Author's note: Long chapter this time! Thanks for waiting y'all, and enjoy! I'm gonna take a little breather on how much writing and editing at night I've been doing.
Star Fox: Horizon Zenith
Chapter 5: Merging Timelines, or How I Forgot to Pay my Insurance Bill This Century
"Fosyyyy, playtime is over, come get your dinner!"
"Fosy, look! I fixed up Mr. Sargasso for you!"
"Fosy, always remember, mommy loves you..."
A flood of memories poured out from Fox's most guarded mental vaults as he stood aghast in front of his Arwing. Once he was told the all-clear, he raced back to the hanger with his priorities confused. Should he go check on his mate? Does he try to figure out who was on the radio that reminded him of his mother? Who was the wingman of Wolf? Once he landed down in the hanger, he leaped out of his Arwing to see the Wolfens had also landed inside, with one of the canopies already opening.
And a wholly familiar and unfamiliar sight jumped out of the Wolfen.
It had to be more than 20 years since Fox had last seen her, and his memory of her was already hazy, to begin with. But everything in his mind screamed that the older vixen in front of him was his late mother, Vixy Reinhard, somehow alive.
The rational part of his brain whirred, trying desperately to find a reason why a dead woman was somehow alive. It noticed the attire of his mom: on top of an olive shirt and around the waist of some utility jeans, Vixy was wearing a stolen Venomian foot soldier's shoulder harness and holster, though no pistol was in the holster itself. Her neck was covered in a dark greyish shemagh, a soldier's scarf, and to complete the look she wore combat boots that also looked like it was taken from Venomian soldiers.
Before Fox could say anything, his mother spoke up. "In all my years, after all the pain and suffering that's come, I never thought this would ever happen... Fosy?"
Tears welled up in both Fox and Vixy's eyes, as they started walking towards each other, arms outstretched to—.
*PRANG!*
Fox's head swam, understanding the fact that something metal just hit him from the right and sent him down on the ground, but it wasn't registering the pain or any reactive response. He then felt something pull him back upright and dragged to a hard wall behind him as images of a grey she-wolf with one eye began to grow clearer.
"HOW. IN DE BLAZIN FOEHCK. ARE YOU ALIVE!?" a voice rang in his ears. At that point, the pain started to register, and Fox snarled in response to whatever hit him and wildly threw a punch in his front general direction. He felt a sharp pain in his chest and saw a knee lodged right underneath his ribs before the pain sent him to the ground.
His ears rang in discomfort as his body tried to process what was going on before he saw from his peripheral vision the she-wolf suddenly getting dragged back by her shoulders.
"Hey hey hey, calm the hell down!"
"Get ahff o' me you gahddamn, you… what?!"
"Get away from my son!"
Voices to the left of Fox felt loud, but somehow also distant. Another set of sounds emanated from the right, sounding like footsteps landing down, and within the pain, Fox tried to turn and look up to see who it was.
He saw herself. He, or rather she, was mad at the she-wolf, and Fox felt an eerie deja-vu in her expression.
"Yeesh, you're worse than my Wolf and this guy's Wolf! You end up killing your Vixen or something?" another female voice echoed, and Fox swore it came from his body double above him. Now the immediate pain was starting to subside, only aching in flares. He still didn't have enough wind to stand up yet but was now knowing more of his surroundings.
Knowing, but certainly not understanding.
"Fox!" someone else yelled, and Fox saw a blue feathered hand lift him from his chest. He felt his body lift on its own before his mind could understand it was standing up like he was a puppet on strings. "Hey, buddy, look at me! You alright?"
"Ye-yeah. Yeah, I'm fine," Fox responded. The aches were still there, but the ringing in his ears had stopped. His eyes blinked a few times before turning to the person who gave him the ache in the face.
A stray memory of the past events crossed his mind, and he snarled at the offending she-wolf, held up by her shoulders by Wolf and his mom. The she-wolf looked mortified, but Fox noticed her eyes trailed his right, not himself.
"Where's Krystal? What did you do to her?!" he demanded. He expected a rise or a snarl back as a reaction, but all he got was a whimper at his right. He glanced to see just his crewmate, Falco, who crossed his arms and just glared at the she-wolf.
"Guess she ended up more than a handful. I told you she was trouble, Fox!" Falco said.
"Fox!"
Fox turned to the entrance of the hanger to see Slippy and Krystal running to him. Krystal looked okay, but Slippy had a few noticeable bruises pocketing his face.
Krystal ran up to Fox, embracing him before hearing his pained breathing, and stood back to see him clutch both his head and the area where the knee hit him. He heard a "Krystal?" from a feminine voice but couldn't tell who it was.
"What is wrong with you!" Slippy yelled, running instead up to the she-wolf, still being held back by Wolf and Vixy. "We were just trying to help you, and you just... Attacked us!"
Fox suddenly felt no pain as his mind blanked for a few moments before it refocused itself. He knowingly looked at Krystal, who snarled at the mental images of the previous moments before she came, and she turned to their attacker. "Hold her still, I'll figure out who she is."
Krystal took a few steps forward before she fell to her knees, suddenly screaming in pain as she clutched her head. "Like 'ell you're gahnna read me! Sahmeone tell me what de foehck is goin ahn!" the she-wolf yelled, now struggling out of her captor's grips.
