Chapter 12: Bloodline

After returning Fox to the Great Fox, Scarlet chose not to travel anywhere for the time being. With her ship locked in geosynchronous orbit around Skallis next to the Cornerian dreadnought, she took the opportunity to literally kick off her boots and recline in the pilot's seat while observing the sea of stars surrounding her. In the not-too-distant foreground, the green moon Zharon fought the other celestial bodies for attention as the sun illuminated the side of the moon facing her ship.

To put some slack into her taut clothing, she partially unzipped her bodysuit and sighed. The first part of the tentative Cerinian plan was out of her hands now, and completely up to Fox to accomplish. And to the fullest extent possible given the circumstances, she was comfortable with that. From her seat, she watched as Fox launched from the Great Fox's front hangar in his team's small transport ship and headed towards the planet's surface.

As the ship disappeared from view, she pulled out her PDA, intending to idly browse news articles, film reviews, ideas for piercings—anything that would allow her to effectively do nothing while keeping her brain at least tangentially firing. However, the instant she opened her browser, her screen blocked it out and displayed an incoming call from Felix.

She frowned, but answered without any other drama.

"What's up?" she asked in a monotone voice.

Her friend and employer sounded far more amped up than usual. "You're not going to believe who I talked to this morning."

She did not share his excitement. "Yeah? Who?"

"Doctor Voltimure Reige."

Scarlet's ears spiked. "Hold up—what?"

"I'm as stunned as you are. But he told me that he regrets working with Asgard, and he's willing to help us with our plan."

Scarlet raised a confounded eyebrow. "That's fantastic, but how does he plan to do that? Does he have an in with the Cerinians or something?"

"He says he has someone with him who the Cerinians might be 'more receptive to.' I have no idea what he means by that," said Felix. "However, I've decided that we need to secure him as soon as possible. Have you or Fox made any progress with getting access to Cerinia?"

Scarlet answered, "The plan seems like it's working. Fox is on his way to meet with my mother as we speak. She definitely does have an active contact on the planet. It's going to be up to Fox to convince them to let us through, though."

"Understood," said Felix. "Well then, let me cut to the reason I called you."

"Go on…"

"I need to get Dr. Reige to Skallis ASAP. He's currently holed up on Zharon. And of course he couldn't be in one of the urban areas."

"He's in the Aparoid Wilds, isn't he?" Scarlet groaned, venom lacing her words.

"Yes."

"Ugh!" she snapped. "He's probably the dipshit who brought Neron back to life."

"But that's not our concern right now, is it?" said Felix, patronizingly. "What is our concern is that we extract him from that hellhole—and to do that, I've put in a call with Specter."

Scarlet's blood froze at the mere mention of that name.

Felix continued, "I thought you might be interested in flying alongside them. Basically, it's a simple escort mission: protect my transport ship while it picks up Dr. Reige and his friend. It might be as simple as flying around the area scanning for threats, or it might be a full-on dogfight if the Aparoids decide to come out in force. The only way to find out is to be part of it."

"Who would I be flying with? Which one of their teams are they sending out?" asked Scarlet.

"That's the thing," said Felix, his voice betraying uncertainty. "Because this is on such short notice, they were only able to assign a few members of their staff who weren't currently on other jobs. But I've been assured that they're some of Specter's best pilots."

Scarlet stared at Zharon through her ship's front window. "Count me in. While you're at it, you might want to update Fox on this, too."

"A good idea," Felix replied, before giving a caveat. "But I don't have a way to contact him via his own device. I can reach his battleship, but not him directly."

Scarlet sighed, remembering that she had loaned him one of her PDAs instead of guiding him through the process of setting up his own device for use on Skallis. "He's using one of my phones. You probably have it in your contacts list, but I'll send you the info just in case."

"Sounds good."

