STAR PEACH
Chapter 4
Princess Peach's Castle…
Peach, Toad, and Toadsworth sat across from Falco and Slippy. Falco seemed to be hiding something and Slippy was shocked to learn of Fox's disappearance.
"So," Slippy asked for the umpteenth time, "You really don't know where Fox is?"
"I've been saying that, Slippy, for the past hour." Falco replied with juvenile air.
"Cut the crap!" yelled Toad while banging his fist on the table. "He knows where Fox is, he just won't tell us."
"Calm down, Toad." Peach said in a reserved manner though, one could tell that she was saddened beyond words.
"I don't know where he is." Falco replied once more.
"You do too know!" shouted Toad shaking his finger in Falco's face.
"Get outta my face!" Falco yelled.
"Toad," Toadsworth began, "This isn't very good behavior on your part, you should try to talk to him a bit more nicely instead of with all these insults and accusations."
Toad was angry at the fact that Falco had lied and fed him some bullcrap story that had not one ounce of truth to it. "They're not accusations if they're true!" he yelled.
"Don't yell at me." Toadsworth said.
"Please," Peach said trying to lighten the mood "Can we discuss this like calm reasonable people?"
"Thank you." Slippy said aloud.
"I will if the 'shroom will can it and let me do my talking." Falco said with a smirk on his face.
"Falco, that's enough." Toadsworth said.
"So," Peach asked as if they had been chatting about the weather and not the disappearance of her boyfriend. "What is the real story, Falco?"
Falco looked at her, damn, it was hard to stare her in the face and admit the truth. He did not know why he could not tell her right then and there. She had a look that made him ill at ease.
"The truth is that Fox is missing…"
"We know that!" Toad yelled.
"Quiet you!" Falco hissed.
"Bite me!" Toad said back.
"I wouldn't even imagine!" Falco shot back.
"Stop, stop, Stop!" Toadsworth said shaking his head, "Toad, you knock this childishness off and Falco, just ignore him if you two cannot say something nice to each other."
"I would," Falco said "But that guy keeps interrupting me.
"Both of you just stop?" Toadsworth replied to which, Falco and Toad ceased their remarks and gave each other puppy-killing glares.
"Okay," Falco sighed "I'll tell you the truth, Peach. I do know where Fox is but the only way for you to get to him is to journey to the Lylat System."
"Absolutely not!" Toadsworth said "I have enough problems on my hands without having to worry about where our princess will be."
"It's the only way." Falco said.
"It is not." Toadsworth said "I cannot, I will not allow it Mr. Lombardi."
"Toadsworth," Peach cut in, "I think it is the only way." She faced Falco with a look of extreme determination "Very well, Falco, when do we leave?"
"Princess," Toadsworth said hurriedly "I really must protest this proposal."
"But, the man I love may be in great danger." Peach said. "Please Toadsworth, I must find him."
Toadsworth sat there stroking his mustache and staring at the princess intently. He loved her since she was a child and he did not want to hear that she too had gone missing. But her determination, her lament at her love made him rethink his choice, finally he spoke. "Very well, just don't lose her."
So with that Peach went to her room to pack a valise. Inside her room she and Toad talked of the situation.
"I'm not too sure of this, Princess." He said while helping her stuff a few dresses into her valise. "What if you end up missing like Fox? The Mushroom Kingdom will collapse!"
"Oh, don't be silly." Peach said "You act as if I'm going to leave you forever. I'm only going to find Fox."
"If only it were that simple, Princess. But the Lylat System is way different from the Mushroom World. Way, way, way different."
"How so?" asked Peach while grabbing her parasol.
"There are things there that you could never imagine evil greater than Bowser himself."
"I'll be okay." Peach said while closing her valise "I assure you I will.
"But I don't wanna lose you." Toad said in a small voice.
Peach walked over to him and hugged him tightly "Oh, Toad you will never lose me!"
"I'm not so sure of that, Princess." He sighed.
"Can you help Toadsworth manage the kingdom while I'm gone?"
"I hope so." Toad said.
"Okay then, I gotta get going now. We need to get there as soon as possible and find Fox."
Peach carried her valise to the door and Toad opened it and together they headed to the Toad Town Runway to meet Falco and Slippy. At the runway Toadsworth was all tears and worry as he saw Peach off.
"Have a safe journey, Princess. We shall all miss you."
"I know," she said while hugging him, "Be good and watch the kingdom for me. I'll see you in a matter of time." Peach picked up her valise and headed into the Great Fox. "Be careful." Toadsworth said as the princess disappeared from view. On board the Great Fox Peach looked down at her two helpers and then as the ship ascended into the atmosphere at her whole kingdom itself.
