Chapter 12

10:00 AM

A new day had dawned on the Great Fox II, even though the view hadn't changed at all since the night before, it was still the same stars and meteors in the endless tides of space.

Fox was the first to wake up as he usually was, and decided to grab a small bag of potato chips and a glass of water from the kitchen, when he was done eating and finished his drink, the light brown vulpine went to the bridge, where he saw both Ecks and Zivia sleeping on the couch together, both of them were sitting up, Zivia's head was leaned on Ecks' shoulder, while Ecks' muzzle was resting on the back of Zivia's neck, both of the foxes were still wearing the same clothes they had on the night before, Ecks had a white tee-shirt on, a pair of blue athletic shorts, and a pair of black sneakers, and Zivia still wore her sky-blue tank-top and a pair of extremely short black shorts.

"What's this?" Fox wondered aloud, just then Ecks and Zivia both woke up, looking at each other, then looking at Fox simultaneously, the two realized that they were still huddled together and both of them quickly pushed away from one another, sitting on separate sides of the couch, Zivia's normally bright orange face was now red from embarrassment while Ecks' face was purple.

Fox chuckled and walked over to the window to study the stars, the light brown vulpine was clad in a grey tank-top and a pair of black sweat-pants, a few moments of silence past as Ecks and Zivia were still a bit embarrassed, "You know, there's no problem with expressing your feelings." Fox said, startling the two foxes still sitting on the couch.

"What are you talking about?" Zivia asked with a nervous chuckle.

"I wasn't born yesterday, it's obvious that you have feelings for each other, you shouldn't fight it, just let nature take it's course." Fox said as he turned to leave the bridge.

A few minutes passed after Fox left, Ecks and Zivia looked into each other's eyes, they slowly leaned towards one another, their lips coming closer with every passing second.

"What's up guys?" Ecks and Zivia jumped, startled, they looked at the door only to see Cross walking onto the bridge, Ecks and Zivia both glared at the dark red vulpine. Cross was wearing a dark red tank-top that was almost an exact color match to his fur, a pair of black jeans, and his usual white sneakers.

"Did I do something wrong?" Cross asked, he had a puzzled look on his face as the two foxes glared at him, the dark red vulpine didn't realize how bad his timing was.

"What an idiot." Zivia thought.

"Agreed." Ecks said, hearing the vixen's thoughts.

"Agreed with what?" Cross asked as the two other foxes stood up from the couch and left the bridge, Cross was still clueless as to what just happened but he shrugged it off and soon left the bridge as well.

"We need some clues as to what the Doombingers are planning." Cross said to himself as he walked the halls of the Great Fox II, the red vulpine soon came to the large metal door which led to the interrogation room, he didn't know why but he decided to enter the metal room hoping to find something that would at least give them a clue as to what kind of weapon the Doombringers were looking for, unfortunately Cross couldn't find anything in the empty room, "Dammit!" He yelled as he punched the left wall out of frustration, when he pulled his fist away he noticed a small part of the wall was sticking out slightly, the dark vulpine placed his index and thumb fingers on the small piece and pulled, the small piece of the wall tore off like nothing, where the piece of wall originally was there was now a small hole, Cross reached in and pulled out a round silver metal sphere that was small enough to fit into the middle of his paw, "What's this?" He questioned to himself, he noticed a small black button was sticking out of the side of the small sphere, and pushed it, the sphere then started to float, "Fox has got to see this."

10:15 AM

Krystal was in the kitchen sitting at the table drinking a small cup of coffee when Fox walked in, "About time you woke up." Fox said to the cerulean furred vixen, it was clear that Krystal hadn't been awake for too long, seeing as how she was still wearing a bright pink tank-top and her pair of white pajama pants, Fox had changed his clothes since waking up as he wore a plain white tee-shirt, a green pair of cargo pants, and his combat boots just in-case the time would come where he would need to be ready for battle.

"Well yesterday was a long day, we were attacked you know." Krystal said before taking a sip of coffee.

"Yeah, which reminds me, we need to figure out where this weapon that the Doombringers are looking for is." Fox said as he walked to the table and sat down in a chair next to the blue vixen.

Just then, Zivia walked into the kitchen followed by Ecks who, as he usually did, floated rather than walked, the two noticed Fox and Krystal sitting at the table, Fox cracked a grin, as did Krystal, "So..." Both Krystal and Fox said at the same time, then looked at each other, then the two broke out into laughter from the fact that both of them found Ecks and Zivia together.

"You saw them too?" Fox asked, laughing.

"Yes!" Krystal answered as she continued her laughing fit.

