Author Notes: Well here's chapter 6, hope you all enjoy it. I'm running a bit ragged lately so It may still take a bit of time before i update any of my other fics. However, in the mean time i am going to be working on whatever i can to get myself back into the swing of things. Please enjoy the fic. And i'll make sure my next update is up as soon as possible...
Till next time...

The Footsteps in the Darkness ~ SkullFox

Frag the Weak, Hurdle the dead ~ Mykll



Chapter 6: Restless……

Waking from a night's sleep, if indeed she could consciously call three hours of exhausted napping sleep. It was the smell of fresh cooked foods that made the vixen slowly and groggily open her eyes; she rubbed the side of her neck, realizing that somehow she'd slept wrong giving her a pain in the side of her neck. Her fur was terribly matted with a smell of sweat. The nightmares had once again kept her awake through the night; she yawned a bit before swinging her legs over the side of her bed. The vixen stood up and started toward her door, she didn't care that she was wearing nothing but a sports bra and a pair of spandex shorts from her late night work out in the training room…after all there was only another female aboard and she was certain that she didn't really have anything the panda hadn't seen before. Still tired, the vixen slowly walked out of her room and headed down the hall, her head hurt, her eyes didn't want to open, and her muscles were still sore from the work out she'd had last night. The enchanting smell of a half decently cooked breakfast practically carried the animal down the hall however until she reached the kitchen. She found the young panda standing by the only table in the room where two small plates were served already. She was wearing some familiar looking jeans and a white tank top……

"Sorry for not asking…" She said shyly looking to her outfit, "…I never wear the same clothes for more than a day." She said, "It's sort of a compulsion."

Kursed's eyes were fixed however on the food on the table, "You……can cook?"

The panda laughed, "You can't?"

Kursed laughed as she sat down, "No I can. I just wouldn't suggest eating any of it."

Lin sat down across from the vixen, "I wanted to thank you…" She said, "Honestly I never thought I'd actually get a chance to meet you."

Kursed swallowed a large bite of sausage on her plate, "So……you know who I am already."

"Who doesn't?" Lin replied, "I've followed your career as soon as I heard about you."

Kursed rolled her eyes with a sigh of joy at the taste of the panda's cooking, "You're a really good cook." She sighed, "So why is it you'd follow a nobody's career? If you could call it that."

Lin scoffed, "Are you kidding? Look at me…" She said holding her arms out, "I'd give anything in the world to be like you."

"My life isn't a glamour show Lin." The vixen sighed laying down her fork, "If you knew half of what I've been through in my life you wouldn't be so quick to jump at the idea of being like me." She said, "Enough about me though. Where can I take you that's safe? You have any family?"

Lin sighed, "No. Mom and dad died a long time ago. Uncle Zang took care of me until I left for school."

"No boyfriends or anything?" The vixen asked.

Lin laughed, "Yeah right." She sighed, "Most guys don't even give me a second look." She said, "Can't I just stay here? What could be safer than living on this ship with you?"

Kursed sighed, "Sorry…" She said, "I can't do that."

The panda sighed looking to the table top……

"I know a safe place or two." Kursed said, "A place where you'll be safe, and out of Andrew's reach."

The panda simply remained silent, she'd expected something more from the vixen; she'd always seen Kursed as a hero of sorts…the kind of person that would never turn a person away. Now she saw that the vixen was quite the opposite. She clearly cared, and was very lonely, but, was hesitant to let anyone get close to her. Kursed finished her food and stood up, and after claiming a cup of coffee the vixen headed out of the room, leaving Lin to think to herself. It had been like this her entire life, she was always left alone, outcast. She constantly blamed herself for these sorts of things. Kursed found herself walking the halls after some only slightly needed work on her Arwing, she hardly saw the point. She never really flew the thing since becoming a bounty hunter. Nobody wanted a bounty hunter to do any kind of flight based missions. It was as she torqued a wrench a bit too hard however that a pain shot through her arm causing her to drop the weapon and cry out in pain, reaching for an injury she'd managed to conceal. She slowly made her way out of the docking bay, but, on her way through the halls she stopped before a young panda who stared at her intently…

"What is it Lin?" She asked.

The panda simply motioned to the vixen's paw, "You're bleeding all over the place."

Kursed looked to her arm to see that her paw, and arm were no longer white, rather a deep crimson that flowed from beneath her paw, which she lifted inspecting the cut on her shoulder…

"It's deeper than I thought."

She was surprised to find Lin closely inspecting the wound, "Do you have any alcohol around here?"

Kursed chuckled, "You're kidding right?"

