Author notes:I apologize for such a late update, but, as any reader of my stuff knows, Chains of Fate has been sucking me dry. Anyhow this marks the end of Footsteps, it may only last about two or three more chapters at the most...hopefully. I'll try to pound out the rest but, I have been a bit busy lately. Don't forget to R&R...Thanks for your support and patience...

The Footsteps in the Darkness ~ SkullFox


Chapter 18

The minutes seemed to last for days, Aryn was having a hard time with all of his injuries, but that didn't stop him from the only source of stress relief that he had...his training. Irea had other ways to relieving her stress levels, she had been trained by strict teachers of martial arts that prohibited her from fighting...being orphaned at a young age the she-wolf was trained by an old martial artist that lived in a hidden place on Zarr in Dan'jas. She instead was taught the importance of proper meditation, however, as she sat in the room she'd picked out across the hall from the training room she could hear the sound of the training room door hiss open before closing with a much similar sound. She let out a sigh of frustration. Aryn was going to kill himself at this rate before ever even making it to Papetoon. The lupine made her way out of her room stretching her neck, she wasn't sure how long she'd been meditating but, that often happened when she was so relaxed...it was as she stepped into the room that she noticed Aryn standing in the middle of the ring with a long curved sword. She was surprised however to see him begin to move about the ring in a very slow motion, as he whipped his weapon about in a sort of incredibly slow dance...it was then that she saw something, his eyes weren't open...he was meditating—in his own personal world. As she studied the fox's carefully placed movements, she sighed lightly...at least moving in that manner he wouldn't tear his stitches open…

"What do you want?" He asked in mid step.

"Just making sure you didn't screw up those stitches." Irea replied, "I don't wanna have to stitch you up again."

"You won't…" The dark furred vulpine assured her.

Irea thought to herself for a moment, "You're right, cuz if they open up again it's on your ass to fix it."

"I won't have to…" Aryn replied, "By that time Krystal will be here, she can fix this without even thinking about it."

"Then what the hell am I here for?" The white she wolf asked.

"Beats the hell out of me…leave whenever you feel like it." He replied turning toward the door, "NAV. How much longer?!"

"Approximately 1 hour 11 minutes ETA for Papetoon."

Aryn stopped at the door to stretch his neck, "Good, wake me up in an hour."

Iréa had never met anyone so stubborn in her entire life, she regretted saying he was as bad as Nex, because compared to him the old reptile was as submissive as a child. Finally after stewing over the moron with the death wish the pale furred she wolf stormed out of the training hall, making her way through the small ship toward the docking bay. She couldn't take it, and as soon as she was on board her own ship she set out a transmission to Nex who quickly answered…

"What is it Iréa?"

The poor Lupine swallowed back ever natural impulse she had to yell, "Uncle Nex, I can't stay with this fuck'n moron. He's got a death wish…"

Nex's chuckling voice was the only thing to emerge from the com system as she left visuals off, "I've known that for years." The reptile chuckled, "I'd be worried if he wasn't risking his life on a daily basis."

"That's not helping."

Nex went silent for a moment, "Fine…if you wanna leave him to die like that then go ahead. I won't stop you, but first. You're gonna listen to a little story that I've never told anyone, about a friend of mine……named Dravyn…"

(Somewhere on Papetoon)

Krystal woke up in the rather large arms of a chestnut furred vulpine who leaned against the wall behind him. She wasn't sure how but, she'd lost consciousness at some point. She managed to climb to her feet, but staggered a bit before grabbing the iron bars of the caged room she was held in. A small black seat a short ways in front of her swiveled away from the small array of computer terminals in front of it, showing another figure of Fox McCloud…

"What's you're fuck'n problem?" She snapped, "Afraid to show me your real face?"

In what seemed like little more than a few instances the vulpine morphed into the perfect image of his brother…

"I apologize…" He said, "…but. I've spent so much time in the skin of others that…to be honest, I cannot remember what I really used to look like." He stretched his neck for a moment, "It won't matter anyhow. Citrinitas is already here, Nigredo is nearby, Rubedo is on his way, and Albedo is ready…"

Krystal snarled, "The Opus Alchymicum? Aryn was right you are out of your mind. It's just a myth, there's no truth to it at all. You killed your own brother's wife and unborn child to chase something that can't even be found…"

Eric chuckled, "I would have hoped a Cerinian of all people would understand what I'm trying to accomplish here. After all you're people searched their entire existence for the Opus…"

"And look where it got them…" Krystal pointed out, "I'm the only one left."

"True enough…but, they were missing something in the Opus that they weren't even aware of. Something any Cerinian has but never bothers to think about. All the capabilities of another Opus are hidden right under that blue fur of yours, your DNA holds the secrets I need. The doctor came incredibly close when he created the procedure that made my brother and me what we are."

"Drayvn is nothing like you."

Eric chuckled, "Rubedo knows nothing about what he is. I'll show him what he is and what our destinies are. We will become one…"

Krystal smiled as she noticed something, "Not if you fight him fair again." She said, "He got you didn't he?"

Eric turned his face showing a long bandage trailing down the side of his muzzle. He trailed a claw along the light fabric with a smile…

"He's nearly ready…" Eric replied, "Once Drayvn realizes his true purpose…he'll be ready, and I assure you he will be ready before he gets here. He's already accepted what must happen. All the pieces have been set in place, and once the final scene is carried out, the two of you will go on living your lives in ignorant bliss of the truth…"

Krystal scoffed, "And what "truth" is that?"