Both Ecks and Zivia blushed yet again, "Don't worry about it." Fox told them as her wiped a tear away from his face.

"Yes, I thought it was rather cute." Krystal said with a giggle.

Ecks, unlike his brother, didn't mind being called 'cute', but for some reason, he was a bit embarrassed from being caught literally sleeping with Zivia, he didn't understand why he was embarrassed, but he didn't care, he liked Zivia, perhaps he even...loved her.

Just then, Cross busted into the kitchen, a look of urgency on his face, "What's wrong, Cross?" A surprised Fox asked the almost out of breath vulpine.

"Look at this!" Cross yelled, showing Fox an extremely small silver sphere.

Cross placed the small object in Fox's paw and Fox examined it. he noticed a small black button sticking out from the side, and pushed it in, seconds later, the kitchen that was lit up was now completely dark, then the room filled up with what looked to be stars, it was as if the four were standing in space themselves, "What is it?" Cross wondered.

"It appears to be a map of the Lylat system," Fox said, he thought for a moment, "Cross, where did you find this?"

"In the interrogation room, it was behind one of the walls."

"Hmm, I wonder, why would the Doombringers have a complete map of the Lylat System?" Fox was deep in thought.

"Why is Corneria glowing white?" Zivia asked, Fox looked at the planet that was Corneria, and as Zivia stated, it was indeed glowing a pure white.

"I don't know, but I have a feeling that everything we've gone through is just the beginning." Fox said.

12:30 PM

Everyone on the Great Fox II was fully awake, it would take a week to reach Corneria so the team had no choice but to wait, Cross decided to go to the gym, he really liked the punching bag, it gave him exercise and let him fully unload any built up anger, and Cross had plenty of that, Ecks was in meditation on the bridge, the blue vulpine was floating in the middle of the room with his eyes closed and his legs crossed, he had placed his paws on his knees and the only times he would open his eyes is if Zivia addressed him, he had grown quite attached to the orange vixen, despite only knowing her for a week, Fox and Krystal were also on the bridge, Fox was sitting in his captain's chair dozing off at times while Krystal was on the same couch as Zivia, her right paw was supporting her head as her elbow was on the arm of couch, it seemed as though everyone had succumbed to boredom except for Ecks, Zivia, and Cross, Slippy had decided to go back to bed even though he had only been awake for an hour, Falco was in the docking bay putting a new paint job on his Arwing, Fox had decided to give his room to Alexia and Hax since Alexia was fully recovered, Fox would sleep in Krystal's room.

"Hey Ecks?" Zivia asked the blue vulpine, making Ecks open his eyes with his full attention on the vixen. Zivia had changed her attire, but it wasn't much different, she had on a sky-blue tee-shirt, white shorts that only went a few inches down her thigh, it was basically the same fashion she had before, just different colors, she didn't care if her clothing, or lack of clothing was too revealing just as long as she was comfortable.

"What?" Ecks replied, waiting to hear what the vixen wanted to tell him, even though his eyes had opened, he could still concentrate enough to hover in the air. Ecks was wearing a navy blue tank-top that was just a bit darker than his fur, and a pair of white athletic mesh shorts that went a little past his knees, the shorts had black vertical stripes on the sides.

"Oh nothing, I just wanted to see those silver eyes of yours." The orange vixen said with a smile, instantly making Ecks' cheeks turn purple as he blushed.

"I...err..." The dark blue vulpine struggled for words, but couldn't find any.

Zivia reached her right paw out, and placed a finger on his lips, "Shh, don't say anything, just keep your eyes open for me." She said, taking her finger away from the vulpine's lips.

The two simply looked at each other, Ecks found his meditation more relaxing by looking into the vixen's eyes rather than having his own shut, Zivia shared the same feelings for Ecks, and both of them knew it. While all of this was going on, it seemed as though Fox and Krystal weren't even in the room, Fox and Krystal shared puzzled looks, but then soon Fox simply sat back in his chair and dozed off, Krystal leaned her head on her right paw once again as she also fell asleep, Ecks and Zivia still looked into each other's eyes, both with smiles on their faces as they continued to stare at each other.

Cross was in the gym unleashing his fury on a poor punching bag, each strike had the potential to bust the bag open as the red vulpine threw random combos together, a look of pure concentration, an hour passed until Zivia walked into the room with Ecks floating behind her, "Cross." Ecks addressed his brother, Cross stopped his assault on the punching pag but jumped out of the way so that the bag wouldn't hit him like it did the day before.