The two found themselves in the kitchen again, where Kursed sat at the room's only table with a wet rag, tightly held against the cut to stop the bleeding. While Lin searched the rooms shelves for whatever alcohol she could use…

"Top shelf over the sink." Kursed pointed out.

"Vodka?" The panda said, "You know this'll burn like hell right?"

Kursed sighed, "Pain let's you know you're alive."

"Yeah so does a heart monitor." Lin chuckled, "but, you don't have to be bleeding to death in order to realize it."

As soon as she set the bottle down, the vixen took a healthy swig of the powerful liquor, while the panda pulled a chair beside her. Where she filled a small container with the liquid, soaking a curved needle in it. The panda sighed as she looked over the wound…

"You know you shouldn't drink malt liquor straight like that…" She said, "And don't worry. I know it was the Physics Academy but, the grounds have one of the best medical professors in all of Lylat."

Kursed scoffed, "You were studying to be a doctor?" She asked.

"Um hm…" The young panda mused, "Ever since I was told that was what my mother used to do. I never really got to know her that well…she died when I was really little."

Kursed looked to the table top, "Hmm…sorry."

The vixen suddenly slammed her palm on the table as she felt the needle pierce her flesh around the sensitive cut. The panda proved however that she was already quite skilled at this…

"Sorry…" Lin apologized, "…shaky paws." She scoffed, "I never would have guessed I'd be here at any point sewing up 'the' Kursed. I guess you could say meeting you has been a dream of mine since Uncle told me about you."

The vixen winced a bit at the pinch of the needle again, "Why is that?"

The panda chuckled dipping the needle in the alcohol again, "No…it's…it's stupid."

"No I wanna hear this." Kursed stopped her.

Lin started back at her task, "I……just wanted to meet a real life hero, which I had something in common with."

Kursed looked to the panda, "Common?"

"We're both females, and were both misunderstood by just about everyone we meet." She said, "Nobody at school ever really took me seriously, to any guy I was just a piece of meat; and I didn't really fit into any social category. I guess you could say I was an outcast."

Kursed lowered her head, "Being alone isn't so bad. Nobody there to hurt you, nobody for you to miss having around."

Lin sighed as she tied off the vixen's stitches, "You don't really sound like you believe that."

The vixen chuckled, "You'll see after staying this way for a while." She sighed standing up and heading for the door, "There are a few spare rooms here on the ship. I guess it wouldn't hurt any for me to have my own medic on board. Helps that you're a female too…I won't have to change any lifestyles."

The panda froze for a moment as she sat down the needle in her paw, "Wait so that means?"

Kursed sighed, "I guess. Just……don't make me regret this okay?"

Lin quickly jumped to her feet rushing at the vixen, which stopped her only a few inches away, "No hugs. Let's keep this professional…" She said keeping her paw on the panda's chest.

Lin chuckled backing off a bit, before extending a paw which the vixen shook, "What made you change your mind?" She asked.

Kursed sighed as she headed down the hall, "You remind me of an old friend."

"Where will we go?" Lin asked.

Kursed stopped for a moment, "I just attacked the Emperor's men." She pointed out, "They'll be looking for us. I have to lay low for a while…and there's only one planet around Lylat that I know he never had any interest in."

"What planet is that?"

Kursed chuckled, "Come to the bridge and I'll tell you about it."

******

Lin sat by on the bridge as Kursed told her about Sauria and why it's unusually strong magnetic field made for an unwanted place by Andrew. The planet's unusual magnetic field actually caused most short and long range sub-space transmissions, to be lost or scrambled. For any troops on the planet this would actually mean some amount of trouble……and Andrew, like his late uncle, was a perfectionist. A faulty mode of communication between, him and his troops would only have caused him grief. In the long run, it wouldn't have been a good investment. Their conversations eventually led them back to the kitchen as Kursed had grown thirsty, but, as she got her drink they found a seat, and the vixen for some reason found herself reminiscing about her time with the Star Fox group…

"Wow…" Lin remarked as Kursed had just finished telling her how she'd met Fox, "He really saved your life? Did you ever kiss him?"

The vixen's face turned a bit red as she coughed into her fist, "What? No…" She sighed, "I guess there was a part of me that wanted to though…" The vixen looked deep into the clear glass of water before her.

Lin sighed, "Why didn't you?"

The vixen stood up and walked into the cooking area, pouring out her water and walking back to the table with the same bottle of vodka that had been used when she was being sewn up. Lin wore a worried expression as she watched the vixen pour a glass of the powerful liquor…

"I……I'm sorry…I didn't mean to pry." The panda said, "I…I just wanted to know more about you."

