A/N: Alright, now THIS fic is also coming closer to its end! Fox is about to go back and settle things with Scales once and for all, but first he has to actually get OUT of Zoness and he has to do it BEFORE the crowning. That means he'll have to explain to Lady Monroe who he really is…

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters of Star Fox, Nintendo and/or Rare do. Any relation to my original characters in anyway is entirely coincidental.

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Chapter 20: The Vulpine Prince

Fox awakened in his bedchambers the next morning. 'I thought I fell asleep in the jungle?' Fox thought and sat up. 'Maybe it was just a dream…' He then looked at his paw and saw his mother's ring. "Or maybe it really was a sign." Fox mused at the ring.

"Are you awake Arland?" Lady Monroe walked in and Fox shielded the ring on his paw.

"Yes your highness."

"You were found by Shane in the jungle. He brought you back. Are you all right? You shouldn't sneak off like that. The whole kingdom was worried and--"

"The kingdom doesn't even know me! I'd have been fine." Fox said and climbed out of bed secretly slipping off his ring and pocketed it.

"Please Arland don't do that--"

Fox interrupted again. "I want to call you all to breakfast, I've got something that I must announce to you." Fox wasted no time.

Lady Monroe side, her thought was that Fox was taking it to his head. She was now starting to think that King Monroe made a mistake in choosing his successor.

***

Falco and Shane were right outside his room. "What are you guys doing here?"

"Well, Lady Monroe sent for us actually. She wanted to properly thank us for 'saving' you." Falco said. "She's invited us to breakfast."

"Where are Krystal, Katt and Wolf? I've got to tell them something."

"Well we were all waiting on YOU kit." Shane laughed. "Let's eat now, I haven't gotten a good breakfast since Katt brought me here."

They started down the hall and Lady Monroe followed them closely behind. She'd seen Fox slip something into his pocket and she intended to find out what it was. She had a curiosity for it, but she felt that such things shouldn't be kept a secret inside the palace. Of course she too also understood that there were some things best left unsaid.

***

As they all sat down to the table and looked at a freshly made breakfast of bacon and eggs, Fox watched Wolf push the bacon aside and grab some pancakes instead. "I have my reasons." Wolf said. "I'd rather not discuss them."

As they all were about to eat, Lady Monroe looked to Fox. "You said you had something to say?"

Fox stopped eating and set his fork down. "Can I have your attention everyone?" He began in a sincere tone. Everyone stopped and looked at him. "Especially you Lady Monroe."

Lady Monroe was a little shocked at first, but realized it was fine. The crowning was tomorrow and Fox was probably getting used to the power. That's what she thought at first anyway.

"Lady Monroe, you have to accept when I say that I no longer want to be King of Zoness." Fox began. Lady Monroe's jaw dropped and everyone else's eyes lit up. "My name is not Arland, and I'm not from Titania at all. My name is Fox McCloud and I am, or should I say was, The Vulpine Prince of Corneria. I've no business here in Zoness, and I realize that I shouldn't be here. I need to be in Corneria, to avenge my father's death. Not just his death, but my mother as well."

Lady Monroe was speechless and Fox rested the Arwing dagger on the table, and a servant brought out the crown (but that was Lady Monroe's order). Fox knew that the crown would come sooner or later. Usually you'd never bring a weapon to the table and if you were a guest the guards usually checked, but Fox got away with it. "This dagger belonged to my father before me…and his father before him. It symbolizes why I must go back!"

At that very moment Krystal was thrilled. Wolf had dropped his fork. "Fox, what made you decide to go back?" The lupine couldn't help but ask.

"My mother." Fox said without delay to the question. "Lady Monroe, I can't be king of Zoness. Not when Corneria needs the morale."

"I can't do that Fox." Lady Monroe shook her head. "I've no one to give the crown to."

Fox stood up and took the crown in both of his paws and rested it atop Katt's head. "You have a daughter who is much more certified to lead Zoness than I." Fox insisted. "I have my own kingdom to rule. Now I'm going to ask the Queen." Fox said as he eyed Katt. "Will you help ME help Corneria?"

"She is NOT the Queen yet!" Lady Monroe exploded.

"When I decide to head back, she will be." Fox smiled.

