Authors note:

I had actually written the majority of this chapter on Christmas eve, but then things happened and it fell back on my list of things to do. I had also originally planned for this to be longer but felt that if it was too long it would feel out of place. Next chapter hopefully soon!

Chapter 9: Treatment

The drive to the hospital was awkward. Fox couldn't help feel that way. He mulled over his thoughts over and over but every time he thought of starting conversation, he opted for silence. He had no idea what to talk about to the other. Wolf, on the other hand, was not faring any better. After being awake for an extended period of time he had adopted a more grumpy look on his face, akin to how it normally is. Realising this sparked a twinge of emotion what the vulpine couldn't quite place. It wasn't as if he didn't like how he looked now, but there was something else about him when in his dazed state prior. He looked more vulnerable, unguarded. The sort of look most people strive to protect, so that they don't get hurt.

Fox shook his head to stop that thought. 'Come on Fox, say something!' It's not like he could just start suddenly talking about their pasts as if they were best friends now. Although it hurt to admit it, he wasn't even sure the lupine would even consider calling him a friend. Maybe he could fix that? He recalled back to a few days ago, where the three canines went out for food. Now that he thought about it, it started in the same way...

The sun shone over the bustling streets of Corneria city, lively as ever. The citizens of Corneria always knew how to bounce back, despite the war and invasion which occurred prior. There were groups of all sizes walking around. Those few in business suits scurrying on quickly to their jobs, the lax couples moving as if they had all the time in the world oblivious to everyone. Larger groups with diversity between members, providing ample subjects to talk about to each other; and then there were them.

Complete silence between them. Even if Wolf had apologised, Fox couldn't help but feel annoyed. He still had no idea what the whole thing was about, and he didn't really plan to bring it up. There was also the fact that he never intended for Wolf to come in the first place, Krystal invited him. How he wished this could go by fast...

Wolf had never been accustomed to small talk. Never needed it. The only time he really talked to others, it was business. He never talked to his old team unless necessary; briefing, commands, plans, the sort. So it was no surprise that he chose to stay silent.

'Maybe this was a bad idea.' Slowly that thought, and the sentiment behind it was becoming stronger.

Krystal on the other hand, subtly stole glances at Fox expectantly. She had invited him so the two could possibly get to know each other, settle their differences. But all it had resulted in was this. Stuck between two brooding canines too scared to talk to each other.

"Fox." she quietly whispered to him, causing his ears to perk up. "Say something to him."

"What do you want me to say?"

"Something. Anything."

It was easier said than done. All the blaring questions in his head were out of the question. Too personal, too boring, too stupid. 'Come on Fox, it's just small talk. With Wolf... How hard can it be?'

"So, uh, Wolf. What happened to your eye?" As soon as the words left his mouth, he regretted it. That was probably the worst thing he could've asked at that moment, as was evident by the look of shock on Krystals face and surprise on the others. 'Way to go, idiot...'

Wolf glanced down at the pavement, pensive in thought. 'Should I tell them?' "Oh, this? Just an accident, nothing much." his voice trailing off. 'Nah.' Keeping it a secret was the best idea at this given time for him. "I'm surprised though, didn't think you had it in you to ask has ever dared to ask me that." he added, with a light chuckle.

That reaction was something the two had never expected. Fox had expected shouting, a few insults thrown around, and in the end no progress made. Instead he was calm? The thought of this spurred him on to continue.

"Well, I'm not really everyone else, am I?" Fox added with a grin. Maybe this could work out...

He smiled fondly at the memory. He learnt far more than he ever expected to about the mysterious lupine that day. The little stuff. The small, non-important details about him what no one would really care about. The tiny bits of knowledge you'll never know about someone unless you obtain it first hand. And in a way, that made it better. Nobody else would know what Wolf's favourite colour was, his favourite meal, hobbies. 'Well, Krystal does.' The thought sounded in the back of his mind, and he couldn't help but feel bad that his mind was neglecting her. But he already kind of knew things about her, trying to justify himself.

Just, it was strange. Never would he have imagined that he'd talk to him about it. About Wolf. And the way how he sometimes had answered, bashfully looking away, following up with a timid, hesitant response. He thought it was cute... Cute? 'It's not a bad thing to consider someone cute, right? Especially a guy? No, it doesn't matter who it is, right? It was cute... Right?'

He had to say something. Anything to stop his mind from continuing it's train of thought. How had he started it last time? 'Oh yeah.'

"Say Wolf, something's been bothering me." he started, getting the lupines attention. "What's wrong with your eye? It looked fine to me."

"What do you mean what's wrong? I just can't see out of it. Why do you think I wear an eyepatch?"