Kursed sighed taking a sharp drink from her glass, "Don't worry about it." She said, "And to answer your question. I guess I was always afraid to tell him." She said, "You see, his friend Katt told me that since his first real girlfriend died; Fox never really showed any sort of interest in another female. I think even now he still loves her……I……I could never compete with something like that."

Lin was at a loss for words, she'd never expected to know that her idol……was so depressed all the time. She wondered how the vixen coped with it; all the years of not knowing and regretting, just thinking of herself in the same situation made the panda worry a bit more as the vixen stood and walked to a small port window still with her glass in her paw. Kursed looked to her glass as she sat in a way leaving only her back to the panda still at her table, as a small drop fell into her glass disturbing the calm liquid, only to wipe a second tear from her face…

"You said my smile made you happy…so I tried my hardest to stop crying…" She thought to herself looking at the ripples in her drink, "What do I do now? When I have anything left to smile for?"

******

In a large, dark, hall a tall, slender animal stands peering out over a large city far below him. It was as he stood there that a single, rather attractive young vixen approached him; she wore a black military uniform, and her fur bright red accented by long black hair…

"Emperor…" She stated with a salute.

The animal chuckled fogging the glass before him, "Good day General Rose. You have news for me?" He asked.

"Yes, sir." She replied handing him a small folder, "The operation at the Kew Academy was……ruined, by this vixen."

The emperor sighed as he looked to a surveillance photo of Kursed with a young panda in her arms, "Hmm…Kursed again." He sighed, "I tried reasoning with her two years ago, and she spit my offer back in my face. This time she won't be quite so lucky." He said passing her the folder, "Any clue where she is now?"

"No, sir." Rose replied, "But……one of the others claims he knows where she may be headed. He also has some lovely information for you."

The well dressed ruler let out a pleased sigh, "Good…send him to the council chamber…and get your men ready."

The vixen saluted him, receiving the 'go ahead' to leave, and headed back down the halls. Leaving Lylat's new Emperor to contemplate his thoughts of the bounty hunter, and what he might do when she was delivered to him…

******

Katt sat in her room, this time it was nothing more than a small chamber aboard a cruiser that the small group of assassins had boarded to get out of the general area. Knowing that Krystal and Kursed was the same person made her want to go to Reiko with the information, but, she knew the Coyote would not see it the same way she did. Reiko was constantly thinking, he was a strategist, and would clearly find a way of using the information to get the vixen out of his way. Katt feared what that would mean. The pink furred feline wiped a tear from her cheek as she looked onto a photo of herself standing with Fox and Krystal…she sort of chuckled a bit at the memory that went along with it. She hadn't known Fox had plans on asking Krystal for a date, and got pretty badly scolded for it when Fox found some time to confront her about it. She still found it amazing how quickly she'd developed a bond with the young vixen; she admitted that Krystal was a touch naive when she first came to Corneria, but, she was always so happy for someone that had lost her homeland. Looking back on those days Katt realized that she'd never had a female friend that she felt so close to. She wondered how Fox would have reacted knowing that she'd been a bit attracted to Krystal herself. It was as she sat there that there was a light knock on her cabin door. The feline slowly crept to the door with a blaster in her paw as she sighed…

"Who is it?" She asked.

There was a light chuckle, "It's just Eight you can calm down Katt."

The feline sighed unlocking her door and tossing the weapon to her bed; as she sat back down a young, pretty hare walked in. She was a touch taller than Katt even though she was nearly ten years younger than her, and had a nice body for her age. She had fur a shade or two lighter pink than Katt's, and though she was not of an athletic build at all, the young lapin was incredibly brilliant. Had it not been for her tech savvy mind in fact, the Wraiths would not be able to travel about as easily as they did. The young bunny was carrying two small trays of food when she noticed her friend looking at a familiar photo. Lucy sighed as she sat down beside the pink furred feline holding a dull silence…

Lucy cleared her throat as she slid a small tray into the feline's paws, "I found her Katt."

The feline's ears instantly stood on end, "Really?" She half shouted nearly dropping her food before sitting it on a small end table.

Lucy nodded, "Yup." She smiled, if only for a moment before it was replaced by a feint sigh.

"But?" Katt asked.

"It was over one of the Emperor's live com channels." She replied, "Apparently she decided to attack a few of Andrew's men…Verra was one of them. As soon as I found out about that I hacked the video feeds from the place she attacked……Seven was there too."

"Why did he run off like that in the first place?" Katt asked.

The hare sighed as she shook her head, "He didn't say. He never does." She smiled, "But he's the last person here you should worry about really. I'm worried about Krystal now…apparently they're sending Verra, and that freak Caruso after her."

