CHAPTER THREE - RAGING WATERS

"You're… what

"You're… what?" Falco couldn't tell if the girl standing confidently before him was being serious or not.

The girl smiled calmly back at him. "You heard me." She was serious. He didn't know how he could tell. But there was something direct in the way she spoke, the way she stood, the way she looked back at him. She couldn't be joking. It wasn't possible.

"But…" his head was spinning. "But that's impossible. It's some kind of experiment."

She shrugged. "So my childhood was a little unconventional."

"If you're lying to me–"

"I'm not."

He continued to gawk at her, perfectly composed, entirely straightforward. "You… you're the weapon? You're what Oikonny wants?"

"Not what," she said crossly. "Who. I'm not a robot or something."

"Then what are you? Who are you?"

She smiled roguishly. "I think it's safe to properly introduce myself. I'm Phoenix. Phoenix O'Neill. That covers the 'who' aspect of your question… as for the 'what,' I'm exactly what you see in front of you."

"That's it?"

Phoenix frowned. "Ouch."

"That doesn't make sense," said Falco, not bothering to apologize for his rudeness. "You're supposed to be all powerful or something. You couldn't even knock me off of you."

"You seem to be the annoying exception to my capabilities," she mused. "When you had me pinned to the ground, I was trying to light you on fire. I could have done it if you were anyone else. But with you, there's some kind of road block there."

"You were trying to light me on fire?" said Falco mordantly.

"Yes," Phoenix said coldly. "Unfortunately, I didn't succeed."

"So you're saying you've lit people on fire before?" She nodded. "And you could do it again, if you tried?" Another nod. "Prove it."

"Alright," she said. "Pick something." He surveyed the surrounding area, finally settling on a skeletal, dead bush.

"That," he said, nodding in its direction. "It's dry – it should be easy enough."

"More like too easy." She turned her gaze lazily in the direction of the bush. Then, after a quick, arrogant glance back in Falco's direction, she proceeded to focus on the dead plant the way she had focused on Falco earlier. She did so just for a split second – that seemed to be all she needed. The bush was suddenly engulfed entirely in flames, unnatural-looking, scarlet flames.

"Jesus Christ!" Falco shouted. Phoenix turned to him at the sound of his voice. He stumbled backward, nearly falling over.

"Oh, relax," she said over the crackling of the fire. "It doesn't work on you, remember?"

"P-put it out!" He pointed a shaking finger at the burning bush. "The whole forest's gonna burn! Make it stop!"

"Right," said Phoenix. She turned back to the bush, but this time focused on a spot a few feet in the air above it. As she stared, tiny drops of moisture began to accumulate in midair. To Falco's complete bewilderment, there was soon an orb of water roughly the size of a basketball, hovering in the air above the blaze. Phoenix made a gesture with her head like a slight nod; the water ball splashed all over the bush, extinguishing the fire. The charred plant sizzled and steamed.

Falco suddenly felt that his legs couldn't support his full weight. He slid into a sitting position, his back against a tree. Phoenix looked back at him, seemingly amused.

"What's the matter?" she teased. "You got weak ankles or something?"

"How did you… the water…" Falco trailed off.

"Oh, yeah," said Phoenix casually. "I forgot. I can do that, too."

His mouth was completely dry. "How?"

"You're wondering if it's magic." He nodded. "You're not the first. It's not, by the way. I'm psychokinetic. Among other things."

Falco cleared his throat. "What's that?"

"Well," she said, "it's pretty much an umbrella term. It covers a lot of what I can do. Not all of it. But most of it. Because of the psychokinesis, I'm also telekinetic, pyrokinetic, hydrokinetic, and aerokinetic – that means I can bend air molecules. Like this." A sudden, strong wind swept through the trees. "I'm also cryokinetic, but that one's kinda boring, so I don't use it very often."

"What is it?" asked Falco feebly. She put a finger to a nearby flower – in a matter of seconds, it was completely frozen. "Oh."

