.

CHAPTER 30

Feet of Clay

Canma stirred in her cot in the Great Fox II's medical bay, sleep eluding her. It hadn't been easy for her to rest ever since she'd come aboard this ship with Nail, what with how they'd let the case slip through their fingers and into the hands of the Royalists. Who knew what was happening over in Thaljista right now? Thinking of the possibilities kept her awake at night. What would the Royalists do now that they had it? How would the Separatists react? Would the cease fire be broken and war would begin again? She could almost hear the screams and gunfire this far away from home in her ears.

Then she realized the screams were real.

Opening her eyes, she looked around, her gaze frantic. She wasn't in the Great Fox II's medical bay anymore. This was a more familiar location, but not one she'd seen for a few years now. It was her old bedroom, in the city she was originally born and grew up in. She rose out of her bed, blue moonlight streaming in through a window next to her bed, the cries from outside coming in through the thin glass. She swished aside the bed sheets, hurrying to the nearby wardrobe where her uniform and weapon waited for her. She worked as part of the city's guard, and dealing with civic disturbances like this was her job. But if there was a crisis in their town, why hadn't her supervisor woken her up with a call? The screaming and crying seemed to come from everywhere around her home. How far and how fast had whatever was going on out there spread? Was the rest of the city guard already engaged with it?

The screaming was so all encompassing it seemed to bypass her ears and directly bounce around inside of her head, making her movements sloppy and sluggish as she struggled to put on her guard uniform, fumbling around in the back of the closet to grab her weapon. She couldn't focus. Stop screaming...please, stop it! Tears rolled down her eyes, as she herself almost wanted to join in with the harrowing chorus outside. On a regular day, she could have suited up within a minute, but now it took her several minutes instead, thanks to her unsteady hands and feet. As she finally zipped up her suit and picked up her weapon, she stumbled rather than walked out of her bedroom, bumping into walls as she made her way to her front door. I don't know how much longer I can take this... She rubbed a hand against her head, trying to make the ringing in her head go away, but it was useless.

Falling against her front door, it crashed open, Canma stumbling against a railing right outside the door, almost dropping her weapon into the chasm beyond. As she collected herself, she looked downward into the valley that made up her home. Jungle trees stretched far up into the air, walkways suspended between them with buildings clinging to the sides as elaborate tree houses. Canma herself lived in one of them, hence why there was a lethal drop directly outside her door. In the dark of night, lights twinkled amongst the tree buildings like stars in a night sky. She enjoyed looking at the sight before going to sleep, the quietness and the beauty of the view calming her down and reminding her of the greater purpose her job served.

Today, it horrified her.

On the grassy valley floor far below, she witnessed a mass gathering of her friends, family, and fellow citizens, all of them wailing to the sky, crying in each other's arms, their screams sounding like souls of the damned crying out from beyond the grave. Her fur stood on end listening to it, ears curling backwards and tail curling between her legs. She clung to the railing as if it were the only thing keeping her alive.

Canma shut her eyes. She was supposed to help these people...but what could she do? The city guard was trained to deal with physical threats, like say the Ibhu lions. But she couldn't use her weapon to fight off something like this, and she didn't know where her fellow guardsmen were. For all she knew, they were down there too with everyone else.

I have to do something though.

As much as she didn't want to, she forced her eyes open, backing away from the railing and getting a firm grip on her weapon. Fortunately for her, she didn't seem to be as affected by what was happening with the others. Maybe she could locate the other city guards, come up with a plan or— A dark shape fell past the railing in front of her and into the valley below, moving so fast Canma almost thought it was just her eyes playing tricks on her. Then something else fell past. And another. They fell by so quickly she couldn't get a proper look. What was this?

When she looked at the walkways on the other side of the valley, she got her answer.

More of the city's citizens were on the suspended walkways as well, crying out and screaming just as much as those below. One of them stepped towards the railing, put his feet on top, and surrendered himself to the void. Another one soon joined the first jumper, and then another. Canma stopped watching, turning away and shutting her eyes again. She shook her head, wanting to join in with the cries she heard far below and all around her, but she resisted. Even so, the emotions around her...they were too much to bear.

