A/N: This chapter is highly focused on McCloud and his thoughts and feelings about Krystal over the years spent and just what everything meant to him. Remember, the fic DOESN'T take place during the timeline and so its completely made up. Also, this chapter has a segment focused on Katt and refers back to Chapter 12 when she feels she's lost everything. Thank you once again.

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters of Star Fox, Nintendo and/or Rare does. Mia, Shane and Jon belong to me. Any made up characters that resemble mine in any way is entirely coincidental

Chapter 18-Far and Away

TAP! TAP! TAP! The rain poored as Fox raced through the village. He was lost, hurt, and angered. The antagonism he felt towards Shane was only growing more and more now.

Each drop of rain that dropped onto Fox seemed to hurt much more than the last one did, and it even made him madder. The night wasn't too dark, yet it was gloomy. Fox ran across the village as if his eyes were closed. But they weren't closed, they were wide open, and brimming with hatred. Red eyes, with tears running down his cheek, only to be washed away by the rain.

It was starting to rain harder now, and as it did so Fox had come to the chapel to a hault. He stood there and looked up at the chapel. He remembered the small "truce" he'd made with Shane. But that wasn't a truce at all. It seemed to be only the beginning of the battle.

His fur getting wetter, and Fox so unsure of where to go, he took a step inside the chapel for a moment. When he closed the doors behind him, the water dripped from his fur. Fox sneezed a bit. It was bitterly cold outside, even to his fur. Now damp all over, Fox approached the candles. It wouldn't have been much, but the warmth would've been a good time for him to think.

He sat down next to the candles and held his paws over them for warmth. He was starting to talk softly to himself, before he turned his head to the side and sneezed again. "That bastard!" He rasped. He was even more hurt that Krystal had been sentimental and supportive of Shane. Fox felt as if he didn't matter to Krystal anymore. All Fox was trying to do was protect her.

"What does he have that I don't?" Fox breathed calmer now. "He doesn't even know her that well! How could he have stepped in like that?" Fox was saying to himself. It was late, and nobody else was there. No one really came to the shrine at night anyhow.

Fox KNEW that he should be mad at Shane, but he was also upset at Krystal. Krystal stabbed his heart with a dagger and twisted the blade. That's how Fox was feeling. The thought made him clench his paws into fist. His tears stopped, but the rain continued. A dark day it was.

Fox now crossed his legs and continued to talk to himself. "He shouldn't have come here in the first place." That brought another thought to Fox's head. Shane and Krystal had basically just met each other! What took Fox years to have with Krystal took Shane mere days. The trust, friendship, EVERYTHING, took years for Fox to get. And when he finally comes closer to Krystal than ever before HE steps in the way. "You better hope I don't see you again Shane!" Fox mumbled under his breath still in deep thought.

His fur began to dry a little bit, and his eyes seemed calmer. His anger didn't calm down though. In fact he was now breathing heavier now that he had time to think about it. He stared into the flame from the candles without blinking. After a few minutes he swore he saw Shane's face. Then he screamed.

***

Jon was up late into the night in Mia's study room. The light illuminated much of the room and Jon sat in his pajamas, writing in a notebook. The rain grew heavy once more. He was hoping to leave tomorrow, but something told him he should stay here with Mia, Katt and Pepper.

Jon wrote more intently this time until a crash of thunder distracted him. It was the most booming and that shook him out of his thoughts. He wasn't just writing, but drawing as well.

"What are you doing?" Katt peaked in.

Jon looked up and smiled. "This is that Fox I told you about. The one that stabbed me. Very beautiful fox he is I'd say. I like to write about and draw those that I encounter." He flipped a page back to reveal Krystal. "This is the blue vixen. Gosh, she had a heart of gold when I was there. I'm so glad she saved me. If not, I probably wouldn't have gotten the pleasure to meet you."

Katt smiled. "Are you going to draw me?"

Jon smirked a little and managed a nod. He was almost done with his writing on McCloud and soon he'd start coloring him.

Katt shuffled over to Jon's bed and sat down. She wasn't in her human form, she never was when she was at Mia's house. She looked out the window and the rain was thicker now. You couldn't really see much of anything. "You're not going tomorrow are you? The roads and such will be really muddy."

Jon shook his head. "I feel I need to stay for a while. I want to see this Shane character. Perhaps he's one of the few people I hope to meet."

Katt hadn't been watching Shane since the pub. The last thing she remembered was the meeting he had with McCloud. She tried not to think about it. After all, Shane was almost "free."

