Thank you very much for keeping up with this story. This chapter, and certain scenes from the next chapter, are the whole reason I wanted to write this story in the first place. I'm very excited to have finally reached this point, and I hope you are excited also! Please stay tuned for this story's final stretch. Hoping to finish everything before the end of May 2023.

…

Kursed was alone again, and she hated it.

Even though she sat in a cell with nothing and no one around, her mind was racing. Exhaustion from her trek in the Sanctuary Fortress and her earlier fight with Samus was beginning to catch up to her, but she couldn't sleep.

The conversation with V-Lir echoed in her mind, accompanying her headache leftover from his tampering. His goal to revive the legacy of the Luminoth was created from good intention, but his aggressive methods reminded her of planetary dictators that she had researched during her search for Cerinia.

However, V-Lir's talks of utilizing his unique telepathic powers to establish rule over the galaxy seemed strangely familiar to Kursed. None of the tyrants she read about had any supernatural abilities past their brilliance as military generals, scientists, or some other occupation. Stranger still; V-Lir was the first person she held a telepathic conversation with; she couldn't remember anyone else. No one else in Lylat possessed the power, and the wicked Andross only obtained it briefly when he stole the mysterious Krazoa's powers back in the palace.

She wondered. Did the people of Cerinia have similar goals? She assumed that others on Cerinia were like her, and they probably had telepathic powers like she did. Had they wanted to establish dominance like V-Lir? She couldn't remember; everything before Sauria was a haze to her. Her vague memories claimed Cerinia was destroyed long ago, but she had no proof of it. She couldn't even remember what the other Cerinians were like, other than the fact that she must have had a family of some sort. Thinking about Cerinia and things she couldn't explain made her head hurt. She held her head while she tried to think of different memories.

Remembering Andross and the Krazoa brought the memories of Krazoa Palace back with a vengeance, but Kursed felt different towards the memories now. Normally, revisiting the infernal crystalline prison above the palace was horrible; she could barely process her fears as V-Lir showed her the prison in her mind. However, V-Lir had helped her face that fear more than he realized. Reliving her experience of solitude on top of Krazoa Palace made her remember something that V-Lir was not expecting: Fox was there for her. Even now, she vividly remembered V-Lir's vision, where Fox came to her crystalline prison to help her.

He was always there for her, and she was always there for him. No kind of adversary, whether common ruffian or otherworldly mechanoid, could separate their bond with each other. Being trapped in the crystal prison was the worst moment of her life, at least from her shallow pool of memories, but Fox had come to rescue her. As long as she had loved ones nearby, she would never be trapped like that again. She regretted letting the fear of the palace drown out the joy she felt when she saw her hero for the first time.

A dull numbness jostled her conscience, and her face fell. Maybe Krystal could rely on loved ones to keep her safe, but Krystal did not exist anymore. Kursed was nothing like Krystal, and she had the unsightly prosthetic and horrible scars to prove it.

"You are Kursed," the toxic thoughts festered. "You are not worthy to be with Fox or anyone on his team. You were dead weight to them…"

However, her venomous thoughts were put on hold as she sensed footsteps approaching, and she did a double-take as she saw a familiar figure clad in orange fur and a green flight suit pass by her cell. Moments later, Fox jammed the tip of his staff into the cell's control panel on the wall, and the soft hum of the cell's forcefield fizzled out.

Kursed gasped as Fox stumbled into the cell, and her eyes met his. His eyes were still as beautiful as the day she first saw them at Krazoa Palace: eyes that assured her that everyone would be okay, even in her darkest times.

"Fox?" An old feeling in the back of her mind asked her to smile, but she was too shocked to. She took a moment to hide her metal arm from his view, even though she still wore her tan jacket.

"Krystal…!" Fox exclaimed. Part of him wanted to refrain from making a scene in front of her, even if she was a captive audience to his ramblings, but he didn't want to miss his opportunity again. No one else was in the brig with them, not even an occasional work drone. He couldn't ask for a better chance.

"Kurs– Krystal, I am so sorry." Even after playing the conversation in his head hundreds of times, Fox was still tripping over his words in nervousness. "Please, I want you to come back to Star Fox."

"Yes, yes!" cried an innocent voice in Kursed's head, but she growled and pushed her hair back with her left hand. She tried scanning his mind with her telepathy, but she sensed compassion in his words. The rush of emotions bombarded her like a meteor shower, but the surly facade she had developed over the course of many months attempted to take control of her thoughts again. "Join Star Fox?" Kursed repeated with an unsavory tone, "I don't belong to that group, I was never worthy of it. Did you really come all this way just to get your business partner back?"

"I just want you close to me, in my life, team or otherwise," he persisted, "I've been so worried about you, and words cannot express how regretful I am for anything. I'm so sorry."

Kursed glared at Fox as she probed his mind. Even his most shallow thoughts were full of remorse and of grief, but also honesty and compassion. Fox still had the same caring and respectful attitude that he always showed her, even before her injury. It reminded her of their time back on the Aparoid homeworld, when she was repulsed by her surroundings, but Fox and his warm feelings were there to comfort her. Her expression softened in turn, but she caught herself. No, this wasn't right. Krystal's life was over, and Kursed did not deserve this. Fox's words were only skin-deep, he didn't really want her back. She was just imagining things… even if her telepathy was not often wrong.

