-1Star Fox: “Comrade”

By Katie “morrie-chan” McNicholas

Pairing: None; Krystal-Falco friendship. Hinted Fox/Krystal if you squint.

Rating: PG-13

Warning: For this chapter, just some language. Appearances by Katt and gasp Fara! 8D

Disclaimer: I don’t own Star Fox, Nintendo does.

--

Chapter 3

Falco rolled through the floor of the hospital on the wheelchair given to him; the last time he had been confined to one of these was a while ago. He stopped by the door of the room Krystal was in. It had been a few weeks since they got here. Krystal had drifted in and out of consciousness initially, but she was totally fine now, apparently. What was unusual was that her wounds, according to Slippy, were almost healed already; her race’s advanced immune systems made them fast healers, as Fox explained to him.

The avian still felt somewhat guilty about the events of the past week, but he wasn’t being overly hard on himself anymore. These things happen in their field of work all the time; he was just thankful that neither of them were dead.

Falco took in a few deep breaths. He was beyond nervous, despite himself. He slowly rolled into the room.

--

Krystal was sitting up, reading a book Peppy had given her some time ago. It was about a spy, who was trying to save his family from a psychotic con-man who was really his long lost brother. She piped her head up as Falco entered the room. She smiled and placed the book down.

“What took you so long to come and see me?” she asked the avian. Falco sighed, shrugging his shoulders. “I wanted…to wait until you were well enough.” was the excuse he gave. Krystal titled her head slightly; her usually neater bangs fell over her eyes.

“You should know by now that lies are futile against me, Falco. But you needn’t feel guilty for what happened back there. I was protecting my comrade.” she spoke gently. Falco blinked, then cleared his throat. “…right. Of course.” he murmured, suddenly feeling better.

There was a moment of silence, then Falco rolled a little closer to her bed. “Where did you learn how to fight?” he found himself asking. Krystal’s expression became somber. “On my home planet, Cerinia, I was a warrior known as a Berserker. You had to have an extrasensory ability to be a berserker, but you also had to train very hard, and pass a test to become one.”

“I started training in the armed forces when I was 9 years old. Which wasn’t unusual, some start as early as 6 or 7 years of age. But it was a lot of hard work, and on top of that, there weren’t any female berserkers at the time. I was the first…and the last.” a tear threatened to come out of Krystal’s eye, but she quickly wiped it away. “Berserkers learn from the start that your comrades are precious, and that working as a team is vital to one’s survival. Or so we were taught.” she spoke, her tone lightening.

Falco looked down to his bandaged up knee. ‘That mindset is similar to…’ he thought, thoughts of the past returning to the avian. “Krystal.” he spoke. The vixen looked across the room to him, her eyes showing that she knew what he was going to say already. “You’re welcome, Falco.”

--

Dr. Walrus Feldman stood across the room from Falco, reading the clipboard. He looked up at the avian and smiled. “Well, you’ll be relieved to know that the emergency surgery was successful.” he spoke. Falco sighed in relief, as did Slippy, who stood next to the bed.

The doctor’s expression faded into a more mellow one. “However, your rehabilitation will be somewhat painful. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if your knee hurt for the rest of your life.” he said more sternly. Falco nodded, understanding what the doctor was saying, as well as it being his own fault. “And…if this leg takes another injury like this, there’s a chance you might lose it all together.” the doctor added with a remorseful tone.

Falco swallowed hard, not expecting that. Avian bones could only take so much damage, he knew that…but he couldn’t picture losing his leg. He noticed Slippy looking at him, with a fearful concern he hadn’t seen in the toad in a while. Falco looked back at the doctor and nodded again.

The walrus’ expression lightened once more. “I’m glad you understand. I’d advise you to be less reckless…but I know how war is; I used to be a medic with Corneria. Just try not to hurt yourself so much.” he cheered. Falco couldn’t help the goofy smirk that adorned his face as he nodded once more. “Got it.”

--

Miyu leaned into Krystal’s room. Just two weeks later, and the vixen was already healed. Krystal was just pulling a gray hooded sweatshirt over her head. She looked to the lynx at the door. “Hello.” the blue furred female said, waving lightly. Miyu almost burst into giggles, because the sweater was somewhat big and goofy looking on the vulpine; it had belonged to Fox.

“Fox already signed you out. You, me, Fay and he are gonna head back to Corneria, while Slippy stays here with Falco for a while.” the lynx explained. Krystal nodded, already knowing the plan. Fox had explained it to her the night before; they were to give the mission analysis to Corneria, then take turns staying with Falco for the next 2 months.

Fay came in next, almost bumping into Miyu. “Katt’s here.” she managed to get out before a loud yelp was heard from all the way at the end of the hall. Krystal and Miyu glanced at each other, then they walked down the hall.

--

Fox stood outside the door with an old friend, a wheelchair bound fennec fox with pale brown fur and piercing hazel eyes. Fox looked over to her, smirking in embarrassment. “Funny we meet again like this, huh Fara?” he said to his former girlfriend, who looked up at him. “Katt insisted I come with her to see Falco; she freaked out when she heard he hurt himself…again.” she replied.

As Krystal, Miyu and Fay came over, the vixens looked at each other. Fara and Krystal had been introduced, rather awkwardly, about 3 years ago. Krystal had just joined the team, and Fox and Fara hadn’t seen each other in 7 years. Krystal was still in her Amazonian-like clothing, and Fara thought she was in costume. Poor Fox was so nervous about his former love meeting the girl he was just starting to fall for, but it turned out alright, because the two became fast friends.