- § -

Leaving the Great Fox's hangar with his team's compact transport, Fox felt conflicted. Not about his goal or his meeting with Karen Altruis—rather, about the blue vixen seated next to him in the co-pilot's chair. He had considered asking her to remain in the general area outside the cockpit, but he felt that treating her more like a person and less like an item to be delivered would ultimately end up being the better choice.

At the moment, though, he wasn't sure of that. Krystal repeatedly stole glances at him as he neared Skallis, descending into the lower exosphere to expedite his already short trip to Skallis's Sky City prefecture. Her consistent attention put him on edge, and knowing that she was acutely aware of that exacerbated his anxiety even further. Sitting next to a confirmed mind-reader came with a level of vulnerability that he was not prepared to deal with.

After two minutes of silence, Krystal finally made an observation.

"You're not a bad person, Fox."

Somehow, that positive statement came across in a strangely negative way to Fox. Glancing at her out of the corner of his eye, he asked, "What do you mean?"

"I thought it was self-explanatory," she replied. "But it brings me to a question that's been bothering me."

Every new sentence from her raised Fox's mental defenses even higher than before. "Yeah?"

She narrowed her eyes somewhat. "I can tell that at the core of who you are, you're ultimately trying to work towards the greater good—as you see it, of course. So, what I'm trying to understand is why you're working alongside that other woman."

"Scarlet," Fox groaned in response. "To tell you the truth, it's complicated."

"I'm willing to listen."

Fox bit his lip and clutched his control yoke a little more aggressively. "I don't want to get into it."

Krystal was not having it. "Does it have anything to do with why I sense that you're trying to get in my father's way?"

"You need to stop that," Fox snapped.

"Stop what?"

Fox's ears flattened in anger. "'Sensing' things, stealing thoughts, invading the privacy of my own head—getting involved in things that are none of your business."

"This is my business, though," Krystal declared, her voice calm but simultaneously forceful.

As easy on the eyes as she was and as inoffensive as she seemed in terms of personality, the woman had the unique ability to send Fox's blood pressure into the stratosphere. He mused on a response for a moment, then decided that to deal with a prying, suspicious telepath, brutal, raw honesty may have been a strategy worth employing. Even if that meant spilling a few secrets for the time being.

"Listen, Krystal," Fox began, "I don't have anything personal against your dad. It's the people he's working with who are the problem. If their plan succeeds, it's going to be a huge negative for a lot of people. And by 'a lot', I mean 'billions.' So, I feel that I have to do whatever I can to put a stop to it."

Krystal's ears fell. "I don't understand—how could what they have planned be so bad for so many people?"

Fox saw an opportunity to defend his position. "I don't know how important the second part of the plan is to your father, but as far as I can tell, their goal is to overthrow the acting government of Cerinia and to use the planet's supply of a rare natural resource to more or less blackmail every other planet and government in this part of the galaxy into giving them power and influence over their politics."

Krystal looked at him with a slightly confused expression. "I…don't see the problem with that?"

"I didn't think you would," Fox sighed, letting his shoulders drop. "Look—I'll be honest with you—your people don't exactly have a great reputation around these parts, if Scarlet's anything to go by."

"That must be a misunderstanding," Krystal affirmed.

"I'm not sure," Fox replied. "My other encounters with your people were not positive, and I didn't do anything to antagonize them. I don't think the people around here would want to be ordered around by Cerinians."

Undeterred by Fox's misgivings, Krystal opined, "I don't see how it would be any worse than it already is for them."

"How would you know that? Isn't this the first time you've left your home planet?" asked Fox.

"Yes, but I've been told about this planet and the other major worlds in this system," Krystal answered. "Do the people here on Skallis like being ruled by corporate interests? I think not. And the most powerful planet in this system is run by what many people would call a dictator. Personally, I feel that more Cerinian influence would be a good thing. You're not making a very strong case for yourself, in my opinion."

Fox scowled and thought to himself, "Maybe, but I bet the people in this system don't want to answer to these uppity, holier-than-thou blowhards."

