Fox didn't know how long he had been in medical care for, but after the doctor was able to determine that he was able to see and think clearly, he was promptly taken from the stretcher and thrown back into his prison cell. All the blood that had been dropped on his body had been cleaned, and the only scars left from the ordeal were the two cuts on his wrist and arm, plus a large set of stitches on his midsection.
He had much more serious injuries in the past, but he didn't have the luxury of having his wounds repaired by the mechanical surgeons back at Corneria, so he was left with an eyesore of a stitch across where Wolf had jabbed his knife into. The surgeon did a decent enough job making sure that the wound was sealed, but it annoyed Fox endlessly knowing that it was done manually by another person, done without extreme care and precision that the mechanical surgeons are known for.
But Fox was in no mood to grumble at himself, as the prison door swung open once more. One of the guards shoved a plate in Fox's direction, scowling at him as Fox looked down towards the plate. Another serving of prison loaf.
Fox glared back, as the loaf sat there motionlessly, showing no signs of nutrition or life.
"Eat it," growled the guard, "or I'll have the medics inject you with something else."
Given the lack of other options, Fox grabbed the plate and ate the prison loaf, not noticing any effect on him even as he ingested it and swallowed it. The bland, tasteless food product started to sicken Fox down inside, as each bite was much worse than the last, as the thug disappeared from sight.
Not even finishing it halfway, Fox placed the plate on the floor and tried to stretch his legs as far as he could. However, the length of the cot was small enough that this made stretching out impossible, forcing Fox to curl his legs slightly to even get all of his body onto the cot. His back ached from the cot, which was so hard that he felt that sleeping on a rock would be more comfortable. Sadly, the floor was not more comfortable, nor was simply leaning his back against the wall.
After a few minutes, the door for the prison cell swung open, and the same thug that handed him his meal glared at Fox's half-eaten prison loaf. "The boss wants to see you. Are you going to eat that, or do I have to shove it down your throat?"
"Wait a minute," groaned Fox, as he grabbed the plastic plate and hurriedly ate the prison loaf. He immediately regretted doing so, as it felt like vomit was being ingested down his throat. "Ugh… dammit man…" Fox uttered, before looking up at the thug, keeping quiet as to not insult him any further. "Alright, here we go again…"
Fox was taken out of the prison cell and back towards the chair, tied down in much the same was as before. Fox was having trouble staying awake, as the lights above him blared down into his eyes, and his head pounded from the inside out.
"So… we're back again here, aren't we?" Wolf chuckled. "I have to admit, I kinda missed you for a bit."
Fox said nothing in reply, glaring back his bloodshot eyes with no remorse.
"I'm quite honestly impressed you've managed to last this long. I would have thought after what happened before that you would have been begging to tell me what you know about the warp zones. But here we are."
"It'll take more than a few wounds to me to betray my friends," growled Fox.
"Perhaps. But I can tell you right now that your team is completely lost without you. Already we've been able to push them back away from… hehe, wherever we are, which I'm not going to tell you. But whatever the case, your friends have been doing a lousy job without you holding their hands along the way. I have to say, keeping you here has been great for our team, needless to say."
"Maybe I'll tell you something I know if you do the same back."
"You first."
Fox grimaced at the refusal. "Piss off."
"Ha! Nice try, Fox, but I'm not easily swayed, and I've got a few more tricks up my sleeve."
"Same with me."
"Too bad you don't have any sleeves to speak of."
"Whose fault is that? Besides, it's not like you're beating me in a fair fight. Every time I've been near you, I've had my hands tied behind my back or I've been incapacitated. You'll never beat me one on one."
Wolf's eyebrow raised up slightly, intrigued by Fox's words. "Wanna bet?"
Fox smirked, knowing that he was getting his first chance to escape from Wolf's grasp.
"Perhaps I've been doing it all wrong. Here I am, using every tool I've got to squeeze every last bit of information out of you, and all I really need is my own two fists." Wolf then threw off his thick jacket, as he waved in one of the guards. "See? Now I've got no weapons, no funny business, just my own two bare hands." As the guard walked off with Wolf's knife, crowbar and bat, Wolf was left alone with Fox, wearing just his work pants and a short-sleeved shirt, tight enough to wrap around his toned muscles.
