You love when the pressure just pulls me apart
You're fueling the fire, it just won't stop
It keeps growing and burning and taking my world down in flames
While I'm waiting on the other line

Now tell me the truth
Don't make me wait too long
You have to prove
That I shouldn't move on
Giving in is the price I pay
These words alone hurt enough to walk away
You think I hang on everything you say
And worst of all you're predictable

*Chunk! No, Captain Chunk! – The Other Line*


Corneria City (three days later)

The entire crowd of almost two million Cornerians stood and fell silent as the curtain covering the back of the stage split. Sitting in a wheelchair with his left arm in a sling sat their beloved General Pepper, clothed in his iconic crimson Cornerian General's outfit. A similarly clothed canine wrapped his paws around the handles of the wheelchair and pushed him forward, stopping inches before his knees hit the shortened podium. The soldier gave his salute and stepped off, then watched as Pepper tapped the microphone strapped to the podium with his right paw. As the noise from the countless speakers died down, he cleared his throat and raised his eyes to the large crowd.

"I… I hate to admit this to you, but… I was wrong… I was so wrong."

Pepper, to the crowd's surprise, chuckled softly and continued. "I was just as shocked as you were. One minute, we are all perfectly fine, living our daily lives without having to worry about anything, and the next, we're cleaning up our capital city that was devastated by the actions an intergalactic civilization."

The crowd started murmuring to each other softly, but the bloodhound raised his right paw and started speaking again. "However, unlike our first presumptions of the act, we've concluded that it was not an intentional act of aggression. This was the result of a failed experimental satellite launched by the humans. And… believe my, my friends… I wish I would have known that sooner…

"I didn't take the accident claim into consideration, and because of my own incompetence, I made the damage to our home world worse than it needed to be… I sent thousands of our best troops to try and exact revenge on the humans, when in reality all I did was send them to the slaughterhouse."

Pepper sniffed slightly as he held back a bit of emotion. "For those of you here who had family enlisted in the force, and those same relatives were killed in the war… from the bottom of my heart, I sincerely apologize. I caused their deaths, and more importantly, I caused the emotional deterioration of many others as a result of that action."

Pepper again lowered his head into the microphones. "Words cannot express how sincerely sorry I am for bringing this unneeded conflict upon us all. All it did was shed more blood against us."

The bloodhound used his free paw to wipe away a tear. "I… I lost a very close friend on the final day of the war… We all lost an idol… a hero… the bravest fighter the CDF has ever had the privilege to employ… …We lost the leader of Star Fox; James McCloud."

A chorus of low cheers and applause resounded from the audience at the recognition of the vulpine's name. Pepper waited until silence replaced the applause, then continued in a shaky voice.

"The day the satellite hit Corneria City, James lost his wife… …He never recovered from the grief… …He was driven insane. He lost his mind. He went from the young, talented, loveable, rational soldier that I knew back when he was just a rookie pilot, and changed into a man hell-bent on revenge and retaliation. I had never seen him so inconsolable in my life. In all honesty, if there was one thing that influenced my initial viewpoint of the war, it was him. I mean, he was always the one to have the right decision expressed in the way he acted and responded, and since he so openly conveyed his inner desire for retaliation, I agreed with him. He had never faulted me before, but in this case, I was wrong."

Pepper sniffed even louder and glanced off to the right of the crowd. "Oh god was I wrong… I… I've never made such a terrible decision in my term as your general. I disgraced this highly coveted seat of power, and I disgraced the entire Cornerian Defense Force into forcing them into fighting such a cruel, violent, and most of all, unnecessary war. This is my fault we had to add to our death toll, and it's my fault we lost the greatest man of our generation…

"I take the blame for it all… The impulsively declared war, the thousands that were killed as a result, and the fact that we as a nation almost split in half. Let's face facts… I almost let our beloved world fight it out in a civil war. If that were to actually happen, only the gods would know how many of you wouldn't be standing here listening to me."