"But don't eyes start to deteriorate after being blind for a while? I though they started to fade out after a while, but both of yours were the same." 'That stunning shade of purple... Huh?' "Plus, I couldn't really see an injury around the area." he stuttered out, banishing that thought from his mind. There was slight scarring in the area around his eye, but that was everywhere on the mercenary's body.

"Well, I guess mine didn't." he tried to think of a way out of this. He was running out of excuses. "I just can't see that well out of it. It hurts to use, so I usually cover it."

"But you just said that you can't see out of it, and now it's that you can't see well?" He was skeptical about it now. "And if it hurt to use, why would you use your cybernetic eyepatch? If anything, just using the standard leather one would be better for that..."

"Well, I, uh," his mind ran blank. He had lost. Fox was looking at him expectantly now, and he had no way out of it. 'Maybe it won't be that bad if he knows.' "Okay okay, you got me. Just, don't tell anyone, okay?"

"More secrets?"

"Truth is, both my eyes work fine." he carried on as if he'd never heard the comment. "I originally used the eyepatch as a way to make myself look tougher."

"I don't believe it." Fox looked pensive for a moment, when an idea suddenly popped into his head. At the next traffic lights, he put one hand over his 'functional eye' and held up a number with his other hand. "How many fingers am I holding up?"

"Three." He quickly changed the number, raising another finger. "Four... And that's cheating." Fox looked incredulously at the other, quickly taking his hands back and putting them on the wheel. The light turned green and their journey continued.

"Guess I was wrong... I don't understand though, tougher?"

"Nobody would want to join the team of a rookie, much less one who's not been in the merc world long. It made me seem more experienced, with wounds to back it up."

"Wait, how old are you?" Fox inquired.

"Twenty-four, I was nineteen during the war." This baffled Fox. If this was the case, how did Wolf know his dad? He wouldn't have flown with him. Maybe he could ask later.

"Ok, but wouldn't wearing an eyepatch make you less likely to be wanted?"

"It helped me make a name for myself. Sure, I could outfly all of the other pilots normally, but being able to do so with one eye? They loved that, and I had no complaints. It didn't restrict me too much."

"Thank God you did huh? I wonder if I could beat you in a 1 on 1 without your eyepatch..."

"Well, you kind of did. I switched to my cybernetic eyepatch after the war, and as much as I hate to admit it, you bested me with it." From the look of confusion on the vulpines face, he must not have made it clear enough. "Sargasso."

"Oh." Now he remembered. Flying in, attacking their base in hopes of finding Pigma... "I never did apologise for that. Sorry." Destroying their base, their home, just didn't sit right with him now, even if at the time he had no idea of his affiliation with the swine.

"Don't worry about it. I can't be too mad, it freed me in a sense. No more empire to run, no more followers."

"Well, you're welcome then." he spared a glance to the lupine, smirking. The two fell back into silence, except this time it was more akin to a comfortable silence. This continued until they arrived at the parking lot of the hospital. Fox tried to find a spot close to the entrance to avoid straining Wolf too much, and luckily found one. As the car stopped, he turned to face the lupine.

"So, what I don't get is why you didn't want to tell me."

"Well," he looked away from Fox, towards the floor of the car. That same, adorable sheepish look on his face. 'Adorable?! What am I thinking!?' "I didn't want you to think of me as a liar, or weak or anything. Losing trust early on won't be good if I want to stay with you for a while."

It made Fox happy that he didn't push him away early with his aggressive behaviour, and that they weren't a last resort to him. He also couldn't help feel a bit warm on the inside at how the lupine worded it, as if he wanted to stay with him.

"Hey, don't worry about it. Your position's secure for now."

'For now?' Wolf couldn't help show a glimmer of sadness in his visage, but quickly removed it. Fox realised what he said, and quickly set out to fix it.

"I didn't mean it like that. I don't want you off the team. I'm just... Unsure how long I want to keep this up." He didn't look convinced. "I don't want to see anyone I care about die. I don't want to end up like..." A lump caught in his throat, and he decided to stop there. "But no, I won't get rid of you. You're safe with me." Fox smiled at Wolf, and he smiled back.

He opened the door, prompting the other to follow suit. "Lets get inside." And so they did.

Wait, was that real?

A quick glance down to her hand said it all. A blue feathered hand clasped in her own with a meek strength. "F-Falco?" she tried calling out to him, to little avail.

"Falco!" she tried once again, amplifying her volume. Still, no response. She tried shaking him gently, raising her voice once more "Falco!"

"Yeah yeah I heard ya' the first time, quiet down will ya'?" he rasped out. Just hearing his voice, her heart skipped a beat. She took the hand in both of her own and pulled it slightly towards her.

