Dun DUN DUN! DRAMA! ACTION! KURSED AND FOX INTERATION!

Okay, I just lied, not so much action, although there is a nifty little bit about halfway through, but this chapter is heavy, heavy, heavy, on the Kursed and Fox Drama that you all came to this story to see! Aren't you just so excited? I hope so, because I had WAY, WAY too much fun writing this chapter, especially the first bit, I honestly couldn't keep a shit eating grin off my face. Once again, thanks to Cpt. Fox for betaing this, because wow, there were a lot of mistakes for this one,I of course blame my muse for becoming active at 3am.

Star Fox: The Dead Planet Chapter 4: A Week with Interest

-DP- Two Days Later: Fox's room -DP-

Fox was sitting at the small desk he had tucked into the corner of his room when he heard a knock at his door. He set aside the reports that had been going over and glanced over his shoulder. "Enter." he called out as he turned back to the desk and his reports. He heard the door slide into the wall, then close as who ever walked in started working their way across the room. When nobody called out he figured it was Falco. That's why he wasn't too surprised when the blue paw touched down on the desk next to him.

"Blue paw?"

Fox turned his head to see Kursed leaning over him, looking at the report he had in his hands. "Interesting stuff." she said softly. Fox blinked as he took in her attire. She was wearing a large loose white shirt that hung past her hips and covered most of the cargo shorts that only went down to her knee caps. Around her neck hung a small necklace with a red gem inside of it, surrounded by gold leafs.

Fox blinked, the outfit, so similar to what he had last seen Krystal in, threw his mind off his game. As he stared at her, he watched one of her eyebrows raise. "Anything interesting you're looking at?" she paused and leaned down more, bringing her head close to his "Aside from me of course."

Fox blinked and pulled back slightly, leaning away in his chair as his brain managed to churn into gear and respond to her question. "Nothing interesting, just some reports from Peppy about Cerinia, scans mainly, you know the usual like how much water there is is, stuff like that." He turned his gaze back to the reports but stopped when she laid her paw on the data-pad, pushing it flat to the desk and out of his hands.

"We need to talk."

Fox paused and turned his head again, noticing just how close she had gotten. "Abo-About what?" he asked, cursing himself for stuttering at he did.

Kursed sighed and sat sat down on the edge of the desk. "You think I haven't noticed?"

Fox was silent for a moment, his brain sputtering to a halt again, as his heart rate increased. He inhaled to try and clear his mind, but instead he grew more confused.

"She smells just like Krystal."

Fox blinked again and managed to get control of his brain. He glanced up at Kursed again to see her watching him crossly, and he realized he still hadn't answered her question. "Is something wrong?"

Kursed scoffed and glanced at the ceiling. "I'm not blind Fox." she said, before returning her gaze to his. As they locked eyes again Fox blinked.

"Is it me or are her eyes more green than normal?"

She sighed again, breaking the eye contact as she blinked "Do you think I'm blind? Every time we pass in the halls, I know you're watching me. When I'm eating or even just standing around, you can't take your eyes off of me. Why is that?" As she said the last word she leaned down, putting an arm on the back of his chair and leaving him trapped against the wall.

Fox gulped hard "Uh..."

"Why can't I talk? This is just like meeting Krystal all over again!"

Kursed grinned at him, and he could tell she was pleased that he didn't have an answer for her. She leaned even closer, his ear twitching as he felt her breath on the top of his head. "Whats the matter Fox? Scared of getting Kursed?" she whispered oh so quietly.

Fox gulped again, his heart rate now approaching dangerous speeds. She laughed softly as she pulled away, moving her arm and leaning back on his desk. "Don't worry Fox, I don't bite." she paused and grinned, "Much."

Fox blinked "Uh, Kursed, I'm not sure what you're trying here, but I think that you need to leave."

Kursed frowned playfully. "But I haven't done what you asked me to yet."

While Fox tried to match the look on her face with the spiteful vixen he was used to, he couldn't help but ask in a very confused voice. "What did I ask you to do?"

