So far the longest chapter I've written. And yes, the fourth chapter is being written as we speak. Please enjoy!

Star Fox: Outlander- Chapter 3

8:34 AM, Cornerian Time

Heather groaned as she opened her eyes. It was always one painful sleep after the other ever since she arrived here. Every morning she was stiff all over, and she would wake up with an awful headache.

What I wouldn't give for my bed back at home...

She shook her head. Those days were gone. The people of Corneria had betrayed her, and she didn't want anything to do with them anymore. They meant nothing to her anymore.

She was soon reminded of Falco who was still resting in the bed beside her. Her fists balled up in fury.

He's a Cornerian, too, she thought angrily. Just like all the rest. He's a traitor just like them.

She picked up a knife from one of the shelves and made her way over to him slowly, careful not to wake him up. She crouched down, holding the knife to his throat, rage darkening the corners of her vision. A picture of her mother and father flashed in her mind.

They'll pay for what they did.

She laid the blade gently against his throat, and she was about to press down when she was thrown into her memories of him. Watching him save her from the enemy fighters, saving him from the Goras, tending to his wounds, telling him about her backstory...

She lifted the knife from his throat and stood back. Falco sighed softly, turning over to face her. His face looked so serene and calm. Heather instantly felt guilty.

What am I doing? I can't kill him! He saved me!

Heather felt ashamed that she almost killed him. She hated the fact that she felt this way about Cornerians. She stared at him again. She hadn't disturbed him in any way. If she had ended up driving the knife into his throat, he probably would've died right away. No time to scream, no time to react. Possible instant death.

I couldn't do that to him, she thought sadly. She didn't quite trust him yet, but she didn't really feel like killing someone she just met.

Her stomach suddenly growled, and she realized she hadn't eaten for two days. She put the knife in her pocket and stood up, stretching her back and legs. She looked back down at Falco, who was still sleeping peacefully. She looked around, knowing no one would see since she was the only person living on this planet, and bent down to touch her fingers to his cheek.

I'm so sorry, Falco... for almost killing you.

She stood back up, hoping he wouldn't wake up, and backed out of the cave. She stared back at the fire pit, where the flames had already gone out. She picked up a handful of dirt and tossed it at the pile of charred logs. If there were any more flames then that would hopefully put them out.

Heather walked through the forest, staring at the odd plants that had grown here. It was very likely that they had grown due to the malfunction, since every time you touched them they'd lash out and bite at you.

I learned that the hard way, Heather thought, staring down at an ugly scar on her left arm.

She heard twigs snap, and she turned around. She drew her knife and hid behind a bush. Peeking out from behind it, she spotted a deer grazing. There were two types of animals in the Lylat system, the advanced type, which could walk and talk, and then those that were not so advanced, the ones used for hunting and food.

She smiled to herself. Deer had been one of the only live prey here, along with bugs. They weren't easy to catch, as they required you to kill them quickly and quietly.

I can simply start another fire to cook it, she thought.

She leapt out of the bushes, aiming for the deer's neck.

~o~o~o~o~

Heather kicked dirt over the fire she had started a while ago. She was able to kill the deer quickly, and she feasted on its meat. She felt better than she did that morning, that was for sure.

Scattering the burnt branches across the floor of the forest, she turned away from the former fire pit and made her way back to the cave.

She heard a scream, and ran inside. Falco had woken up, and was holding his injured arm, his teeth clenched.

"What's wrong?" Heather asked worriedly.

"I was sleeping on my bad arm...!" Falco broke off as he groaned again, his jaw tightening.

"Let me have a look." Heather pulled his hand away from his arm, gently unwrapping the gauze. The wound beneath the bandages was healing nicely.

"It's just sore," she said. "You must've been sleeping pretty awkwardly."

"You think?"

Heather rolled her eyes. He couldn't go two seconds without making a smart remark.

"Just be glad you're not dead," she tried to joke, remembering what had happened that morning.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Falco muttered, then looked down at his leg. "It doesn't hurt that much."

"Well the wounds weren't that deep in the first place. The Goras must've just wanted to warn you off."

"How that makes any sense I will never know." Falco peered outside. "I sent a distress signal to the rest of my team. They'll probably be here soon."

"Well, in the meantime, let's have you walk a bit," Heather suggested.