"Thank goodness you're okay." she whispered to herself.

"Can't take me out just like that." he added, followed by a cough. Silence fell upon the two, with Katt just content to be there. After a while, Falco decided to break it abruptly with "Could ya' give me my hand back?"

"Oh." She let his hand flop back onto the bed listlessly. "I should probably go tell the team you've woken up." Despite her statement, she made no move to do so. She was slightly hoping she could've spent more time talking to him on her own.

"Well?"

"Right." She reluctantly took out her communicator and filed through her contacts, sending the entire team, excluding Wolf, the same curt message. Come to the hospital now. It vibrated almost instantly after being sent, a reply from Krystal signifying that she was on her way. The other members following suit soon after. She could talk to him while the others were coming at least...

Wolf was now back to lying down in the hospital bed displeased. He was starting to regret his decision to come to the hospital. Was it really necessary to be bedridden over a few cuts and scratches? Fox could easily pick up on this, opting to talking to the lupine to take his mind off it.

"Sorry about this, but I'm sure it's necessary for what they want to do. You won't regret coming, I promise."

"I already am. I better come out of this with some superpower or else my time's been wasted."

"I'm sure they have that technology primed just for you." he replied, smirking down at the lupine.

Momentarily after, a doctor walked into the room. "Mr McCloud?" The white Labrador, male, turned to face him. "Can I speak with you a second?"

"Yeah sure." The two started to walk out of the room, leaving the lupine on his own. Wolf was going to voice his complaints but was stopped in his tracks by a simple hand gesture from Fox. "I'll be back soon." Wolf replied with a grumble and sank further into the bed.

Now that the door was firmly closed, separating the three, the doctor started. "It might take a while for his wounds to heal. I think the best course of action would be to come back in a day or two and then we can let him out."

"Really? I told him this wouldn't take long..." Fox looked contemplative for a moment. "Is there anything else you could do for him?"

"Well, there are things we didn't recommend because of how mild the injuries are. That and the costs of it."

"I don't care about the cost, what is it?"

"It's somewhat experimental." Fox looked at him, goading him to continue. "We can use nanotech to close up the wounds and make it as if nothing had ever happened, but there are side effects we're trying to remove."

"Side effects?"

"The treatment momentarily messes with the subjects neural system. They start to feel loopy, weakened ability. It eventually sorts itself out, but I felt for the scale of his injuries this wasn't necessary."

"How long?"

"A day at most."

The thought of it didn't sound too bad. Granted he was already going to be hanging out with the lupine after, except now it felt as if he would be taking care of him for the day instead.

"Do it, I'll pay for it." The doctor looked slightly annoyed at this, but didn't speak up. Just the prospect of using high-end medical technology for something when it's absolutely unnecessary irked him. Not that he could complain, he'd still be getting paid.

"Fine, however we recommend you don't come into the room until after we've finished. We need to prepare it so we can localise where the treatment." Fox looked confused, but didn't say anything.

"Right, I'll just wait out here." The doctor headed in to the room, most likely to tell Wolf of the plans. 'Why am I bothering to waste my money on this? I should have just taken in his recommendation, done the smart thing.' But the longer he thought about it, how Wolf would react when he told him, how he'd lied to him, how he'd made him come here. The lupine never wanted to in the first place. The more ideas, the stipulations caused from it, the more he believed he made the right decision. He didn't want to upset the lupine. But why?

The doctor quickly moved out of the room, and as Fox peeked inside, he could see the lupine laying asleep peacefully on the bed. Fox bit his lip and turned away, feeling as if he was missing something.

Suddenly his communicator vibrated signalling him that he had received a message. Quickly whipping it out, he saw Katt's name attached to it. 'Come to the hospital now? The only reason she would be here is because...'

He quickly set off towards his destination. Falco's room. 'Back soon Wolf.' The two were on the opposite sides of the hospital, so the journey was longer than he was wanting it to be. He entered the room, startling the inhabitants.

"Fox? You got here quick. You didn't even reply to my message." She looked at him with a slight annoyance. 'So much for alone time...'

"Yeah, I was just here with Wolf. He's currently getting treated so I could make it here quickly." Falco noticed the brief look of irritation as he mentioned Wolf. He decided to stay quiet, to gather missing information before he acted. And from the sounds of it, he was missing a lot.

"What, a few cuts too much for him?" She snidely remarked. Falco could see her resentment for the lupine was still as prevalent as ever.

"It was my idea actually. We were going to... Spend the day together. I'd rather him not suddenly start bleeding out." 'So Wolf and Fox are friends now?' Falco wondered.

"Wow, spending the day together? Going on a date with your boyfriend huh?" 'Boyfriends?!'

