Here's chapter two. If you haven't noticed, I put my other story on hold because I'm really liking this story. And I changed the character pairings, because I have no idea how to fit Crystal into this story, so I'll try and make this a Fox x Kat story. :]]

Chapter two:

Immediately, Fox locked Kat into her room, with little resistance, to his surprise. It even looked like she wanted to be alone, to get a break from life, her operation, and her duties as a leader. He made R.O.B. lock the door internally; so that she couldn't use any of her technology she might have hid from him to open it without his knowledge. Just in case, he locked the outside anyway. Better safe than sorry.

Shortly afterward, he escorted Falco to the Hospital wing, and had R.O.B. fix his arm, using his robotic arm to bend the arm, rather roughly, back into place, then stitching the hole where the bone poked out of back together, and finishing off by wrapping with a disinfectant cast. Fox locked Falco into his own dorm, a few doors down from Kat's own in the east hall, without any complaints from him, either, which surprised Fox even more. He was almost sure Falco would say something to him, about the situation, about Kat, about their fight. Nothing. But on his passing of Kats room, Fox heard a light knock from the inside of Kats door. "Foxxie?" Her tone sounded light, almost flirtatious. "Do you have a minute?" He stopped dead in his tracks. She sounded like her old self, back when the team was together and they were still a couple.

Fox then remembered what became of her, and growled. "Later." He continued on walking, tucking his hands into his pockets, along with the sound of rubber hitting metal echoing behind him as he walked solemnly to his room.

Fox couldn't sleep. The image of hurting his old best friend was carved into his brain, and he couldn't seem to shake the image out. The distortion of pain on the avians face, the writhing body on the floor, the blood... He shivered. And he did that. Fox did that to his friend, and that fact and that fact alone made him unable to sleep.

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That dream again. The joy of everyone in the Starfox team screaming in their communicators, grinning stupidly at the destruction of Andross.

Even when they landed, it was the same thing, Fox crying out, trying to blink away the tears, and Peppy said the same thing. "Of all the years I have known you," he said with the same surprised voice, "I have never seen you cry. Ever. Not even when your father died."

And the same answer. "I guess I'm just glad that it's over. The war, I mean..." But that was only half the reason. Fox knew that the Starfox team would eventually split up, all of his friends eventually going their separate ways, but he didn't know that it would end up the way it did – disastrous.

A loud thump woke Fox up from his dream. He sat there for a moment, and then realized that the sound came from across the hall where he locked Falco and Kat up. He quickly threw on some pants, which contained his gun – he didn't even bother with a shirt – and sprinted to the end of the hall. He stopped at Falcos door, and knocked hard. "Falco? You ok?" A snore came as a response. "Should have figured..." he muttered, taking three quick steps down the hall, outside of Kat's dorm, and knocked. "Kat? Are you in there?"

Silence. He knocked harder. "Kat? Are you there?" Still no response. He quickly unlocked the outside door, and said aloud, "R.O.B., open the door, and hurry!" Fox heard a click, and opened the door.

The lights were on, but other than that, nothing unusual was taking place. A few clothes scattered across the floor and bed sheets sprawled carelessly across the bed, and that was all. But nobody occupied the space. "Shit! R.O.B., do a thorough heat scan of this ship, tell me where you see even the slightest trace of heat."

"Scanning..." R.O.B instantly replied. What was probably seconds seemed like hours to Fox, and his ears twitched as R.O.B. responded. "Found a full body heat signature in dining hall."

Why would she be there? "Thanks." Fox muttered, wondering why Kat would be in the dining hall, but sprinted as fast as he could, no sound except his steady breathing. When he arrived, he slid toward the light switch, his hand already holding his gun out and pointed forward in his direction.

Sitting at the table, a feminine voice said aloud, "Put the gun away, Foxxie. Just getting something to munch on." She giggled, noticing Fox half naked, and popped a kettle of popcorn in her mouth. Fox looked at her like he didn't even hear her.

"So… is later now?" she asked, cocking her head to side.

"I already know what you want." Fox said after a couple seconds. He slowly tucked his gun back into its holster, and sat down at the table across from her.

"Come on, Fox. It's not like you're doing anything here." Kat frowned, trying to think of a better bargain than just joining. "If you join me, my clan, my colony – whatever you want to call it, I'll make you co-leader." She smiled just thinking about it.

Fox banged his fist on the table. "Why the hell do you want me to join you so much? Why do you want me" His hand shook, knuckled turning a bright purple as he clenched his fist. "Why me?"

Kat smirked. "Because, Foxxie, you're smart, an excellent fighter, great company, not to mention great looking either..."

Immediately, Fox knew. He knew why Kat wanted him so much. It wasn't because she wanted him to join her… "You need me." Fox grinned wide. "You need me. You need the help, you need the company, you need a bodyguard." He laughed out loud, standing up, while Kat sat up straight, face wiped clean of any sign of amusement.

"I don't need you—"

"Oh, yes you do!" Fox smiling, and began to pace the room. "That's why you didn't want to go back with them. You wanted to be alone, is it not?"

"Yes, but—"

"And you didn't resist when I threw you in your room, did you not?"

"No, I didn't—"By now, she had slumped down to where her chin almost touched the table. Her face had a mixture of annoyance and anger, her eyes narrowing at fox.

Fox barked out a laugh. "You wanted Falco to get hurt. You wanted me to win. You knew that I would hold you as hostage, you knew everything." He laughed again. "You knew everything." He repeated, only his tone was softer. "The thing is…" Fox sat back down into his seat, leaning back so that the back of his head was touching the table. "You didn't know that I would figure it out."

Kat was outraged. "Yes, I did do all of that stuff. What's your point? Why the hell are you getting at?"

"You don't want to be you." Fox stated simply, looking up at Kats face.

"What do you mean by me not wanting to be me? I love me, I'm happy with who I am and what I have—"

"But not with what you've become. You want somebody there with you, so you're not the only one." Kat was beginning to get flustered.

"You don't know me!" She stood, walking away from him. "You don't know anything! You don't know what I do, what I have to put with, what I have to live with!" She leaned against the wall on the other side of the room, her face distorted so that she looked like she was on the verge of tears.

"The thing is," Fox began, walking towards her, "I feel bad for you. So that's why I'm going to join you."

Well, there. I made Fox the bad guy. Sort of. Not what I had in mind, but I'll try and make sense of all of this in later chapters. Please review, whether it be criticism, flames, or compliments, so please review.