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Chapter -7- The Krazoa

Fox pushed Krystal's feet, boosting her up onto a ledge.

She turned about, laid down on the ancient masonry, reached her paws down to her fiancé, and helped to pull him up onto the precipice. She grunted softly until he was all the way up, then she rolled over, sat up, and got to her feet.

The ancient stone palace appeared to be made of granite and metal blocks, and, up close, it was twice as majestic as the one on Sauria. The front entrance had no door, just an open doorway, up ahead. The stone blocks had intricate carvings, and the artisanship on the metallic sections looked as though they were either hand-chiseled by a genius or laser-etched by someone with vision and heart.

Fox stopped adjacent to the egress and traced his fingertips through grooves made in the metal. "These designs are..."

"Beautiful," said Krystal.

"Yeah. They're just decorative, though. No purpose."

"Art has purpose," she replied in a soft dulcet tone. She withdrew her staff from behind herself and showed him the intricate design patterns on the shaft. "Its ornate to enhance it's beauty."

"Well, yeah, but on your staff, it creates texture to help with grip, and to establish significance ... in your case, royalty. It also channels kinetic energy so that all the shock doesn't go into your wrists. Slippy said its layered metal to help with that. And it also channels electric energy, heat, and cold away from the user's grasp, so that the user isn't injured from attacks. And the energy from the shields are channeled into the shaft to further shield the user when utilizing the barrier."

Krystal stared at him. "Oh. Right. Weapons expert. Of course you had Slippy analyze it. Well, good to know, I suppose."

"Don't get me wrong. I've used it against enemies that sent out an electric shock. But it minimized the current into my palms, you know? If I'd touched those things directly, they might have stopped my heart. Whoever created that thing was a gifted weapon's engineer."

Krystal returned it to her back, causing it to telescopically shrink again. "Fox, it's based on designs that have been in use on Cerinia for thousands of years. It's always been said to be alien technology, and when I arrived on Sauria, I learned right away that it could be powered by plants that grew naturally on Sauria. In fact, Saurian upgrades for it were compatible with my staff."

Fox rubbed his chin. "I remember that - jeweled flowers. And then we get here and the computers could display in Cerinian."

"Yes. Albeit an ancient version of my language, but yes. Further proof that my people worked alongside of the Krazoa a very long time ago. A time apparently forgotten about by my people."

Fox passed through the large metallic doorway. It showed no signs of rust or degradation in any way. Fox wished he had a magnet on him to test it, but came to the conclusion that it might have been made out of precious metal, or was made with an alloy. He glanced back at her. "Or your government kept that little secret to themselves."

Krystal walked alongside of Fox, through the large doorway, and into a well-illuminated main hall. "My parents were royalty from two nations that were brought together by their marriage, Fox. They created the Senate to give more voices to more people. They would have had access to any ancient knowledge guarded from civilians. That's why I suggested the connection between Cerinias and Krazoans was apparently forgotten or buried at some point, long ago."

"Someone in a position of authority would have had to edit that out of the history books, so to speak. That's how that sort of thing works, Krystal."

"Let's not tarry about, Fox."

"Is that a polite way of telling me to shut up and keep moving?" He grinned at her.

"Perfectly polite as you like, of course." She flashed a smile and started walking through the palace foyer. Sunlight filtered in through beautiful stained-glass windows, although Krystal was quick to notice that some of the windows were missing or broken due to advanced age.

Fox shook his head. "How's it possible that these windows still have color? I mean, they should be blackened with age by now, and destroyed by the cold when this place was missing an atmosphere for a while."

"You love to analyze things, don't you?"

Fox shrugged. "I just ... I mean, well, so do you."

She smiled. "True. I was born into an educated class; on my way to become a scientist of sorts. I wanted to explore the worlds beyond Cerinia and hopefully build relations as a diplomat. I was trained to analyze things, fly, and protect myself for this task."

Fox gestured with his hands. "Well, look at them. They haven't been maintained in thousands of years. It doesn't make sense. Nothing about this makes sense. It's too clean. It's too maintained. Did they invent Roombas to keep this place clean? If so, why haven't we seen one?"

Krystal shook her head. "One possible answer, one you may not like, is that Andrew brought Venom soldiers to restore the area. Or, Andross did it a few years ago."

Fox grimaced. "Yeah, you're right - I don't like that answer. But there's no proof of that. There's no Venom equipment, no Venom generators, no crew quarters or tents ... and cleaning up after themselves before leaving isn't their style."

"But it's not impossible."

Fox nodded in agreement. "You're right, and your theory makes the most sense. But I'm not ready to settle on that just yet. I've seen their worksites. They leave a mess. Ruins on Venom are beautiful, and extremely similar to these - but the lizards left a giant mess."

"Is it true that the lizards of Venom are related to the lizards of Sauria?"

Fox looked around the enormous hall, chose a hallway at the far end, and walked toward it. "Yeah, it's true. They're cousins. The Sharpclaw tribe is a tribal version of the Venom lizards. They're even compatible for procreating. The current theory by leading scientists is that they served the Krazoa as a working-class people."

"Like slaves?"

"Like pets. Pets are members of a family - the lizards were seen as family servants. But, yeah, by Cornerian standards, that's considered slavery."

"And the Venom lizards have done nothing to protect the ruins found on Venom?"

"They spray-paint their own ruins on Venom. What's that tell you?"

Krystal cringed. "They have no respect for history."

"Exactly." Fox shook his head with a soft sigh. As an afterthought, he said, "To be honest, the Saurian ruins are just as clean as these, here... I always assumed it was the dinosaurs. Lightfoot, Sharpclaw, whoever. I just figured someone was cleaning up the ruins." He went through the hallway arches and made his way down a dim hallway. His shadow stretched out before him, disappearing into the distance.

"What if it's technology that repels dust, and superior ventilation that filters out dust and dirt?"

"Guess we'll have to read the Cornerian scientists' papers on this place once we give the all clear for them to study it." Fox rubbed his chin in thought. "Man, this place is beautiful."

There were art pieces set into the hallway walls with large dark circles framing them. Vases, pottery, sculptures of Krazoans, and sculptures that simply had inspiring but functionless designs.

Krystal offered a smile. "Agreed. It really is quite beautiful." She glanced at random ornate decorations along the walls, some of which depicted artwork made from polished jeweled stones.

Fox looked around the area as they walked together. "So, scientist, what's your theory on this building? What do you think it was used for?"

