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Needin' Some Lovin' Ch 6

Fox and Katt stared at Krystal as she pointed the blaster at Fox. They barely recognized her. She was wearing a black, two-piece outfit that left her midriff exposed, and her hair had been dyed dark purple. And there was an angry scowl on her face.

Krystal spoke again. "You're dating Katt now? Watch out, Katt. He'll ruin your life, just like he ruined mine." She looked back at Fox. "I've lost everything, Fox. No team, no money, and I have a bounty on my head now, and it's all YOUR fault! So now I'm gonna make you pay... with your life!" From the slight slurs in her voice, and the way she was swaying as she stood, Fox and Katt could tell that she was drunk.

Fox spoke. "Krystal, I'm so sorry. I never meant to hurt you. I was just so afraid to lose you. I don't know what I was thinking and I'd take it all back if I could."

"Save it, fox!" Krystal snapped, shaking the blaster she was holding threateningly. "I've heard it all from you before."

Fox waited for Krystal to pull the trigger, unable to see anyway out of this situation. But suddenly, Katt stepped in front of Fox.

"Out of the way, Katt," Krystal demanded. "I don't want to kill you. I want to kill him."

"Hold on just a minute!" said Katt angrily, keeping herself between Krystal and Fox. "Fox didn't ruin your life, Krystal. You did that yourself."

Fox and Krystal both stared at Katt in confusion.

"WHAT?" shouted Krystal angrily.

"Katt, stop!" said Fox, worried for her safety. "Just get out of here. She doesn't want you."

"Fox, shut up! Someone needs to talk some sense into this girl!" Katt snapped at him, and then she turned back to Krystal. "Yes, Fox may have kicked you off the team. Yes, it was wrong of him, but HE didn't ruin your life. You ruined your own life by all the stupid decisions you made after that."

"What are you talking about?" Krystal spat at her.

Katt continued. "You could have just put it behind you and moved on with your life, Krystal. There are plenty of other mercenary groups who would have been happy to have you, or the Cornerian army, or any other line of work, but instead you joined a bunch of murderous criminals, who don't care about anyone but themselves, and stabbed all your friends in the back when the Lylat system was in danger from the Anglers, all just so you could get revenge on Fox! And you wonder why everyone thinks you're a traitor?"

Krystal seemed to be at a loss for words as she stared at Katt with a dumbfounded expression.

"And we just heard you tried to rob a train transporting medical supplies to sick people!" Katt added with an accusing finger pointed at the blue vixen.

"NO!" Krystal shouted. "That's not... It's not what you think." She looked down at the ground, a shamed expression appearing on her face, and then she looked back at them, a faraway look in her eyes. "It's true, I was there with Star Wolf, but as soon as I found out what we were steeling, I couldn't go along with it! I tried to tell them to stop, but they didn't care. They said we needed the money too badly. I couldn't let them get away with the medical supplies and let all those sick people die. So I triggered the alarm on the train, and then escaped while Wolf, Leon, and Panther got captured."

"You sold out Star Wolf?!" Fox exclaimed in amazement. "Even Panther?"

Krystal looked at Fox with gritted teeth. "Ugh, I never liked Panther, Fox!" she shouted at him in anger and disgust. "He's an egotistical man-whoring pig who flirts with every girl he sees! Every time he touched me I had to resist the urge to vomit! I was only pretending to love him because I knew it would hurt you, like you hurt me!"

Fox was stunned by this revelation. All this time he had been convinced she had truly loved Panther. Then suddenly it hit him. This meant that Krystal was actually innocent in that train heist on MacBeth.

Katt spoke. "Look Krystal, I'd be pissed too, but Fox didn't mean to hurt you. He just made one stupid decision because he loved you and he was afraid to lose you. We all make stupid decisions sometimes, especially when we're afraid, or angry, or in love. I've also made some stupid decisions in my life. I wasted years of my life trying to get a certain bird we all know to fall in love with me. And look at you! You've certainly made your fair share of stupid decisions lately... because you're angry and obsessed with revenge. It's time to let go of the past and start making some intelligent decisions, because you're only hurting yourself. So please, do yourself a favor, and put down the gun."