Jon closed his notebook and turned around to face Katt. She layed down on the bed and curled up. Jon stood up and walked over to the bed and sat down and began to pet her fur gently. "Tell me more about your theories on humans and furs." Katt said as she began to close her eyes.

Jon didn't speak for a moment. "My theory is that this little war thats been going on between us for so long will someday end. Soon I hope."

Katt was relaxed and that made her voice come out smoother. "I haven't been back with the furs in so long." She spoke softly.

Jon noticed that they were quickly getting off topic but didn't mind. He scritched behind her ears and listened to what she had so say. "Why not? Why did you leave?"

Katt was silent. "I left because I had a fight with a close friend so many years ago. He was kind and sweet, and whenever you needed a shoulder to cry on, he was there." She sighed. "But after I left, I never went back to him. That fight didn't have to be the end of our strong friendship."

"What did you fight about?"

"I liked him a lot. But he never wanted to be anything more than just friends. As sweet as he is, I'm sure he doesn't talk much about me, or even say anything. He probably acts like I wasn't there anymore."

"That's sad." Jon said. "But what about the fight?"

"The fight? There was another girl. She just walked into the village one day. She was a traveler just like you. She stayed for a few days, and they got very close. I was so mad at him for that because they'd just met each other and he was already kicking me out of his life, or so it seemed. They became close and started to date. I was so jealous. Then when she left, I finally thought, 'now's my chance,' but he was too heartbroken over the fact that she had gone and moved on. So I confronted him and told him how I felt. Of course, he knew by the past years we'd spent together. Then I blew up at him." She sighed once again.

"Did it have to be that way?"

Katt slowly shook her head as Jon continued to stroke her fur. "It didn't have to be, but I couldn't take it anymore. So I just left. I look back and wish I hadn't left."

Jon sighed and closed his eyes. "Why don't you go back to him?"

Katt was a little jumpy to the question. "I'm scared to go back. Scared that he'll hurt me like that again."

"What animal was he? What's his name?"

Katt smirked. She hadn't spoken to him in a long time, yet whenver she mentioned his name, she always remembered the fun they had before "she" stepped in. "His name was Falco. A blue avian, and a loyal friend of mine."

Jon stood up and walked back over to his notebook. He flipped through the pages until he found a picture of Falco. He showed it to Katt. "Is this him?" Katt nodded. "You don't have to be scared. He seems like a nice fellow."

"But I ran away from him. After I left him...I felt I had nothing more to lose. I felt as if everything I'd strived for with him was gone. Losing Falco was losing everything." A teared welled up in her eye. "I promised myself that one day I'd go back to him, but something inside me can't do that. If I go back to him, that'd mean he was right."

"Right about what?" Jon asked. He did his best not to provoke.

"I told him before I left that I'd never come back. He said I'd come crawling back for him, for love." She sighed.

Jon took a mental note of this. In situations of love and loyalty, furs were just as much like humans. He went back to petting her. "And that's a problem? I want you to promise me that when all this with Shane is over, you'll go back. I bet he misses you too, even if he doesn't show it. He's yearning for you the same way you yearn for him."

"I can't even remember the name of the one that stole him from me. All I remember is that she was a panther."

Jon nodded. "Drown out those painful memories, and focus on the new memories you'll have for the future."

Katt nodded. What Katt wasn't fully aware of, was that Fox was going though a similar situation.

***

The rain was dying down now but Fox's anger wasn't. The rain was now soft. The rain wasn't uplifting though. Fox stood up, still trying to think. He began to walk out of the church. "She just met the bastard!" He said to himself. "I've been there for her, to protect her since we were kits and THIS is how she repays me? By running off with a fox she just met?"

He stepped out of the chapel and the roads were wetter and more damp. The rain was light now. Fox extended his paw to feel the rain. Now that the rain was lighter it was actually.....healing Fox a little bit. He was starting to become calm again. Angry he still was, but now the hatred he'd been building up was being put aside.

"He's still a bastard." Fox said outloud as he began to make his way to the woods. "The best years of my life, with the vixen of my life...gone." He sighed. He was now becoming more depressed. "This isn't happeing....this isn't happening." He said. "It's just a nightmare, a terrible nightmare that I'll soon wake up from." If only that were true.

He walked into the woods and went a little ways into the woods until he sat in a clearing. It was the same clearing that he had that picnic with Krystal. Fox started to look around. Everything started ro remind him of his lost love. In the clearing were flowers. Tulips and Roses. Fox picked up a Tulip and a Rose. He then sniffed them and closed his eyes. "These were her favorite." No one knew Krystal better than Fox. So why did she choose HIM?

