A/N: Okay so check this out...I totally cut the end off of this chapter by mistake. OOPSY!! LOL! Sorry for the fuck up people here's the full thing!

Chapter 6

(July 14th)

(11:17am GST)

It had taken him hours to clear the thoughts from his head, luckily his friend was trying to reach him when he reached the bridge. It was unusual to hear from Foxy1 so early in the morning. As usual when they were playing only the game really mattered, his friend had helped him through these moments more times than he or she could have possibly imagined, their games carried on for a few hours before Foxy mentioned something that needed to be done and left their games, Aryn didn't like quiting in the middle of a game but, for the most part their games had already helped...Aryn had managed to shove the memories into the back of his mind, Aryn rubbed his temple as he shut down his computer terminal, catching a small glimpse of the shackle chain that rattled against his right wrist, he reached into the collar of his shirt pulling out a small gold chain from which dangled a small silver key. He sighed for a moment before sliding the key back under his shirt...

"What's the key for?" Krystal's voice came from behind.

"Nothing..." Aryn said, he was a bit surprised as Krystal moved in front of him.

"Take the shirt off...I need to make sure you haven't torn those stitches." Krystal said with a serious look on her face.

Aryn did as she said, "Why are you doing this? I've read into your profile, you aren't known for mercy..."

"Only toward those that don't deserve it..." Krystal said inspecting her work on the black fox's chest.

"Huh..." Aryn scoffed, "And I deserve this mercy?"

"No...you deserve a good hearty kick in the ass, but, you helped me so you at the least deserve my thanks...and this is the best I can do."

Her words reminded him so much of Emilia that it was almost scary, she'd always believed in an eye for an eye as well. Krystal didn't do anything more than make sure that the stitches had held through the night. As soon as she was aware that they were all still in place she stood up and walked to a seat of her own, looking out at dancing colors of hyperspace...

"So...What's Black Star?" She suddenly asked. Krystal caught a clear glimpse of his angry expression in his reflection on the window, "Not my fault. You were talking in your sleep just before I left your room."

Aryn remained silent, "Fine. I'll just look it up then."

"Go ahead...only thing you'll find online is a study on theoretical space anomalies."

"Why? You find a way to erase that data too?" Krystal asked.

Aryn smiled smugly, "I told you to stay out of my business...didn't I?"

"So you take out your entire profile?"

"Nope. Mine, Emm's, and everyone else that knew me." He smiled.

"Well then...I do still have a copy of that reward poster with your face on it." Krystal said propping her feet up on a nearby terminal, "It is my job to turn wanted people in you know."

Aryn rocked his neck from side to side, "Other hunters have tried, and I'll make you the same promise I made them. I won't run...you come after me like they did, crew or not, I will kill you...without hesitation."

After that the room fell silent, Krystal knew he was being serious, hell he was always serious...as far as she was concerned this flight was taking far too long for her liking. Aryn was unbearable, he was loathsome, foul tempered, and full of himself. As for his threat however she actually believed he would do it without the slightest notion to hesitate. The hours of the day seemed like days within themselves, with all the silence about the ship Krystal found herself oddly relaxed, it reminded her of all the times she'd spent alone in space on her own ship. After hours of boredom she found herself in the ship's large training room, it was different than the small one on her ship, which was minuscule in comparison to Aryn's; it was a large round room layered with windows looking to the space beyond them, the room had every piece of equipment she could hope for and then some, weight machines, punching bags, exercise bikes, and in the center of the room a large round ring, it was odd she'd only seen squared ones before. She changed into her normal work out gear which she was sad to say she hadn't worn in some time, it was a simply sports top and sweatpants really, at these times her hair was always tied back into a large ponytail. After about twenty minutes of a stout routine she'd worked out several years ago she stopped herself and removed the protective punching gloves from her paws before taking a long drink from a bottle of ice water she had with her, taking a moment to shake the sweat from her face and hair.

Aryn sat on the bridge for some time before finding himself in a state of boredom that threatened to send him to sleep at a moment's notice...he wanted nothing to do with sleep however, in fear that more of his memories would crawl to the surface of his consciousness. Normally he'd go to the training room when he was in these situations but, in his current state...Ah...what did he care? Exercise was his stress relief, without it he felt he'd loose his mind or what bit of it was left after the dreams he'd been having. Aryn didn't like wearing a shirt when he worked out, he found it to be pointless to get so much clothing dirty, his gray sweats and punching gloves were enough for him any day...but, as he approached the door to the training room, he could hear the sound of something striking one of the heavy bags in the room with surprising force. He stepped inside and cocked his head to one side as he saw Krystal laying into one of the room's many heavy bags far across the room. Her form was perfect allowing her weight to be perfectly thrown from one blow to another without loss of balance or footing, she had a clear thought in her mind as she attacked the inanimate object before her, which clearly would have been decimated had it been anyone Aryn had ever fought, there was a trace of tears in her eyes, and a rather vicious snarl that bared her sharp teeth. Aryn smiled at the sight, she was actually kind of cute when she was angry, but then again why was she so angry? Be hadn't been that hard on her today...