Wolf walked behind Fox to undo his restraints, starting out with the ropes around Fox's torso and chest, then his handcuffs around his wrists. "Just one word of advice, pup – Don't jump out as soon as your whole body's free. I'm prepared for just about anything."
All that was left was to undo Fox's cuffs on his ankles, and as the last restraint fell off Fox's body, Fox was almost frozen in amazement that he would be left alone with Wolf without any restraints. Wolf stepped back a few feet as Fox slowly got up onto his feet and turned around to face Wolf directly.
"Come on, pup," Wolf teased, raising up his fists near his head. "I'm ready for you."
When Fox turned around to face Wolf, Fox immediately charged at Wolf and dragged him down towards the ground. The two wrestled on the floor for a bit, but Fox got to Wolf's head as he started to pound away at him. Wolf got hit a few times, but after a bit, he managed to block Fox's blows and managed to get back up on his feet. Wolf then kneed Fox in the midsection, stunning Fox as his fresh wounds from before were exacerbated. Wolf then swung his fist at Fox's head a few times, using all of his might as Fox stumbled backwards a few steps from the blows.
Fox found his footing and charged back at Wolf once more, but Wolf managed to grab Fox before he could hit him meaningfully. Fox tried his hardest to wrestle free from Wolf's grasp, but Wolf butted heads against Fox, and Fox fell backwards towards a wall. While Fox was lying against the wall, Wolf kicked Fox in the face, spilling blood on the inside of his mouth.
As Wolf was smirking over Fox, Fox caught a second wind inside of him and jumped back up to his feet, grabbing Wolf by the chest as he pushed him over towards the other side of the room, slamming him hard against the wall. Fox pinned Wolf against the wall and started punching him in the stomach as hard as he could. Though Wolf was grimacing at the hits, he managed to bring his elbow nearby Fox's face and shoved him to one side. Once the two had broken free, Wolf placed a kick nearby Fox's shoulder, then started to punch near Fox's head. The two swapped punches for a bit, each of them landing blows at their heads, as bruises started to form around their bodies.
Wolf continued to punch at Fox's head and midsection, targeting the area where he had stabbed him earlier. Eventually Fox became so disoriented that he could barely defend himself properly, never mind stand up on his own two feet. Wolf gave a final knockout punch right in front of Fox's head, dropping him down to the hard floor, as Fox laid still in a daze, with blood dripping from his mouth and nose.
"Come on!" Wolf shouted, mocking at Fox. "Is that all you got?"
Fox lied still as his whole body ached in pain, while a weight of dread filled through his body, slowly but surely becoming more painful than any blow Wolf could strike down on him. As a couple of guards came over and dragged him up to his feet and brought him back to his prison cell, Fox couldn't help but sink in dread, knowing it would be an eternity until someone would come over and beat him up again.
As soon as he got to his cell, Fox collapsed on the cot and drifted off into unconsciousness, blacking out almost instantaneously. In what felt like a moment later, he was disturbed by another guard, nudging him as much as he could.
"Wake up, kid. Eat your food."
A massive headache popped in as soon as Fox opened up his eyes, pounding on the inside of his skull constantly. He didn't know how long he was down for, but to him it only felt like a few seconds. A brief moment of rest, only to be followed up by another serving of prison loaf.
This time, the guard was wise enough to stand by Fox, making sure that all of the loaf was eaten before leaving. Fox took one bite of the substance, and immediately spat it out, hacking away as small crumb-like bits fell down his throat. The meal started to obtain a nauseous, almost poisonous taste to it, even if it hadn't changed a bit – perhaps because of that fact, given its tasteless and dry texture.
"Don't start playing any games, kid," growled the guard dog. "Eat it."
Fox's stomach churned at the command, as he grimaced while he grabbed a small piece with his hand and slowly brought it to his mouth. Once the piece was inside, he quickly swallowed it, not wanting to have it sit in his mouth for longer than necessary.
"You can either do this the easy way and eat the food, or the longer way by dragging it out like this."
Fox took another piece of the prison loaf, grinding it down in his hand. "I'd like to shove this down your throat for a change."
The guard rushed over nearby Fox, grabbing him by the throat as he lifted him slightly off the ground. "Wanna bet, dickhead?"
Fox's throat was grasped so tightly that Fox was choking and gasping for air. He tried to shout as loudly as he could, barely letting out a small croak. The guard eventually let go of Fox's throat, dropping him back down to his cot. While Fox was catching his breath, the guard hovered directly over him, almost taunting him with his glaring eyes. Without saying another word, Fox grabbed the prison loaf and resumed eating it, even as he gagged at each piece going down his throat.