The Great Fox was not a luxury airline so Peach found herself rooming in Fox's old room. None of the things he owned had been removed or touched. Peach grabbed a broom and swept up all the dust from the floor.
"For a sly fox, h sure is messy." She smiled.
At that moment Slippy walked into the room carrying an armload of things. He set them on her bed and looked at her handiwork.
"For you Princess," Slippy said with a lot of respect.
"Oh, thank you." Peach said.
"There are extra towels and sheets and anything else you need let me know."
"I will." said Peach as he left out the door.
"He's so respectful." She whispered to herself as she began to unpack her clothes and place them in the drawers. Outside, in the cockpit things weren't so calm. Falco was annoyed that Siippy was doing his best to accompany Princess Peach's needs. "She's not anyone special." Falco said as Slippy had returned from asking her if she would like something to drink. Falco could see that Slippy had little concern for his comments and he tried to make himself think bad thoughts about Peach but somehow, he couldn't. Slippy carried a cup of tea to the princess and decided to chat with her while Falco took his turn at flying the Great Fox. Peach welcomed Slippy into a spotless room that was well-organized.
"Good job, Princess." Slippy said handing her the cup of tea.
"Thank you." said Peach taking the tea and sipping it delicately.
"So it's true? You really are Fox's new girlfriend?"
"Yes, it's true Slippy. Fox has told you about me I suppose?"
"He said you were beautiful but now I really believe him, you are beautiful." Slippy said awed by her human beauty.
"Thank you but I'm sure I'm not the prettiest woman you've ever met. What of your fiancée, Amanda?" Peach asked.
"She's at home with our children. She wasn't too happy that Peppy wanted me to accompany Falco to your kingdom." Slippy laughed.
"I don't blame her. I wouldn't want my fiancé running around with a former Space Delinquent, even if he was once a part of StarFox." Peach said putting herself in Amanda's shoes.
"So," said Slippy "Have you any idea where Fox is?"
"Oh, Slippy," She sighed "I wish I knew, but I don't"
"Do you really think Falco had something to with Fox's disappearance?"
"I don't know him that well," Peach said looking at the Teddy bear with the red scarf around its neck; she had brought it with her. "So, I can't say."
"I know him pretty well," said Slippy in a whisper "Wanna know what I think?"
"Sure." Peach said.
"Falco is not just a surly ex-pilot of team Star Fox."
"Ex-pilot?" Peach asked "I thought he was still a member of the team."
"No," said Slippy "It's a long story and not mine to tell. We'll just say that Falco had made the wrong choice and the he now regrets it but in my opinion, Falco's holding Fox hostage somewhere."
"My, what an overactive imagination you have, Slippy." said Falco from the doorway.
"Oh, um…" Slippy had no excuse to give.
"We were only talking, Falco." Peach said "You needn't take offense."
"I cannot believe you would ever think of me as capable of such a thing." Falco said in a mock hurtfulness.
"How could I know?" asked Slippy "You've done other things in the past that even I couldn't have imagined."
"Oh, really?" asked Falco leaning against the door, "Like what?"
"I don't think the princess would like to hear about it."
"Umm…" Peach said "Actually it wouldn't hurt."
"He tricked you by blaming Fox's disappearance on Peppy at his Cornerian Army Headquarters, Peppy Command."
"That is true." Peach said but not unkindly.
"See?" said Slippy gesturing to Falco.
"It was not the way I planned it to go at all." Falco said while looking at the wall. "I was hoping you would have just accepted it yourself and left it at that."
"But she didn't." Slippy said annoyed "And now she's on her way to find him, wherever you have him."
"For the thousandth time!" shouted Falco "I don't have him! I know where he is and all but I don't have him.
"Sure." Slippy snorted.
"Quiet Slippy or I'll-" Slippy cut Falco off.
"Don't you have a ship to fly? Get in there and do it before we crash and the Mushroom World declares war!"
"War for what?" asked Falco.
"For killing their princess."
Falco got offended for once and left to the cockpit stomping his boots along the way. Slippy faced the princess and sighed. "Well, I better get back to my work, Princess." he kissed her hand and bowed. Before he left the room he made a remark. "I'll bet ya anything Fox is in Falco's house, wherever that is, tied up with a large amount of duct tape gagging his every word." He turned to leave but Peach stopped him.
"Wait, Slippy!" she called.
He turned around and faced her "Yes, Princess?"
"Just 'Peach' will do." She said smiling.
"Okay then, Prin- I mean, Peach. I'll see you later." And with those last words Slippy headed to the weaponry lab to finish his latest invention.
