Chapter 1: Dark Times

It has been more than two years since the Saurian crisis and the Aparoid invasion. It has only been a couple of months after the Anglar Blitz where Fox has officially abandoned the team entirely. Fox has gone missing after the disbandment of his team and no one has ever seen him since. Peppy, who was originally a senior member stepped up to become a general and found out the news of Fox. He searched for him high and low but nowhere to be found. He wished he were back to Corneria to assemble the broken pieces once more. Fox was completely broken down after he found out he could no longer be loved. He ran away hoping to fill the void inside his heart only to have it opened endlessly. His time of disappearance was left unknown but Falco managed to stay by his side as close friends.

Slippy was unable to maintain duty ever since Fox disbanded and went to spend time with his fianceé, Amanda, who he found before the invasion began. Slippy found her as an amazing woman and someone to work alongside with for the rest of his life. Falco also was affected by the disbandment and flew from place to place in search of jobs to maintain financial stability. He worked as a solo mercenary and became known for his amazing piloting skills. Due to his secret mission, he has been keeping up with Fox. Krystal, she was known for her betrayal as Cornerians shunned her away for betraying Star Fox for once being a great member because of her telepathy. Then she worked with the former enemy, Star Wolf. Cornerians called her by many insults, things that she could bear no longer and ran away for good. She became a bounty hunter, one with no heart to understand feelings. Her mission was on planet Kew, a planet far away and sitting outside the Lylat System.

All former members do not know of his whereabouts, except for one particular person. They were once affiliated with Star Fox and even well known between the team. They even left behind a note in Fox's home and they knew what could happen. Fox felt devastated after not getting her back to his own presence. Fox was discouraged from ever speaking to her again or even anyone. So he tried to drive that sadness away through drinking, self-inflicting pains and even contemplating suicide. But that one person managed to stop him all three times. That person didn't want to lose Fox because of her. He wanted to save him from his spiraling depression. There was a note left behind by Falco in Fox's home. "Peppy, I know you will be checking out this note, but I have been keeping eye on Fox after his leave. Don't worry about me for now, just try your best to fix up things."

It has been a few days since they both left. Peppy was worried about him since he never came to talk and went to check on his home. Maybe he could find actual clues to where he might have gone to. Peppy arrived at Fox's home, where his parents, James and Vixy used to live in when they were alive. He opened up the door and walked inside. No one was inside and the place was a complete mess. The room was completely dark and cold because of the low temperatures. "Fox? Are you in here?" Peppy continued to wander around the house. The mess that was made created a more difficult path to navigate through. Peppy managed to walk through and found that same note. His eyes had widened up in surprise. Peppy knew this wasn't something normal to talk about or even know about. "Falco was previously here and went after Fox. Surely nothing happened to them because Falco is a fighter."

Aparoid War

Battle of Corneria

Corneria is at war with the Aparoids from their unknown world. I am evacuating the citizens as time passes to allow them safety. I vowed my life to keeping them alive and well to those I can seek. However, my fiancé, Grey Winter, is out there with Star Fox reducing their numbers to none. I need to check on them and see what I can do once I gathered a majority of the citizens. Oh, I almost forgot, my name is Asura Walker and what I said earlier is true. I am engaged to Grey and we are in love with each other. We both promised to protect each other in a time of need, which is now and forever. I prepare to leave the hidden shelter we made to protect the citizens. It is also guarded by a force field made by the Cornerians. Entry and exit are permitted by Cornerian officials such as Star Fox. There was no way an enemy force could penetrate the barrier in any way possible. My current objective was to eliminate any Aparoid spotted and protect the Cornerians. I know for sure that Grey is close to the command center where General Pepper is residing in. He has told us about the current situation and is our tactician in the meantime. I check my blade and blaster one more time before officially heading out.