"There. That wasn't so hard, wasn't it?"
Fox said nothing in reply to the dog as he slowly finished up the prison loaf. Once the guard left the cell, Fox laid down on the cot, barely moving as the food churned inside his stomach. He lied quietly for what seemed like an eternity, not moving an inch.
Soon the swirling in his stomach was becoming too much to bear, so much so that he started to get short of breath. He jumped up from his cot and tried to get towards the toilet underneath the cot. He tried to lift up the cot to get to the toilet, but the cot slipped through his hands. A moment later, he hurled up part of the prison loaf onto the cot. A large stain was now present on the cot, making it impossible to lie down on there without touching a part of the remains of the prison loaf he had hurled up.
Fox leaned down against the wall and slid down towards the ground, as his stomach started to slow down. With his cot ruined, Fox rested his head on his shoulder and tried to get some rest but found the hard floor extremely uncomfortable. He tried drifting off to sleep, but couldn't do so, given that he was still sweating from the brief illness he just went through. He tried to think of anything to keep his mind at rest, but the silent prison cell only made things worse.
Soon the cell's doors swung open again, with the same guard now peering over Fox as he sat on the ground. "Aww, did the poor pup have a wee little accident?" Fox didn't respond back to the guard's mocking words. "Get up before you have another one. The boss wants to see you again."
Fox barely had any time to move off the floor before another couple of guards dragged him up from the ground and brought him up to his feet. Within a few minutes he was back in the interrogation room, tied up on the pole with Wolf staring down at him once more.
By now, Fox's head was in a complete daze, and he couldn't tell what Wolf was holding in his hands anymore. He could barely feel the pain that had been throbbing through his body, and his mind was almost completely blank. He could see Wolf speaking to him, but he had trouble hearing what Wolf was saying, as his senses were almost completely drained and deprived.
"Look at you," Wolf commented, shaking his head at Fox. "You could have easily prevented this pain if you had simply cooperated. Now you're a total mess."
Wolf brought out the crowbar that was in his hands and whipped it across Fox's torso, as Fox grunted in response. Wolf raised an eyebrow, seemingly impressed at Fox's renewed resilience, as he didn't whimper and groan in pain like before. "Getting used to this, pup?" He whipped the crowbar across Fox's torso again, bringing out the same response. Wolf smirked as Fox bit his lips, holding in any discomfort he had. He waited a few moments holding the crowbar in his hands while Fox caught his breath, then in a flash, Wolf struck Fox again with the crowbar, as Fox was caught out by the sudden strike, and cried out in agony.
"There we go…" Wolf chuckled to himself, as Fox heaved in and out, panting for air. Wolf did this a couple more times, as Fox grimaced in agony, sweating from head to toe.
Wolf then threw away the crowbar as he held up Fox's chin, making Fox look at Wolf directly in the eyes. "I could end this, you know. You could be on your way back to Corneria and nobody would lay a finger on you. But because you're so stubborn, you're not going anywhere any time soon…"
"Piss off," Fox grunted.
Wolf's mischievous smirk quickly faded away, as he smacked Fox's face in a huff, and brought over a large container full of water, as two guards carefully undid the restraints holding Fox's arms towards the pole, positioning his body so that his head was facing directly down towards the water container and Fox was firmly planted on his knees. Soon after, he felt the restraints wrap back up behind his hands, and Fox was back at Wolf's mercy again, as the two guards held Fox's arms, preventing him from moving anywhere.
"My physician told me that you haven't been drinking enough water lately…" Wolf dipped his finger into the water container, taking a taste of the liquid inside. "This will help."
Wolf then grabbed the back of Fox's head, gripping it tightly enough to snap Fox out of his daze, while Wolf barked down towards him. "Of course, we'll see just how much water you'll be drinking… for your sake, I hope it won't be that much."
Before Fox could utter another word, Wolf dunked Fox's head into the water, bringing Fox's senses to a standstill. All that he could hear was the water rushing around his ears, and all that he could feel on his face was the numbness of the frigid water that now surrounded him. Fox puffed his cheeks, holding in his breath as much as he could. As his eyes were closed shut, Fox slightly opened them as he tried his hardest not to move around and wasting air, but as the cold water stung his eyes, he felt it was wiser not to let the water seep through anywhere on his body.
