"Why me? Why us? Why now?"

Fox awoke in the wreckage of his arwing. He looked at the instrument panel.

"Breathable atmosphere. Guess we're probably not dying after all."

Krystal was sitting on his lap, as her ship was destroyed during the mission. He regretted accepting her offer to ride with him, believing that his desire to get closer to her may have doomed her.

Fox opened the canopy and got out, lifting and carrying his unconscious wife to safety. The air on the planet was clean, disturbingly clean. No planet should be that clean unless, unless Lylatian civilization hadn't spread to this particular planet.

"What now?"

Fox looked at his arwing. The nose was crushed like a can and torn apart like paper. The wings were completely torn off and the engine was unrecognizable. It was a miracle that the cockpit held together as well as it did. Why did it crash? Previous arwings lost entire wings and engines and still got the job done. This arwing took only a few hits to the engine and went down like a wounded bird. Probably one of Slippy's "upgrades". Fox thought that Slippy was losing his touch. Now he knew it. Stupid frog.

He then thought about home. Corneria would go looking for their hero, even if it meant saving the blue "traitor". Surely Falco and Slippy would look for them. After all, Fox wasn't just their friend, he was their employer. Without him, they're out of a job.

But would they find him and Krystal? Probably not. The planet was in a different system, probably too far away from any Lylat-controlled system for any rescue to be possible. It probably didn't really matter. Fox had grown to loathe the pressure that comes with hero status. He hated being criticized for merely getting the job done in a merely perfect matter. They wanted better than good. They wanted better than great. They wanted better than the best. One more mission and Fox would likely have drunk himself to death.

And what about Krystal? Lylat hated her for "betraying" their "hero". They spat on her and pissed on her and pelted her with stones and garbage. They called her names and threw poo at her like monkeys. Had it not been for her love of Fox, she would have blown her brains out long ago.

Maybe Fox should be thanking Slippy's engine upgrade and its sudden malfunction. Had the engine not been crippled, he and Krystal would not have had this second chance.

"Second chance."

Fox liked the sound of that. Second chance. They could start over. Fox could be a normal, nonfamous person for once and Krystal could finally get the respect she deserved.

"What happened?"

Krystal woke up with a blinding headache. She ran up to Fox, tears streaming down her face as she wrapped her arms tightly around her husband.

"I was so scared, Fox."

She tried desperately to avoid crying until the urge grew too strong. Her sobs started quietly but grew louder until it was painfully obvious. Fox knew that it wasn't just the crash. No. The crash was the final straw, the spark. The real reason she was crying was her shitty life in the Lylat system. It was the insults and the spit. It was the garbage tossed at her everywhere she went. Fox tried his best to calm her, to reassure her.

"It's alright," he told her, his arm holding her against him "It's alright. That's all in the past. You don't have to worry about Corneria anymore. I'm here for you."

I'm here for you. Those four words were all she needed to feel better. He was always there for her, even if she didn't want him to be. She knew that she didn't have to worry as long as he was there for her.

"Thanks."

Fox nodded and walked back to the arwing. He had remembered about the emergency supplies. Even if the faulty emergency radio didn't work, there was still the food and alcohol. He had always insisted on alcoholic beverages in the kits because water would contaminate easily and the alcohol would kill just about any harmful microbe that dared fall into the booze. Alcohol also had a calming effect, valuable when you were stressed and didn't have to worry about flying.

Fox grabbed the kit and walked back to Krystal.

"Here's the plan" he told her "while you won't find this system on any map, there were reports of inhabited planets in this region in the galaxy. Some with primitive societies, some with advanced. Civilization, no matter how primitive, means food and drinkable water. We simply need to locate food and water supplies while also finding shelter. Your staff is our only weapon, so we have to be careful not to attract any unwanted attention from hostile predators."

Krystal nodded and followed him as he ventured out into the forest. She didn't know if they were going to survive, but Fox's plan sure beat waiting by the wreckage for rescue that might never come.