Katt thought for a moment, she remembered Panther Caruso, worked with the animal once or twice when he was a member of the Katinan Air force, "Wait. Panther?" She asked, "We can't let him anywhere near her Lucy."

The lapin thought for a moment, "Why is that? They have orders to take her to Andrew."

Katt sighed, "Look I never told anyone this but, did you ever look up his history?"

"Course I did." She replied.

"Then you remember why it was he was kicked out of the military?"

Lucy thought for a moment, "No. I really didn't think that was relevant."

Katt sighed, "He was arrested and court marshaled for lewd and aggressive sexual behavior…" The term caused the young bunny to tilt her head she wasn't familiar with much on the military,

"Rape, Lucy." She said, "He raped several different female officers during his service, and apparently used his influences as a higher ranking officer to force them to keep their mouths shut…" She sighed looking to the floor, "He and I had a cooperative mission some time back when I was still flying solo. He tried the same thing with me…"

Lucy only blinked in disbelief, "W-what happened?"

Katt simply looked at her palm, unsheathing her rather long feline claws, before looking to the young hare…

"Let's just say his crotch hurt…a little too much for him to perform correctly." She said, "Once I informed his commanding officer of his actions…his other victims came forward and eventually the ones that were keeping the other girls quiet came forward. He was thrown in jail, but, managed to get passed for parole somehow. Then he just vanished…seems like he found his way onto Wolf O'Donnell's team. My guess is that O'Donnell caught wind of his skills as a soldier and paid for his way out of prison."

Lucy thought for a moment, "We can't let someone like that find Krystal." She said, "Someone as pretty as Krystal……"

"Where was she headed Lucy?" Katt asked.

Lucy sighed, "Sauria……where else would she go but to the one place that reminds her of Fox more than any other place out there?"

The feline sighed a bit, "How long till we land?"

"Why bother waiting?" Lucy chuckled, "There's a ship in the docking bay. I managed to……commandeer it for you." She smiled with a wink, "Small ship security systems aren't what they used to be."

Katt chuckled, "Huh. You know how much Peppy would have hated hearing you do that?"

"Yeah…" Lucy replied nodding, "But Papa also told me to help my friends whenever I could. You and Krystal are the only two I've really got; and if she's alive, I want her to be safe."

Katt quickly got up and gathered her things together, "Listen…I don't want Reiko to know I'm gone until you're all on solid ground okay?" She said checking over her weapons, "You know he'll follow me."

Lucy chuckled, "You know how much he cares about you right?"

Katt chuckled herself, "So. Which ship is it?"

Lucy sighed as she realized that Reiko was not something the feline wanted to talk about at the moment, "As soon as you're in the docking bay. It's the second to last fighter on the left." She replied, "You'll know it when you see it. It's got my old sweater tied to the landing gear."

Katt hugged the young hare before heading out the door, leaving Lucy there rubbing her arm in thought. Now she simply had to find out how it was she'd explain this to Reiko once he found out the truth……

******

Kursed stepped out into the crisp open air of Thorntail Hollow: the greenery of the place was always so serene to her. It was late afternoon, and Lin was already rushing about the open landscape, stopping at the gorgeous stream that cut the land in two; the firebush tree, and she even pestered some of the local residents. Kursed chuckled as the panda finally found her way back to the water where she smiled into the stream watching a variety of colorful fish floating with the currents…

"I've never seen a place like this in my entire life."

The pale vixen lay down her weapon as she sat beside the stream removing her boots, "That's because this place has never felt the touch of modernization. The Saurians agree to allow Lylatians to visit and all but, we're not allowed to change anything."

The vixen laid her boots next to her as she dipped her feet into the pleasantly cold water, and allowed herself to fall back onto the cool grass…

"Feels like forever since I've been here." Kursed sighed.

Lin followed the vixen's example but remained seated as she looked at her feet in the water, "Um…Kursed. Why did you tell me…all that stuff about you and Star Fox?"

The vixen placed her paws under her head as she closed her eyes with a yawn, "Because I've been inside your head. I know you're an incredibly honest person and that you'd never tell a soul anything I've told you." She replied, "And like I said, you remind me of an old friend."