"What?" Cross asked, the red vulpine was panting a bit as sweat wasw pouring down to his shirt, making the already dark red shirt even darker.

"Remember that game we played when we were kits?"

Cross thought for a moment, "Yeah, I never could catch you." He said with a chuckle.

"Why don't we pass the time and play again?" Ecks asked with a smile.

"Alright, but watch out, this time I'll catch you." Cross smirked, exposing his left fang.

"Wait, what's this game you're talking about?" Zivia asked the dark blue vulpine beside her.

"It's a form of Tag that we made up when we were younger, I would start out as being 'it' and I would try to catch him with my telekinesis, and when I caught him, he would then try to catch me," Ecks explained, "But as he said, he never could catch me and he never will." The blue vulpine added with a smirk of his own, showing his right fang.

"Today I will." Cross said arrogantly, still with a smirk on his face.

"We'll see about that," Ecks replied as he closed his eyes, his body became enshrouded in a pure white aura, "Start running when you're ready."

Cross' eyes changed from gold to dark red, and suddenly, a red flash started moving around the large gym at incredible speed, Ecks opened his eyes which were now a dark blue, "You've become faster." He said as he looked straight ahead in front of him, not making a single motion as Cross ran around the room, a moment later, Ecks simply looked to his right and caught Cross in mid-air, "Tag." The blue vulpine said with a cocky grin, as soon as Ecks released his telekinetic hold on Cross however, Cross suddenly dashed at Ecks, the blue vulpine was caught off guard by this, but still reacted quick enough to teleport to the other side of the room, this continued for several minutes, neither of the two became exhausted in the least, but Cross was getting frustrated, every time he had Ecks caught, the blue vulpine would teleport to another area of the gym, Cross had Ecks once again in his sights, he was sure of it this time as he was running as fast as he could, but once again, at the last second, Ecks teleported to another area of the room, Cross could only guess where his brother would appear, so he jumped at a wall, and pushed off with his right foot, and ran even faster than he could imagine, fortunately his guess was correct as Ecks appeared right in front of him, Cross reached out with his right paw, and placed his index finger on Ecks' forehead.

"Tag," Cross said with a cocky grin, "See, I told you I would catch you." Cross took his finger away from Ecks' forehead.

"Well, that was fun, but I wonder what everyone else is up to." Ecks said as he turned to leave the gym, Cross and Zivia followed.

It didn't take long for the three foxes to reach the bridge, when they entered, they saw that Falco, Fox and Krystal were all there relaxing, Falco was sitting in a recliner that was recently bought, he was of course reclined as he was sleeping soundly with a magazine about Arwings resting over his eyes, causing a chuckle from Cross, the blue avian was wearing a black tank-top, a pair of blue-jeans, and black shoes, Fox was still in his captain's chair but with Krystal sitting on his lap, the two were looking over a few things on the computer terminal, Ecks, Zivia and Cross made their way towards the red couch, Zivia and Cross sat down, and Ecks floated in front of Zivia, he decided to meditate for the next few hours.

"I'm jealous that you can do that and I can't," Krystal said, turning her head to look at the hovering blue vulpine, "I'm just starting to work with telekinesis and you've already mastered it, and you're only fifteen!" She exclaimed.

"Yes but remember, my learning process was sped up, so it's no surprise about my abilities." Ecks explained.

"I don't care, I'm still jealous." The cerulean furred vixen said, turning her head back to the terminal.

Ecks looked back at Zivia, he could look at her for ages, in his mind, she was the most beautiful vixen he'd ever seen, her bright yellow eyes, the red stripe that matched her fur perfectly, but nothing could compare to her scent, it was so enticing that Ecks didn't even have to concentrate, his body became enshrouded in the white aura all by itself, the scent was a perfect mix of oranges and berries.

Cross noticed that his brother was completely relaxed, he looked from Ecks to Zivia and vice-versa, then a grin appeared on his face, "What's this? Has my brother found his love?"

"It took you this long to notice?" Ecks said, not taking his silver gaze away from the light orange vixen in front of him, "You must have the hardest head in the universe."

"I don't know about that, just look at the blue guy over there and you'll know everything about being hard-headed." Fox cut in.

"Well, he'd be a close second anyway." Ecks said, causing laughter from everyone except for a sleeping Falco.

"Whatever, at least I'm not all googly-eyed." Cross retorted, making the sides of Ecks' face turn dark purple, resulting in even more laughter at the blue vulpine's expense.

