I'm sorry about how long it's been taking me to get this up, this story has been difficult for me to write, more because i have no idea how to reach where i am taking it. anyway hope you enjoy this chapter, and let me know what yall are thinking!
Fox groaned as he shifted position, his head feeling like it was trying to murder him. At the moment, he had no idea exactly where he was, just that it was mildly comfortable and that he had absolutely no desire to move. A scratching metallic noise started to pierce through his subconscious, puzzling him, since he couldn't place the origin of that sound. Almost sounds like a key in a lock, but me and krys's bedroom doesn't have that…. Almost as if on que with that thought finishing, he felt a hand slap his gut with enough force to startle him completely awake, a female voice in his ears.
"Come on Fox, wake up! Krystal's been looking for you." he slowly sat up, trying to open his eyes slowly, even the dim light in the room feeling like knives being rammed into his skull. Several things clinked to the floor as he sat up, glancing down to see at least a few dozen beer bottles and cans scattered across the floor, as well as a pair of small beat up combat boots connecting to someone's legs, who happened to be wearing baggy cargo pants. His eyes followed the line of her body, seeing she was wearing a blue button up shirt, the top few buttons undone and showing the white tank top beneath, her face unmistakable as anyone but Mira.
"Well hey Mira, what brings you around at this hour?" she chuckled, shaking her head at him.
"First off, it's nearly eight in the morning, secondly, do you even remember where you are right now?" Fox struggled to pierce the fog still shrouding his mind, barely even able to recall much more than a few old faces and names. His eyes naturally danced to his right and left, realizing that his surroundings were not his own home. Memories slowly started to drift back to him as he noticed the controllers lying on the floor in front of the couch, mentally groaning to himself as he let his eyes shut and slumped back against the couch.
"Great. I think I'm just going to stay here for a while. Tell Krys I'm fine." She chuckled at him, Fox hearing her start to pick up the mass of empty bottles and cans.
"You can do that yourself. I gotta make sure Will hasn't gone and hurt himself again." Fox's eyes cracked open at that, one of his eyebrows raised. By her tone, she sounded almost sad, not joking as he was expecting from her.
"Again?" she dropped the cans in her hands into the trash as she sighed, leaning on the kitchen counter. Or at least, that was what Fox guessed she was doing, given he could only see her head and shoulders.
"Yeah… this isn't the first time I've found him totally wasted like this. last time, he almost put himself in the hospital." Fox grimaced, the tone of her voice speaking to how worried she was about him, and how much she cared. Part of himself started to feel bad for encouraging Will's drinking this time, another part finding a newfound respect for Mira. The amount she has put up with for him… she really loves him doesn't she?
"I'm sorry Mira." She glanced at him as he spoke, clearly confused. "I shouldn't have been here last night." He was shocked when she smiled, stepping back out of the kitchen.
"No, it's good you were with him. you couldn't have watched his back otherwise, and quite frankly, you probably kept him out of trouble. Thanks Fox." He smiled to her, looking around the room for his comms device, not entirely sure where he left it. "Actually, he's been scaring me a lot lately…." Mira's quiet words caused Fox to stop what he was doing to look at her. he could tell she was on the verge of tears.
"What do you mean?" she sighed, wiping the traces of moister forming around her eyes away before stepping back into the living room, dropping onto the couch beside Fox.
"He drinks almost every day, and he doesn't seem to care what happens to him anymore. The other day, he laid his bike down and was sent almost twenty meters across pavement. Thank whatever deity that made sure that the street was empty at the time, otherwise he would have been killed. As it was, he just got bruised up and had to leave his bike in the shop till just before we left. He just…. Hasn't been the same since we got him back. I'm not even sure if I know him anymore." Fox remained quiet as he listened to her, his heart starting to sink.
"He'll be alright Mira. He went through something none of us can relate to. It's going to take him a while to work through it. and he has you. he'll be fine." He gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze, trying to reassure the young woman, but if anything, she seemed even more depressed than she had before.
"I don't know if I can keep this up Fox…." He let out a small sigh, standing and stretching, despite most of his muscles protesting the movement.
"Just hang in there Mira. And if you ever need to talk to someone, you got Krys and I, okay?" she nodded as he spotted his wrist computer on the table, quickly moving to retrieve it. "I think I'm just gonna head home actually. mind checking on Will for me?"
"Hmph, really think I wouldn't" he smiled to her and shook his head, waving goodbye to her before leaving the apartment.
