This is my first Starfox fanfic. If you don't like M/M pairings, I suggest you go somewhere else. Explicit sex scenes will have their own chapter, in case you don't want to read them. You won't miss any plot points by doing so.

StarFox and all related items are copyright Nintendo. I don't own any of the characters or canon plot or basically anything in the games, so don't sue me.

I feel so awkward being a guy and writing yaoi, but I have a boyfriend so who am I to complain?

Fox: "When you were writing this, you have no idea what you were doing, did you?"

Me: "It was 5 AM and I couldn't sleep, what would you expect?""

Fox: "Did you by any chance have coffee?"

Me: "Well I may have had several cups, bu-"

Fox: "OH GAWD... HELP!"

Anyway... Onto the story!

Long Days

Life was rough for the great Fox Mccloud. He was a "hero" in the minds of the people he saved, but in the dark confines of his own, he was a slave working off an infinite debt, and quite a lonely one too. His relationship with Krystal didn't last, and she decided that it was best to "just be friends." He remembered seeing an ecstatic Wolf after the news got out. Media hounds really are a pain in the ass. Wolf had looked as if he had just won a billion credits at the news, and it angered Fox to even think about it. Perhaps it was the uncertainty as to the reason behind Wolf's sudden joy that gave him a sense of fear, and in turn, a sense of anger. It then occurred to him that he never really understood Wolf's motives at all. Nothing about the cruel mercenary ever made sense to him. Wolf had made it very clear that he wanted Fox dead, yet he can't seem to keep himself from saving the life of the one he vowed to kill. Wolf amended that he wanted to kill Fox personally, but when he said that, it had a subtle lack of confidence, as if it was made up on the spot. Wolf was certainly no coward, yet Fox couldn't figure out what was going through the villain's mind that made him do and say things he did. They just seemed too out of character at times.

Fox spent a while pondering this paradox in his room aboard the Great Fox. He had the time to, as being a mercenary tended to give him a lot of breaks. It was 8 o'clock in the morning anyway, so he wasn't in a rush to do anything. His curiosity and lack of an explanation got the better of him, so he decided to do some research.

"ROB, could you retrieve all information regarding Wolf O'Donnell from the Cornerian Archives? Dated before the Lylat War please."

"Yes, of course," replied the robotic voice of ROB.

Fox was granted access to the Cornerian Archives a couple months ago, courtesy of General Pepper, but he never used his high clearance level beyond walking straight into the general's office a couple of times.

"Data available for Wolf O'Donnell," said Rob after a couple of minutes.

"Transfer it to my tablet."

There was a tremendous amount of information about Wolf, but almost all of it was either related to his mercenary work, or his many crimes, both of which were post-war. The little bits of information he did find weren't very useful. After scrolling through a couple more pages of things he already knew, he realized something that completely escaped his mind earlier: Wolf had gone to the flight academy, just as Fox had.

Fox punched in his password a couple more times and gained extended access to the database, which encompassed all information that the archives contained, as well as had access to. To the credit of the archives, they had a lot more access to external information sources than Fox had initially thought. A bit more searching brought Fox to Wolf's file in the flight academy student records, as well as a bunch of school photos and even a couple of videos. It was essentially Wolf's childhood timeline, as the flight academy was a full schooling experience. Every grade level was taught at that academy, all the way to the end of college. Fox started with photos from year one. Wolf was only 5 years old at the time, and was admittedly quite adorable with his large violet eyes. All of the photos and videos from the early years always depicted him as happy, but Fox actually didn't remember much of this. He remembered a different Wolf, one which would look down and move away in a shy manner when Fox bumped into him, even though Wolf was almost 3 years older than Fox was. Fox had always assumed that it was because his own dad was a famous mercenary and former instructor at the academy, as it wasn't uncommon for students there to be self-conscious around him. Yet in the videos, Wolf seemed to be the most extroverted person ever.

Fox continued to look at the timeline, and all the records indicated that Wolf was an upbeat person. His grades were excellent, he scored insanely high on all the tests, and he was always in a happy mood.