"I have magnetic control," she went on, "and control of photons, to a certain extent. My pyro and cryo can be used just to control the temperature. Watch." She shifted her gaze to the frozen flower. Slowly, the ice melted away. It was soon totally thawed. "Um… let's see. I'm telepathic. But I can also make people think things – put words, ideas, and pictures into their minds. And all this comes with a kind of force field. It's like a shield that I can use on myself in case I ever face anyone with the same capabilities that I have. I can extend it to other people; it just takes a lot of effort."

Falco felt weak. "What are you?" he asked again.

"I'm a phoenix," she explained. "I'm just a normal girl. Just like everyone else. I just have a few… enhancements."

"A phoenix…" he echoed. "I thought those were mythical."

"Obviously you were mistaken. Although, you aren't too far off the mark. I'm the only one of my kind left."

"So… the whole 'born from the ashes' thing?"

"Not entirely true," she replied. "I wasn't born from any ashes, as far as I can tell. But I can heal myself when I've been injured. That takes a little bit of effort, but not much. Healing others is a lot easier. I'm sure you've heard that part of the myth."

"Phoenix tears?"

She smirked. "Kisses, too. Yeah, I guess it's something in my saliva… It sounds a lot more romantic than it is. The kissing thing is a lot easier than the tears, though. It's hard to conjure tears on the spot. Especially if it's someone you don't necessarily care for."

"What happened to the rest of you?" Finally regaining the strength in his mind, Falco stood.

"That's a story I'll save for when I meet the rest of your team. For now, we should head back to my place. I need to get all of my crap before we push off." She began to walk away, through the trees.

"Wait a minute!" Falco called after her. She poked her head back into the little clearing.

"What?"

He motioned to Tricky, who was kicking in his sleep and snoring loudly. "Heal him first!"

"I can't heal him," she said irritably. "There's nothing there to heal. The dart itself is basically harmless – it would be as pointless as healing a bee sting."

The prospect of carrying Tricky wasn't one Falco was willing to consider. He nudged Tricky with his toe. "You can't wake him up or something?" She shook her head.

"I might have something back home. There's an antidote to counteract the qualities of that poison. Yeah… yeah that should work. Follow me." She turned again.

Falco rolled his eyes in exasperation. "Wait!"

"What the hell do you want now?"

"Do you expect me to carry this all the way to your house? It's not like he weighs a metric ton or anything."

She tapped her chin with one forefinger. "Point taken," she said. She raised a hand to the level of her shoulder, palm facing the sky. Tricky was yanked into midair and levitated to the space two or three feet in front of Phoenix's face. "Now will you follow me?"

It could hardly be called a house – the space where Phoenix had been living these past three years. A hut was more like it. It was tiny, and cramped even from outside, where Falco stood examining it.

"Wipe that condescending look off your face," said Phoenix tetchily, "before I smack it off for you."

"Did you build it?" As he spoke, a shingle fell off the roof, crumbling on the ground.

"It was here when I got here," said Phoenix, who had begun turning Tricky over in a series of ridiculous, midair somersaults. "I didn't have the materials or the means to build my own. But, since it doesn't look like I'll be living here anymore, I don't give a rat's ass whether or not the damn thing falls to the ground. In fact, I think I might light it on fire."

"I'd get all your crap out of it first, if I were you," Falco advised her.

"A genius idea," she said sardonically. "Duly noted." She seemed to have grown tired of her little game with the unconscious EarthWalker. Tricky was once again immobile.

"Are we gonna go in, or not?" Falco scratched the back of his calf with the toe of his boot. "These mosquitoes are starting to bite through my clothes."

"I'm kind of tied up here," she said. "Unless you want me to drop him?" She leaned over to the right slightly, as if trying to look through one of the cracked windows. "Hey!" she called. "Hey, Maya! I could use a little help here!"

For a few seconds, nothing happened. "Who are you talking to?" Falco inquired with irritation. "Wait a minute – you're not a schitzo or something, are you?"

"Shut up. Maya! Open the door please!"

"I thought you said you lived her alo – What the hell is that?"