She managed to forcefully shove Vixy off of her, and she turned to Wolf before spinning around and using the momentum to throw Wolf off her. The lupine merc lost his grip but managed to stay standing as he quickly squared up to the she-wolf, holding his fists close to his chest in a fighting stance. The she-wolf did the same, copying his stance and leg shifts move for move.
To Fox, it was like an almost mirrored battle, two wolves in purple jackets and black flight suits going hand to hand with each other, with the only differences being a very small height disadvantage from the she-wolf compared to Wolf, along with the she-wolf's appearance of her mohawk ponytail now unstrung to have her hair flow down behind her working eye. The she-wolf also had her right hand glint in the hanger's light, and that was how Fox noticed her prosthetic robotic hand.
That explains why he heard a metal bang when she hit him.
That same metal hand went first, trying to go for a right hook towards Wolf's left hip. O'Donnell reflected it by using his left arm's wrist armor to shove the fist away just in time, before throwing his right jab right at his opponent's face. The she-wolf pulled his trick by using her left arm's wrist armor to deflect the fist.
They both squared up again, shifting clockwise to each other and breathing heavily before the she-wolf used her left arm to grab Wolf by his right shoulder, trying to dig her claws in the jacket. Before she could fully reach in, Wolf caught her wrist with his right arm and twisted his body to attempt to throw his opponent over him. It worked, but the she-wolf easily flipped over him and landed on her feet, using the momentum to send a right uppercut deep into his ribs.
Wolf snarled and yelped at the immense pain, but somehow managed to bear it as he lifted his right leg and kicked out at the she-wolf's hips, knocking her down onto the ground with a loud yip. At that moment, Vixy came between the two, holding up one arm each at the wolves to separate them.
"Stop! Wolf, please, we said we can help her!"
"Well she started it by attacking me! What kinda help you call that?!"
"Ahh go foehck yooehrself wit a prahtahn messile oehp yooehr ass! Sahme bloody 'elp you are!"
"Everyone calm down, now!" Vixy yelled out forcefully with a snarl, in a tone befitting one of a very angry mother. Fox felt his tail instinctually tuck down, and he noticed the two wolves also stick their tails immediately between their legs. Falco and Slippy flinched back in surprise, and Krystal flinched upright as if she was called to attention like a soldier. "Wolf, I told you to not pull any stunts and to let me handle things. You!" Vixy turned to the she-wolf, pointing a finger at her, "We are here to help you, but you need to cut the fish out of water bullshit if you want to not get your ass knocked down again. Am I clear!?"
The deafening silence from everybody answered her back. Vixy breathed through her nose loudly, before pulling down her own snarl as she offered a hand to the she-wolf. She accepted the hand, shakily standing back up, staring at Wolf in front of her. For his part, Wolf waved her off, walking to Vixy while trying to rub the spot where the fist hit him.
"She better not have broken any ribs. I hope you know what you're doing, Vixy, because you and Vix are the pup's problem now, not mine," he said, before turning his back towards both of them and then started to walk towards his Wolfen.
Once he took a few steps, Vixy walked up quickly toward him and grabbed his shoulder. "Hold on there, space cowboy. Before you go on your revenge scheme, let's see if this girl has anything to say about where she's from. Might even give you a lead on where to look, if you're wanting to do this alone like an idiot instead of with a team like my son's."
Fox's ears perked up, his mind noticing that they were now talking about him. "I ain't staying anymore than I have to with Fox, I told you what he and I have. But, fine, if you want me to stay just for the whole theory spiel you got, I'll stick around to hear any ideas."
Wolf pointed a finger at Vixy. "But as soon as you're done, I'm gone."
Wolf resumed walking, now heading towards the entrance of the hanger back into the Great Fox 2. He stopped mid-stride after he noticed everyone watching him, and snarled. "Oi! Get your team together, Fox, and come on. You want answers, we got a few. Let's not waste any more time than we need to."
The command room was specially designed for Star Fox's needs. Specially in this case meaning only about 5 seats were available at the center table, with 5 terminals each. Fox sat at one chair with Krystal standing next to him, Falco took the one next to him with Slippy by his side. The she-wolf took her own spot, while Wolf and Vixy took the remaining seats.
"Where's that old rabbit you keep about?" Wolf asked.
"Peppy's in the medical ward. He went under when we got hit with the EMP, but luckily we managed to resuscitate him. Should be awake any moment now," Fox replied. "And he's not that old, he's about just a few years your senior!"
"You calling me old, Fox? Last I checked you're about to hit your thirties yourself, you ain't getting younger," Wolf remarked.
Fox could sense the lupine was trying to get under his skin, as he always did, so he tried to wave it off by focusing on the topic. A few clicking noises made him look toward Falco's direction.
The mystery teammate, and the one that gave Fox the biggest deja-vu of his life, stood behind Falco and worked on an outside terminal away from the group. While only a minuscule bit taller than Fox, the other vixen of the group stood out by how much she copied Fox's attire down to the sewn patches of his symbol on his jacket's back. Unlike the she-wolf to Wolf's mirror, however, there was a marked contrast in build with the vixen. Not that her broader shoulders and large arms didn't mean she was dainty, but her clothes held a more curved athletic figure, especially with her chest area being more pronounced than the she-wolf.
Honestly, if he imagined the vixen the same blue color as his mate, Fox could see her as some rowdy twin of Krystal's.
