Prologue: Valour of the Vagrant

Krystal felt herself pushed forward in an unfriendly manner by the ape behind her, making her stumble and nearly lose her balance into the dark room. As fast as she could, she stood straight, ready to set a defiant gaze upon whomever was expecting her. There was, as she soon realized, no one in such position.

Instead, she stood in a dark empty suite, illuminated only by the stars on the other side of the reinforced glass windows. She took hesitant steps forward as she inspected the room, but there was no one. The only other entrance was a narrow corridor to her left. Sounds of movement came from it.

"What the fuck do you want?" shouted a deep voice coming from the dark corridor. The domestic appearance of the place made Krystal assume it was someone's apartment, and the rasp and familiar aspect of the shout told her it belonged to exactly whom she wanted to see.

"Boss!" spoke the ape, hesitation showing in his posture and voice, "I'm Gene, reporting from guard duty. I captured an intruder. I've been told she was Star Fox. Figured you'd know best what to do with her."

There was a long moment of awkward silence in which Krystal could hear low grunts and shuffling. It lasted until a tall figure emerged from one of the corridor's doors, wearing a dishevelled tank top and loose black undergarments, the bare fur on his arms and legs sticking in every direction. He stopped at the corner and leaned against the wall, breathing a long deep sigh. She was surprised he had managed to open the door at all when he looked like he had just barely woken up.

When met with the man's one good eye in the dim lighting, Krystal smiled and greeted her host. "Hello, Wolf. Sorry for the intrusion."

Wolf crossed his arms and looked through the window at the stars and sighed. "Gene, was it?" The ape straightened and gave a firm nod in return. "You can go now. And don't wake me up again unless it's an actual emergency."

Gene hesitated for a moment. Krystal grinned at him, making a point of showing off her satisfaction. He opened his mouth to give an answer, but soon closed it and walked away back through the door through which he had just shoved the vixen.

"Where's your boyfriend, princess?" Wolf's voice brought her attention back to the dark room. "Why are you here?"

Krystal took a deep breath and shoved thoughts of Fox back into the corner of her mind. He had nothing to do with this, she reminded herself. This was her decision, for her own sake. She took another breath, and Wolf shifted.

"I ain't got all day."

She looked up, and the pressure of Wolf's impatience, if only for a split second, was enough for her to remember her resolve and take the leap. "I'd like to join Star Wolf."

Wolf contorted his snout into several comical expressions, going through confusion, mild concern, and finally ending in mirth and a snort. "What, did you and Fox had a fight?"

She took another deep breath, sharper this time. "I am no longer a part of Star Fox." She had prepared for this moment, by the gods she would see it through. "But I am a skilled pilot and fighter and would be a great asset to your team."

Almost before she had finished speaking, Wolf spoke, "I'm not interested in being your rebound," and meeting her determined look he added, "And we might fight your friends in the future too. For fun or for the job... Or both."

She set her jaw and stared him in the eye in silence, hoping to convey her determination with her stance alone. She had made her decision. It was already too late to back away from it. She could feel the worry in Wolf's emotions – the same worry she had felt in Fox when she first flew with him.

"I can do it. And I can prove it."

The moment endured a long, slow minute, until Wolf sighed and shrugged. "Let's talk tomorrow. For now let's find you a place to crash for tonight."

She blinked in surprise at the change of subject, but accepted the gesture as a good sign. "That would be lovely. Thank you." If he was willing to listen to her, she had a good chance.

This could work. It had to.

Wolf excused himself to his room and came back five minutes later wearing black denim jeans and leather boots – the tank top remained the same. Krystal wondered if he had any actual casual clothes he wore out in public, like sweatpants or sneakers, but the mental image of the great Wolf O'Donnell in those was too absurd to picture.

He walked her outside his apartment and she found herself in a white corridor. Wolf led her silently a nearby set of elevators, then five floors up, and again through a similar hallway. There the walls were a shade of beige, and at each side there were doors somewhat close to each other.

Wolf eventually stopped and turned to a door to the right and pressed the doorbell. Not a minute after it sounded, a small old vixen opened the door.

Barely sparing her a greeting, Wolf spoke: "Agatha, I need–"

"Oh, if it isn't our dear leader," she interrupted him. "You seem to have lost some weight, young man."