She took off running down the walkway, sprinting past most of her friends and neighbors rolling around on the floor and crying, some of them leaning against the walls or railings. She leaped over several of them, nearly tripping a number of times. The whole thing was a blur in her head, the near constant wailing making it impossible to focus. From what little she saw as she ran, everyone's eyes appeared sunken into their heads, wrinkles prominent under their fur, like they were diseased.

Some of these people she had seen only mere hours ago, given it was hard to not encounter your neighbors with how narrow the walkways were. Clarice—a fellow vixen from Canma's school days—laid on the walkway outside her home, haven fallen on top of a series of potted plants she cared for, crushing them underneath her weight as she cried. Tomas—an older tabby cat who worked in the city's government—tried to pull back another jumper, but he was losing that tug of war. He shot her a pleading glare as she ran past. Canma passed multiple others, knowing many of them personally as well, yet she didn't stop to help any of them. Their dread was becoming her dread, and she too thought she might succumb and collapse to the ground if she stopped moving. She ran for a set of back alley stairs out of her residential district, hurrying towards the ground as fast as she could. She dared not take a lift, fearful that standing still for too long might cause her to break down like the others.

As she ran across the square on the valley floor, she hurried past the large crowd in the square, all of them wailing up to the starry sky that poked out between the leaves of the giant trees. She also saw the bodies of jumpers crumpled on the ground, but none of the people in the square appeared to have even noticed. Canma averted her eyes and kept running, hurrying through the crowd as fast as she could.

"Canma, don't go!"

She spun around, seeing her mother and father amongst the others. They'd all been together only several hours ago, eating dinner and discussing coming to this very square for an upcoming musical concert. Now they looked like they'd aged two decades since then, their faces haggard and their eyes sunken, as they reached out to her on hands and knees. Like zombies.

How fickle and cruel this world could be from one moment to the next.

"Don't leave, Canma!" her mother cried again, the vixen crawling and shambling towards her. "Stay with us!"

Canma froze. Sure, it was terrible leaving behind her neighbors, but these were her parents. Could she abandon them too? As her mother crawled closer, extending a frail hand, Canma's hand drifted towards it. When they touched hands, Canma jumped backwards, as she stared at Mom. Mom's grasp was cold, clammy, the skin under her fur giving way easily, as if it were latex. Something about that disturbed her on a primal level, like she was touching an undead corpse and she might become that way too if she stayed here anymore.

Even as her mother and father cried out, she spun around on her feet and ran out of the square, heading for the edge of the city as fast as she could. The rest of the trip blurred in her head as she hurried to leave it all behind as fast as she could. She soon reached the jungle surrounding the city, the cries fading in the background as she sprinted through the trees.

At last, she could stop and rest for a bit, think some about what she would do. Amazing how deathly silent everything felt, now that she had a little bit of quiet to herself. Clutching to her weapon, she looked back in the direction of her city, some buildings still visible through the trees. Her head felt a little more straight on her shoulders now. Maybe...maybe I could go back?

But then she noticed a strange mist coursing through the air in the city, black like smoke from coal. It enveloped everything it touched, the cries becoming silent as the smoke spread further and further. As it reached the trees, the leaves and trunks disintegrated into fine dust, fragments floating in the air like embers from a fire. The mist was advancing towards her.

She ran, ran, and ran...ducking under fallen trees, swiping aside broad leaves. Tripping over a tree branch, she fell down a slope, rolling down the hill, bumping and crashing into fronds and rocks, before she collapsed in a heap on the ground.

Groaning and picking herself back up from where she'd fallen, she could see the smoke still following her. She dragged herself to her feet, grabbing her weapon again as her feet splashed through muddy puddles, kicking up dirt and rotten leaves as she went. Ahead was the end of the jungle...sunlight visible through the tree trunks on the horizon. Dawn must be close.

Canma hurried further, crashing through the last line of trees and out into the open. There was nothing before her except for endless sand dunes, stretching as far as she could see. The stars in the night blue sky were fading, a small ribbon of red, yellow, and orange growing on the horizon.