Kursed grinned again. "This." she said, then moved forward suddenly and pressed their lips together. Fox felt his eyes widen in shock. But instead of trying to push her away, he returned the kiss, part of his mind screaming at him to stop what he was doing, while another small part of him, that one that had grown since he and Kursed had been near each other, soared in joy.

"I need to stop this, now...But, it feels so right. Like the last time I kissed Krystal."

When Kursed pulled away a full minute later, both of them had to take quick breaths to recover and to deal with the heat the kiss had caused. Fox remained surprised as Kursed gently laid a hand across his arm, giving him a gentle tug to stand up. He complied and followed her over to the bed, where she pushed him gently down onto it.

Some part of his mind was still trying to take control of his body, but was not strong enough to overpower the emotions that currently dominated him. Kursed crossed her arms as she reached down and grabbed the edges of her loose shirt. She winked at Fox before she pulled it up over head and exposing her chest to him. Much to his surprise, she wasn't wearing anything underneath. He gasped softly and she laughed quietly as she stepped onto the bed and dropped down to her knees, rising over him like some sort of goddess.

She stayed that way for a moment before she leaned down and crawled further up him. "You have no idea how long I've waited to do this again"

Fox blinked "What do you mean?" he asked softly as she leaned down and kissed the side of his neck.

She didn't pull away as she answered, instead choosing to let her voice vibrate his neck "This Fox, its been so long since I've done this with you."

Fox gasped softly as she bit his neck gently, his eyes closed and he moaned as she licked him right where she had bit him. She pulled away and he opened his eyes and gasped again. His gaze was pulled to her exposed arms, instead of the full dark blue that had been, they instead had the white shapes that decorated Krystal's arm. Fox turned his gaze and found Kursed rubbing her eyes, and each time she did so, they got a little less darker blue and a little bit more turquoise green.

Fox felt his throat go dry "Krystal?"

The vixen smiled as her purple hair fell down around her face. "Took you long enough to figure it out."

Fox reached up and stroked the side of her face, still not believing what he was seeing. "But...why...how?" he paused and blinked away tears. "I buried you." another thought came to him then, one that scared him because he hoped it wasn't true. "Am I dreaming?"

Kursed...Krystal laughed at him softly, when she spoke though, a small frown appeared on her face and a tear leaked down into her fur "I hid you from Fox, I ran because I was scared that you would cage me. I'm sorry for everything I did, including making you think I was dead." She blinked and a few more tears rolled out of her eyes, she smiled at him as she leaned in close again, her paws grabbing his t-shirt and starting to pull it up. "As for if this is a dream? I don't really care right now...do you?"

Fox smiled and blinked tears out of his own eyes as well. "No...no I don't." Fox broke off as Krystal finished pulling off his shirt, as she moved her paws down to his jeans he leaned forward and kissed her gently. "I love you Krystal."

Krystal smiled at him and moved closer, taking his mouth for her own and continuing to work on his jeans. Fox groaned with years of pent up need as she managed to get the button undone and he reached for her own pants. As she slid the pants down and he did the same for her, she reached down and that was the last thing he cared about for some time.

Eventually, although Fox couldn't really recall how or when, they ended up underneath his bedspread together, her naked form wrapped around his own as she slept, his arms wrapped tight around her, he glanced down as she gave a small yawn and nuzzled against him as a grin grew across his face. Of course, even he had to sleep at some point, and with a yawn, he closed his own eyes, truly happy for the first time in years.

-DP-

Fox opened his eyes and looked around his darkened room. He groaned as he stood up from the chair at his desk. He looked down at the reports that he had fell asleep reading, then sighed and ran a paw over his face. He stretched and glanced at his gauntlet to check the time. He groaned again when he realized it was almost eleven in the morning. He glanced around his room, frowning as he remembered the very vivid dream. He turned to his dresser and pulled out a baggy pair of black running pants to swap his jeans for, he followed this up with a matching loose t-shirt that he pulled over himself. He grabbed a pair of tennis shoes and sat down on his bed to put them on. The very act somehow drawing his thoughts back to the dream. Fox sighed as he stood up.

"I need to do something about this. Its only been two days, if this keeps up I might just go crazy."