"My study wasn't in anthropology or architecture, Fox." She paused to trace her fingertips over a beautiful Krazoan sculpture set into the wall. Even on its base, it was only as tall as herself, which seemed out of place.

"Feel free to speculate. Pretty sure it's not an office building."

She replied with a chuckle. "If this was my office building, I doubt I would call out very often. I cannot imagine what it was like for the Krazoa. But, based on their artwork, here, it's no doubt their spirits were so wonderous."

Fox rubbed the nape of his neck. "I seem to remember making some of the spirits nervous. When one of them possessed me, it seemed uncomfortable with my past."

"Did the spirit ... judge you?"

Fox shook his head. "No, they got to see my perspective, I guess. He just ... wasn't comfortable with seeing war through my eyes. They weren't a combat species, you know?" Fox's voice reverberated off the walls. He turned to a particular piece of art and placed his paw against the depiction of a Krazoa mother holding her child in her arms. The baby was clothed in a gown that was long and flowing, inlaid with clear jewels. Like the other pieces, the sculpture was recessed into the bulkhead, placed carefully into a shallow alcove.

Krystal stopped. She stood beside Fox. She watched and vicariously felt the way the image affected him. "It's a powerful piece. I've never seen something so majestic made out of polished stones. The detail is amazing." She leaned in closer, noticing the way the mother was depicted holding her child. "Fascinating..."

"Yeah. I remember my mother, but she died when I was young. I mean, you knew that, of course, but..." He trailed off, then he asked, "What's fascinating?"

"They nursed their young the way we do. They were mammalian."

Fox moved closer to the piece. "Oh, damn, you're right. She's breastfeeding. Sharp eye."

"But what, Fox?"

"Huh?"

"You said, '...you knew that, of course, but..." Then you changed the subject. I'm willing to listen if you want to continue what you were saying."

McCloud reached down and placed a paw over the microphone in his gauntlet to keep the conversation private. "Just the way she's holding the baby. It reminded me that I have a video that my father took when my mother held me like this. I was in a baptism cloth ... thing. Like the way it's depicted here. Long flowing gown. Anyway, she had the _same_expression on her face as this Krazoa mother, shown here. I've never seen someone able to show emotion on a face of an art piece made out of stones. The artist, whoever they were, is really, really good."

Krystal offered a tender smile. "I love seeing this side of you."

"Yeah, well..." He cleared his throat, shook his head with a chuckle, and shrugged his shoulders. "Let's keep it between us. I don't need to hear Falco, all puffed up, posturing about manliness."

"If Falco is the posterchild for manliness, then ... then so am I."

Fox broke into muffled snickers. He cleared his throat and tried to suppress his grin. "Falco could never be as pretty as you. You care about your appearance; he only cares how his leather jacket looks with sunshades."

Krystal mirrored his grin. "And, when I fight, I'm endowed with bigger ... guns."

Fox thought back to the Aparoid campaign when Krystal used a Gatling laser blaster. A wry smile spread across his muzzle. "Yeah, Falco only ever uses a pistol, an assault rifle, or a short-barrel sniper rifle."

"My point exactly." She nodded firmly, then she placed her paw on Fox's shoulder. "Joking aside, it's really sweet that you were moved by a piece depicting a mother with her child."

"I can't help but wonder if they believed in stuff like baptisms."

Krystal rubbed her chin. "I never thought to ask the spirit that inhabited my body. She wasn't part of me for very long. She was the guardian of the palace, and I took her upstairs, to release her on the roof. Our conversation was deep but short-lived."

"Was she a mother?"

Krystal pondered the feelings she remembered from hosting the Krazoa spirit roughly two years ago. "I believe so."

"You know, here I am, going into my thirties with medals to show for my work, but no family, no house, no car, no extended college education. Maybe it's finally time to settle a little bit. It seems like, once we take care of Andrew, things will calm down in Lylat. We'll be safe. At least I hope so."

"You want to become a family man?"

"I'm ... not opposed to the idea."

Krystal touched his face with her palm and smiled softly. "I can think of no one better suited to protect Lylat and raise a family. How are you with children?"

"I watched Lucy grow up. I used to babysit her now and then. I had Peppy and my dad around to show me how to be a provider, and how to be a dad."

Her smile brightened. "Being good with children, now that is what I call manliness. Something tells me you'd make an exceptional father."

Fox feigned a smile of his own. "Thanks. I like that you believe in me." He reached his paw back up and touched a large faint circle made around the art piece of the mother and child. Fox cleared his throat and shook his head. "This circle is black, and it goes around the entire piece. You don't think it's how their civilization depicted, uh, halos, do you?"

"Anything is possible." She noticed the tone of his voice, took a step closer to him, and, in a soft voice, asked, "Are you all right?"

"I'm not very good at doing the ... emotions thing. How about we keep moving?"

"All right, Fox." She gave his shoulder a squeeze, lowered her paw to his gauntlet, and turned down the volume on his unit's microphone. "There."

He gazed down, seeing what she'd done, and offered a weak smile. "Yeah, thanks. Smart."

"My pleasure, love." Krystal fell into step, walking alongside of him. They continued further down the long dim hallway. "You know, I'll never understand the typical Lylat male. There's nothing wrong with showing emotions."

"We're raised being told that women look to the male as an anchor of confidence and emotional stability. It's supposed to be so that we make their lives easier, like, you know, when the woman is menstruating, pregnant, exhausted as a mother, and, later, during menopause. Not saying women can't be emotionally stable when going through those things, but if she wants to let down her guard, she can rely on a stable and supportive husband. That's..." He cleared his throat, and, with a nervous chuckle, added, "This conversation is getting heavy-handed, huh?"

"No, it's refreshing. I never get to see this side of you."

"I didn't think this artwork would have me talking about sappy stuff. It's ... weird, right?"

"No. In my society, telepathy bonded us, automatically shared our opinions, and made judgment nearly nonexistent. But, here, the only way to bond is by sharing private sentiments in a conversation. This isn't weird ... this is us bonding, Fox."

"Oh. Well, that's good. I like bonding with you. I guess, maybe, that art piece was more, uh, powerful than I realized?"

"Perhaps so. You never overshare, Fox. It's ... really refreshing." She offered him a gentle smile. "I like getting to know you this way. On a deeper, more meaningful level, you know?"

"Yeah. It's good. I just don't know how to do it very well." The couple continued down a hallway, which had no lights.