She turned around to see how far behind the mist was...but there was nothing. Just more desert. It was like her home had never been there.

"What?!"

Canma ran back the way she'd come. She ran for miles across the sand dunes, retracing her path, but the desert never seemed to end. She found herself starting to doubt everything that she'd seen before had never existed, that she had simply appeared in this place with no explanation.

No! I won't believe that! I'm not going crazy! At least I don't think I am... My home! My friends, my family! They were all here! Where did they go?!

"Why do you care?"

She turned around to face the voice. Nail stood behind her, like he'd always been there. He wore nothing but what he had on in his hospital bed...his pants, bandages wrapped around his chest, an extra set covering the end of his tail where it had been cut off. But despite being injured, he strolled across the sand like it was nothing at all.

"Why do you care now? You left everyone you knew behind. Even your family. You abandoned them."

Canma had no answer. She was frozen beneath Nail's accusing, golden glare.

"What about us?" Another voice joined in.

Two people stepped out from behind Nail, a husky and a jackal. Harry and Franco...the two who'd infiltrated Corneria City's base with Wolf O'Donnell. Both of them glared at her, Harry folding his arms.

"Are you going to make our deaths pointless?" Franco asked her.

"How about mine?" Shuro the caracal appeared next to Nail as well, one of his eyes blackened, his Sentinel uniform bloodied. Like Nail, most of his tail was missing too, but Shuro's was unbandaged, blood dripping from the cut tip into the sand.

"And are you going to give up on rescuing me?" Now Giichi was there too in his red hoodie and jeans, looking tiny next to the four Sentinel soldiers before Canma, but his judging gaze was just as chilling. "You're gonna let Thaal-Ja destroy Thaljista, like you let your home be destroyed?"

"No, I'm not!" Canma screamed at the other five. "I don't want anything like that to ever happen again! I've changed! I don't want to lose everything again!"

"You're not fit to call yourself a Sentinel operative anymore." A gray wolf wearing a green general's uniform and cap strode across the sand towards her, with a familiar gaze. General Gail Strafer stood before her, towering above even his son Nail in height. "Not when I know you'll abandon everyone else to save yourself."

"There was nothing I could've done! It was everyone for themselves that night!"

"Why didn't you try to find the rest of the city guard?" Gail asked. "On the battlefield, one member abandoning the team can get everyone else killed. You don't deserve to be with my son Augustine."

"The general is right," Nail said. "I don't want you on my team anymore."

Now both Nail and Gail were glaring at her, the intensity of both of their golden-eyed gazes almost pushing her back like a physical force. She could do little but take a kneel, bowing her head in shame, tears dripping out of her eyes and making little mud puddles in the sand beneath her.

"Let's go," Gail said.

The five members of Sentinel turned their backs on Canma, walking off into the desert and leaving her knelt in the sand. They soon disappeared around a sand dune, their footprints erased by the desert wind.

As the sun began to peak over the horizon, Canma lay crouched, staring down at the individual specks of sand beneath her. She held up a handful of the sand in her hand, watching it slip through her fingers and be scattered by the wind. What to do now? She had nothing, and nowhere to go. The desert sun continued to rise. If she didn't find shelter soon, she'd soon be baking underneath it. She needed to get water too, and food. Yet she didn't move from where she sat in the sand. It was pointless to go anywhere or do anything now. No one cared about her anymore. She closed her eyes, letting the sun's rays warm her face. It was pleasant now, but it wouldn't be long before that changed.

A sharp crack in the distance reached her ears, followed by the sound of thunder. A rainstorm? Canma looked around, though there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Rain wouldn't be unwelcome right now though.

The rumbling became more intense, closer to her ears...and her feet. Lightning bolts could rattle ground if they struck close enough, but she saw no lightning, and the rumbling wasn't stopping. She rose to her feet, looking around. The sand dunes were starting to shift, little rivulets of the stuff sliding down like small snowballs trickling down a hill. Her feet became unsteady in the shifting sands.

This wasn't a storm; it was an earthquake.