Wolf frowned. "I'm thirty two. Listen–"

"Still young to little old me! But definitely a little too old for this one." She turned to Krystal and smiled. "Oh, where are my manners! What is your name, dear?"

Krystal smiled and shook the hand the old vixen offered. She could feel the sheer mirth coming from the small woman. If she was displeased about the disturbance so late at night, she hid it well. "I'm Krystal, ma'am. Pleased to meet you."

Wolf grimaced and crossed his arms, making a point to show his impatience. The old vixen simply ignored him. "Krystal! What a lovely name! You look like a fierce young woman; I'm sure you can do better than our ragged leader."

"Hey! I'm – I mean, we're not – ugh, you know I'm – it's not like that!" sputtered Wolf, taking a moment to collect himself as the two vixens shared an amused look. "Agatha, just find a room for this one, please."

Agatha grinned and gave Krystal a pat on the shoulder. "Why didn't you just say so, dear? Come on, let's get you a nice place to stay." The two vixens locked elbows and walked ahead without waiting for Wolf. Krystal was convinced she was teasing him on purpose – maybe she was mad at him for waking her up after all. "I think the one next to Liz is available. She's a lovely quiet kitten; I'm sure she won't bother you. She likes to paint landscapes of her hometown, a very talented young woman."

They walked by a dozen doors until they could see the other end of the hallway, ending on another set of elevators. Agatha pointed to a door with the number B9002 in it and said, "This is it, dear. Are you staying for long?"

Krystal shot a questioning look at Wolf, who still had his arms crossed. He rolled his eyes and sighed. "If you prove yourself, as you said you would, I will get you a room on my floor." He paused and gave her a look. "Until then you're just a resident here – unless you have somewhere else to stay."

She did not. Agatha typed on the small keyboard to the side of the room and asked Krystal to set a personal password. After settling her credentials, Agatha explained the rooms were a rental, and that she could pay monthly or by the number of days she stayed. She also explained rules about night time noise and usage of the communal rooms. Krystal nodded to show she had understood at every pause.

When they noticed Wolf was turning to leave, Agatha called, "Good night, Wolf!"

Wolf stopped briefly to shout over his shoulder: "Put her first month on my tab, Agatha. If she wants to stay longer, she will have to work for it."

"Will do, young man." Agatha turned to Krystal and shook her head. "Not even a thank you from that one."

Krystal smiled. "He looks tougher than he acts."

Agatha laughed and touched a hand on Krystal's shoulder. "Oh no, dear, he is tough alright," she said, "Just no one taught him he can be soft too."

Krystal thanked her for the room and parted with the old vixen with a goodnight and a promise to visit for dinner sometime. She typed her new password on the console next to the door and was satisfied when it opened for her. Her first stop was the bed, and as she felt the soft sheets on her fur she realized just how tired she was. Sleep came fast and dreamless, and she was thankful for it.

Three weeks in her new living accommodations and it was not like she needed to impress Star Wolf much further. Panther was more than welcoming to her presence on the team. And Leon could not care less – it seemed like he did his own thing most of the time. No, it was their leader that was the problem.

Wolf would not relent his mistrust. "How can I be sure you won't defect to Star Fox if we're fighting them?" he asked her, again and again. "How can I be sure you don't have lingering feelings for your ex?" It was insulting for all of her hard work to be so easily dismissed by a silly rivalry in the past. Krystal could sense there was more to it, but he was fast to turn and leave before she could pry much further into his emotions.

Despite that, she had no reason to dislike working with the team. The little time she spent at their base she learned to respect Star Wolf's accomplishments just as much as Star Fox's. She made friends like Agatha, and learned more and more about the base they lived in. And she loved every bit of it.

Home – a word she was starting to warm up to. There, at the station, among many other like her, she maybe could have that again. A place of her own. She only had to prove herself worthy of trust. And she would do almost anything for it. She had nothing else.

And so Krystal came up with a plan. If working on missions with them was not enough, if her constant flight training sessions were not enough, there had to be one thing she could do that would prove her allegiance once and for all. And that thing was to openly declare herself as an enemy to Star Wolf's nemesis. Publicly. A complete severance of ties from Corneria's number one mercenary group she was once part of.

She had to openly challenge Star Fox, and win.

Now cramped in a tight air duct aboard a foreign spaceship, having past more than one big spider web on her way, she struggled to remember her resolve.

"I am a proud member of Star Wolf, and I can do this," she repeated to herself for the tenth time.