"I'd say you're doing just fine."

"I guess." Fox withdrew his blaster, switched on the light, and pointed it at the ceiling to illuminate the hallway. His vulpine eyes dilated.

Krystal glanced at more artwork on the wall in passing. "I had a thought."

"Yeah?"

"This temple could have been used for anything, back in their day, right...?"

"Okay, what about it?"

Krystal rubbed her chin with a thoughtful expression. "There are circles painted around the artwork pieces. Look close, Fox. They're large - the same size as the glowing portals used at the Krazoa Palace on Sauria where we met. What if these artwork depictions are ... places?"

"You mean like ... that image of a mother and baby might be a depiction of neonatal care, and back in the day, one could step into the wall as a portal to a neonatal facility?"

Krystal nodded emphatically. "And people say I'm the telepathic one. Yes, that's exactly what I was thinking, Fox."

"So, this hallway might just be a hub, taking different people to different areas necessary for their society..."

Krystal beamed. She liked seeing this side of her man's mind. "If I'm right, that would be fascinating. However, if that's the case, I doubt these portals have operated for a very long time."

"We might need to figure out how to get them running. If that's even possible."

"One way to find out," she said.

They both grinned at one another, and, in unison, said, "...Finish the mission."

Krystal sniffed at the air. "We might be here for a few days. This place is enormous. Far larger than I could have imagined."

"Yeah. We'll have to make camp once we can determine that we've secured the area. I'm not about to have Andrew sneak up on us in our sleep."

"Agreed." She squinted in the distance and said, "Looks like the hallway ends at a 'T' junction. Almost there."

"I see it," he confirmed.

At the end of the hall, they had stairs on either side, going in opposite directions.

Krystal shrugged. "You want to split up?"

Fox shrugged. "Do you sense Andrew in the area?"

"No. Even with his uncle's telepathy dampening helmet, I'd at least be able to know if he's nearby ... but he's not."

Fox nodded. "Be safe."

She smiled. "And you." She leaned in, expectantly.

Fox met her lips in a kiss.

She turned to the left staircase and Fox turned to the right. She glanced back, over her shoulder, and said, "Be safe." Her gaze lowered, briefly, to her fiancé's backside. "Come back to me with your tail still attached, hm?"

Fox chuckled. "I will. You, too."

She withdrew her blaster with her flashlight and cautiously ascended the stairs. The steps were fairly high, roughly two stories, then they turned ninety degrees to the right, went up another story, then another ninety degrees to the right, and up another story. She saw light at the top of the ancient stone staircase, and switched off the light on her blaster.

She felt Fox's presence nearby and couldn't help but smirk in realization. She continued up the stairs at a slow rate, waiting for him to emerge across the hallway on the top floor, from the other stairwell he used.

His flight light illuminated the hall. He scouted the hall and reached up to touch his headset. "Krystal, come in..."

She heard him clearly over her communicator earpiece. She took a step from the last stair, emerging from the dark, and approached him from behind on the top floor.

"Krystal?" he said into his gauntlet. "Are you there?"

She leaned in close, with a grin, and spoke directly into his ear. "Boy, these comms are so pristine and clear, it's like you're actually right there, talking into my ear."

Fox whirled around with a smirk. "Krystal..." He shook his head with a chuckle and said, "I see you still have your tail attached. Good."

"You like looking at it, do you?"

Fox licked his lips. "I, uh, respect you as a person too much to objectify your body like that."

"Uh-huh." She feigned a grin. "Well, personally, I like looking at your arse, McCloud." She gave his shoulder a firm pat and back at the double stairwell to the northeast. "So, the two staircases doubled back and met one another on the top floor. How anticlimactic, huh?"

Fox chuckled with a shake of his head. "Seems redundant and nonsensical."

She looked around the upstairs hallway then gestured to the two stairwells. "Not if this temple saw enough foot traffic that the builders had to do it that way on purpose."

"Mm, I suppose that's a good reason. And you're right, it was anticlimactic. But I'm glad we're not separating, after all."

"Aww, you missed me already?" She reached a paw up and stopped him before he could reply. "The correct answer is 'yes, darling.' Anyhow, let's go see what's at the end of this hallway-in-the-sky, shall we?"

"Yeah, 'in the sky' is right - we're at least four stories up, roughly."

She nodded firmly. "I came to the same guesstimate."

"Let's go check out whatever is ahead of us."

"Let's," she replied. "Feel free to take point like a gentleman."

"Yes, darling." Fox grinned.

Krystal grinned back.

The two foxes made their way down the dark hallway with the light of their blaster attachments to illuminate the way.

The hallway opened up to a grand room. It was several stories tall, and the light of the sun came in through empty windows to the east and west. There was also a series of stained-glass windows in the ceiling, shaped like the moon, the sun, and the stars. Planets also had a place in the ornately decorative ceiling. However, the windows on the east and west wall had no glass in them.

The room had a stone table at the center and a fireplace to the southwest, directly opposite of the hallway, which led back to the stairs.

The room also had bench pews, but the wood was rotted, in a state of advanced decay. Moss grew in a few spots on the floor, thickest beneath the glassless windows on the east and west walls.

Dead vines grew along the backrests of several pews, and it appeared that the benches were, at one time, heavily overgrown to the point that they may have looked like rows of hedges.

Fox shined his light across the pews with a thoughtful look on his face. "I guess the plants, here, died when there was no atmosphere on this moon."

Krystal pointed her light at the floor. "The moss on the ground looks to have been growing for only a few years. Fascinating how it got in, considering how high this room is. I am surprised there's no mold or other growth on the walls."

"The moss could've been carried here, if there are any creatures that live in this area. But ... you're right about the mold. Maybe the humidity isn't too terribly bad, but it does seem to rain ... that would explain why the plant growth is thickest beneath the windows that are missing glass."

Krystal walked up the rows of pews, toward an alter at the front-middle of the chamber. "It appears their religion isn't too terribly far from church religions on Corneria. At least the ones to which you've introduced me, thus far."

Fox nodded in agreement, shining his light around the somewhat-dark partially sun-lit room. "Yeah, it looks like religion was something they did as a community. I wonder what they prayed to...? I didn't see any depictions to suggest they believed in a single powerful deity, and definitely nothing to suggest they had a pantheon of gods. All we've got so far is this gathering room."

