Chapter 67

"So did you say anything to your parents?" The vixen shook her head in class that next Monday.

"I don't know what to say, how to tell them. I mean, with Marty having just been born, and it being so sudden."

"I understand, it took me a few weeks to even ponder how to tell you." Fox laughed, trying to ease Krystal's distress.

"Fox, Krystal, try and stay focused on your experiment please." The voice of their teacher grabbed the attention of both foxes. "We can talk about it later." Fox and Krystal didn't say much that weekend, it was a lot for them to both take in.

"So have you...thought about it any?" Fox tried to talk to her about it, not sure if there's any way to beat around the bush. "Not a whole lot. My mind has been made up, I just hope that my parents will be accepting of it."

"You think they'll have a hard time with it?"

"Yeah, probably. Just think, your 17 year old daughter is telling you that she's running off with her boyfriend to be a space pilot mercenary, more or less." Fox laughed a little, trying not to. "Sorry, it just sounds a little funny when you put it that way. But you're right, that's kind of what it is. I know your parents like me and all but…" He felt a lithe hand on his.

"I love my parents but…they won't stop me."

The vulpine shook his head, his expression clearly showing disapproval. "Krystal just hang on. I don't want this to tear your family apart. That's the last thing I want, it really is. Let's just sit down and talk to them, I'll go with you if you want." He squeezed the lithe hand as he looked over at her.

"Thanks Fox, I just…don't know how to do this."

"My advice, just tell them. Talk to them. That's all I could ever think to do and things worked out." She nodded along as she returned the hand squeeze.

"Let's do it today."

Fox's eyes widened, as his grip became weaker. "Today? Are you sure? I mean that's okay, but don't you think we should figure this out some more?" She laughed at his nervousness, it always made her laugh. "There's no better day. Why not just get it out of the way?" It took him a moment, but Fox conceded to the idea.

"So how about you come over for dinner?"

"Dinner sounds great. I'll talk to mom and dad about how we should do this." By the time they finished their plan, they had arrived at Fox's house. "I'll text mom and tell her you're coming over for dinner." Fox smiled as he opened the front door of his house for her.

"We're home!"

Krystal still laughed mentally at that, she finally was starting to get used to it. "I love when you say that." She winked at Fox as she told him that, he felt it too. He could feel how they had grown together, the whole time. From their first meeting, when they began dating, when they had to take a backseat and be friends, all the way to now.

James stepped around to see the arrivals to his house. "Hi Mr. James… Fox told me about…" James laughed.

"I've heard. I'm more than happy to get you the information about your medical course whenever you want to start it. And congratulations." She blushed a little as she felt Fox's arm slip around her waist and pull her closer to him. She didn't even look, but she knew his smile was beaming towards her.

"Where's mom?"

"She's just in the bathroom I think."

"Great, I wanna introduce her to the newest member of StarFox." Now there was a blush on both teens' faces. They all heard the bathroom sink stop running and the footsteps coming closer.

"Hey mom."Fox waved with his free arm.

"Krystal, sweetheart." Vixy's smile was as welcoming and wide as it always is. "Hi Vixy. I'm so happy to see you and Mr. James both." The two adults laughed. "I've told you not to call me Mr. James. You know you can just call me James."

"James don't worry about that. So, Krystal, you've made up your mind?" The vixen gladly nodded as the family took a seat in the living room. "I just have to tell my parents…and I just don't know how to do that. I told Fox that it's pretty much their 17 year old daughter running away with her boyfriend. I'm certain that's how they'll see it." The adults shook their heads.

"You're right Krystal, that's certainly how they'll see it." James told her in response, his ears drooping a little bit. "But you have to show them that it will be more than that. Not just you running off with your boyfriend and his friends. Because it is more than that, you're training to be a medic. Fox told me why you want to be a doctor, so you can share your kindness with people as best as you can. Do you know how much that reached me?" Krystal's ears perked back up.

"You…told your parents about that?"

Fox nodded in response. "Sweetheart, you just have to show them how much of an opportunity this is." Krystal nodded to everything the adults told her. She looked up with a smile on her face. "Thanks you guys. I love you so much." She stood up to give both the elder foxes a hug.

The younger foxes retreated to Fox's room for the afternoon, the homework and cuddling wouldn't take care of itself after all.

"Your parents are so great."

Fox's attention turned from his math sheet to the more appealing subject that sat on the other side of his bed. "I'm glad you think so. I know it's nice that they're…on our side I guess. I hope your parents at least give us a fair chance. I don't want…"

"I know Fox. I don't want anything to happen with our relationship with them. I just…I've never really tried something like this."