Although it might have been a dream, Fox realized that what had been said was true, he couldn't take his eyes off of Kursed. He was fairly sure she had noticed at least once, and he was grateful that she didn't make a scene of it. Of course if he didn't do something, confront her about it maybe, even though it was an impossible notion, it would mostly likely escalate into something before they reached Cerinia.

Making up his mind, Fox walked over to the intercom and paged ROB. "Locate Falco for me, will ya ROB?"

ROBs voice came out of the intercom a moment later "Falco is currently in the Armory on Deck Three."

Fox nodded to himself "Thanks, any alerts I need to know about?"

"None. All systems are running optimally."

"Thanks ROB. Let me know if anything changes." Fox took his hand of the intercom and exited his room, glancing down the hallway to see if anybody was around. As he looked across he realized Falco's door was open, and Katt was laying back on the bed, reading a book.

"Hey, have you see Kursed?"

Katt didn't even look up from her book. "Sunshine and rainbows? Yea, shes down beating the hell out of the sand bag in your rec room. Was really hard to read while she was there."

Fox nodded "Rec room, yea that will work."

Katt raised an eyebrow at him as she raised her gaze off the page in front of her, her earring swaying slightly as she did so. "Should I be worried?" she closed the book in front of her, keeping a finger in it to keep her place "Perhaps I should go get the med bay ready?"

Fox shook his head with a laugh. "No, I just need to talk to her about the mission is all. If it happens to be in the rec room where there is space to maneuver just in case she tries something? Better yet."

Katt narrowed her eyes as she flipped her book back open. "Uh-huh." she said softly, before turning her gaze back to the pages. She shrugged and settled deeper onto the bed. "Just remember, you're playing with fire. That vixen hates you to no end."

Fox nodded again, his thoughts once again on the dream he had "You don't have to tell me twice."

He gave her a wave and turned back towards the elevator. He called the elevator and stepped in when the doors opened instantly. He reached for the control panel and hit the switch for deck 3. As the doors closed and the elevator rose, Fox thought about how he was going to go about his talk with Kursed. Obviously a straight up conversation wouldn't work, Kursed hardly talked to him as is, and two days confined on the ship in space hadn't changed that. In fact she seemed to have grown more sullen and moody ever since they had left Corneria.

"I'm sure my staring hasn't helped that any." he tapped his chin as he thought "Katt did say she was in the rec room, maybe there is a way I put my thoughts to rest and not have to bring up the possibility of her being..."

The elevator doors slid open and Fox walked down the hallway, heading for the rec room, he stopped outside the closed door the led to the armory though and detoured into the room. Looking around at the various lockers and cages that held their gear it was obvious Falco wasn't there. Fox went to another door and hit the switch to open it.

He rolled his eyes as he found Falco doing what he expected, standing in the single firing lane that he requested be installed. In his hands he was holding a standard black blaster and was plunking beams down range into a target. Fox waited until he was done with his current round of shots before tapping him on the shoulder. The blue avian glanced at him before ejecting the energy crystal from the weapon and setting it down on the counter in front of him. "Whats up Fox?"

Fox gestured to the cramped area "What are you up to?"

Falco grinned as he reached down and picked up another energy crystal. "Just you know, testing weapons."

Fox folded his arms across his chest "Like you didn't do that at least once a month the entire time the ship was hiding. What are you really up to?"

Falco grinned at his friend "Honestly, hiding from our guest."

Fox shook his head "So I see I'm not the only one who noticed her worsening mood."

Falco grinned wider "Kursed? Nah man, I'm talking about Katt."

Fox chuckled gently as he was meant too. "Well then, wish me luck, cause I'm about to go talk to Kursed."

Falco raised an eyebrow as he loaded in another energy crystal and turned back to the firing lane "Do you need back up?"

Fox shook his head "No, I think that would make it worse." Fox turned to go. "But if you hear screams of pain, you should probably come check it out."

Falco laughed as he aimed down the sights of the blaster. "Well, good luck man." without further ado, Falco started sending more rounds down range.

Fox left him to it, exiting the armory and heading for the rec room. As he approached the open door, his ears twitched as heard the sounds of fists striking the hard leather of the sandbag. He stepped through the doorway and let his eyes roam across the room.