Pepper let the tears flow from his eyes as he continued his speech in a shaky voice. "I've wasted enough of your time already. You all know why this war ended. You all know why this terrible time of Cornerian history started, and you all know how it came to an end. You all know the circumstances on why it ended, and the countless amounts of lives that were lost before it finally came to an end. The reason I'm still speaking to you is because… I have an announcement… Something that I know all of you will want to hear."

Pepper wiped his nose on his sleeve, looked down at the floor for a few moments, then picked his eyes back up that were glazed over with tears. "It is with a heavy heart that I say I am officially stepping down from the position as your lead general."

Once again, the murmuring among the large crowd commenced in a much louder volume. Pepper didn't wait for the audience to silence itself as he was back to talking, and as soon as he did they listened intently.

"I cannot carry the blood of your loved ones on my paws. I've ruined my reputation as your general, and I thought it would be a good idea to start a new phase in Cornerian history with a brand new lead general to take my place. You do not have to worry about who will take my place, because I can assure you the person taking my place will do my job much better than I could have ever hoped to do."

Pepper grinned for the first time in his speech, then slowly backed his wheelchair away from the podium. "Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome your newly promoted lead general of the Cornerian Defense Force… Wes Jaeger."

A loud chorus of howls, claps, and cheers was heard from the crowd as the gray tinged wolf-dog stepped onto the stage. He was wearing the exact same uniform the bloodhound was currently wearing, but to the crowd's surprise and confusion the left side of his face was covered in a large white bandage. He waved to the large audience as he approached the podium, then as soon as they quieted down he spoke in his unmistakable accented voice.

"Words cannot express how eager I am to take this position. It will be a very difficult task to succeed the great legacy General Pepper has left me in charge of, but I will make sure that I will do the right thing… the first time."

He laid his elbows on the podium and continued. "Believe it or not, but I was on the pro-war side too. I wanted to see our military get revenge just as much as the next guy, but there was one day that changed my viewpoint. I had the privilege to talk to a human that risked his life to help our kind. Not his, but ours. He was looking out for us, and was trying to ensure that our kind got off the planet before it was too late. Unfortunately… we were… We were far too late to leave without suffering a heavy loss. I tried to get James to realize that, but… that was when he snapped. He lost his mind, and I firmly believe he brought his death on himself…

"I respected him as a knowledgeable leader and a courageous warrior, but as soon as he murdered the human that wanted to see that we survived in cold blood… I lost all of my respect towards him… I couldn't respect him anymore. He was a ruthless killer, and in all honesty… I couldn't see him surviving the war. He was our very last casualty, and although he might have been the greatest military mind behind Pepper himself… James is in a better place. He's finally reunited with his wife. He's finally free of the emotional and physical suffering."

Wes cleared his throat and folded his paws on the podium. "Now that that is out of the way, I need to explain how I am going to run the CDF now. I will do my best to run it the way General Pepper would want me too, and I promise, I will not start a war unless it is absolutely necessary too."

Another round of applause emanated from the crowd at the hybrid's promise, then once the noise was at a minimum he spoke up again. "Unfortunately, the Prime Minister could not make it to this address, but he asked me to assure you guys that we will rebuild. We will recreate Corneria City better, cleaner, and stronger than ever before. Will all of us working together, we can accomplish this seemingly impossible feat… …We already accomplished a miracle with surviving the war we declared on the humans, and if we can do that, we sure as hell can rebuild our capital."

Wes let a large smile crease his muzzle. "We'll rebuild the Cornerian Defense Force from the ground up, and we will make sure to keep our population safe."

Howls and massive rounds of cheering screamed from the audience at the newly appointed general's promise, and once it died down again he gave a one-handed salute to the rest of the audience.

"And… I promise not to impulsively declare a war on anyone… not unless the other group or military has a blatantly obvious reason to do so… Until then, ladies and gentlemen… Stay safe."


Corneria General Hospital

Vince staggered to his feet after sitting up off of the hospital bed, relieved that he had finished yet another round of stitches and treatment for his wounds. He had a large bandage covering the bridge of his muzzle, and underneath his white lab coat were tracks upon tracks of stiches covering his arms and torso. He was finally completely patched up, but the excruciating pain was something he needed to get used to.

