Worry
They need to sort this out on their own, but I find it so hard to let them. I suppose that's because I'm afraid of what could happen if they can't settle this stupid feud. They've had them before… but this time the costs of the rift seem so much higher… for all of us. We can't go on like this. I don't think Fox wanted to go, perhaps he would rather just pass him by and leave him to whatever fate lies ahead, and split our team down to three. I can't let that happen for Fox and Slippy's sake as well as my own. Fox thinks I'm stupid, that I worry too much… in this case I really hope I do. I don't want to see my nightmares embodied… but I fear I might have to… I need to know.
Falco you chose a strange place, a shoreline in a fierce thunderstorm… fifty miles east or west along the coast there's bright sunshine, so why did you choose here? But this wouldn't be the first time I found you standing out in one… you were stood staring at the sea then… are you doing that now? I suppose so… I never understood your fascination with thunderstorms.
Fox has landed… I hope you can be civil towards one another… and put aside your differences… they're what make you each unique… and endearing, in your own ways. Please don't fight again… don't rub salt in old wounds… It's always the old ones that hurt the most, I should know.
Great Fox's docking bay seems quieter than usual. There's just me and Slippy here, warming up the two-seat, somehow I have a feeling we'll need it. He seems nervous about something, worried… maybe for you Falco, probably. He's been avoiding me for the last little while, since a few days after we arrived in orbit around Dinosaur Planet. But that's probably completely unrelated… Please don't let that be anything serious, I don't need another problem on my hands!
"Peppy, can you bring the two-seat, I think Falco needs a lift"
Foxy you'll never know the relief your words gave me, its like a towering weight is lifted from my shoulders, as I imagine that something I was missing will soon be back.
"Sure thing Foxy… thanks"
But as one pain lifts another settles like quicksand in my heart, why can't he fly? What am I going to find when I reach you?
"Saddle up Slippy, time to go"
We both swing into the Arwing and we're away.
Streaks of rain are running down the cockpit window, like tears. The clouds above us are grey, at least we're all united under the same sky again, I have to be grateful for small mercies. The ground is coming up to meet us rather fast. I can see Fox's Arwing glinting in the wet light, and another battle scarred one beyond that.
Touchdown is rather bumpy, but I'm past noticing such trivialities. I'm out of my Arwing in record time, maybe there's still life in my old bones yet! Its raining so hard it stings my skin, the water falling in my eyes is almost blinding. I can't find you… where are you? Slippy by my side seems no better than I am.
"Fox! Falco! Where are you?"
I look towards the sea… where I expect Falco to be and see nothing, only a grey sky occasionally broken by lightning. The storm seems to be right overhead now, I feel like I'm standing at the bottom of a waterfall.
"Fox!" I try again.
"They're over there!"
Slippy's eyes must be better then mine. He's right.
We approach, what I see makes my heart go cold. They're together at least. Fox seems unwilling to let him go, there's real terror in his eyes… Oh please, don't let it be a corpse…