Stowing away had been the easy part. After two days of stalking her ex-team, she learned they had a new mission aboard a nobleman's cruise ship. Apparently Star Fox was the only security they thought they needed, because no one checked the kitchen's supplies for any signs of abnormality. Certainly had they done so, they would have noticed a blue vixen hiding inside a crate of apples before taking off of Corneria.

From there, she had simply to sabotage the ship in some noticeable way – steal some jewels, or maybe some personal artifact from the nobles who owned the ship. Then she had to reveal herself to Star Fox, and run away unscathed. It was a bold and unclear plan, with a very high chance to fail. Yet there she was.

She banged the metal frame of the air duct one more time to repeat her mantra, "I am a proud member of Star Wolf, and I can do this!" But before Krystal could finish half of her sentence, the metal plate dislodged below her and she fell into the room below with an undignified yelp.

Luckily the room had an incredibly soft carpet, and it helped wonders to break her fall. The metal plate flew quite a few steps from where she was due to the air resistance, and the paper-like sound it made as it hit the carpet made Krystal realize her mistake in trusting the structure's resistance to her weight. She stood with a groan and patted her arms, legs, and tail to remove the remnant spider webs and dust stuck to her frame.

Then she noticed she was not alone. A few steps from her, wearing only a white sleeping gown, frozen holding a brush still entangled in her hair, stood a young spaniel. She looked no older than eighteen, eyes wide and her pose stuck in a comical half turn. Her fur was whiter than any fur Krystal had ever seen, and it looked softer than any she had ever touched.

She was unsure whether to feel lucky she had fell not into a security room full of guards, but rather right into the bedroom of a teenager. A teenager who was probably the daughter of the nobleman who owned the spaceship – which made that bedroom possibly the most guarded room of the ship. As Krystal remembered the security team of the ship was composed primarily of the Star Fox team, her heart raced with adrenaline.

But then something weird happened. The girl moved, visibly shaking, but doing her best to appear serious and ready for a fight, holding her hands in tight fists. She moved and Krystal flinched, but the girl had simply bowed and joined her hands over her head in a prayer gesture.

"Please kidnap me!"

The fact that Krystal could sense she was one hundred percent serious only concerned her further. On the bright side, she realized, it meant that she could still find a way to continue her mission after the colossal mistake of falling down from the air duct. At the very least, the girl did not seem so hostile as to immediately call security.

"Why?" Krystal asked.

The young spaniel stood and Krystal noticed her deceptively tall frame, disguised by her hunched shoulders and shy voice: "My father is taking me someplace... bad," the girl spoke, "I've never been this scared of him before. I can't leave my room, not even to eat – not without him tagging along."

Krystal's ears perked. "Who, your father?"

"No, the fox! The guy with a blaster outside my room!"

The Fox indeed, noted Krystal. "But why are you being watched like this?"

"Please take me!" the girl insisted, "I'm in danger, don't you understand!?"

Krystal was hard pressed to believe a rich girl who had a bigger room than all the ones she ever had in her life combined. And this was only the family's cruise ship. Besides, the very fact that her family had their own personal cruise ship sounded completely absurd in her head.

But the girl was insistent, and though Krystal sensed there was more to it, the fear and desperation coming from her were genuine. It would fit perfectly into Krystal's plan to kidnap the girl, but the morality of the situation made her hesitant. "Why doesn't your father let you wander the ship alone?"

The girl mumbled an answer: "He wants to keep me from mingling with bad company, he says," she explained, making air-quotes with her fingers.

"I'm a criminal," challenged Krystal. "I'm the bad company he warned you about."

The young girl shook her head. "No, you're not."

Krystal ignored her and continued: "That means it's dangerous to just up and leave with me – for the both of us. You shouldn't go trusting your life to some common lowlife like me." And was it not true? Krystal had joined a criminal mercenary team, with charges of treason and grand larceny. By association, she was just as bad. At least in the eyes of most.

"You don't look like a criminal, you know."

Krystal gave her a look and pointedly looked up at the ruined ceiling.

The girl corrected herself, "OK, you very much look like a criminal, but one who's very bad at doing crimes."

Krystal scoffed. "Because I'm not some dirty ruffian?"

The girl laughed. "You are dirty, though."

Krystal conceded that the dust of the air duct was not flattering on her light fur. "Thanks. What's your name?"