Krystal hesitated. She already knew how remorseful and sorry Fox was. After all, she was a telepath, and she could read his thoughts, but she had been so angry at him, she had ignored it, and had stubbornly held onto her desire to make Fox hurt. As much as she didn't want to admit it, deep down she knew Katt was right. In her anger, she had ruined her own life trying to get back at Fox. She had ignored all rational thoughts, and had done terrible things and had treated all those who had been her friends horribly, things that she in her rational mind would never have done. It was her own fault that she was in the position she was in now.

Slowly, Krystal lowered the gun, and then she fell to her knees. She struggled to hold back the tears that were forming in her eyes. She still felt mad at Fox, but that was nowhere near how disgusted she felt towards herself now. And the more she thought about it, the more awful and ashamed she felt.

Fox, hearing the sobs Krystal was trying to hold back, made a move towards the vixen on the ground to try and comfort her anyway he could, but she immediately lashed out at him. "GET AWAY FROM ME!" she screamed at him, tears now flowing down her face in rivers. Fox immediately took a few steps backwards.

"Let us help you," Fox said to her as gently as he could. "We can clear your name, Krystal. We can get that bounty off your head. And you can still rejoin Star Fox if you want."

Fox waited for Krystal to respond. After several seconds, she sniffed and looked up at him. "I... I don't know," she said uncertainly, her voice a bit softer now then it had been. "I'm still mad at you, and after all I've done, I doubt the rest of the team will ever forgive me." She hung her head.

"Don't be dumb, Krystal," said Katt from behind Fox. "You need help right now, and he's offering it, and I doubt you'll find many others in the universe right now who would."

"Please, Krystal," Fox pleaded. "The others will forgive you. I know they will. Don't do it for me. Do it for yourself."

Krystal looked up at Fox in bewilderment. Even after all that's happened, he still genuinely cared about her. Maybe... maybe she could bring herself to forgive him. Perhaps she should have forgiven him a long time ago. After all, it had just been one stupid decision that he had made because he loved her, and she could tell that he had more than learned his lesson. Now it was time for her to learn from her own mistakes, and do better.

She could feel her anger, which she had been bottling up inside of her for so long, finally starting to slowly fade away.

After a moment of thought, Krystal wiped the tears from her eyes and swallowed her pride. "Okay," she said to Fox. "I... Thank you."

The three of them went back to the colony. The red glow of the sun was already starting to appear over the horizon. The three of them had not slept yet and were understandably exhausted. Krystal passed out from her tiredness as well as from being intoxicated. Fox carried her to some spare courters onboard the great fox, which Slippy had landed right next to the farming colony. Katt and Fox then got some sleep themselves.

Hours later, once they were all awake, they met up with Slippy and Amanda, and informed them about what had happened last night. Krystal was a bit hung-over, and had a pounding headache. Falco was still nowhere to be seen, and they guessed he was still off with the busty silver vixen.

Slippy was overjoyed to have Krystal back, immediately pouncing on her and embracing her in a tight hug. Amanda was less enthusiastic, but still reluctantly welcomed Krystal back.

While they were loading up the great fox with their supplies and payment, as well as Krystal's cloudrunner, Katt walked up to Fox outside the great fox while the others were all preoccupied inside with something.

"Fox, you still love Krystal, don't you?" said Katt.

Fox was taken aback by her sudden unexpected question.

Katt continued. "I won't be mad no matter what the answer is. Just be honest with me. Do you still love her?"

Fox paused for several moments, thinking. Then he looked Katt in the eyes and spoke. "I still care about her," he said to Katt. "I always will, just like you'll always care about Falco. But I'm not in love with her anymore. That ship has sailed." He took both of her hands in his. "I'm in love with you now."

It was true. When he thought about who he wanted to hold close to him each night from now on, Katt was the only person who he envisioned.

Katt smiled, and the two of them wrapped their arms around each other lovingly and kissed.

Suddenly, their moment was interrupted when they noticed Falco running up to them out of the corner of their eyes. He looked panicked.

"Guys, what the heck did I do last night?" he panted with wide eyes and a pale look on his face.

Fox and Katt both shrugged. "We don't know," said Katt. "We haven't seen you since yesterday. What's up?"

"I think I may have accidentally got married!" said Falco.

Fox and Katt's eyes widened in shock.

Falco continued. "I don't remember because I was pretty hammered last night, but I woke up next to that hot chick I hooked up with yesterday, and I had THIS on my finger." He lifted his hand to show them what looked like a wedding ring on his finger. "We have to get out of here right now! I don't want to be married!" He pulled the ring off his finger and threw it on the ground.