"Why now?" Kursed's expression remained distorted and hurt, but the old feeling from before was growing stronger. "Nothing is different, Fox." She presented her metal arm to him, and he looked away from it. "This is the reason you made me leave, isn't it? I still have this metal prosthetic and I always will. It symbolizes my inability to follow orders, and my inexperience. You told me to leave because I was holding the team back. And…" her lip was quivering now, and her voice was cracking, "you told me to leave because you couldn't bear to see me in this state. I've become so ugly to you."

Tears were welling up in Kursed's eyes, breaking through her normal facade like holes in a neglected dam. She tried to growl, but she could hardly muster a whimper. She buried her head into her knees and lowered her metal arm until it dangled lifelessly off the cot. Fox paused to give her a moment to calm down.

"I… couldn't bear it because I thought I failed you, Krystal," Fox said softly. "You were never unfit to be on the team. told you to leave because I was afraid. Because every time I looked at your arm, I blamed myself."

Kursed wiped her eyes and raised her head from her knees. "What?" she whispered. She looked at Fox, who gazed back at her.

She flinched as she saw his expression. During their time together, she had seen many expressions from Fox: brave, defiant, and stoic, to name a few. Fox was, if anything, emotionally composed when the situation demanded it. As she got to know him better during the Aparoid crisis, she learned he was often subtle, a little shy, but warm. The look on his face now was something she'd never seen before. His eyes had a haunted look, scared, and pained.

The old feeling in the back of her mind flickered brighter, and she suddenly felt a strong urge to be right next to him and embrace him, to purge him of the negative emotions that plagued his mind. It wouldn't be the first time in their life that they had sat and talked together. Regrets on their inability to communicate when she left the team still haunted her, but she pushed the regrets to the back of her mind. Now that Fox was right next to her, they could both communicate better than they had in what felt like several years.

"Krystal." He cleared his throat as he looked deep into her eyes. "I take responsibility as leader of Star Fox. Even if Star Fox has changed a lot since our time on Sauria, you are all both my comrades, and my friends. It's my job to see everything through, to lead us through danger and keep us safe. I do this because you are all, every single one of you, the most important people in my life. Falco, Slippy, Peppy, and you. I do this to make sure we get to finish the mission, come home safe, and have one another." He leaned forward. "You understand that, right?"

Kursed nodded very slowly, so subtly that Fox didn't notice as he looked down at his paws. His breathing became ragged as he began to shake. He stood quietly for a long moment, and Kursed watched him carefully. Her curiosity and her own flare of emotions goaded her to delve deeper into his mind. She got closer to him and prepared to say something, but–

BANG. Frail metal clattered as Fox's fist slammed on the cell wall. Kursed jumped.

"Why didn't I see that grenade in time?" He wailed through clenched teeth.

The words floated in the cell and echoed throughout the spacious brig, but Kursed realized her telepathy was not necessary. Never in her time knowing Fox had she heard such pain in his voice. She tried to think of something to say, but her shock prevented her from forming sentences. Instead, she felt her heart beat faster and her willingness to be near Fox grew rapidly.

They sat in silence for a while longer as muted sobs came from Fox. After a while, he shook his head, steadied himself, and looked back at her.

"I blamed myself, Krystal," he whispered. "I…every time I saw your arm I just thought, why didn't I see it? Why wasn't I good enough? Why did you have to suffer for my failure?"

"…Fox," Kursed whispered.

"I was so scared," he said. "I thought it would happen again. I would fail you again and lose you for good. I just couldn't…I…"

He wiped his eyes. "I'm so sorry, Krystal."

He came closer. Gradually, conviction came back into his eyes.

"I can't let that fear get to me anymore," he said. "You are part of this team, Krystal. You're our friend. Whatever I did or didn't do doesn't change that. I was wrong to ask you to leave, and I want you back. We need you. I need you."

He lowered his head, still looking at her. A blush was faintly visible on his cheeks.

"I love you, Krystal," he said. "More than anything."

Kursed whimpered. Something welled in her throat, and reinforced tears streamed down her cheeks. She made one last attempt to dive as deep into Fox's subconscious as she could. Somehow, somewhere, she expected a tinge of doubt or dishonesty in his psyche, but she found nothing like that. Her mind kept insisting that this was not real. It was just a fairy tale. Fox wasn't really comforting her; she was well past redemption and kindness. Kursed was a warrior that lived alone and didn't deserve anyone, but no matter where she searched in his mind, she only found overwhelming love, and no part of him cared about the lonely life that she had led over the last year. Fox's feelings of pure kindness and caring fought back against her doubts with incredible persistence. The only negative emotion she could find in him was regret: regret from their split, and regret that he had not found her sooner. Her old feelings of unconditional love were once just a flicker, but now they swelled in her chest as her search concluded. For the first time in months, she felt warm inside.