"Fay. Fay Spaniel."

Krystal stood straight and locked her eyes on Fay's. "Tell me the truth, Fay. Why do you want to run away?"

Fay frowned. "I'm not lying."

"But you are not telling me everything," insisted the vixen.

Fay growled, and the softness of her voice was overtaken by an increasing anger. "Why can't you just believe me?" she said, "You think this is living? Imprisoned in your room, without any contact with the outside allowed?"

"Please lower your voice," pleaded Krystal, glancing at the bedroom's door. Had Fay not said that Fox guarded her room?

Ignoring Krystal, the young girl continued: "I just want to have a life! Is that so bad? I just want to see my friend again!"

"I can't just take you with me like this!" whispered Krystal, as she regretted boarding the spaceship not for the first time.

All of a sudden, Fay stopped, and her muzzle slowly grew into a smile. She gave Krystal an eerie stare as if the answer to all of her problems was right in front of her all along. "You're trapped here, though, right? How about we help each other escape this hellhole?" And grinning, she added: "I have a plan."

And before Krystal could understand what she meant, Fay bellowed: "Guard!"

Instead of a brute bursting through the bedroom's door, a polite knock came. And the voice that came from behind it afterwards sent a freezing chill to Krystal's spine. "Ms. Spaniel?", the voice called, "Are you OK? Can I come in?"

Of course it was the great Fox McCloud, right outside. How could Krystal not recognize that voice? Maybe if he saw her, he would be surprised enough to let his guard down, but she could not bet on it.

Krystal looked at Fay in terror before Fay shouted an answer, "Let me get dressed first!"

"OK...?" answered Fox's voice.

Krystal had run out of time to make a decision. If she left Fay, the girl might betray her and get Krystal caught. There was only one way out of this mess, even if it was messy and dangerous. She glared at Fay, who merely shrugged.

"I'll distract him, you jump him, and we run," she explained, and Krystal was unsure if that was a worse or better plan than her own messy plan to impress Star Wolf.

Krystal sighed and gave in. If she was going to do it, she would have to go all out. "Listen, Fay, get dressed for real, but gather a small light satchel with a change of clothes and toiletries."

Fay's face brightened and she hugged Krystal with enough strength to wind her. "Thanks, blue!"

"It's Krystal. Now go! Fast!"

That was it. This was her ticket to a life of crime and a chance at getting respect from Wolf. She hoped that Fay's story was true and that it would be enough of an excuse to tell herself that she was doing the right thing. And it worked her way as well: it was an open challenge to Star Fox's mission, one she could escape from instead of fight through. And Wolf would never doubt her allegiance again. She told herself it was the best choice for herself.

And yet, Krystal could already feel herself regretting it. She would never be able to live legally again. Not on Corneria, at least. But maybe the station could be indeed her new home. All other members of Star Wolf had their bounties, maybe it was time she got hers too. She just hoped she was not too in over her head. Maybe this was not too big a crime?

Fox shouted through the door again, "Ms. Spaniel? Are you decent? I'm sorry for disturbing you, but I have to physically see you every hour before I report to your father."

Disturbingly overprotective, Krystal noted. At least it made her feel less terrible for what she was about to do. Fay motioned her to hide behind a wooden dresser beside the door, close enough to jump into action. She shoved her prepared travel bag on the vixen's hands.

The door opened upwards in a quick sliding motion and Fox spoke through it, not daring inside, but poking his muzzle enough to look around. "I thought I heard you talking to someone."

"I'm rehearsing! It's for a play."

The lie was so bad that Krystal cringed. She was sure Fox would know right away she was hiding something.

"Really," he said, his disbelief clear in his voice, "What's it about?"

Fay was sputtering for words before she settled on something coherent, "It's about a girl, who, um, lives in the library!"

"And she has long lively conversations... in the library?"

Fay answered a little to fast. "No! I mean, yes! I mean, were you eavesdropping on a lady?" And as if that was not bad enough, she continued: "A lady who was just rehearsing, completely alone by herself."

Krystal lifted her unoccupied fist, desperate to say something, but feeling completely helpless to do anything without her cover being blown. Fox continued, "Listen, Ms. Spaniel," he sighed, "I'm just doing my job, and it's a really lousy one at that. If you're not doing anything dangerous or going anywhere unsupervised, it's fine. You can do whatever."

"Can I really?" she asked.