"Perhaps they worshipped themselves," said Krystal. "Although, I didn't really sense that from the spirit I hosted."

Fox shrugged. "Maybe only some Krazoa were religious. Or, maybe only the really old ones were religious - the ones who built this place. Maybe religion disappeared for the ones that were studying this place ... the place of their ancestors."

Krystal rubbed her chin. "Your basing your theories on Cornerian culture, but, still, it's a pretty good theory."

Fox walked the perimeter of the slightly ovular room, then returned to Krystal with a shake of his head. "Even the Krazoa Palace on Sauria didn't have a room like this..."

"I saw rooms with water around the edges during my time on Sauria. They were not as large as this one, but they had similar layouts to this one."

Fox thought back to his mission on Sauria. Some of the Krazoa spirits were found in rooms that were shaped like this one, now that he thought back on it. "Mm, yeah, you're right. I've seen rooms shaped like this - the Krazoa Spirits would give tests in them. Maybe that's what they were, there - the rooms had religious meanings. I never thought of it like that before now."

"Fox, didn't you once tell me that in some locations, there were traps and mazes leading up to the rooms where you found the Krazoa spirits?"

"Yeah, true. In some locations, it was pretty obvious that the spirit had builders make it awfully difficult to reach them unscathed. No religion is crazy enough to have their worshippers avoid traps between the entrance and alter room."

"True. Most religions are funded by their believers, so they would want as many as possible. And the Krazoa have shown no signs of cult-like beliefs. You're right. The ones you came across were likely designed to protect the spirit. But the one I came across didn't pose any real dangers in the Krazoa Palace."

"Well, that room was probably used for religious gatherings, then."

Krystal feigned a smile. "My test was a bit daft. There were jars the size of large baskets, and the Krazoa hid in one while slinging them about the room. I had to figure out which one he was in. Since he was noncorporeal, he didn't have a brain to make brainwaves for me to sense ... or ... read, I guess, as it were. Yet, I still sensed a presence. It made my task far too easy, and ... seemingly silly to me. But I wanted nothing more, at the time, than to show that spirit my respect. That's probably why he let me take him with me."

Fox chuckled softly with a wry grin. "They went easy on you for being a girl."

Krystal gawked. "Or they went hard on you because they didn't like boys."

Fox laughed. "Hey, maybe! Me? I had tests out the wazoo. Puzzles, endurance tests, flame throwers that moved up and down a hallway on tracks set in the walls ... and, jeeze, let's not even talk about the test of fear. That was something I'll never forget. It went beyond annoying. It was a flat-out frustration to be suffered through."

Krystal approached him from behind and affectionately placed her paw on the nape of his neck, running her fingers through his pelt. "And I'm sure you aced your fears on the first try."

"I ... uh, well, yeah. Of course I did. Not the point. It was their mind game, not my real fears."

"How so?"

"The hallucination started with dinosaur attacks and ended with Andross, towering over me, the size of a bio-weapon, and threatening to end me. But neither dinosaurs nor Andross is my deepest fear."

"Andross isn't your deepest fear?"

Fox shrugged. "I mean, sure, I was worried he was still alive, but not afraid. I was prepared for that level of disappointment. And, hey, it turned out he really was still alive. No surprise, there. But I was never afraid of him."

She eyed him, trying to peer into his mind, but he was bottling his emotions, making it difficult to sense his deepest fear. "Would it be all right if I asked?"

Fox shrugged again. "My real fear is way simpler."

"I'm listening," she said in a gentle tone. "Is it ... the thought of dying alone? Because, if that's the case, Fox, you're not alone. Not anymore."

"Look, most people fear losing their loved ones, or dying, or ... whatever. I already lost my family. I lost loved ones. I still muddled on, you know? I mean, dying would only mean I get to see them again. So, I don't fear any of that stuff."

Krystal remained respectfully silent.

Fox continued. "For me? It's way simpler. Silly, really. I'm surprised you haven't sensed it, or, like, you know ... telepathically know."

"It's difficult to read from you, Fox. You've compartmentalized your fear exceptionally well." She kept her paw on the nape of his neck with a tender touch. "It's okay if you don't want to tell me."

"Shoot, hon, I'm not afraid of talking about my fears. At least not to you." He cleared his throat, chuckled with another shrug, and announced, "I'm afraid of failure. Simple as that."

Krystal rubbed her thumb back and forth over the top of his spine, while gently sifting her fingers through his fur in a soothing manner. "I lived through my greatest fear - a fear I didn't even know I had until I was faced with it."

"You mentioned dying alone, earlier. Was it related to that...?"

"Yes. Surviving alone. Or, rather, more specifically, watching Cerinia die. Being the last of my kind that I know of ... being completely and utterly alone. Yet ... I faced those fears. I made a new life for myself."

"You're the strongest woman I've ever met."

She lowered her gaze, offering a weak smile. "Well, I couldn't stomach the thought of letting my fears define me."

Fox stayed quiet ... reverent.

She continued. "I had a deeply spiritual, and psychologically restorative moment on Sauria. All those Krazoa Spirits you rescued? They passed through me and swirled around me in a protective way while I was in Andross' stasis capsule. They broke down the neurological connections created by my trauma. And when you freed me? I plummeted down into the skylight of the palace. I looked down at the ground, over ten stories below, and I made peace with the possibility that my race was about to end with me, broken and lifeless, strewn about on a floor on some alien planet, far from the graves of my loved ones and my ancestors. I wasn't afraid, just ... saddened. You know?"

Fox licked his lips with apprehension. He'd never experienced Krystal open up this way to him before.

"And, in that same instant, I had just undergone a deeply healing period of time with the Krazoa spirits. So, I thought, well, if I die, at least I will die with dignity. Well, as dignified as one can, after falling roughly ten stories."

Fox cringed at the mental image. He quickly put it out of his mind.

"So, when I fell from the chamber, I reached up..."

"For the ledge?"

Krystal smiled softly. "No, Fox. For you. I sensed your presence in that split second. I reached for the beacon of light that I sensed ... you. And then? Then I closed my paws around my staff. I felt renewed as a person. I looked up at the man holding the other end of my staff ... the man who helped me up, onto the ledge. I looked up at the man who kept me from falling to my death ... and I realized that it was time to start fresh ... a new page of a new chapter ... starting a brand-new novel of my life."

Fox brought his free paw up and rubbed his jawlines between his thumb and forefinger. He didn't know what to say; he was speechless.