"Fox, I…" The vixen could hardly form her words. The warmth inside Kursed had melted away her disposition, and all that remained was a vulnerable vixen, the same one that was trapped above Krazoa Palace and the same one that fell in love with Fox so long ago. Even if she still looked different because of the prosthetic and the scars, she was still the same Krystal that Fox remembered, and from her telepathy she had confirmed it: he never stopped loving her.

"Krystal," Fox said as he gently raised his paw to wipe the tears from her cheek, "I will never let something like this happen to you again. I want to be with you and protect you. Even if we have dangerous lives, I can't imagine a life without you."

"Oh, Fox!" Krystal whimpered as tears streamed down her cobalt cheeks. She tried to say more, but her speech was warped by her shaking lips. She made no further attempts to hide her emotions as she reached out her arms.

Fox and Krystal embraced. The cold metal from her prosthetic arm felt odd on his back, but the immense warmth from the rest of her body was more than enough to offset it. He was finally with her again, after what felt like months of searching. As the realization struck him, his smile widened.

Krystal's wailing turned to sobbing. Her knees grew weak, and she began to bear down on Fox as she hugged him. He bent down with her and moments later the two foxes were simply sitting on the floor of the cell, still together, and still crying.

How she missed this. No one ever made her feel like Fox did, and no one made her feel so warm. He had a friendly and heroic warmth that made her feel safe. Even if one of her arms couldn't feel him, she focused on the warmth of his chest against her own. The nightmares of the crystal prison were nothing but a distant memory now. As long as Fox was close, she felt like she could handle anything. She did not need to run anymore. She was not doomed to a lonely life. Kursed was gone, and Krystal was free.

…

They stayed together for several minutes, silent but exchanging warmth as they held each other tight. Krystal missed the warmth so immensely that she hoped it would never end, but after a while she allowed her thoughts to wander just enough to pick up a familiar set of familiar thought patterns.

"Is Samus Aran on this station too?" she asked as they pulled away from each other.

"Yes," Fox nodded, "she came with me to confront V-Lir and find the Metroid. Are you still trying to find the Metroid also…?"

"The bounty doesn't matter to me anymore," Krystal replied as she shook her head. Space Pirates found me and asked me to retrieve it for them, and I was going to use the money to travel far away. I wanted to find Cerinia, my lost home. I didn't know what to look for–I still don't. But I thought I would have a better chance at finding it if I had enough money to travel across several systems."

"I can— I want to help you find Cerinia!" Fox said as he remembered Samus's words. "We don't need to be bounty hunters. I have enough money saved from our old mercenary work to keep us afloat for a while. Once we leave this station, I want to help you find your home and your family."

"But… I already have those things, Fox." Krystal looked at him. Fox's heart fluttered as he witnessed Krystal's first genuine smile in more than a year. Her eyes were not only the same brilliant emerald as normal, but they also sparkled with the same kindness and pure happiness that he remembered from their best moments together.

"I was so lost that I never realized it– you are my family." Krystal's eyes gleamed as she spoke. "I know you, Slippy, Falco, and Peppy better than anyone. For all I know, Cerinia was destroyed, and I might really be the last Cerinian, like V-Lir told me. But I'm okay with that if I get to live a life with the ones I love."

"Krystal…" Fox felt his emotions flaring up once more. Despite her different appearance, there was no denying that this was the same vixen that he fell in love with. His past regrets were being overshadowed by joy and relief.

"And," Krystal continued, a certain determination rising in her voice, "I know what I want my legacy to be: I want to help others, like I used to do. I want to protect you like you have protected me, and I want to save innocent lives like we did in Star Fox."

She frowned as her expression grew more sorrowful. "Fox, you came for me when I needed you most. Thank you… thank you so much." Moments later, she pulled Fox into another hug. "I want to go out and rescue others too," she said after a pause. "No matter where they are in the galaxy… I want to protect them. I want to save them from the hunters I've encountered. And I want to save them from people like V-Lir."

Fox nodded as his determination rose to mirror Krystal's. "V-Lir must be stopped," he agreed.

"I know about his goals," Krystal said as she separated from Fox again. "His plans to further the Luminoth legacy will endanger many innocents."

"Then let's go help Samus," Fox responded. "V-Lir might be dangerous; we need as much help as we can get."

"I can sense her thought patterns," Krytal reminded him. "She's not close, but we can catch up if we hurry." She rose to her feet, and Fox followed suit. "As long as we stick together, nothing can break us."

"Welcome back, Krystal," Fox said quietly. "Your staff, ma'am…" he grinned as he held out Krystal's staff as if presenting a royal gift.

"I'll take that." Krystal chuckled as she snagged the staff with finesse and spun it effortlessly. She adjusted her jacket as she turned to leave the cell. Fox followed closely behind her after drawing the blaster from his holster.

Even after finding Krystal, Fox's motivation was still burning brighter. After being separated for so long, his desire to team up with Krystal on a mission was stronger than ever. They had both come a long way since their missions together during the Aparoid crisis, but Fox was only thrilled to be with Krystal again, even in an unfamiliar environment and facing adversaries unlike anything the Lylat system had to offer.

Krystal took off running as she left the brig, and Fox accelerated behind her. They both dashed down the darkened hallways together, closer together than they had been in ages.