Wolf brought up Fox's head from the container, letting Fox gasp for air as the water dripped down from his face. "Still don't want to talk?"
Fox didn't say anything back to Wolf, catching as much breath as he could. Even if he could speak, his glare told Wolf that he wasn't going to say anything to him anytime soon.
Wolf scowled as he threw Fox's head back into the water container, not giving Fox any chance to take a large breath. A few seconds later, Fox felt something strike his back, causing him to cough up some of the air he spent so much effort to take in. It wasn't hard enough to cause immense pain, but it was tough enough for Fox to figure that Wolf was striking Fox with his knee, trying to take out as much air as he could. Fox's cheeks puffed in and out as he struggled to retain the air he had left.
Even as Fox tried to retain the air in his lungs, the pressure building up inside of him threatened to have it break free from him, and a burst of bubbles broke through from his mouth and rose to the surface. A few seconds later and another burst of bubbles rose up. Fox shut his eyes as he tried his hardest to hold his breath in, not knowing how long he would be kept under the surface.
Fox's head was then pulled up, as Fox heaved loudly for air, coughing up here and there. Wolf shook his head, seeing Fox struggling to catch his breath.
"That was only a minute," said Wolf mockingly at Fox. "Care to try to beat that?"
Without giving Fox a chance to answer, Wolf dunked Fox's head back into the water. Even through the water, Fox could hear the guards nearby laughing at him, as he started breaking free from his bonds. But his hands were firmly tied up behind his back, and his head was tightly gripped by Wolf's hands, giving Fox no opportunity to rise to the surface on his own accord.
The pressure started building up in Fox's lungs again, as the seal on Fox's lips started to break, letting his scarce air slip to the surface, replacing it with dread inside of him. Fox wanted to scream, cry out for help in any way possible, but the water surrounding his head made it impossible for him to do so, blurring any words he would have said, and only threatening to fill up his lungs with water. Fox let out another burst of air, as he started scrunching his face in a desperate attempt to cover his mouth, given that he couldn't use his hands. His mouth started to tremble and shake, nearly starting to draw in a deep breath as his head mercifully was pulled up from the water.
"You ready to talk, pup?" Wolf yelled, as Fox gasped and hacked away, taking in as much air as he could. "Or were you wanting to go back down again?"
"Please," gasped Fox, barely making an audible sound in between his quick breaths. "No more…"
"You know what I want," Wolf glared. "How do I get to the warp at Meteo?"
Fox said nothing, continuing to take in as many breaths of air as he could. Deep down, he knew that he was being dunked back into the water. His continuous breaths prepared him for the next breathhold, as he tried his best to slow down his breathing so that he could draw in as much air as he could, though that was hard to do given how little he had within the past few minutes.
Without saying a word, Wolf threw Fox's head back into the water, as the cold liquid stung Fox's face again, leaking bubbles to the surface. Fox scrunched up his face again, knowing that he was being kept under for longer and longer, until he finally broke and fessed up what he knew.
With the sounds of the water swirling around his ears, it gave Fox a moment to think to himself how he got into this situation – and how, if at all, he was going to get out of this. Wolf had Fox at his complete control, subjected to everything that Wolf had committed to him. One minute after another, he had been beaten, cut, isolated, starved, poisoned, and now he was being drowned. He didn't know how long he had been at Wolf's mercy for – was it days? Weeks? Months? It could have been only for a few hours for all he knew, as Fox had been given no indication of time, only waking moments of pain and suffering, and no rest at all.
Fox's lungs started to fill up with pressure again, as it struggled to use up what little air it had left inside of him. He started sucking in the stale air that was inside of him, causing the pressure to build up even more. His stomach was starting to contract and use up as much of the stale air as it could, threating to suck in the water around his head if he wasn't careful.
Another burst of air broke free from Fox's mouth, leaking up to the surface. Within a few moments, he would run out of air to release. Soon he would draw in a breath of water, knowing that it would cause an immense amount of pain, but not knowing how bad it would be, and dreading the wait to find out. His heart was now pounding away like mad as his whole body started to suck in the stale air, doing anything it could to keep breathing. But even this was starting to lose effect, as the pockets of air he had left remaining broke free from Fox, as his head started to get light and delirious from the lack of fresh air flowing through his body.