It wasn't exactly large for a rec room, but it suited the needs of the crew. The room was dominated by the large black training pad in the center of the room, a white circle inked onto it. Along the back wall was various exercise equipment, including a weight set. To the right sat a large green pool table, and on the left of the room sat two large sand bags. The one on the right was currently being used, that bag swinging back and forth on its chain as the blue vixen beat against it.

Fox took another moment to study her from behind. She was wearing what looked like black combat boots, most of which were covered by the long fabric of her green cargo pants, around her hip was lashed her white belt which stood out sharply against her pants, a low hanging blue t shirt revealed her lower back and when ever Fox saw one of the blurs of her hands it looked like she had wrapped it with the boxers tape kept near by on the wall. Her purple hair was pulled back into its usual pony tail and it swung back and forth with each punch, along with her tail.

Fox took another step forward and Kursed stopped, her ears twitching as she waited with quite breaths, the only sound coming from the chain of the sandbag as it swung back and forth, gently swinging to a stop. Fox paused as well, watching Kursed. For a full minute neither of them moved, then Kursed shook her head and turned around "What do you want?" she asked sharply, her frown in place just like he expected.

Fox finished stepping into the room. "Nothing, just watching."

Kursed lifted her middle finger at him as her tail twitched in anger behind her "Go watch something else." she said as she turned back around to the sandbag.

Fox raised an eyebrow before walking around her to where the roll of boxers tape sat on its wall peg. Kursed ignored him as she continued to beat on the heavy bag. Fox took the tape and walked over to the fight area that dominated the room. He started wrapping his paw in tape as he spoke up. "That's not good practice, you know?"

Kursed delivered a strong kick to the bag then stepped out of the way as she finally used enough force to cause the bag to come back at her. "What are you talking about Dropout?"

Fox frowned as he brought the tape up to his mouth and used his eyetooth to rip it. "The bag, it only keeps up your strength, it never keeps you ready for an actual fist fight."

Kursed turned around as Fox was wrapping his other paw. "Are you offering?" she asked with a hand on her hip. "I don't pull any punches, not even in a practice fight."

Fox glanced down at his wrapped paw, trying not to think about the pose she was in. "Good. Neither do I." he replied as he ripped the tape with his tooth again and looked up, his face hardening slightly as he watched her step up to the pad. She cracked her neck and each of her fingers before settling into a fighters stance, her legs braced slightly apart and fists raised.

She shrugged her shoulders once "Alright then, lets see what you got."

Fox threw the tape to the side, then copied her stance and Kursed found herself wondering what was about to happen. Sure the team had spared while she had been there, but Fox had only ever fought her with training staffs, something she beat him at easily. When ever it came time for them to have a fist fight, he would always back out. She let a small grin slip across her muzzle as she realized she was excited to find out what Fox could really do.

For another moment, the two of them just stared at each other, then Kursed moved a step to her right and Fox countered with one to his left. Kursed kept moving, with Fox making sure to always stay directly across from her, they made a lap on the mat before Kursed got bored and moved forward with a couple of hops, throwing her weight behind a powerful right hook.

That hit nothing, Kursed braced herself for a counter blow as she backed up to the edge of the ring, but she found Fox, still with his arms raised, watching her from his end of the mat. She frowned slightly as she realized that a straight up brute attack probably wasn't going to work against the speedy vulpine. She stood her ground for a few moments more before taking a quick step in, after a moment, Fox stepped forward as well, keeping his fists raised.

Kursed moved forward another few small steps with Fox copying her until they were within easy arms reach of each other. They stayed that way for another moment before Kursed threw a left hook at the side of his head, Fox ducked under the blow and stood up, still in a defensive pose, and still not attacking her. Kursed frowned a little bit more as she let loose with a right and left before dropping down to try for a body shot. Fox used his arms to deflect the punches away from his body, then nimbly dodged the body shot with a quick shuffle to the side.