"And what did I do?" Krystal reached up with her free paw and touched the backside of her head, something she'd seen Fox do every time he was embarrassed. She looked away with a nervous chuckle. "I yelled at you and snatched my staff away. I was so frustrated with Andross for imprisoning me, destroying my home, murdering my family ... that when I saw him getting away, I snatched my staff and opened fire on him. So, I apologize for my churlish behavior."

"Hey, it's okay, Krystal. I gave you the staff and ran off to my Arwing. Falco and I put him down. Hopefully for good. I'm glad you came up to the Great Fox after that. I should have come to check on you, but I was all ... emotional ... after fighting my nemesis again, you know?"

"You let me make myself welcome, Fox. I appreciated that."

"Well, that was no problem. You proved yourself pretty capable. I actually respected you for snatching your staff back and opening fire on Andross. Heh."

"I think what really made me feel welcome, Fox, was that ... instead of putting me on a shelf to keep me protected, you made me a partner. A team member. You let me help you save my new home from emotionless robotic insect invaders. You let me take a stand alongside of you."

"You lost everything, but you recovered from it with your back straight and your chin up. Krystal, I won't lie, I've always respected your strength of heart and mind. I mean, that's ... got to weigh on you."

"It does, Fox. But I've found inner strength in our growing bond. You have shown me so much respect. You've given me purpose and friendship. You've given me appreciation. And, in showing me that respect, I have fallen in love with you. You have become my protector, my friend, my confidant, and my partner. You have shown me the path to reinventing myself."

"I ... don't know what to say."

"Say the first thing that comes to your mind, Fox."

Fox chuckled somewhat nervously. "I just ... I have the utmost respect for you. Because, honestly, I don't know what I'd do if I learned I was the last of my kind."

"You know, Fox ... I don't have to be."

"How do you mean?"

"According to a genetic blood analysis, you and I have compatible DNA. We have markers that make us theoretically compatable."

"Wait, Lylat's inhabitants are compatible with the population of Cerinia?"

"Well, Cornerian scientists did some genetic testing on my blood. And, when they told me that I have some genetic similarities with several known Lylat species, I ... might have ... given them a strand of your fur, and asked. And, in theory, it looks like Cerinians - if there are any left out there in the universe - are genetically compatible with you, Fox."

He blinked several times.

She chuckled offhandedly with a shrug. "But, I mean, at least now I know that my race doesn't have to end with me."

"That's ... amazing."

Krystal replied with a sly smile tugging at the corners of her muzzle. "Don't get any big ideas, mister."

"I wouldn't dream of any big ideas."

"Uh-huh. Yeah, right." Her grin broadened.

Fox cleared his throat so as not to blush through his facial fur. "You know I'm not that kinda vulpinian."

"I don't personally know any other vulpine men in Lylat. But if they're all as honorable and handsome as you, I got lucky when I wound up in Lylat."

"Oh, well, uh, thanks for that, and..." He face-faulted, furrowed his brows, and scrunched his nose. "Hey, wait just a sec!"

Krystal laughed softly with a playful expression. "Well, from what I've read about the history of your team, no one else was able to master the Arwing quite so gracefully when they were still new. So, I guess that makes you a unique specimen of your species."

Fox inadvertently looked around, but they were alone. His confidence swelled, and he dropped the wall of armor. "Yeah? Well, I don't know if it's telepathy, skill, or both, but you mastered the Arwing your first time in the cockpit, and that's what I look for in a woman. So, I guess that makes you a unique specimen of your species. We should hook up and hang out some time."

Krystal's smile broadened. She beamed at the way he flirted with her. "I accept. How about right now? You free to hang out?"

"Sure am. I have no problems making time for a lady of your caliber."

"Is it because I was the centerfold model for an issue of Mercs And Gear a few months back? You just want a trophy girl, is that it?"

"Wait ... what?" Fox stared at her, then brought a paw up and palmed his face. "I can't believe I fell for that."

Krystal erupted with silvery peals of laughter. "You should see your face!"

"You got me, you got me," he said in a muffled tone, speaking into his fingerless gloves.

"Like I'd ever 'spread' for a man other than you."

Fox swallowed a lump in his throat. "I, uh, I think you mean ... do a photo spread."

"I said what I meant, and I meant what I said. No one else gets this." She turned her paws inward, gesturing from her shoulders to her knees with a downward motion. And then? She bit her lower lip, feeling his shyness with the topic of sex. "Sorry, I got a bit overzealous. Just ... high on the moment, I guess."

Fox shook his head. "No, don't apologize. It's been years since I've even talked to a woman, let alone flirted, so I don't know what I'm doing."

"Oh, trust me, Fox, you're doing just fine. I just don't want to make you feel awkward by being too ... uh, forward. Flirting and sex weren't considered overly sacred or taboo on Cerinia. I'm still kind of learning how shame works in your culture."

"It's not you - you're not being too forward. It's me, Krystal. I'm just nervous about messing up with..."

She put a fingertip on his lips. "Don't."

"Don't what?" he asked against her finger.

"Don't worry. If you want me around, I'm here. If you want to take things to the next level, I'm ready. If you want to see how the next step feels? Well, so do I."

Fox licked his lips. "I keep forgetting that your race mastered communication - you guys literally couldn't hide anything from one another."

"Mm-hmm, so I have no compunction about being very open with my feelings for you. I sense yours, it's only fair you get to know mine. We didn't have shame or weird 'forwardness' in my culture. I'm happy to be an open book for you."

"Well, since you can already read my mind, I think it's fair to tell you that I'm not a virgin. But ... I kinda' feel like one. It's been forever, and even then, I didn't have a lengthy experience with that sort of thing. Except that it always ended with crashing and burning."

Krystal cupped either side of his muzzle, gently cradling his face in her palms. "I am a virgin. But in my culture, men were expected to learn what they were doing before mating with their betrothed, so as not to hurt the woman on her first time. I'm glad you won't fumble through it."

Fox didn't know how to respond. 'Is this really happening right now?' he thought to himself. He looked around at the immediate setting, and his first thought was whether or not they were safe to make camp this far from the transport ship, and whether or not it would get too cold at night on the tiny moon.

Krystal nodded in reply to his thought. "If you want to set up camp, first, I'm okay with that. It's just that ... I have been alone for far too long. Alone, emotionally. Alone, physically. Alone, well, spiritually in a sense. And, for the record, you're the only man who has ever seen me naked."