I shambled out of my room, the smell of eggs and fresh coffee flooding the entire apartment. I couldn't help but smile at Mira's form in the kitchen, knowing the only thing she was really any good at cooking was breakfast foods, and grateful all the same she had come. I really don't deserve how amazing she is…
"Good morning Mira. You don't have to do that you know." She jumped at the sound of my voice, myself not realizing how quietly I had left the room.
"oh, hey, good morning Will. And I know. I just like too. it's nice to start my day with you." she barely looked back at me as she spoke, myself dropping into one of the dining room chairs. "How ya feeling this morning?" I shrugged not entirely sure how to respond to her, and not having much desire to be totally honest either.
"Just a little head ache, I'm fine though, good to go." I tried to put on a good show as my head felt like someone was trying to cleave it apart with a blunt axe. She chuckled, stepping out of the kitchen with a steaming mug in her hand.
"Nice try Will, I can tell you have a killer headache. Here." She set the cup of coffee on the table beside me as she spoke, just before glancing at the bags still next to the couch. "Still not unpacked yet?" I just grumbled at her, making her chuckle. "Alright, I guess we'll do it together after I get off today." I groaned at her this time as she made her way back into the kitchen
"Don't worry about it, I got it. need to clean the blasters anyway." I didn't pay attention to her response, shambling over to the bag to start the rigorous job of cleaning weapons. Although it wasn't a direct necessity, but keeping a weapon clean and ready function at it's peak had been made almost second nature by my time in the military. Without a second thought, I unzipped the green duffel bag, grabbing both of the holsters inside and the cleaning kit. As soon as I had them, I returned to the table, quickly laying out a mat from the kit to set parts on before yanking my blaster from it's holster. The simple design allowed for it to be stripped down quickly, a simple wipe down being all the chrome lined pieces needed. Aside from that, all of the components were fine, so I quickly reassembled it, barely even looking at the weapon as I did so. Almost as soon as I had set it down, I was grabbing Mira's Cornerian blaster. It took me a moment to realize my hand was quivering as I grabbed the holster, unclipping it and slowly pulling the weapon out. Although there were dozens of kinds of blasters, Mira's was a common military model, mass produced by an arms company called Ashland's Armaments, the same model Star Fox issued to all of it's pilots due to it's balance of range, power, and accuracy, as well as the built in light and laser assembly. Although it was bulky by most Cornerian standards, as far as a military weapon went, it was a great back up. As I held it, glancing at the sights, I couldn't help the memories flooding through my mind, the few I could remember from my time in captivity. One in particular being the focus.
"I thought you might like to kill her yourself, considering what she has done." I watched the hope flare to life in Fara's eye's the instant she recognized me. But I didn't care. Even with the knowledge that she carried Wolf's child, something I had overheard her talking to Katt about, even with how long she had been my friend.
"With pleasure." I had unholstered the blaster as I spoke, the same model Mira carried. I had quickly moved closer to her, eager to kill her, to watch as she slowly died. She had seemed to see that intent, somewhere in me, that hope I had seen in her eyes disappearing.
"Wh-what are you doing!?" her voice was terrified. "Will! It's me, Fara! Don't you remember me?" at this point, she could have said anything, and it still would not have changed the outcome. I remembered hesitating, but there was no way I could ever remember why. I couldn't remember what precisely was said, but I remembered Andross shouting something at me.
"Just gimme a second. I want to savor this." I could remember saying that, seeing how battered and broken she was. And still didn't stop me from firing the trio of shots into her. I could still remember that moment, as I was standing over her watching her die, the pure agony on her muzzle, and nothing I could do about it.
The blaster clattered to the table as bile violently rose in my throat, so quickly that I almost didn't make it to the toilet before it erupted from my mouth.
"Will!?" I could hear Mira's startled shout from the other room as I retched again, my stomach already empty. I barely felt her wrap an arm over my shoulders as I heaved yet again. "You Okay? This kinda came out of nowhere." I tried to smile to her, wiping bile away from my mouth.
"I'm fine, just too many drinks last night. Really." I gently shrugged her off, waiting by the toilet for a minute or so longer to make sure I was done puking. I didn't notice the look she gave me, or her grabbing the blaster off the table. When I came out, she was wearing it on her thigh, confusing me. Does she know? "I was going to clean that ya know."
"It's mine, so I should be the one to clean it. besides, you need to sober up. Go take a shower Will. Might help ya feel better." I looked at her and groaned, stepping back into my room and into my personal bathroom, quickly stripping out of the clothes I was in and climbing into the shower. The almost scalding hot water felt utterly amazing, myself simply standing under it for a lot longer than I really should have. I sighed as I stepped out of the shower, quickly toweling off and getting dressed, only to find my apartment empty again. Mira had left a plate of food on the table beside the mug of coffee, as well as a note apologizing for having to leave for work. I couldn't help the small sigh that slipped out as I sat at the table and began to eat.
