The human staggered and all of his weight burdened his companion. He muttered an apology and tried to further on but once again found his body unable to hold itself up. Again his companion braced his weight, further sinking his spirit. He was broken, bruised, battered, maimed, tortured, and almost willing to just kill over and fall into a hole where he could rot and no longer bother anyone.

"Almost there; just a bit further, Relics," Lana whispered into his ear, her grip on him tightening and causing what was left of his blood to flush against his skin.

Her fur, in contrast to all the pain, felt like loving silk. How he adored the minx and hurt because of it. How could he have done this to her? To betray her trust, the trust of her people, and render war upon them?

"Can you make it? Do we need to slow down a little?" asked Lana, shifting her body to hold him tighter.

"I think I'll be alright," panted Relics, trying to ween himself back to walking on his own. "Thank you."

Lana grit her teeth but didn't say anything. Even without looking at her, Relics could feel the struggle within her. It took all of his remaining influence with her to pry her from the mess she had made of Melina. Relics doubted the avian would get back up, not that he cared, but deep down Lana still cared for her. As nonsensical and astonishing a thing that was, it gave him a glimmer of hope that maybe she didn't hate him.

"You really saved me back there," Relics added as they drew closer and closer to the medical wing. "I know it couldn't have been easy to have done what you did, but you saved both our lives."

Again Lana didn't respond. Relics took that as a sign he should shut up. Sometimes words, no matter how genuine and beautiful, would only hurt no matter their comforting intentions. Time was what she needed. Time to process all these events, the implications they meant, and their effects on her life. If she needed it, he would gladly be the shoulder she needed to cry on, the ear to bemoan into, or the collector of all her anger, sorrow, and hate. Anything to just be there for her.

"What's wrong?" Lana asked when the human came to a dead stop in front of the medical wing door.

"I'm scared," Relics admitted.

"Of Fox?" she asked and received a nod in reply. "Just stick close to me. I'll protect you."

"Isn't that what I'm supposed to say?" asked Relics, his classic schmooze leaking through and yet not having the typical effect on the minx. Rather, she looked very tired and not in the mood for his charm or bullshit.

The door opened with a pneumatic whoosh sparking a jump from the human. He half expected Fox to be on the other side ready to bash his brains out with whatever heavy object that was at hand. Instead, much to his greater horror, the red fox was gone. Lana searched all over the medical wing while Relics scrounged for pain killers. Both came up short.

"I'm dead," Relics said as flatly as his spirit was now that it had been crushed into a microfilm. "Fox is going to kill me and probably mount my head on his parents' mantel."

Lana walked up to the human as he leaned against the countertop of recently ransacked cabinets. She caught his attention for a split second before turning his cheek red with the palm of her hand. Relics became utterly bewildered and shameful to say a little turned on. His eye watered but he refrained from letting a single tear out as he stared into Lana's eyes.

"Listen to me! No one is going to kill you, not while I'm around," Lana growled so strongly she felt ten feet tall to the young man. "We're going to get out of here, we're going to set everything straight, and we're going to stop this war before it even begins."

Relics shook his head. "We can't stop it. Everything's in motion. In a few hours our fleet will drop into Lylat and blaze a trail to Corneria."

"We're not your enemy!" Lana protested, her tone becoming laced with desperation. "Look me in the eyes right now and tell me you want this."

"I don't-" Relics began but was cut off before he could even get a third syllable out.

"Then help me!" Lana pleaded, grasping Relics by the shoulders and pouring every ounce of her soul into his eyes. "Don't let it end like this. I know what happened to your home planet was inexcusable but I swear we can make it through this. Please! Please stop this before it's too late!"

Relics tried to look away but Lana held his head in place so that he would have to look into her glistening red eyes. Breathing became painful and the longer Relics looked, the more he felt like a wretch for gazing into something so beautiful with his privilege revoked indefinitely.

"There must be something- anything we can do," Lana hoped even as the human inwardly cringed.

Relics wanted to say no with all of his heart. As painful and regretful as it was, it was to the truth and that's all the woman he loved deserved. Lying to her had already driven stakes into one another's hearts, why was he then about to steady another under the mallet?