Kursed stood up, her arms raised in defense for any attack he might have coming, but again, Fox was just standing there, studying her. She growled softly in anger before unleashing a flurry of punches aimed at breaking his guard. But every single one Fox easily just redirected past his body with his arms or just dodged away, always just in enough time that Kursed could feel the loose fabric of his shirt. She kept this up for a few minutes before she pulled her weary arms back into a defensive position to try and give them a break. She took a step back, and Fox took a step forward.

She took another step back and Fox repeated his step forward, dimly she was aware of the fact that she was on the boarder line that would serve as a forfeit and Fox was still with in easy reach of her. Trying one last thing, she reached out with her arms to try and grab the vulpine and swing him over the line and that was when Fox struck.

It wasn't a hard blow, but it was right on her chest, and it had enough force that it elicited a small gasp of pain from her as she recoiled from the punch and stepped over the line. Fox immediately relaxed and took a few steps away, leaving Kursed looking at him confused for a moment before she looked down and realized that her foot was over the line. She growled at her own stupidity.

"You played me." she growled softly.

Fox shrugged "It wasn't hard, you did most of the work yourself. I just waited until you got to the edge of the ring, then waited for you to open up for an attack."

Kursed scoffed "Yea, most fights don't have a disqualifying line."

Fox was silent for a moment, "Then lets make this a real fight."

Kursed raised an eyebrow at him.

Fox sighed "Take off your boots, I'll take off my shoes, first to five body hits wins."

Kursed thought about it for a moment. "Fine, any stakes?"

Fox smiled "Yea, if I beat you without you ever getting a real hit on me, you stop treating us like dirt and act like a team player. At least some of the time anyway."

Kursed nodded "If I agree to that, I only need to hit you once to win the match, and if I win, you all piss off and leave me alone for the rest of this trip."

Fox paused and nodded "I'll make the deal for myself, but I'm not going to order Falco and Katt around like that, if they choose to do it, fine by me."

Kursed nodded "Okay" then she swung, a brutal and powerful uppercut that would have nailed Fox right under his ribcage, if Fox hadn't seen her move coming and stepped back out of range, raising his fists in defenses as Kursed followed him across the mat, throwing powerful blows onto his arms that caused him to move back every time they hit.

Fox dodged another one of her hits and side stepped, swinging his fist out and striking her in the right side of her ribs. Kursed gasped at the pain and took a few steps away, Fox let her with a grim smile. "That's one Kursed."

Kursed shook her arms loose and held them in a low guard "I can count Dropout."

Fox relaxed his pose, dropping his arms to the side, Kursed raised an eyebrow before taking a step forward. She faked a swing at him, and he still did nothing, just stood there, staring at her. She scoffed and took another step forward, pulling her arm back to swing. "Do you ever commit to anything?" she asked crossly as she swung.

She saw it in his eyes first, they seemed to darken slightly as his gaze narrowed, then she saw the frown on his mouth, and by that time, her fist was well on its way to connecting with nothing, because Fox moved.

Kursed thought back to all the ground fights she and Fox had ever been in, and none of them compared to the speed, force, and sheer beauty involved in his attack. It actually took her a moment to reconstruct what happened in her mind.

It started with the punishing blow he delivered to her left side, as she moved to side step he struck her in her right side again, in the exact same spot as before, except harder. She hissed a little at the pain, then shammed a fake move with his left hand before slamming her in the upper chest with his right, sending her stumbling back. As she recovered, Fox stuck out a leg and hooked his foot behind her knee, pulling forward and collapsing the joint, sending her stumbling to one knee and using her left arm to brace on the ground so she didn't end up on face first in the mat. Fox forced her onto the mat though when he delivered a punishing hammer blow to her left shoulder blade, the pain causing her arm to collapse and her to fall face first in the mat.

"That's five." he said softly, slowly massaging his knuckles.

Kursed groaned softly as the last shakes of sharp pain faded away to a dull ache. She turned her head to the side and glared up at Fox. "Little hard." she said softly.

Fox leaned down, "You said a real fight." he held out a hand for her to take. She glared at it for a moment, before he spoke up with a smug smile. "Remember the deal?"

Kursed groaned but took the hand and he pulled her to her feet. She looked down and away before muttering "Thanks."