"Falco, we've got something to tell you!" Fox said to the avian just as he was about to run up the ramp into the great fox.

"What?" he asked, in a hurry to get off the planet as fast as he could.

Just then Krystal emerged from the great fox, walking towards them down the ramp. "Hello, Falco," she said timidly.

Falco stared at the blue vixen with wide eyes. "Krystal?!" he exclaimed, then he turned back to Fox and Katt. "What is SHE doing here?" he demanded. He was clearly not very happy to see her.

They explained to Falco what had happened last night, and how they were going to help Krystal clear her name. Falco was not very happy about this.

"Are you kidding?" Falco said angrily. "She stabbed us in the back when we needed her, and tried to help Star Wolf pretend to be heroes!"

"Falco, that's all in the past," said Fox. "We're putting it behind us."

"I'm not!" Falco protested. "I say we leave her! Let her deal with her own problems!"

"We'll, it's not your call to make. It's mine!" said Fox, asserting his authority as team leader.

Falco glared at him. "Fine! Whatever!" He walked up the ramp into the great fox, giving Krystal a mean look as he past by her.

"Give him time," Fox said to Krystal reassuringly, though Krystal didn't look very reassured. She turned to Katt.

"Could I speak to Fox alone for a minute?" Krystal asked Katt.

Katt hesitated a moment before backing off and walking away.

"How are you feeling?" Fox asked Krystal.

Krystal turned back to Fox. "Terrible," she groaned, holding her forehead with her hand, her headache still pounding. She paused for a moment. "Fox... you've apologized to me... multiple times now, but I still haven't apologized to you yet. So... I'm sorry. I was just so angry at you that I didn't even want to consider or try to understand why you did what you did. I just wanted to keep being angry at you, and because of that, I took my anger out not only on you, but on all of my friends. I was such an idiot, and I'm ashamed." She looked down at the ground, tears welling up in her eyes again. She wiped them away with her hand.

Fox put his hand on her shoulder, and she looked up at him. "We've both done some stupid things," he said to her, "but that's all in the past, and we're both wiser people now." He paused. "I know things can never be the way they were before between us, but if it's alright with you, I'd still like us to be friends."

She stared at him quietly for a long moment. Then she gave him a tiny smile. "I'd like that too, Fox."

That answer filled Fox with happiness. The two of them then hugged each other. It wasn't a romantic hug. It was a hug of friendship, and forgiveness. A hug that said without words that everything was going to be okay.

In that instant, Krystal felt better then she had felt in a long time.

---

After they left Papetoon, they contacted the Cornerian Army and met up with them. They managed to convince them that Krystal had set off the alarm on the train on purpose to get Star Wolf caught, and thus, if it hadn't been for her, the medical supplies would have never reached their destination, making her a hero. However, the authorities still didn't excuse the fact that Krystal had been part of the heist in the first place, but she still made bail. So Fox emptied his savings to pay it for her, and Krystal was free to go.

Krystal, feeling that she owed Fox a dept for this, as well as understanding that she needed a way to support herself, agreed to Fox's offer to rejoin team Star Fox.

Falco, of course, was not happy about this, and declared that he was leaving the team, stating, "If she's staying, then I'm leaving!" Despite how much they tried to reason with him or begged him to stay, Falco was too stubborn, and after a heated argument, the avian hopped in his arwing, and flew off.

Fox wasn't too worried. This wasn't the first time Falco had left them, after all, and he always eventually came crawling back. In his heart, Fox knew this time would be no different.

In time, the bad feelings and awkwardness between Krystal and the rest of the team completely faded away, and they worked and hung out and laughed together like there had never been any problems between them at all. However, Fox did get a little uncomfortable when Katt and Krystal started hanging out together, as no man likes the idea of their girlfriend being friends with their ex.

But even though they had put the past behind them, they never forgot it, and they made sure that they learned from it. That way, they could make sure that their future was going to be a good one.

---

A/N: Well, I think I'm gonna end the story there. As much as I didn't like having Falco leave the team at the end, it just made too much sense for his character. But I'm with Fox. I'm sure he'll be back. Anyway, I hope you liked this story. Please leave a comment telling me what you think. Until next time then.