DISCLAIMER: I don't own Starfox. Nintendo does. I own Azulia Lombardi, Draco Lombardi/Dragon L, Jad Tayel, Tori Hart, and Sierra Caridaay. If you wish to use them, email me (neptunerising@poetic.com)

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Falco was a reckless pilot. But even he knew he was pushing it to get to Athena in five minutes. He had promised Katt, though, so that was what he was going to do.

He checked his laser cannons. As expected, they were at full power. He hadn't used them going to Titania. He would normally have gone around the debris that littered the upper atmosphere of Titania, but he was in a hurry, and didn't want to jostle Katt around more than necessary.

Falco blasted his way through the debris, taking the most direct path to the space station. Any pilots who happened to be nearby saw him coming at got out of the way.

The space station Athena loomed in front of Falco. The top half was like a flattened out ball, and it spun slowly to maintain gravity inside. The bottom half was a relatively thin cylinder for docking ships. The whole thing looked very much like an oversized top.

Falco's radar picked up Great Fox's location in the docking bay, and Falco entered. There was a long line of ships blocking the way.

"Please wait to be identified," a robot said to Falco via the general communications link.

Falco only waited a moment before his worry of Katt's safety overrode any fear of the robots' attacking. Slipping out of line, Falco accelerated to maximum speed.

Two of the guard robots chased him immediately, lasers firing. Falco could see the rapidly closing door of Great Fox's hangar, and Falco pushed his Arwing to the limit. He was going to make it in before that door closed.

Skimming the belly of his Arwing on the hangar door, Falco banked as the wall of the hangar came up fast. The door of the hangar was closed, so Falco didn't have to worry about the robots. As he circled to decelerate enough to land, the landing sensors detected him and a pair of mechanical arms stopped and landed his ship. Slippy had been working on this when Falco had left the day before. Slippy had almost been done, but Falco was surprised to see them implemented already. Falco leapt out of his Arwing.

Taking Katt, who was now semi-conscious, in his arms, he walked carefully upstairs to the sick bay. As the door dilated, a startled Sierra looked over at them. Falco set Katt down in one of the pod-like beds. The foamy lining molded to Katt's form.

"Is that Katt?" Sierra asked as she bent over the cat, cutting through Falco's shirt.

"Yeah," Falco said, looking away as the blood from Katt's wound began to flow once more.

Sierra began wrapping a bandage around Katt's stomach. She then moved to a machine and began pressing buttons, glancing up at Katt every once in awhile. The pod that Katt was in suddenly closed around her. Falco gasped. He really didn't know much about his own ship, it seemed.

"She'll have to stay in there for awhile," Sierra said. "But I think she'll be fine. Her stomach was punctured, but thankfully not a lung."

Falco nodded numbly and walked out. He would just get in the way of whatever Sierra was doing. They would be voting on whether to let Sierra join or not soon. The frog had his vote, at least.

Falco walked into his room and lay down on his bed, staring up at the ceiling. Katt's injury was his fault, and he couldn't help but feel a little guilty. Falco heard his door, and he sat up.

"Where were you, Falco?" Fox asked gently. "Where in Rustburough?"

Falco didn't answer. Fox sighed and leaned up against the doorway, waiting. Falco glanced up at his leader. Fox wasn't going to leave without information, it seemed. Fox always knew when he was lying, so it was pointless to try.

"I was in the Rustburough Underground," Falco said, sighing. "Looking for information on someone."

"Who?" Fox asked, now it seemed he was just curious.

"Nobody," Falco said, looking away. "It doesn't matter."

Fox gave Falco a look, but walked out. Falco looked down at his nightstand and pulled open the drawer, pulling out his mother's picture. He had never shown this to the others, and never planned to. It was a very old picture; the edges were curled and the back of the photo was yellowing. Azulia looked genuinely happy, but in this picture she was fourteen. His father was standing behind her, smiling as well. Falco glared at him. Falco couldn't cut Draco out without ruining the picture. He put it away finally.

He never knew what kind of mother Azulia was, or would have been later. He preferred to think that she loved him. Nobody else did. Movies always talked about the unconditional love of mothers. Maybe she loved him.

Falco stood up. He didn't like to sit and think for too long. Walking down to the gym, he found his punching bag where it always was, and, as always, relieved his frustration on it.

Falco could almost see Tori's face on the punching bag, and that only inspired him to punch harder. As he thought of Tori's words, he grew angrier and angrier until his fists hit air and he heard a solid thud. He had knocked the punching bag off the metal stand and across the gym. Falco left it there.

He found himself in the cockpit. He sat heavily in his chair and stared blankly into space. Slippy glanced quickly over, but just as quickly looked away. Peppy and Slippy exchanged worried glances. Nobody thought Falco noticed such things. He always did, when it involved him. Falco closed his eyes and leaned back. Even he would admit he was exhausted.

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"Good morning, Katt," a blue frog with black blotches said cheerfully.

Katt started up, and her stomach ached in protest. She looked down and saw it neatly bandaged.

"I'm Sierra Caridaay," Sierra said with a smile, extending her hand. "You're in the sick bay of Great Fox

Katt shook it, and looked around. Everything was white, and the familiar hospital smell lingered in the air. Katt was surprised that the Starfox team would keep something this clean. Of course, she reasoned, Sierra could have fixed it up for them.

"What time is it?" Katt asked, beginning to stand up.

"Don't stand," Sierra said, pushing Katt gently back into the pod. "You haven't completely healed yet. And it's about one in the morning. You've been asleep for a whole day."

"A day?" Katt gasped.

"Falco still hasn't waken up," Sierra said with a chuckle. "He was exhausted. Of course, I don't think he slept the night before he left for Rustburough..."

"Is Falco okay?" Katt asked, wanting badly to get up and check. "I remember getting shot, but-"

"He's fine," Sierra assured her. "Just tired. What were you two doing, anyway?"

Katt didn't say anything. She didn't want Falco to get angry at her. He didn't seem to hate her any more. She didn't want to ruin that.

"I didn't think you'd say anything," Sierra said, still smiling. "But it was worth a shot, don't ya think?"

Katt grinned. The door dilated, and Fox walked in. He smiled softly.

"Well, at least you're awake," Fox said. "Falco's still snoring."

"Did he drive you out of the cockpit?" Sierra asked sweetly. "I know how much you hate noise."

Katt giggled. Fox liked rock 'n' roll music almost as much as Slippy did. Fox sighed and rolled his eyes.

"I wonder who he was looking for, though?" Fox wondered aloud. "He wouldn't tell me."

"You're not gonna pry it out of me," Katt said. "I know you. You were gonna try."

"Maybe," Fox said. "But you'll never know now. I'm gonna wake Falco up. At least get him to go to his bedroom."

"Good luck," the girls laughed as Fox walked out.

"Falco doesn't sleep much at all," Sierra said. "Especially recently. It's weird. He'll stay up, complaining of not being tired, and then sleep for a day."

"I guess... He's just got a lot on his mind," Katt said softly.