I'm sorry for the long delay between this chapter and the last, college finals were really stressing me out. After writing so many papers and essays, I couldn't even find the will to return to writing on my own free time, so I took a little break. Thank you for everyone still reading this story, go ahead and leave a review if it suits you :)

Wolf's back lay flat on the couch in the living room, resting his arms on his chest with his head perched on the armrest. His dizziness had subsided now, but a combination of the evening's arrival and the events earlier that day made him weary; he only realized how tired he was now that he was comfortable and at peace.

The door swung open as Miyu entered back into the house, closing it behind her in a hurry as she muttered, "How's it already getting cold..?".

Wolf opened his eye a little more now that Miyu was back. He noticed his card in between two of her fingers, which she tossed onto the kitchen counter to her right. Wiping her hands on her tights, the lynx headed into the kitchen and grabbed an empty black pot sitting next to the slightly crooked sink. She began filling it with water and called back to her guest in the living room. "Please tell me you can stomach soup for now, because I can't cook for squat Wolf."

Wolf held his right thumb up for her to see from behind the couch's ridge. "Eh, whatever works Miyu. I don't care."

Once the pot's water level was sufficient for two servings, Miyu plopped it onto onto the stove a few feet away from the sink. She turned the knob at the highest possible setting, listening to the stove crackle to life before a small wave of flames erupted underneath the pot, diminishing almost immediately after and settling to a steady constant flow of fire.

Wolf itched irritably around the bottom edge of his eyepatch, swiping away a few grains of sand that had gotten stuck there. A wry smirk grew on his muzzle as he commented, "Maybe you can buy some half-decent food with all those new credits. There's gotta be some good variety on this hellhole, right?".

Miyu strode into his view with two glasses of water, scoffing at his remark as she set a glass down on the low table across the couch. "Heh, I wouldn't count on it...but calling it a hellhole is a little unfair. It's not that bad." She sat on a recliner with her own glass and settled into the soft cushion, letting out a relaxed sigh.

Wolf scooted his back up against the armrest and sat at an angle, reaching for the glass she'd provided him. He gently shook the cup around in his hand, watching the water quietly swish around inside. "Then I hope you're mostly right. Might be a little while before I get out of here."

Miyu lowered her cup from her lips and eyed Wolf, saying with a slightly frustrated tone, "Well if you'd just let go of your pride, you'd be smart and use those credits to buy a new ship for yourself so you wouldn't be stuck in this 'hellhole'.".

"Let's not go over this again, hm?" Wolf asked rhetorically with a polite grin full of attitude. He took a swig of water and gulped it down. "I'll figure something out."

Miyu leaned her head back against the recliner and narrowed her eyes, nodding quietly for a few moments. "...Just don't kill anybody, okay?"

Wolf rolled his eye and snorted, but he smiled at the remark. "Not unless somebody pays me to."

This little exchange got a short chuckle out of both of them. They lounged peacefully together for the next few moments, listening to the soft sound of the water heating up in the kitchen. Then Wolf broke the silence as he leaned his head up and looked at Miyu. "What do people do here for a living anyhow?"

The lynx looked up at the ceiling as she thought of a response. "Hm...trade between residents and travelers keeps money and resources flowing, but I don't think there's really a signature occupation people have here on Dastin. I guess if I had to single one out, it'd be...probably either metalwork or excavation. One of those two." She glanced back at Wolf and smirked, raising her eyebrows in a playful manner. "Why ask? Thinking about being some bug wrangler here or somethin'?"

Her little joke only roused a half smile out of Wolf, who shook his head and remained rather serious. "I just...wonder what you do here, that's all."

"Oh, well uh, kinda the same deal actually." Miyu admitted. She set her glass down on the table and stretched out her legs. Realizing her boots were still on, she kicked them off her feet and relaxed again. "I'm sort of a jack-of-all trades I guess. Occasionally I'll go recover some scrap for a fella called Rys Kigor. He's the ship dealer you'll wanna see...but um, if I'm not doing that, then I'm just running errands for Rys and a couple other people. Stuff like minor vehicle repairs, guard duty for an excavation team, being an escort…" Miyu paused and winced. "That last one kinda sucks though. Really boring if I'm being honest."