Fox thought back to that comically awkward moment when they were in the glass tube together, in Andross' lab. It felt like forever ago. It felt like it could've been fifteen years ago. He exhaled with a firm nod. "I remember it. I proposed to you shortly after."

"You liked what you saw that much, did you?"

Fox chuckled. "I proposed because I like the entire package."

"Good answer," she whispered, then leaned forward and pressed her lips against his.

Fox tilted his head a bit, meeting her lips with a delighted smile. They'd made out plenty of times before. It was something he was comfortable with. After a moment to share a lip-lock with her, he broke the kiss and whispered against her muzzle. "Hey, before we settle in for the night, do you want to do a quick sweep and clear the campsite?"

"Do I want to? No. But your judgment is sound."

Fox looked around the immediate area, a bit nervous about what was starting to happen.

"We don't have to if you don't want to..."

"I want to," he exclaimed.

"Good. I feel safe here. This is a good place to make camp."

He licked his lips. "Also, I don't have a, uh ... y'know, a contraceptive."

Krystal took his paw into hers. "My race is extinct. My eggs are all that remain of my kind. I'm not really concerned with contraceptives, Fox; I trust you are clean. Are you okay with that?"

McCloud licked his lips again. "I'm..." He exhaled softly, swallowed, and said, "I'm ... yes. I'm okay with that. But we have to be safe and secure the area first, before we make camp. I saw some dead trees outside of the temple. We could get some firewood, and some large stones, and start a..."

Krystal cleared her throat loud, followed by pointing at a hearth against the southwest wall. "We won't need the large stones, just a blaster to clear the flue."

Fox grinned. "All right. Let's get some wood and clear the area, so we won't be jumped or freeze in our sleep."

"Agreed." She reached up and scratched her nails gently beneath his chin. "You're already trying to be a provider of safety and security. I bet you'd make an amazing father."

Fox swallowed again. "I'd like to hope so. Shall we?" He unshouldered his backpack and sat it by the fireplace.

"Let's," she said, gesturing for him to take the lead. She unshouldered her own pack, leaving it beside his.

Fox leaned into the chimney and pointed his blaster upward. He opened fire, using a narrow-beam setting, blasting straight through the sediment and debris that had accumulated over the years. The heat of the blast melted away the sediment on the insides of the chimney.

Krystal placed her paws on her hips. "It's good to know you're handy. I take it you can change a lightbulb and fix minor plumbing issues, too?"

"Checking my résumé, are you?"

"Hey, we're not married yet. I gotta know if my man can do more than open a pickle jar, first."

"Heh. Yeah. Light bulbs, traps, and elbow joints are in my wheelhouse."

"Good to know." She gestured to the northeast hall, which led to the stairwell. "After you."

He led her outside of the large winding temple by retracing his steps.

The wind was starting to pick up a little bit, and the temperature had already started dropping as Lylat lowered into the horizon.

"Man, night sure came fast."

Krystal grinned. "Well, a moon is smaller than a planet."

"Yeah, true. Back when Sauria was in chunks, daytime didn't last very long. It messed with the animals there. They kept taking short naps every time the sun went down."

"I noticed that when I was there. I'd stay awake, and they'd act like I never slept. It didn't seem to faze the Cloudrunner tribe, though. The quick heating and cooling caused it to rain pretty hard when I tried to attack General Scales."

"Yeah, I remember it raining on-and-off a lot in Thorntail Hollow." He headed across the courtyard, away from the palace, toward the town buildings that surrounded the palace.

She followed him across the way to the nearest building, which had a tree growing up along the side of the wall. It was long dead from a time period before the atmosphere was destroyed over Miracle.

Fox changed his blaster's settings to cut off a low branch, and then to cut that branch into pieces. He holstered his sidearm and gathered all the pieces.

Krystal pointed at his gauntlet. "If there was anyone in the area, it would give you a proximity alert, correct?"

"Well, it's been upgraded and set to detect the heartbeat of anyone cold blooded, or with a lower body temperature than ours."

"Lower how?"

"Primates run between 98.5 and 99 degrees, using Papetoon Imperial Fahrenheit. Vulpine species run a hair shy of 101 degrees. Or, uh, using Cornerian Metric, I'm between 38.225 and 38.3 degrees."

"Your device is probably far more vigilant than either of us. I think we'll be safe to sleep tonight."

"Yeah, I'm sure we'll be fine. I just wanted to look around the area, first. Better safe than sorry. That, and get some firewood."

"Although, the temperature thing..." She moved a bit closer and said, "That explains why you're always so warm and snuggly."

"I ... wait, what?"

"One degree Celsius is, what, one-point-eight degrees Fahrenheit?"

"Yeah."

Krystal offered him a wry grin. "That means you're a half-degree hotter, in Fahrenheit, than my average normal temperature. So, you keep me warm when we snuggle up on the sofa in the lounge."

Fox chuckled. "Oh. So that's why you always curl up next to me when Falco and I play videogames."

"Mm-hmm. Now you know my secret."

And, just like that, the sky opened up with a burst of rain.

Krystal laughed with a shake of her head. "We could've been inside, keeping each other warm in fun and exciting ways, but you wanted to make a fire." She patted his chest with her palm.

Fox swallowed the tight lump in his throat. "Sorry, I uh..."

"Don't apologize. I'm teasing my little caveman, because he wanted to keep me warm and safe, heh."

"Oh."

She kissed the side of his face. "Really, Fox. It's fine. We both brought secondary clothes."

"Uh, yeah, exactly. We do have a second pair of emergency clothes in our packs."

Krystal took one of the small log pieces from him and held it close to her chest. "Let's get back and dry our gear over the hearth."

"Agreed," said Fox. "Before this wood becomes saturated to the point it's unusable."

She hurried out of the old house with the tree growing up through the roof. She headed back for the temple.

The rain intensified for a moment, as they dashed through the courtyard, then lightened considerably as they approached the decorative metal archway ingress.

By the time they both dashed into the temple entrance, both were soaking wet. Both foxes kept their wood pieces close to their chest to keep them as dry as possible.

Krystal laughed softly and shook her head. "My log seems ... _sort of _dry, but only because I shielded it under my chest."

"Yeah, same, except I had to double over while running. It's not drenched, but I am. We got these logs just in time - we'll be fine. They'll keep a fire going." He exhaled and glanced back outside of the metallic archway. "These things might cause a bit of smoke at first, though."