"There… might be," Relics began, congregating every ounce of his strength to produce such a slim hope, "one chance." Lana's eyes lit up with the resplendence of a sun and the young man hated himself for it. "There has to be a catalyst; a recipient of our revenge and if anyone deserved it, it's Venom."

"That's…" Lana said but paused to find the right words, "that's wonderful! It was Andross who initiated the invasion, he's the cause of it all!"

"But what about everyone else? What of Venom's people? Look me in the eye and tell me that innocent lives need be taken amidst the carnage war will bring to get to just one man."

Lana's breath caught at the very notion. Conflict began brewing within her. Yes, Andross was the perpetrator for Mar Sara's sacking and the loss of millions of lives but did innocent people truly deserve to die? The obvious answer was no; no one deserves to die for the crimes committed by another. It was unjust and unfair. Yet if it were a simple game of numbers, the few hundred million compared to the few billion lives was a better sacrifice to the crosshair.

"No," Lana admitted finally, unable to force herself to say otherwise. "I don't think anyone but that bastard should die… but if people must die, I would proffer it to be fewer than more."

The young man sighed and pushed himself off of the countertop. "If you're sure about this, than I know what we can do."

"What?"

"As part of my mission, I was sent to spy on the goings-on around the system. My input may hold some sway but it's honestly a long shot," Relics explained much to his own disapproval. "With Venom making its move, I might be able to stall the attack. Whether it's a few minutes, hours, days, I have no idea. Though I doubt the attack will be outright cancelled. There's too much riding on this and our hand is being pushed too roughly to not flex our might."

A low inhuman groan perverted the air of the ship sending chills down the teenager's minds. The reality and desperation of their situation returned to them full force. There were still two unaccounted foxes lurking somewhere, and both of them wanted the human dead.

"We can talk about this more later. For now, let's get off this ship. A ship this size should have an escape shuttle, right?" Relics asked, completely sandbagging their talk.

Lana frowned but nodded nonetheless. Though she still had well more than half a mind to give the human, she would have to put his tongue lashing on hold. Helping Relics along by letting him lean most of his weight onto her shoulder, Lana led them out of the medical wing. Their waltz was kept on high alert in case a certain red or white fox prowling just around the corner.

Through the bowels of the ship they crept, not a soul on the ship to be found or challenge them. It was eerie and kept both their hearts pounded frantically. When they finally found the sole escape pod, their hearts finally settled a little.

"Hurry and get in!" barked Lana, slipping out from under the human's weight and accessing the control panel.

Relics hobbled over to the pod as best as he could. No matter how hard he pushed however, his body was just too battered and broken to work properly, let alone be a threat to anyone, enhancements or no. He tried not to think of the days of medical treatment he would need and the days after of rest. All he could do was hobble on and thank whatever deity that still existed for living in a time where medical science was eclipsed by only that of fantasy.

The door to the pod opened and what he saw inside made the young man scream with fright.

"What!? What is it, Re-" Lana asked, running to his side only to see what had turned the human blue in the face.

The body of a fox lay inside the escape pod. His hands still reaching to his wide open throat. Though they both knew and wished ill will towards the certain fox, neither of them would have assumed such a brutal death upon him. Even though they had gone still and dark, his eyes still held the terrified look in them, from when his life slowly crept out of his body.

"Bryce," whispered the minx, her eyes starting to water and stomach toss and tumble. "How… who?"

"There you are."

The beautiful minx let out a shrilly, panicked scream that was entirely outspoken by the human's own girly, shrilly scream. Behind them stood Fox McCloud, his face devoid of any emotion and his hands dripping with a ruby-red fluid. As Relics stood vulnerable and exposed out in the open, the young man was surprised by every second he continued to draw breath. At any point Fox could rush him and rend his throat with his fearsome claws. Yet a sense of magnitude seemed to hold the tod at bay. Memories of all the good times were playing through his mind like a sickening slideshow. After all they'd been through together, why- how did it turn out like this!?