The door had swung open from the inside. In the doorway, there stood a small, lavender dinosaur. But she was unlike the dinosaurs of Dinosaur Planet. Although she somewhat resembled an EarthWalker, she was a different color, and had several characteristics that differed from Tricky's people.

The little dinosaur had a mildly insulted look in her blue-green eyes. "I send you out for an hour and you come back with a man?" Her voice was adolescent, but her tone was distinctly more adult. "When you said you were going hunting, I didn't realize this was what you had in mind."

"Let me tell you," said Phoenix shortly, "he's not as great as he looks."

"Thanks for that," said Falco.

"No problem. Maya, we're leaving."

Maya, who still had apparently failed to notice the dinosaur levitating above her scaly head, shrugged. "Alright. I'll throw your stuff into a suitcase."

"Thanks, Maya. Oh, I almost forgot…" Phoenix lowered Tricky to the ground in front of Maya's feet. The purple dinosaur looked faintly interested for the first time since they'd arrived.

"You brought me one, too? Excellent." She walked a circle around Tricky, apparently studying him. "He's cute. What's wrong with him?"

"Shot with a tranquilizer, that's all," Phoenix answered. "Nothing a little bit of the antidote won't fix."

"We've got a little bit left, luckily," said Maya. "Just enough to wake him, I expect." She turned her tail and ambled back into the house. Phoenix began to follow her, stepping over Tricky. As she stepped over the threshold, she paused, turning back to Falco.

"You wait here," she commanded. "I don't want you touching any of my stuff." And she turned and entered the house.

"Charming," said Falco under his breath. "Really charming." He sat on the doorstep, waiting. After no more than five minutes, Phoenix emerged with a large suitcase, seemingly jam packed with her personal belongings. Maya trotted at her heels, a small vial of fluid in her beak. Phoenix set her bag down and took the liquid from the dinosaur, tilting Tricky's chin and emptying it down his throat.

Tricky stirred for a second. Then, his eyelids fluttered open. His blue eyes were unfocused momentarily before swiveling upwards and resting on Maya's face. He leapt to his feet with a startled yelp.

"Oh, no!" he cried, looking all around him. "Oh, no, this can't be happening!"

"Tricky, calm down." Falco knelt in front of the trembling prince, trying to pacify him. "You're alright."

"They got you too?" Tricky gave a little whimper of misery. "Oh, no. I can't believe this! I'm too young to die! We both are!"

Falco frowned. "What are you talking about?"

"I guess it's time to face it," said Tricky shakily. "As much as I hate to admit it, it's time to walk into the light. Where's the light?! I can't find the light!"

"Tricky!" Falco seized his shoulders, shaking him fiercely. "Tricky, you're not dead!"

Tricky looked mystified. "I'm… I'm not?"

"No! For the love of God!"

"How do you explain her, then?" He nodded toward Maya, who, in spite of Tricky's puzzling behavior, still showed mild signs of emotion.

"What?" Falco had no idea what he was talking about. "What do you…? Did that antidote screw with his brain or something?"

'It shouldn't have…"

"No!" Tricky was regaining his composure steadily. "I'm perfectly sane, thanks. Except for the hallucination."

"What hallucination?"

"That!!" He nodded once again in Maya's direction. "Haven't you been listening? She's an angel! I've seen pictures of things like her – they only appear to you if you're dead or hallucinating, and – Why are you laughing?!"

Falco couldn't help it. The laughter was soon shaking his entire body. "Tricky, you dunce," he said, wiping his eyes. "She's not an angel. Jesus…"

Tricky gawked at him. "She's not?" He shook his head, still laughing. "Wow. Then… wow. I'm embarrassed."

"Don't be," said Maya. She sidled up to where he was standing. "That was sweet."

Tricky was blushing tremendously. "Thanks…" he mumbled.

"Alright, alright." Phoenix picked her suitcase back up with a trace of annoyance. "Enough doe eyes, you two. Bird boy needs to lead us back to his ship so we can hightail it outta here."

"I might if you show me a little more civility."

"I don't need to show you jack, you self-glorifying parrot."

