, and see if I can reset the power, or if we'll need Slippy's help, yeah?"

Fox gestured for her to lead the way.

"Ta." She took a deep breath and walked to the dome, made her way around to the other side of it, and pressed inward on what appeared to be a door.

"Where's the knob?" asked Fox.

"Doorknobs are an alien concept to me, love. Always have been, I just never made a fuss about it." She pressed forward, causing the door to move inward, then it simply slid open to the right. "I'd never seen hinged doors and knobs until I saw'r 'ouses in Lylat. Our doors sit on tracks with a curve, so that you press on them, then they roll open into the door pocket, in the wall. No power required. Great for shouldering them open when you 'ave your hands full."

"What if they're locked? Wait, how do you lock them?"

"That part is like Cornerian technology, love. You insert a key, give it a turn, and a hook-shaped deadbolt drops down and catches a reinforced pocket in the doorframe to hold it shut."

"What if your house is on fire and you're trapped? You wouldn't be able to kick that kind of door open."

Krystal nodded in agreement. "Our emergency services had a simplistic shaped tool, very flat, for wedging the door molding and frame, then the emergency responder simply lifted the tool, pushing the tumbler up, out of the locking pocket. And the frame molding wasn't destroyed because the door wasn't kicked open. All very low-tech, but effective."

"All right. Different, but … neat."

"Mm…"

"What about protecting from break-ins?"

"We had simple chain-style secondary and tertiary locks, just like Corneria, but … break-ins? I mean, really?"

"You … didn't have burglars?"

"Oi, love … as a telepathic and empathic race, we had a different level of empathy, and nearly non-existent crime of that sort." She gestured to the open rooftop door and withdrew a flashlight from her gear pack. "Welcome to the Senate Legislative building where my mother 'n father met."

Fox nodded, sort of remembering that she mentioned something about them being senators in the past. "Senators, huh?"

"Well, yes, but not when they first met. Back then, they were both royalty for their respective nation."

Fox swallowed. "Wait, they were both royalty?"

Krystal nodded. "They were in an arranged marriage by their parents who sought to unify the two largest nations on this world, bringing all its people under one monarchy. Well, that part worked, but both of my parents were advocates of change. They were disinterested in monarchy rule, and the marriage arrangement turned out to end both kingdoms."

"Holy … smokes. I mean, what do I even say to that? I know you've mentioned bits and pieces of your past, but you've never really been one to talk about it."

"Because I also don't believe in monarchies, Fox. Like my parents, I believe in the power of an educated people making informed decisions."

"I'm sorry I keep asking all the questions, but … now that you're here, you seem more … willing to talk about your past, and I … guess I'm just really interested to know the genealogical history of my son, you know?"

She offered a soft smile. "That's because you've grown up since we first met, love. All right, what else do you want to know?"

"How … much did your parents change things?"

"They changed things dramatically. There were thoughts of political assassinations, but no one ever acted on their initial anger, thankfully." She shined the light in through the door, leading to a maintenance stairwell. "They married in this building before it was the Senate Building. Their marriage, as expected by my grandparents, brokered a peace between the north and south hemispheres. It was an arranged marriage, like I said earlier. The combined kingdom made up seventy percent of Cerinia's total population."

"Damn, so literally everyone knew who you were, because of that."

"Quite right they did. Shortly after the marriage, my parents realized they had an enormous number of things in common, including their political beliefs. They believed in a different way to run the world. Neither of them believed in monarchy government running the people. They both felt that people, as a whole, will always know their needs better than any ruler. My parents both believed in the concept of elected officials, but that sort of thing was unheard of to our kind at the time."

"So, they were pioneers."

"My parents were trend-setters, yes. They were married at sixteen. They used their monarchy power to restructure the class systems, they reached out to other nations and built trade agreements, and planted the seeds to change the government to become an election-based form of government. They did all these things when they were younger than I am, now."

"That's a rapid change for an entire civilization used to something else."

"Quite right. They penned a concept very similar to the Cornerian Constitution, but not nearly as elegantly presented. Just the same, my parents made many enemies of the rich. But, the rich adapted and prospered under the new rules, so the anger only lasted the first few years."

"Yeah? I take it the threats calmed down."

"No threats, just thoughts of hatred that disappeared once the world economy boomed. But it was a trying first few years. My parents coined what became the slogan of our nation – 'The government cannot govern without consent of the governed.' My parents arranged for people to vote on academics, five years at a time, to represent each area, until we had a series of local governments that worked to handle small 'state issues' and reported to larger upper-tier government officials, which served as the voice of their region's people. The global senate came together to legislate as a group over Cerinia's needs, while the local governments worked out trade agreements between localized regions, and handled their own affairs. My parents were not loved by the monarch families of Cerinia, although the people of most nations did vote in their known monarchs for the first five years the new government was in place. However, my parents were elected consistently up until Cerinia was destroyed. In fact, they were adored by the people, who finally had a say. Nearly all Cerinians of all the planet's nations saw my parents as 'heroes.' So I grew up into that."