Cracks and booms sounded in the distance, Canma gazing over in the direction of the noise. The sand dunes in that direction were collapsing...like all of the sand was falling into a giant chasm. And the dunes closer to her were starting to do the same thing, the cracking rising in intensity. She knew what that meant. Canma spun around, hurrying to run away from the direction of the noises, as she scaled up a larger dune. It gave her a view behind, Canma pausing halfway up to glance backwards. She wished she hadn't looked.

The ground rent itself aside, nothing but a black void opening up as the sand slipped into the darkness. The expanding crack was coming straight towards her.

She pushed herself hard to scale up the dune to escape, but it was hard work climbing uphill on this sand, and she was already tired from running out of her city and then across the other sand dunes earlier. Her chest heaved as she dug deep, trying to get over the top. If she could just get to the top, maybe she could run down the hill fast enough to get away. But there was a new problem. The gorge had approached close enough to where the sand was sliding backwards now, and taking her with it, as the crack came ever closer.

And as it got closer, a loud roar echoed inside the gorge, sounding more animal-like than anything. As she tried desperately to outrun certain death, a set of glowing orange lights rose in intensity deep within the expanding gorge, in pace with the sound of the roar. Could...could that be...no! It couldn't! It's Thaal-Ja!

The split in terra firma finally reached her, the ground parting ways beneath her feet. She screamed as she fell into the abyss...the beast god Thaal-Ja seeing sun for the first time in over a millennium. Canma disappeared deep underground, never to be seen again, the roar of the beast the last thing coming to her ears.

~X~

Opening her eyes, Canma sighed. She'd been having that nightmare for years now. No matter how much time passed, she simply couldn't shake what she had done that night she'd abandoned her city. The Night of Despair. The nightmare was worse than before, because ever since they'd lost the case to the Royalists, that new part with Nail and the rest of Sentinel had started cropping up at the end. Thaal-Ja could be rising like that any time now.

Unable to sleep, she decided to sit up for a bit. She looked over to Nail, who was next to her. Star Fox had set up her cot next to Nail's sick bed in their medical wing. His condition had improved, so right now he was also propped up in his bed, but he hadn't reacted to her waking up.

The holo wall next to them continued to play out scenes of Sauria at night time, synced up with the ship's chronometer. Thorntail Hollow glowed under the blue light of the stars, accompanied by the artificial scent of grass, the strands being rustled by the Thorntails. It almost felt like the two of them really were camping out there. I wish we had time to visit Sauria. Going by these pictures, it's a gorgeous place. She much preferred the fake view to looking out into the infinite blackness of space.

Speaking of that, she glanced at the nearby window, and a shock jolted through her body. She couldn't help but sit up to take in the heavenly glory before her. Corneria shone like a giant blue gem outside the window, green land masses here and there breaking up the great oceans, as clouds swirled overhead it all. She'd known little but Thaljista for most of her life, so to see a world with so much blue amazed her. These people didn't know how good they had it with all of this water, since it was a carefully rationed resource for most Thaljistanis.

Also in the field of view was the Beltino Orbital Gate station, the Great Fox II currently docked to it. Oh, that's right. I think Fara said we were stopping here to resupply. We're going through the gate soon, aren't we? Back to Thaljista… It was an impressive station, as was the technology behind the warp gate. From what she'd heard, last year Lylat had been under attack by these bug creatures called Aparoids, so Star Fox and the Cornerian military had used the gate to travel to the Aparoid homeworld to stop their invasion. Were it not for this station, they would have had no way to reach and destroy the Aparoid Queen, and Lylat would have eventually been overrun and assimilated. Good thing the Aparoids didn't find Thaljista then. The Royalists and Separatists would let the entire planet get infected before they'd work together to stop the Aparoids. Ugh, I feel awful and selfish for thinking this, but I wonder if it would've been better for Thaljista if the Aparoids took over Lylat. At least then there would have been no way for the Royalists to get the case...

She looked over to Nail again, staring straight ahead. Despite being able to speak again, he hadn't said a whole lot during their time on the Great Fox II. While being taciturn was normal for him, Canma was hoping he might speak up more now, since there was little to do but talk. The sounds of nature in the background from the holo wall did little to help fill the awkward void.