"Sure. Supervision and safety." He punctuated. "Only two rules."

Ironically, he had already failed on keeping her safe by letting Krystal sneak in. Furthermore he was about to fail the next one as, without any warning, not to Fox, nor to Krystal, and probably not even to herself, Fay kicked him on the nuts. And, as he fell to the ground, she told him: "Well then, I have a new bodyguard, and she's taking me somewhere totally safe."

Fox fell to the floor with a thud, his eyes wide from the surprise and intense pain. Krystal felt bad for him.

Fay motioned Krystal to follow her. The plan now was to improvise, she figured. The vixen stopped beside Fox long enough to steal his communicator and his security ID. He grabbed at her feet, but she was nimble enough to dodge and run. Fay, already at the end of the corridor, beckoned at Krystal to hurry.

They ran along the corridor until it turned right into an open hallway. Krystal was confused when she saw Fay turn right again and shove a double door open. She followed suit into a kitchen, where cooks ran and shouted things at each other, all the while manning searing pans and ovens with a mix of precision and desperation. The smell of roasted meat overpowered her nose, and she had to focus to notice Fay waving at her from across the place.

None of the cooks bothered them – in fact, they openly ignored them, too focused on their jobs. Krystal smiled with relief and followed Fay to the other side, where it ended in another corridor not unlike the one they came from.

"The docking bay is this way," Fay said. Krystal counted her blessings and ran beside the young spaniel. Her mission was going well. She was going to succeed.

When they ran into the docking bay's large metal doors, she shoved Fox's ID in any bright panel she could see in the hopes of it being a magnetic security card. The luck she had previously thought to be gone came back when it beeped and the doors whirred open, and she sighed in relief when she saw Fox's Arwing stationed there, unsupervised.

And then the communicator she stole from Fox rang, loudly, shrieking like an alarm. She dropped it to the ground with a startled fumble and turned when she heard a familiar shout.

"Krystal!"

Fox was running towards them as fast as he could. Fay yelped and tugged on Krystal's sleeves. "Come on! You can fly this thing, right?"

But she was not listening. She was looking at Fox, and at his blaster still holstered to his hip. He was not drawing it, and his eyes were the saddest she had ever seen him be. She could feel his emotions flooding the docking bay, and see the gleam of his teary eyes.

She had loved him. She still loved him. It hurt so much to see him like that. He was still a person, after all. He had hurt and deceived her and she decided she was done with him, but she still cared.

He stopped two metres away from her, panting. "Krystal, please, don't do this! I can still cover for you," he pleaded. "Don't become a criminal! No one knows you're off the team but us!" Quieter, he added, "You can still come back."

Fay tugged harder. "You're my only hope, blue! We have to go now!"

Clenching her teeth, she turned her back at Fox and climbed his Arwing. She could not bear to look at him, at his handsome face and those green eyes she had fallen for. It was too much. She had already made her decision, and she could not bear to stop now. She was scared. If she looked into those sad betrayed eyes, would she change her mind? Would she forgive him?

She helped Fay up and when they were both seated inside the cockpit, she turned on the engines. She hesitated a moment, and then opened a communication channel to Fox's communicator, still on the floor.

"I'm sorry, Fox," she said, "But you're the one who decided I was not good enough to fly with you."

He drew his blaster and pointed at one of the turbines. At this close range, the shield would not work. He was looking right at her, but she would not meet his gaze. "I'll shoot, Krystal; I swear I will!"

She ignored him, and hoped he felt as much hesitation as she did. She adjusted the G-diffusers, and blasted away.

"I'm the one flying away from you now, Fox," she declared and closed the communication channel. And after a quick glance behind her, she could see Fox had lowered his gun.

A/N: A big thanks to MythicWolf04 and Reciprocate for helping me with proof-reading and such! I'm new to this whole writing thing, and I have a lot of trouble doing this. I've been just a silent reader for so long, so it's both exciting and scary to be posting an actual chapter! I hope you guys like this story. I'm also a little new to posting things on this website, so I completely forgot to upload my comments here at first. Silly me!

I'm working slowly on new chapters, but I spend a looooooot of time rewriting things to be as good as I think they should be. It's a problem, Rec knows all about it (thanks again for all the support Rec!). I rewrote this like 8 or more times, I swear, not to mention all the little redos on paragraphs and dialogue. Writing is hard, y'all!