Dedicatated to this chapter is the song

Cry for you- Simple Plan

'Because sometimes our tears are all we have...'

Chapter 5

(July 13th)

(9:33am GST)

The memories of his past kept Aryn from getting any sleep at all, his only reprieve from the constant memories was his training...by the time the memories had left his mind he was sore and spent, he'd done an equivalent of six days work out. Krystal was surprised that morning to walk into the kitchen only to see an extremely exhausted looking black fox, sipping down what she could only guess was a cup of coffee, odd, she only ever saw him drinking some strange bottled drink he kept, with a lizard on the label. He looked like he'd had one hell of a rough night, he started to say something only to be cut off...

"I know...I know. Mind my own business..." Krystal said walking by then back with a small snack, "I wasn't here to talk with your hate filled ass anyhow."

Krystal hadn't wanted to even get up yet, their current course would take several days, and her current attire proved so, she wore nothing more than a pair of sweatpants as she most often slept only in her underwear, and a small tank top...she had only wandered into the kitchen for the snack that she had with her now, along with a small glass of water that she'd gotten earlier. She had no idea that Aryn would even be in the kitchen, especially not looking like the walking dead...she couldn't help but wonder what had given him such trouble last night, then again she had better things to do right now. As she sat down on her bed Krystal punched in a com number on her laptop, soon enough she was greeted by Peppy's face...

"Did you get that information?" She asked.

"For the love of god Krystal put something on."

"I'm not changing until I feel like getting out of bed." Krystal retorted, "Now do you have that information or not?"

"I looked as hard as I could Krystal but according to our files Aryn is just who he says he is."

Krystal looked back up the profile she'd seen before, "But that's impossible...this isn't the same picture."

As Krystal looked to the profile the entirety of it had been changed, it fully matched the Aryn she was working with now...

"This is wrong Peppy I know what I saw...This isn't even the same picture that was on the profile when I looked it up."

"Well unless he somehow hacked the Hall of Lylatian Records and changed the profile himself I don't really see how that's possible." Peppy replied.

"Whatever." Krystal growled in anger, "I know that there's something fishy about this guy and I'm gonna find out what it is. I still have a copy of that wanted poster..."

Krystal had become slightly obsessed with finding the truth which had become a problem since becoming a bounty hunter for her,..then again she always tried to know everything she could about the people she worked with. The carried on, she didn't even leave her room until about 3 o'clock in the afternoon, hardly dressed any different than before, simply wearing a normal white tee shirt but the same sweats. She thought she'd do a bit of inspecting but as she made her way through the halls one of the doors suddenly opened and Aryn stumbled out breathing heavily, he looked to be in immense pain, he didn't even seem to notice Krystal as he started toward the kitchen, Krystal at first ignored the hateful black fox but, as she began to walk down the hall again she heard the unmistakable sound of the poor animal collapsing to the hard metal floor. Despite feeling like leaving him there her better nature shown through to the surface as she went to check on him. Aryn was face down on the cold metal floor when she rolled him over, his gray tank top was drenched in blood, his breathing sounded very labored, and he was running a high fever. Krystal, being stronger than she appeared, carried the injured vulpine to his room, it was the first time she'd ever been inside; it was actually heavily decorated, there was a large canopy bed against the far wall that looked remarkably comfortable, it was layered with blue blankets and it's four posts held a large red cloth high over it, with some kind of curtains dangling from the top tied to the posts, The wall across from the bed was home to a painting exactly like the one she' d seen in his study, the night stand next to his bed housed a small metal tray with a glass and a bottle of what she guessed was some sort of powerful liquor. As soon as Aryn was laying on his bed he groaned from the pain and looked to Krystal...

"I thought I said...not to come in here." He said in a weak voice.

"And I thought you told me that there's no point in refusing help when you need it..."

Aryn looked her in the eyes, "I...don't need...anyone..."