"Okay, so, before we start with mom and Wolf's copy, who's mine?" Fox asked.
"Yellowwww," the vixen remarked. "Name's Vixen. Vixen McCloud. My father is dead."
Fox flinched back, both at the remark and at the thought of someone naming their vixen, Vixen. Considering his name though, this wasn't the pot calling the kettle black, this was the pot making a Ph.D. dissertation on the various colors of the kettle.
"My mother is also dead too until I randomly met her again just a day ago," Vixen nodded towards Vixy. "When Andross tried to conquer the Lylat, I stopped him. When Sauria was getting torn apart by General Scales, I stopped him and killed off a resurrected Andross while finding the love of my life. Then I lost my Great Fox but managed by the canines of my teeth to stop the Aparoids from consuming the universe. You get where I'm going here?"
To Fox, it felt like he was being mocked for all he had done in the Lylat. But somewhere in his mind, he half felt that it was true. He just needed to make sure of his working theory.
"So, you're saying you've done all the things I've done—"
"So that's how you knew about Katt!" Falco interjected in. "You fought in the Lylat Wars too?"
Vixen's face furrowed as she glared in half anger and confusion. "No, you dummy, I'm the one that leads Star Fox in my timeline. We're all from different timelines."
The Star Fox team flinched or gasped in surprise. Fox himself could hardly believe it, but the addition of his supposedly dead mother thrown into the mix fit as an almost perfect puzzle piece into the answer. Now they had even more questions.
"But then, how did you get here? And why'd you stay with Wolf of all people?!" Fox asked.
Vixen shrugged her shoulders. "Don't ask me bro, I don't remember doing anything else except just taking my Arwing for a spin outside Corneria City," she said, making a point to point behind her with a thumb to the outside airspace.
"Got it hooked up with a new AI that could help with the ailerons. It was feeling jittery after the Aparoids a year ago, so I was testing it out when the sky itself cracked like it was a glass pane. I got electrocuted hard from something either inside the cockpit or outside, and I woke up in the Sargasso Space Station," she explained.
Vixen then raised her arms, "I thought Wolf had his goons take me, but only he showed up and asked me what was my story. I asked him after he saved us from the Aparoids his next action was to kidnap me? And apparently, that spooked him, because he never said to anyone that it was Wolf who saved us right before the end, only that they helped in the war. That was something between him and me. Or, I guess..." Vixen hesitated, circling her hand between Fox and his rival, "Him and you."
Wolf nodded to the story, before speaking up his side. "You know that big EMP blast that brought little miss me over here?" he pointed at the she-wolf, who glared in response. "Had two of them right near Sargasso. Wormholes, we think. Knocked out everything and everyone who didn't get to a spacesuit in time. A few of us got some backup generators working for the more armored sections of the station, but..."
Wolf heaved a long sigh while putting a hand to his forehead, and Fox sensed a level of exhaustion far beyond what he thought Wolf could ever feel. "Leon's dead. Panther too. Probably no more than 10 of us from Sargasso are alive."
The Star Fox team took the news with varying opinions. Sargasso had been a pain in the Lylat for years, and now it was all but destroyed. Usually, it would be cause for celebration, but their respect for Wolf coupled with how the station was eerily silenced gave them uneasy feelings.
"Poor Panther. The cat didn't deserve it," Krystal said in her mind, telepathically opening a link to Fox.
"What? Don't tell me you actually liked that guy. You remember how he tried to cat-call you in the middle of a battle?" Fox replied.
"He was a romantic, some women are all for those types. But he got spaced, Fox. He and Leon, and everyone else on Sargasso. No one deserves to die like that. We almost followed them too..."
His feelings on Panther aside, he could agree with Krystal. They almost lost Peppy, and for Wolf that 'almost' turned into a reality for his team and gang.
"Oi, quiet down dere. Sahme o' oehs are tryin to lesten 'ere."
Fox and Krystal flinched and stared at the she-wolf.
Wolf spoke up again. "When we finally got out of the station to figure out what happened, I found your blue Arwing and some Venomian colored Arwing. At first, I thought you had lost it," Wolf said, pointing directly at Fox, "But when one of my subordinates recognized the other Arwing as Venomian, that's when I knew something else was going on. We dragged you inside, and lo and behold," Wolf gestured to Vixy and Vixen, "I find two ladies instead of your hide in the cockpits. Though Vixen here threw us for a loop with how similar you two looked. As for Vixy..."
Wolf turned to look at the older of the vixen duo, nodding his head. "I didn't recognize her at first with her guerilla getup, but I did know your mother, pup. Waaaaaay back during my Academy days. Guess the past always comes back to bite my ass in strange and stranger ways," he mentioned, holding his hand behind his head in a slightly embarrassed manner at some of his older history being brought to light.
"Anyways, once we got acquainted and she told me her side of the story, that's when I knew something big was going on. We got in our ships and scuttled the last bits of Sargasso before heading out to try and find a new spot to hunker down. The Arwings were both trashed, so Vixy sat with me in the makeshift backseat while your double took my spare, since I used Panther's and Leon's ships as coffins along with who else we could do space burials. We suddenly noticed a huge energy surge like the one at Sargasso coming from the Mateo belt, so we decided to investigate."
Wolf looked down, away from the group, clenching his fists in anger. "I was telling your mother that if I ever find out who's responsible for bringing folk out of their time and subsequently destroying my crew, I'll kill them, and then I'll figure out a way to have them keep repeating the moment they are killed, over and over again..."