"They remind me of someone, I just don't know who." Peach said while sitting back down. She had been raised to give people the benefit of the doubt and it seemed only fair to treat Falco with such a feeling. But then again, she did not know Falco too well and she had no idea what he could be capable of. "They are silly." Peach said as she held the teddy bear to herself and lay on the bed. "I wonder where he could really be?' she asked herself aloud. She sighed sadly "Oh, Fox." Peach lay on the bed and fell asleep, worrying herself into submission.
It was a few hours later when she had awoken. Peach did not want to get up at all; she had a few nightmares about Fox. Yelling for help when no one could hear, being drowned by someone in a pool, being thrown from a cliff somewhere. And then someone else occupied her dreams someone she'd heard of but never met. She would not mention who to anyone but the person who occupied the dream told her that no matter what Peach did, she would not find Fox…not until his demise anyway. Slippy and Falco were staring at her after hearing her shriek for Fox repeatedly. "Are you okay?" they both asked in worry. Peach sat up and wiped her eyes, where surely tears were shed. "I'm okay, just a little nightmare."
"That didn't sound like a little nightmare, you were shrieking for your life." Falco said with wide eyes.
"Are you sure, it wasn't a huge nightmare?" Slippy asked.
"No" Peach said while lying back on the bed as if relaxing "It wasn't that important."
"Okay." said Falco "I gotta get back to the helm." With that he left the room leaving Slippy and Peach alone.
"You sure you're okay, Peach?" Slippy asked.
Yeah, I'm fine." Peach said "I dropped something."
Slippy saw the teddy bear lying on the floor "This?" he asked giving it to her.
"Yes, thank you, Slippy." she said taking it from his hands gently
Slippy had noticed that the scarf around the bear's neck and he couldn't help but ask.
"Is that…?" he asked staring at the scarf.
"Fox's scarf?" she asked smiling and touching the scarf gently "Yes, it is."
"He gave it to you?" Slippy asked with a big smile.
"Yeah, almost a while back now."
"Does he have anything of yours?"
"A sapphire necklace, you can't see it because it's hidden underneath his other scarf but its there."
"Did you know," Slippy asked "That that scarf on the bear was originally Fox's fathers?"
"Yeah, he told me he wanted me to have something really intimate." Peach said while lying back down.
Slippy rose form a chair and began to leave. "Get some sleep, Peach" he said "We should be in the Lylat System by tomorrow afternoon. So with that he left and Peach settled into Fox's former bed once more. "Fox…" she said while holding the bear in her lap and making it dance to soothe her nerves. Suddenly Peach heard a familiar theme and two of the Seven Star Spirits appeared before her. Eldar and Skolar looked at the princess with worry. "Hello your highness." Skolar said
"Hello, Skolar." Peach said "Eldar, did you find him?"
Eldar prepared to tell her the disappointing news. There was a super hard-to-break concealment charm over Fox's location so they could not find him to tell him. And on top of that the magic used for such a spell could not be overpowered by the Seven Star Spirits but they did send an old friend of Peach's to keep Fox company until she arrived. Peach listened to this and wondered if it was safe to tell them of her dream demon, as she called it. She decided not to and asked Eldar if they could keep trying.
"We will, Princess." Eldar said "But this won't be an easy spell to break, it will take quite some time and with our busy schedule we don't have a lot of time to attend to it."
"We found out that Fox is in the Lylat System, so you're definitely headed in the right direction as of now. We hope you find him and we'll do everything in our power to find him as soon as we can. " Skolar said soothingly.
'Okay, thank you." Peach said through tears "I hope you'll find him."
"We'll do all we can." They both said and they disappeared in a pop of glitter.
Peach was left to sit alone and think. She thought of where Fox could actually be. She lost herself in worry and softly cried herself to sleep. She didn't dare want to dream about him and all the horrible things that could be happening. And the Dream Demon appeared once more, warning her to not try anything to reach Fox. Peach had fitful night as she tossed and turned and kicked at the furniture.
In the cockpit Falco heard Peach's fitful sleep and felt bad. How could Falco feel bad for her, he hardly knew her all. Maybe that was it. Because he did not know her he did not want to hurt her. He felt worse as the night wore on. Even as he checked on her after hearing terrible cries for Fox, he wondered if he should tell her truth about Fox's whereabouts. He watched her settle down and left her to her nightmares. Slippy would be in there from now until daybreak, but the truth of that was that he had fallen asleep and he was dead to the world when he was asleep. Falco resumed piloting the Great Fox but with every loud noise and every heartbroken cry for his ex-best friend, he felt worse for his crime…whatever it was.
*Violet*
Sounds like Falco is having a guilty conscience and as for Peach herself, she can only have nightmares and worry about Fox until she finds him…if she does.