So, after the end of the last chapter, Fox and Fara are so close to one another, yet so far. Will they resolve their differences and get together by the end of the fic? That remains to be seen. Anyway, expect some questions to be answered in this chapter, and expect a few more to be asked.
Shadowshock - that's an interesting bit of advice to keep in mind while writing. And one that's ultimately so true in the end as well.
Chapter 44: The Day Worsens
How…how could Fox possibly say that to me? How can he not know? Do I even truly love him? After what he said, I really don't know anymore… – Fara
How could I be so stupid! Why did I say that to her! This was the first chance I've ever had to tell her how I feel, and I completely screw it up! Damn it… – Fox
The trip down the elevator was one in silence, neither pilot wanting to think back to the recent conversation. After a few seconds, the doors opened and revealed the engineering bay. Fox moved to walk out, but Fara stopped him with a simple, "No."
He looked over, clearly confused as to why they weren't leaving. "Why—"
She shook her head, smiling slightly in the process. She had to get over her unhappy mood, or else the scientists inside their destination would want to know why. And she didn't want to explain at all. She pushed a set of buttons on the panel nearby and caused the door to quietly close. At that point, she said into her headset, "Gals, we're here."
Fox didn't have the slightest idea who she was talking to, or why they were sitting at the bottom floor of the elevator with the doors closed. He was worried that she'd finally flipped, especially after their little talk. "Fara, are you okay?"
She continued to stare at the wall where the hidden doors were, expecting them to open at any moment. "Okay, you two, open up. Fox is thinking I'm nuts over here."
He was about to say something as he moved towards the controls, but stopped in his tracks as the back of the elevator slid open. "Whoa," he said quietly as he looked in.
The lab had been surprisingly cleaned, at least compared to how it normally looked. To most, it was still a total mess. While papers and half-completed experiments still occupied most flat surfaces, one could actually find a few places that were uncovered. "Welcome to the mad scientist's lair," said Fara jokingly as she walked in and looked for the occupants. "Come on in."
Fox followed, his gaze wandering from item to item on the desk. He was taken back at first from what looked like total disarray, but upon further inspection, things actually were quite orderly. The unfinished experiments were sitting upon piles of notes for only that item, while another table held nothing but conceptual diagrams and drawings. "Nice place," he commented as the doors slid shut behind him.
"Normally it's much worse," she said. "I'm kinda…Fay!" She noticed the pair walk out from hiding and head their way. "Miyu! You little stinkers you, making it look like I'm crazy or something."
"Sorry, you caught us in back," said Fay.
"Yeah, right." She looked over at Fox as she continued. "Fox, this is—"
"I remember you," interrupted the vulpine as he looked towards Fay. "I came across you the day I arrived."
She laughed. "Good memory." Her tone turned serious as she walked up and took a good look at him. "You've changed since that day."
He couldn't wait to hear this. "Really? How so?"
"Before, you seemed almost happy to be here. Yet I could still see the warrior in you. Now…it looks like you've seen it all." She shuddered suddenly. "You've seen too much."
"Okay…" Something about what she said worried him greatly. He didn't know why though. He just wanted to change the subject. "So, anyway, this must be your partner then, correct?"
Miyu nodded. "Although Fay is my assistant, not the other way around. And contrary to what you might think, you're not here for a simple investigative look from her. Come with me, please."
As Fox walked off, Fara grabbed hold of Fay's arm and dragged her into a corner. She kept her voice down as she asked, "What the hell was that about?"
The canine looked nervous as she answered, avoiding eye contact the entire time. "Not now, Fara. Please. I…I'll tell you once he's left."
"You better."
Fox quickly found out the true reason for his visit – an upgrade to his and his team's weaponry. He was given three of the upgraded blasters like the one Fara had, all charged and ready for use. He spent a few minutes at the testing range at one end of the room, enjoying the firepower available at his command.
Afterwards, Miyu made modifications to Fox's helmet after much discussion of the benefits verses the risk of destroying an item worth so much in sentimental value to him. He was instantly impressed with the changes and spent a bit of time playing around with the options.
He also received a pair of handheld communicators, along with a quick comment about how to use them from the lynx. "While Pepper might try to give you something out of the security team's locker, use these instead. Your headset, as well as these communicators, has a range of roughly three miles in any locale and weather condition. They're still being tested though, like the blasters, but they'll work just fine for your next mission."
"Wait a second," said Fox, "how do you know what's next for us?"
"Word gets around very quickly in this base."
"And Fara tells us everything worth knowing," added in Fay with a grin.
"I do not!" exclaimed the vixen.