Fox walked a little slower now. Everything that he'd done with Krystal was starting to come back to him. They met about ten years ago. Fox was twelve then, Krystal was nine. A three year difference, nothing big about it. He remembered the laughs. Krystal had always acted older than Fox back then. Fox started to remember. It was before Katt had left the village, when Mia would visit ever now and then to say hi, when Pepper was around a little and most importantly, there was no Shane to take Krystal away.

*** 10 years ago

This day ment so much to Fox. He was decked out in a white vest and green pants. He always stood tall. The younger kits looked up to him a lot and he was a leader. They never questioned his authority. Always with his best friend, Falco, Fox went around the village talking to other furs all the time. His mother was always kind about it. You never had any threats in the village. The biggest threat then was a naughty young husky who stole a pie off Pepper's window. Of course that was Bill, and Pepper always knew it was Bill.

There was a new fur in the village on that day. She'd come from a far off village. A young nine year old vixen that from the day she moved to the village, everyone was always looking at her. It was first time the young boys had ever had a feeling such as this. She always walked with a sway in her step.

The boys were playing rough like they always were. A game of archery, or a game of sword duals. They chased each other all the time. They tackled one another and when one got hurt, they always ran to Fox's mother, Vixy. Of course, they also thought that scars and bruises were pretty cool. Each scar they got was always something to be proud of.

One day, the blue vixen went over to those boys. There was a miniture castle in the center of the village then (which was later replaced with the hut), and thats where the boys played. The girls were always elsewhere. Except one girl by the name of Katt. She always hung out with Falco, and thus, she was always with the boys.

Anyhow, when the vixen went over to the boys the first thing that happened was this: "Hi, I'm Krystal, I just moved here from the village of Cerina." She waved and smiled to the boys and Katt.

"A girl!" Bill shouted. "Sorry, but except for her, girls aren't allowed to play here." He said pointing to Katt. "All the girls go and play over there." He said pointing to a crowd of girls playing with dolls and pretending they were babies.

Krystal looked over to them and frowned. To her it looked pretty boring. "So what's your name?" She said as if Bill said absolutely nothing of the sort. After all, they were twelve, 'dating' wasn't "normal" for a twelve year old and neither was playing with the opposite sex. That's why it was also strange that Katt was a tomboy. It just wasn't "normal" for girls to be that way.

Bill hoped off the castle and approached Krystal. "OK, you are a girl. Girls go over there, boys go over here. You all like dolls, we like action and adventure. The Great Fox made it that way."

"Maybe Great Fox is wrong." Krystal smiled.

The young furs gasped as Falco now jumped down and landed next to Bill. "Don't you EVER say something like that! The Great Fox is ALWAYS right!" Even then, Falco knew more about Great Fox. Even more than some adults.

Finally, when Bill and Falco were getting more and more upset the young Fox McCloud walked up and held out a wooden pole separating Krystal from Bill and Falco. "What's going on here?" Fox was almost always in charge. After all, he was one of the older kits and was the most clever and cunning out of all of them.

"Tell the new kit to go play over there!" Bill pointed to the small crowd of girls playing with their dolls.

Fox looked to the girls. He then looked at Bill and Falco. "Then why isn't Katt there?"

"Katt is different!" Falco perked up.

"How is Katt any different from the other girls?" Fox retorted.

"She's just plain cooler!" Falco shouted.

Fox looked up at Katt. Then back at the girls, and then to Krystal. "What's your name?" He smiled at her. Fox didn't smile much back then and to Falco and Bill this was a shock.

"My name is Krystal. I just came here from the village of Cerina."

Fox smiled. "If these guys give you any trouble at all, come to me and I'll set them straight." He wink and turned beginning to walk off. Fox was how you would say a little more "grown-up" than his two friends. But back then even the fourteen year olds played on the castle.

As Fox walked off the boys noticed Krystal turn her back and follow Fox. To Fox's surprise the nine year old vixen was following him. "Why are you following me?"

"My parents always told me that your real friends are the friends who stick up for you."

"But you don't even know me." Fox said. Perhaps he shouldn't have interfered with the small, useless dispute. "You don't even know my name."

Krystal smiled, the smile that over the ten years, had never changed. "I'd know your name if you told me."

Fox stopped in his tracks and turned around. "My name is Fox McCloud. What brings you to the village of Corneria?" He started to walk again.