The table stood silent, with Wolf glaring down as emotions raged inside his head. He took two quick breaths before taking a large sigh. "And that's when we found out you took this half-breed version of me aboard your ship like idiots discovering a volatile stick of nuclear dynamite."
The "half-breed" she-wolf scoffed at the remark. She replied, "I knew you were always a preck boeht good to know you're like mahst Cahrnerians as well."
"Wait, wait, wait, hold on," Fox stalled, trying to get everyone focused before he turned to the she-wolf. "We've got a couple of questions for you. For one, how did you get into my and Krystal's heads like that? And what does Wolf mean by half-breed?"
"What, you blind or something? Look at the ears. Don't know who your asshole father was to make you aggressive like before, but your mother's a Settler dog, I can tell," Wolf cut in, now focused on his mirror half.
For her part, the she-wolf confused everyone by chuckling darkly to herself. She crossed her arms and tilted her head to look askew at Krystal. "Ya want to know 'ow I gaht inside yooehr 'eads? Yooehr wife taoehght me, Fahx."
Both Fox and Krystal flinched back in confusion, taking a moment to look at each other with questions roaring in their heads. Krystal turned back to the she-wolf and went first. "I… I believe you're mistaken. I haven't taught anyone else how to use telepathy except for Fox. And while we're mated, we haven't married yet."
"Wait a minute!" Slippy cut in. "You got into Fox and Krystal's heads? Was that how you fought off Krystal trying to read your mind? And what did you mean by you always knew Wolf was a, you know?"
Everyone looked back at the she-wolf, except for Wolf who glared at Slippy for daring to repeat the she-wolf's words. "Yooeh're all... de ahld Star Fahx team, right? Yooeh're Sleppy Toad?" the she-wolf asked.
Slippy nodded, feeling a little uneasy at the attention to himself. "Yeah, that's, uh, that's me alright."
The she-wolf nodded back, and Fox noticed a smile on her face, the first one he's seen on her since they first met. "Tex took a laht frahm ya. I can see de resemblances."
"Hey!" Falco interjected. "You're dodging the question! How do you know Wolf when we thought you're his copy like Fox and Vixen here?"
The she-wolf took a glance at Falco, and Fox noticed a small flinch at the otherwise cold composure of the female O'Donnell not-copy. "I'll get to dat, Blue. Boeht I need to ask, 'ow lahng 'as it been sence... I dink de Aparoid cahnflect?"
"About a little over a year, now. They're still doing major reconstruction in the Lylat," Krystal answered. "If you know Wolf, and you said I taught you telepathy and that I and Fox were married, and you say someone named Tex looks a lot like Slippy... You're not from around our same time, are you? You're from the future?"
The she-wolf glanced back at Krystal, and Fox felt himself lean in to finally hear the truth. A long sigh was drawn out from the she-wolf before she turned to look at Wolf. "You said de past tends to bite yooehr ass in strange ways, 'oehh? Me name is Mary O'Malley. And me mahther... was Elise O'Malley."
The table was dead silent for a moment. Wolf raised an eyebrow at the name before his one good eye opened wide and he gasped. "N-no..."
"As fahr me 'arsehole father', 'e's a man you all know well," Mary said, daring to glare right back at Wolf.
The rest of the table took a moment to comprehend her words before a resounding "WHAAAAAAAAAAT?!" was yelled from everyone in the room.
"Wolf's got a kid!?"
"Who'd shack up with this idiot?"
"I knew he and Elise were too close!"
"You can't be mine!"
Everyone talked over each other as they comprehended O'Malley's words. For as much as she tried to keep cool, the she-wolf was not expecting this much of a reaction.
Wolf stood up from his chair, pointing angrily at O'Malley. "I was with Elise for a year after the Lylat Wars! She goes missing, and then one year later I heard she was dead after a military accident blew up her medical ship, when the hell were you born?!"
O'Malley stood up in response to Wolf, pointing back at him. "I dahn't foehckin know 'ow I was bahrn in dat time! All I know is dat I was drahpped ahff as a baby at me oehncle and aoehnt's 'ouse in Katina, 'er brahther and 'is wife, and dey 'ated me exestence! Tahld me dey weshed me mahther 'ad poeht a knife in 'er stahmach instead o' bein wit you because she apparently believed you were wahrth sahmethin and dey kept tellin 'er she was stupid fahr it!"
O'Malley took her finger off Wolf and pointed at herself, "And when she died, dey tahld me dey'll take care o' me oehntil I was o' age, ded a shite jahb at it, and den when I toehrned 18 dey's shahved me ooeht o' de 'ouse and threatened to call de pahlice if I ever came back!"
She gestured her hand wildly to the outside windows of the command room, and the asteroid field beyond. "All de while you were flyin acrahss de universe ahr sahmethin and den never came back to de Lylat! So danks a laht fahr abandahnin all o' oehs, DAD!"
O'Malley snarled at Wolf after her outburst, but all O'Donnell did was coldly stare at her, keeping a neutral expression. He took a big breath through his nose before turning to Vixy, "I'm leaving."
"Yeah, you better foehckin leave! Joehst like every time in yooehr life!" O'Malley retorted.
"Shut it!" Wolf replied, pointing his finger back at her. "You're all from different timelines, it could be you were never born in this time. You are not my daughter, you're someone else's!"