"But……"

Kursed quickly interrupted the panda shushing her with a light chuckle as she placed her paws back behind her head. Realizing that the vixen was relaxing, Lin followed her example and took the moment to rest herself…

******

She could hear the sounds of raindrops; however, as she opened her eyes Kursed could only see a blue shade of everything around her. Her head wouldn't move, her body, her eyes were free to roam, this all felt so familiar. It was however as her eyes shifted to the stone ground below her that she realized where she was. A young, handsome chestnut furred vulpine stood below her staring up at her, not bothering to notice just how damp the rain was making him. His lips moved, and yet she heard nothing. She called out to him, but, found she couldn't make a sound. It was hell, he was right in front of her, even in her dreams and she couldn't reach him, even hear his voice. She desperately tried in vain to call to him, to move in any way; her heart sank however as a strange figure appeared from the darkness slowly walking up behind him. The vixen strained herself attempting to call to him only to realize that the animal was one of the white clad assassins that quickly drove a knife into the unsuspecting vulpine's back…

In a cold sweat the vixen instantly sat up, barely managing to catch herself before falling completely into the water before her. Her breathing was heavily labored, and as she looked into the water she paused with an uncertain look on her face as she realized what she was wearing. She was dressed in familiar white robes and a white hood; she looked just like one of the assassins that she had been hunting down. She examined her dress before looking around. The skies were dark and cloudy; a powerful scent of death filled the air. The land around her was no green paradise as she remembered it; it was all dead, infertile land that reminded her of some old dried out wasteland, the trees around the area were wilted and a hideous shade of brown. The old hag's shop just across the way was all but destroyed; there wasn't even an entrance anymore. The vixen quickly stuck her paws in the water splashing it over her eyes as this had to be some sort of hallucination. A familiar sting however met her eyes as and she quickly wiped them only to see that her white, gloved paws were covered with a thick crimson liquid. She looked down in horror as the perfectly clear water washed over with a bloody taint. Kursed quickly panicked scrambling away from the putrid stream only to back into what seemed to be a rather soft wall, but as she looked up the vixen let out a shrill cry of terror quickly backing away.

The wall behind her was not natural; it was composed entirely of bodies, interlaced with one another, she didn't care to count it. However, she did recognize many faces of animal's whose lives she'd ended in her pursuit of Fox's killers. It was as she slowly backed away from the monument of death that something strong grappled her arms while a paw caught her under the chin forcing her face back in the direction of the wall. She tried her hardest to block it out but found even the act of closing her eyes to be completely impossible, it was however as she turned her eyes away that she heard it…

"LOOK AT THEM!!!"

She instantly froze, the voice……it was hers. It was as she was forced to look at the mass of death that a single small finger came into her view just over the side of her muzzle, from the paw that was holding her face. It was light blue in color, a color of fur she'd almost completely forgotten…

"Why?" A light but familiar voice called dragging the vixen's attention to the center of the wall, where a familiar fox rolled his head to face her. It was Fox, his expression was blank for a moment before his face alone seemed to spring to life for a moment, "Krystal…"

The vixen instantly spun about forcing the one behind her to relinquish her. However, as she shot about there was nothing there; just the ship she'd come to Sauria on, the land was the perfect scenery that it had always been, and the babbling stream behind her was just as beautiful as it had ever been. She had no idea how it was she came to be standing again, and quickly looked to herself only to find that she was dressed in her standard gear, her scythe was still laying in the grass near the little panda girl whom still lay there sleeping with a happy smile on her face. Kursed looked to her paws, she could still feel the blood that ran over them, feel it trickling between her fingers and sticking to her fur. She rubbed her paws over her still tear filled eyes only to pull them away. Her paws wouldn't stop shaking, she couldn't remember a time when she'd been this scared. The images of those bodies mortified her beyond anything she'd ever seen, and yet even though she had realized long ago that it was a dream, she could still see their faces……especially Fox's. Lost in the thoughts of what she'd seen, the vixen finally collapsed to her knees. She couldn't understand it all; the dreams hadn't started until three years ago when she first came back to Sauria. The vixen simply gave up trying to figure them out after a short while, and began to sob helplessly into her paws. It was as she sat there that a paw lay on her shoulder, she instantly went rigid, the paw was much too large to be Lin, and the little panda would never have managed to sneak up on her even in her current state of mind; it was however, as these thoughts ran through her mind that a familiar scent caught her attention, bubblegum…or at least something like it. Either way the scent caused the vixen to slowly look over her shoulder to a familiar pink feline…

The vixen sniffled a bit, "Katt?" She asked in disbelief, "No this is just another dream."

The feline dropped to her knees wrapping her arms around the young vixen, "I don't care if it is." She said doing little to hide her own tears, "You're alive……that's all that matters."

Kursed was still stunned, the pink feline was real, or at least she felt real, and she wasn't covered in blood, or dying in her arms. With the realization that Katt really was in front of her, Kursed quickly wrapped her arms around the feline. She was still shaking and crying, but, at least now she was partially crying because she knew that Katt was actually there…