Wolf nodded slowly as he listened, closing his eye and crossing his arms as he rested back against the edge of the couch. "Hm, so then...what are you doing all the way out here?"

Miyu raised her head and took on a slightly irritated expression, somewhat bothered by this question. "Man, you really wanna know my personal business. And for what exactly? Why do you wanna know?"

"Well, when you go from being a part of the oh-so-precious Star Fox team to living on some planet totally away from everyone you know...I can only wonder why that is." Wolf reasoned with a respectful yet inquisitive voice. He opened his eye and met her gaze, encouraging a response of any kind.

Miyu rubbed her forehead and felt a smile curl on the edges of her lips. She had zero reason to share her life with this man. But then again, she also didn't have any reason why not to. It was perfectly clear by now that he had no malicious intent. At least towards her anyways. And for whatever reason, he was showing some level of interest in her life. Perhaps it was just for the sake of making some good conversation for the time being.

Or perhaps it was for something more than that.

"Both me and my friend joined Star Fox a few years ago. Her name was Fay Spaniel." Miyu began. "I'll bet you remember her a little, right? She stood out like a sore thumb with that rich-girl aesthetic."

Wolf cocked his head and felt his brain fire up. He did indeed remember the name Fay; a petite canine with fur as white as the snow on Fichina. He nodded to show his acknowledgement.

Miyu took a short breath before continuing, making short gestures with her hands. "Well, we were stoked when they let us in. I wasn't really big on the idea of becoming a part of the Cornerian Army; too many restrictions, process takes forever, all that crap...but Star Fox was different. Taking matters into our own hands with them sounded way better to me and Fay. She joined to uphold justice and whatnot, you probably know the whole generic hero act by now."

She pointed to herself and raised a brow. "I joined because I was tired of not being able to fight back against lowlifes. It wasn't really to be some goody two-shoes rolemodel hero...I wanted to be on even ground with thugs. Satisfy some frustrated rage inside by taking them down."

Miyu clicked her tongue and leaned forward, resting her elbows on her thighs as she shook her head. "But I was never satisfied. The more scum we took down, the more just kept popping up...and it took me too long to realize it would never end. How long before another giant war breaks out and tears Lylat apart again?" She planted her chin on her hands and hunched, slowing down a little. She glanced at Wolf, seeming disappointed with herself. "I know, what a selfish thing to do, right? Leave the burden for others to struggle with?"

There was no condemnation in Wolf's gaze however. He wasn't formulating any verdict of judgement or anything of the sort. He blinked a few times and cleared his throat, but otherwise remained silent. She would get no words of criticism from his mouth; Wolf felt she needed no further judgement, at least no more than she already gave herself.

Miyu rubbed her eyes as if telling all this to him was physically exhausting. But when she removed her hands from her eyes, there was a soft bittersweet smile on her muzzle. From studying that expression alone, Wolf could tell she felt better to have gotten all of this out. Perhaps she'd just needed someone to lay it out on, even if Wolf himself was no one particularly special to her.

For some reason, Miyu's smile made Wolf sprout one of his own. It certainly wasn't one of enjoyment, yet Wolf couldn't quite understand what emotion was encased in neither hers nor his own. He finally broke the silence by asking a few simple and reasonable questions. "Do you ever wanna see your friend again? Have you ever thought about going back?"

Miyu didn't hesitate to admit to both by nodding. It was already clear as day. "Yup, 'course I wanna see Fay and the others again...not to rejoin Star Fox though...heh, there's been a few times where I let my feelings kinda get to me and almost put that headset back on, just to talk to Fay again...y'know, if it still works." She gestured to an area behind Wolf, who turned to see a gray headset resting on a shabby shelf mounted on the wall. From the short distance he was, he could vaguely make out the dark blue Star Fox insignia on the left headphone. The color was washed out and slightly chipped away, likely from sitting unused for all this time.