"Wow. So, the generation before you went through a pretty serious transition."

"We did. I was seen as a … princess of Cerinia, because I was the daughter of the rulers of the two largest provinces; their combined rulership accounted for seventy percent of Cerinia's population, as I said earlier. But they believed in democracy, so I was never an actual monarch; people simply treated me as the child of monarchs that they loved. It was … very stressful at times. I had a spotlight on me and people thought I was being given special treatment, like when the oracle stopped doing meets with people, but then she reached out to me on my birthday, after having stopped. Little did I know it was because she saw my future would continue after the planet's demise."

"I can't imagine." He fished out his flashlight. "Let's head inside."

"Too right, love. Sorry. I should be taking point, but here I am standing out here like I'm bloody scared to walk through that door and face what I've abandoned … like, somehow, losing an entire race was a problem to run away from. I'm ashamed, really. I'll try to be more professional."

"You have done nothing wrong, there's no need to apologize."

"Thank you, Fox. But at any time, I could have come back with a space suit and a shovel and given my parents and siblings a bloody burial."

Fox pursed his lips together, not knowing what to say.

"Do you know what happens to a body when you're in space? Those who died in the streets, or huddled in these buildings … the oxygen, fungi and such, they typically help with decomposition, but not at negative two hundred degrees Celsius. The bloody sunrise will warm up this planet soon … and then what? Are there any insects or fungi left to aid with decomposition? Only the bacteria natural to our bodies. Those who made it to shelters, their bacteria would lead to putrefaction. But up on the surface…? Did it become cold instantly? Did the atmosphere dissolve? If so, the low pressure would initially boil off the water left in the bodies, halting biological processes, and what little water was left would freeze. Either way sounds absolutely horrible, and I left my parents and my siblings here to undergo this, without a proper burial. An awful way to die, especially if they starved in a bunker."

"Krystal…"

"I know they're dead. We saw them. Years ago, when the Krazoa spirits helped us to reunite, and we spoke to our parents. And now, their remains are here, and…"

Fox took Krystal by the shoulders and turned her to face him, standing in the doorway to the Senate Building's rooftop maintenance entrance. He brought his paws to either side of her face, so that their eyes met.

Krystal became quiet and simply stared at his face. Her eyes glistened with tears.

"You're right. We saw our parents. Did they express any ill will toward you? Any at all? Did they tell you they were upset you left their bodies behind to save your life? Did they even once mention, 'you should have buried us instead of hunting a murderer on Kew,' because I don't recall them saying it in front of me."

"No, Fox. They said no such thing."

"If it really upset them, they would have told you, right? Or you would have sensed if they were disappointed in any way, right?"

Krystal bit her lower lip.

"Did they, even one time, bring up anything about returning to Cerinia?"

"No. You were there, they didn't have anything but love and…" She trailed off.

"The reason you're upset is because you're afraid of finding their remains. Had you come back here instead of hunting Octoman on Kew, you'd still have had this same reaction, and been upset about not coming back sooner. But what if you had? What if you came back even sooner? Do you know how many billions of people, across multiple planets, all around Lylat, would have died from the Aparoids or the Anglars?"

Her eyes lowered, staring at the red cloth peeking out from the collar of the battery vest overtop of his clothing. "You would have found a way to defeat them."

"The Aparoids, maybe. I can think of a few times where we needed your insight to handle the Queen, but the Anglars? You knew the location of that device on Titania. You. Whether you told me or whether you told Star Wolf, the fact remains, no one could have fought the Anglar Emperor under the Venom Seas without having the acidic content removed from the water. You shared that information, because you were the only one that learned of its location. You saved Lylat. Without you, my home world would be dead. My body would be drifting in the vacuum of space, frozen. One side of me would be warmed by the light of Lylat's Star, but that would just accelerate the water loss, and I'd be a dry husk. Eventually, I'd be caught in a planet's gravity, and I'd burn away to ashes during atmospheric reentry. Okay? My belt buckle would be slag, and hit the surface as a piece of molten gold. That's it. That's all that would remain."

Krystal visibly flinched. She cringed at the visual.