Fox laughed, "You don't have to sound like it pains you to be nice to me. Although you most likely will be pushed to your limits by Falco."

Kursed groaned again and walked towards the hallway. She paused as Fox called out "Same time tomorrow?"

Kursed turned around but kept walking backwards "Why, you beat me."

Fox shrugged "It was a fun fight, and Falco doesn't like to mix it up with me, and we got to pass the time some way right?"

Kursed paused as she reached the door, she turned around with a hand in the air. "Fine."

-DP- Five Days Later: Rec Room -DP-

Kursed rolled to her side so she could give him a glare with both eyes. "You regularly pretend to give up in all your fights?"

Fox gave a shrug before dropping and sitting down next to her, crossing his legs as he did so. "You would be surprised how many drunks will relax their guard when you do that."

Ever since that first fight, Kursed and Fox usually met at some point in the rec room to have a practice fight. Today was no different, and Kursed was once again defeated and sitting on the mat, only this time Fox had dropped down to join her, and apparently talk.

Kursed rolled onto her back and lifted her self up with her arms until she was sitting like Fox, only she kept her legs stretched out in front of her. "Get into a lot of fights with drunks?"

Fox popped his neck before answering. "You look like her you know?"

Kursed raised an eyebrow. Fox grinned sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry, you look like my wife, or I guess I should just say my ex-wife."

Fox held up his paw and for the first time Kursed saw the little glint of gold that revealed the presence of a wedding ring. Inside her, Kursed felt some rise up at the sight of the ring, something she had buried a long time ago. Outside she just glanced away towards the wall. "I'm going to regret asking: divorced right?"

Fox sighed and shook his head. "No." he said softly. "She was murdered."

Kursed narrowed her eyes. "Look, McCloud, I'll hold to our deal, but I'm not going to sit here and listen to you sob about your dead wife."

Fox nodded "You asked about the drunk fights and her murder is what caused me to start drinking. I spent most of the time getting drunk in some dingy apartment that Falco and I shared, but every now and then I went out to get plastered. Thinking about it now, I think some part of me wanted a fight to erupt." he paused and grinned at her "It usually did, and it was usually my fault, hence the drunk fights."

Kursed nodded "Okay, so she died and you what tried to drink her away?"

Fox nodded again. "You could say that, if you ask Falco though, I was trying to drink myself to death or get somebody to kill me. If it wasn't for him, well, I wouldn't be here right now."

Kursed stared at him before Fox sighed and held out an empty hand, staring at it like there was something there. "I can still feel the weight of Falco's revolver, what the metal tasted like when I put it in my mouth."

Kursed blinked while inside that long buried feeling wanted to recoil away from herself and reach out to comfort Fox. She had no idea that he had been so destroyed by what she did. She knew that he had tried to track her down with private eyes and bounty hunters, and she had seen the pictures of him crying after her 'body' had been discovered. But he seemed to move on so quickly.

Kursed stopped to think about that, she had faked her death during an off season for racing and she knew Fox and Falco had vanished off the map for a few months. But had it really gotten that bad? Kursed pulled her attention away from her thoughts and back to Fox who was still just staring at his paw, lost in his memories.

"So you tried to off yourself." her voice snapped him out of his thoughts and he turned to face her. "That's kinda pathetic, I won't lie, little disappointed in you for trying something like that." she paused and turned her gaze to the wall."I thought Star Fox and its team was made of sterner stuff."

Fox huffed out a laugh. "Yeah, so did I. It wasn't until I lost Krystal that I realized how weak I really was. Its easy to seem like a badass when you have nothing to lose, and after you lose it..." He paused "It was Falco's idea, the G-Zero Racers, he was sick of dragging my drunk ass home after Krystal left, I agreed, but after we found her body, alcohol seemed like the only thing that helped."

Kursed nodded "So the point of this whole touchy feely crap story was to tell me why you got into so many drunk fights?"

Fox laughed softly as he stood up. "Yea, I guess it was. You got a problem with that?"

Kursed was silent for a moment. "Well, I would give a normal response, but since I lost that bet, all I have to say is 'no sir.'"