“Krystal, you’re doing better.” the older vixen spoke with a smile; Fara had visited during their second week in the hospital, when Krystal was still fading in and out. Krystal just laughed and nodded. Miyu and Fay peered into the room. “Thank God, she’s not killing him.” the lynx murmured. “Not yet, anyway.” the dog added with a playful giggle.

Krystal headed in, the other two girls following. Fara looked back over to Fox. “You know, she’s grown up a lot. I can tell. She’s more mature every time I meet up with her.” the vixen spoke. Fox blushed beneath his fur, his ex making no secret of her approval of Krystal. He scratched the back of his head, clearing his throat. “Yeah, I just wish that she would be a little less…self-sacrificial sometimes. I get scared that…I might lose her.” he admitted. Fara smiled, a light sigh breathed. “Like you were scared you were going to lose me. But look what happened to us. I ended up in a wheelchair and you almost went crazy.”

Fox looked down at Fara, suddenly his heart feeling heavy. “You love her. I understand that. But you got to let her…do her own thing. Feel her own way out. Krystal’s a very strong, independent girl. If you’d just let her.” Fara breathed. The vixen began to roll her way into the room. “And you’re just going to age yourself faster if you keep worrying so much all the time.” she added playfully.

Fox sighed, a smile following. One thing about Fara hadn’t changed; she still knew just what to say to make him feel better. It was something she and Krystal had in common, in fact. And he knew she was right. Krystal was very strong; in some ways, stronger then he was. He just needed to let her do things on her own, sometimes. He walked in behind the girls, ready for whatever chaos was inside that room.

--

Katt Monroe sat at the edge of Falco’s bed. Falco looked absolutely exhausted, exasperated even. Which was typical after one of Katt’s “Chew Out Falco” moments. He had known the feline for years, yet she still knew exactly what to say to make him feel either worse or better; it depended on the situation of course.

Katt had been so busy the past week or two that she hardly had the time to visit Falco until now. The black furred cat looked calm now, but just moments ago, she was quite the sight to behold. Slippy was STILL cowering in the corner, shaking like a leaf being blown in the wind.

Fox, Krystal, Miyu, Fay and Fara all came in. Katt looked over to them and waved. “Hey.” she spoke, totally calm. Falco waved as well, his own hand shaking a little. Miyu and Fay looked and each other and giggled. Fara sighed, not sure of what to say, let alone where to start. Fox crossed his arms, thinking half-heartedly that Falco deserved it for making the cat worry. Krystal smiled, knowing it best to just watch the show sometimes.

Katt looked back to Falco, then kissed him on the tip of his beak. “And don’t make me worry again, or else next time I’m gonna kick your ass. Okay?” she spoke. Fox almost lost his composure, because she was taking to his teammate like he was a child. Falco crossed his arms, totally embarrassed at this point. “O-okay.” he muttered.

Katt got up and made her way out; she had to get back to work, Zoness wasn’t going to rebuild itself. After she was gone, the five looked at Falco. “What’d she say?” Miyu asked. Falco sighed in relief that the situation was over, because as much as he loved Katt, she was downright scary when she was mad. Slippy ran over to Fox and buried his face against the vulpine. “I thought she was gonna kill Falco…” he whined.

Fara chuckled, patting Slippy on the back of his head. “Don’t worry, Katt means well. And we all know that’s how she gets when she’s worried about Falco.” the vixen spoke. Krystal shook her head. “At least she didn’t break anything…like the last time.” the blue vixen brought up. The last time Katt chewed out Falco, a vase and a chair served as casualties; nothing hitting Falco of course. As much as he made her worry, Katt wouldn’t think of hurting the object of her affections.

Falco leaned back against his pillows and looked up at the ceiling. This was going to be a long two months.

--

“We’re leaving.” Fox called out. Miyu and Fay were already outside. Krystal turned to Falco before walking out of the room. Falco looked at her and blinked. “What?” he asked.

Krystal approached him, taking his hand. She opened his palm face up, then pressed her forehead into it. She said something in a language no one but her understood. Falco quirked an eyebrow at the gesture. “What did you just say?” he asked as she turned to leave.

The vixen paused at the door. “For my comrades.” she piped, then exited. Falco smiled, leaning back against the bed rest. He stared at his hand for a moment and wondered what her home planet was like. He sighed, smiled, pressed his palm into his own forehead.

“For my comrades.” he repeated.

-FINISH-

Closing Statement: Yes! I finished it! Thank you for all who read this. I’m going to start work on another Star Fox fanfic very soon. At the time I posted this last chapter, I only got two reviews ( TvT), but I hope to get many more.

My next Star Fox fanfic will be longer. And it’ll be a whole storyline, not just consequences. This fanfic is just a taste of what I want to do. Of course, I’ll try to make the next one a little more serious. I ended this one on a lighter note then when it started.

My intentions with this fic…well, there were a few. First, I wanted to write something other then a full-on romance fic. I do a lot of those, maybe too much. Another intention was to focus a fanfic on my two favorite characters without pairing them together. I’ve seen Falco/Krystal done before, and it’s not that I don’t like it--I’m just a cannon whore, in terms of this particular fandom. Third, I wanted to get a good feel of what I want to DO with my Star Fox Fanfiction.

Well, I hope you all enjoyed this, even if just a little. Thanks to any of you who reviewed my story, or even just read it. And to anyone else who reviews: critique is welcomed. I really need it, I know.