"You break it you buy it..." Aryn's voice suddenly broke her concentration.

As she suddenly stopped her assault the bag swayed forward then back into her knocking her back a few steps, "What do you want?!" She snapped.

"Just a bit curious why someone that usually acts so calm..." Aryn said walking steadily to her side of the room, "Is fighting like her life depended on it against something that can't even hurt her. Where'd you learn to fight like that?"

"Cerinian women are taught to defend ourselves as soon as we can walk on our own. Some of it Fox taught me too."

Krystal wiped away the tears in her eyes as she noticed the dark vulpine was staring, "You always try to hide it like that?" He asked.

"The fuck do you care?"

Aryn fell back and sat on the seat of a nearby exercise bike, "I read everything there is to know about you the day I found out you'd be staying here. I know what they did to you...Wolf and the others. That's what you were thinking about wasn't it? Can't say I'd react any differently..."

Aryn barely ducked the blue foot that flew at the back of his head flipping forward off the handle bars of the bike he sat on before turning toward Krystal who seemed to have heard enough. Her face was mangled by anger, and a new steady stream of tears was in her eyes which seemed to be focused on Aryn. As he stood there Aryn chuckled a bit at what he saw, she was absolutely livid about what he'd said...

"You have no...Idea what they did to me!" She growled rushing at him with a heavy punch that even Aryn would admit would have hurt like hell had he not leaped out of the way, "You could never understand what it's like..."

The angered vixen lunged forward seemingly with the intent to kill, her strikes however no matter how fast or precise scored nothing, her target was simply faster, better, and stronger. Her anger was fueled by every ounce of hatred and anger she'd ever felt or known, every moment of the pain she felt at the paws of Wolf and his crew seemed to flow through her, and soon enough Aryn felt a hot sting of pain in her chest, and looked to the now bloody fist of the blue vixen who's attack seemed to come from nowhere opening the stitches she'd placed there. Aryn realized that her thoughts had completely taken her over, there was no reasoning with her. His stance seemed to provoke her to take the fight to the next level as her claws were bared this time swiping wildly at him, behind her eyes Aryn was no longer standing before her, rather she only saw the figure of her old team mates from Star Wolf. As Aryn blocked and swayed every attack that came at him he swept her legs from beneath her, quickly climbing on top of her and pinning her wrists to the mat. Her instant reaction was the scream of terror that came from a rape victim as memories flashed through her head instantly causing Aryn to release her arms. Unfortunately this proved to be a bad idea as a powerful fist caught him under his chin knocking him from his seat and onto his back, he quickly recovered rolling back onto his feet however. This time as she rushed forward Krystal threw a punch that caused her to spin about as it missed driving her foot into his shins, but instead of hitting the floor chest fist Aryn landed in a push-up position and swung his legs about as though he were on a pummel horse, tearing Krystal's legs from beneath her, however as she landed on her back both of her feet connected with the black vulpine's chest sending him sprawling to the floor. As he shook the cobwebs out of his head his eyes widened and he quickly rolled out of the way as the blue warrior plummeted from the air driving her fist where his face once was. Krystal rushed him again as he stood up throwing another punch, but, Aryn had had enough playing around and caught her by the wrist, she tried another punch with the other fist but it missed causing Aryn to turn her about holding both arms to her chest. She let out another scream as though he were some sort of attacker...

"KRYSTAL!!" His voice boomed into her ear snapping her to her senses, "No matter what you've convinced yourself it isn't your fault...that sort of thing can never be your fault."

Krystal couldn't react, she could only listen and try her hardest to make the tears stop. Aryn slowly let go of her arms and made his way to the door looking back only to see the blue vixen covering her eyes with her paws, sobbing. He could recall times he'd seen Emilia like that, the things he would have done to make her tears go away...but, he knew better than anyone that there was no easy way of dealing with your past, you could only take a step forward at a time and hope that some day there would be no more need for the tears. It was almost an hour later that Krystal was making her way back to her room when she found a bloody paw print on the wall leading to Aryn's room, the whole fight was a blur to her, she couldn't really remember any of it. As she approached his door it slid open and she found the black vulpine sitting on his bed trying to clean the freshly opened wound on his chest...

"I thought I told you..."

"I know stay out...but your chest." She said realizing that she must have been the one to open it back up, "I'll get the kit and stitch that back up."