"Wolf, wait!" Vixy now stood up from her chair and tried to grab onto Wolf's shoulder to stop him. "She hasn't told us yet how she got here!"
Wolf shook off the hand. "It doesn't matter. If it's anything like yours, it was out of nowhere too. We don't have any leads, so I'm gonna go look for them. I'm grabbing my Wolfen, you're the pup's problem now, miss Reinhard."
With a shocked silence, Wolf exited the room, not a care in the cosmos for how everyone else felt about him leaving O'Malley. Even if she was from a different timeline in the future, Fox felt that Wolf at least owed O'Malley some closure on where he'd been during his time with his mother.
He never heard of this Elise O'Malley, but he thought he knew the incident that Wolf mentioned. An old medical transport had its IFF fail, and it reported itself as its former codename within the Venomian fleet. Newly installed automated defense systems on a nearby Cornerian frigate responded with a barrage, and even though the frigate's crew manually stopped the guns after a minute, the lack of any shielding on a medical transport that never was supposed to be in the line of fire made sure the ship got torn apart, and the guns made the lucky strike of hitting the ship's reactor, detonating it. Hundreds died in that incident, as the ship was carrying injured refugees from around the Lylat.
That had to be coming up 8 years from now. If O'Malley was born right before that time, she'd likely be at least 7 or 8 years old now. All this time, Wolf's had a kid living in a stone's throw away from her father. Fox would find it a bit funny and ironic if he didn't see how that kid would grow up.
As Wolf left, O'Malley glared at his back, looking like she wished looks could kill. Fox heard a few clicking noises and looked down at the table to see O'Malley tap it with each of her metal fingers before she scraped the edge with her nails. "Foehck dis. Oi, Blue, where's de bloody bathroom?"
The team looked confused, before Krystal spoke up, "Are you referring to me?"
"No, I…" O'Malley angrily sighed, before pointing at Falco, "Falco, where's de bathroom ahn dis shep?"
"Uhhhh," Falco hesitated, caught off guard from being put on the spot for such a question. "We don't technically have a public bathroom, but you can use mine in my room. If we're done here, I'll show you the way."
"Hold on, before we all go, since I guess we're just calling it here after Mary's outburst," Fox interjected, ignoring the middle finger O'Malley raised at him, "Mom, what's your story then? How'd you end up here?"
Vixy sat down, raising a hand to her forehead as she rubbed her temples. "No, no, we should call it here. That's an even longer story than anything Wolf could come up with. It's getting late anyhow, we should turn in for the time being. You got any snacks and a bed lying around?"
Fox scratched his head as he stood up. "Sorry, no real spare rooms either. But you can grab something from the fridge in the break room and I'll go find some front-line sleeping bags? Or you can grab a bed from the medical wing, keep up with Peppy when he wakes up to get him up to speed."
The rest of the team began to stand up, with Slippy letting out a loud yawn. "That or get inside an Arwing in the hanger and use the overnight settings to sleep in there," he said.
Vixy put a hand under her muzzle in thought, before turning to Fox, "I think I'll take the medical bed then. It's been… years since I last saw Peppy. I know he's nothing like mine, most likely, but… I admit I'm a bit fascinated by how different he is if he's managed to live this long."
"Aw, that hare can tank anything! He managed to survive the Great Fox exploding, I'm sure he's fine where he is in your timeline," Falco waved off.
Vixy looked away, and Fox could see a familiar sight of Lylat now reflected in his mother: a thousand-yard stare that remembered bad memories of intense conflict, a soldier's trauma trying to surface while she tried to keep it in. She took a deep breath before turning to Fox, "Fox, could you come with me to your medical ward. I just… I need to speak to you alone first."
Fox took a glance at Krystal. "Mind if I stay out late in case what she wants to say takes long?" he said in his mind.
"This is your long-lost mother, Fox. I don't think anyone with a heart could tell you not to take the chance to see her again. I'll be fine, I'll keep the door unlocked until you get to bed, love."
"Okay, good night hun," Fox nodded at Krystal, before leaning in for a quick kiss on her cheek. He turned back to the group. "I guess we're done for the night. Grab anything from the fridge before you head back to your quarters. Mom, I'll show you the medical bay afterward."
"You two need to shoehtter yooehr mental cahnversations, it was like yooeh're screamin in dere," O'Malley cut in.
Fox and Krystal furrowed their brows as they glared at the she-wolf before the vulpine turned to Vixen. "What about you, where are you gonna sleep tonight?"
"Uhhh, hey Slip, which one's your ship in the hanger?" Vixen asked, pointing with her thumb back in the direction where all their ships were.
"Huh? It's gonna be the one in the chop shop corner, I was fixing up some of the shield reflectors. Why?" Slippy asked.
"Cmon, help a girl out, I know your ship's on-planet rest setting is the best one out of all of us."
Slippy shrugged his arms. "Oh, sure, you can use it. Just make sure not to touch any panels or open reflectors when you turn it online!"
Vixen walked to the door, raising her arms and hands to snap her thanks. "Got it!" she yelled as she exited.
"She seems… a bit more eccentric than me, don't you think?" Fox asked the group.
"You didn't notice her staring at your mate, Fox?" Vixy remarked.
Fox turned to his mother with a confused frown. "I, uh, no? Why? She look disapproving or something?"