To this Lady Monroe sat down. 'Clever…' She said to herself. It was too late to turn back the crowing and SOMEONE had to rule Zoness, and it was apparent that Fox was entirely clear. There was nothing she could do. If Fox wouldn't be King then there was no one else certified enough for the responsibility other than her own daughter. She thought about it for a moment. This was, after all, what SHE wanted for her daughter. "Very well." Lady Monroe sighed. This was what defeat felt like.

Fox smiled. "I knew you'd understand." He said. But he wasn't finished yet. He put his plate aside and left his chair out and left the table UNEXCUSED. Lady Monroe gasped and Fox walked off smiling. Katt got up from the table and went after Fox.

***

As Fox was just about to his room he heard his name being called by Katt. "Fox!"

"What?" He turned around. 'She's probably going to yell at me for being rude. Just like when I was a kit and pulled the same stunt.'

"You did what only so few in Zoness do. You actually INTERRUPTED mother when she was speaking! Not only that, but you did the opposite of what she would do. You were selfish and rude to her!"

'Great…' Fox thought.

"AND!" Katt raised her voice.

'Great…I'm in so much trouble…'

"…You convinced my mom that Zoness isn't the world." Katt said. "And now I'm Queen thanks to you. You stood up to my mom and very few furs in Zoness do that." Well, Wolf O' Donnell was one at least. "Now I suppose that as Queen you want me to gather up any troops and march to Corneria?"

"Could you do it for me?" Fox lit up.

"I will. But you have to understand that with such urgency I can't just up and leave. You'll have to give me a week to prepare." Katt warned. "But I'll help you Fox."

This made Fox feel much better, and then he was in his room.

***

'How can he do this NOW?' Lady Monroe thought. The others hadn't left yet but they were staring at her. She felt that Fox had made a fool of her. Not even Wolf resulted so such disrespect. 'So he thinks that jus because he's leaving he can amount to such disrespect?' She thought.

"Lady Monroe, please don't be mad at Fox. If anything, he should be mad at you for not agreeing to help Corneria in the first place." Wolf said. "He'll be leaving soon, and then he'll be out of your hair for good and we can all go on with our lives."

Lady Monroe sighed and stood up. "I'll let him get away with this, but he must promise NEVER to return to Zoness EVER again." Lady Monroe could certainly hold grudges. "Once he leaves, he should be exiled." Lady Monroe then walked off.

Wolf didn't let this bother him one bit. 'Hope I never have to come back here.' He thought.

"So, let me get this straight." Falco intervened. "Fox is the King of Corneria…the rightful King, and he never went back, and now because of his mother he decides that he wants to?"

"That's what it looks like." Krystal answered him. "Maybe it was the doing of…no it couldn't be."

"Who?" Falco had to ask.

"It had to have been…her." Krystal said.

"Who is 'her?'" Shane inquired.

Wolf finally realized what Krystal was trying to say. "Mia…it must've been Mia." To that Krystal nodded.

"Mia?" Shane popped up. "MIA! You know Mia!?" Shane said.

"Yes, she's lived in Corneria since Fox was born." Wolf said. "She's left there a couple of times, but she always comes back."

This reminded Shane of an encounter with the vixen. "She's the whole reason I decided to try and overthrow the king of Macbeth." Shane said. "She told me that Macbeth would kill us all, and she was right. Of course I didn't believe her at the time, and when I finally acted upon this…well…her warnings she gave me were right."

"What was that?" Krystal asked, seeming very interested.

"She told me that if I were to fail, it would cost me my citizenship in Macbeth. Mia tells no lies." Shane said. "I wish I'd have listened to her on how to do it."

Even Falco didn't know about this. "So who is Mia?" The avian wondered.

"She's…a mistress you could say." Wolf said. "She has the ability to predict the future. She isn't always right, but ninety-nine percent of the time she's right. It all depends on if you want to listen to her or not." Wolf remembered his own experience. "It's the reason why Krystal and I are here now. It looks like Fox has come to his senses."

"Well, if Fox is going back to Corneria, then we're going too." Falco volunteered himself and Shane. "He's family to us."

"You'll be making a mistake in going." Krystal warned. "Corneria is a wasteland. Don't expect to find any food or water."

Shane blinked for a moment. "Doesn't sound any different from Macbeth."

***

Shannon was at the fur hideout. He managed to get out of the palace by lying to Scales and saying that he was going to go and patrol the streets. Corneria seemed to be growing worse everyday, and Shannon was seeing just how senseless this war was going to be. There was still time to stop it! He only needed hope to do it.