Fox was no telepath, but he knew how she felt. Scared, anxious, unsure. The truth is that he felt the same way. He didn't want Krystal's parents to hate him, he wanted her parents to stay happy. But that is a tall order for what he and Krystal will be asking.

"Fox, am I running away with you?"

"What? What do you mean?"

"Remember how earlier we kept saying it looked like we were just running away together at 17? Is that what we're actually doing? Will my parents be right?" Fox laid down and looked up at the ceiling as he thought about the question.

'I guess they wouldn't be wrong, would they?'

"Maybe they would be right." She heard him.

"Maybe. But is it really running away if it's to do what we're gonna do? Fly around in space, travelling to other planets to help people, to work? I mean it's not like we're running away to get away from them. We're just…" He didn't know how to finish.

"Moving forward?"

He looked over at her as she finished his sentence for him. "Yeah, that's exactly what we're doing. Together."

He reached across the bed as far as he could, hardly grasping her fingertips with his own. She scooted closer so he could fit his hand around hers. She smiled back at him,

"Together."

A few hours later

"Are you ready?" She whispered as they approached the door to her house. "I sure hope so." Krystal opened the door to her house, greeted happily by both of her parents. They were both so overjoyed to see the two teenagers, guilt began to creep over Fox.

"I don't know if we should do this today." He whispered in her ear as her parents turned away. Krystal gulped, the feeling was mutual.

"Krystal, sweetheart." Her father's voice snapped her out of her thoughts. "We decided to order pizza tonight since we were having Fox over, it should be ready in a few minutes. Why don't you kids go and pick it up?" Nervously, she agreed to the idea.

"You know, I was feeling really well about this earlier. But now, I'm a little afraid." Fox confessed when they walked outside.

"Let's just…keep our composure." Krystal tried to soothe both their anxious minds.

"And I feel kinda guilty, they went and bought some pizza with me in mind. Now I'm just thinking maybe we should do this another day. Maybe we should just-" She cut him off as she stopped at a red light.

"No Fox, don't worry about it. We need to do this as soon as possible. It's not gonna get any better, it'll only get harder, more pressure." He breathed heavy, knowing that Krystal was right. He nodded as they drove towards the pizza place.

A little while later they all sat down at the dinner table together. "So Fox, you seem anxious about something, nervous. Something wrong?"

'Oh dang it, I forgot I'm in a house of telepaths.' He took a hard swallow on his pizza, making sure to wash it down abruptly. "Yeah, well there's actually some news I wanted to share with you guys, I told Krystal about it a few days ago." Both of Krystal's parents raised their eyebrows with anticipation.

"So my dad used to be a space mercenary, before I was born. He and his friend would drift around the galaxy in this huge ship, just wandering around looking for work and living life, you know?"

"That sounds incredible, almost like something out of a movie." Fox and Krystal laughed at the mother's comment, feeling a little nervous doing so.

"Yeah, he really enjoyed it. When I was born he gave that up, he would tell me stories about it and he would take random jobs here and there to make money. I've always wanted to be a pilot."

"So your father is the one who inspired you to be a pilot? And you're going to go to the Cornerian Flight Academy when you graduate high school?" Fox's nervous smile reappeared at the mention of this more traditional idea.

"Well, not exactly. He knew I loved the idea so much that he thinks I'm mature enough now, responsible enough, that he's leaving the mantle of his old mercenary crew to me. After this semester of school, that's what I'll be doing. He calls it StarFox and we're gonna keep that name."

"Oh right right, I remember hearing about that a long time ago. I never knew that was your dad. Small galaxy huh?" Fox and Krystal both laughed at the dad's recollection of the team.

"So you have a few people to go with you? That's a big commitment to make, especially at 17."

"Yeah, I have a few friends who've wanted this too. And uh, ahem."

It was time to cross the bridge. It was time to show his maturity that his dad saw in him.

"And I'm going with him."Krystal's words interrupted his thoughts.

Silence, a pause that felt perpetual. There was no telling how long the silence lasted, as if time itself froze. Aside from their eyes, no one moved.

"I'm sorry, young lady, what did you just say?"

The words from Krystal's dad made Fox feel as if he shrunk to the size of an ant, there's no telling how it made Krystal feel.

"I said I'm going with Fox. They need a fourth pilot and a medic, and I'm willing to be both of those for the team."

"Krystal, easy, we talked about this." His words caught her attention as she looked over at him, his face looking afraid yet calm.

"Oh you did?" Both of the teenagers looked over at the older vulpine.