He hesitantly poked his abused muzzle out of the doorway, then stepped out into the hall and trotted down through the crowded hallway, glancing at a few occupied rooms as he worked his way down to the lobby.

The first room he peered into was the room housing the remnants of the once renowned Husky Squadron – Sharp, Kassian, and Christina – all getting checked on by the medical staff. Seemed like one minute that squadron was the pinnacle of the entire Cornerian Defense Force; the next minute it's in shambles with half of the members dead. They were all very close too. It would be a very interesting subject to see if any of the surviving pilots would continue in their squadron after all they've been through. Hell, they might even retire the squadron permanently. It all depends on if the pilots want to fly or not following their grueling and mentally strenuous missions, on top of the fact they watched their teammates die in the line of duty.

Sharp, the highest ranking pilot still remaining in the squadron, showed absolutely no desire to launch again. For Kassian, he still had some fight in him, but that was his personality, and in all honesty if someone was going to take over as the lead Husky Squadron pilot it was him. Christina now had a family to care for, being the officially authorized caregiver to the human child Emily, along with having a boyfriend that was closer than she could have ever imagined before. She didn't have time to get back into an Arwing, nor did she ever want to after the war. And Sheila… she was another story.

The next room Vince peeked into had Dustin's Special Forces group, minus one member. Poor Rusty, the small coyote that had pulled Fox out of the human house, suffered too much trauma even with the Great Fox's shock absorbers and never woke up from the coma he fell into. Dustin, the large husky/shepherd hybrid, survived with minor injuries despite being less protected than the coyote. Ashley, the black vixen that had found herself into a rather controversial relationship with the late James McCloud was being treated by a whole slew of doctors and nurses, so obviously she was in a very critical state. Dustin himself said that he didn't want his team to be wrongfully used anymore, after being told of James' meltdown and biased viewpoint.

Another room down the hall housed the only two survivors of Destroyer 2 that had crashed following an extremely brutal and nasty storm, Kurt and Brendan. Those two were lucky to be alive after surviving their improvised crash landing. Kurt would be alright, and would most likely be flying in a few weeks, but it would be a miracle if Brendan could fly again with how severe his injuries were.

As he walked into the haphazardly reconstructed lobby after eavesdropping on the other soldiers briefly, he saw a few doctors standing around the reception desk with a familiar blue avian leaning near them.

"Surprisingly, only your left wing is fractured," one of the doctors remarked, staring at his tablet. "Nothing too terrible. Just make sure you've got that cast on at all times, and it should be a speedy recovery."

"Great," Riley chirped in relief, and as soon as he spun around and saw the arctic fox he smiled. "Oh, thank the gods you're alright Vince."

"I could be better," Vince chuckled, gingerly patting the avian's uninjured shoulder. "How you holding up?"

"Better than I thought," he answered. "I was lucky the Great Fox's shock absorbers kicked in right at the perfect moment, otherwise we would've had a lot more casualties."

"How is everyone?" Vince asked.

One of the doctors, a rather thin greyhound, cleared his throat and slid his tablet over to him. "There's our list of injuries and deceased for the crew of the Great Fox."

"Thank you," Vince said before lifting it up and staring at it intently. His eyes scrolled down the names and injuries before he finally found a name he recognized.

"Wes checked out already… that's good," he muttered to himself, then continued to speak under his breath as more and more names popped up. "Peppy's okay… Riley's alright, of course… …Oh… Ashley's in rough shape?"

"She's in ICU," the doctor replied. "Very critical. We're doing the best we can with her since she's in gestation."

Vince's eyes widened instantly. "Ashley's pregnant?"

"She's in her very first stages," the greyhound answered. "In fact, this is extremely recent. Couldn't have been more than three days ago."

"How?"

"Even if we knew, we're not allowed to disclose that kind of personal information," the doc admitted. "To be honest, I wasn't supposed to tell you about her condition of maternity, but… you seemed to show some care for her. Are you her father, sir?"

"No, I'm…" Vince hesitated for a split-second. "I'm a very close friend. When she wakes up, tell her… Tell her I'm very sorry."

