A/N: No real comments on this chapter but thanks for being patient. It's hard to update when you're very busy with school. Anyway, let's review what's going on. Fox is in the dungeon and Krystal needs to make sure Shane stays out of trouble. And what is it with this old woman? And why does she show an interest in Fox? And just what is Wolf REALLY up to?

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters of Starfox. Nintendo and/or Rare do. Any relation to my characters in any way is entirely coincidental.

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Chapter 6: Inside the Palace.

"You're the son of James McCloud, are you not?" The old woman asked. Fox nodded and backed off a little more. It was almost as if the closer the woman got the more life threatening the situation became. "You look just like him!"

"How do you know my father?" Fox asked as the old woman examined his face. "He left Cerina years ago."

"He was captured before he fled." The old woman retorted. "But he wasn't here for long before he escaped."

Fox had never known his father to be captured before. "What do you mean 'captured?' and what do you mean 'escaped?' My father was never caught."

The old woman reached her hand out and rubbed it against Fox's cheek. She was surprised that he didn't back off like he had been doing before. "I don't mean to frighten you. It's just you look so much like him. Your father was captured once after the guards caught him in the market place. Shannon wanted to show some remorse but alas the King said it shouldn't be."

Fox finally found comfort and sat down on the cold hard ground. "So how did he escape?"

"Well, James came off as a harmless soul to the King. He was at first to be executed for his thievery, but he convinced the King he'd be better as a servant. So he got to be a servant instead. One day when he was to be bringing the King some bread and wine, he instead took the bread and wine and fled Cerina, unharmed. Since then it's been hard to convince the King to let anyone be a servant."

The old woman looked Fox in the eyes. "There are a lot of things you don't know about your father. You'd probably like for them to be answered huh? Your father. I don't know where he is now but he was a good, respectable fox."

Fox nodded. "But he didn't have to leave my mother and I."

"I know he didn't. And he didn't want to. He did it to protect you and your mother."

"So tell me about my mom then. Why did she leave me and then never come back?" Fox wanted to know.

"Find your father and you'll find your answer. But you're not going to leave any time soon."

"Why's that?"

"You're distracted."

"I am not!" Fox retorted quickly.

"Oh? So Princess Krystal doesn't strike any interest in you? You're not going to leave any time soon. She's too beautiful and you've never really had a love interest before. You're too curious to leave now."

Maybe I am. Fox thought. But he didn't want to let this woman get to him. "Who the hell are you?" Fox asked.

"I'm no one important. You wouldn't believe me if I told you." The old woman responded.

***

Krystal was wondering the palace. Shane was certainly one to explore, alright. The palace was huge and she knew she'd have one hell of a time trying to track him down. "If I were a thief who snuck into the palace where would I be?" Krystal thought aloud.

"The Kitchen!" Jade giggled. "We should probably go there. He's got to be there!" Jade said as they ventured on to the dining hall.

Once they arrived at the kitchen the first thing they noticed was a guard with his mask down who had all sorts of bread and meat spread out in front of him. He looked up to Krystal and Jade and smiled. "This is my idea of heaven." He said.

"Grab a piece and let's hurry back to my room!" Krystal hurried him along. "You already look suspicious enough running around with that mask on."

Shane didn't object. He'd been scolded by Fox enough to know when it was dire that he not be spotted. He accompanied Krystal and Jade back to Krystal's room.

***

"Just stay here and don't leave this room, okay?" Jade said to Shane. It would be bad if Shane were caught in the palace.

Shane rested on Krystal's bed, which wasn't facing the door, or within sight, thank goodness. Shane rested on her bed with a few burning questions for her. What's it really like living here? Do you like being royalty? How come you never go out much anymore? But he didn't want to sound rude. But what the hell? He was a thief and he'd probably only get to enjoy this luxury just this once. "What's it like to be here?"

Krystal looked at him for a moment. She went over and shut her door and sighed loudly. "It's okay, I guess. I don't get to make my own choices but I'm rich so I guess it's an even trade." She smiled faintly.

Shane could instantly tell that she wasn't happy. He thought that living in the palace would be heaven. "I know what you must be thinking," Krystal began, "'she's a princess, life must be absolutely luxurious for her. She can have anything she wants.'"