"You know what?" Falco had bypassed irritation and gone straight to the anger stage. "You're a real bitch."

"At least she got you talking again, though," piped up Tricky. Phoenix looked down at him, her interest peaked.

"What's that?"

"Before I passed out," Tricky went on cheerily, "he wouldn't say two words to me."

"Tricky," Falco warned, "that's enough."

"No," said Phoenix. "No, go on."

"Well, it was like that for months before today. He went off by himself for a few months – he does that from time to time – and when he came back, he was all quiet and moody. He would say maybe a total of two sentences per month, shut himself in his room… We thought something must have happened to him while he was away, and–"

"Tricky," Falco said harshly, "enough." Both he and Phoenix looked startled by the sudden change in his tone. Tricky looked at the ground. "Sorry," he muttered.

Phoenix watched Falco for a few moments; he made an effort not to meet her gaze. "Alright, she said, after a while. "Alright. Can you take us back, or not?"

"Yeah," said Falco. He suddenly wasn't feeling up to talking all that much. "Just… follow me."

"Falco! Tricky! Hey, guys, look who's finally back!"

Amanda stood on the outskirts of the forest, a yard or two away from where the rest of the group had congregated on the beach. Falco stepped through the trees first, followed by Tricky. Fox stood up, brushing the sand from the backs of his thighs.

"Hey," he said, directing his words toward Tricky. "Any luck? We all came up short."

"I'd say we had a bit of luck," said Tricky with a grin. Fox's eyes widened.

"Did you find it?" he inquired enthusiastically. "Did you find Project Phoenix?"

"We found it alright." Falco's voice – the true intonation of his voice – drew the attention of everyone. Fox stared.

"You… You did?" Falco nodded crossly.

"Yep," he said, kicking up a little bit of sand as he did. "I'm starting to wish we didn't, though."

"Jesus!" As if on cue, Phoenix pushed through the trees, followed closely by Maya. "I have a suitcase to lug around, you know! You could have at least waited for me."

The rest of the team got to their feet, one by one, taken aback by the unexpected addition to their party.

"Hello," said Wolf in mild surprise. "Who's this, then?"

"Phoenix," she introduced herself. "I'm Phoenix O'Neill." The group nodded and waved their hellos. Out of all of them, Slippy alone seemed to realize her significance at once.

"Oh my God," he said, taking small, slow steps toward her. "Oh my God. It makes sense… it makes perfect sense…"

Phoenix blinked at him. "Excuse me?"

"You're it!" Slippy said breathlessly. "Of course you're it! You're the perfect weapon! It makes perfect sense!"

"Uh… Slippy?" Peppy was looking as confused as the rest of them. "Would you mind letting us in on your little epiphany?" The little toad rounded on them excitedly.

"She's it! She's Project Phoenix!"

"What?" Lucy looked from Slippy to Phoenix. "But – she's just a girl."

"She's not just a girl," said Slippy. "She's a phoenix, Luce! Don't you guys know what phoenixes are capable of?" When no one showed any signs of knowing, he persisted, "Telekinesis, pyrokinesis, telepathy, magnetic control, photon control, biological reformation… they're all common traits of the race!" He spun around to face Phoenix. "So… which one can you do?"

"Um…" said Phoenix, somewhat uncomfortably, "…all of them, actually. Plus cryokinesis – I can freeze things, basically – and aerokinesis, which means I can control particles of air. Oh, and I can make people see things. In their heads."

Slippy looked as though he might pass out. "You can do all of them?" Phoenix nodded. "Never in recorded history has there been a phoenix that can do everything!"

"I'd never even heard of phoenixes in recorded history, period," said Krystal. "I thought they were just a myth."

"We aren't," said Phoenix. "Obviously. I'm the last of my kind, but before my people were wiped out, there were seven of us."

"Am I to understand," said Wolf, "that you can light things on fire? Just like that?"

Phoenix shifted her focus to a piece of driftwood that had washed up on the beach. Instantly, it burst into flames.

"Well, well," said Peppy. "We've got ourselves a special young lady, don't we?" Phoenix smiled shyly.