I saw the bright blue skies after leaving the shelter, I was kind of glad that Aparoids could not detect such a device. My magic could reinforce the shield but my ether was enough to cast one spell and I chose to stay nearby just in case. There were three Aparoids in front of me the moment I had left. They seem to be analyzing the area and probably know the hidden location that I just exited. The analyzer equipped to my right eye is scanning for weak points in their systems. Oh, this was engineered by Slippy himself. He created and programmed it to all of Star Fox for wider communication and other things.

It seems like the strongest place to attack was their heads or an extreme hard slash to their entire bodies. Regardless, I could take them on with my sword and blaster at my side. The three Aparoids looked straight back to be as I was identified as hostile to them. I unsheathed my sword from my back and held my blaster on my left hand. I shot the first Aparoid at its body and temporarily disabled it. I jumped up and stabbed its head into tiny pieces. Momentarily, it shattered and blew up causing the other two Aparoids to enrage. They made their move as I did with myself. These things are strange, first, they come out of nowhere and second they are hostile to living organisms.

The second and third Aparoids attacked me in intervals where my openings were slim and that I could be left vulnerable if I missed the attack. I dodged and blocked and waited patiently until I was given a chance. My blaster shots were blocked by their legs but I noticed something strange about my terrain. The ground underneath them and me was unstable. I hope I had some grenades stored on my holster. Grey told me to keep them there just in case I might need it. After a bit, I grabbed a grenade and armed it immediately. I threw it at the broken ground and broke their balance. The opening they left was enough to break them apart and continue deeper into the city. They blew up and a path was opened for me.

A bit down the street, Grey seems to be holding off many of them pretty well. He just blasted away four of them and is guarding Pepper really well. I wish I could just watch him but I need to help out in other sections. I ran the opposite way and spotted Fox blasting away radar jammers and Aparoid hatchers. He seemed to be doing fine on his own. His teammates were all in the air. First I saw Falco's Arwing, Skyclaw. I glanced at his windshield and he waved down at me. Since we could not communicate, we had to use hand gestures. I waved back at him and he continued to fire away at Aparoids.

Krystal was flying on her Arwing, Cloudrunner and was hovering nearby Fox and watching his every move. Since she had a love interest for him, Krystal made sure nothing was going to happen at all. I spotted and waved to her. She noticed back and sent me a telepathic link.

Watch on Fox for me, okay? Krystal flew off in spot of more Aparoids to destroy. I promised her and eliminated a few more around him to alleviate his problem. I just hope he resolves the Aparoid issue soon because they are going to overtake this world at any rate. Jeez, Arwings and blasters pack more a punch than my blade alone. Which is kind of ironic saying that I am partially a goddess in my homeworld. It means I should be strong alone without the need of anything.

There was no way of contacting Slippy because of the jammers being set off by the Aparoids. I think I saw his Arwing for a bit before he went back to repair. I saw some citizens who were trapped in rubble and made my way toward them. They seem to be a parent and two children that are left unaffected by the rubble. I quickly went over to assist them with the other members. It seemed to be their mother trapped and left to die. I kneeled next to the eldest child and asked him what happened. He appears to be at least 14 years and his little sister at least 9 years.

His face showed it all. Afraid of being killed and losing his mother like his little sister. Both were afraid but their mother wanted them to run away to safety. "I'm here," Asura said and promised to them. I started to remove the rubble from the destroyed building. There were too many pieces and at this rate I was going to be vulnerable to the Aparoids. An Aparoid from a far distance spotted the lonesome white dragon and the children at the rubble. It changed its targeting system and focused on killing Asura. It scanned Asura's actions and marked her as hostility to them.

Asura began to panic in fear that she would not make it. "C'mon now." She looked over to the older brother of the family. "Hey, come help me out quickly. If you can remove all this rubble, we might have a chance at survival." Asura knew his strength was enough to remove the majority of the rubble and Asura would finish. He agreed and started to remove the rubble obstructing his trapped mother. Asura turned and faced the Aparoid. "Die damn it." Asura blocked its incoming attacks and pushed it back. More around that Aparoid noticed the hostility coming from Asura and went for her too. She was starting to become overwhelmed after killing the first one. "I won't be able to hold them off anymore, youngling. Please make haste."