Also, something was bothering him, even if he wasn't talking. A slight curl to his lip, downcast eyes, his ears flicking backwards every now and then. What was left of his bandaged tail flicked and pattered under the sheets. Most people wouldn't notice, but Canma had spent enough time around him to know something was wrong.

"Nail?" she asked, pulling her sheets aside and moving closer to him.

"Yes?" He replied in his dry manner, not looking at her.

She hesitated. "Are..." I've never had to ask him this before. "Are you okay?"

"Everything is fine." His voice was flat, though the slight look of sadness on his face said otherwise.

"But I've never seen you like this."

He turned to look at her. "What do you mean?"

"You always have that blank lookon your face, no matter what's going on. Whether we're in a battle, or having a party, or doing a twenty-mile hike, or eating, or...anything, really. But you're sad now. I can see it on your face."

"Everything is fine." He repeated the words with the exact same tone and enunciation as before.

Canma's ears curled back, though his responses didn't surprise her. This would take some prying. "Is it Giichi?"

Silence, as Cloudrunners chirped in the background. He looked away from her, down at his sheets. However, that said a lot more than any spoken words.

"You're worried about him, aren't you?" She asked.

Nail clenched his bed sheet in his fist. "...Yes."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Another hesitation. What a bizarre sight. Nail always replied to every question with a blunt, quick answer. Instead of speaking, he shook his head in reply.

"You're not the only person worried about him. Why don't we talk about it?" She edged closer.

"Why? He's still captured. Talking about it won't change anything."

Canma frowned. This was going to be an uphill battle. With how fortified Nail kept his mind, it would be as difficult as taking a besieged castle on a hill. Nonetheless, she felt up to the challenge. What else was there to do right now?

"You've been his bodyguard for over a decade now, and you've done an exceptional job. But nobody is perfect, not even you. It's okay to get upset. There's no one here but me, and I don't judge you for it. You don't have to keep hiding it."

Nail glared at her, the two of them locking eyes. Canma stared straight back into his golden irises, which was not an easy feat. Sometimes Nail served as a drill instructor for the Separatists, and helped to train new recruits. While other DIs needed to shout to get unruly recruits back into line, Nail only needed his look to achieve the same effect. Even if he didn't speak much, him pulling the look meant she'd struck one of his nerves. Getting Nail ticked wasn't an easy achievement, though anyone who pulled that off would usually soon regret it. Good thing he was stuck in a hospital bed.

Canma couldn't help but let a slight grin come to her face, the first in a long while.

"What?" he asked.

"It's you." While effective at his job, Nail always was poor at subtlety with his social interactions. "Come on Nail. Why don't we talk about what's happened?"

"There's nothing to discuss."

"You don't believe that."

Another one of his glares.

"It's not just Giichi," Canma continued. "If Thaal-Ja has risen, what are we going to do now? What if the Separatists are...defeated?" That was the gentlest way she could put it...

With reluctance, he admitted, "I was thinking about that, since the Royalists have the case now. We need to figure out our next moves. It is possible Queen Kula could have used Thaal-Ja to destroy the FPA by now. Everything we know may be gone."

Canma said nothing. A tear hung on the edge of her eye, as he said that. I've been through that before. She rubbed a hand over her face, ears folding back. She looked at the peaceful Thorntails walking across the meadow, grazing without a care in the world.

"If that happened, what will we do?" Canma didn't want to say what she was about to say, but it was something they had to consider. "Do you think Corneria would grant us refugee status? We're both canines. We'd fit in okay here. We could start over..."

Nail gave her the glare again, but this time she almost believed he might rise out of bed to get in her face, despite his injuries.

Oh, I shouldn't have said that. Canma leaned back, even if Nail hadn't made any other moves besides looking at her. He doesn't like quitters.

"Giichi isn't dead, if his sister has anything to say about it. I know Queen Kula," he said. "I need a plan to break into Gerrant and the Palace of Azer to save him."

Given he was still stuck in a hospital bed, that got a little laugh out of her. Sure did help to defuse the tension though. "For now Nail, just make it your job to get better. We only have each other to rely on right now."