Krystal picked up on his thought and returned a frustrated expression. "Trust me—we aren't that way at all."

"Easy for you to say," said Fox. "Also, are you really defending the people who chased you halfway across the system just to kill you?"

"I'm not defending them—I'm defending the honor of my people in general. Maybe now you can see why I want my father to overthrow the current council. They're a problem."

Fox let out a frustrated sigh. "Krystal, let me put it this way—if your father simply wanted regime change, I wouldn't be getting involved in this. That's fine if he wants to do that. But the way it looks right now, he's doing it with the help of someone whose ambitions go beyond that. His partner is one of the biggest power players on this planet." He pointed through the front window at Skallis. "That corporate interest would be linked to your people if your father succeeds. And if you think the corporate juggernauts on this planet are bad now, wait until they have the ability to dictate policy across the entire system and possibly the other ones nearby, too."

For the first time in the conversation, a subtle look of uncertainty appeared on Krystal's face. Yet, despite that, she reaffirmed, "My father wouldn't have dealings with these people if he didn't believe it would end with the ultimate good. I trust his judgment, so even though I understand your concerns, I don't agree."

The unbridled frustration and anger that Scarlet held towards Neron Taero crossed Fox's mind. Even though he wondered if her hatred of him was simply because he managed to cheat death after being hunted down and killed by her, he held the suspicion that her anger was in some way justified.

But as he pondered that, Krystal picked up on his musings and bared a tooth in response. "As for your 'friend', I will remember that."

"Remember what?" asked Fox.

"You know exactly what," Krystal huffed. "Personally, I think you need to cut your ties with Scarlet before she corrupts you. And as I said before, don't get in the way of my father. Nothing good will come from that."

Not accepting her position, Fox posed a question in return. "What if your father is wrong? Look, I understand—I had a lot of respect for my dad. He was my mentor and my role model, and the reason I'm even in this line of work is because of him. But at the same time, he wasn't perfect. He made mistakes. He had beliefs that I didn't agree with. What I'm saying is that I think it's a mistake to assume that your dad knows exactly what's in the best interest for more or less this entire star system and the ones around it."

Krystal narrowed her eyes in frustration. "And you do?"

"No—but I have a better idea of it, as someone who would be affected by your father's plan more than you would be." He halted, then tried to soften his posture and composure as much as possible. "Look—what it comes down to is that as it is, we both have goals that are incompatible with each other. If there was a way to replace your planet's government without giving the corporate interests in this system a monopoly on an essential material, I would be supporting you right now. I might even be interested in fighting alongside you…if you fight—I don't know."

"I was in the Ancient Order's fighter defense division before the Council's proxies tried to kill me, so yes—I do fight," Krystal replied.

That detail intrigued Fox and caused his ears to poke up slightly, but he returned to his previous statement. "…But the way it is right now, it looks like things will either stay the way they are, or this will end with every planetary government in this corner of the galaxy having to bow to your people or to Asgard Industries in order to be able to travel between planets and systems quickly. And I don't want that to happen."

Krystal sighed. "I understand. It's sad that it has to be this way."

"I know," Fox replied. "Personally, I don't have anything against you. I know Scarlet kind of hates your people in general…"

"Kind of?" Krystal snapped. "She despises me and my people."

"Oh, fine," Fox hesitated, blushing slightly, "…But what I was saying is that I find you…well…kind of nice to be around."

Krystal shrugged. "Same. As I told you, you're not a bad person."

Fox's blush remained. However, as the seconds ticked by, his face returned to normal. Glancing at his passenger, he offered a question. "Is there anything I can do to help you if my side of this argument wins out?"

Krystal exhaled. Looking at him with an expression that communicated unshakable confidence in her opinion, she replied, "No, because you won't win."

Fox repressed the urge to roll his eyes, until Krystal asked, "What are you going to do? Warn the Council about my father? They already know what he wants to do. Are you going to suggest some kind of agreement to try to keep my people enslaved to the Council?"