"Are we sure she's a young lady at all?" said Fox. When Phoenix looked affronted, he quickly said, "No, no, that's not what I meant. I mean – Well, Lex O'Neill was working on Project Phoenix as an experiment. Did he create you?"

Phoenix laughed. "No," she said. "No, I was created the old fashioned way. He was on one of his excursions when he crash landed on my planet, Volumnia. That's when he met me and my family. He asked my parents' permission to do a couple of experiments to see why I could do the things I do."

"Volumnia," said Peppy. "That's not that little planet that was vaporized all those years ago, is it?"

"Yeah, it is," said Phoenix remorsefully. "Lex was there with is wife and kids when we heard what was headed our way. There was room enough for only a few on his ship – I went with my caretaker, Tomahawk. His family has been serving to protect mine for centuries. We were meant to take my twin brother Caius, too, but… We couldn't find him anywhere. It was too late to save him."

"Your whole family was killed?" said Fox. She nodded grimly. "By who?"

"Who else?"

"Andross," said Peppy bitterly. "I had no idea he was behind it."

"What did you do?" said Krystal.

"Tommy and I went back with the O'Neills. They were kind enough to offer us a place in their family. They adopted me as their own daughter, but kept me a secret. It was for my own good. Lex really is a father to me – when he adopted me, I was only a little kid. I can barely remember my birth family anymore. Lex taught me how to fly and fight. But, most importantly, he taught me how to harness my powers. Without him, I could have killed myself, or everyone else, for that matter. He means the world to me." Her eyes sparkled fondly.

Fox felt a sudden pang of sorrow. This girl was now orphaned twice. Twice, she'd had her family taken from her. And she didn't even know it yet. He exchanged a glance with Krystal. She seemed to be thinking the same thing.

"I circled the whole damn island, there's no sign of them." Panther was rounding a corner, back from an attempt to locate Tricky and Falco. "They must be somewhere in the f – Phoenix?!" He stopped short at the sight of her.

"Panther!" Phoenix ran to him immediately, eyes sparkling. "Oh my God! I can't believe it!"

"What are you doing here?" he asked, taking her hand.

"Give me a break," said Falco. "You know this one, too?"

"We dated," explained Phoenix. "I was sixteen, I ran away for a few months – it's a long story."

Falco snorted. "Figures."

"I haven't seen you since," said Panther. "Why'd you just disappear like that? What happened to you?"

Phoenix looked incredibly guilty. "I wish I could have contacted you, Panther, it's just… It's complicated. Pretty much everything I told you about myself was a lie. My last name isn't Robinson, it's O'Neill. I had to go home. I wasn't supposed to be away from my father's lab in the first place."

Panther's face fell. "You're Project Phoenix?"

"Yep." She grinned up at him. "Lex and Natalie O'Neill raised me. I've got all kinds of stuff I can do. Basically, I'm a walking Swiss Army Knife."

"Phoenix…" Panther's head hung. "Phoenix… I… God, I wish it wasn't you…"

She looked quizzically at his face. "What… what're you talking about? What's going on?" Panther looked up.

"Phoenix," he said quietly. "There's something I have to tell you… about your family."

"What?" Her voice was hushed, strained. "W-What about my family? Is everyone alright? Panther?!"

He shook his head woefully. "No, everyone's not alright. Phoenix…"

She was beginning to look slightly crazed. "Spit it out!" she cried. "Just spit it out already!!"

"Phoenix," said Panther, "you're family's been killed."

Phoenix stood there for a moment, staring. Just staring, as if she couldn't comprehend the words he'd spoken. No one dared breathe, move, or speak. "No," she said finally. "That's not true. No."

"Phoenix…" Panther began. She cut him off, eyes blazing.

"No!! My family is fine!!"

"No, they're not, honey."

Angry tears began to well up in her eyes. "Why are you saying this?" she said, and her voice was barely above a whisper. "Why do you keep contradicting me? My family is fine, Panther!!"

