A/N: This is actually meant to be a chapter focused on Jade and Shane. They'll each tell their story to one-another so it's more or less a chapter to learn more about Jade. Also, by my next update I HOPE to have my next fic up. It's called "The Vixen Princess" and so I hope you all get a chance to read that one too
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 8: Jade Speaks
As Shane and Jon stepped into Katt's house, harboring Jade along with them, Katt was nowhere in sight. The living room was vacant and the fire was out. "Anybody home?" Shane called out but no response came.
The trio stepped inside. The air was colder than usual and Shane really began to notice just how noisy the house was when it was lifeless. The floorboards creaked loudly and each step he took seemed louder than the last. "No one is here…where did they go?"
Jade looked around a bit. The house was rather nice. A nice rug, painted walls and a fireplace. Nice cozy chairs to sit on. But the home still seemed rather empty. There was only basic furniture in the home and fireplace was covered in a bit of dust.
"So where's Mia?" Jade finally asked.
Shane didn't respond. He only sat down in a chair and offered Jade a seat in the other. "They didn't leave a note or anything…"
Jon went back to the bedrooms as Jade took a seat. "It's not like Mia to go missing, is it?"
Shane shook his head slowly. He was about to speak again when Jon returned with a loud booming "It's cold in here! Shane, let's get a fire going."
Shane sighed and stood up. He went outside to the side of the house and began to gather some wood for the fire. A few pine here, maybe a bit of pinion there, it all worked out fine for him.
When Shane went back inside, Jon was holding a match, ready to light the fire as soon as the wood was thrown on. "We'll wait for Mia and Katt to come back. I'm sure they're fine. Mia would never let anything happen to Katt." Jon said as the fire was started.
"So tell me more about you Jade." Shane suddenly said.
"Well… no, I don't think I should." Jade shook her head.
"Why not?" Shane asked.
"Because you'd find it strange…just like 'he' did. You'd look at me differently, like all the others who have found out."
"What do you mean? And who is 'he'?"
Jade sighed. "There are some things that are best left unsaid, you know?"
"You couldn't tell me anything that's unbelievable. I know Mia, remember?"
Somehow that had slipped Jade's mind. "Well, that's true. Mia is quite a character with her spells and stuff, wouldn't you say?" she said with a smirk and small giggle.
"And what spell did Mia cast on you, might I ask?" Shane inquired.
"What makes you think she cast a spell on me?"
"The way you mentioned it."
Jade smiled. She found herself liking the moment she was having with Shane. "But 'he' is an entirely different story." Her smile faded and the glistening happiness in her voice had suddenly disappeared. "Have you ever…loved someone?"
Shane raised a brow at the question. What kind of question was that? "Yes…I did…once."
Jade held her head down, "Now could you honestly say they loved you back? Could you say that they loved you no matter what?"
Shane took a moment to think about it. He had only had one true love interest in his life. But could he honestly say that she loved him? She did have a strong affection towards him, even when he was a human she still cared. She never once turned her back on him. "No…I can't honestly say she loved me no matter what." He let the thought out loud.
"I thought 'he' loved me…I thought I loved him. But it wasn't real and it wasn't meant to be. I don't know why I was foolish enough to think that something like that could've lasted."
"How do you know if it's real or not?" Shane asked. "I thought my experience was real but in the end it meant nothing to me…nothing to her."
"But how can you say that? How did your last relationship end? Why did she leave you?"
Shane took a moment to recount this. No, Krystal hadn't left him but rather he left her. "She never left…I had to leave."
Jade suddenly became interested in his story. She never really heard the whole story before, just the fact that Shane had told it. She was ready to listen and had actually forgotten that Jon was there. Her ears were open and her eyes content on what he had to say. "Tell me your story." She urged.
"I…can't."
Jade was silent. "Well then…I'll tell you mine. I was once a fine doctor in this little village. It must've been five years ago that I had a patient carried in by Mia and Katt. He was a Wolf but his eye had been stabbed out…well not exactly stabbed out, but he'd never be able to use it again. The best thing I could do for him was give him an eye-patch and get him cleaned up."
Shane listened intently…until the part about the wolf in the forest.
"…Anyway, from time to time he dropped in on me, constantly thanking me for helping him get back on his feet. One day he came by and the only thing he did was give me flowers. They were Roses. Wonderful, wonderful Roses. Pretty soon it came to the point where he would ask me for dinner and pretty soon he invited me to his home."
Shane could swear he knew what wolf she was talking about. "How was the mansion?"
"It was beautiful. He had tons of artwork! But then things began to change. We started to disagree on everything, more importantly his views on humans. He looked at humans as evil creatures and I looked at them as being us. As being a furry. Then came that day…the day when it just couldn't work out…" A tear welled up in her eye, but she didn't care. She remembered the day well and it was still fresh in her mind after five years. "He saw me for what I really was. Ever since then he never came back to visit me, never dropped in to say 'hi' and he spent as little time in Zoness as possible after that."
"What happened to that day?"
Jade didn't want to talk about it but she felt comfort with Shane. "There's an old saying that goes 'You are what you hate' and I now understand what it means. Wolf HATED humans with a passion… not knowing that he was with one."
This grabbed Shane's attention. "With one?"