Death seemed to be hounding Relics at every turn lately. No matter what he did he seemed to teeter between this world and whatever awaited him on the other side, whether it was hell or restful oblivion. Yet at this very moment he felt closer to the end than ever before. Even when he was held aloft by his throat having a knife twisted into his eye did not compare to this ultimate realization. Fox had no intention of torture, only justified vengeance for his people. There wouldn't be a struggle, a compromise, or even a plea for his life. Fox held all of the knowledge of his father and clearly he was capable to take a life as shown by the lifeless corpse of that bastard Bryce.

Before Fox could close in for the kill, Lana interjected herself between the two boys.

"Back off, Fox," she growled defiantly against the looming stature of the vulpine.

Fox didn't even blink. It was as if Lana didn't even exist in his eyes. He kept looking on past her at the human. There was volumes being spoken without words, most of them life threatening towards the human. It helped Relics understand that there was no doubting within Fox. He wanted to kill him, yet the hesitation was the product of their withered friendship.

"Why, Relics?" Fox asked, his voice as hollow as his once brightly shining, green eyes.

Relics swallowed hard and though the answer was as sure to cut like a sword, Relics spoke only the truth.

"Revenge. Duty. Misery," he answered coldly.

"Then everything… was a lie?" Fox asked, his muzzle and fists clenching.

"At first," Relics admitted. "I grew to like you all, even love… but it was pointless. This was inevitable from the very beginning.

Fox's breathing became haggard as he continued to blaze holes into Relics' soul. Though Lana still stood as the human's vanguard, staring down Fox was rapidly becoming worse than staring down sun. He was burning up on the inside because of Relics' betrayal. It cut him deeper than he thought possible and only infuriated the gaping wound left by his father's death.

"My father's dead, Relics," Fox finally said, shocking both Relics and Lana. "He died because your wretched kind tipped off Venom. Now you think that you'll ally yourselves with them just to get to us?"

"Fox-" Relics began but was cut off by the bellowing roar of the vulpine.

"I TRUSTED YOU! YOU WERE MY FRIEND!" Fox roared, his fur bristling as every ounce of his anguish was laid bare. "I welcomed you with open arms, even when my father warned me about you. He said I might have to kill you for the good of Lylat one day, but I didn't believe him. Now… now I all want is to rip the flesh off your bones and watch the light leave your eyes."

Fox took a single step before Lana let out a threatening growl.

"You stay away from him!" hissed Lana, ready to fight tooth and nail if need be to save Relics from the tod.

Fox finally acknowledged Lana's existence with an apathetic gaze.

"Get out of my way, Lana. I won't think twice about killing you either," he said entirely deadpanned.

'Oh my god,' Relics thought, his body beginning to shake with fear for his beloved minx. 'He'll do it! He'll kill her just to get to me.'

"Lana, stand aside. I'm not worth-" Relics said as he tried to shift her aside-

Smack.

Relics recoiled from the savage backhand Lana had thrown at him. Though it was a blind swing, Lana managed to hit him square in the nose making it run and his eye water. The human's jaw dropped but he wasn't mad at her, far from it. He'd always thought of Lana as a precious and delicate gem that needed to be protected, yet here she was, standing between him and certain death. How wrong he was to have thought such a thing. Even if he was somehow graced with a hundred years to be by her side, he doubted he would ever unravel all the complexities and wondrous depths of the minx he loved so dearly.

"You stay right the fuck where you are, Relics," growled Lana with such a dominant tone it made Relics shiver with more feelings than pain. "I told you I'm going to protect you, and I'll die before I break that promise. Besides, if anyone's going to kill you, it'll be me."

'Oh my god she's so hot! I want to have her genetically abnormal babies and- wait… did she say she was going to kill me!? …That is SO HOT!'

Relics' inner fanboying was quickly squelched by the gravity of the situation as Fox began to approach Lana. With every step closing the gap between them, Relics was running out of time. Though it was something she was absolutely resolute in doing, Relics refused to let Lana put herself in harm's way just for his sake.