"So you talked about running away with my daughter at 17 did you? And you didn't think to even consider mentioning it to us before making a decision?" Fox pushed his plate away, it was time to defend himself and Krystal.

"We didn't really make a decision…sort of. I mean, we have a medical course she can take to be certified as a military medic. She won't be totally on the level of a doctor, but she'll be nearly as qualified. And as for piloting, there's plenty of training that she and the rest of us will have to do before we actually take off." Krystal's dad let out a small laugh, and it didn't sound genuine.

"So this is supposed to make me feel better about you running away with my 17 year old daughter? So long as she's certified, I'm supposed to be okay with all of this?" Krystal's mom had remained silent for the duration of the conversation.

"Honey, just calm down for a moment. Let's think about this, just one step at a time."

Krystal's dad stood up at the speed of lightning.

"No! There's nothing to talk about, no steps to take. He's trying to steal Krystal away from us and didn't even think to mention it to us!" His head snapped back to Fox. "And you." His eyes just looked like they were ablaze, Fox had never seen so much anger from one person.

"You stay away from my daughter. I never, and I mean ever, want to see you around her ever again!"

The finger he pointed at Fox seemed to make him shrink once again. As if the force of his finger pointing at him made his ears fold, drooping to the point they laid on his head.

"Dad! Don't do-" He held out a hand at his daughter, signaling her to be quiet, it wasn't her place to speak.

"Understood. Excuse me, sir. Thank you for dinner." Fox quietly stood up and excused himself from their home.

"Dad! How could you!?" The anger never faded from his eyes, even when Fox had exited from his sight.

"Krystal, don't you-" He didn't get to finish.

As soon as he spoke that second word, Krystal ran from the house. She slammed the door as she bolted out of the house, chasing after Fox. And he heard it, he turned around to see her running for him.

"Krystal?"

She could see him mouth the word as she ran towards him in the dark. She threw herself at him without saying much of anything. Fox caught her as she leaned on him, having almost no support coming from her own legs.

"I love you."

"I know."

"I love you so much."

"I know."

He cradled her head as he rest his own head on top of her hair.

"Don't leave me."

"I never will."

Fox could feel how sad she was. He felt just as sad as she did, he only tried his best to look strong for her. Fox didn't say a word. He did exactly what he thought he should, hold her. Krystal gripped his jacket so tightly, it felt like she may accidentally tear a hole in it.

"I'm sorry."

He laughed, "It's okay, I have another jacket at home." It wasn't loud, but he could hear her laugh.

"I love you too, Krystal."

Krystal felt plenty weak already, but hearing those words caused her legs to give out. She jumped up and wrapped her legs around his waist as he held her up. He shifted his arms to hold her entire weight, that's all he could do now, support her.

"I…didn't think he would react so harshly."

"Shhh. It's okay."

"No, it's not. Fox, don't you realize what this means?" Krystal felt him shake his head.

"I don't, tell me."

"It means you coming over, us going out on dates. All of…us. It's over."

He nudged her head off of his shoulder, he needed to look in her eyes. They were so sad, sadder than he had ever thought they would look. The sadness shifted from her eyes to his, Fox never wanted to see this.

"Krystal, we have two months. Two months to work on this." He kissed her cheek. "Don't you worry, we have time."

"But…I've never seen dad so mad before."

"Neither have I, it's really scary. But I had to stand up for us." She was so busy during the argument thinking of standing up for herself that she never noticed how afraid Fox felt. She couldn't recall him being afraid of something. Fox beckoned her to lean her head back on his shoulder. Krystal did so, not saying a word.

"Do you want me to take you home?" Krystal sighed, she knew she would have to face her parents sometime in the future. She nodded her head in his shoulder.

"Just take me to my window. I don't think they'll be happy to see you." Fox laughed a little at her comment, the unfortunate truth.

"Okay Juliet, anything you want."

Fox slowly walked back towards her house and gently set her down on her feet. "Thanks, Fox. For everything. We'll talk tomorrow at school?" He reached out to wipe away her tears, as well as to fix her bangs.

"We'll talk whenever you want to. Love you."

She leaned in quickly and kissed him. She skipped towards the door as she turned and saw him walk away from the house. Slowly, she opened the door back open and saw her dad standing by the dinner table with his hands on his hips. Her mom was standing next to him, it looked like they had been talking about something until the teenage vixen came through the door.

"I'm…going to bed."She said with little hesitation.

Krystal saw that her dad was about to say something, but mom extended a hand to hush him. There was no protest, she silently walked to her room to do what she said she would do.

Those words rang and stung in her head,

'Stay away from my daughter.'