Fox laughed again before he turned and started walking towards the door, unwrapping the tape from his paws as he did so. He stopped when Kursed spoke as she stood up.

"Is that why you're always watching me? I remind you of Her?"

Kursed watched as his shoulders stiffened. He glanced over at her. "Yeah."

Kursed opened her mouth to ask another question but was interrupted by Katt's voice coming out of the speaker in the ceiling."Hey Fox, you still in the rec room?"

Fox walked over to the intercom and pressed a button ."Yea, I'm here, what's up?"

Katt's voice came back "Uh, we got an issue on the crew deck, you might want to get down here and check it out."

Fox glanced over at Kursed before entering the hallway, Kursed following him, curious as to what had happened. A few short moments later the elevator doors opened to reveal Katt standing outside of Kursed's door, rubbing her feet dry with a towel. As Fox walked up and glanced into the room, Kursed hung further back in the hallway.

After a moment Fox called out. "Hey, Kursed, I don't suppose you feel like sleeping in your ship for the next week?"

Kursed raised an eyebrow and walked over to the doorway, looking into her room and seeing the ceiling panel that had fallen to the floor and the water that dripped out of it. Katt chose this moment to speak up, "Well, I guess Falco lied when he said the ship was in prime shape."

Fox turned to look at her as Kursed looked down and realized that the carpet was soaked all the way until it turned into the metal of the corridor. She glanced over at Katt who was holding up the towel. "When I got wet feet I opened your door to see what had happened, I had ROB shut off the water to the room, but everything in there appears to be pretty well soaked."

Kursed turned her gaze back to Fox who was looking back at the room. "Well, got another room for me McCloud?" Fox turned his gaze on her and she shrugged "I like my ship, but a real bed is a real bed."

Fox was silent for a moment before he nodded "Alright, down here."

He led her down the hall towards her old room he went in first and when she rounded the corner she saw him turn on the table side lamp and put something in his pocket. He turned to her and gestured around at the room. "Well, here you go, try not to wreck this one."

Kursed scoffed, "Like the pipe breaking was my fault."

Fox shrugged, "Hey, you never know." with that Fox walked out of the room and went down the hall, a few moments later she heard his door shut. Kursed walked over to the door controls, closing and locking her own door before turning back to her old room. She walked over to the dresser and laid a finger on an open drawer, thinking hard she was fairly sure that she had left this drawer open when she had left. Kursed turned to face the table where she had thought Fox had grabbed something, she walked over and laid a hand on the worn stool sitting next to the bed before her eyes got drawn to a slightly darker spot on the surface of the bed side table.

Almost as if Fox had left her note there all this time.

Kursed blinked and sat down on the bed, she rubbed the back of her neck gently as she looked around the room. He had left it for her, the exact way she had left it...just in case she came back.

Kursed sighed "Well, I'm back, only Fox doesn't know it, and he can never know." Kursed paused in her own thoughts to look around the room again. "He still wears his wedding band, and he still refers to me as his wife. I was in the right when I left, I know it. But how come I feel like I shouldn't be here now, like I've sullied the ship with my presence and my lies?"

Kursed shook her head to try and dislodge that last thought and turned her mind to the first fight that they had. She had been trying to avoid contact with Fox by snapping at him over every little thing and being as rude and crass as possible, yet Fox had still come to find her. Then there was the fight itself, Fox had moved with a savage grace that she had never seen him use before, in fact compared to all the training fights they had, he never really moved like that, he would always telegraph his moves somehow, almost as if he was letting her know...

Kursed blinked as she realized something. "He threw his fights with me." she paused in admiration "He threw his fights with me and it took me eight years and a real fight for me to realize it. But why did he always throw them? Did he just not want to hurt me?"

Kursed made another realization right then, and it sickened her. Fox was still loyal to her even after all this time when he thought she was dead, he still kept her in his heart after everything she had done. A normal person would have moved on, but then she had fallen in love with him because he wasn't normal. He was brave, and loyal to a fault, and...

She still loved Fox McCloud.

Kursed blinked as she realized that was what the feeling from the conversation had been about. She still loved him, and when he told her about trying to kill himself. She was afraid, afraid that she had almost killed Fox by faking her own death. He still wanted to be with her, and was ready to kill himself to do it.