Fox bit his lip, struggling to make eye contact with Krystal.

Sensing that she had struck a nerve of truth, the vixen continued, "The Council is too proud to work with outsiders. They won't listen to you. They probably won't even let you talk to them. And if they do, that means they're desperate. And if they're desperate enough to work with outsider armies or mercenaries, it's already too late for them. The people of Cerinia won't stand for it. They'll revolt before they give up even the slightest bit of their independence. The Council knows this."

Fox looked at her in frustrated confusion. "But then why would they accept your father coming to 'liberate' them with a corporate-owned army? They're not Cerinians…"

The memory of the cloned soldiers in the building on Saijivo flashed in his mind, sending a chill down his spine. "Oh, that's how."

Krystal returned a knowing look. "I don't think you understand how frail of a grasp the Council has on the people of Cerinia. The people don't like them. The only things keeping them from being deposed are tradition and fear, and that the High Priest of Cerinia is generally well-liked. I bet more than half of the Cerinians in the Order of Nobility and the Ancient Order would like the current Council gone—and as someone from the Ancient Order, I know what I'm talking about.

"In fact," she added, "Striking a deal with the Council to 'protect' them from my father and his allies might be just be the push my father needs to guarantee victory." While Fox grimaced, she stated, "That's why I'm not worried about you trying to keep my people enslaved. Try as you may, you won't win. Part of why I've been telling you not to get in my father's way is because it'll be better for you in the end if you don't."

Although Krystal's use of the word 'enslaved' to describe her people tugged at Fox's stubborn heartstrings, a look of subtle defiance appeared in his eyes. "I'm not going to stand down. Sorry."

Krystal sighed and looked at the floor. "Well, I'll pray for your survival, in that case."

"I don't need your prayers."

The Cerinian glared at him, her aquamarine eyes piercing into his soul. "I disagree."

An air of tense silence fell over the cockpit. That is, until Krystal unbuckled her safety belt and opened the door leading into the cargo area outside. She walked through it and closed the door behind her, leaving Fox alone with his thoughts.

"What if she's right? What if this whole effort is pointless? But I can't just lie down and let all the people in this system…and in Lylat…get run over by a juggernaut that I had the power to stop—at least theoretically. I have to do something. Maybe there's another option I haven't thought of…or maybe Felix's idea of blasting the thyresium deposits on Cerinia's south pole from orbit isn't as crazy and delusional as I thought."

He frowned, decreasing altitude and descending into Skallis's mesosphere as the transport neared Sky City. "For the time being, I just need to keep moving forward with the plan and see where it leads. Maybe something will turn up that changes everything."

As he pondered his options, Scarlet's borrowed PDA chirped. Glancing at his hip holster for a moment, he unclipped it and looked at the screen. Thanks to at least some of Scarlet's previous contacts being stored in the device, the caller ID simply read 'Felix.'

He pressed the button to answer. "Hello?"

"Hey, is this Fox?" asked a voice that Fox immediately confirmed as belonging to the Gaia Corporation's chief executive.

"Yeah," Fox replied. "I'm using one of Scarlet's phones while I'm out here."

"That's what she told me. Listen—I just wanted to give you an update: Dr. Voltimure Reige reached out to me and is willing to work with us. I'm trying to set up a way to get him to Skallis as we speak."

Fox's eyes widened. "Talk about a stroke of luck! Anything else I need to know about?"

"Yes," said Felix, "He claims he has someone with him who the Cerinians will be 'more receptive to'—whatever that means. But what that does mean for you is that if you can convince whoever you need to in order to get to Cerinia, I'm thinking that maybe this friend of Dr. Reige might be able to give you a better rapport with the locals. Obviously I can't be sure about that, but I wanted to keep you in the loop. This idea might actually have a shot at working."

Fox let out a breath that was both tense and relieved at the same time. "Thanks, Felix."