One of the Aparoids gotten passed her sight and attacked the children. The younger sister screamed as Asura quickly pulled it back with her dark chains and yanked it back to herself. "Don't worry about me, get your mother out of there." He finally pulled out his mother and Asura destroyed the one Aparoid. "Nice work, let's get you two out of here." Asura carried the unconscious mother back to the shelter. Fox had destroyed the Aparoids obstructing her path as she made way. She thanked Fox for his assistance and made it safely back with the children. Fox waved back and hoped her good luck on the way.

Asura entered the shelter after entering her entry code. She placed the mother of the two children on a medical bed and the doctors began to treat her. "Oh dear, she barely made it alive." Asura held her hand onto the older brother's shoulder. "Hey, good job out there for being brave. What's your name?" she asked.

"I-it's Alan. This is my little sister, Amber." Amber waved shyly and walked away to her mother.

Asura smiled with joy. "Those are some lovely names, and especially since they have the same character as mine. My name is Asura."

Alan was glad to hear her name ring through his ears. "A-are you with Star Fox?"

Asura's face went straight to confusion when he knew right away her affiliation. "Yes, but how did you know?" Alan laughed and told her the news he saw before this incident. She appeared on the news once when she became berserk. Asura blushed with embarrassment and did not want to experience that again. "Well... it was nice meeting you two. I need to help out with other members of Star Fox and citizens." Alan and Amber were happy to be saved by her and smiled with joy. They wished her the best of luck.

She flew out of the shelter and went to find Grey at the command center. "I hope I'm not too late." Upon arrival, Grey was beginning to become overwhelmed with many Aparoids surrounding the command center. He was seen blasting some before getting jumped by many. "My god. I need to get to him as soon as possible. He won't be able to take them all at once." Asura rushed over and slashed through many Aparoids blocking her entry toward him. No matter what it took, she wanted to reach him by any means possible. Even with her secondary powers. "Get off of him!" None of the other Star Fox members were present at the time since Fox did not finish his mission in time. Asura destroyed many of them before finally reaching the fallen Grey. Grey had already been injected with their infection as the right side of his body was altering its appearance. He was losing control of his own body and began to attack Asura. Grey took his knife and held it against her throat. Thrusting the knife downward, Asura struggled to push it back up. His eyes were pink as the infection was spreading throughout his body quicker than sound.

Asura struggled to fight back as Aparoids around her entered the building. Damn it, I am too late to save both of them. Grey and Pepper. She was scared to attack Grey as she may risk killing him. Her hands held against the knife and she pushed it back toward his chest. "It didn't have to be this way." She reversed the knife and Grey was the one who was stabbed. Blood gushed out of his chest, bleeding heavily and quickly. Grey fell backwards as Asura got up and held his body straight and looking at the blood that stained her hands. "Please, don't leave me, Grey!" His eyes closed as Grey left a slight smile on his face. His body remained without a soul controlling it. Asura hugged his corpse and was left feeling devastated that she had killed him. "Please, Grey! I can't live anymore without you." A few minutes later, the Aparoids returned to infect Asura. She grabbed her blaster and pointed it to herself. "I rather end my life than stay any longer... this is my ending. Goodbye..."

She shed a tear and sang a song of sadness. "Without you, I'm just a sad song." *Bang*

A/N: Hiya, just doing some rewriting for another story. To be fair, I feel a little down on seeing anyone die from any motive or natural cause but it's something for me to think about. It helps me continue the story forward with more ideas. Also, this is a squeal to my other story, Re: Eternally Fated so please read that first so you have a better understanding of the two characters, Grey and Asura.

The final quote used was from "Sad Song" by Alesso. That line portrays what Asura's passion used to be which was singing but no longer having the will to do so anymore and thus ending it.