"Not now," said Miyu in an attempt to restore order. "Actually, Pepper informed us that your mission was more than likely going to be ground based. And he gave us free reign as far as equipping the team goes with whatever was still under construction."
"Thank you," said Fox. "I was beginning to wonder if we'd be forced to rely on Fara the entire time if we happened across more of those androids."
"May we never see one of those freaks again," commented Fara quietly.
"Agreed. Unless you…" He quieted and looked at the two scientists. "Did you two have anything to do with my escape earlier?"
They both smiled. "So pathetically easy," said Fay. "Last year's encryption codes and such."
Miyu nodded. "As you had to have noticed, nobody spends any time down on that level. You were actually the first person to be tossed into confinement like that in quite some time."
"Such an honor," joked Fox. "I thank you from the bottom of my heart nonetheless. I don't know what I would've done without you."
"You would've spent more time in what looks to be a very uncomfortable cell," said Fay.
"Sure looked like it. Anyway, is there anything else you think we might find useful?"
The pair thought for a moment, both of them shaking their heads thereafter. "We'll let you know if we do think of something though," said Miyu.
"Okay then. Thanks again." He turned towards the exit. "Fara, you coming?"
"Na. I'm gonna talk with them for a bit actually. Keep me informed as to what you learn from Pepper whenever he contacts you."
"I will." He walked towards the door and came to a halt once he realized that he had no idea how to open it. "Anyone care to tell me how to get out of here?"
"I got it," said Miyu as she moved over to him.
Fara stood in silence as she watched Fox leave. As elevator closed behind him, she turned towards Fay, who was currently sitting with her head buried in her paws. Still concerned over what she'd said earlier, and worried about her condition now, she found a nearby seat and dropped into it. Trying to find a comfortable spot to place her injured leg, she asked, "Fay, what's wrong?"
The canine just shook her head, too upset to say anything. Noticing her distress, Miyu approached and looked at her associate with worry. She had a good guess at what happened, and began to share the same unease that Fara had. Just for entirely different reasons. "Fay, I've told you before that you need to simply look away when you get those visions of yours."
Fay groaned as she removed her paws. From the wet and matted look of her fur, it was quite clear that she'd been crying. She wiped her eyes as she said quietly, "And I told you it doesn't work that way."
"Visions?" This came as a surprise to Fara, even though she'd known the pair ever since she started test piloting the Arwings. "What visions?"
"Remember the time not too long after we first met?" asked Fay.
"Yeah."
"Do you still remember what I told you?"
Fara closed her eyes and thought back to the day in question. It was her third day of actual flight testing of the Arwings, and it had been a fur-raising experience. Nothing wanted to work like it should. She'd visited the botanical gardens with the intention to relax for the afternoon, when Fay came up to her. What was it she said… "You have a long and challenging road ahead of you, but your continued efforts will save millions."
"Sounds about right. Wasn't there more though?"
"Yeah. Let's see…" She continued thinking as she knew there was something else. It was such a weird line as well. "Don't let the weight of the universe get you down. You will survive to see not only the light at the end, but many, many more beyond that." She smiled. "To say it was a strange way to make your acquaintance is an understatement."
Miyu snorted. "That wasn't her first, nor last, time she's greeted somebody that way."
"Well excuse me, Miyu," snapped Fay. "I have no control when or if I'm going to have these visions."
Fara jumped in before the pair could start another verbal fight. "But…what are these visions? What do you mean by that?"
The canine looked over to Fara with a sigh. "Sometimes…I can just look at people and see things. You know how some people can supposedly sense emotions, or see things that others can't?"
"Yeah, actually. I knew a friend by the name of Aimee back at the academy."
"What could she sense?"
"She saw these…halos around people. She said she could gather quite a bit of information from somebody with them as well. Made for a fun conversation piece."
Fay nodded. "I've heard of that before. An interesting ability." She closed her eyes and looked away, almost as if in embarrassment. "I wish I had that instead of what…I can see."
"What are you talking about?" How she kept avoiding the initial issue was starting to greatly worry Fara.
"What did you see?" asked Miyu gently. "We can't change what you saw, so you might as well tell us."
The canine rubbed away the tears that were already forming and then spent half a minute trying to recompose herself so she could talk again. "I…I saw…"
"What?"
"I…I saw Fox McCloud's death!"
The silence in the room was deafening, broken only by the sobbing from Fay.
Fara looked wide-eyed between the pair, her breath coming in short gasps. While Fay sat crying, Miyu looked to be the most devastated. She had a glazed look on her eyes, as if she truly believed her assistant. She stumbled into a chair after a few moments and tried to come to grips over what she'd just heard.