"When I met Mia, I told her about Wolf and how he was doing after he was assaulted by a human in the woods. In fact, I'm sure he's hated humans ever since. But this wasn't about him; this is about what happened to me. I got to know Mia and Katt some more. Then they showed me an interesting ability they possessed. The ability to change form from a furry to a human. Then Mia cast her spell on me…the spell that made me able to do the same thing. When I showed Wolf…he never looked at me the same again. In fact I'm sure he felt violated by me."
"You felt as if he was seeing you for something different…." Shane sighed. "I know how it is to be looked at for what people see on the outside without ever really knowing you."
"I thought he did know me…but once he found out I could change into a human he would never speak or look at me. I don't understand why…even to this day. He KNOWS who I am. That's how I know it wasn't meant to be. He should accept me for who I am… no matter what."
Shane nodded. "I agree…I was seen for something that I truly wasn't…well at the time I wasn't."
"What would that be?"
Shane was silent. "My story is very different from yours. I was once a human who hated furs. Then Mia came along…at the time she was an old woman. She seemed harmless and while I hated everyone around me then, I wasn't exactly one to harm an old woman. Actually…I only harmed animals."
"Well I certainly feel safe with you now." She joked and they both laughed.
"Well, it turned out she was no ordinary old woman. She changed into a vixen right before my own eyes and then turned me into something I hated. It was just a spell…a curse. The only way I could break it was if I found love for a vixen. It HAD to be a vixen."
"Is this the story you tell to the kits, I wonder?"
Shane nodded. "Well, for a time I had found her…but it was unusual for me. It was the first time I experienced love and the feeling. I didn't know what to do or how to act. So I did what I could…be myself. But it was even harder than that. I always asked myself questions like 'what if she finds out I'm not really a fox' or 'why would she want to bother with someone who has never been in any contact with furs at all.' But it worked out. For a time."
"For a time?" Jade blinked.
"Well, there was this other fox…whose name was Fox. He had an interest in the vixen of my dreams."
Jade smiled. It was like in the books she'd read about the boys fantasizing about the "Girl of their dreams". "What was her name?"
Shane smiled and almost died at the mention of her name. "Her name was Krystal…and she was beautiful." Then Shane went on and told her the rest of the story in a way he'd never told it before. It wasn't just to some kit or teenager this time, but to someone who could actually understand him.
As he talked about everything that happened, he could see Jade holding on to every word he was saying and actually listening to him. She was actually interested in what he had to say.
***
"…But by now you must be getting rather bored with my story, I've talked to long." Shane was almost done with his story, not realizing he'd been talking for a whole fifteen minutes.
"No, I find it quite intriguing." Jade flashed a bright smile. "So what happens next?" She sounded like a child.
"Well, I was changed back into a fox. Then I went back to Corneria with Jon, Mia, Katt and Pepper. I saw Krystal…one last time. I could've stayed but I decided that I had a new destiny…a new purpose in my life. I'd been a human and I'd been a fur and I learned how to bond with both now. I realized just what I could do with this and so I set out with Jon hoping that things between Fox and Krystal would work out."
"Did you give her one last kiss?"
Shane sighed. "I wish I had… but a force that I wasn't capable of stopping was holding me back."
Jade was nearly about to cry. "So…"
"…. I walked away and set out to this place with Jon, Mia and Katt. I've been here ever since."
"But what about your destiny?" Jade asked. "You've been here for weeks right? You still haven't left…what's keeping you."
Shane smiled and looked Jade in the eye. "I stay because of Katt. I stay because a part of me thinks that I still have a chance at love."
Jade smiled back. "Then I'll keep taking my chances too."
"And I'll keep trying to get him to come along with me." Jon added in. "Didn't mean to interrupt, but I think Shane's destiny is important. I think that if a human and a fur travel together…it'll get the message across."
***
"Why do you want me to accompany you to Wolf's house?" Mia asked Katt as they wandered through the forest of Zoness.
"It's the same Wolf we rescued years ago. I think that if he got the chance to meet both of us it could--"
"I draw the line here." Mia stopped. Katt turned and looked at her strangely. "I know you want me to meet him, but perhaps it's only because you're nervous about him. I'll walk you there but it's obvious he wants to see you and only you."
Katt's ears began to lower slowly. "I know. But promise me you'll meet him sometime."
Mia smiled her loving smile that always gave Katt her word. Ever since she had taken Katt under her wing she made sure that she would be there for Katt when Katt needed her most. "I promise." Mia sometimes had to be a parental figure for Katt too.
As they reached the mansion Mia stopped. She urged Katt to go forth and knock on the door. "I think I should probably go now." She sounded off to Katt in small whisper. "Don't be so nervous. Just be yourself and you'll be fine."
Katt gulped and nodded. Be myself… she thought to herself …you make it sound so EASY! Katt hadn't had any sort of love encounter since Falco and that meant Wolf would probably be a first for her. The door soon opened slowly and when Katt turned to look behind her Mia had already disappeared.
When Katt returned her attention the door was out of her way and in its place stood the one-eyed wolf. "Good evening." He smiled. It was that menacing smile that Katt had grown to…like. "Won't you come in?"
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A/N: Alright, this chapter ends there. I decided not to tell Shane's entire story but to more or less summarize some of it without giving away the entire thing for those who haven't read "Behind the Foxes Eyes" yet. Anyway, the next chapter will be the dinner that Wolf and Katt have. It probably won't be a very long chapter and it'll probably come faster than this one. Thanks for reading and please R+R!