Krystal used her free paw to withdraw her flashlight-attached blaster pistol. She chuckled with a shake of her head. "That didn't go as planned."

"Yeah. Didn't know there was a small storm in the area. Sorry."

"Stop apologizing, Fox. C'mon. Let's get these things into that hearth, up on the top floor."

"You got it." He followed Krystal upstairs, through the temple.

As it continued to get dark outside, the temple became darker on the inside. However, it was noticeably warmer as they continued higher up, into the temple.

"You were worried it was going to be cold, Fox? But heat rises, and most of the windows in this palace are still intact."

"Yeah, but the two large ones on the east and west walls, upstairs, were missing."

"True. I guess we'll see in a moment."

They took the last set of stairs, together, and made their way back up to the shrine room again.

Krystal looked around. "All right, you win. The chantry is colder than I remember. I'm woman enough to admit you may've been right."

Fox grinned but didn't say a word. He put the driest pieces of wood into the hearth first.

Krystal put her log into a metal cradle inside the hearth, along with Fox's collected wood. She withdrew her staff and pointed it at the collection of wood pieces and used the flame setting to ignite the logs.

The wet bark caught flame, creating smoke, but most of it went upward, into the large chimney. After a few moments for the wet bark to burn away, the dry wood, beneath, crackled to life but the popping sounds soon subsided.

The room was soon cast in a soft glow.

Krystal noticed metal rod holders above the hearth on either side and gave a gentle push on each to test them. Satisfied it was stable and not rusted away, she put her staff, extended to full length, on the rod holders.

"That's handy," Fox said.

"Mm-hmm." Krystal unzipped her flight suit from the collar to her crotch. She stepped out of the one-piece flight suit, wearing spandex shorts and an A-frame.

Fox stole a glance at her figure in the glow of the fireplace.

Krystal draped her flight suit over her staff in front of the hearth and spread it out so it would dry faster.

"Smart," he said, adding, "Wouldn't want to wind up getting sick."

"Exactly," she replied. "Just in case my second set of clothes become wet or unusable tomorrow." She sauntered across the room to their gear packs, unzipped one, and withdrew three thin but soft blankets. She tossed them to Fox. "Lay them out on the floor."

Fox laid the three large, soft blankets out, one atop the other, so they had a makeshift bed.

Krystal went through her pack until she found a silver-colored emergency blanket in the side pocket. It unfolded as it came free of the pack. She unzipped Fox's pack and withdrew a second emergency blanket, and brought back both to the hearth, and handed him one.

Fox took the crinkly silver blanket and examined it. "These shield against low level radiation, extreme cold and extreme heat, and it's fire retardant." He didn't know what else to say - he'd never used an emergency blanket before. "...Thanks."

"Mm-hmm." She cloaked herself in the second crinkly blanket, removed her A-frame and spandex shorts, and hung them up over her staff, in front of the hearth. She cut her gaze to Fox, watching the expression on his face in the glow of the fire.

He didn't say anything.

"Hang up your gear, Fox," she said with a wry smile.

"Hmm? Oh, right." He draped the other silver blanket over himself, undressed quickly, and then hung up his clothes adjacent to her own on the ornate golden pole.

Krystal smiled. Her ears perked up at the sound of water. She glanced back and saw it coming in through the east and west windows in the walls at opposite sides of the room. She cut her gaze back to Fox. "Aren't you glad we're prepared?"

"Yeah, I'll say." He stepped out of his boots and used his foot to push them off to the side, adjacent to the two backpacks on the floor.

Krystal approached one of the two windows in the alter room and gazed out at the hard rain. She grimaced at the feeling of cold air that came in through the window. "I wish I better understood how high-and-low-pressure systems work. It's bloody cold out there all of a sudden."

"Shoot. We only have the two blankets, plus what we're using to make the bed."

"I have an idea," she said. Without another word, she put her foot up on the windowsill, stepped up into the stonework window, and put the blanket over the window. The blanket was just large enough to cover the entire window. "Fox, bring me my blaster."

Fox couldn't help but stare at her nude backside, illuminated by the fireplace.

"Fox. My blaster."

"Right, uh ... your blaster." He retrieved it from her gear and carried it over to the window. "Be careful, huh?"

"I will." She held the blanket in place over the window and said, "Use the lowest setting and melt the sides to the stone."

Fox fidgeted with the blaster, then he carefully aimed and heated the edges of the blanket until it was firmly melted to the stones, so that it sealed the window.

Krystal hopped down, landing in a crouch in front of the covered window. She pointed to the opposite window. "Your turn."

Fox used the blaster to seal the bottom of the blanket to the stones beneath the sill. He walked over to the window and paused. "Wait, you ... want me to...?"

"Get up there and hold your blanket in place over the window." She took the blaster from him with a grin.

Fox walked over to the other window and carefully climbed up onto the sill. He opened his blanket in front of himself and extended his arms, keeping the blanket fully opened to cover the window.

Krystal melted the edges of the blanket to the stonework.

Fox hopped down.

She finished melting the crinkly fabric to the stonework beneath the sill.

Fox couldn't help but notice how she was neither coy nor coquettish, standing nude before him. It was like it didn't bother her - she was completely comfortable in her fur and flesh. He took a deep breath and reminded himself that he'd seen her naked before, by accident, when they were in the glass tube together, with their minds connected in the laboratory on Fortuna. It was well over a year ago, but it felt like forever, for some reason.

Krystal thumbed the safety on her blaster. She set it on the floor near the fabric blankets, which were soft and made from recycled nylon. She lowered to her knees on the makeshift bed and ran her fingers over the soft material. "It feels like ... synthetic chinchilla fur."

Fox furrowed his brows. "How do you know what a chinchilla feels like?"

"Oh, don't be jealous. I didn't go around petting men, silly boy."

For some reason, Fox melted on the inside from being called silly. He couldn't be sure why.

"The doctor on Corneria who cleared me after I decided to stay and join Star Fox ... she ran the tests on my blood, remember? She was a chinchilla, and I marveled at how soft her fur felt to the touch. It was unreal. We had a girl moment and talked about vanity. No judging."

"Oh, okay."

"So, how do you know what a chinchilla's fur feels like, Fox?"

"Bill Grey dated a chinchilla for about six months, way back in the academy days. He never stopped talking about how it felt when they were in bed together. She dumped him because she was anti-war, and he was pro-military."