Every pain within his body decried his next action as he juked past Lana and engaged the vulpine with his all. Even with his released enhancements, his injuries were too hindering to make it much of a challenge for Fox. Though he landed a few good hits, Fox quickly took Relics' offense and shoved him right into defense. Every hit of Fox's felt like it had all the might and power of a semi. Not a single thing was held back and Relics was matted in a fresh array of bruises by the time he was backed up against the wall.

"DAMN YOU!" Lana shouted and rushed the distracted Fox.

All of Fox's focus was on clobbering the human into a red and white pulp so he had no answer for the minx barreling at him and throwing every last ounce of her body at him. Relics was granted a brief moment of reprieve, allowing him to take deep gulps of air and assess the latest damages to his crumbling body. Yet one pain filled yowl from the minx ended his recess and he rounded on Fox who was on the ground wrestling with Lana.

Though Lana gave Fox no quarter, his greater size, superior strength, and greater pool of fighting experience allowed him to best Lana and push her off of him. As Lana staggered to her feet to reattack the tod on his back, Fox lashed out with a brutal kick that landed her square in the gut. With a pitiful wheeze, Lana fell back and onto the ground clutching her stomach.

'You just kicked… my perfect minx…' Relics realized, his mind flat-lining before exploding with rage.

"YOU BASTARD!" Relics snarled and tackled Fox even as he reached his feet.

Fist met face and blood flew from nose and maw. Friends or not, packmates or not, justied or not, hurting Lana -his precious Lana- was unforgivable. Adrenaline kicked in, urging his body to fight and avenge Lana's pain a thousand fold. But like a wave against the rocks, it would take a lot more power and time to bring the fox down. Something Relics didn't have much of at the moment.

Batting one of Relics' swings away, Fox jabbed up and caught Relics right in the throat disrupting airflow. The young man fell over backwards, clutching his throat and trying desperately to breathe again. No sooner did he get out his first pitiful gasp did two hands clasp around his airway. Pressure in his head began to skyrocket and Relics started to see tiny sparks in front of him. His hands moved to pry Fox's paws off but to no avail. Fox was too strong and motivated to cease the human's breathing that not even digging his nails in didn't faze him in the slightest.

Relics' hands slapped at Fox's face, his strength fading by the second. Before long, his hands were too heavy to lift and fell to either side of his face. As violent and traumatic as it was, somehow the young man felt at peace. All of the overwhelming responsibilities and consequences of his actions were fading away.

'Please… let this be it,' thought Relics, ready to face the end.

"Die… die you fuck-" Fox snarled before his head lurched to the right.

Fox's weight left the human's body and flew to the ground from a kick that Relics was sure was strong enough to dent steel. He didn't envy Fox who was now barely even conscious after taking a kick from the track and field star, Lana Tress. The tod struggled to roll over so to push himself back up to his feet, but the minx wasn't having it. With just as ruthless and unexpected kick as before, Lana knocked Fox out of commission with one more across the face. Blood sprayed from his nose onto the deck and the red fox lay still.

'Take me, oh Amazonian goddess!' Relics swooned despite how distraughtly in pain he was.

He even tried to chuckle at his own joke but wound up coughing and wheezing instead. Lana came to his aide, taking his head and resting it in her lap while he recovered but that only made it worse for the human. Being coddled and comforted as such by the minx was the only thing he would ever ask for Christmas or his birthday ever again, yet being held by the girl of his dreams brought more ache than it did soothe.

"L-Lana… we have to go," Relics managed to say through his clenched teeth but the moment he tried to sit up did Lana pull him back into her lap.

"Just relax for a minute, Relics," cooed the girl so softly it almost put the human to sleep. "We're through the worst of it now. Just rest a moment."

The human groaned in protest but when Lana's soft, padded hand touched his face, he became as docile as a dog getting a belly rub. Her paw rubbed along his forehead, gently soothing his skull splitting migraine. A low moan of utter contentment escaped the human. Was this heaven? If it wasn't, he'd take this over a cloudy utopia afterlife any day. Without even thinking about it, Relics hand reached up and stroked the minx's face in return. She didn't shake him away but rather leaned into it when he started to scratch ever so gently at the tufts of fur of her cheeks.

