Disclaimer: I don't own Star Fox. I wish I did, though. Non Nintendo characters are mine.
*~
Fox followed silently, the whole area unnerving him. Something was watching them, but Fox couldn't see anything. He turned around. Nothing. Emptiness as far as he could see. Fox shivered. He could hear wind, but the air was stagnant. Fox turned back to Jason, who had stopped. Fox caught up to him.
"What's up?" Fox asked as he came up beside the leopard.
Jason shook his head. "Nothing. I just..." He sighed. "Nothing. I was just seeing things."
Fox looked at him curiously, but Jason pressed on. Fox's hackles were up. He could sense it now. Someone was watching him. A predator, at that. He just knew. He rested his paw on his blaster.
"Let's just hurry," Fox said softly.
Jason nodded slightly, and both sped their pace. It was obvious Jason wanted to get out of here just as much as Fox did. They walked in silence to the river. Fox's eyes widened. The river was of quicksilver, or at looked that way to Fox. Jason seemed startled.
"You wait here," he said. "I'm going to go down the river bank. The bank's too steep here. I don't want to fall in."
Fox nodded, watching Jason disappear along the river bank. He stood silently, watching the quicksilver river rush along on its race to an ocean. Closing his eyes, Fox could just imagine an ocean of quicksilver, sparkling under the white sun.
"You have quite the imagination," a familiar voice giggled.
Fox turned. The kit. He must be dreaming again.
"You're not dreaming," she said. "Not this time."
Fox looked around for Jason. No sign of him. "What do you want?"
The kit advanced, and Fox took a step back, his paw slipping on the edge of the river bank. He was trapped, and quicksilver was poisonous. He pulled his blaster out of its holster.
"What?" Fox asked again, his ears drawn flat against his head.
"Look at your arm," the kit said. "The left one."
Numbly, Fox obliged. Where the kit has scratched him in his dream, Fox saw blood, and it was flowing. He cried out.
"What I want..." the kit said. "Is what Irae wants. And what Irae wants... Is you."
The kit pushed Fox, and he fell into the river, his blaster slipping out of his paw and landing on the ground. As he fought to stay above the surface, he could see the kit, watching him and laughing. Finally, he slipped under.
*~
It seemed only the surface of the river was opaque, for Fox could see all around him, but he couldn't move, his body cold and numb, the blood from his wound creating a trail of crimson as he floated downstream. Looking ahead, he could see a large black shape, and he was afraid.
The thing swam toward him, and he soon knew what he was looking at. Irae. Irae was real. Fox felt his limbs come back to life, and he kicked wildly, trying to escape. The liquid was as thick as molasses, though, and Fox progressed slowly, where Irae slid through like a fish, soon catching up and swallowing him.
Fox was running short of breath; he had been holding his breath for at least a minute, and his lungs were burning. Irae covered Fox completely, and Fox, no longer able to hold his breath, gasped for air.
Irae flowed into his mouth instead, and Fox kicked wildly, trying to escape, but was unable to move in any particular direction. He could feel Irae slipping down his throat. Fox stopped kicking, exhausted, but he couldn't stop shaking.
- You will be fine, - Irae said. - Did I not tell you that before? -
Fox relaxed as he felt Irae nudging his mind, making it work for him. Irae kept Fox alive as he floated in the liquid, and the dependence soon weakened his mind to the creature that was now inside of him, and he felt himself fading into blackness as Irae took him over.
*~
Fox was floating, naked, in inky blackness, blood still flowing from him. He was dying, fading away from the body that now belonged to Irae. Fox stopped shivering, feeling more relaxed as he gave in to death.
A small pinprick of gold light appeared. Judex. Fox reached out to it, taking the star in his paw and pulling it to him. He watched it twinkle, and the white and blue orbs from earlier that day reappeared. Confused, Fox released the light and looked to the orbs.
"Do not give up your body," a strong voice said. "It is your body. Reclaim it."
"I'm too tired..." Fox said in a small, faraway voice.
"Rest for now," the voice, which Fox now saw was coming from the light, said. "But the longer you rest, the more danger your friends are in."
*~
Jason heard a splash, and came running back, holding a sample of the liquid in his paw. He saw Fox sitting on the bank, staring at the river.
"Fox, are you okay? I heard a splash and..." Jason trailed off as Fox looked up, a strange look in his eyes. "Fox?"
Fox shook his head and began walking back in the direction of the portal. Confused, Jason followed. He didn't appear to be wet, so he couldn't have fallen in, but there was something wrong with him. Or maybe Jason was just too nervous, being in this strange world with such a famous mercenary. Fox's team would know if something was wrong with him, anyway.
As they left, Jason gave the sample to the gorilla, who nodded to both Jason and Fox.
"Thank you for your cooperation, Mr. McCloud," the gorilla said.
Fox nodded back and walked stiffly out of the laboratory. Slippy seemed confused.
"What's up with Fox?" Slippy asked. "Or is it just me?"
"Something's wrong..." Falco said.
"I..." Jason started, and all eyes were on him. "I went down the river to get a sample. The bank upstream was too steep, and I didn't want to fall in... Anyway, I left Fox there, and once I had gotten a sample, I heard a splash. I... I think something happened."
Falco looked troubled, and took off out the door. "Hey Fox, wait up!"
Sierra and Slippy hurried after him. Slippy paused.
"I'll probably be coming back," Slippy said to the gorilla. "So be expecting me!"
*~
Falco just couldn't keep up with Fox without running. Fox seemed to have new, limitless energy, for he kept up the grueling pace the whole way to General Pepper's office.
"I finished," he said flatly, an odd, almost liquid tone to his voice that Falco had never heard before.
"I'll send you the money," Pepper said. "If you finish your other mission, that is."
"Fine," Fox said, walking out.
"Fox, slow down!" Falco grumbled, finally stopping, exhausted. Slippy and Sierra joined the avian.
"What's wrong with Fox?" Slippy asked.
"I dunno," Falco said. "He wouldn't slow down. I guess they're gonna do tests on that water?"
"Yes," Krystal said, walking up beside the others. "I... I think he fell in."
Sierra was silent, thinking. Finally, Falco began walking again.
"We don't want Fox to leave us behind," he said. "And, mood he's in, he just might."
"I don't think mood has anything to do with it..." Sierra said softly, falling in step behind Falco. "In fact, I think this might be a good mood."
"So..." Falco stopped. "What's a bad mood, then?"
Sierra shook her head, staring at the ground. "I don't think we want to find out."