"Fine by me." Falco, with Heather's help, stood up, his legs shaking slightly.

"Scared?" Heather teased.

"I'm not scared!" Falco retorted. "My legs hurt, that's all!"

"Sure they do," she said smiling teasingly.

Falco carefully placed his leg in front of the other. When walked using his injured leg, he winced.

"You can do it," Heather urged. "Just don't worry about it."

Falco tried walking again, this time not wincing. He was, however, limping.

"It'll probably take some time before your wounds have fully healed," Heather observed. "Until then, you'll just have to be careful. Just try not to make the limp obvious."

Falco nodded, and limped back over to her. She supported his side, propping him up. Falco looked away.

He doesn't like to admit he needs help, Heather thought with amusement.

Just then, loud engine noises sounded from outside. The trees swayed in the wind, which had picked up all of a sudden.

"What is that?" Heather almost shouted over the noise.

"That's my team!" Falco replied. "Come on, I'll bring you out to meet them!"

Heather pulled away from him. He looked back at her, confusion in his eyes.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I haven't been around anyone in ten years, so I..."

Falco stared at her for a while longer, then smiled. "I understand. But I still want you to meet them."

"But-"

"Remember last night? When I told you that not everyone is going to be like your parents? Well these guys are nothing like them. I'll call you out when I need you."

She stared at him in disbelief, then nodded. "Okay. I'll be waiting."

Falco nodded and limped out of the cave. Heather poked her head out of the entrance, spotting three people waiting for Falco. Two of them were foxes, one a male and the other female. The other one was a male frog.

"Falco!" the male fox exclaimed. "It's good to see you!"

"It's good to see you, too, Fox."

"I knew Falco would be okay!" the frog said. "I just knew it!"

The female fox didn't speak, instead she looked at Falco's arm. "What happened, Falco?"

"Nothing, Krystal," the avian replied. "Nothing at all."

Falco limped forward, wincing.

The vixen gasped. "You're hurt!"

"No, no I'm not! I'm fine!"

"Falco, what happened?" she demanded.

Falco groaned, then explained how he was almost killed by a Goras.

The rest of his team was silent, then the vulpine started shouting. "I told you to be careful!"

"I was careful!"

"If you were so careful you wouldn't have almost gotten killed!"

"Well I wasn't killed, was I?" Falco retorted.

"But someone helped you," the vixen said.

He nodded, and turned to face Heather, who was still peering out the entrance.

"You can come out now," he called.

Heather stood up, part of her screaming to just pretend like nothing happened and hide again. But she ignored it, and walked towards them, standing next to Falco.

"This is Heather," Falco said. "She saved me from the Goras. Heather this is Fox, Slippy and Krystal."

"It's nice to meet you," Heather said shyly.

Fox was still staring angrily at Falco, but then turned to face her.

"Thanks for saving Falco," he said. "Have you had medical experience of any sort?"

"Yes," she replied. "I was training to become a medic on Corneria. During that time I was also attending the Cornerian Flight Academy."

She wondered to herself why she was telling this complete stranger her past, but she realized that she somehow felt calmer with Falco.

"How interesting," Fox mused, then turned his attention to Falco. "Can I talk to you for a second?"

"Sure, Fox," Falco said, leaving Heather's side to talk quietly with the avian.

Krystal approached Heather, startling the ferret a little.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," the vixen's voice was polite.

"Thank you," Heather replied, staring past Krystal to stare at Falco. She still felt the same feeling about him as she had the night before.

"You know, he's not worth it."

Heather snapped out of her thoughts. "What?"

"I know how you feel about him," Krystal folded her arms across her chest.

"How?"

"I'm a telepath, and also you were blushing."

Heather scratched the back of her head nervously, realizing for the first time how knotted and tangled her hair was.

"But like I said, he isn't worth it. He's arrogant, snarky and often comes off as being rude. You could find someone much better."

"I know," Heather replied. "But... without him, I'd have been dead by now. He saved me from several enemy fighters."

"That must be why he left..." Krystal said to herself.

"It's not just that," Heather replied. "When I was taking care of him both last night and this morning... I realized that beneath his bad attitude is kindness. I mean, sure he is a bit of a jerk, but he cares about other people."

Krystal considered this, then smiled. "I guess you're right."