As the transport broke through the clouds in the lower atmosphere, a sprawling, levitating landmass came into view, floating a mile above the planetwide city below. No tall buildings stood out on the airborne island—for the most part, its structures remained low to the ground. However, a vast, translucent sphere with a hexagonal pattern encircled the landmass, immediately reminding Fox that this was not a place one simply visited. Given the nature of the planet-wide metropolis below, he suspected the prefecture also featured an anti-air defense array.

His suspicion proved valid seconds later when an airspace warning appeared on his HUD, along with the voice of the city's air traffic controller demanding that he either state his credentials, immediately divert course, or be shot down. Using the information given to him by Karen Altruis, he cleared both himself and his vessel and continued towards the floating city.

In terms of sheer size, it occupied a vaguely circular space with a diameter of five miles—in the grand scheme of things, not massive; but impressive for an airborne city. The array of structures below offered almost no space between them to the point where Fox saw no roads at all. Most of the buildings, although unimpressive from a distance, featured refined architecture with stucco walls and tile roofs that Fox took increasing note of as he slowed his transport and navigated in the direction of the city's landing pad. Five other small crafts occupied the concrete pad, parked as close together as possible to make the most of the limited space.

Lowering the transport to the ground, he decreased the engine output before finally shutting it off and unclipping his safety belt. He exhaled, then stood up, unsure of what to do next. Karen Altruis had given him nothing in the way of instructions for reaching her residence upon landing, and if he was honest with himself, he dreaded having to spend any unnecessary time alone with Krystal.

He exited the cockpit, opening the door to the cargo hold where he found Krystal seated on a bench mounted to the left wall. Upon seeing him, she rose to her feet while he walked past her and mashed a green button that caused the transport's rear loading ramp to descend. Stepping down the ramp into the noonday sunlight, Fox shielded his eyes and looked around the landing pad.

The close proximity of the buildings in Sky City both intrigued and worried him at the same time. The city seemed to be built like a maze, the homogeneous design and construction of the structures endemic to it doing nothing to assuage his worries about getting lost.

To distract himself from that concern, he glanced at the red stone control tower that seemed like the tallest building in the city. A skunk woman stepped through a door at the base of it, wearing a simple light blue collared shirt and navy dress slacks. Locking eyes with Fox, she called out, "What brings you here?"

While Krystal poked her head out of the transport's cargo hold, Fox approached the skunk and replied, "I'm here to meet someone."

"Name?"

"Theirs, or mine?"

"Theirs," said the woman.

"Karen Altruis."

The skunk's eyes widened slightly. "Oh, her—she's in the lobby inside that building there."

The woman pointed towards an adjacent square building, just as a red-furred, red-haired vixen stepped through the front door. She wore a casual but deceptively high-end black dress and a pair of sunglasses that looked unambiguously high-end. Her professionally styled curly hair, paired with the subtle but exotic looking blue gemstone earrings that hung from her slightly oversized ears, gave off an affluent appearance. Laying eyes on Fox, she waved and stepped towards him as quickly as her heeled sandals would allow.

"Fox!" she called out.

He cocked his head in confusion, feeling as though he should have known who she was. She seemed vaguely familiar to him in a way that he struggled to place, but also foreign. Regardless, he approached her while she moved closer to him.

When the two reached the same point, the vixen threw her arms around him and drew him in for a hug. The act threw Fox off, and he momentarily considered trying to forcibly extricate himself from the gesture before he decided that trying to act normal would be the best response. He reciprocated her gesture as genuinely as possible, even though serious questions about her flooded his mind.

After a few seconds, the bizarrely affectionate woman let go of him and took a step back.

Fox could take the mystery no longer. "I'm sorry—but am I supposed to know you?"

The woman looked back at him with a shocked expression, bordering on wounded. "Seriously? No one ever told you? I'm your aunt!"

A small bomb may as well have gone off in Fox's head. Staring at her with a stunned expression, he asked, "On which side of my family?"

"Your mom's side," she answered. "Really? Your dad never told you that you had family out this way?"