A low purr emanated from the woman, further pulling the human into a state of bliss.

"You're amazing… you know that, right?" Relics asked, his voice tired and scratchy.

"I've been told once or twice," Lana said with a smile, her eyes betraying the pain that the smile was supposed to mask. "It's nice being told so regardless."

Relics' arm became too weak to hold itself up on its own any longer and flopped to the cold ground. The longer this precious moment went on, the less the two teens felt a part of such a cold and loveless reality. Holding him close was more wonderful than the minx ever imagined. He responded so well to her touch though she knew he must still be in a lot of pain and discomfort. As much of a paradise as it was though, the unsympathetic truth of reality could not be forgotten.

"Why? Why did it have to come to this?" Lana whispered so quietly that Relics almost didn't hear. "Why couldn't things have just been normal?"

Lana's paw stopped stroking the human's damaged face while more tears fell from the young woman's red eyes.

'You… you don't deserve this,' thought Relics, his heart breaking for his lady love.

"I'm sorry," Relics apologized solemnly. "It's all my fault. You deserve so much better than this."

The minx sighed. "I cared about you so much… I still do," Lana admitted, sniffing before continuing. "I know it's wrong and by all rights I should hate you… so then why can't I? Why do I still feel like we can fix all this? Like this isn't even close to being over?"

"I care about you still, too," Relics murmured, his voice nearly cracking. "I wish you would hate me though. I'm a terrible person and don't deserve to be cared about by someone as wonderful as you. A part of me wishes you would hate me because of how guilty I feel for leading you on like I did."

Lana closed her eyes but one more tear escaped. "Was… was it all a lie? Are these feelings I have for you utterly worthless?"

The answer, the truth came to Relics' tongue faster than he thought possible. Before he could let it spew from his lie stained mouth he stopped himself. It wouldn't be right to tell her the truth, to give her false hope and allow the cancerous hurt to keep thriving. Yet if he were to lie to her it would hurt just the same but also set her free. If he told her she never meant anything to him she, that would be it. He would release her from the trap and he could linger on knowing it would be him and only him to rot in their bed of dreams and hope.

'Come on… come on! Say it! Tell her it was a lie! Tell her she means nothing!' Relics told himself, trying to force out yet another foul tasting lie from his frozen heart. 'It's better for her this way. Don't let her go on hurting like this!'

Relics closed his eyes. His words poised to deliver yet another untruth to the girl of his dreams. His mouth opened and he whispered, "You mean more to me than anything else and knowing you care about me… is the best feeling in the world."

Finally it was up in the air; out in the open. Though he cursed himself for being so selfish by holding onto her, he could no longer lie to something that mean so much to him. So help him, so long as he drew breath, he would not use it to lie to her ever again.

A faint smile came to Lana's face but the time to move on had come. Gently she let Relics down so she could rise to her feet and pull Relics up. Relics groaned in pain but didn't complain any more than that.

"I feel the same way, Relics. Thank you."

~X~X~X~X~X~X~

The world came back shrouded by fog. A ringing aggravated his ears and the taste of coppery blood made him want to retch. His entire head felt like it had been shattered then put back together like a jigsaw without interlocks and instead held with staples. So prevalent was the pain that it distracted him for a moment from his ultimate objective.

"Relics," Fox growled, having yet to open his eyes.

"Oh fuck!" the tod heard someone whisper.

"Relics, shut up!" another familiar voice barked. "He's tied up, he's not going to be a problem."

"He was tied up before and became a problem anyways!"

Fox struggled to open his eyes but when he did, they burned with the same fire as before upon spotting the human. The tod tried to leap at the human so to put an end to the alien's miserable existence, only to reiterate the point Lana made just seconds before. His whole body was tied to a chair with almost a dozen points of bondage. It was rough getting out of his last predicament, it'd be impossible to escape this one, Fox realized.

The human's eyes became shifty. "He's staring at me… Lana! He's staring at me! He won't stop staring! He's going to skullfuck my soul!"

Lana rolled her eyes, "Just calm down, Relics. Let me try to reason with him so we can get out of here!"

