-1CHAPTER 3
Fox jumped out of his Arwing and took a deep breath as Krystal walked over to him from hers. "You did Ok, Fox. I'll have to rethink my opinion of you." Falco said with a grin as he walked out of the hangar.
"Thanks, Fox. Now I've got to overhaul that whole freakin' Landmaster. What did you do to that thing, anyway?" Slippy asked.
"Well, Slip-up, you outta know me by now. I've just got my own way with machines, I guess." Fox said with a grin. Slippy rolled his eyes and walked out of the hangar, mumbling something about shooting something under his breath.
"Hey." Fox said as Krystal approached him from her Arwing and stood beside him with an arm oh his shoulder. "Glad you're back." He said as he wrapped an arm around her waist and gave her a hug.
"You too, Fox." She said and rested her head on his shoulder with a loud yawn. "Tired?" Fox asked. Krystal nodded.
"Come on. Let's head up to the bridge. I'm sure Peppy's waiting for us to show up. After that, I'm sure all of can get a well-deserved rest…it's getting late anyway." Fox said as he rubbed the back of her head with his hand. Krystal sighed.
"All right. Sounds good to me." She said and they walked back to the bridge.
"Well Peppy, what's the word on Pigma?" Fox asked when they arrived. "Well, his radar contact led us somewhere before it disappeared, but..." Peppy said.
"But what?" Fox implied. "He disappeared at the Sargasso region of the system." Peppy said glumly.
At that, everybody's heads instantly turned towards Peppy, and their blood ran cold.
"Fox...What's the Sargasso region?" Krystal asked.
"It's a secluded area of the system that we like to venture away from. Heavily fortified, and it's a hideaway for all the criminals of the galaxy." Fox said.
"Oh. Sounds like fun." Krystal said. Fox grinned at her joke.
"Dammit, Pigma. Why'd you have to run here out of all places?" Peppy said in anger.
"Fox, all of you, go get some rest. We'll be in the Sargasso region about noon tomorrow." Peppy said as he turned his chair back to his console, typing on the keyboard searching for up-to-date information on the region.
Fox walked into his quarters and threw his flight jacket towards a chair. He missed. Fox shrugged it off with a chuckle as he lied down on his bed and stared at the ceiling, thoughts of his father phasing in and out of his mind. He reached over into his cabinet beside his bed and pulled out a photograph of himself when he was about 7 years old.
It had been taken a few years before James' last arwing flight to Venom. Peppy had taken that photo himself, but he thought it better to give it to Fox after James had gotten killed. It was the only picture of his dad that Fox had. The frame it was in, once gold and full of luster, was now tarnished with age and the glass was beginning to form a crack on one side of it.
Fox smiled as he remembered that day so long ago. It was a warm spring morning at the McCloud household on Corneria. James had taken that weekend off to spend some time with Fox and his wife Vixy, and for once, he hung up his flight jacket in his closet, and was wearing a less formal suit of a pair of jeans and a shirt.
Peppy and James were outside in the front yard talking, something Fox didn't really care much about, being 7 years old. He had snuck into his dad's closet and put on his flight outfit, which was about five sizes too big for Fox. He could remember that day like it was yesterday, even though it was almost fourteen years ago...
7 year old Fox McCloud tugged on the clothes hanger that held his father's flight jacket, and it came loose and toppled on top of him, engulfing him in darkness. Fox threw it off of him and put it on.
His paws only went out to where James' elbows would have been. Fox reached up and tugged at the flight pants and dodged them as they nearly fell on top of him.
He slipped them over his legs, and his feet didn't even come to the knees as he pulled them up as high as they would go. He got his dad's flight helmet and put it on, or actually allowed it to engulf his head. Fox had to tilt it way back to keep it out of his eyes as he stumbled, nearly falling with every step, out of his dad's bedroom to where James was standing outside in the front yard under the large magnolia tree in full bloom.
"Jim, I just don't know what's going on... We're getting some really weird readings back from Venom." Peppy said as he took a small notepad that James had been studying. "Andross." James said as he took off his shades, showing his dark blue-green eyes under the shade. Peppy nodded somberly. "Probably." He said as he stuffed the pad in his pants pocket. "We just can't tell for sure yet. All I know is that if he tries to attack Corneria, he'll go for you and Fox first, James." James nodded, with a tinge of anger showing on the vulpine's face. "Peppy, that cra-"
"Dad!" Came young Fox McCloud's voice from behind him. James whirled around to see what was wrong, but smiled when he saw his son in the flight outfit five times his size.