Fox's lungs relaxed and started to draw in a breath… and he instantly regretted it, as he coughed the water back out of his body, widening his eyes at the horror. He clamped his mouth shut as the water started leaking through his nose, causing Fox to cough up some more, as Wolf mercifully brought his head out of the container. Fox chucked the water inside of him back into the container, as he went into a coughing fit, drawing in small amounts of air inbetween his time taking out the water that leaked into his body.
"So, are you going to tell us? Or are you going to continue breaking your record?"
"NO! PLEASE!" shouted Fox, heaving back and forth as he gasped. "Just let me breathe! Please…"
Wolf gripped his hand tighter on the back of Fox's head, preparing to dunk him back in the water. But through the water dripping all over his body, Wolf noticed Fox trembling and shivering, and saw that a few tears were starting to drip down, visible even through the drops of water flowing down. Wolf grinned as Fox was beginning to break down, sobbing quietly inbetween his breaths.
"Good… now, where do I find the warp in Meteo?"
Fox could barely keep his composure, heaving in and out as he brought in as much air as he could. Wolf sat there impatiently as he held Fox's head up above the water container.
"Well? Are you talking or not?"
"YES! I will! Just please…. Let me breathe…" Fox coughed out the last few drops that sucked into his body, drawing dangerously close to his lungs. "Ok… so you know the formation of meteorites nearby Fichina, right?"
"Yes…"
"Right before you get to Fichina, there's a few warp gates that are activated by triggering a code on the ship. It's automatically programmed into our Arwings, but other ships can trigger it by sending a radio signal manually. Don't ask me how all this works, this was set up just before the start of the Lylat Wars."
"What's the code?"
Fox grimaced as he reminded himself of the access code in his head, remembering it when he first programmed the data into the Arwings. "It's a heavily guarded secret, and nobody outside the Cornerian Army and ourselves know it."
"I know that, fool!" Wolf barked, slapping Fox in the face. "That's what I'm interested in! What's the code?"
Fox hesitated as his heart rate started to jump in fear and anxiety, while Wolf eagerly leaned his ear over towards Fox, as a sly grin started to form on his face. Fox bit his lips and shut his eyes, shuddering in fear from the consequences of his future actions. "Fuck me… I'm so sorry… I tried…"
"WELL?" Wolf tightly grasped the back of Fox's head, ready to dunk his head back down into the container. Fox shouted in pure terror, practically begging incomprehensibly to Wolf.
"…Alpha… Omicron… 27-11… 64."
Wolf stood in shock as he heard the words drip out slowly of Fox's mouth. He let go of Fox's head and turned his own head over to one of the guards standing idly nearby. "Did you get all that?"
"Yes, boss."
"Get Panther on the line. Tell him to wake his ass up."
The guard got onto his intercom nearby and softly spoke some commands over to the operator, all while Wolf and Fox listened onward. Wolf was smirking with pride, while Fox was completely dejected, turning his face away from the reflection of the water, not wanting to look at himself. His heart kept sinking as Panther came onto the intercom in a groggy mood.
"What's up, Wolf?"
Wolf pointed to the guard with the intercom nearby. "Give him the code."
The guard complied with his order, as Panther started to type in the keys required onto the Wolfen. Back at Meteo, Panther rubbed his eyes to get a better look at the area around him, and noticed a blue gate start to appear in the distance. "I'm assuming I'm supposed to go through there?"
"Yes, Panther," replied Wolf. "Go through there and let me know what happens when you get to the other side." As he clicked the intercom off, he stared back at Fox, who was still grimacing in defeat. "If this is some kind of trap, we'll find out in a minute. If it is, you'll be in big trouble."
Fox's heart start to pick up the pace again, as the whole group waited to see what would happen to Panther. Fox knew that Wolf was wanting to figure out how to warp from Meteo directly into Katina, but he didn't know if any of his teammates knew any of that – so Fox wasn't sure if there was anyone waiting at the other side of the warp. He knew that Panther was on his way there – there was only one way to open up the gates, and Fox led them straight into it. He was willing to live with the consequences and was already planning what to do once he got out and recovered – adding more security to the Meteo area, perhaps changing the code of the gate, which was easier said than done, considering the thousands of ships that had access to the gate on a regular basis…
The intercom crackled a couple of minutes later, and Panther spoke to them in a calm, relaxed mood. "Everything went as planned, Wolf. It's a bit freakier than I expected, but otherwise the ship is in good shape, and I'm safely at Katina. I'll pass on the info to everyone in the team."