And then it happened.

During Wolf's tenth year at the academy, he got into a fight and lost an eye. It was the one memory that Fox wanted to forget, because it was his fault. During Fox's eighth year at the academy, he was jealous of Wolf's popularity and all the attention he got. Wolf was clearly the better student, but Fox was upset with Wolf, so like any hormonal teenager at the time, he decided to pick a fight.

It started out as a verbal battle, and even then, Wolf did something that had confused Fox since.

He cried.

It was a silent cry, where tears flowed and fell, but no sound could be heard, no tremor in his voice noticeable, but it was there. Fox didn't pay attention to the odd occurrence at the time. The verbal fight turned physical, but by the time the headmaster arrived, Wolf had lost an eye. It was obvious that Fox started the fight, but because he was the son of James Mccloud, they twisted the story to make it look like Wolf was to blame. Even though Wolf lost an eye, Fox had a broken arm and a couple broken ribs, so as a result, Wolf was expelled from the academy, which was one of the most humiliating things that could happen to you, but that didn't make him cry. Wolf's cry at the fight was the first time he ever shed tears, and probably the last.

The records ended there, but a small post-expulsion note was found with the rest of his file. It was a picture of a sticky note, which read:

"If you need someone to talk to, call 1-ADJ-07489"

Fox didn't miss a beat. He immediately dialed the number, and after a couple of rings, someone picked up.

"Hello, this is Glenn's Psychiatric Services. How can I help you?" said a female voice.

Fox never quite thought things through, so he stumbled for words. His voice came out shaky.

"Uhh… I got this number… I wanted to know who it was… I need to talk to you… it's important."

"Isn't this Fox Mccloud? My name is Laura. Why do you need to talk to me exactly?"

"I don't know yet, I just do."

There was a brief silence, and then, in a nonchalant way, she replied:

"I don't have any clients today, you are welcome to drop by if you want. My office is at 7112 Cranberry Road."

"Thank you very much, I shall be on my way then."

Fox ended the call and got up, which brought to his attention the fact that he was completely naked except for the small pendant he wore every day. He had found it a couple weeks after his dad died. He had taken a hike through the mountains of the Cornerian National Park to ease the pain of his father's passing. At the very top of the mountain, he let loose into a screaming fit that went on for about fifteen minutes. After he finished, he saw a small silvery object falling from the sky and landing by his feet. Fox decided to keep it as remembrance for his father. It was made of some ridiculously hard metal that was probably super rare, and it was shaped in the figure of a running fox. It looked as if there was some other piece that would fit with it in a yin-yang fashion. The last, and possibly most mysterious part of it was the blue gem located where the eye of the fox would go. It gave a faint glow and some subtle warmth, but Fox had seen stranger things, so he didn't question it.

Fox never really cared about the origin and details of the pendant before, but curiosity got the better of him again, so he decided to do some research. When they were building the new Great Fox, he had requested a private library for his own living quarters after being caught doing research while nude in the middle of the night several times by Krystal. Courtesy of the new library, books could be found strewn about everywhere in his room. Although his thoroughly messy living quarters made it difficult to find anything, he eventually came across his target of interest: a tablet-like device with a scanner built into it. It was a gift from one of his father's friends when he was little. You could point the scanner at just about anything, and it would tell you what it was, give you a detailed description, and give you the estimated price for it. The guy had told Fox that it would come in handy in case he ever wanted to go treasure hunting. He had also claimed that this device had info (or access to info) on 99.999% of all the items in the known universe. It seemed like a stretch, but all the times it had been used, it was able to provide plentiful amounts of data on just about anything.

Fox placed the pendant in front of him and ran the scanner on it. However, the scan took a lot longer than the usual five second delay. After waiting a couple of minutes, it outputted some text:

CATEGORY: ARTIFACT

TYPE: PENDANT

AGE: N/A

METAL: N/A

GEM: N/A

INFO: N/A

PRICE: N/A

NOTES: For more info, conduct research regarding fictional/unconfirmed artifacts, as unconfirmed data is not available in artifact databases.