Fara was stunned. She couldn't have heard what she just did. There wasn't any way it could be true. How could Fay truly mean what she said? Fox wasn't going to die. Not now. Not anytime soon. There was no way she'd lose him like that. "Fox is not going to die!" she exclaimed as she tried to hold back her own tears. "No way!"
"I saw—"
"I don't give a damn what the hell you saw! Fox is not going to die!"
Many moments of awkward silence passed afterwards, nobody wanting to say or explain anything. Fara was infuriated, as she knew there was something more that she wasn't being told. Eventually Miyu came out of her grief and looked towards her. "Can I…explain something, Fara?"
"As long as it has nothing to do with that vision crap, yes."
The lynx sighed. "It does, but…you need to know."
Fara crossed her arms in disgust. She had half a mind to simply get up and leave. But she trusted these two. They wouldn't act like this unless they had a very good reason. "Fine."
"Okay, as you already know, Fay has these visions that tend to provide a…insight into one's future."
"Or people's deaths."
Fay gasped at the accusation but remained quiet. She continued to hold her head in her paws as Miyu resumed. "They tend to be positive, or just simply cryptic. Yours for example."
"She tells you all of them?"
She nodded. "They don't happen all that often. In fact, since we've known you, she's only had three. Four counting today."
"One of those being mine."
"Yes. Most of what I've heard are simply prior visions, before we all ended up working here at the base. Interesting to hear actually."
"And how many deaths?"
"Fara, why—"
"I got this," interrupted Fay as she wiped the last of her tears away. "Maybe…if she hears it from me, she might believe it."
Fara glared at the canine. "The only reason I'm still sitting here right now is because you two haven't turned me wrong. Yet. I don't care what you think you saw – Fox is not going to die."
Fay looked away, unable to meet Fara's stare. It was bluntly clear that she did care for Fox, and this whole thing was simply her unable to believe what she'd been told. She didn't blame her either. She'd probably be doing the exact same thing right now. "Fara, I've seen in my…visions, people dying, passing on. It freaked me out the first time I saw it. It still does."
"Uh huh."
"Damn it, Fara!" How could she get her to believe what she was saying? How could… "I saw my own grandmother's death!"
Fara quieted instantly.
"I was nineteen then. She'd paid my family a visit for dinner one night. As we were getting ready to eat, I had this extremely vivid image of her in a coffin. The rest of the family was hovering over her in mourning. I…I ran from the table, screaming in fear. She…died, of a heart attack, two days later."
Fara's mouth dropped open in shock, but this time around, she stayed silent.
Fay stared at the floor as she continued. "Almost three years later, I had a vision of one of my best friend's parents dying. I'd almost forgotten about my grandmother by then. I hoped it wasn't going to happen again. I…was wrong. Both parents died in a terrible car accident that night."
"You don't have to continue, Fay," said Miyu, knowing what the canine was going to say next.
She shook her head, still looking at the floor in dismay. "I have to."
"Your choice."
"I know." Fay sadly lifted her head up, her eyes watering. "Fara, you remember the shuttle accident about a…year and a half ago, right? The one here in Corneria?"
She nodded, slowly closing her jaws so she could talk again. "The, uh, out of control shuttle that crashed into the heart of the downtown district, right? Killed…twelve, I think, and injured three times that many."
"That's the one. My visions…taunted me with that. I saw the whole accident. I saw how the lightning strike sent the craft completely out of control. I saw it plummet into the people… I saw it all. I tried to figure out which shuttle it was… Oh, how I tried… Three days passed before I saw it live on the evening news. It…happened, just how I saw it."
"Wow." Fara sat there stunned in an attempt to find the right words to say. Was Fay telling the truth? Were these visions real? Why would she lie to her? "I'm…sorry, Fay."
"I am too."
She tilted her head to one side in thought. "You know, now that I think about it, your original vision to me was rather accurate. It didn't make any sense at the time, but in the end, it came true."
"Yup. I have a bunch of friends, coworkers, and family members who've all said the same thing." A grin threatened to appear on her face, one that quickly turned back into a frown. "They all think I'm weird. Or worse."
"Yeah. In a way, we all are." Fara sighed, giving into the question that had been floating in the back of her mind the entire time. "So…how do you…see…?"
The seconds passed without Fay answering. Fara was going to ask again when she finally answered. "That's…the odd part. Unlike the others, I…well, saw nothing specific. Except…this whole vision was different."
Fara couldn't believe she was actually starting to accept what Fay was saying. If there was a way to stop this though, she simply had to know more. "How so?"