Blake glanced up as his door chimed again, seeing the girl from the day before step inside. Only now, she was wearing a blaster on her thigh.
"Hey Mira right?" he waved to her as she stepped into the bay, moving over to the other vehicle currently there.
"That's right. Good morning Mr. Slate." He rolled his eyes at her as she spoke, him not having to tell her to meet him there.
"I told you, just call me Blake. Anyway, I got a test for you. I got this junker from a junk yard a few months ago, never had time to work on it. I want you to see if you can figure out what's wrong with it's drive system. And yes, I know the engine is totally boned, so don't tell me that. If ya find something, I'll be over here, working." She nodded, Blake leaving her to her work, returning to working on a customer's brake system. As far as he could tell, there was something wrong with the brake lines themselves, but he couldn't find the problem, having purged the lines several times. He was just about to start pulling parts off when he heard an engine whine to life, shocked as he set his tool down. in the few short minutes since he left her alone, she had somehow jury-rigged its power system together and fired it up, him watching in shock as she was already tracing a powerline down the underside of the vehicle.
"This is a pretty simple fix. The powerline to the mag drive is severed." He was staring at her in shock.
"How did you even get the engine running? It's missing half the system!" she raised an eyebrow at him before chuckling.
"I just bypassed most of the safety systems. Most fighter craft don't have them because of the amount of space they need. You'll still need parts to make it street legal, but at least the engine will run." He stared at her in disbelief for a few seconds, watching as she quickly puzzled out how to strip the damaged power cable, after shutting the engine down of course, easily removing it as well as several other inoperative pieces. He didn't realize he had been staring at her for several minutes now, her stopping at smirking at him. "I'm not single so you can stop staring you know." He quickly shook his head, unable to not smile at her.
"Damn, you know your way around machines don't you. well, consider yourself hired. We'll do the paperwork tomorrow, for now, just head home." She nodded, smiling to him.
"Alright. And a friend of mine is getting married in a couple weeks. It's not going to be a problem, will it?" he instantly shook his head, returning her smile.
"Not at all, just let me know the dates. Have a good one!" she nodded and waved goodbye before leaving the shop, leaving him to his work.
The streets were surprisingly quiet as Mira made her way back toward Will's apartment, just hoping he was still there. Granted, she had barely spent more than thirty minutes at the mechanics shop, but she had learned he liked to disappear without saying a word to anyone. She let her eyes wander as she walked, finding herself assessing the area as if it was a battlefield, spotting good spots to set up automatic weapons as well as fighting positions, even to the point that she actually debating where the most likely spots for enemy positions were and how to assault them. she tried to shake it from her mind, having done the same thing dozens of times ever since Will started teaching them ground combat, over a year ago now. having relied on that instruction so much over the past year, she found it hard to go away from it. a small sigh slipped out of her, unable to help but wonder just how much she had changed, and whether or not those changes were at all good or not. That's when her eye's fell on a hand drawn sign, a simple arrow pointing at a door, a large 'veterans welcome' written on it. curious, she slipped into the doorway, finding a short hallway with several doors, another smaller sign pointing toward one of the doors. She quickly slipped inside, finding a small room with seven slightly startled occupants, all in chairs set in a rough circle around each other. Four canines, three male, one female, two vulpines, both male, and one small female feline. One of the canines instantly stood, smiling to her.
"Hello, welcome, I assume you're here because of the sign?" she nodded, not really knowing what to say. "So you must be a veteran as well, come on in miss, pull up a chair, if you're not busy that is." She shook her head as he approached, his hand held out to her. "I'm Harry. Harry Klein. Psychologist, therapist, and occasional air race enthusiast."
"Mira Marshall. It's nice to meet you." he nodded, gesturing to his own chair as he rushed to the side of the room, claiming a crappy folding chair for himself. She almost didn't accept the comfy chair he had vacated, noticing that all the other people there had similar comfortable arm chairs. "What is this place?" he smiled as he settled into the chair, his smile surprisingly warm and friendly.
"That is a surprisingly long story. To be frank, I picked up a…. difficult patient, and this was my solution." One of the male canines grunted and looked away, something about him being oddly familiar. "I noticed that veterans of war's tend to stick together, to support each other, so I'd like to help as many of the veterans from this war as I can. So, come stay a while miss?" she nodded, very curious as to how this was going to go. "So, Karin, you were saying?" the female feline gulped, clearly uncomfortable.
