Afternoon the next day
Krystal was seated on her bed in her room, observing Shira, dressed in a simple blue dress and cloth diaper, playing on the ground in the room, with a jangingly key set they had bought at the store the previous day for her.
The vixen pondered the events of last night. Her friends were all taking the events of last night in stride, Falco having slept it off, along with Fox, Slippy, and Peppy. The fact no one was injured badly likely helped. Slippy and Falco were repairing any lingering damage and resplicing the electrical wires the Krazoa had screwed with, as its repairs were a bit haphazard, if functional. Krystal had been left alone to look after her ward, while Fox and Peppy had been trying to explain the situation to the guards; to avoid the outlandish 'ghost' story, they spin something about " technical difficulties" or whatnot.
As she watched Shira with a hint of pride and joy, the promise she made to the Krazoa last night, or rather earlier this morning, still festered in her mind.
"I hope I am up for this. Not like there's any way I could go back now." She thought.
A knock on the door diverted her from her thoughts and she looked up.
"You can enter." She stated.
The door slid open and she saw Fox entering the room, dressed in his usual white goofy jacket and green shirt. Krystal gestured for him to come over and sit next to her on the bed.
"Hey Krystal." he greeted as he did so, sitting down a few feet from her, looking at Shira play on the floor. "How are you doing?" he asked.
Krystal sighed. "Fine. A bit spooked from last night got worried for you there after the spirit nearly got you," she mentioned. "How are you holding up?"
Fox shrugged. "Other than some minor soreness in the area, I would say I am just fine. The spirit was surprisingly good at healing." he mused.
There was a pregnant pause between the two of them; so much each wanted to say. Krystal could sense it.
"Might as well break the ice." she thought, turning to him. "How goest he repairs?" she started the conversation.
"Fine. They should be done soon, Slippy is nothing if not great with these sorts of things; he's made Arwings after almost years of poor maintenance before the Sauria expedition." Fox noted.
Krystal nodded. "If you don't mind me asking, can I get some advice?"
"About what the Krazoa said?" Fox inquired. Krystal responded with a nod. "I figured you would want to discuss it more. I was coming to check on and talk about it with you honestly; what are you wondering?" He asked.
Krystal sighed heavily. "It's just, such a huge thing to think about it. I don't think there was much doubt about me keeping Shira but now that I know about her parents, it worries me if I can live up to their wishes. I never met them but from what I was told they truly seemed to love Shira. Can I love her the same way?" She asked.
Fox looked at her. "I think you are worrying about nothing; of course, you will be able to. You've sited on her with nothing but affection and care for her already; all that matters is that you try your best. No one's perfect, Krystal. All you can do is try." He replied, simply.
Krystal would be taken aback a bit by his bluntness but could not counter his point. She was silent for a few moments, letting his words sink in.
"Yeah… yeah I guess you are right. I am overthinking it just a bit." She admitted. "I guess all I can do is pass on what I know; it's not easy being the last of your kind." The vixen added.
Fox put a hand on her shoulder. "I won't pretend to understand what that's like but it's not healthy to doubt yourself so much; trust me, I know what it's like to do so." the vulpine told her. "Just do the best you can, you've already done so much for her. Her parents would be happy, I am sure." he insisted.
Krystal, in a moment of clarity, decided to just take his words as is. She could not deny his points, why counter it?
She instead hugged him. "Thank you Fox; for everything. I don't know where I would be without you," she added.
To her surprise, he returned the embrace to her, and the pair of foxes held it for a time. After nearly a minute, both broke off, blushing a bit.
"Uh…." Krystal vocalized, unable to form any words, while Fox awkwardly scratched the back of his neck. "Well… w-where do we go from here?" she inquired, a bit bashfully.
"Just keep on going as normal, for now. It'll take a while to fully adjust to this." Fox said.
Krystal hummed, feeling as though she was fretting too much. She had everything she needed for Shira in the meantime and the team's support. Perhaps that's all she needed. However, there was something else that still gnawed at her.
"Fox, a question if I may?" she inquired, as Shira crawled over to her feet and started poking at her.
Fox furrowed a brow. "Yes?" He inquired, as Krystal scooped up the child and brought her to her lap.
"You remember our conversation last night at dinner?" He nodded in response and Krystal continued. "What of Shira's future? As I said before I know it's soon after adopting her but I need to figure out some sort of plans for the future. I can care for her in the immediate future but what if when she's older?"