"Oh, and we never had this conversation," Heather said.

Krystal giggled. "Agreed."

The two girls looked up to see that Falco and Fox were finishing their conversation, and Slippy was smiling at Heather.

Falco and Fox turned away from each other.

"Falco tells me that your medical skills are impressive, Heather," Fox began.

Heather blushed. "Th-thank you."

"In fact, for a while now we considered finding a medic for the team. Since you're so skilled in that field, and because you also have basic flying skills, it would be my honor to have you as part of the Star Fox team."

Heather was speechless. Her gaze darted from one member of the team to the other. They all waited wordlessly for her answer.

"Thank you," Heather finally spoke. "I'll take you up on your offer."

"Excellent. You'll come with us now, then?"

Heather nodded. "I'll try not to disappoint you. I haven't used proper medical tools or flown in anything for a long time."

Fox laughed. "I'm sure you'll catch up."

Heather looked up and saw an enormous aircraft hovering down to them. When it got close enough to the ground, a hatch opened. The members of the team filed in, Heather following. She looked back. She didn't have to sleep on the stone floor anymore. She didn't have to wake up stiff every morning anymore. She didn't have to light fires every night, nor did she have to hunt for her food anymore.

I don't regret anything.

She followed the rest of the team into the ship. She was finally leaving behind her old life, and starting a new one.

~o~o~o~o~

The Great Fox, as Fox had called it, was very spacious inside. They first arrived at the hangar, which was used for storing the team's Arwings. Falco's Arwing was critically damaged, so it would take a while to repair it.

The soon arrived at the command room, which had a large monitor screen and window. Heather looked around. Sitting in a chair near the window was an elderly-looking rabbit along with a robot.

The rabbit turned around and smiled.

"Hello, team! You're back!"

"Hey, old-timer," Falco said, flashing a cocky smile.

"Good to see you back, Falco," the rabbit looked over at Heather. "Who's this young lady?"

"This is Heather," Fox answered. "We met her on Titania. She's our newest member. She'll be serving as the medic as well as a pilot."

"You didn't consult me first?" the rabbit shook his head. "Well it's nice to see we have a new pilot on the team. My name is Peppy."

Heather smiled. "It's nice to meet you."

"We'll need another Arwing for her, along with a room."

"Don't worry Fox. I thought you'd find another member eventually, so I had another room built while the Great Fox was being reconstructed."

"Reconstructed?" Heather asked. "What do you mean?"

"The first Great Fox was destroyed in a battle last year with these things called Aparoids," Slippy responded. "So we had to build it again."

"It took a pretty long time," Falco added. "I thought we'd never get it finished. Then of course Peppy called in some more engineers and mechanics, and with them we were able to finish it a few weeks ago."

The team continued on their tour of the ship. They showed Heather the training room, where she would learn how to fight on foot and in an Arwing. Heather couldn't wait to start training. She got enough exercise while she was on Titania, but she hadn't flown in any kind of aircraft for a long time.

The team continued with their tour. "This is the dining room," Fox said as they arrived in a medium sized room with a long table and chairs in the middle. The vulpine pointed to a door just across from where they stood. "The kitchen is in that room over there."

Fox also showed Heather the living room, which was where the team would be if they didn't have a mission or if they were there for a movie night.

Finally, he showed Heather her room, which was where she would be staying.

It was small, but it looked cozy. A bed stretched along the left side of the room, with a side table right beside it. On the right was a dresser and vanity. Another door which led to a bathroom was on the left.

"It's not exactly what you would call 'luxiurious', but it's nice enough," Fox said.

Heather shrugged. "It's better than living in a cave. Thanks."

Fox nodded. "You're welcome. We'll need to get you fitted for a uniform, though."

"Alright. I think I'm going to take a shower, so..."

Fox took the hint, and nodded to his teammates, who followed him down the hallway. Krystal approached Heather.

"I have some clothes you can borrow, so that you won't have to wear the same thing every day until you get some new clothes," she offered.

Heather smiled. "Thanks Krystal."

Krystal smiled back. "What are friends for?"

Friends?

Heather never really had friends. She'd always been kind of antisocial as a kid, so it felt good to hear someone call her a friend.

