Chapter 3: Awakenings
(The scene is two weeks later)
It was early Sunday morning, a day usually spent in recuperation and revelry at Smash Mansion, and for some, it still was. Yoshi and the two Pikas were in the pool, and the Mario brothers and Princess Peach were poolside. The Villain's hot tub was full as usual, with both Bowser and Ganondorf splayed out relaxing in it. Kirby, the Ice Climbers and Ness had formed a makeshift game of baseball and were busily trying to one-up each other in hitting distance and power while Donkey Kong watched. Captain Falcon, Falco and Link sat lazily around the Rec room watching TV, and those unmentioned were off somewhere being uninteresting.
But, for two lone heroes, this Sunday was just another day of near-silent watchfulness, near-constant vigilance, and near-suicidal conviction. Mewtwo and Fox, their normally well-kempt fur mussed, matted and dirty, and their whole look disheveled, sat their somber watch over a still bedridden and unconscious Samus. Mewtwo's normally solid figure looked ghastly, he had barely eaten or slept since the return and it showed. When he did sleep he would have horrific, graphic nightmares, reliving that day over and over; the feeling of utter helplessness as he witnessed Samus's tragic crash to the Earth. These feelings and images would make his whole body spasm, and his stomach turn, and he would awaken to Samus's motionless form and a heavy onset of nausea. In as much, he refused to eat much, knowing he wouldn't be able to keep it down. This morning was no different; He woke, and after letting his stomach settle, he checked Samus's mental readouts from the past 2 hours, being as that was about how long he had been out again.
Fox was doing no better, and in fact, was a bit worse for wear than the leather-minded Psychic pokemon was. He too had eaten next to nothing in those long, tedious weeks since the return from his friend and long-time teammate's rescue, and was in a bit of a tougher situation for sleep than the Psychic. Mewtwo had the ability to just literally shut off his conscious mind when he needed rest, and Fox did not. As consequence, the vulpine male had been blinking in and out of consciousness the entire time. He had no clue what day, time, or even year it was most of the time now, and didn't even acknowledge anyone's existence save his fellow watchman most of the time. Even as far as that went, usually all that passed between the two was a silent nod or a blank stare and a minute of awkward silence.
Poor Fox looked like hell warmed over, too. His clothes were dirty, his fur was knotted and matted to his body, and even falling out in places. Fox hadn't even noticed when someone had stepped on his tail a few days before, and his ears drooped, lacking enough gumption to even stay perked up.
Another thing the two watchmen lacked besides food and sleep was any semblance of patience or sympathy for anyone but each other. Fox had even gone feral for a while, growling and snapping at a few people, including an unwary Zelda whom he accidentally nipped. He didn't hurt her, but the incident didn't go unnoticed by any means.
The night previous to this morning, in a rare moment of lucidity, Fox had talked with Dr. Mario, chief resident Medic, and asked him for the hundredth time if Samus was going to make it. Dr. Mario told him again that he didn't know, but then he went on.
"I am starting to worry more about you and Mewtwo, Fox. At least she is under our care. You two, on the other hand, are being so bullheaded that everyone else has given up trying. You two are dying slowly, Fox. I mean hell, look at you! Your bodies are eating themselves to keep you going, and it may be doing irreversible damage to you…"
"I know it doc…" Fox responded weakly, "but I can't rest until I know… I have to know she is okay…"
"But WHY fox?! I admire your loyalty to your friend, but why must you insist on killing yourself over it?!"
Fox hadn't answered then. He had slipped out of consciousness again and after waking up, had begun pondering the question with a more rested mind. Now, as he sat watching over her, looking at her bandaged limbs, her soft face, her golden hair, and her peaceful, nigh-angelic expression, he answered.
"I…" the vulpine hero cleared his throat, shook himself awake a bit more, and looked at the focus of his attentions, before he barely voiced the rest of his utterance, "…love her."
Mewtwo blinked for a moment, looked up from the charts and stared at his compatriot. Even in his tattered shape, Mewtwo managed not only to be, but to truly look completely surprised by Fox's sudden profession of love. Even still, the psychic thought it best to make sure he had heard his friend correctly.
"W-what did you say?" Mewtwo thought to Fox, stuttering a bit telepathically in his surprised state.
"I love her. I love Samus, man… and all I can think about now is the fact that I may never be able to tell her…" Fox trailed off, his expression obviously distraught.
Mewtwo was dumbstruck. They both sat quietly back down, and resumed their newly intensified watch.
In terms of actual time, very little of it passed before the two were out again, mere hours at most. But for the two statuesque heroes, eternity itself would have seemed but a trifle compared with the never-ending conundrum of stressful silence that ensued following Fox's confession. Then, as if waking up from her usual night's sleep, Samus's eyelids fluttered and she raised her head up quietly. She looked first at her mangled limbs, which she couldn't really feel, and then looked confusedly at her two friends passed out in the chairs beside her bed.
FIN
END ACT I
Author's Note:
Well. Congrats to me and to you fans of my work, the first Actual-Factual act of my longest scripted story completed, in a manner of speaking, and only a year after it was first written! Yay! Ch. 4 will be an interlude, and then Chapter 5 will start the entire mad plot off and running like a freaking bolt of lightning. So please stay tuned, I promise it will only be a few days until I update again, and then a week at most after that one.