In the fur headquarters, it was nice to see that many of the furs were no longer scared of him. This filled Shannon with content. He was speaking with Mia, on when this "Miracle" she talked about would be there.

"Just wait. In time he will come." That was all that Mia would ever say. Of course the furs that knew who she was talking about didn't believe her and that included Peppy. Many furs always told Mia that this was one time she was wrong, because that would mean Fox coming back from the dead.

"Scales is getting closer, he's doubled training and I'm sure that by now he climbs closer to his goal. He got one hundred new recruits in just the last week! That's more than he usually gets in a month."

"He's growing desperate." Mia said. "I can't delay it anymore. There's nothing more I can tell Scales. We can only rely on the prophecies I told him."

"He thinks he's invincible. What exactly did you tell him?" Shannon asked.

"I told him that no fur could harm him. Then I told him that only when the jungle of Zoness moves should he feel unsafe. Lastly, I said to beware Fox McCloud."

"Of course he feels invincible now. Fox McCloud is dead, and how in the world is a jungle going to move anyway? So you told him false prophecies to make him feel invincible and then we strike?"

"I only say that they're 'false' I never said I wasn't lying about that. Scales doesn't know it but these prophecies are actually true." Mia smiled.

"They were right when they called you a loon." Shannon sighed.

"A loon? I guess they also didn't tell you that my predictions are always true?"

"Not this one Mia. Fox McCloud is dead, and he isn't coming back."

Mia sighed. "Forget it!" She rasped. "You all have lost hope. How can we expect to save this world if you all give up so easily?"

"Is there anything else you want to know?" Shannon changed the subject. She noticed Mia's eyes were getting red and that meant she was mad.

"All I need is updates on Scales. You say he's training harder and faster? One-hundred new sharp claw in a week you say?"

"Yeah. I think he's just choosing them at random. He won't force the test upon many anymore." Shannon spoke and cupped his claws together. "So what do we do?"

"We don't do anything." Mia said.

"What!?" Shannon's jaw dropped.

"He won't reach his goal in time. Fox will be here before that happens."

"How can you be so sure? What if Scales puts too much faith in the prophecies you told him? What if he takes too much comfort and decides to start attacking now?"

"He won't do that." Mia stated.

"How do you know?" Shannon said, standing up.

"Because Scales wants his army to be intimidating. He wants the world to feel intimidated. That's why he wants 10,000." Mia assured Shannon. Just then Shannon walked out, almost not hearing what Mia had said.

As he walked off to the palace he began to think. 'They say she tells no lies…' Shannon thought. 'I hope they're right.'

***Later that night.

It was late in the night and Fox was getting ready to go. He was making his bed and he had the dagger by his side, when Krystal walked in. "You're leaving already?" She asked. It distracted Fox from what he was doing, as he turned his attention to Krystal. "It's a little soon don't you think?"

"I need to get a head start." Fox said. "If Corneria is really as bad as you, Wolf, and mom make it sound, then I don't have any time to waste."

"You should wait a while." Krystal said.

"Why? Isn't this what you all wanted? For me to go back?"

"I'm glad you're going back, but not now." Krystal replied.

"First you want me to go back and now you want to stay?" Fox asked, confused.

"I'm tired Fox. It wouldn't do me any good to go back without my staff anyway. Besides, you need someone to take you around Corneria. It's a whole new world now." Krystal pleaded with him. "Go back with me tomorrow morning."

"I want to go back before the sun rises." Fox said. "I need to sneak into Corneria."

"You won't be able to do that without me." Krystal reminded him. "Red-Eye are all over the place. You wouldn't last unless you knew where to hide. There's a place where all the furs hide, and without me you wouldn't be able to find it."

'I hate when she's right!' Fox cursed himself. "We have to leave before sun rise, or after sunset."

"At least Katt will be Queen when you leave." Krystal reminded him.

"Lady Monroe doesn't have a choice." Fox smirked.

"You made it seem like you'd leave right after the crowning."

"I know. That's what was a little more genius about it. Lady Monroe already has the entire ceremony planned. She can't move it at such short notice, and since I've stepped back for royalty reasons, being that I'm king of another kingdom. So I crowned Katt, and of course Lady Monroe wouldn't object to her daughter. If I didn't come clean now then I'd be stuck. I didn't think that Lady Monroe would let me walk out that easily."

Krystal agreed with that. "Well, let's leave at sundown tomorrow. I want to see the crowning."