Krystal turned to Vixy. "I did feel some strange emotions coming from her. She wasn't angry, but it was more as if she was… jealous?"
Vixy slightly grinned and shook her head. "Remember when she said she found the love of her life after saving Sauria? It was you, Krystal. While we were on our way here, Wolf told us some of Fox's known adventures, and Vixen corroborated the accounts with her own stories, including talking about how she met her version of you. And now she's seeing her mate be with a different person."
Fox didn't even consider Vixen's feelings, but if he put himself in her shoes as someone out of their timeline… yeah, he could see how seeing his beloved with someone else and having no one of his team or friends recognize him might set him on edge.
"That could piss anyone off, but like she at least knows it isn't hers, right?" Falco interjected. "Like, her version of Krystal is a guy, so it shouldn't matter that much."
Vixy raised an eyebrow. "Who said her love was a guy?"
A short silence passed the group before they understood Vixy's meaning. "Wow. Yeah, no, that would definitely set someone off," Falco said.
"Guess no matter what timeline I'm in I always have good taste, huh?" Fox remarked, smirking at his mate as he slightly elbowed her. For her part, she scoffed but still smiled at the compliment.
"Oi, Blue, let's get ooeht o' 'ere befahre dey get all lahvey dahvey ahn each ahther," O'Malley called out. Fox and Krystal again glared at the she-wolf for her brazenness, but she seemed to shrug it off as she walked towards the exit.
"Yeah, I'm gonna turn in now too. I'll see you guys in the morning!" Slippy said, yawning once more as he turned to the exit, waiting just a brief moment to give the she-wolf a wide berth.
"Why does she call me Blue? Ugh, she better not try to raid my fridge—" Falco complained, running after the she-wolf. With the rest of the team all gone, it was just Fox and Krystal, with Vixy standing opposite of them.
"Alright, I'll go ahead and make sure if Peppy is alright or not, we'll set up your bed there, mom," Fox said, taking a few steps to the exit before he stopped at a loud gasp.
His mother held up a hand to her mouth before speaking, "I… you keep calling me mom…"
Fox raised an eyebrow as he looked back at her. "Well, yeah. You're my mom. I'm not gonna be like Mary, I'm okay with who you ARE—! "
Before he could say anything else, Vixy wrapped Fox in a suddenly huge hug, strangling him by his shoulder for a brief second before he could shift himself just enough to hug his mother back. He didn't know how tall his original Vixy was, but the Vixy here was only a little bit shorter than he was. Yet somehow he half-felt he couldn't get out of the hug even if he tried pushing his mom's arms apart with a hydraulic spring.
"Oh Fosy, it's been just, just, just too long," his mother cried. Fox heard a few footsteps go around him before he saw Krystal come into his view, nodding at him as she exited the room. With no one else in the room, Fox could hear a few sniffles from his mom, and he felt the hug grow just a little bit too tight for his comfort.
"Mom? Hey mom?" he wheezed out, shuffling his arms a bit to get the message across. To his luck, Vixy loosened up and let go of her hug, stepping back a bit to wipe out some of the tears in her eyes. "Let's go to the medbay to see Peppy and get your bed set up, okay?"
The older vixen nodded in silence, turning with Fox to the exit and following him out.
O'Malley had her share of adventures with pilots older than her in order to learn the ropes of being a mercenary, but this had to be the wildest case of generation clash she had ever got herself into.
For one thing, all the older pilots were now around her age.
"Oh thank the stars you didn't drink my beer," Falco said, standing above O'Malley. Once she found where Falco's room was (easy to spot his name and smell in front of his door), she opened it and walked right in only to simply crash down right into the flooring, her body splayed face-down across the middle of the room like a starfish. When the smells of the room hit her nose, the memories hit her nervous system like a freight train, forcing her body down as her brain tried to comprehend the fact that Falco was alive when he was most certainly dead a few months ago.
It was a moment of agonizing weakness she'd thought she would never feel again for her Blue.
"Cahrnerian Pelsner, I'm guessin?" she retorted to the bird above her.
"Yeah? How did you— oh right, you're from the future. Do they still make it in the future?" Falco said.
"Does it stell taste like absahlute pess?" O'Malley remarked.
"What, it's beer, it's always gonna taste like that."
O'Malley sighed. "Yeah, dey stell make it den," she said, rolling her eyes at Falco's poor taste in cheap alcohol.
Falco walked away from O'Malley to his fridge, where he pulled out a can of the aforementioned Cornerian Pilsner before sitting down on his bed. "Oh good, got something to look forward to whenever I get my wings clipped."
Something stirred in O'Malley after hearing that, enough to force her to move her head up to look at Falco. She decided to start with the basics, "'Ey, by de way, sahrry fahr, oehh, attackin yooehr team when I wahked oehp. I wasn't expectin Krystal and Tex's father to be soehddenly alive and actin like nahthin was an issue when dey saw me, you know?"
"Tex's father? You mean Slippy?" Falco asked.
"Aye, Texas Toad. Sahmetimes we called 'im T.T., boeht mahst o' de time we joehst called 'im Tex. Fahllowed after 'is dad by becombing an engineer, boeht 'e and Lucy always boehtt 'eads over oehpgradin and repairin sheps. 'E wanted to oehpgrade wit de latest technahlogy, Lucy always tried to joehst repair and keep sheps joehst de way dey looked and ahperated right ahff de factahry line."