Fox shook his head.

Mrs. Altruis let out a quiet growl and shook her head. "Can't say I'm surprised."

"What do you mean by that?"

The woman sighed. "Your dad was never close with Vixy's side of the family. We can talk about it more back at my place if you want. Right now, I think we've got other things to deal with." She motioned towards Fox's transport as Krystal emerged from the back and stepped onto the landing pad with a large carry bag slung over her shoulder.

Fox looked over his shoulder at her and then returned his attention to Mrs. Altruis. "Your friend on Cerinia told her to go to you?"

"She did, yes," she replied. "I don't know what kind of trouble Krystal got herself into, but she'll be safe here."

A concern that had been gnawing at Fox returned to the forefront of his mind. "So, about me trying to talk to your Cerinian friend—Krystal is not on the same page as me as far as what I'm trying to do. I don't want her being able to 'listen' in on our conversation with Hyacinth, if you know what I mean."

Mrs. Altruis narrowed her eyes. "Not on the same page? How so?"

"It's complicated," Fox replied, scratching the back of his head.

"Don't worry—I might have a solution," the woman replied. "Follow me—I'll take you back to my place." Looking at Krystal as she took in her new surroundings, she called out to her, "You too, Krystal."

Mrs. Altruis led the two off the landing pad and into a narrow street—to be fair, all the streets were narrow—where a three-wheeled vehicle with bicycle tires and a covered passenger area sat. The contraption featured two rows of seats, although they looked cramped at best. She opened one of the two tiny carriage doors on the side and climbed in, seating herself behind a steering rack that looked exactly like one from a bicycle but with two extra knobs. Fox and Krystal took their respective seats behind her, the narrow bench seat forcing them together to the point of near-contact while Krystal held the bag containing all her spare clothes and toiletries from Cerinia. The two avoided eye contact as Mrs. Altruis powered up the tricycle-carriage's tiny electric motor and pulled away from the landing pad area.

She navigated the vehicle through Sky City's cramped roads, not large enough for any conventional vehicles. Apart from citizens on foot, the only other modes of transportation on the streets amounted to bicycles, e-bikes, scooters, and other tiny carriages like hers.

While leaning as far to the right as possible to avoid touching or looking at Krystal, Fox pondered the sudden revelation that had been dumped upon him as feelings of disgust welled up inside.

"This whole time, Scarlet's mom was my aunt? That means…well…I fucked my cousin. She said she was adopted, so there's no blood relation…but I'm mad. There's no way I would have done that if I'd known. I guess that's part of why she was so evasive when I asked her about her mom. She didn't want to have to tell the truth to my face. Either that or she wanted to keep me in the dark as long as possible so she'd have more chances to get me between her legs, because she knew I wouldn't be into it if I knew she was my cousin."

A frown forming on his face, he looked to his left out of the corner of his eye, only to find Krystal mirroring him. A jolt of icy terror rifled down his spine. In a quiet voice just above a whisper, he asked her, "Did you pick up on all of that?"

Krystal gave her head a subtle shake, but subtly enough that it made Fox suspect that she had picked up on more than she wanted to admit to 'hearing.' "I wasn't actively listening. I only sensed your emotions and the vague outline of your thoughts. But this does reinforce my belief that you need to cut your ties with that woman. She isn't good for you."

Fox scowled, part of him agreeing with her up to a certain point while another part of him fumed at the notion of being lectured by the young Cerinian.

Trying to sound civil while still angry, he asked her, "How old are you?"

Krystal returned a salty glare. "19. And yes, we measure our ages the same way you do." Sensing the outline of Fox's thoughts, she added, "Don't discount my advice because I'm young. I don't have any ulterior motives—unlike your 'friend.'"

Fox let out a huff in response and looked out the right side of the carriage to avoid having to continue looking at Krystal. As the rows of similar-looking buildings slowly rolled past, he pondered his situation despite knowing that Krystal would have the ability to pick up on his musings.