Whether it was from blood loss or what Krystal didn't know but, nonetheless Aryn had passed out. She quickly removed his blood soaked shirt and grimaced at the sight. There was a long, deep slash that stretched form his right side up to his left shoulder, near the center of his chest it was slightly exposing his sternum, it had light green...something forming around it's edges and was clearly infected, he had wrapped it in gauss, but that was not helping so far as she could see, plus his constant moving around with such a wound was constantly causing it to bleed.. Krystal made a quick trip to the medical bay, whether or not he liked it Aryn needed help, and Krystal doubted that he could stitch the wound up himself. She didn't like the idea of helping the loathsome creature but, he did help her when he didn't have to, the least she could do was see to it that the moron didn't bleed to death. After a short while the long gash in his chest had been stitched shut, he needed to rest and as stubborn as Aryn was she was certain that as soon as he woke up he'd be trying to move around again. Fortunately she remembered that Daxothrill stuff that Aryn had given her, she filled the needle but had no clue what dosage, and as she drew it near his arm his paw stopped her by the wrist...

"NO...no sleep." Aryn said pushing the injection away.

"You need to sleep...that cut was infected very badly. If you don't sleep then you body won't be able to fight it off."

"What do you care?" Aryn asked weakly.

"I don't...but, you helped me when I was in trouble, and my mother always told me to repay my debts." Krystal said, "I may have my faults but, at least I know when I'm bleeding myself to death."

For a moment Aryn kept holding the shot away, but then released her paw. As Krystal neared his arm again Aryn locked his paw around her wrist...

"Any more than 5ccs and you'll kill me." Aryn said pointing out that the syringe was filled to 25ccs.

Krystal refilled the hypodermic to the proper dose and injected it into the injured captains arm...

"Thanks...but, you'd better not be in here when I wake up."

"Yeah well...how long till this stuff works?" Krystal asked.

"With my weight...about 10 minutes."

"So..." Krystal said turning toward the picture on the wall, "Who's the pretty girl?"

For a moment Aryn gave her that 'mind your own business' look but to her surprise he spoke up, "He name...was Emilia."

"Judging by the look of you two in this picture you were pretty serious."

"You could say that..." Aryn pointed out in an annoyed tone, "Why is it you seem to have to know about my past?"

"I guess you could call it a compulsion I developed when I became a bounty hunter...I just know when people are hiding things from me and by nature I try to find out what that is."

"That's a bad habit...could...get ya...killed..."

Krystal looked over and noticed that he was sleeping now, "At least I don't have to hear that smart ass mouth for a few hours..."

Aryn's sleep was never filled with dreams, he couldn't remember the last time he'd had one...instead there was a reason he never slept on the ship, every time he closed his eyes he could see back to the mistakes of his past. Everything that led up to the here and the now, his entire ruined life that started with Pepper's little experiments and his god damned little unit...

(Flashback)

(15 years ago)

They hadn't expected the results that they got from the Black Star Unit, every mission was a complete success and the infusion of the Cerinian DNA with that of the five participants had yielded far better results than Pepper or the scientists could have possibly dreamed of. Eventually the team was thought to be safe enough to leave alone for a time and see how these newly developed super soldiers would function in society on their own, so the team was dissolved for a period of time, in which two of the members had found a new life...

A familiar black fox, dropped onto a recliner in the middle of a large living room of a well furnished apartment in the upper districts of Katina city, his first idea being out of the Black Star Team was to get away from Corneria. He closed his eyes and leaned back in his seat, Drayvn had found work loading cargo onto ships, it was a difficult job but he enjoyed it, not to mention all the heavy lifting kept him in a nice shape. As he sat there a set of white paws began to massage his sore shoulders, causing him to wince a bit...

"You're home early..." He said leaning his head back to look at the smiling face of the white vixen behind him.

"Yeah..." She smiled back, "Maria gave me the rest of the day off...things got kinda slow at the office today...business has been going straight to hell recently."

Drayvn dropped his head against the back of the chair looking into the vixen's eyes, "You might wanna stop that you know."

"...and why's that?" She asked.

She let out a playful shriek as the black fox lifted her and sat her on his lap facing him...

"Cuz you know what those paws do to me." He replied pulling her in nose to nose.

"And when do you think I started to consider that a bad thing?" She asked rubbing her nose against his, "Besides...I don't think there was ever a time I saw you more relaxed."