Heather opened the door to the bathroom. She turned the shower on and slipped out of her clothes. It felt strange... she hadn't exactly bathed much on Titania, since she prefered to use the water there for drinking. She bathed a couple of times, but never with soap.

Sure, they had food and knives there, but no freaking soap.

She finished up with her shower, drying herself off with a towel. She looked at herself in the mirror. She looked much better than she did before the shower. Her hair was no longer tangled into a thousand knots and she no longer smelled like dirt.

She wrapped her hair into a towel and stepped out of the bathroom. She noticed that Krystal had left a pile of clothing for her. The pile consisted of a dark violet dress, a long-sleeved shirt, a pair of silk pajamas, sweatpants, a pair of jeans, certain feminine necessities (if you know what I mean) and a t-shirt. Heather never really liked wearing dresses, but this dress just looked too nice to pass up.

She combed and dried her hair, tying it into the usual braid, and got dressed. The dress fell to her knees and showed a bit of her cleavage (not that there was much to be shown), which she didn't exactly like, but the color looked nice on her. She slipped her feet into her sandals and opened the door.

The second she stepped into the hallway, she forgot which way the living room was.

She stared down the right hallway, seeing that it simply led to a dead end.

Well like I always say, if nothing goes right, go left.

She walked down the hallway to her left until she reached the second last room. She heard shouting, almost as though there was a fight going on. Heather poked her head into the room and saw Fox and Falco holding controllers, playing video games.

"Hey Heather!" Krystal greeted. "Come to join us?"

"Yep. Thanks for the clothes by the way."

"The chest isn't too big is it? Does it fit alright?" Krystal demanded.

Heather laughed. "It's fine, Krystal. The dress fits perfectly."

Fox and Falco looked up from their game. "You look great, Heather," Fox complimented. Falco nodded in agreement.

"Thanks," Heather said, blushing slightly. She never really liked girls that dressed like this, showing their cleavage, so she almost felt hypocritical wearing the dress.

Sitting down next to Krystal, she watched as the guys played their game. It looked like a fighting game of some sort, like a game she played a long time ago called Mortal Kombat. Falco was losing every match, which caused him to start yelling at Fox, before demanding a rematch. Krystal and Heather found his outbursts quite amusing, and Heather guessed it wouldn't be long before he flipped the coffee table sitting in front of him.

The game was interrupted when Peppy announced it was time for dinner.

"It's about time, too," Falco said. "I'm starving!"

"By the way Heather, what did you eat on Titania?" Slippy asked.

"I had to hunt for my food," Heather replied.

"Seriously?" Fox stared at her as though he didn't believe her.

"Yep. I chased deer. In fact, I was hunting this morning."

"When did you go hunting?" Falco piped up.

"This morning while you were still asleep. Just before you started screaming."

"Oh. Right." Falco looked away, clearly embarassed. Heather mentally kicked herself for that one. That was almost as bad as when she tried to kill him this morning.

Krystal was staring at her, a concerned look on her face.

"It's nothing," she whispered.

"Tell me about it tonight, okay?" Krystal's voice was quiet, too quiet for anyone else to hear.

Heather sighed. "Okay."

The team soon arrived at the dining room, plates set out for them. Heather sat next to Krystal, pulling her chair up closer to the table. Fox sat at one end of the table, with Peppy sitting at the other end. Falco and Slippy sat beside each other, both clearly displeased with the seating arrangement.

The robot, who Krystal said was named R.O.B, set the food down on the table. The aroma of mashed potatoes, grilled vegetables and roast beef filled the air. Everyone stared at the food, practically drooling.

When they finished up their meal, they headed off to their quarters. Fox stopped Heather on the way there, though.

"I thought that since you'd be our medic, you should know where the infirmary is," he explained.

It wasn't that far a walk, in fact it only took about a minute. Fox opened the door, and Heather peeked inside. The walls were white, almost too bright of a white. An examination table was in between two beds, and medical supplies were stacked high on the shelves.

"Do you know how to use any of these?" Fox asked, referring to the medicines.

"I think so. My mother showed me a lot of medicines, and I can remember them well, despite the fact I used them ten years ago."

Fox grinned. "Good. I should probably send Falco down here so you can tend to his wounds."

Fox left the room, appearing five minutes later with Falco.

"This had better be important," Falco grumbled. "I'm tired."