Several hours passed, every once in a while a conversation would start up, but other than that, nothing else seemed to happen, it was now eight in the afternoon, and Falco woke up an hour earlier, but soon went to bed anyway, Cross had gone to bed as well, so that left Ecks, Zivia, Fox and Krystal on the bridge, Ecks was still in meditation, looking at Zivia of course, Fox and Krystal were still looking over the computer terminal.

"Hey Krystal, can I talk with you for a moment?" Zivia asked as she stood up, "Outside?" She added, glancing at Ecks and walking towards the exit of the bridge, Krystal gave Fox a quick kiss on the cheek and followed the orange vixen.

"Did you ever have trouble?" Ecks asked suddenly as soon as the two vixens were out of sight.

"Have trouble with what?" Fox had a puzzled look on his face.

"You know...with talking to Krystal and all that," Ecks cleared is throat, "How do you do it?"

Fox expected this question to pop up, and he was prepared, "Okay I'll give it to you straight, you two seem to really like each other, just be yourself and everything will pan out."

"That's just it, I try to talk to her but all I can do is look at her, I can't find the words to say."

"Well I can't tell you what to say, you'll just have to talk to her eventually, that's the only advice I can give you, don't worry everything will work out just fine." Fox assured the blue vulpine.

"And there's something else, when we go to Corneria, I want to buy something for her."

"Like what?"

"I was hoping you would have a suggestion."

"I don't know what she likes, only you can figure that out." Fox turned back to the computer terminal.

Ecks thought for a moment, then smiled, "Thanks Fox, I knew you would help." Ecks said, a moment later the girls returned and Krystal decided to go to bed, Fox finished up with whatever he was doing and followed the cerulean vixen, leaving Ecks and Zivia alone, Ecks decided to sit beside Zivia on the couch.

"So..." Ecks started, "What's your--"

"What's your favorite color?" Zivia cut him off.

"What?" Ecks was confused at the sudden question but also confused because that's what he was going to ask.

"What's your favorite color?" Zivia repeated herself.

"I don't really have one, but you're the...most...beau..." Ecks voice started to crack, but then returned to normal, "You're the most..." Ecks cleared his throat as his muscles tensed, "BeautifulthingI'veeverseen." He said quickly, sitting back into the couch after he did so.

"Aww, thank you Ecks, that's the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me." Zivia said, making the blue vulpine blush as his cheeks turned purple.

"So...what's your favorite color?" Ecks asked.

"Well, right now it's silver." The vixen said with a wink, causing Ecks to blush even more, Zivia laughed.

After a few more moments of laughter from Zivia, the two looked into each other's eyes, simply appreciating one another, then they moved in closer to each other, each waiting for the other's lips to touch, but then suddenly the ship jolted, Knocking Zivia backward and Ecks forward, fortunately Ecks' face had a soft landing, but when he looked up, he saw Zivia looking down at him, a surprised look on her face, when Ecks looked back he realized where his landing was, "Shit." He thought as he was face to face with the vixen's chest, then he looked back up at Zivia, her surprised look was now an angry one, Ecks instantly jumped off of the couch, and backed away from the enraged vixen, "Look, Zivia, the ship," He tried convincing her that is wasn't his fault as she stood up, but to no avail, the light orange vixen was much taller than the dark blue vulpine, almost as tall as Fox, her paws were bundled into fists, Ecks started to sweat, "Uh...sorry?" Ecks said before closing his eyes, awaiting his punishment, but instead felt something soft and warm on his cheek.

When he opened his eyes, he saw Zivia smiling as her paw was rubbing the side of his face, "It's okay," She said in a calm, soothing tone, the vixen turned around walked back to the couch, her hips swayed seductively when she walked, when the vixen sat down she patted the cushion beside her, "We should get some sleep." She said in the same soothing tone as before.

Ecks rubbed the back of his head nervously, "Yeah." He said, his voice made a high squeaking sound, his eyes widened as he had just realized this.

Zivia bursted into laughter, "What the hell was that!?" The vixen could hardly contain herself as Ecks floated to the couch and sat down beside her, the vixen lay down on her side, Ecks followed, lying down behind her with chest against her back, he wrapped his arms around the vixen, as the two lay on the couch, they both knew that nothing could make this moment anymore, "Perfect." They both said in unison as they drifted off into the depths of slumber, awaiting the next day.

Author's Note: I know it was a bit mushy but hey, we all get mushy at times. Anyway, this took longer than I expected, and I have a decent reason this time, I've been reading other stories here and I also kind of had writer's block in a way, I was thinking too much on what to put in later chapters and not focusing on what to put in this chapter. Well, that's about it, this has been fun to write, please R&R and I hope you enjoyed, thanks for the support, until the next update, later.