"Life…is meaningless."

(The Dragoon…)

Iréa walked around the ship to familiarize herself a bit more with it; she found that the place had a gloomy air about it, as if the ship itself was sad, forcing it's feelings onto everyone aboard it. The white she-wolf had a hard time walking about the ship with it's halls as dark as Aryn seemed to keep them, every step made her feel like a small child lost in the dark. Several times she looked behind her, as she swore she had heard footsteps only to find nothing there. She sighed as she reminded herself that she was alone, as Aryn at the moment was in the ship's kitchen, where he'd been since he'd finished his training earlier. Despite the fact however, that the uneasy feeling didn't go away, she continued her trek through the lonely vessel's halls until she finally found herself at the ship's kitchen, she had a few things to tell Aryn. Fortunately, Nex had talked her into staying, she didn't know how; Maybe she felt sorry for him after hearing Nex's story. Whatever the reason, she had decided to stay regardless.

Irea stepped toward the kitchen door causing it to hiss open, but she instantly froze in place. She wasn't certain what she was seeing, but, she was certain that it had to be her eyes messing with her. Aryn sat at one of the large room's tables, with his face resting against his arms hiding his face from sight. This however was not what startled the pale furred Lupine, rather it was the slightly faded vision of a gorgeous white furred vixen wearing a long white gown, standing just over his right shoulder. She seemed to look down on the dark furred vulpine with saddened eyes and a hurt expression on her face as he seemed to pay no heed to her stroking his head. For a brief moment the vixen tilted her sight toward the one that had entered the room, before looking back to Aryn and simply fading into the air itself. In disbelief of what she'd just seen, Iréa rubbed her eyes and looked back to Aryn who'd not left his current position. The white wolf found herself on the bridge only moments later with an image of Nex listening to everything she had to say…

"You never said anything about a haunted ship…"

Nex chuckled, "Aren't you a bit old to believe in ghost stories?"

"Listen, I know what I saw. She looked just like that girl you told me about…Ummm…Emilia."

"Are you sure?"

"When Have I ever lied to you?" Iréa asked, "I know what I saw and I saw a white vixen standing right next to him. Then in the next moment she was gone."

Nex thought for a moment, "Well…I'm not surprised. Aryn puts a lot of pressure on himself, he's blamed himself for her death for as long as I can remember." He said, "Maybe holding in all this pain is causing her to stay here. She always said that when he hurts, she hurts…maybe she wasn't kidding."

Iréa thought to herself for a moment, "She looked……so sad standing there. Like she wanted to cry, but, couldn't."

(15 years ago)

It was a more than beautiful day on Corneria; a midsummer's day , a day that seemed to make life itself more wonderful simply by living in that moment. Far outside the city, in a small forested area, two young lovers lay out in the sun on the shores of a small crystal clear lake. Aryn instantly recalled the day he was reliving and had no intentions of fighting it off. He simply watched.

The younger version of himself lay there with a perfect vision of beauty in his arms, the two simply enjoying the feeling of being in each other's arms. Emilia lay with her muzzle tucked under his with her eyes closed. It would have been impossible to tell how long the two had been in that position, they were completely in their own world, nothing else mattered or existed as far as they were concerned. The vixen let out a content sigh as she nuzzled his neck a bit…

"Drayvn?" She said checking if he was asleep or not.

"What?" He lightly replied.

Emilia smiled at the sound of his voice, "Do you love me?"

Drayvn sighed with a large smile of his own, "I love you Emilia…" He answered, "More than anything."

Emilia smiled, "I'm still a little nervous…." She said fiddling with a small gold band on her ring finger.

"Don't worry…" Drayvn said, "We can keep the wedding a secret…just don't wear that ring around the team or the General."

"I don't know who we can trust anymore Dee…." Emilia changed the subject, "All of their thoughts are cut off from mine anymore…and the Generals thoughts are completely jumbled, like there's something blocking them out."

"Just keep your mind focused on next month…" Drayvn warned her, "Then we'll be off of this rock. Katina may not be that far from Black Star but, it's as far as we could make it with what we have. I'm sure we can keep them off out tails long enough to find a home outside of Lylat somewhere."

With that said the black furred vulpine kissed Emilia on the top of her muzzle, "How long have we been out here?" She asked with a light chuckle.

Drayvn hugged the vixen a bit tighter to him as he closed his eyes, "Who cares?"

~//~

Aryn lifted his head from the table in front of him and scouted the room a bit; for some reason he always felt like he was being watched when he was aboard the Dragoon. He leaned back in his chair, looking to the ceiling with a sigh as he realized he'd fallen asleep…

"At least they can't all be nightmares…"

Suddenly a voice broke through the ship's PA system, "Captain…approaching final destination Papetoon. ETA 22 minutes 46 seconds." NAV Said, "Current time of targeted landing zone is; 11:06pm, and it is currently 45.6 degrees Fahrenheit with an 85 percent chance of rain and snow. Warm wearing is advised."

"We won't be staying long just put us down as soon as possible."

As he said this a white wolf entered the room with a folder, "Uncle Nex asked me to bring you this while you were sleeping. He found some suspicious shit down on Papetoon's surface…said it might help you."

Drayvn thought for a moment as Iréa set the folder down in front of him, "Why are you helping me?"

Iréa smirked a bit, "Honeslty? I don't know." She replied.

Drayven scoffed, "Fine…" He replied, "Then maybe you really can help me a bit down there."