"No, that's not what I was thinking." Shane said. "I was thinking what is this vixen missing in her life."

Krystal sat down on the edge of the bed and Shane motioned towards her. Jade knew that she should probably leave now and so she walked out the door and closed it behind her. "What are you missing Krystal?"

Krystal sighed. "Freedom, Shane. It's nice to be rich and be able to have anything you want; but what's the point of it all if you can't be happy with it? I bet you'd love to live here, wouldn't you?" Krystal inquired.

Shane nodded, "I'd love to live here! I'd be able to have all the food I want. the world would see me and respect me--"

"They won't respect you for who you are though." Krystal cut him off. "The world would only 'see' you. 'Seeing" isn't the same as 'knowing'. The world doesn't know who I am. I wish I could be heard.wish I could speak for myself. I'm tired of the world speaking for me."

Shane started to massage Krystal's back a little. "What do you mean?"

Krystal lowered her ears. "We have a tradition here in Cerina. I don't get to choose who I merry, which I feel, should ultimately be my decision. Instead my father gets to choose. The one he found? A self-centered wolf. I don't even know this wolf and I'm going to be forced to MERRY him?"

"Have you given him a chance?" Shane asked as he massaged more of her back.

"What?"

"Have you given him a chance? How do you know you're not going to like him if you won't give him a chance?"

Krystal hadn't thought of that.but judging from the past 'dates' her father had set up for her. "Would you let your parents decide who you should love?"

"I have no family." Shane said quickly. "I've only Fox."

"I'm sorry." Krystal said.

"Don't be. It's not your fault my mother didn't want me." Shane sighed recalling memories of his parents. "I.I shouldn't have said anything about that, I'm sorry."

"No, talk to me. What happened to your parents.more importantly your father? You said you're mom didn't want you.but what about your dad?" Krystal asked.

Shane stopped massaging. "My mother. she." He took in a large breath. "She killed my father when I was really little. She never told me why, only that dad had an affair. I thought maybe I could stay with my mom for just a little bit longer, 'til I could take care of myself. But it wasn't going to work. She didn't want me at all. She said I looked too much like dad and that she couldn't stand the sight of my face any longer. Soon she began to dislike me. Then it went from a simple 'I don't like Shane, but I love you because you're my son.' I was a stupid kit back then so I actually believed she loved me. But pretty soon it came to this 'I hate you Shane!' That was when I started to wise up. I used to think that 'liking' someone was the same as 'loving' them. Of course I wasn't going to run away at seven though, so I stayed. But when I was eleven I couldn't stay any longer and so I left."

"When did you meet Fox?"

"I guess it was three or four years after I ran away. I'm never going back though. My mom didn't want me. I only went back once and I saw her writing a letter once. I didn't know to whom but I read in the letter that she presumed me dead. So I'm dead to my mother I suppose."

"So you really do have no family? No brothers or sisters?"

"No, and if I did have any siblings I wouldn't let them stay with her. But after I met Fox things got better. We decided to live with one-another, being a thief."

".Being free." Krystal sighed. "I'd trade lives with you in an instant."

Shane rested beside her. "No, you don't. To be forgotten is worse than anything. Keep your family close. no matter how much they may disappoint you. Be glad they love you at least."

Krystal nodded. "But I would still like to be free."

***

Wolf was in the next room with Shannon. The sharp claw had finally caught one of the thieves, but the other was nowhere to be found. "Well, if you want to find the last one you're not going to do so sitting on your ass." Wolf commented.

Shannon didn't like Wolf much and so he ignored the comment. "I suppose that you want to punish the thief yourself?"

"I say you should let him rot in the dungeon for the rest of his life." Wolf suggested.

"With all do respect Prince, we're no longer in Corneria. This is Cerina. You can't just kill off and forget about everyone. You can keep them behind bars but you can't neglect to take care of them."

"And why not?"

Shannon sighed. "You keep MONSTERS behind bars with little or no resources. You treat MONSTERS like.well, monsters. You don't treat other furs like they're nothing. You do that and they try to escape. You'll also screw up their mind even more than it is."