Soon the two animal's clothing was scattered about the small apartment, Drayvn lay in a large bed with the vixen asleep with her head lying on his shoulder. Him and Emilia had fallen for each other during their time on the Black Star Team, the two spent all of their off time away from the team, where they could always be alone together. About a month after the team had dissolved Drayvn asked her to marry him, and since then they'd moved to this small apartment. These memories always seemed so real to Aryn, he could hear, smell, and even feel everything around him, and it all seemed to last forever...

The days seemed to pass as if he were there, watching everything from a third point of view, watching himself leave the apartment going to work then coming home, and at some point getting to hold her in his arms again. The time passed for Aryn as if weeks had gone by with nothing important really happening until one day the dark vulpine walked through the apartment door to see Emilia smiling with tears in her eyes...

"Hey...have you been crying?" He asked dropping his work gear and walking in to hold her.

"Yeah..." She answered hugging him tightly, "You know that doctor that we went too about a month ago..."

"The one that said you could never get pregnant?" Drayvn asked after pulling her away to wipe the tears from her eyes.

"Well I've been feeling sick in the mornings so I went back..." Emilia said handing her lover a small set of papers.

He couldn't believe what he was reading, she'd been pregnant for nearly a month, something had gone wrong with the tests and the read out must have gotten fucked up. It was spelled out In the report that he read in plain black and white...Emilia was pregnant. He'd always wanted to be a father, but when he'd heard that it could never happen with Emilia he'd given up on the whole thing, if it wasn't going to be with her it wasn't going to happen. Drayvn threw the papers over his shoulder and wrapped his arms around her. His idea of a perfect life was complete, he had more money from the military than he'd ever know what to do with, he was married to the most beautiful and caring vixen he'd ever known, and now he was a father. For a while the two stood there in each others arms but, soon enough they carried on about the day, planning for their future. Drayvn had already had plans to buy a bigger place, and now he had a reason to. As the days passed Aryn noticed a particular date on the calendar as his dream self left for work...August 5th...

'No...' Aryn begged, 'Don't make me watch. Please let me wake up!'

His pleas to whatever gods there might be were never heard, he yelled to his older self not to leave the building but, there was no stopping it, it was a dream, he couldn't control it...and it couldn't hear him. The day progressed the way all the others had until finally Drayvn walked through the apartment door. He instantly dropped his things and rushed into the room, there was blood everywhere, that lead to the bedroom where he found his wife laying against the corner with a phone in her paw, struggling to breath...

"EMM!!" He screamed as he rushed to her side, "Hey! Open your eyes damn it!"

"Dee..." She barely managed to say, "Is that you? I...can't see anything."

There were several bullet holes in her chest and stomach that covered the black fox in blood as he held her, "I'm right here...who the fuck did this?"

"They...they were...from...black...star...they...had the...logo...on their...uniforms." With whatever strength she had left Emilia pulled his head to her muzzle, "I...l-l-love...you...Dr-drayvn..."

"I love you too..." He replied brushing the hair from her eyes, "I swear...I'll kill whoever did this...I'll make 'em wish they were never born."

As her last breaths fell on his face he could hear the front door being kicked in, but that didn't stop the pain filled scream that rushed from his lungs...tearing into the hearts of anyone in range to hear it...

"FREEZE!!"

The one thing about cops that Drayvn had always hated the most...is how easily they could be bought, especially by the military. They'd do everything they could to place full responsibility on his paws, he was already half way there when they found him, he was at the scene and covered in her blood. As the officers pinned the teary eyed vulpine to the ground and cuffed his paws behind his back the scene cleared away...

(End flashback)

Aryn instantly sat up in his bed screaming the tears still rolling down his face, of all the things that he'd be forced to relive that was the one day that he wished he could wipe from his memory. As the pain in his chest hit him he leaned against the headboard of his bed. He didn't bother fighting back the tears, it didn't matter no one was there to see him. It was all he could do to shed more tears for Emilia and their child...and wait for the day he could finally avenge their deaths...

AN:Well I tried my best to explain Aryn's current problem, the rest of his past will be told in flashbacks as well...so there may be quite a few. Sorry if this chapter was a bit sad...it was supposed to be, like I said...he has a fucked up past. Anyhow...thanks for reading R&R and I'll C'ya when I can get up another chapter. As always you readers are the best, and are all kick ass in my book...

The footsteps in the darkness- SkullFox