"He's not..." Fox let out a small growl and shook his head. He turned to look towards the avian in the bed, eyes wide open, silently watching the conversation unfold. A breath of relief was let out from the vulpine. "Falco, I'm glad to see you're okay." Ignoring Katt's statements seemed like the best plan of action.

"Yeayea, I'm good. You know how long I've been out?"

"Almost two weeks. I'm surprised you woke up so soon..." Fox looked around the room. "Shouldn't there be a doctor to see him, given he's just woken up?" He turned to face Katt.

"Oh, I was going to do that later."

"Wait, you haven't told them he's awake? That should be the first thing you should think of doing!" He exclaimed.

"Jeez, sorry for telling you he's fine. I can't do anything to please you lately, can I?" She stood up, walked past the vulpine and out of the door, not before giving him an angry glare. Falco also noticed the anonymity between the two, which was strange.

"So, Foxie," Falco started."mind telling me what's going on? Why are you and Katt fighting?"

"Oh, lately something's gotten into her. She really hates Wolf, and now that he's joined the team it-"

"Wait what? Wolf's joined the team? You should probably start from there, because last time I remembered we were fighting them."

"Oh. Wolf wasn't a part of that. I was angry at him too, and rightfully so. I thought he did this to you... But no, we were told by Pepper that it wasn't him. He also wanted us to let him join the team, and we weren't exactly in a position to say no."

"So he's my replacement, ey?" Falco looked at the other. "Got over me quick enough."

"It's not like that. We could never replace you, but we couldn't just sit around out of action either! Katt also ended up joining the team when she heard you were out of action, but it was never intended to replace you. You're always welcome on the team, you know that right?"

"I'm joking man. I know you could never get rid of me." he cockily stated to the other. "So Wolf joined the team, and she hates Wolf. I gathered that. What I don't get is why this means you're both fighting."

"I guess it's because I've been sticking up for him or something. I can't blame her either. I've snapped at her a few times from the things she's said about him. I wouldn't normally, but I just can't help it when she insults him, or antagonises him, or anything. I don't get what's going on with me..." he trailed off, looking down.

"So, what's going on between you two? What are you to each other? Friends? Boyfriends?"

"I-I don't know..." he let out a meek response. "I don't know how he thinks of me. I don't even know how I feel about him either."

"Look Fox, I don't care what you are. From the sounds of it, you seem to like Wolf. Granted, I don't know it all, or much for that matter, but it seems to me you care about him. If you trust him, I'll trust you."

"It's not li-" Falco held up a hand to stop him.

"It doesn't matter. I'll talk to Katt, try to get her to stop, okay? If he's working with us, when I'm back I don't want her at his throat either. It's in everyone's best interest."

"You sure?"

"Positive. Just you wait, this birdie will fix this all, make you wish you never replaced me." He smugly stated again. It was nice knowing that his friend was back.

"Thanks bud."

"No prob, anything else you wanna share?"

"Well, I-" suddenly the door swung open, with Katt returning with a doctor. "No, not really." as the doctor passed by Fox, he stood up. "As much as I would love to stay and talk, I've gotta go check up on Wolf, make sure he's okay. I'll try come by later, okay?"

"Already going? You haven-"

Falco looked pointedly at Katt and replied to Fox "Yeah, talk to ya' later."

On his way back to where Wolf was staying, he bumped into Krystal. "Hey, you come to see Falco?" he started

"Yes, but I take it you're not?"

"What makes you think that?"

"You're walking away from his room."

'Oh...' "Yeah, I'm off to see Wolf. He's currently getting treated on the other wing."

"Oh, I might come visit later if you're still here." She smiled at him. He was wanting to spend time with Wolf alone though...

"I'm not sure if we'll be here for long..." He started to look for excuses. "His injuries don't seem too bad."

"Don't worry about it. I'll ask at the desk where you are later."

"Sounds good... See you later maybe?"

"Bye Fox." She sounded a bit flirty. Fox wished he could get Wolf out of the hospital soon, but was also starting to feel conflicted. He didn't want to actively avoid Krystal.

'Is it wrong to only want to spend time with Wolf?'

End note:

How many of you thought Falco would be antagonistic? Personally I feel it would be a less ideal choice. I want to briefly talk about the "main idea" of my story so to speak, in which they all have changing perspectives of each other (Feel free to skip it).

There's the main couple, resulting in romance (later). Krystal starts to see Fox differently, and starts to change how she acts herself (you'll also see later.) And finally, my plans for Falco is to help change Katt's (extremely) negative behaviour towards Wolf, being the closest to her.

That being said, if I fail heavily at that I'm sorry but nothing much I can do there. Until next time!