Wolf returned his attention to Miyu, who had reclined back with her legs extended out on the flooring below, balancing on her heels. Her head sunk into the cushion, and her neck had disappeared from sight. When she spoke again, her voice was somewhat muffled. "But I know if I did that, the whole team would track me in an instant. Then they'd never let me live in peace…"

Wolf looked into her eyes and narrowed his own, crossing his left leg over his right."But tell me Miyu, are you actually happy here? Happy with this life you chose over the one you used to have?"

Miyu seemed to consider this for a few seconds. "Everything I just told you doesn't mean I'm not happy, Wolf. I'm free to do whatever I want here, believe me...it's just a little lonely sometimes, I guess…" She fell quiet for a moment, then seemed to feel embarrassed by that last statement. She popped up from her seat and bounced on the recliner, crossing her arms over her abdomen and heaving a short sigh. "Okay, that's enough storytime from Miyu, there's that long friggin' answer you probably wanted."

Wolf shrugged and yawned softly. "I'm just surprised you told me all of that. That uh, kinda satisfied my curiosity, I guess."

Miyu shook her head and curved her brow. "Oh no mister, we're not done yet. Now it's your turn. I told you something pretty personal, now I get to ask you something. I think that's pretty fair, no? Besides, my house, my rules."

Wolf rolled his eye and grinned, snickering. He liked her attitude; not timid or submissive in the slightest. He scratched under his chin and nodded slowly. "Hehehe...fine. Fire away Miyu."

The lynx drummed her fingers on her naval as she thought, curling her lip and squinting. Her eyes visibly lightened up when she got an idea, and the smirk on her face told Wolf it was gonna be a good question. "Ooooh...what's the story behind the eyepatch?"

So Wolf was going to have to tell that story.

The mercenary let out a deep chuckle, reeling his head back. "Well...it's not the shortest story ever, and you gotta know a few other things for context too."

Miyu brought her legs back in and sat comfortably as she smoothed out the fur on her left cheek with her hand, anxious to hear the tale. Wolf noticed and scoffed quietly, changing his voice to a more serious tone to match his story. "It's not some exciting action-packed tale of battle though...just remember, you wanted to know about this."

Wolf looked down at his coat and slowly pulled the zipper down. As he was taking it off, he began his story unexpectedly at that chosen moment. "My mother was the sweetest person I knew, corny as that might sound...but it's the truth. Beautiful, soft voice, full of empathy...I know, what a difference from mean old Wolf, right? I have her red eyes though...well, one of them now anyways, heh."

Miyu flashed a brief smirk at this remark. Wolf continued after a short pause. "I had a good relationship with her when I was really young, just like lots of other young kids. We didn't have the most credits, but we were happy together…"

Wolf smiled as he reminisced about the childhood memories of his mother. The smile began to falter when he started to acknowledge the full truth of his childhood. "...not with my father though. Short tempered and just...just mean...got into lots of trouble with Cornerian authorities, especially since he was usually out with some gang of his...I never understood why he was so distant from us. He had the perfect wife and a son willing to love and respect him…"

Wolf grew visibly frustrated thinking about what could've been had things been different. He blocked those thoughts out of his mind and went on. "He'd fight so much with my mom, hitting her sometimes because of God knows what...the more I grew up, the more angry and emotional I became. The constant fighting and tears really took a toll on me. Then one day, just like I was afraid of…" Wolf snapped his fingers and shook his head, closing his eye and swallowing down the rage in his voice. "...bastard beat her so bad that I got home from classes and found her on the floor. Just from the condition that I found her in, I knew she was dying. So I carried her to the hospital and screamed for help."

Any little smirk or signs of entertainment from Miyu had been completely absent for a while now, staring with total silence. Her azure eyes were both disturbed and disgusted, having been reminded that people like Wolf's father truly exist and commit the atrocities spoken by Wolf.