"See? I can do it too. I can use my imagination to paint a horrible picture. But instead of doing that, let's focus on the job. We can't change our past, but I appreciate all the decisions you made. Because, not only did you save my team and my home from the Anglars, you were in the right place at the right time to save me from Octoman, when I crashed on Kew. So. Let's take a moment, get at ourselves, and save what's left of your world. Your people were a space-faring race, and there are bound to be survivors, Krystal. That's just … numbers. That's just math. Your people are telepathic and highly adaptable. Someone, somewhere, found another world, or they grouped together, and they have endured, but they have also survived. I'm sure of it."

Tears slipped down Krystal's face, matting her facial fur.

Fox took a deep breath, released her cheeks, and exhaled.

"You've come a long way as a man, Fox McCloud."

The comment caught him off guard. "I, uh … I'm fifty-five years old, I guess it was bound to happen, eventually."

She raised her arms and draped them over his shoulders, around his neck, and pushed her face into his chest. "I'm just terrified of finding the body of Kurisutaru and Marcus, huddled together, powerless and flash-frozen."

He simply held her.

She spoke in a muffled voice. "I'm forty-eight, going on forty-nine soon, and I don't even remember what my Cerinian age would be. How could I have let myself forgotten that? How could I just … block it out?"

He gently soothed her by whispering into her ear. "Shh, shh, don't be angry with yourself, Krystal. You're the strongest woman I know … the strongest person I know. I don't know that I could have survived what you endured. If my world was destroyed … my system was gone … and I somehow wound up on Cerinia, I would have lost my shit. I would have had a moment of weakness one night, drank in memory of my team, and all that I've lost, and had a fatal moment of weakness."

She drew her head back from him and stared in his face. "How can you think that about yourself?"

"I sulked for a decade about the loss of Fara, thinking I caused her death. What would I have done if everything and everyone I knew had died the same way? How much more self-loathing could I survive if my attempt at saving Lylat failed so badly that the entire system was dead? If I went through the same thing as you, I probably wouldn't have survived."

Krystal reached up and slapped him across his face.

Fox gawked. He blinked twice in silence.

"You would not have taken your own life."

"Krystal…"

"All you've known, your entire life is loss. You've been trained since the day Andross took your mother in how to handle loss. How to compartmentalize it. How to find new meaning and a new mission. If our roles were reversed, you would have found me, and we might have saved Cerinia … likely from the Locusts, as I now know we were targeted by them."

"Yeah, but it seems they became distracted with the intent to return later, and never did. And…"

"Stay on topic. Look at me, Fox."

He met her gaze. "I can count on a single paw how many times I've made you mad enough to slap me in the face…"

"Mm-hmm. Never suggest you would take your own life. Ever. I'm the telepath. I see into your heart, your mind, and your soul. I've shared a space in the spirit realm with you, through the Krazoa. We shared dreams when Andrew hooked us up in that bloody machine, back in that lab, shortly before you had your shoulder damaged."

"Yeah, when I thought you died because I couldn't hold onto you when the flood waters washed you right out of that Landmaster cockpit."

"Did you kill yourself then? No. You searched for me. You and your team. You … and our team. Fox, you are an expert on handling loss. You are the only man that knows how I feel, because you've gone through it. Not all at once, but just the same, wars and enemies have taken from you, stripped you down, and every time you have stood back up and faced it with an inner resolve that I've never felt from anyone else."

"Yeah, but … you lost your entire race."

"I didn't know every member of my race. I only mourned the people whose deaths were personal to me."

"But it's like losing every cousin and every … Krystal, your entire race."

"And as it turns out, I'm compatible to have children with you. As it turns out, the Krazoa made all of us. So, no, I haven't lost my entire race, just my people. I'm not alone. I have made a family. You gave me the most important gift ever…"

"Star … Marcus, I mean."

Krystal cupped his face, gently rubbing her thumb over his cheek, where she'd slapped him earlier. Her expressive eyes apologized without a word. "Fox, you have given me another Cerinian. You have given my people a future. And if there are survivors? Fine. But until I see them, I cannot assume they exist. And you gave me the gift of Cerinia's future … our son. Our beautiful baby boy. And now? Now he's grown into a fine man, with a child of his own on the way. The first of three, if things happen the way it was prophesized. And all three will have strong, happy, healthy families. And, yes, one will die saving the lives of everyone in Lylat, but even so, their legacy will be secured by the time that happens. And all because you did the one thing Panther Caruso is incapable of doing – you grew up and became the man I needed in my life. A man I know very well. A man I know better than he knows himself. A man who would never give up on life, knowing there's still things in this universe that need fighting against, and people who need fighting for."

Fox smiled softly. "You think pretty highly of me."

"Yes, I do. And you should as well."

"So … I'm better than the 'lady's man,' huh?"

Krystal scoffed. "He's not as much of a lady's man as you might think."

