Chapter Twenty Three: PLAY ME…

Authors Notes:

Document Editors being a bitch so everything is going to be indented a bit wierd.

I see it around me
I see it in everything
I could be so much more than this

I said my goodbye's
This is my sundown
I'm gonna be so much more than this

With one hand high
You'll show them your progress
You'll take your time
But no one cares
No one cares

Jimmy Eat World - "My Sundown"

Three Hours Later…

Great Fox III

Great Fox III was oddly silent following the battle. The engines had been shut down on all three ships to allow time for repairs and such, making it feel even more empty. But saying that it was empty was an understatement, the Star Fox team had just lost the last surviving member of the original squad of mercenaries they currently flew their banner under.

Falco walked down the halls toward his captains quarters, knowing that he was still coping with the loss of what he considered to be his adopted father. While everyone was mourning in some way, it was obvious that Fox would take it the hardest. While continuing his trek, the avian noticed Wolf's door was wide open. When he reached the doorway, he found the lupine laying down on his bed, still wearing his black flight suit, with one leg bent slightly. A picture frame laid on his chest, but the lack of luminosity in the room made it impossible to make out what was in the picture. In his mouth hung a cigarette that continued to burn brightly in the abnormally dark room.

The burning embers from the tip suddenly tilted in his direction, telling Falco that Wolf turned over to see who was at his door. The avian stood silent as though he would become invisible if he stood completely still. The cigarette began to move once more, now pointing to the ground where it was put out as Wolf pushed the end down onto the hard-metal floor, and smeared it. The grey wolf took the picture he had and placed it behind his body. He then began to sit upright and turned on the light located on the nightstand by his bed, revealing a somber looking lupine hunched over his bedside. This surprised Falco to some degree. While he had seen his emotional side previously, this wasn't one of those things he expected to see him be like this.

"You okay Wolf?"

He looked up, revealing his eye patch to be missing. "Not really. I've just been in a bit of a haze since docking…"

"Yeah, I can understand that…"

Wolf didn't really feel like talking to Falco about the conversation he had with Peppy a few nights prior. It was one of those things he wanted to keep personal . Since he had arrived back in his room, the entire conversation kept playing in his head. To him, it was torturing him because of the last statement he made to him that night:

"You wanna talk, I'm always available. You take it easy now Wolf."

He was never able to take him up on the offer, but he wanted to. It was as though Peppy became his own personal priest who he could confess anything to without worrying about the judgment of others. He could try to talk with Falco about stuff like this, but for some reason, he felt as though it would be best not to since he had to deal with Erika, who couldn't help but feel partially responsible for what happened. While he considered Panther to be his best friend, it was these kinds of problems he failed to give good advice for. Slippy was in the same boat as Panther was. As for Fox, it was just out of the question.

"How's he doing?" The lupine questioned, obviously referring to Fox.

"I was about to check on him to see."

"Has he left his room?" The avian nodded in disproval. "Damn…He'll be okay, right?"

Falco sighed uneasily. "He's been through this three times already, and he almost didn't make it last time. We can only hope so…"

"Alright, I'll let you go now." He despondently stated. "I'd like some more time to myself." Falco adhered to his request and left the room following a brief "goodbye". But now that he was alone, he didn't want to be. By the time he realized this, Falco was already too far down the hall to reach. He would be forced to remain solitary.

Hold on… He thought as he eyed the small camera in the corner of the room by his television.

I just need to talk to someone, even if she doesn't respond back…

The lupine grabbed his eye patch, walked over to the television, and turned it on. He began to put his camera in place and set up the recorded video message, which was done via a keyboard hooked up to the TV right underneath it. It was almost like a primitive version of a computer. When it asked who was to receive the message, he froze. He really was nervous about doing this, but he felt as though there was no other choice for him.

"Okay…" He took a deep breath. "Everything will be fine…"

He slowly typed out the name : SERENA O'DONNELL. When he filled it out, it loaded up the camera and within a few seconds, his image was now appearing on the screen. Wolf was ready to begin recording. He took a moment to think about what he would say, making sure it would actually mean something. It would be the first time he would speak to her since their breakup. With a few specific things lingering in his head, he sat down in the chair by the television, and pressed RECORD.

The moment the red light flickered on, he blanked. With an annoyed grunt, he turned off the camera and tried to remember what he was going to say. It never did come back to him, but something else did. It didn't even have anything to do with the recent events, but he knew it would be significant enough to possibly get a response. He took his seat again and began to record.

"Serena, it's me." He said remorsefully. "I was just wondering how you're doing? I haven't talked to you since, well…our sunrise. I just wanted to make sure that you were okay." He paused again, feeling something building up inside of him. It was pain, the pain of not being with her, the pain of doing what he did, and the pain of losing her. He may have thought that he got over it, but once he was reminded of her, it all flowed right back to where it started. "I'm doing…" He put his head down and pinched the sinuses above his eye, trying his best to keep his poise. "I'm doing okay, but it hasn't exactly been the best of times for me." He could tell now that the shedding of tears was inevitable, so he decided to cut the message short, otherwise it would be five to ten minutes of him bawling his eyes out. "If you don't respond to this, I understand. It would mean the world to me if you did though. I also know that we may never have a shot together again, but just remember that I-" It suddenly hit him, the slow but steady flow of tears caused him to seemingly involuntarily bury his face in his lap. He tried his best to force himself to stop, eventually succeeding after a few minutes. The lupine didn't feel like resetting the video again, and quickly composed himself to finish his statement.