"I hate this. I don't have any good options. I'm actively working for a soulless mega-corporation alongside a woman who knew she was related to me but didn't say anything about it because she wanted to have sex with me. Why the hell would I trust her going forward? All I want from her right now is for her to tell me if there's more about my family that I don't know about. But it finally makes sense why she was so infatuated with me that she went out of her way to drag me all the way out here: she knew who I was because her family told her about me. And what was that thing she mentioned last night? Her mom's sister helped get her through her mental trauma after she was abused? How many sisters did Mrs. Altruis have? Is it possible that Vixy was the only one?"

He came to the quick realization that his meeting with Karen Altruis would entail far more than just a chat with her Cerinian friend. He had questions, and he suspected that she had the answers.

After five minutes, Mrs. Altruis turned the carriage into a cramped alleyway and stopped close to a wooden door recessed into the stucco siding and framed with carved patterns. She climbed out, beckoning for Fox and Krystal to follow her lead.

"We're here."

Fox was glad she knew her surroundings, because to him, the entire city seemed like a giant maze filled with homogeneous, photocopied structures. The two-story building in front of him seemed marginally larger than most of the other stucco and clay tiled houses, but it did not differentiate itself enough to seem unique.

As Mrs. Altruis walked up to the door and inserted her key in the deadbolt lock, Fox asked her, "Does everyone here live right on top of each other?"

The vixen nodded. "Sky City isn't very big, so we have to do what we can to accommodate everyone. Fortunately, the sound deadening in these buildings is amazing. It looks a lot worse than it actually is."

She turned the doorknob, ushering Fox and Krystal inside. The three found themselves in a compact atrium that allowed a view of the second floor through a decorative metal railing above them. An accommodating living room with hardwood floors awaited them upon crossing the threshold of the atrium, with rustic decorations, small plants, and leather furniture filling the relatively small but cozy space.

Mrs. Altruis turned to Krystal, pointing towards a staircase on the left side of the room. "Let me show you the room I prepared for you, Krystal. Wait here, Fox—I'll be right back."

Fox nodded and crossed his arms while Mrs. Altruis led Krystal up the stairs. However, before disappearing from sight, Krystal looked over her shoulder at him with an expression conveying a cluster of emotions that felt to him like frustration, gratitude, and sadness mixed together. As he gave himself time to think about it, he suspected that the disappointment he felt from her came from her being at odds with him over the fate of Cerinia, and that her sadness came from her otherwise liking him while being grateful for him saving her from certain death and helping her in spite of their differences.

While the faint footsteps of the two women upstairs tickled his ears, Fox roamed the living room, taking note of the small, framed pictures that adorned both a wooden lamp table and a chest of drawers on the side of the room opposite from it. He noticed three pictures in total: one of Mrs. Altruis and a male vulpine that Fox assumed was Scarlet's adoptive father, a picture of the two along with Scarlet in her early teenage years, and a third portrait that Fox lingered on. The final picture, positioned on the chest of drawers, displayed Mrs. Altruis standing next to a similar-looking vixen whose image Fox had certainly seen before.

He stared at it longingly, sad and embittered that somehow, he had never been made aware of his relatives outside the Lylat System. But then, as he observed the portrait, he noticed something that made him even more uneasy than before. Although fur had a masking effect on a person's age, it was clear enough that in this picture, Vixy was at least 40 years old—significantly older than she was when she disappeared from Fox's life on Corneria. He thought back on those early childhood years, back to the time in his life when she simply…stopped being there. He recalled a faint memory of asking his father what had happened to her, after he picked him up from preschool. His father's cryptic answer amounted to, "You won't see her again. She won't be coming back."

That was the refrain repeated to him throughout his entire childhood. He assumed she had passed away, but he always wondered if there was something more. He remembered pressing his father for more definitive answers until the older fox finally relented and admitted that she had simply left, abandoning him and his son. That never sat right with Fox. Something seemed 'off' about that narrative. And now he had a strong suspicion that his intuition was correct, and that for reasons he could not comprehend, he had been strung along.