"I…didn't see a single defining moment. Instead, I saw a series of quick cuts, like a movie. Each…showing his demise." She sighed and dropped her head in sadness once more.
"What did you see?" She noticed the continued silence from Fay and pressed forward with her questioning. She had to know the answer. "Maybe the multiple visions are a good thing somehow. I might be able to stop it from happening."
Fay shook her head and spoke towards the floor. "You…can't. I've tried before, remember?"
"Damn it, Fay!" Fara jumped to her feet and wobbled unsteadily on her injured foot. "I don't give a damn what you think or what you've tried! If your all-so-powerful visions insist that Fox is going to die, then tell me how so I can stop it!"
Miyu stood up over the vixen's tone. "Fara, please—"
"Shut the hell up!" Her head snapped back over to Fay as she continued. "If something happens to Fox because you remain quiet, so help me I'll—"
"Enough!" While tears rolled through the white fur of Fay's face, her eyes showed a completely different emotion – anger. "You want to be that way about it? Fine! Sit your ass down and I'll tell you!" Seeing Fara comply, she added under her breath, "Not like there's anything you can do about it."
"We'll see about that."
Meanwhile, somewhere very far away, a constant throbbing of pain slowly brought Slippy back to consciousness. He laid there, hearing and feeling little short of the dull beat of pain on the back of his head, keeping in time with his heartbeat. Not sure what brought on the aching, he tried to remember what had happened to him previously.
His thoughts went in and out of focus, as if his mind was fighting his control because of the injury. With much effort, he finally remembered what his last wakeful moment was.
He was running through the power plant, slowly losing ground thanks to the hare's much longer stride, when suddenly the strangest thing he'd ever seen stepped out from the darkness not too far ahead. He saw a perfect duplicate of himself.
He'd skidded to a halt and pulled out his blaster. He pointed it shakily at his clone and was just about to yell out for Peppy when his other self charged.
He never had a chance.
His clone was on him immediately. The resulting melee that occurred was over in an instant with a swift, single blow to the back of his head. He never even fired a shot.
But where was he now?
With his mind clearing, Slippy tried to figure out where he was based on his senses. He continued to keep his eyes closed and his movements still, incase he was captured and under observation.
He could feel a slight vibration coming from the cold, hard surface he was currently upon. His nostrils picked up the slight tang in the surrounding air, possibly from a recycled air source. It was silent around him though, short of a low pitched rumbling coming from within the floor. They all added up to the distinct possibility that he was on a ship of some sort.
But where was he headed? And who was he with?
A feeling of something wrapped around his wrists and ankles quickly proved that he wasn't in friendly territory anymore. He gently tugged at his restraints, but found that they wouldn't give at all. Maybe if he tried harder, or opened his eyes to look around, he could find some way to get free.
Before he could consider his next move, he heard footsteps approaching from somewhere nearby. He ceased his movements and kept perfectly still in the hope that he hadn't been noticed.
But he had.
A swift kick to his stomach sent him rolling away. His progress stopped moments later as his back slammed with a wall. Slippy gasped in pain, his eyes shooting open in an attempt to find some way to defend himself from any additional blows. What he saw didn't encourage him in the slightest.
Just a few feet away stood one of Andross' lizards. The heavily-muscled creature took one look at him and grinned, saying in a slithery voice, "It seems our little captive has finally woken up."
"Excellent."
Slippy's eyes quickly darted over to the lone exit from the room and took in as much information as he could. He looked to be in a tiny, barren room of some sort, the walls covered in gray steel. Through the doorway, he could see what looked to be a set of control panels, and above that was a view into outer space. He knew for sure he was in a ship of some sorts at that point.
However, the question of where he was going wasn't anywhere near as important as the owner of the second voice. At that moment, Andross himself walked into the room. A pair of lizard guards flanked him with their weapons drawn and pointed at the toad, even though he was in no condition to provide any threat towards the dictator. He dominated the room with his presence as he said, "About time you decided to regain consciousness."
The toad suddenly felt afraid. Very afraid. "Why?" he croaked.
Andross grinned. It was a grin that showed power and domination. It showed that he was still in total control, no matter what might have happened to him on Venom. "Because, you, my little toad, are absolutely loaded with information. Information I want." He gestured to the guards on either of side of him. "Hold him down."
The lizards moved forward, one grabbing him by the shoulders, the other by the legs. Slippy bucked and struggled to get free, but between their strength and the bindings around his limbs, his attempts were utterly futile. His last image was of the ape towering over him with a smile.
Then his vision simply dissolved as Andross' telepathic powers burrowed into his mind.