"Well…. I was a medic. I was discharged after surviving the offensive on Katina….. i…." her eye's closed for a second, Mira's ears flattening. She knew how bad the battle for Katina had been, for both sides. "we were trying to care for the wounded, just after the first push on planet. i… I can't…" her eyes closed again, Mira knowing what she was thinking of. Russian forces had been the primary for the Katina occupation, and there were still several divisions of Russian troops attacking the local populations and continuing the war. But, now, several UEC remnant units were on Katina as well, attempting to remove the Russian presence. Primarily American forces, as Mira had learned while on earth. Russian forces were well known for their extensive use of high end kinetic rifles, explosive powder weapons with magnetic accelerators to cast the rounds out to insane velocity's. the rounds were also designed to squash and flatten on impact, rapidly slowing the rounds on impact, increasing their effect on their targets. They rarely left casualties, and those that survived were maimed, losing limbs or entire chunks of their bodies. She had seen the results first hand, and still had nightmares of it herself. "Every night, I see their faces. All of them. every single body…. And the night they attacked…" Mira wanted nothing more than to stop her right there, but one of the vulpines was way ahead of her, slipping from his chair and gently setting his hand on her shoulder.
"That was more than you've ever shared with us Karin. We all know how heavy of a burden you carry, but you are never alone. Just try to think of that. Okay?" the vulpine who had moved was speaking to her, the woman managing to calm down as he continued. "You don't have to say anymore today." She nodded, clearly having trouble, but able to compose herself again.
"I'm okay George. Anyway… I lost most of my unit that night. It's why I was discharged." Mira knew about several similar stories, including two that had eventually been killed, just feet from her. she lost track of time as the group talked. Not always serious, sometimes just sharing good stories between themselves. Mira didn't say a word the whole time, just silently listening.
"Mira, why don't you say something. You don't have to be so silent here. You are all fellow soldiers." Harry was the one speaking now, having not actually said a word, simply taking notes the whole time, the Vulpine, George, actually driving the conversation.
"I… I don't know what to say…." She really didn't, trying to think of her options. She could share any of her harrowing experiences, from nearly being eaten by a red eye, her own experiences on Katina, fighting the Aparoids on the venom cruiser, there was enough that she had no idea exactly where to start.
"Just introduce yourself." She nodded at his gentle suggestion, not really wanting to look at any of them.
"Well, I'm not exactly a soldier… I was a mercenary…" the other vulpine instantly spoke up.
"Shit girl, that aint a problem here. You fought right?" she nodded, and he smiled to her. "So that don't matter for shit. No go on, say whatever you got in that noggin." She smirked at his surprisingly joking and somewhat vulgar personality, despite the story he had told just minutes ago about carrying his dead friend back to an aid station, the man's head under his arm.
"Okay. Well, as I said, I was a mercenary, both pilot and commando, so I fought in the air and on the ground. Well, fairly early into the war, I was shot down and captured…" she froze mid sentence, shocked that she had even started to tell them about that. Why would I even start saying that, I can barely talk about it with Will….
"It's okay, go on Mira." She was shocked when Karin spoke, having noticed that she had the hardest time speaking out of all of them.
"I… yeah…. okay…." She took a deep breath, trying to settle her nerves. "One of the humans… he… I was tortured while my friend was forced to watch and raped…." The entire group was silent for a minute, the canine she thought she knew spoke up, not yet having caught his name.
"Those human bastards. We really need to make them pay." All of the other's shoulder's slumped, Harry straight up frowned.
"Brady, we've been over this, we can not hate a group because of individuals." Brady just grunted, his arms remaining crossed at George's words.
"Well, I hate to do this, but time's up for today. I'll see all of you in three weeks, right? Most of them cheerily nodded, save brady, who simply grumbled at them. "And it would be nice to see you here again, Miss Marshall. That was quite something to have shared on a first day here." She smiled back at the canine, an idea suddenly cropping up in her head.
"Um, this next meeting you spoke of, can I bring a… friend? He's…. well, he's human." Most of the others were no longer paying attention, only the feline, Karin, listening in.
"That would be fine. there may be some friction, but I think it will do a lot of good to see the other side of this war." She grimaced before responding to him.
"Well, Will didn't fight with the UEC. He was my wingman actually." he nodded, not fazed at all.
"Still would be interesting. I'd love to make his acquaintance." Mira smiled to him, waving good bye to him and the feline before heading out the door, headed for Will's apartment.