A moment or two later Krystal brought the med-kit back with her and forced Aryn to lay down so she could start working, "I-I'm sorry if this was my fault, when I think about what happened...sometimes I loose it." Krystal said sterilizing the needle for the stitching.

"I shouldn't have brought it up like that...this is my fault."

Krystal smiled as Aryn jumped a bit at the pinch of the needle piercing his flesh, "Did I just hear the captain admit he was wrong?"

"Call it what you want."

"Well then...maybe since you're admitting that you can answer a few more questions for me." She said as she began to sew his flesh back together.

"Fine I'll give you two..." Aryn replied.

"Alright...who are you really? Cuz I seriously doubt you're Aryn Stromwell..."

He rolled his eyes with a heavy sigh, "Fine...My real name is Drayvn Dark, I was born October 22nd 3167 in a small city about 2,000 miles south of Corneria City, called Stotsdale. My parents died when I was 8 and my brother raised me until I was 18 when I joined the military..."

Krystal chuckled, "That was pretty descriptive."

"Next question..." He said flatly.

"What happened?" Krystal asked keeping her attention on her work, "You know. To you two?" She finished tilting her head toward the picture of him and Emilia.

"We met in the military..." Aryn didn't want to talk about it but, he did say he'd answer two questions, "...she was ex-special ops, intelligence officer, smartest woman I ever knew. During one of our missions I broke six of my ribs and she broke an arm and leg, we were stuck in the infirmary for three days before they'd let us go. We got to talking since there was nothing else to do, neither of us really cared for TV so we wouldn't watch anything...the only thing there was to do was talk with one another. After a while we started to get more familiar with each other and eventually we...fell in love. We stayed in the military and kept everything to ourselves, didn't wanna violate chain of commands or anything you know? After we got out of the military we got married, and moved to Katina, her idea. Our instant idea was to settle into a nice place and start a family..." He seemed to hesitate at this point, "...but, one day I came home from work and she was bleeding to death on our bedroom floor. Someone had come in and shot her four times...she was about a month pregnant."

Krystal was a bit stunned, "I-I'm sorry..."

"Don't be..." Aryn replied.

"Did you ever find out who did it?" Krystal asked.

"That would be three questions." Aryn replied with a sigh, "The agreement was two."

"Fine...I can respect that. I can tell you didn't want to answer the last one anyhow...and I can understand why?"

After sitting through the procedure of getting his wound closed off Aryn pulled himself into a sitting position, "Now...maybe you can answer something for me. If you can fight that well...why didn't you fight when Wolf and his team assaulted you all those years ago?"

Krystal blew air out her nostrils, "You think I didn't try?!" She retorted, "Fighting is little use when your held down by three men!"

"The report didn't say much about the whole thing, just that it was all hearsay..." Aryn said.

"Everyone was so quick to think I was lying after what happened with Fox..."

"Well for what it's worth I believe you..." Aryn said reaching for the bottle of liquor on his night stand, "No do me a favor and get the hell outta my room." He said his voice taking back it's normal sting.

Krystal rolled her eyes as she picked up the med-kit and headed out the door, he was nicer than he let on, but he tried to play it off as if he never acted kind to begin with, she wondered why but, that was one question she wasn't going to ask him. She made her way back to her room hoping that the memories of her past didn't haunt her nightmares like Aryn's did his, luckily as she lay down after taking a quick shower she found no problem getting into a nice dream free sleep, happy that by tomorrow they would finally reach Zarr...and hopefully find Fox in a means to clear up this entire thing. Aryn on the other hand was not so lucky, every time he would close his eyes he could see it beginning all over again, he sat there on the edge of his bed with his palms over his eyes. He very rarely got any sleep in the fear that he would see everything again...at most before Krystal showed up he would only sleep about an hour a night...sometimes getting that rare night's sleep after his body had become completely exhausted and would no longer allow such short rests. It was these nights he didn't mind so much as his exhausted mind and body rarely had the strength to dream.. He lay back down on his bed, he didn't want to sleep but he needed his strength if Fox was even one half of the fighter he was made out to be. Soon enough his body gave in to the comfort given to him by his bedding and Aryn was soon pulled into the arms of a deep slumber...

(Flashback)

(15 years ago)

The worst thing about the memories was the fact that they seemed to continue where they had left of from the most previous dream. As Aryn watched on as he did in the dreams his vision faded from darkness to a damp smelly stone room where his older self, Drayvn, was laying with his arms chained to the wall by two familiar looking metal shackles. They'd never even tried to arrest him, the police took him straight to the general, he was stricken with the butt of a rifle before waking up where he was. As the door opened before him the bright light practically blinded him. He had no idea how long he'd been unconscious but, his head was pounding, and for some reason the room was freezing...

"Hello Drayvn..." A familiar voice said as a figure stepped out of the light into the room.