The mercenary turned his head and looked away. His one good eye was hidden from Miyu at this angle; had Wolf turned the other way, she surely would have seen the pain in his eye. His voice went deeper as he solemnly mumbled, "...I held her hand as she left, but she'd been hurt so bad she wasn't even fully conscious at the time...so she died not able to see or hear me begging her to stay.".

Wolf brought his head back around and looked at Miyu with a stern face. His next words came out in a voice icy enough to make her shudder. "I remember the exact moment my grief turned to total unadulterated malice...when I finally came home six hours after, my dad was sleeping it off like he had nothing to do with it all. But I knew it was him already...so I quietly approached his bedside and started strangling him in his sleep."

Miyu felt her heart drop. She swallowed hard and instinctively rubbed her neck with her fingers. She didn't mean to, but the image Wolf had painted was just so...brutal. He wasn't finished however.

"...I almost killed him that night, almost." Wolf revealed as he leaned his head back and sighed. He paused for a moment before extending his right index finger, slowly dragging it down his eyepatch in a clawing motion. "But he got me good, right here with his claw...I couldn't power through the pain, I've never felt a pain like that in all my life Miyu. It was intense...so while he was gasping and coughing his guts out, I ran. I didn't know where I was going, but I just knew life was never gonna be the same...that kind of dread and fear is something no kid that young should feel."

Wolf stared down at his open palm, feeling a wave of emotions take hold of him. The back of his eye stung, and he blinked several times to hide the pain in it. But when he looked up and locked eyes with Miyu, she could see everything. That one red eye could be as cold and intimidating as a predator, but...with a longer look, his eye showed a thousand stories of pain and misery; an eye that had seen far too many things for one lifetime.

He lowered his head and broke eye contact with the lynx, uttering as he took a short breath. "In the heat of the moment, I wanted him to feel pain. I wanted to hurt him so bad…"

Wolf couldn't follow those last words up with anything meaningful or fully true to how he felt now. Fearing he may get completely lost in his emotions, he ran his hands over his ears and straightened out his back. "Well, there's your story Miyu...it's not the whole reason I turned out the way I did, those are whole other stories that I frankly don't have the energy to try telling you."

Miyu gulped and shakily inhaled, looking at Wolf with a mixture of horror and fascination. There was so much more she wanted to ask about that story. Where did he go after? What became of his father? She didn't dare ask anything else though...that one story alone was enough to upset Wolf, and Miyu didn't want to push any further. "...Th-That's a lot more, well...intense than the story I told…"

Wolf nodded. He understood if she was disgusted with him. Perhaps he'd told more than he should have. Miyu wanted to say something more than that however, but she couldn't find the proper words. Silence reigned for a short time before Miyu quietly stuttered, "...I-I think the water's boiling now...".

Wolf closed his eye and kept his head lowered to his chest, mumbling as the lynx slowly got up from her seat, "Yeah...of course…". The mood had changed considerably now, and it was his own fault for that. He sighed and concentrated on pushing the painful memories of the event back into the deep recess of his mind.

He heard Miyu stop right beside him. Unsure of why she'd stopped, Wolf said nothing and remained still. But then, unexpectedly, he felt a soft hand plant itself on his right shoulder. Immediately, he felt the warmth of another body connect to his own. He opened his eye and looked to see her hand gently resting on him; a delicate feminine hand covered in short smooth fur.

Wolf looked up at Miyu and met her azure eyes once more. They radiated the same warmth her soothing touch did. She gave him a tiny, yet sympathetic smile.

In a way he would never be able to describe, Wolf felt an odd feeling that struck a chord deep within his heart and mind. She said nothing. Perhaps she didn't even mean anything by it. But the compassionate way she looked at him comforted Wolf. Though his gaze with her lingered for a few moments, he eventually broke away and took a long, deep breath.

Miyu entered the kitchen again and pulled a small white packet out. As she held it above the boiling pot and sprinkled the powder mix in, she felt something deep inside that she was afraid of feeling…

There was more to Wolf O'Donnell than being a mercenary. He was a person with more to his life than just his work. Suffering, grief, hatred, remorse, love...he too was capable of these things.