The death glare Fox was casting at the human became interrupted by the undeniably beautiful face of the fox and feline hybrid. His gaze did not soften any for the minx, though he did not hate her on the same primal level he now hated the human.

"Let me go," Fox ordered menacingly.

Lana sighed. "You know I can't do that, Fox. Not when you're trying to tear Relics to shreds."

Fox lurched forward as if by the sheer might of his anger alone he could break free of his bonds. Unsurprisingly though, he stayed rooted to the chair and Lana didn't even flinch. She tied the knots herself, no way was the tod going anywhere.

"Relics, could you leave for a moment?" Lana asked.

"Don't have to ask me twice," the human mumbled under his breath and quickly left the room.

The vulpine watched him go, tracing burning holes in the back of the human's head. The door shut behind the human and thus Lana got her wish. She pulled up a chair and sat directly in front of Fox, unafraid to look him in the eyes.

"Fox… I know you must be feeling a lot of things right now," said Lana, her voice as compassionate as it could be. "I am so sorry to hear about your father, he was a good man. I… it's a little embarrassing to admit but I remember crushing on him as a little girl every time he was in the news. Without him, the Lylat is a darker, more dangerous place. I'm here if you need anything."

"You done?" Fox hissed. "Take your bullshit sympathy and fuck yourself with it. You're a two faced harlot who only cares about herself. Why the fuck should I listen to anything you have to say?"

The tod never stopped glaring but inside he felt a small bit of relief finally telling her off. Were it not for Miyu asking him, he'd have never let Wolf's old fling into his pack. She was a train wreck before and she's a colossal disaster now.

Lana only blinked but did not recoil at the fox biting her head off.

A low sigh whistled through her nose before she asked, "Can you fly this ship?"

Ears twitching, Fox asked with a scoff, "I have a thousand hours in the sims. I could fly a paper airplane. Like hell I'm going to fly this for you two though. Where do you wanna go? To the rendezvous point with all the rest of your skinner boyfriends, you fucking slut-bag?"

Again Lana showed no sign that he was getting to her. It was a little frustrating to the tod as he wanted to see her snap, he wanted his words to cut and sink deep. He had no respect for her and if someone paid him enough, he'd put one right between those ruby reds of hers. Then, like a true mercenary, jettison the body into the permanent evidence disposing vacuum of space while counting every last credit with an honest to god smile on his face.

"Well to be honest with you, Fox," Lana said, shifting in her chair to a more comfortable position. "Yes. Relics thinks that we can stop-"

"Oh fuck you and FUCK WHAT THAT HUMAN THINKS!" Fox snapped having lost all his patience. "When are you going to get it through your thick skull, Lana!? He's the enemy! He's not your friend, he's not your lover, he's not your mate! He's your enemy, and he's using you to kill and destroy everything you know."

A small sign that he was hitting her showed in Lana's face. A small flash of worry crossed her red eyes, though what Fox took for reason was instead pity. Pity for how evident the tod was hurting. Pity for how fast he was sinking into a deep despair. She wanted to reach out to him as a friend and help him through such darkness, but she doubted he'd take anyone's help right now if it meant reconciliation without bloodshed.

"Fox… I know you're in pain, but what else can we do? War is coming. It'll be all around us very soon. Killing Relics won't bring us anything." Lana's teeth ground together while Fox rolled his eyes and pretended to take interest in a small blinking light on a panel. "He said that if we take him to his superiors, he could plead with them to take the fight to Venom instead."

Fox's face twisted into a pitying pout. "Aw… you stupid girl. You still believe everything that comes out of his filthy, lying mouth." Before Lana could vouch for the human, Fox continued. "Think about it for a second, Lana. Really think about what the human wants. If we cave into his demands and take him to the human fleet, we'll either be blown to space dust on sight or we'll dock with one of their ships where he'll be welcomed back with open arms and we wind up in human prison. He's playing you like he's been since the beginning. You're such a fucking idiot that you can't see when a guy is taking advantage. No wonder you clung to Wolf for so long."

The muscles within Lana's right arm twitched and her hand closed into a fist. She took a deep breath which became the only thing that saved Fox's face. Leaning back in her chair she re-evaluated the situation.

