The firearm had a muffler. You reckon so, because there was no sound. He was talking, and then he was on the ground. He lay on his back with one eye patch facing the sky. His body went thud, thud against the concrete.
You knelt down next to him. His mouth was open and his jaw was slack. The teeth were white and glimmering. He looked like he might say something.
"Haa," he said.
"That's right," you said.
The bullet had torn through his good eye. Bastard sniper, knew just where to aim. That's how you knew, it was personal. The bullet had also torn through the better part of his face. His mouth was open and the teeth were white.
"Aah," he said, and struggled to breathe.
"Yes," you said.
Even with half a face, he was fearsome. Gray wolf, had the grayest fur you'd ever seen. The blood made it grayer. You didn't know why but he was the only one you looked up to. He bled himself on your shirt once back on Macbeth but not like this.
"Commander," you said.
His chest continued to heave. He appeared uncomfortable. He looked back at you with the hole where half his face used to be. You used to touch that side with a cold, scaly hand.
"Ha, ha, ha," he said.
You reached for the blaster on your belt that wasn't there. You patted around his belt area, under the oversized down jacket and thrifted trousers. Nothing you weren't used to. He did not have his either. Civilian life had made you careless. It was just a walk, he'd whimpered…
"Hee," Wolf wheezed. "Hee."
The last time you feared for his life was during the war. Your team was sent to Venom to fight off Cornerian invaders. The Venmonese cheered for your - his - arrival. Heroes. Liberators. You followed him.
'Leon,' he said once, during the war. 'What's your plan?'
'Sorry?' you replied, not quite following.
'When the war is over,' he said. 'When Star Wolf is disbanded.'
You gave this some thought.
'I don't know,' you said.
'Meet a nice girl,' he said, snickering. 'Get married.'
'I'll stay,' you replied.
'With me?'
'With you.'
And you smiled.
And he smiled.
And the war was over.
And Venom was lost.
And Star Fox were the heroes.
And Star Wolf became war criminals.
And Star Wolf disbanded, its members vanishing. Hated and chased across the Lylat system, a bounty on each of their heads.
And you followed him.
"Commander," you said, and grabbed his throat.
Your claws were against his neck, long and sharp. He did not resist. You did not know if you could do it. Blood oozed out from his hole onto the concrete. Wolf would be ordering you to do it, right now. You would be standing at attention, his voice rough and clear through the comm. link. Or he would tell it to you softly. With his other voice, the one that he only uses when he's relaxed and comfortable and alone with you -
"Hee," he said.
And you squeezed.
You squeezed the neck that was gray and vigorous. The neck that had roared, commanding you to fight to the death. The Adam's apple that had bobbed up and down, rippling with laughter. The neck that brought air into the lungs and into the blood and into the brain and into the hole where half his face used to be and the face you used to love and still love and will always love.
He lay there all quiet, now. He looked peaceful, as did the hole in his head. His blood was on your scales, and soaked into your sleeve.
And you lay down next to him.
And you waited.
In fact, you had waited all your life for this moment, for it all to turn to nothing.
You had known since that first day you'd decided to follow him that it would all end in blood.
And that time was now.
You waited, your head next to his chest.
The way he liked it.
You waited, eyes wide open, for the second soundless bullet.
And waited.
And waited.
And waited.
And waited.
And waited.
And waited.
And waited.
And waited.
And waited.
But no bullet came.