"It won't take too long, Falco," Heather said. "I just have to check your wounds."

The avian rolled his eyes and laid down on one of the beds. Heather removed the gauze on his thigh and arm.

"They look better than they did yesterday," she noted. I'll have to apply some better medication on them though."

She grabbed one of the bottles of cream from the shelves. She remembered using this kind of medication a long time ago, it was supposed to prevent infection. She washed her hands and squirted the cream into them. She rubbed the cream into his wound carefully, trying not to make him suffer too much stinging. Grabbing the roll of gauze from the table, she wrapped it around his arm, clipping it into place.

"That didn't hurt as much as last time, did it?" Heather asked.

"Uh... No, not really."

"Good. That means it's healing."

She moved onto his leg, feeling her temperature rising as she applied it. The last time she had to do this she was fine, so why should it make such a difference now?

"Heather, are you feeling okay? Your cheeks are red."

Heather's ears twitched, and her face turned even redder. "Uh... Y-yeah..."

Falco shrugged, and Heather wrapped the gauze around his thigh. "There. You're all done."

"Great. Can't wait to go to sleep and wake up screaming again," he said sarcastically.

Heather winced. "I'm sorry about embarassing you earlier."

Falco groaned. "It's okay. Just don't do it again."

Heather smirked. "Okay. I think you'll have to sleep here tonight. I don't really want you walking around on an injured leg."

"Alright," Falco said. "Oh, and by the way, how did your tail heal so fast?"

Heather lifted her tail up so she could see it. She hadn't really paid much attention to it since it was cut off, but now it seemed like it was all that could be seen.

"I used something called Healing Dust. The sorceress gave it to me."

Falco shrugged. Heather smiled. "Goodnight, Falco."

"'Night," he said drowsily.

Heather closed the door, making her way to Fox's room. She knocked on his door.

"Come in."

Heather opened the door, seeing Fox getting in his bed.

"Oh hi Heather. How's Falco?"

"He's healing nicely," Heather responded. "I just came by to tell you he's staying in the infirmary overnight."

"That was thoughtful of you," Fox remarked. Heather shrugged.

"It was the least I could do. I'm off to bed. Goodnight."

Heather shut the door behind her, making her way down the hallway to her room. She spotted Krystal hanging out just outside her door.

"There you are!" Krystal exclaimed. "I thought you were in there, just ignoring me!"

"I was in the infirmary taking care of Falco."

Krystal smiled teasingly, then her face was serious again. "So I heard your thoughts on the way to dinner. Why were they so troubled?"

Heather looked around, then whispered, "Come into my room. I'll tell you."

The two girls walked in, Heather shutting the door.

"Alright, spill."

Heather sighed. "I... almost killed Falco this morning. Like literally held a knife to his throat."

Krystal went wide-eyed. "Seriously? Why?"

"I don't know. I was just remembering being betrayed by the people of Corneria. An image of my parents flashed before my eyes, and that's all I could see of Falco: A traitor."

"How did you stop yourself?" Krystal asked.

"I just remembered what he did... how he saved me, and how I saved him... then I saw how calm he looked while he was sleeping, and I just... stopped."

Krystal laid her hand on Heather's shoulder. "You must feel pretty guilty about that."

Heather nodded slowly. "I'm in love with him. How could I have almost killed him?"

"We all do crazy and possibly stupid things we regret later," Krystal sympathized. "Just like what happened back there. I think as long as Falco doesn't find out about what happened, you'll be fine."

Heather smiled. "Thanks, Krystal."

The vixen grinned and stood up. "I'm off to bed. Goodnight, Heather!" Krystal headed for the door.

"Goodnight!" the ferret called after her. The door shut, and Heather listened as Krystal's footsteps echoed down the hall. Heather changed out of the dress and sandals and got into the pajamas she recieved from Krystal.

She turned the lights off and climbed into the bed. It was far more comfortable than the bed she used to sleep in, that was for sure.

Her thoughts were filled with what had happened that day. Joining the Starfox team, being introduced to everyone, making friends with Krystal. She sighed softly, and drifted off to sleep.

This is my new life, and so far, it's going great.

This was probably my favourite chapter to write (mostly because of the beginning), and I hope the next chapter is at least as long as this one. Stay tuned for Chapter 4 of Star Fox: Outlander!