OF WOLVES AND FOXES

Disclaimer: I own nothing, not even the computer I wrote this on

(Some more insight into the mind of fox, this time)

Chapter 5: To Katina

As always, Fox woke up three hours early. Groaning softly in his bed, he sat up, looking at his alarm clock. With a soft growl, he got up to scrounge for some breakfast. He yawned, then looked around. Something wasnt right. It wasnt anything visible, just a sense of... of dreaming. He realized that the objects around him, his bed, his furniture, seemed slightly... unreal. He closed his eyes and shook his head.

Thn he heard the siren. That damned siren. It was all so very... nostalgic. He grabbed his gun, flipping it twice around his finger. He tore out of his room, and saw the brunt of the soldiers on the base running for the exits. He looked down a particular corridor. The corridor was on fire. Looking at it, he thought he heard something over the shouting voices and roaring flames. He thought he heard a scream. It took him only a moment to place the voice.

His eyes widened with fear, and he leaped through the fire and into the corridor. It was extremely hot, but the fire did not appear to have spread to many of the rooms in the corridor. He ran for one of the doors, even stopping for half a second to see if he was at the right place. He tried the door and it wouldnt open. He stepped back and kicked it hard. The lock, which wasnt very heavy, broke easily under the strain and the heat. He bolted into the room, his hand on his pistol.

Everything seemed to stop. The flames seemed to quiet down, the shouts seemed to disappear. There was nothing but his own breathing, as well as that of the creature he was staring at. He turned to look at fox, his gray fur flowing in the wind from the flames. He looked so natural amid the chaos of the base.

"Fox." He said. "I was wondering when you'd be showing up. I should probably tell you that you're a little... late." He motioned to a vulpine who was laying on the floor. Her body was broken and bleeding. There was a tiny bit of breathing... but she was probably all ready...

Fox's lower jaw trembled as he looked at her. What caught his eye was the way her body had been torn, as though by claws and teeth... as though by Wolf's claws and teeth. Now he really was crying, drawing his pistol to aim it at Wolf.

"Why... how could you?" Fox's finger squeezed the trigger, but Wolf was faster. Drawing and firing in the same motion, he blew the gun out of Fox's hand with his first shot, and put a shot into Fox's shoulder with his second.

"Why... I'm joining the winning side, of course" And Wolf fired one more time. Fox could literally feel the left side of his skull shatter. The last thing he saw before losing conciousness was a soldier... maybe Bill, bursting into the room. His last thought rang in his skull, as painfully as Wolf's gunshot.

"Fara...'

-

Fox awoke, for real this time. He didnt feel anything at all at first, and then he started to weep. He put his hand over his eyes and eventually it was covered with tears. He hadnt cried in a long, long time, nearly five years, and it felt somehow... reassuring. It was proof, he supposed, that he was still alive. This was pain he could handle. The pain was vibrant, alive, filled him the way that no physical pain could ever do. He felt more alive than he had for years. He almost - but not quite - smiled.

Now he forced himself to remember. He forced himself to remember Fara, the way she was. Not the broken husk he had seen at Wolf's feet, but the sarcastic, cynical, brutally honest, strangely optimistic, and (in Fox's opinion, at least) beautiful vixen he had been with for most of his academy days, until the last. He remembered her smile, her body, the way she walked. Then he reminded himself that he would never see her again.

A bit masochistic, perhaps, but it got the job done. He cried harder. He hadnt cried so hard since just after James died. The pain was both biting and beautiful. Then, he forced himself to remember the claw marks, the bite marks, how horribly she must have suffered.

The pain was too much for simple tears, now, and he literally screamed with what might have been glee. He looked down at his hand, and remembered touching her. His fist clenched against his will, digging his sharp claws into his palm. It felt good. He watched his blood flow from the cuts.

Now he looked at his clock. He still had an hour before he had to get up. So he cried. He cried for most of the hour, immersing himself in the pain he had felt for so long, but never allowed himself to experience.

It was strange. Once he had allowed himself to feel the pain he had bound up for so long, just a little tiny piece of it, he felt so much better. He felt that he might actually be able to sleep and not have nightmares, if only for one night.

-

Now it was time for him to get ready to go. He got dressed quickly, running to the hangar to meet the rest of the Star Fox team. He got to the hangar right after everyone else did. General Pepper wished them luck, and the Star Fox team climbed aboard the great fox.

It was more than a day's journey to Katina, and the Star Fox team would probably spend it resting. All of them noticed a strange difference in Fox, as though he were somehow filled with enegy. He even smiled at some of Peppy's old jokes. Finally, Fox hopped into his bed aboard the Great Fox and, for the first time in Five years, fell right asleep.