Kursed sighed and leaned forward on , burying her face in her hands. "What's wrong with me? I've been around him for a week and all my anger at him is gone, replaced by feelings that I told myself I could never feel for him again."

Kursed sighed and raised her head, thinking back to that dream that she had last week, before Fox had come down to find her in the rec room. In it she had gone into Fox's room and revealed who she was, and he had just accepted it, it had ended with them in bed together and had felt so real, and so right.

Kursed sighed as she pulled her legs up and took a few deep breaths, perhaps if she meditated for a bit, it would clear her thoughts.

Fox was in his own room, pacing, and trying to figure out why he had told Kursed about Krystal, and that he tried to kill himself. He gave a huff of anger as he played the conversation again in his mind, it had just slipped out like it was something she needed to know. The end of the conversation also confirmed what he suspected, Kursed was well aware of him watching her, the thing is, why hadn't she seemed more upset?

Fox sighed and moved over to his desk, throwing himself down in the chair and rubbing his head. It all seemed wrong, and yet right. He didn't know why, but for some reason he was opening up to Kursed just like he had with Krystal. Was it just because she was a Cerinian , or because she looked so painfully like Krystal?

As he sat there and thought, he idly rubbed the side of his head, where that feeling had formed and sat since Kursed came aboard his ship. While his thoughts were on her, a different thought drifted into his mind, something that seemed odd for him to think.

"-love Fox McCloud-"

Fox blinked and sat up straighter in his chair, breathing hard. The last time something like that had happened had been with Krystal. Was he picking up on Kursed's thoughts? He closed his eyes and focused on that feeling.

"-anger at him is gone-"

Fox opened his eyes and stood up from his chair, looking down at the floor. This wasn't right. Fox knew that it couldn't be right. He still loved Krystal, even though he could never have her anymore, and here he was, feeling like he was falling for this bounty hunter. Fox glanced down at his hand where his wedding band gleamed at him, it's glow urging him away from Kursed, yet still, there was that part of him that screamed at him to go for it, that this could be his chance.

Fox frowned, he needed to do something about this now. He walked over to his door and hit the switch to open it, moving down the hallway to Kursed's door. He knocked sharply and waited for her to answer. When the door finally slid open Fox glanced away for a moment before meeting her eyes. "We need to talk."

See, what did I tell you?

Also, this chapter was originally going to cover the two weeks to Cerinia, but that would have quite easily broke 30 pages, and while I love long chapters, I would never have been able to get that up and have it be properly done by my weekly goal. This is properly done right? I've said this before, but I'll say it again, I'm a mediocre writer at best, so please, let me know if you spot anything out of place with a review, or just leave your thoughts on the chapter, remember, the more reviews I get, the more inspired I am to work on this story, and you all have been very good at that so far.

Okay, and I know I'm not supposed to do this, but screw it anyway, Guest Review Reply!

4RT: Yes, this is a much different Star Fox, like I said at the start I mixed a lot of endings together from Command for the background of this story. As for Krystal, well, running off and living with criminals for eight years can have the affect on people. As for second guessing, what about this chapter eh? Thanks for the review!

Fpastrello: I'm glad you are enjoying, and I would be lying if I said there weren't some parts of this story where I had too much fun with the conversation bits. Thanks for your review and I hope you'll keep reading!

Anyway...Next Chapter, we get to start off with a talk and end up at Cerinia, oh this will be fun. In the mean time, in case some of you aren't aware, Broken II by Cpt. Fox {Boy I've been mentioning him a lot this chapter} Went up a few days ago, and if for some reason you have yet to read it, please, go do so now, and if for some reason you haven't read the original Broken, well, you're missing out.

Edit 1-23-12: Wow, Ten reviews in under 24 hours, I cannot, even begin to describe how awesome all of you just made my day. I really was not really looking forward to today, dentist appointment and lot of busy body stuff, but damn, seeing my inbox light up with reviews made my day so much better. Thank you all, and now, since you were all so kind, I shall have to work on chapter 5 asap.

Right-O, I think that's all,

Peace,

- Emile