"I still love you…And I know you do too…" The tears were coming again and he felt as though he had gotten his message across, so he abruptly stopped the recording and once again let his sensitive side take over. It was briefer this time, and when it passed, he sent the video. He had no regrets when it came to what was in the video he had sent, it was the real Wolf O'Donnell that he had grown to know since meeting Serena. Afterward, he was drained from everything and decided that he needed to try and sleep this all off. So he went back over to his bed and grabbed the picture still laying on the sheets, which was revealed to be the one that Serena gave him before they left, placed it on the nightstand, and collapsed onto the bed. Even with the light on next to him, he fell asleep fairly quickly, tears still forming in his eye.

It was pitch black inside Fox's quarters. Not even the slightest beam of light made it's way through the cracks in the door. Much like the ship though, the room was completely silent with the vulpine not even vocalizing any emotion whatsoever. The past few hours had really drained him. With the realization of losing another loved one, Fox had shut down. He spoke to no one, he saw nobody, he appeared to be going into a repressed state that lacked any feeling whatsoever.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, Fox came back to his senses. It started off as a few deep breaths, and slowly evolved into an all out lament. It felt as though the pain would never end, because as he began to get over the loss of one person, another would die. It was a cycle that had been going on since his childhood, starting with his mother and moving onto his father, his girlfriend, and now the father figure he had for almost two decades. The vulpine wondered who could be next, and wished that he wouldn't have to see that day.

I don't even know if I wish to see tomorrow…

Much like last time, suicide was on his mind. However, it wasn't as severe as it was previously. There was no drinking his problems away, his sobriety may have contributed to his saner approach to the subject. However, the thought remained in the back of his head.

There was the gentlest knock on the door, but in the silence of everything, it was audible. The hatch slowly turned before finally being locked in place as the door finally opened up. It was no surprise when he saw Falco enter the room and turn the lights on.

"Hey Foxie…" He uttered with a heavy heart. "Everything alright?" The falcon already knew the answer, but it was the thought that counted. Fox could only manage to make a whimper-like exhale. It was hard to watch Fox go through something like this again. A single tear formed in his eye and slowly rolled down his face and onto the cold floor.

"Fox, I can understand that you are upset and everything. If you need someone to talk to, you know that I'm always open." There was a brief pause, Falco could tell that Fox wanted to say something, but he appeared to be frustrated for some reason. "Foxi-"

"No you don't." The vulpine replied as he bared his teeth.

"What?"

Fox sat up and stared menacingly into Falco's eyes. "You don't even know the meaning of upset!" He howled at him. "One-by-one, EVERYONE KEEPS DYING ON ME!" Fox collapsed back onto his bed and covered his face as be wiped away the already drying tears from his face. The avian's fists began to clench, realizing he had never told Fox about what happened to his own family before. "How do you think it feels to lose your own family?!"

Falco had reached his own breaking point and decided to spill the beans. "Well how do YOU think it feels to fucking WITNESS the death of your parents at the hands of a f-" The rest of his backlash was muffled by tears not of sadness, but of rage at the assailant.

He had realized that this was a horrible time to bring up such a thing when they should be there to support each other in a time of grieving. But the damage had been done and he had revealed to one of his best friends that they had something extremely significant in common. He looked over to the bed and saw that Fox staring at him in shock. Falco was unsure what to say, especially when Fox said nothing back. The bird put his head down and leaned against the wall.

"Well," He uttered with a croaking voice due to the mucus that was slowly forming in the back of his throat. "there you have it. We've got a common factor between the two of us…" Fox still said nothing, he was stunned by this sudden revelation. It was almost as though he had gone back to the state he was in earlier, no emotion whatsoever.

"Foxie?" He cautiously said, wondering what was going on with Fox

"I'm sorry Falco…" He finally responded. Falco felt guilty that he was now the one getting the attention, so he dismissed the reply.

"No Fox, it was so many years ago. I can't keep living in the past. What we need to do is get our shit together and show Peppy, wherever he is, that we can continue this operation without him. If we're gonna do that, we have to remain strong for everyone."

Fox knew that what Falco was saying was one hundred percent correct. This was a time of war and matters like these could not interfere with the battle. While he could mourn in the safety of his own quarters, he couldn't allow it to effect him to the point that he was being a danger to others and himself. Fox was able to put a smile on his face for a split second, making Falco ease up after al the tension that had built up over the past few minutes began to boil over.

"Do you still need some time to yourself?" The avian questioned. The response was a nod that said "yes". Much like Wolf's wishes, he followed the orders, but this time he would be stopped.

"Falco!" Fox blurted out, after he turned around to hear what he had to say, the vulpine continued. "Pleas tell Erika it wasn't her fault. I'm sure she feels guilty right now, but this isn't something I would personally blame her for."

"Thanks…"

Authors Notes:

Couldn't help but feel as though this chapter was lacking something. It still is a great chapter though and I hope y'all enjoyed it.