Fox grinned knowing he'd finally managed to get under her fur. As cruel and harsh as he was being, nothing he said wasn't the truth. Relics was a spy, a liar, and a traitor. Anything he recommended would be solely for his own benefit. Not even for a second Fox believed that the human wanted to stop the war. He'd already come this far and made an attempt on General Pepper and the President. Fortunately he had failed, but that setback wouldn't stop the humans. If only he could make Lana see that so that some wrong in this universe could be righted.

"Maybe you're right," Lana said with a sigh. "My track record with boys has been rather pitiful. One used to beat me, force me into sex, and is currently wanted by the authorities on several planets and the latest one stabbed us all in the back. As sweet as he is… I know I'll never truly forgive him for that."

The red fox resisted a smirk else to appear uncouth. "You get it now? That skinner bastard needs to get what's coming to him. Lana," Fox said, lowering his voice to a calmer, more suave tone that could get any girl to say yes to prom, "we're not enemies. We may have our differences and we may not be friends, but we're still of the same cloth. We're sons and daughters of Lylat, and we must protect it no matter the cost. Untie me now and I promise I'll make it quick. I'll just grab him by the neck and," Fox made a clicking, uvula sound. "He won't even have time to feel it. I swear."

"That's so sweet of you, offering to kill someone quickly just to spare my feelings," replied Lana so nonchalantly that Fox almost mistook her for actually being genuine. "If you think for even a second I'll let you lay another hand on-"

"What is your problem, woman!?" Fox exploded, veins starting to bulge around his neck and head. "He's a traitor! He's going to have us all killed! Why!? Why do you insist on defending him!?"

Fox waited for an answer he knew would either never come or be so pathetic he'd at least get a contemptuous laugh out of it. He leaned back in his chair. Lana's silence became so drawn out that Fox was convinced that she would stew in her own defeat without an answer.

Lana's mouth opened coming as a surprise to the tod who now eagerly awaited what would drivel out as an excuse.

"I don't know. I just… I just think it's right. My instincts are telling me to trust him, and that's what I'm going to do," Lana affirmed resolutely, causing Fox's ears to flick.

"You're unbelievable," Fox scoffed, shaking his head.

"Fox, if you would please just-"

"We're done here," Fox interrupted, casting one final dirty look at the traitorous minx. "You're just as dead as he is when I get out of here."

Lana took a deep breath and sighed. "Alright. Don't say I didn't try to ask you nicely."

"What are you do-" Fox tried to ask when Lana grabbed a syringe off the navigation station's desk and stabbed it into his neck.

Fox gasped from pain and balked from the sensation of liquid injecting into his veins like venom. Whatever that wretched woman stabbed him with it took effect almost instantly. His mind began to fog and yet clear. His concentration began to wane until anything that came to mind became as fleeting as a shooting star in the night sky. His eyes drifted around from object to object, utterly fascinated by each and every one of them for all but seven seconds.

"Fox? Can you hear me?" a voice asked, snapping his eyes and ears forward.

"I hear you," replied the vulpine, suddenly so enthralled with the woman talking to him and her big red eyes.

"Good. Now, Fox, I'm really sorry for what I just did… but would you please fly the ship for me?"

Fox tried to jump to his feet and oblige but wound up nearly knocking the chair out from under him. He looked down and reaffirmed that he was indeed tied down. He looked to Lana like a lost little lamb. Realizing what the issue was before even he did, Lana quickly started untying the fox's bonds. Within moments Fox was behind the pilot's chair, checking systems, starting up idle engines, and setting a course.

"Where to?" he asked, sounding like he had cotton mouth.

"To Sector Y," Lana ordered, her heart overcoming the gnaw of guilt to relish in the hope.

Perhaps Fox was right and Relics planed on betraying them all. Truth be told, she did not believe that for a second. Relics had done wrong by her and her people, this is true, but when she looked him in the eyes and watched for an inkling of doubt, she found only that same wonderful light she had always seen. It was a long shot to be sure, but it was the only chance they had.