"Lucy? Who was she?" Falco asked, popping his beer open to take a swig.
"She said she was related to yooehr Peppy 'Are, boeht she never said mahre. She was kenda like me, never 'avin known de Great One we were related to, even dooehgh hers was ahlive."
O'Malley smiled for the first time since she found herself on the ship, remembering her comrades. "She was mahre o' ooehr 'eavy weapahns girl in ooehr 4-man team, dooehgh she knew 'er way arooehnd ahlder technahlogy like no one else. Dooehght dat we shooehld try and preserve dem in case we ever wooehld need dem fahr future situations. Sahmetimes she was right when she 'ad de specific ahlder tools needed to 'aht-wire an escape transpahrt ooeht o' enemy fire, boeht ahther times 'er fahndness extended to ooehr shep's cahmputers demselves, makin oehs 'ave to use terminals instead o' usin neura-lenked 'eadsets to interface ooehrselves wit ooehr sheps."
Falco's eyes widened. "Wait, they got those headsets fixed in the future? I thought it was just a pipe dream after the prototype we saw failed horribly."
"Took a laht o' time wahrkin ooeht de kenks to get dem to wahrk, boeht I never gaht to try it, ahnly de Cahrnerian military 'ad dem as a standard fahr deir pilahts. Toehrned ooeht to be a 'uge croehtch dooehgh when de pilaht yooeh're chasin is a psychec demselves..."
Falco took another swig from his beer. "You said you had a 4-man team. Who was your fourth?"
O'Malley laid her head back on the ground, debating with herself on what she should say before she spoke up, "It was you."
Falco spat out the beer in his mouth, some of which landed on O'Malley's face. She glared at the disgusting act. "It was me? What? You're saying I keep on flying even when you enter the picture?"
"You never stahpped. Even dooehgh you 'ad mahments where you said you wooehld stay ahn de grooehnd ahr in ooehr cahmmand shep, you'd always 'ahp in yooehr Sky Claw at any segn o' trooehble," she said, wiping the side of her face with her real hand.
Falco leaned back in his bed, the half-empty can of beer put down for a moment. He looked up at the ceiling, mumbling in thought before a single laugh escaped his beak. "And here I was dreading the day I'd retire and become some cranky has-been."
O'Malley couldn't help but snerk. "You stell end oehp cranky, joehst dat you release yooehr crankiness in de skies. Dat ahr drenk yooehrself ahff to sleep wit 'ow moehch pelsner you'd goehzzle."
Falco waved off his impending alcohol addiction, before taking another swill. "Hey, didn't you say you wanted to use the bathroom?"
O'Malley waved a hand in the air. "Eh, I joehst needed an excuse to get away frahm everyahne, especially McClooehd. 'E was insoehfferable back den, and 'e's stell de same even now. Dooehgh now I dink dat's joehst me dad's side speakin..."
Falco huffed, "Yeah, Fox and your dad never exactly liked each other, even after the Aparoids. No real surprise you'd take his anger as well. Well, as much as I like the company, I fly solo, so you'll have to find your own room."
"Tch. No, you dahn't, you joehst say dat coehz you were always intrahverted," O'Malley retorted.
"Hey, what do you know about me? Just because I flew with you doesn't mean you know how I am!" Falco accused, pointing a finger at O'Malley and letting go of his beer on the ground.
O'Malley glared at Falco, before pushing herself off the floor to stand up. She kept glaring at him as she took off her jacket and unzipped her flight suit, and to Falco's confused horror she slid it off to reveal only her sports bra and athletic shorts underneath.
She was not some curvy vixen or lithe cat, considering her mercenary lifestyle did nothing but build muscles and scars across her body, including her newest one of a blaster bolt on her shoulder that she briefly noticed. But she was someone that worked with what she got no matter the situation, and for now, the situation called for a hand on her waist, a twist of her hip, and a little bit of her chest placed forward. She cocked her head to the side just a little bit as she winked at Falco.
"In yooehr cahckpit, you try so 'ard to keep bahgeys ahff yooehr back, boeht ooehtside, you lahve it when it gets scratched~."
O'Malley fluttered her one eye, while also scanning Falco for any reaction. To her growing disappointment, her ploy didn't seem to rise anything of a positive reaction, only confusion and a blush from the avian as he scooted off the bed and backed away from the she-wolf.
"Alright, listen," Falco stated, sounding like he was trying to control himself while also very much not liking what was going on, "I don't know what you and I have in the future, and I'm ignoring how I'm definitely older than you at that time by more than a few years, but right here in the present, I got someone else. You can take the bed if you really want, but I'm not crashing with you!"
"What? What do you mean you 'ave sahmeone el—" O'Malley complained, before catching herself in thought. "Ahh. Yooeh're talkin abooeht Katt..."
Falco furrowed his brow. "Why are you saying that like it's a bad thing? Wait…"
He raised a finger at her. "If you and I are apparently close in the future, what the hell happened to Katt?!"
O'Malley's eye widened, suddenly caught on the spot. She realized at that moment that because of her nature, she knew a whole lot of things that could or could not happen in the future of the avian in front of her, and of the other team members of Star Fox. She had to be careful in her words if she didn't want some paradox to happen.
"Leon's dead. Panther too. Probably no more than 10 of us from Sargasso are alive."