"I saw them," he said, his voice cracking slightly. "Wolf and I were sent into the house afterwards…" She turned on him.

"Then you had something to do with it?!"

"No!" he said quickly. "Jesus, no! We didn't have any part in it! It was Oikonny, Andrew Oikonny – he's Andross' nephew. He ordered Pigma and Leon to go into their house and kill them."

"No…"

"We recovered as much of their things as we could, but most of it was destroyed…"

"No, no, no…"

"…buried them in the backyard, under a tree…"

"No…"

"…I'm so, so sorry…"

But all she could do was shake her head and say "no" over and over again. She began to pace, talking to herself, tears pouring down over her cheeks. Everyone watched her, full of pity at the sight of her grief. After a few minutes of pacing, she stopped and stood, facing the sea. It seemed to the rest of them as though she'd finally come to terms with her family's death. But, just when they thought she was calm, her entire body began to shake violently. Suddenly, she dropped to her knees.

"NO!!"

As she screamed, she pounded the sand with her fist. The entire island began to shake, and a fierce wind whipped their faces. The air, which had been swelteringly hot seconds before, was suddenly close to freezing. And, before their horrified eyes, the sea was beginning to rise, a massive wall of water, and growing higher by the second. Fish and sharks appeared on dry land as the water line receded and receded.

"It's gonna crush us!" Slippy yelled over Phoenix's screams, mingled with the roaring of wind and sea. "She's gonna kill us all!"

"Phoenix!!" Maya screamed, hurtling toward her friend. Tricky called after her.

"Maya, don't!!" But Maya kept running, fighting the wind.

"Phoenix, you've got to calm down!!" She tried to stand at Phoenix's side, but before she could get anywhere near her friend, she was propelled backward, as if by some kind of force. All around Phoenix, the sand began to swirl, as if a miniature tornado had engulfed her.

Panther tried next to appease her. "Phoenix!!" His voice could barely be heard over the din. "Honey, listen to me! You've got to call it off!" She turned around to face him, wildly, and her eyes were no longer their usual amber. Instead, they were completely white, and overflowing with tears. The second she directed them toward Panther, he, too, was thrown backward.

"It's hopeless!" said Krystal in despair. "No one can get past her energy!"

"So, this is it?!" Amanda looked quite frantic. "She's just gonna crush us?!"

"No!" Falco struggled against the wind, which was growing stronger with every minute. "She's not!" With an extreme amount of effort, he pushed himself toward Phoenix's shrouded form.

"Are you out of your mind?!" Fox shouted after him. "You saw what happened to Maya and Panther – No one can get past her force field!!"

"I can!" Falco shouted back, over his shoulder. "Trust me!!" He continued to battle the wind, sand stinging his eyes as he trudged forward. A piece of shattered glass sliced the side of his face; hot blood poured over his cheek. A rock came hurling at his arm, propelled by the wind. With a sickening crack, his arm was broken into two pieces. He kept forcing himself to walk, despite the blinding pain.

Finally, he was able to reach her. "Phoenix!!" he bellowed, as she screamed. "Phoenix, listen to me!!" He made it easily to her side, kneeling down so they were at eye level. "If you don't stop this, the entire island will be destroyed!! If you don't stop, we're all gonna be killed!!" Phoenix didn't falter. She was acting now not of her own accord. The frenzied girl was consumed completely by her rage, her grief.

"Phoenix!!" Falco tried again, desperately. Another rock, this one much smaller, collided with the other side of his face. "Phoenix, look at me!!" he shouted, through a fresh wave of agonizing pain. She turned to face him, but made no attempt to calm the rapidly rising sea. "Phoenix, you've got to control yourself!! I understand what you're going through right now!! But try to remember how to restrain yourself!! Remember what your father taught you!!"

It was like he'd flipped a switch. Phoenix's expression of rage transformed instantly to one of shock, and then defeat. Her eyes slowly returned to their natural color; the wind ceased its tirade. The sand, which had been mostly airborne, settled back to the earth. And the sea, mercifully, came slowly down, splashing a little as it did, but otherwise safely, calmly.