"Hey, son. Lookin' sharp in my flight suit." James said as he kneeled beside him. "Ready to do some flyin' just like your old man, Fox?" James asked. "Yeah!" Fox said. "Peppy, you got that camera on ya', man?" James said as he put his arm around Fox's shoulder.
Peppy didn't answer. He already had the camera out of his pocket, and at the ready. James stuck the arms of his shades down the v in his t-shirt as he readjusted his feet to get a more stable stance. "Smile, son." James said and grinned at the camera.
Fox smiled and the flash from the camera nearly blinded the young kit. Fox groaned as he rubbed his eyes, trying to get the spots he saw to go away.
He sniffed as his mind brought him back, looking at the ceiling of his quarters, tears forming in the recesses of his eyes. He sighed as he rubbed what he could out with his arm and put the photo back into the drawer and rolled over on his side just as the doorbell on the other side of his door pinged.
"Come in." Fox said in a shaky voice. The door slid open and Krystal walked in with her hair wet and down and her jewelry gone, wearing a loose white tank top with light blue sweat pants that dragged under her bare feet. Fox smiled weakly at the sight of his beloved friend, and as he remembered she was telepathic.
Krystal offered a comforting smile at Fox, who returned it weakly, and gave him a tight hug as she sat beside him on the bed, gave him a quick peck on the cheek, and rubbed her hand through the fur on his forehead.
Fox embraced Krystal tightly as he rested his head on her shoulder, feeling somewhat like a wuss for letting her see him like this. Krystal returned the embrace that Fox had given her, tears welling up in her eyes slightly as thoughts of her own parents began to surface.
"I still miss him..." He said after a long silence through tears as he slowly pulled out of the embrace and sat facing her on the bed, his head facing straight down to the sheets.
Krystal put her hand on Fox's chin and moved his head in level with her own, to get a good look at her captain and her beloved friend as well.
Fox offered her a weak smile, now that he knew he had nothing else to hide anymore. Looking into her dark aqua-blue eyes, Fox could see the bit of water welling up and a streak running down the side of her face as she began to break up slightly. Fox reached a hand up to wipe the tear away from her face. Fox didn't know it at the time, but Krystal had thought that one of the sweetest and most loving thing a person could ever do for someone else.
"Sand in your eye?" He asked, trying to lighten up the situation a bit. Krystal laughed lightly, rubbing out her other eye with her arm.
"Krystal…"
"Yeah, Fox?"
"Tell me about your parents." He asked kindly. "I don't think you ever have." Fox said with a compassionate smile.
"Well…" She began, trying to catch her voice back through the tears. Krystal scooted over to Fox and leaned her head on his shoulder as he put an arm around her waist.
"My mom…my mom was the kindest and perhaps the prettiest woman I had ever known, and she had blue fur, gorgeous fur, a shade or two lighter than mine. She was caring, very gentle and one of the smartest people I've met, save for you." She said with a grin. Fox smiled at the remark as he gave Krystal a slight pull of affection towards him with the arm wrapped around her waist.
"And my father…he was something." She said with a laugh. "You two would've gotten along great. That staff I have now was his. He gave it to me when I was a kit, and he had been teaching me how to use it properly ever since then. He was like my mom, a bit. He was caring, and kind. But…" Krystal began with a chuckle. "He was unlike my mom in that he could bring a pretty good fight to anyone who wanted to threaten either of us, kind of like you. He had a muzzle about the shape of yours." She said as she rolled her head up to look at Fox and gave him a kindly poke in the nose with her hand.
Krystal sighed, clearly basking in the memories of times long past as her eyes moistened up slightly once again.
"He used to hang out with me all the time and give me some teachings as to that staff when he wasn't busy hunting for food with the other men of the tribe. He'd toss me in the hot spring when we went swimming and sometimes we'd get in play-fights where he'd end up rolling me down a hill just to get me out of the way for a second. I'd laugh all the way down…" She said with a laugh, followed by another deep sigh and a warm tear rolling down her face.
Fox gave Krystal another little tug towards him as he adjusted his weight slightly in her embrace and as she pulled herself to him some more.
"What do you guess they would have thought about me?" Fox asked.
"Oh come now, Fox." She said with a compassionate smile. "He would've definitely liked you, after all the things you've done for me there probably wouldn't be another person my dad would've trusted more. And my mother and I were practically one in the same, if you ask me. There wasn't anything really different between us, save for age. She would've loved you, Fox. She would've loved you as much as I do." Krystal said, a bit to her own surprise as she was deep in thought about her parents, and Fox. A slight tinge of dark-red formed under her fur at the slip of the tongue and the same happened to Fox as well though that was exactly what he had wanted to hear for a while.
"How about your parents, Fox?" She continued after a few seconds of silence as they both let that sink in for a second.