Oh crap, that already was one.
"Ahkay, so, dahn't freak ooeht ahn me. I'm frahm a defferent future, so it might be de timeline 'ere'll be defferent, boeht..." O'Malley deliberated on her next words. "Sahmethin 'appens wit Katina, in me timeline. and Katt... dedn't make it."
Falco's widened eyes did little to calm O'Malley down. "What do you mean she didn't make it? What happens to Katina?!" he demanded.
"Blue, I really dahn't dink you want to know dat—"
"Stop calling me Blue! I'm not your Falco! Tell me how to save Katina, who do I need to shoot to save Katt?"
O'Malley froze. Hearing "I'm not your Falco" gave her heart pause, as it felt the utter vitriol accidentally put behind it. For a brief moment, her body felt like it cracked and shattered, torn apart by the one thing she hoped she could cling to as a light within the new darkness she was thrown into.
But as always, she had nothing but herself to rely on in the end. The pieces were picked up and locked away, sealed in a cage of metal and anger.
"Get ooeht."
"What?" Falco muttered.
"I said get ooeht. You said I cooehld use de bed, so I'm goin to use it now. And I fly sahlo, so get de foehck ooeht," O'Malley demanded, pointing a finger towards the exit.
"But, but this is my room! You can't just kick me out of my room! I thought you liked me—ACK!"
Before Falco could react, O'Malley closed the distance between them and grabbed him by his throat with her metal hand. He coughed and sputtered from the sudden attack at his weak spot, and tried swiping at the arm. With a metal prosthetic holding him, however, he couldn't shock the wrist just enough for him to react and pull out of the hold.
"Falco, ya dahn't want to know de amooehnt o' dead lahved ahnes I put behend me. One o' dem included you. Get. Ooeht."
She took the moment to toss the avian behind her, though she made the effort not to throw him too hard to make him lose his balance and fall. As luck would have it, the exit door stopped his thrown momentum, though a loud bang on the wall echoed within the room. O'Malley saw Falco take a moment to catch his breath and compose himself before he angrily opened the door and let himself out.
Before he closed it, he looked back at O'Malley. "You push and act like that around your teammates? No small wonder I died, you probably didn't help me in time. At least my team leader would stay loyal to me!"
"Fahx kelled Katt."
As Falco's eyes opened wide, O'Malley grabbed the door and slammed it on his face, not letting him guilt her anymore. She took the time to lock it, and as she stepped back she could see the handle jiggling heavily as Falco tried to get back in and question her.
After a few moments, the door handle settled down, and O'Malley could hear footsteps echo away from the room. She breathed heavily for a brief second before collapsing down onto the ground again.
With no one to see or watch or question her, the cage she built up withered away, and the pieces of her heart let their presence known by forcing tears into her eyes. She cried on the floor, the familiar smells and sights of Falco's quarters bringing back brief glimpses and memories that she had locked away ever since that day.
She let herself cry out on the floor, feeling her brain paradoxically calm down even as her heart hurt and guilted her even more. She started to slow down her sniffling and curled up her body almost into a fetal position as one memory flooded back into her mind.
She heard a slight creak, and her blurry and teary view focused on her metal hand.
"Does it still tingle at the base?" Blue said, holding her prosthetic arm up like it was some other metal object in his hand.
"No, boeht I stell get a few phantahm pains and itches 'ere and dere. 'Ahnestly de wahrst part now is dat it sahmetimes feels like a dead weight ahn me arm whenever I lift it instead o' it bein actually me arm," O'Malley replied, taking the moment to wiggle the part of her arm that was still all fur and bone.
"You think it's always going to stay cold? I don't wanna be sleeping in this bed and get suddenly woken up with an icy arm shoved against my chest."
O'Malley furrowed her brow at Blue but kept a smile. "And 'ere I dooehght you liked coehddlin while we're asleep."
Blue responded by pulling O'Malley closer to him on the bed. Both of their bodies pressed against each other as Blue wrapped his arm underneath O'Malley's pillow and head. "Naw, I'm just whinin'. Cmon, let's get some sleep before tomorrow. We finish up here in Mateo, we can head home and maybe stay home for a while. Corneria has Venom on the defensive again, I doubt they'll need us anymore."
"What, de fly-boy doesn't want to fly anymahre?" O'Malley retorted, adjusting her head so she can get Blue's arm to grab her opposite shoulder and spoon her in.
"Yeah yeah yeah, but this time I have to. We've got two new pilots coming in, and I gotta figure something out at my age that isn't gonna leave them without a flight instructor," Blue replied, taking his other arm and caressing O'Malley's stomach.
"Aye, I'm sure dey'll be gratefoehl and prahbably dink it's cool to fly, boeht I dahn't know if we shooehld fahrce dem to be pilahts demselves. I dahn't want dem to end oehp like me."
"You don't want them to meet a cool guy or girl and have plenty of adventures with them?" Blue asked.
"Aww, stahp it! Go to sleep," O'Malley said, adjusting her head one more time before closing her eye.
She felt a peck at the top of her head and opened her eye back up to see Blue smile at her before closing his eyes. "Goodnight, Mary."
"Goodnight, Blue…" she whined out loud in the empty room, closing her eye as she tried to steady her ragged breathing. She felt too exhausted to force herself up to the bed, so she fell asleep on the ground.
Nothing covered her body as she curled up to sleep.