Fox looked at the child and thought. "Hmmm, I see your point. I can't answer that right now, I don't know personally; I can consider arrangements with some friends in the future I suppose if you want play dates and schooling for her." He noted.
"We'll just have to take it one step at a time, Krystal. I already told you this gig might not me permanent; perhaps we'll find more stable work somewhere in the future?" He mused.
Krystal shrugged. She thought back to what he said about everyone going their separate ways; about giving up mercenary life. The idea of a more permanent home and life was enticing but Jrystal knew not where or how yet. Star Fox was all she had at the moment; and of course Shira.
Fox shrugged again. "Let's not overthink it. You have me and the rest of the teen to back you. And I know you can do this, Krystal." He insisted.
Krystal smiled at him.
"I had something I wanted to ask you thought." He added. Piquing her interest.
"Yes?"
"Well. Now that you got answers about the kid and found her, do you feel better? Or at least content? Those nightmares have haunted you for weeks; I was worried."
Krystal thought long and hard about this.
The past was in the past sadly; nothing could be beck Cerinia nor her family. She had accepted that long ago. She had at least gotten her answers about her planet's fate and her people had been avenged with Andross' death.
Then she glanced at the toddler in her arms. She had Shira now; she represented a future: an opportunity to pass on her people's knowledge. The fact she was not the last Cerinian was of some comfort to her.
"Perhaps all I can do is make do with what I have." She mused, caressing Shira's cheek. "At least I have you now, little one."
"I think so, as much as I can be. Thank you, I found Shira, and my people were avenged. And now I have a home." She added. "I don't know where I would be without you and the others Fox." Krystal stated, "Perhaps it's enough."
Fox smiled warmly, and the two shared another hug, before getting up off the bed.
"I am glad you are here Krystal." He admitted. "But as I said, let's just take things one step at a time; I'll be here to support you though." He stated.
With that, the pair of vulpines left the room with Shira in tow, Fox suggesting they join Peppy on the bridge to discuss their next potential job.
As they proceeded to leave the room, Krystal had one last thought to cross her mind.
Finding this Child of Cerinia had been a surprise to be sure, but a much-welcomed one. Her life had taken many shifts and turns in the last few months, from joining Star Fox to becoming a parental figure or guardian for a child.
But now, with Shira in her arms and Fox by her side she finally felt confident in something: after so many years of drifting around and meandering without much reason or direction in life, she finally felt she had a family again, here with everyone, Shira included.
Even if it was not perfect or the most ideal of living arrangements to raise a child or live. It was enough gif her. And, perhaps right now, that's all the vixen needed.
Final notes:
I hope that was a poetic and poignant line to end on. I am not good at ending things, I rarely do so properly. I hope I ended this well enough; the idea here is, that Krystal is not just 100% better and recovered from all her trauma and not prepared for all her life changes as a parent/ guardian now, but she has at least accepted it and her life will improve.
Can't believe it, this is the first multi-chapter story I have properly finished on here, not my first fanfic to conclude but the others were one-shots.
First several-chapter story but it's a milestone nonetheless. I am bad about procrastinating ending stories that are not one-shots.
For those curious about what might shoot next: the idea is it ends on a happy note, that her life is getting better after so much grief, loss, and lack of direction.
If I were gonna guess, perhaps Krystal raises Shira for a year or two or whatever, and Krystal and Fox start a proper relationship somewhere down the line.
And depending on how AU the sequel would get, the Aparoid War might happen.
The way I see it, the events of Assault play out as they did normally just with Krystal being concerned about Shira ( sort of hard to find a safe place to send her if everywhere is under threat of alien bugs. If she were kept on the great Fox, the ship itself would be kept out of range in most combat situations and she would be watched over by Peppy.)
Before the assault on the Aparoid homeworld Shira would be passed to a friend or relative of someone on the team I guess.
After the war is done and Aparpid queen is gone, the team tired of the war and breaks up. Fox and Krystal take safer jobs as guards or flight instructors and likely live together on Corneria and Raise Shira there, as they both wanted out of mercenary life as detailed in this. story
That's my interposition of what comes next but I don't find it interesting enough to write as a sequel involving that
Anyways thanks for reading, be sure to tell me your thoughts in a review.
And thanks to all my Beta Readers; you all are awesome and helped me with this story.