"Good work, Panther," smirked Wolf. "Keep me updated on how many ships manage to cross through there." As he clicked off the intercom and passed it back to the guard, he turned back to Fox, who was glaring at him in the hopes of being noticed by his archrival. "Ah yes, I almost forgot, pup… Let's have a bit more fun, shall we?"
"…. WHAT?"
"You heard me – Did you really think I was going to let you go just like that? I've waited years for you to be at my mercy. And I intend to keep you for as long as I can…"
"Wait a minute! I told you everything I know!"
"Well, there's one thing I haven't told you about myself," said Wolf, as he leaned closer towards Fox's face, staring directly at one another. "…I'm a terrible liar."
"YOU BASTARD! You promised, you son of a bitch! Let me out, asshole! You're going to pay for this!"
Wolf burst out in laughter as Fox shouted in rage, venting at his captor. But he wasn't content with simply playing around with Fox. Wolf grabbed the back of Fox's head and dunked it back into the freezing water, giving him little time to get a fresh lungful of air.
The frigid water seemed to sting more than before, perhaps since he hadn't been inside there in a while. Fox could hear the guards laughing at Fox as he struggled to break free from his shackles, trapped inside the container with no more breath. Fox tried to push his head out of the water as hard as he could, but Wolf's grip on the back of his head was more firm from before, all the while the seconds inside the container ticked by, and his desperation for more air only grew bigger.
The familiar sensation of pressure started to build up into Fox's lungs again, as his head continued to be held under the water. Fox wrestled as hard as he could to break free, pushing his head back as much as he could, but it barely budged. As the remainder of the air started to leave his body, desperation gave way to dread, as the seconds ticked down until he would simply run out of air.
Fox reflexively let his mouth open, letting some more valuable stale air float to the surface. Before another burst of air left him, he glued his lips as tightly as he could, starting to breathe in the stale air in and out, recycling it as his lungs begged for fresh air. His stomach started to cave inwards, absorbing in as much air as it could, knowing deep down that he wouldn't resurface anytime soon.
"How long have I been held down? Three, four minutes?"
The last of the stale air forced itself from Fox's lungs, and his eyes widened in terror. His own mind was spinning deliriously, and the rest of his senses went completely numb – he could only feel the pressure continually building up in his lungs, and could only hear the water rushing around his head. His lungs were about to burst, bottled up from holding his breath for what seemed like eternity, continuing on for no end.
"He wouldn't really kill me… right?"
The remainder of his stale air escaped from his mouth, leaving his jaw hanging open in the water. It started to swirl inside his mouth, making Fox reflexively swallow a small drop down his throat…
The water immediately threw back out of Fox, but with nothing but water surrounding him, he simply took in another mouthful. He coughed up that one as well, this one more violently than the other. Soon he started inhaling the water more regularly, only to cough it out more violently each time. His mind turned into a blur, as he was focused solely on keeping the water out of his body. Eventually, his lungs gave in, and Fox took in a deep breath of water, becoming nearly paralyzed at the sensation of the liquid flowing through inside of him. His own mind was completely blank of any thought inside of him, knowing deep down of the fact that there was nothing he could do to stop breathing water.
Fox simply stared forward towards the bottom of the container, as the sounds of his own throat choking on the water surrounding his head. His whole body had become numbed with pain, pounding his lungs from the inside out, threatening to burst as they flooded with water. Within a few seconds, Fox's vision started to weaken, and his mind started to fade, as all the light that was shimmering down the container started to darken.
All that Fox could see was total darkness, until a small light shone in front of him. He made his way towards the light, not knowing if he was stepping towards it or floating there with his own conscious. As the light got bigger and soon filled up his field of vision, a mysterious figure stood in front of him, looking very similar to himself and measuring around the same height as himself. At first, Fox thought this was the reaper greeting him, but as his vision started to focus on the figure, he noticed the sunglasses perched on his face, as the figure slowly removed them and gazed at Fox in shock.
"…Father?"
The figure gently held Fox's hands, as Fox could now see his own body morphing back into existence. "It's so good to see you again, Fox."
Fox glanced at himself, noticing his stomach sucked in enough that his ribcage was starting to show. He then realized he was still in his boxers, but that didn't seem to faze his father, James, who was more concerned with the weary eyes on his son.