"But Shannon, they ARE monsters if you had to put them there in the first place."

"Not true." Shannon protested. "You know how we used to keep our prisoners? We used to put them in the dungeon behind the bars with no beds, no lights. We didn't give them books to read. We didn't socialize with them. We stuffed them down in the hole and the only thing we gave them was water. NOTHING but water. Pretty soon we realized what they started to do. Life is all good and dandy until the prisoners get their revenge for the treatment you gave them."

"You've got to show them you mean business though! You be all nice to them and they'll think they can get away with it again!"

"You don't get it. It's not like we let them go just to let them go. Furs go into the dungeon and you can change them. They're not monsters. Just misguided furs."

"They're monsters and disgusting insects and so you should squash them as if they were!" Wolf said.

This guy is all about power and supremacy. Shannon thought. He probably didn't get much attention when he was a kid. "If we're not hard enough on our prisoners, why is Cerina the safest Kingdom in the world right now?"

"That doesn't matter. You should lock that thief up and let him starve to death. Make him sorry he ever stole from the market in the first place."

Shannon was about ready to punch Wolf's lights out. What Krystal had said once before was starting to stick now. "He's only a thief. That doesn't make him a monster. He's probably glad he's here where he can be fed.where he can be warm. Sure he doesn't have his freedoms anymore, but at least he'll live longer."

"AND HE SHOULDN'T!" Wolf shouted. "You need to start letting these furs know that you mean business! You need to start letting them know that Cerina is not a place where you can get off easy."

Shannon was never going to get through to him. "I suppose you come from a very well disciplined Kingdom, yes?"

Wolf nodded. "Corneria showed no mercy OR pity on those who did wrong."

"And what if they've done nothing wrong? What if you somehow get the wrong fur? You know I've caught some furs that are completely innocent in the past, and they've been able to prove they are."

"All the more reason to let them suffer. Don't you see, Shannon? If you crack down everyone, guilty or not, you'll have a much safer society."

Shannon smiled for some odd reason. "You know Wolf, you're right. We'll let Fox die in time, he was going to on the streets anyway." He was going to see to it that Fox be taken care of. Shannon KNEW how thieves worked. Ever since he met James McCloud he knew that most thieves in Cerina were virtually harmless. They'd all been thieves for one reason, to survive. Shannon knew this but he couldn't let his personal feelings on the matter get in the way of his job.

Shannon started to leave when he turned to face Wolf again, "You're not the King, you know, and just because the King has granted you authority doesn't mean every word that comes from your cold-hearted mouth has to be abided by." Then he was out of the room.

Wolf smiled. "But one day my word will be law!"

***

Fox had actually been enjoying his time in the dungeon. It wasn't nearly as bad as he thought. He actually had a bed to sleep on and that was still rather exciting to him. Top that off with the fact that he made two new friends and the dungeon really was quite a place to be.

Fox rested on the bed with the old woman close by. She rested on a bed close to his. For someone so old she was in the best health Fox had ever seen anyone in. Quite the surprise indeed. But Fox was curious to this old woman. No matter, he'd get all his questions answered tomorrow.

The only thing on Fox's mind at the moment was what had happened to Shane. The next was of Krystal. She was so pretty.and yet he didn't get to see her. Damn Shane! He thought and then laughed. He felt like a little kit competing with his best friend for the heart of the prettiest vixen in the world. Who was he kidding? He WAS competing with Shane.

Still, Fox knew as well as Shane did, that even Krystal wasn't going to come between their friendship. They both had a disturbing past, after all.and they were the only ones that mattered in the other's life. Shane was like the brother Fox never had. Krystal was soon to be the sister in their family. if they didn't screw up like they did with the last one.

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A/N: YES, it is another love triangle. So now we know that Wolf is out to corrupt the palace and that he wants power, and he doesn't plan on using it for the good of Cerina. Anyway, I know Shane's past was a little dark but I rather liked it. It helps to develop his character. I've never spoken much of his family in my other fics. Anyway, Shane is a pretty large character in this fic and by that I mean he plays an even bigger role than he did in "Behind the Foxes Eyes".