"Well, he got you. He's got Miyu interested, now. I'm surprised he hasn't hit on Fara."

"Fox, he's not the Casanova that people think he is. Miyu was only his second lover, and that one-night stand was before he and I dated. He's very confident, but he's not as experienced as he wants people to believe."

"Wait, seriously?"

Krystal nodded firmly. "Very, very seriously. That nonsense about giving up Pigma on Fichina, because he 'couldn't resist' my 'beauty,' or whatever? Yeah. He was obsessed with women, that doesn't mean he had much experience with women. One does not simply throw information at random women unless they are that desperate to know what it's like to be with a woman."

"You're telling me that cat's bite was all … meowing?"

Krystal smirked. "Poor Miyu is enthralled with him because she thinks he doesn't remember her, because he is that big of a celebrity. But she gave him a night he never forgot, and has chased for many years since. Being back with her, but in an official capacity, has him radiating with nervousness. He wants to live up to whatever she thinks about him, so he is, at best, a 'try hard.'"

Fox laughed. "All this time, I thought he was a Casanova."

"He wishes he was. He's had as many official girlfriends as Slippy: two. You've beat him in that department, but I'm glad you are mine, now. As much as I dislike the idea of you with anyone but me, I am glad we took the path of steppingstones that led to us having the marriage we now have. I wouldn't trade that for anything."

"Watch out, now, you're going to swell my ego. Not only do you make me feel like a hero, but it's also nice to have such a beautiful trophy wife on my arm. But you're a lot more than a trophy. You're also a multi-tool, a switchblade, and a self-cleaning blaster. This isn't … I'm not trying to compare you to a tool. I'm the one sounding like a tool, right now, heh. I'm trying to say that you're as resourceful as you are useful, and as powerful as you are beautiful."

She grinned, letting him over-explain himself. She loved that about him, because it was always done with such sweet intentions. She gave his muzzle a gentle pat with a smile and a wink.

"And for the record, earlier, I wasn't exactly suggesting suicide. I was just saying, like, if the situations were reversed, I could never be as strong or as courageous as you, Krystal."

"You're stronger than you think about yourself. Like I said, we've been married long enough that I'd like to think I know you better than you know yourself. And, Fox, you would never take the coward's way out, unless you did it to save the lives of innocent people. Because you aren't just a hero, you're my hero."

"You know, I think I put you into 'fix it' mode … by even suggesting I'd be capable of suicide."

She took a step back, then a slow smile spread across her face. "Yes, I suppose you did. I'm … really … really sorry I slapped you."

"I'm sorry I put you in the position where I needed to be slapped, so I could get my head out of my ass."

"See? That's why we are perfect together. We helped one another to remove our heads from our asses."

Fox chuckled with a shake of his head. "God, that sounded so wrong."

"Too right, it did. All right, you. We have each other and we can do this. We can fix Cerinia, find this device, and take it to save Lylat: Our home."

Fox nodded with a slight grin. "So … team McCloud?"

She hugged him. "Yes, of course. We are a team. We always will be. Star Fox is your squadron, but you and I? We're a team."

He hugged her back, then he kissed her softly. "It's good to see you out of your funk."

"I can't promise I won't have an emotional moment in the hours or even days again of us, but … thank you for putting me back in the mood to fix things."

"Thanks for trusting me enough to share your … you know … your deepest frustrations and stuff. Thanks for trusting me with your heart and all that. I sound sappy saying this stuff, but … you know what I mean."

"Sappy isn't bad. But if you want, we can keep it just between us. Besides, I kind of like being the only one that gets to see this side of you. The vulnerable squishy side."

Fox grinned with a hint of blush causing his cheeks to feel tight. "Yeah, yeah. You're the only one that gets to see it." He took a step back and gestured for the open door leading into the Senate Building. "Ladies first."

"On me, love. Let's find this damned thing and do what we do best – save Lylat."

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Author's Notes: WOW! THREE REVIEWS. I had to ask because I finished Reflections of Peppy this year and have hardly had anyone comment on it. And Reflections of Regret … kind of the same thing. And Reflections of Fate has been posted from start to finish, months ago, and doesn't even have double-digits reviews yet, lmao. So, I was just making sure I still have readers. Thanks, gang. OKAY!

The next chapter will be where we dive into Cerinia. I mean, Krystal really needed to get some things off her shoulders first. It can't be easy going back to your home after a few billion of your kind died. And putting Fox into 'fix it mode' on an emotional level has helped him return the favor, because she's drawing off him telepathically for emotional support, so to speak.

Anyway, I wrote this one pretty quick. I couldn't just have her return home and act like it didn't affect her, so THIS chapter HAD TO happen first. Now, to descend into the depths of her doomed home world.