"Am I… dead?"
"Not yet," replied James. "There's still so much for you to accomplish. It's too early for you to go."
Fox noticed another figure approach him from the left, heading slowly towards him. As Fox turned his head, the figure was also very similar to himself, but this time a woman, giving a warm smile as Fox could only stand in a stupor.
"…Mother…"
The woman placed her hands onto Fox's head, gently caressing it as she gave Fox a badly needed warm touch onto Fox's cold body. "We're both so proud of you, Fox…"
Fox's heart sank, with the memories of the interrogation fresh in his mind. He turned away from his mother, ashamed to look at his parents in the eye. "I let both of you down, mom… I failed you…"
James placed his hand on Fox's bruised shoulder, grabbing Fox's attention while also making him surprised that his whole body didn't wince at James' actions. "Don't believe that for a second, son. You've done so much for the good of the universe."
Fox felt his own bod get weak, enough that he struggled to stand on his own, forcing him to get onto his knees to release the tension and weight from his body.
"You've always been so strong, Fox," said James, kneeling down alongside his son. "You just need to hold on for a little longer."
"We're here with you," replied Vixy, kneeling on the other side of Fox. "Always."
Even though Fox was pleased to see his parents again, he couldn't help but shudder, as the fears of the outside world started to press onto his fragile mind again. But with nobody else watching around him, and no threat of any cameras snapping him, Fox felt free to let his whole range of emotions out. His parents gently placed one of their hands onto Fox's back, as Fox buried his face into his hands and started sobbing immensely, surrendering himself to his emotions. All that Fox could think about at that moment was purely the fear of what Wolf would do next to him, what kind of sadistic punishment he would think of the next time he saw him. But his parents were there to comfort him, even in his darkest moments. Within a few moments, Fox felt safe in their presence, as if they were ready to guard him against anyone wanting to hurt him.
"I miss you so much," whimpered Fox, wiping the tears from his eyes.
"I miss you too," replied James.
"As do I", said Vixy, soothing down Fox's fears with each word of her voice. "But you've gotten so far to give up now."
For what seemed like the first time in his life, Fox could feel the tension built up over the recent few days melt away, as his parents both sat by near him, soothing away his pain.
"I don't want to go," said Fox, his voice starting to crack. "I don't want to go back into that dark, cruel world out there. I don't want to leave you two again."
"We'll always be with you," said James, pointing at Fox's chest. "Don't you ever forget that."
"We're just so happy that you still care about us," added Vixy. "Even after all these years, you still remember us every day. Even if you don't mention us by name."
"How couldn't I?" said Fox, breaking a small smile. "You're my parents. I'd do anything to just to see you again if I could."
The three gently hugged each other, rubbing their heads against one another, sharing each other's warmth and their compassion all at once.
"I love you, Mom… I love you, Dad."
"We love you too," replied Vixy. She placed a soft kiss onto Fox's cheek, rubbing Fox's head, as most of the pain he held inside of him had completely gone.
"It's time to head back to your world and complete your mission," said James, not wavering at all in his voice.
"Already?" Fox snapped softly, starting to panic again in his heart. "But we've only been with each other for so short a time…"
"We will have all the time in the world when your mission is done," James responded determinedly. "But for now, you're needed back in Lylat. And not just for your predicament, but also for the future as well."
"We have sent three guardian angels to you," said Vixy. "One will break you out of your bonds. Another will bring you to safety. The third will help guide you to your next steps."
"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Fox.
"You will out soon enough," replied Vixy, as she started to drift away from Fox. "But now it's time for you to go. You haven't another moment to waste."
"Wait a minute!" yelled Fox in a panic, as James started to drift away as well. "Where are you going?"
"We will see you when your time has come," replied James, as Fox's vision started to fade. "But just remember that no matter what, we love you forever and ever, Fox. Keep making us proud, Fox."
Fox stretched out his hand to try to get back towards his parents, but as they faded away from view, Fox drew his hand back, knowing they would be waiting for him whenever he returned. The light started to fade again, returning his vision to black, as his head started to pound again. His mind was in a deep haze as he gently closed his eyes, then opened them back up again, lying motionless on a thin bed, staring up at a ceiling as his lungs started to pump in and out, building up pressure as a thick liquid started to accumulate in his body…