Krystal was silent and didn't really answer. "My parents told me that this would be a good place for me to grow up." She said. "Cerina is actually in mourning right now. Its too depressing to be there."

"What happened?"

"Just a few things that got out of hand with authorities. My dad never got along well with the village chief. They would always fight over the stupidest things. Then the chief went crazy one day and decided to bring in human authority for help."

"You shouldn't rely on humans for help. That's a bad thing. That's what my dad always told me...before he died. Shot by a human with a shotgun. I never knew such a weapon of incredible power existed." Fox lowered his ears.

"I'm sorry to hear that...." She trailed off. She acted a lot older than she really was.

"But anyway, back to your story. What happened in Cerina?"

"Well," Krystal continued. "The chief, like I said, went insane and enlisted the help of humans to keep order. I don't think I'll ever know why. He just said that humans were more brutal and would keep everyone to their roots. Before he died, that is. The humans weren't very trusting of us. They didn't call us 'furs' they called us 'vermin'. My mom won't tell me what 'vermin' means, so instead she decided to get us out of Cerina. Once we left, we spent a while looking for this place. My mom keeps saying that by now the humans probably burned it down."

Fox shook his head. "Don't you just hate humans?"

"Not really..." They both stopped. Fox didn't say anything but he sat down where he was. They were close to the north end of the village, and they sat on the ground. "I mean, don't humans have as much a right to be here as we do? Don't you think that the disputes are kinda stupid?"

Fox didn't answer. Instead he shook his head. "Don't think like that. You're not supposed to."

She stood up and sat in Fox's lap. This was just the first day they met each other. Fox had no idea what she was doing and so he shoved her off. It was just strange to have that kind of affection, but much like humans, girls matured faster and developed those feelings much faster than boys did. Fox wasn't much of an exception. Eventhough he was growing up faster, he still didn't have much of an interest in girls.

Krystal looked into Fox's eyes for the first time that day and gave him a sad look. Even then, Fox couldn't resist that look. What the hay, no one was watching right? He patted his lap and smiled. Fox hadn't ever felt this feeling before, but after all, in the village he was the only fox there at the time. It was nice to meet another fox. He just hadn't expected it to be a girl at the time. In fact, he was "one of the guys" and even to him hanging out with girls wasn't "cool".

Krystal looked up and Fox and slid into his lap and rested on his arm. She wasn't too heavy for him. He was three years older than she was, and she seemed a little weak to him. She must not have had much food on her journey here.

From a distance, Fox could see Falco and Bill approaching. When he looked at Krystal, she was already asleep. 'What am I supposed to do?' he thought to himself. 'If the guys catch me hanging out with a girl, they'll tell the others and then I'll be scarred for life!' He tried to shake Krystal awake but it was no use. She was certainly a heavy sleeper (in those days anyhow).

When they finally walked up: "Falco cover your eyes!" Bill put his paw in front of Falco's face. "Its too disgusting to watch!" Falco moved Bill's paw out of the way. When he saw the sight he laughed. He didn't say anything, he just laughed. "I'll never end up like that I hope."

"What about Katt?" Bill chimed in.

"Quiet you!" Falco snapped.

They walked off laughing. 'That wasn't as bad as I thought it would be' Fox said. He stroked Krystal's fur. His excuse was always that he wanted to feel its warmth. Deep down inside, he knew was starting to experience this new feeling. He felt he should do something more but didn't know what. How did his parents do it? He did the only thing he felt comfortable with. He began to rock back and forth.

Krystal woke up and felt comfortable. This was the first romantic moment Fox ever had. When Krystal finally stood up and said: "I should go home now." It saddened Fox, but to his surprise Krystal kissed him before she left. Then she was about to leave when she turned around. "Oh, its my birthday tomorrow and I want you to be there!" She winked and then ran off.

That was Fox's first kiss and he shared it with Krystal.

***Present Day

It was ten years ago this very day that Fox shared that kiss, and he hasn't forgotten it since. Now it would be Krystal's birthday tomorrow once again, but this year, Fox wouldn't be there to celebrate it. He was still mad and didn't see why he should go back to be with Krystal now. The rain had stopped, and so Fox curled up under a tree and closed his eyes. Tomorrow would be better he hoped.

___________________________________________________________________

I decided to end it there. That was the best place. I tweaked with their ages a bit too just because. I thought that if we started to have Fox remember this particular moment with Krystal, it would give you an idea of how close they really were. There will probably be more of that in the next chapter. Hope you all liked this one.