"You are correct. Fox doesn't appreciate our presence on his ship." He got a faraway look in his eyes, as if trying to see all the way back to Thaljista. "Nonetheless, we still need their help. If the FPA is gone, Star Fox might be our only hope of rescuing Giichi from the Royalists."

Even now, against all odds, Nail still held onto the hope that somehow Giichi could still be saved. And that's what I love so much about you, Augustine. You never give up even if everyone else says it's hopeless. Even if I think it's hopeless. I don't know what I would've done, if I hadn't met you.

"Excuse me," someone off to the side.

Canma turned to see Fara there, the fennec offering them a friendly smile and waving to the two of them.

"Sorry...I thought I was going to interrupt your sleep, but it looks like you're already up."

Canma smiled back. If anyone could raise the mood right now, it was Fara. Out of everyone in the Great Fox II's crew, the fennec cared the most about her's and Nail's situation.

"What's going on?"

"We're about to go through the Beltino Gate to the Diaspora system. The station has a concourse level with some shops and restaurants. I know it's late, but while we're being resupplied, Fox thought it would be a good idea if we all stretched our legs a bit before we're stuck in this ship for a month. You know, eat some nice food, walk around a little, maybe buy some books to read and movies to watch and games to play, that sort of thing..." Her ears folded back, as her voice trailed off. "He, uh...didn't want to invite you, but I wanted to ask anyway. Nail obviously can't come, but do you want to, Canma?"

Canma wasn't surprised Fox would say such a thing. Ever since the interrogation, he seldom entered this room and when he did, he gave lots of cold looks to Nail and a few to her as well. No doubt it was because of what they'd learned about Sentinel's mission by now.

"If you're worried about leaving Nail alone, don't be. He should be fine here." Fara smiled. "ROB will keep an eye on him."

The offer did sound tempting. On the other hand... "That's very kind of you, but I would prefer to remain here." She smiled.

"Are you sure? It's going to be a long trip."

Canma shook her head. "Really, it's fine. Don't worry about it."

Fara's tail twitched behind her, but she gave an uneasy smile. "Well, okay...if you insist. We'll be back in a few hours then." She nodded to Canma, and then turned back to the door.

Canma maintained her smile until the fennec left, but it soon vanished once the doors closed. She let out a sigh.

"Were you thinking the same as me?" Nail looked at her. "That it may not be safe to leave me alone?"

She nodded. Getting off this ship right now would be a blessing, given the journey ahead of them, but it was too risky. I trust Fara, but Fox and his superiors are up to something. This could be a ploy to separate me from Nail. Like General Peppy and that spy Stan decided we need to be taken off to prison. It'd be far easier to take Nail without me being here. They already took away his combat suit, plus the communications device we used to send the warning to Gail and the Separatists. Wouldn't surprise me if they wanted to interrogate us more about how both of those things work, and about everything else with our technology.

She glanced at the holo wall again, watching as the palm trees swayed above her. Fans above the wall projected a slight breeze and the scent of dew and fronds, though it did little to soothe her at the moment.

Nail didn't seem to care either way about the artificial scenery. "If you're tired, go ahead and sleep," he said, looking at the door at the other end of the medical bay. "I'll keep a lookout."

Is that why he was awake while I was sleeping before? It sure did send home how precarious the situation was, given that if they were attacked the only thing Nail could do right now was wake her up. They needed to be extra cautious until they were out of Lylat. At least then they'd be out of reach of the Cornerian government...she hoped.

While glad Nail was looking out for her, Canma decided to take some precautions before returning to sleep. She slipped on her Sentinel uniform and put on her boots. Also, she removed the sheets from her cot. If she had to rise quickly, the sheets would get in the way.

For one last touch, she went to a nearby dinner tray off to the side that she'd been eating from earlier. A dinner knife was still on her plate. Canma removed it, cleaning the knife at a nearby sink and drying it off before she hid it underneath her cot and out of sight.

As Canma laid back down to sleep, uniform and boots and all, she prayed she wouldn't need to use that knife.