Fox didn't care for the crowning at all. "We should leave before sunrise. Please Krystal? It'll take days to get to Corneria, and you said yourself that you didn't have time to waste either."

Krystal couldn't help but give in now. After all, he agreed to leave tomorrow, but before sunrise meant they had to get lots of sleep now. "I still want my staff back!"

"We'll get it when we leave." Fox assured her. "You can come in you know. You don't have to stand in the door way." He suddenly said.

Krystal inside with a smile on her face. She watched Fox make the last of the bed and then she sat down on it. "Don't worry, you'd be sleeping on it anyway." She smirked.

Fox sat down next to her, hoping that Krystal would reveal more about the state of Corneria. "So what happened in the past ten years? How did it get so bad?"

Krystal's ears lowered. What happened back then was a nightmare to her and she didn't want to think much of it. The nightmare didn't haunt her anymore. Actually it made her stronger. "Fox…let's just say that once you live in Corneria since then, you could take on anything."

"I don't understand." Fox said as Krystal's eyes became teary.

"Many buildings are destroyed Fox, furs have been driven from their homes and…" She began to sob and buried her head in Fox's chest. "The worst part? After Vixy died the furs lost hope entirely and gave in."

Fox patted her on the back. "I'm sorry I wasn't there for you Krystal." Her tears began to soak through Fox's shirt and he realized then just how bad things must've been. She must've been very strong to hold in that many tears…and now she was breaking down. Or were these tears of hope?

"Mia told me when I was eight years old that I'd find you again. I didn't believe her. I thought what all the other's fur children thought, 'why do grown-ups always tell us lies'. Then she told me that I'd be leaving Corneria and that I'd run into you. When I actually left and collapsed in the desert, I grew to believe her. Now here you are…"

"You thought I was a coward for not going back." Fox began to say. "But you weren't wrong Krystal. I was a cowered. I knew I didn't kill my father, but I didn't want to believe it. I didn't want to face Scales. I was thinking as King of Zoness I could continue to run from him if he came. Then I'd never have to face him."

"But you didn't have to be scared." Krystal sniffled. "You would have had Corneria on your side. I'm just glad it isn't too late. Everyone may think you're dead but when they see you again they'll be filled with new hope."

Fox wrapped his arm around Krystal and she rested her head on his shoulder. "I hope so…"

"Don't worry so much Fox. When we leave, we'll have already won."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Fox asked.

Krystal sighed. "Fox, you know all the talk about war and all that right? Well, if you come back to Corneria we could prevent a war."

"Krystal, a war is inevitable now." Fox tried to tell her. "You have to realize that me being back doesn't mean anything. I'd just give them hope, but do you really think Scales is going to step down just because I've returned? Of course not! The very first thing he's going to want to do is kill me right on the spot."

Krystal knew that he was right. "Don't do anything stupid." Krystal slipped out.

"What's that mean?"

"Remember when your dad told us not to go to the cave of the sharp claw but we went anyway and then the red-eye chased us out?" Krystal remembered. Fox had almost forgotten all about it but he nodded. "We can't afford to make any stupid choices like that. Mia's word is law!"

"This isn't like that time though." Fox huffed. "We were stupid kits back then. This situation is entirely different."

"But it presents the same message." Krystal retorted. "There is nothing worse than repeating a senseless mistake. We need to think this through Fox. I see you as that same ten-year-old kit. I see you rushing up to the palace with your Arwing in hand, ready to kill Scales any minute. The anger you get from the thought of Scales murdering your father will consume you and you'll lose your mind. That's what I see happening Fox. I'm afraid that you won't think about it first."

"I promise I won't do anything irrational." Fox said. "I won't go rushing into battle."

Krystal took his paw in hers and gave it a squeeze. "I don't want to lose you again Fox. And I fear that the next time I lose you it'll be for good."

Fox held Krystal tighter than he ever had before. He took what Krystal just said into account and he repeated the words in his mind 'I fear the next time I lose you it'll be for good.' Fox held Krystal close and could feel himself beginning to cry. "Don't worry Krystal." He gave her his word. "You won't lose me ever again. I promise you that." With that he kissed her deeply to seal that promise.

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A/N: Only a few more chapters left! It's drawing closer to Fox's return. It seems Lady Monroe has finally been bested in her strain of counter actions to the gang and she's given up. Things are definitely looking up now aren't they?