"YOU SON OF A BITCH!!" The black fox screamed leaping from his spot only to be pulled to the ground inches from the general's face.

"I imagine you're trying to use your powers right now but...this room was built solely for you keeping your body heat below 68 degrees at all times." The general said, "You disobeyed commands Drayvn. I had my worries about you and Emilia's relationship from the beginning, but decided against my own better judgment and allowed it. That child would have opened this entire project to the public..."

"So what? You...can play god but, you can't handle the problems that come with it?"

The general sighed, "This has nothing to do with god...or any of your fictional explanations for life."

"You'd best believe in god..." Drayvn replied, "Cuz as soon as I get out of here you're I'm sending your sorry ass to him."

"Drayvn let me assure you..." The hound said moving to the door, "You will never make it out of this room alive. If I have to see to the fact personally...I'll return as soon as the board on the project decides what to do with you. Good bye Mr.Dark..."

As the door closed leaving Drayvn to his frigid prison he knew there was nothing he could do to escape, he tried repeatedly to pull the chains from the walls, but they were tight and weren't going to budge not even with his strength. The days rolled by, one after another, they kept him fed but, they kept in in that ice box at all hours of the day. At some point he considered suicide, but, how would he be able to show his face to Emilia in the afterlife knowing that he'd taken his own life as a means of running away? He couldn't do it...he wouldn't do it. There were things left undone, his wife had been killed along with his unborn child...people needed to die before he himself gave up. As he sat there day by day thinking of nothing more than tearing the hearts out of whoever he could find that had something to do with Emilia's death, he became withdrawn, hitter, and hate filled. Somewhere among the weeks he'd spent in that hell the only thing he'd become capable of feeling was hatred...sheer hatred and blood lust for the people that had wronged him...but, most of all be began to hate himself...he hated himself for ever giving in to the program and thinking that for one moment it was actually for the better of life in the Lylat system, he'd come to terms with the truth...he along with the others were nothing more that weapons, weapons and puppets for a government that cared nothing for the people. The days passed turning into weeks and finally months, he'd never seen the general's face again. He managed to keep his sanity in tact for the most part by focusing on his physical improvement exercising daily until his body simply said 'no more'. As more time passed he changed from the thinner fox Emilia and his friends had known to the more powerful looking intimidating person he was now...the shackles on his wrists had become weightless to him. His exercise had gone beyond natural limits over whatever godless amount of time he'd spent there, using a single armed handstand to do some sort of strange push-ups.

One day as he sat there eating the slop they gave him to keep up his strength he could hear a panicked alarm outside the room...something was happening, something caused the entire building to shake loosening some of the bricks in the walls. As Drayvn noticed this he began to try again at loosening himself from the walls...but there was no give. Another explosion caused a small chunk of the ceiling to give in causing a small hose to begin fluttering about wildly spraying a white mist everywhere. Realizing that this was how they were keeping his room cold Drayvn reached for the hose and aimed it's stream at the links of chain on his restraints, the nitrogen from the hose quickly encased the link in ice, and with another powerful tug the link shattered freeing his right arm with the shackle itself still intact, he quickly copied the maneuver with the left and was happily free of the restraints. As he freed himself there was a loud slam against the door causing it to dent inward a small bit, two more times the door was hit then for a moment it stopped. Suddenly the door was flung from it's hinges slamming into the far wall..Standing in it's place was a dark purple almost black looking insect like creature; it was nearly as tall as Drayvn and walked of four pointed legs, it didn't even look natural to him, but what he could only determine was the thing's head shot in his direction and upon letting out a bizarre sounding screech the massive bug leaped at the fox, bringing it's front most legs down in a clear and obvious attempt to impale him. Drayvn, taken by surprise, reached out and caught the thing's legs it's surprising weight slamming him into the wall, as the thing began to overpower him Drayvn pushed back a bit and released the creature's legs, and as it slammed them forward Drayvn rolled to one side allowing it to wedge it's legs into the wall. With the creature trapped he quickly made his way out of the room and searched the gored remains of the two guards that were nearby. The freed vulpine found a shotgun and a rifle on the two guards and made his way out of the building...the Aparoid invasion had begun. His trek through the ruined city of Corneria was nothing compared to the hell he faced in that cell, the only place he needed to get was to the hangers, where he stole the ship that got him off of that planet...

(End Flashback)

"...ryn."

"ARYN!! Wake your lazy ass up, we're in Zarr's orbit!"

Aryn quickly rolled over to tell Krystal to get the hell out of his room only to find that the voice had been shouting at him from the speakers overhead. As he rolled out of bed and began to get his clothes on the vixen's voice called through the intercom again...

"Keep your fucking pants on! I'll be there when I'm ready! Christ!"

Somewhere on the bridge Krystal smiled, it was good to know he was feeling well enough to be an asshole again...