Phoenix continued to stare into Falco's eyes. For a brief moment, she looked as though she was trying to say something to him. Hold her, said a sudden, unexplainable voice in his head. Just reach out and touch her. Without thinking, he made a move with his uninjured arm as if to touch hers – but it fell short as Panther ran to her side, pulling her to her feet.

It seemed then as if her trance had been completely broken. She stood, sobbing, in his arms, as everyone watched from a distance. "Oh, God," she said. "God, I could have killed you all. I'm sorry… I'm so sorry…"

"Shh…" He stroked the back of her head. "It wasn't you… Not really… You just got away from yourself for a minute, that's all."

"But I shouldn't have lost control like that! After all my dad taught me – If Falco hadn't come, I – Falco!" She broke away, turning back to where he was still crouching in the sand.

Falco managed a weak smile, but the moment he tried to stand, he was overcome by his excruciating pain, mixed with an inexplicable feeling of having all the energy sucked out of him. He stumbled, falling to his knees, feeling for a moment as though he would be very sick.

Phoenix rushed to kneel alongside him. "Oh, no," she choked, tears still streaming down her face. "Look at you…"

"I'm fine," he lied, his voice hoarse and strained. "Just a few bumps and bruises."

"No, you're not," Phoenix whimpered. "Your face is half covered in blood and half purple and swollen. You can't tell me you're fine." She reached out to touch his arm – the broken one. He winced as dizzying pain once again overwhelmed him. Phoenix drew back at once. "I broke your arm, didn't I?"

Falco sighed. "Phoenix… It was a rock. Don't worry about it," he said quietly.

"How can I not worry about it?" Her expression was full of anguish. "Look what I've done to you!! You're a complete mess!"

He smiled lopsidedly. "I've been worse," he assured her. "Really, I'm fine." She returned his smile. Watery though hers may have been, it still managed to be completely radiant. He couldn't take his eyes off of her. Once again, she'd made him forget completely about her arrogance, her rudeness, her attempts to kill him…

Fox soon joined the two of them. "Hey, man," he said, looking extremely distressed as he knelt next to them. "You okay?"

Falco grinned. "I've been better," he said. "But I've definitely been worse."

"I've gotta tell you," said Fox weakly. "You're the dumbest son of a bitch I know. But probably the bravest, too."

"Yeah, whatever. Let's just get off of this damn island, okay? Someone's bound to have noticed everything that just went on, and I don't wanna take any chances."

"Alright," said Fox. "Can you stand?"

"Yeah, yeah," said Falco, trying once again to stand and failing. He grumbled, begrudgingly. "No."

Fox helped him to his feet. "You're flying back with me," he insisted. "We'll have to figure out how to get your arwing back."

"I'll fly it," said Phoenix, wiping her eyes. "It's the least I can do for him."

"Good," said Fox. "Thanks, Phoenix."

As they slowly made their way to the scattered arwings, which had been tossed around by the wind, but otherwise unharmed, Fox said, "You really scared the hell out of us for awhile, you know that?"

"I told you I could make it through," said Falco. "And I'm alive, aren't I? For some reason, I'm the exception to her–"

"That's not what I meant."

Falco's stomach dropped. "Oh."

"Look," said Fox, "I'm not gonna ask you what happened to you when you were gone. I figure that's your load to get off your chest whenever you're ready to do it. All I'm saying is… Well, I'm here to listen when you want to talk."

Falco felt extremely grateful toward his friend. But he couldn't tell him. He just didn't have it in him to tell anyone. Instead, he forced a smile. "You haven't turned gay in the past three hours, have you? 'Cause I gotta tell you, I'm getting a little uncomfortable with your arm around my shoulder…"

Fox laughed, shaking his head. "I see you've returned to your normal, dick self."

"So it would seem."

"Well whatever. I liked you better as an arrogant, self-centered, reckless–"

"Okay, okay," Falco interjected. "You made your point."

"I'm just saying, man. It's good to have you back."

Falco smiled, genuinely this time. "Thanks. It's good to be back."