"But why?"

His attention returned to the world around him when Mrs. Altruis emerged from the stairwell and noticed him looking at the picture. Locking eyes with her, Fox spoke. "Look, I know I need to talk to Hyacinth, but I need to know what happened to my mom first."

The woman responded with a look of mild confusion. "No one told you?"

Fox clenched his fists. "No. For some reason, I've been kept in the dark about her—and you, and your side of the family—from the beginning, and I need to find out why. Do you think you can help me?"

"I'll do what I can," Mrs. Altruis replied. "Have a seat. I can get you some tea if you'd like."

Fox heeded her suggestion and seated himself in the leather chair closest to him while shaking his head. "I don't need anything to drink right now. I just need answers."

"I understand," said the woman, taking a seat in an identical chair ten feet from him. A small, oval-shaped coffee table separated the two. "So, what do you know about Vixy?"

Fox sighed. "Very little. I just remember bits and pieces of my time with her when I was very young. She disappeared when I was 4."

"What did you think happened to her?"

"I was told that she just…wouldn't be coming back. My dad said that I wouldn't see her again. He wouldn't go into any more detail than that."

Mrs. Altruis narrowed her eyes. "Was he evasive when you asked him that question? I'm sure you brought it up again when you got older."

Fox returned a grim nod. "Extremely evasive. It was like there was something he really didn't want me to know. I kept pressing the issue, and eventually he told me that she abandoned us."

The woman's eyes widened, confusion and anger evident in her expression. "That is complete bullshit, and I can't believe your father would lie to you like that."

"Then what actually happened?" Fox all but pleaded.

Leaning forward in her chair, his aunt took a deep breath and replied, "Your mom was forced to leave Corneria because she had a credible threat to her life. Unless your dad was the kind to lie to you about other things, he probably gave you that story because he really didn't want you to know what actually happened. I'll be honest—Vixy wouldn't go into detail about who or what was threatening her. She just said she needed to leave the Lylat System for her own safety. Knowing that you'd probably never get to know her brought her to tears more than once. It absolutely crushed her."

Fox hung his head. Struggling to meet his aunt's eyes, he asked, "She's not here anymore, is she?"

"I'm sorry, Fox. She passed away seven years ago."

"Damn it," Fox growled, trying to avoid clawing the arms of the chair he was seated in. "I wish she could have reached out to me somehow."

"She did too, Fox. You'll never know how much it hurt her."

"I don't understand, though—she wasn't even in danger anymore!" he snapped. "Would making a single call or just sending me a message that said, 'I love you,' or 'I'm still out there and I'm thinking about you' have been too much?"

Mrs. Altruis looked uncertain about her response. After a momentary pause, she answered, "She had her reasons, and although she never told me what they were, her not wanting to talk to you wasn't one of them. She absolutely did."

A long, drawn-out sigh left Fox's mouth. His ears rotated backwards, and his shoulders sagged. "Do I have any other family out here that I should know about?"

"Your great-aunt is still alive, but she's on Ichtos," his aunt replied. A noticeable tinge of sorrow suddenly descended upon her. "…There's also my adopted daughter Cynthia. I don't know if you'd even consider her a relative. She was very close with Vixy, though." She trailed off, "I don't think you should go looking for her, to be honest. Not as if you could—she won't even return my calls anymore."

Knowing who she was referring to despite previously not knowing Scarlet's given name, he nodded.

Mrs. Altruis shifted in her seat, seemingly on the verge of saying something she felt uncertain about. Opening her mouth, she muttered, "There's another thing…but…never mind. Don't bother."

Fox raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure?"

His aunt waved him off. "It's fine. I'm going to go set up the call with Hyacinth. You can wait here, or you can follow me if you want."

"I'll wait here. I need to take a few minutes to process all this," Fox replied.