"Well, my dad was something else as well." Fox said with a laugh, and yet another affectionate tug on Krystal's waist. "He and your dad would've had some fun together. He was one heck of a pilot, and a crack shot with anything. He and your dad were about the same. Caring, kind, and sure as heck to put up a fight if need be." He said with a grin. "He started teaching me how to shoot a gun when I was thirteen, and how to fly about a year before I joined the Cornerian academy. We'd play war games left and right on the weekends whenever we had a free minute, and…wait I've got a picture." Fox said and reached over to the nightstand and got the old picture out of it and handed it to Krystal, still resting in his arms.
She smiled at the sight of the young orange vulpine in the flight suit about sixty times to big for him, with a helmet covering the majority of his head.
"There's no question as to that, Fox. Seems you were destined for that cockpit even when you were young. Your dad reminds me so much of you, Fox. That must be where you get that skill and some of that charm from." She said with a smile as she handed the picture back to him. Fox laughed a bit as he sat it on the pillow behind him.
"Speaking of charm, my mom was something not too far short of a miracle. I think that's where I got my sensitive side from, but my dad had it too. I tell ya', she could make some killer lasagna for dinner. Back in my first year of the academy, I'd come home on the weekends and take a nap 'till about six that afternoon and wake up to the smell of that lasagna every single time. That was definitely something worth coming home to." Fox said, letting out a deep sigh as he became lost in thought.
"Well, I hate to ask, but what would have your parents thought of me?" She asked, rolling her head up again to look at him. Fox looked down into her cerulean blue eyes, still with a drop or two of water in them which gave Fox a good reflection of himself as she cracked a loving smile to him.
"Oh you can't be serious, Krystal." Fox said with a smile. "My dad would have certainly liked you right from the start and my mom would have loved you." Fox said with a pause.
"Just like I love you too." He said after a second of silence between the two of them.
Krystal leaned up and gave Fox a deep, compassionate kiss at those words. Fox, being a gentleman, returned it with the same feeling and compassion she had given him. The two vulpines were totally absorbed in one another, experiencing surges of emotions from sadness to profound love.
"I…I've never felt this strongly for anybody before, Fox. I knew there was something pretty different about you when I walked onto the bridge of that ship." She said as she pulled away some minutes later to catch some air.
Fox grinned. "I'll never forget that day either, you walking in with a loincloth and a bra." Krystal giggled and gave Fox a light punch on the arm to complement the remark.
"But I kept my eyes on your eyes as well, Krystal. You've got to give me that." He said. Krystal grinned and nodded in agreement.
"But I could tell something different about you too…that first time I got a good look in those gorgeous blue eyes of yours after I pulled you out of that abyss with your own staff, I could really tell something different…something amazingly different. Though we were slightly occupied at the time with the floating monkey head, I couldn't help but feel that bit of 'love at first sight' feeling."
Krystal smiled and laughed, remembering that moment in time as well. She pulled Fox over to her into a tight loving embrace and gave him a peck on the cheek.
"Right back at 'cha there too, Fox." She said with a grin. Fox's face went instantly redder than ever underneath his fur.
The two sat in silence for several minutes, feeling one another's warmth and comfort in the chilly quarters of the Great Fox.
"Well, I probably ought to let you get some sleep, Fox." Krystal said.
"Krystal…" Fox began, reaching his arm around his back out of slight nervousness.
"Yeah?"
"Would you mind to sleep here tonight?" He asked, then suddenly regretted it. "I didn't mean so we can…I mean…I love your company…and after all it's cold in here and this sheet doesn't kee-" He began. Krystal kissed him to shut him up.
"I'd be happy to, Fox. I know that you don't mean it like that. I love your company, Fox. And besides, it is kind of cold around here." She said with a grin.
Fox smiled and got up to get a pillow out of the top of the closet. He managed to pull one down without taking everything else with it and gave it a toss to Krystal who was still sitting on the foot of the bed.
"Thanks, Fox." She said as Fox walked back to his side of the bed and pulled down the sheets. Krystal situated the pillow on the head of the mattress and laid down under the sheets, facing the orange vulpine next to her. Fox gave her a kiss on the lips and offered her a smile.
"It's a lot warmer with you around." He said with a grin.
"Likewise." She said.
"Love you, Krystal."
"Love you too, Fox." Krystal said as she gave him another kiss and turned over. Fox wrapped his arm around her shoulder and she took a loose hold of his hand as the two began to doze off to blissful rest, much needed after what the last couple days had offered them.
Krystal was first to fall asleep, as Fox could tell her breathing changed. Fox pulled the sheet around her shoulder a bit higher and he too fell into a blissful sleep.