The last line caught Fox's eye, as he wasn't about to give up just yet. He put the pendant back on before searching through the bookshelves again. He had thousands of books in his private library, most of which he's never read. As he pulled out books, large amounts of dust flew into the air, which made Fox start sneezing. First once, then twice, then many more times, as his sneezing created enough wind to pick up yet more dust. When he finally stopped, he noticed an old book he had previously missed due to all the dust particles covering everything. He looked at the old leather-bound book that was probably over 100 years old. It was titled "The Encyclopedia of Mythological Artifacts." Fox sat down to look through the thick book. He worked quickly as he was also going to visit Laura in the afternoon. After about an hour of searching, he found it. The entry was titled:

Lylatica Alphacrystallis and Lylatica Omegacrystallis: The matchmaker crystals

Also known as the Alpha and Omega crystals.

These two crystals are formed in pairs inside the Lylat star. One Alpha crystal will always have a matching Omega crystal. They are always found embedded into a pendant made of ichorsteel, a silvery, indestructible magic alloy. The Alpha crystal is red, while the Omega crystal is blue. The crystals themselves have a conscience, and they separate to each seek out a kind, noble, and often troubled heart. The ones they choose are fated lovers, hence why they are known as matchmaker crystals. They cannot be stolen, as they simply vanish when in the wrong hands. The matching pendants fit together like puzzle pieces, as proof of their entanglement.

Fox stared at the page in disbelief and thought to himself, 'A fated lover? That just seems beyond ridiculous. So I'm supposed to go find someone with a matching red Alpha crystal pendant that I have probably never met before and just be all like "Hey you who I don't know, we're supposed to be fated lovers so will you marry me?" That will never happen in this world, not in a million years.'

However, no matter how much Fox denied the existence of someone out there who is fated to be with him, he could help but feel a little giddy at the revelation. Seeing that it was already eleven o'clock, he hurriedly threw on some casual clothing and put the books away, as he didn't want to be too late. He couldn't stop smiling, no matter how hard he tried.

After he got dressed, he went through his usual morning routine. He didn't bump into anyone, which wasn't all that surprising, since a total of 4 people occupied a dreadnaught class battleship. Falco was probably in the lounge. He was also probably drinking, practicing at the pool table, playing video games, jerking off, or doing all of those activities simultaneously. Slippy is almost always in the docking bay or the engine room, which is where all his tinkering happens. Peppy could be in a lot of places, so Fox didn't know where to start guessing, but most of the time, he can be found dozing in the bridge.

Fox made his way to the docking bay, where Slippy was nowhere to be found, much to Fox's relief. He hopped into his arwing onto his seat. His ship had a familiar feeling that made him feel warm inside, as it had stuck with him through thick and thin. As he was about close the canopy on his arwing, Peppy walked in, looked at Fox, nodded, and then walked off. Peppy and Krystal had this magical ability to read other people like books. They couldn't do it perfectly, but they both could just tell when something is bothering you. They could also tell whether it's okay to ask you what it is. This was one of the reasons Fox's relationship with Krystal didn't go well: She could sometimes know what Fox was thinking before he actually thought it. As such, Fox was never quite at ease around Krystal, and regarded her as more of a mother figure than a partner.

Launching from the docking bay was about as normal as it could get, and soon Fox was in open space. Since the Great Fox was in orbit around Corneria, the large planet was already looming below. Fox felt an odd peace finally being in space again. Even if the thrill of a dogfight would probably not return for a while, flying was still on the top of Fox's list of favorite activities. Deciding that he shouldn't spend too much of the Arwing energy looping aimlessly, Fox took a deep breath and started descending.

As much as he wanted to convince himself that this would be just an ordinary excursion, all his other adventures had proved otherwise in similar circumstances. He dully acknowledged to himself that he was nowhere near ready for another shitstorm like the aparoids, but then again, was he ever?

Famous last words: "What's the worst that could happen?" XD

Thank you guys SO MUCH for reading. Reviews are greatly appreciated!

A second chapter is in progress, so stay tuned!