After the doctor nodded, Vince kept scrolling down the seemingly endless list of injured Cornerian soldiers, until one particular instance stuck out like a large traffic cone, instantly freezing the vulpine.

"James…" he whispered, then hesitated when he glanced up at a female wolf doctor. He thought about how bad of a situation Wolf was in with possibly getting convicted on first degree murder. He also thought of Fox, and how much he loved that wolf, and how distraught he would be if they possibly had him thrown in prison where he could never see him again.

He knew what he had to do, and it pained him to do it, but it was for Fox. He had to do it for Fox.

"Um, excuse me doc, but the information you have here… it's incorrect," Vince said pensively after a hard swallow.

"Hmm?" she hummed, turning to face the tablet. "Oh, James McCloud? There have been numerous reports of his death being a homicide."

Vince swallowed hard again, feeling sweat start to bead on his forehead. "I'm sorry doc, but, these reports must be false. I saw James die right in front of me, and… I saw a self-inflicted shot."

The female doctor's eyes opened wide. "Oh, so… James' death was a suicide?"

Vince let out a long breath of air and nodded. "It pains me to say it, but… I saw what he did. He was so distraught that… he just didn't want to take the grief anymore. It wasn't a homicide – whoever told you that was lying, I'm afraid."

"Oh, I'm… I'm sorry sir," the doctor frowned, then forced a grin. "Thank you for giving me the correct information. I'll get that corrected right away."

"Sure thing," Vince managed to choke out before the doctor left to update the information. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Riley curiously scanning his surroundings, then leaned over and whispered to him almost silently.

"Vince, what are you doing? You know Wolf killed James."

"I know," Vince whispered back. "But Wolf, he… he doesn't deserve to get convicted of something he didn't voluntarily do."

"What do you mean he didn't?"

Vince sighed once again and lowered his ears. "James almost killed Sheila. I saw everything that happened on the surface, and he… he was going to kill her out of spite."

"So… Wolf shot James to save Sheila?"

Vince nodded, then shut his eyes tightly. "I could've stopped him though."

Riley cocked his head. "Stopped who?"

"James," he answered after a brief silence. "I could have stopped him from trying to kill her, and more importantly… I could've stopped Wolf from killing James."

"But, James was your best friend. Why didn't you?"

"Was," Vince corrected, practically choking on his words. "Riley, James was like a brother to me. He was my best friend, but, once I found out that he was the one that wanted revenge, even if it cost him his family, I had no respect for him. Whatever happened to him because of this war… I firmly believe he had it coming."

Before Riley could respond, Vince cranked his head up and started at the bird. "Wolf was not, and will not be the enemy. He did nothing wrong. I'm trying to protect him from getting arrested and possibly executed, because he did not do anything wrong in the slightest. James, he… I hate to say it but… he deserved to be put down."

"Vince…"

"Who would you rather have live?" Vince suddenly asked in a noticeably faltering voice. "That heartless deranged monster that was James, or someone like Wolf that was trying to protect his family – even if he had to do the extremes?"

Riley opened his beak, but couldn't find the right words to say.

"Wolf didn't need to be put through the hell of having Sheila get killed, by James no less," Vince continued as Riley's beak slowly shut. "Wolf put his own life on the line to make sure that Fox and Sheila stayed away from James because he was, like I just said, a deranged monster. Fox didn't just lose his mother on the day the satellite hit, but he lost his father that day too. James wasn't James during the war, and I don't blame Wolf for killing him, as much as it pains me to say it."

After the fox finished, his eyes shot open as he pounded his paws on the table. "Fox. Fox, w-where is he?"

"Probably still at the cemetery," Riley answered. "They buried James earlier today."

"I need to go talk to him," he blurted out, and within moments and without another word, Vince bolted from the lobby and out into the parking lot.


All because of you,
I haven't slept in so long
When I do I dream
of drowning in the ocean,
Longing for the shore
Where I can lay my head down
Inside these arms of yours.

All because of you,
I believe in angels
Not the kind with wings,
No, not the kind with halos,
The kind that bring you home
When home becomes a strange place
I'll follow your voice
All you have to do is shout it out…

*Rise Against – The Good Left Undone*