Krystal chuckled. "One of those 'opposites attract' relationships, I take it."

"Pretty much. He asked me to give her back some of her belongings after they broke up. So, I brought her stuff to her. She gave me a hug of thanks. She was wearing short sleeves. I remember being surprised how soft it was for the two seconds she hugged me, meanwhile I was thinking how weird it was to be hugged by some girl I'd never met before. Anyway."

"I'm glad you and I have so much in common." She lifted the top of the three blankets and sat down, using the top blanket to put around her shoulders. She glanced over at the reredos at the back of the room in the southeast corner, opposite of the fireplace. She turned to look directly across the room at the northeast corner, where the hallway was.

"I've been thinking about what you said, earlier," Fox replied. "I'm okay with it. I'm okay with whatever happens. I'm not trying to sound like some sort of horny ... dog. I just, I've had time to think about things. And, Krystal, I'm okay with ... if you get pregnant. I know you want to do whatever it takes to restore Cerinia and save your race. I can respect that."

"Oh, Fox. Cerinia is gone." She gently patted her paw on the blanketed floor. "My culture is gone. My people are gone. I've come to terms with it. I'm very likely the last of my race. But, well, having a child to pass on the knowledge of my kind ... that's appealing to me. It would help put my heart to rest on the issue."

"I can understand that." Fox moved a bit closer to her, then he sat down on the blanketed floor in front of the warm fire. He drew the opposite end of her blanket, pulling it over his shoulders, so that there was a bit of excess fabric between them from the size of the covers.

"Y'know, it also doesn't hurt that my future child's father is a bit of a dish." Krystal scooted closer to him and placed her head on his shoulder. "Y'know what else? That kiss, earlier ... that was nice."

Fox pivoted on his rump, leaned out from beneath his end of the blanket, and cupped either side of her muzzle. He brushed his lips over hers.

Krystal melted into his kiss. She sighed in content, tilted her head, and kissed him back passionately with all the longing in her heart.

Fox parted his maw. His tongue moved forward, brushing past her lips.

Her tongue danced and dueled against his. Kissing wasn't something that existed in her culture, yet it felt so natural with him. It was a powerful turn-on, and she loved the act of making out. It was one of the best things about Lylat.

Fox enjoyed the zealousness of her kiss. He felt his confidence spike and pulled her close. His paws slid over the silky pelt on her back.

Krystal murred softly against his lips. She felt the heat of blood beneath her cheeks, and her heart raced in her ribcage. She loved how large his hands felt on her back; they made her feel small in his strong grasp. Small and protected.

Fox tilted his head a bit more, and their muzzles fit together perfectly like puzzle pieces.

She released her end of the blanket from her paws and reached out, placing her palms firmly against his athletically toned chest. She explored the sculpt of his upper abdominals with her left paw, while cupping his chest with her right.

She loved the feel of his racing heart beneath her fingertips. Her left paw trailed down, further, exploring the groove between his abdominal muscles, and because he was sitting up and leaning forward, his abs bunched up beautifully.

Fox responded to her touch in a way that proved he was turned on. His heart raced. His ears laid back, his whiskers folded back along his muzzle so as not to interfere with the kiss. His tail fluffed up, and, as he felt her left paw explore lower, through his thick vanilla pelt, past his navel, it caused a surge of desire.

Krystal's velveteen-padded paw stopped at his lap. She felt the heat of his blood as his manhood firmed up beneath her feminine touch. It was such a delight to know she had the ability to bring her man to attention with a mere kiss and touch.

Fox's flesh throbbed in an instant. He was thick and long.

Her paw trailed from the base, up to the tip, and back down to the hilt. She had never seen this side of him. When they dashed naked through the base on Fortuna, and when they took the combat motorcycle, still wearing no clothes, well ... she never got to see this part of Fox.

She couldn't help but be impressed. He had impressive length, certainly longer than what would be able to fit in her dainty muzzle. She didn't have any way to measure it, but she guesstimated longer than seven inches, possibly longer than nine.

Fox shivered at her touch. "Here I am, breaking my own rule about professionalism in the field during a mission."

She leaned back a bit, showing her toned body and modest bustline to him by firelight. The pink pert nubs of her breasts glowed by the flame's light, taut and firm.

She knew she wasn't over-endowed like the vixens in the Cornerian smut magazines or on the internet. But she didn't care. She knew that she had her man's attention, and that's what she wanted. It made her feel desired. It made her feel sexy.

Fox licked his lips. "By the goddess Lylat, Krystal, you are so freaking beautiful. I ... know I don't tell you that often enough. But, you are so ... I ... I just..."

She liked having this effect on him. "Yes? Go on, say what you're going to say, love."

"I'm a lucky man. I get to have a crush on my fiancée."

Okay, now she felt giddy. It was sweet to hear, but it was also stimulating to know that her lover was extremely attracted to her. "Is that right..." She reached her right paw around and firmly grasped his tight masculine rump. "What I said earlier, when I said I'm dating you for your body? I meant that." She grinned. Of course she didn't mean it like that, but this was her first time trying to muddle her way through pillow talk.

Fox wasn't used to feeling sexy. He wasn't used to feeling attractive. He wasn't used to women being around, until these past two years, and he wasn't used to having someone flirt with him. But he loved it. He pulled her close, up, onto his lap, and kissed her again, the way he'd kissed her earlier.

Krystal murmured in delight against his lips. Her paws went wild, exploring what she could touch. Her paws went to his back, down a bit, then back up. She moved her forearms between their bodies, just touching everything she could.

Fox broke the kiss, panting softly ... lustfully. "It's still a bit cold in here. Maybe you could warm me up?"

"Mm, maybe so." She kissed down along his jawline, and over his throat, just wanting to touch every inch of him. She nipped and licked at his neckline, then down to his collarbone. She was overcome with lust for his man, and kissed every delicious inch of his chest that stood in the way of his abdomen. Her lips moved further down, passing his navel, and then ... she wasn't sure what overcame her senses, but..."

Fox leaned back, propped up on his paws, watching her head go lower. His eyes widened in anticipation.

Krystal licked her lips, opened them wide, and closed her muzzle over the length of his cock. She wrapped her right paw around the base, and buried her nose into her index knuckle. She took up an immediate rhythm, seductively moaning to vibrate the flesh of his manhood. She used her paw and muzzle to cover the complete length of his impressive length, from tip to base, and began bobbing her head, along with her paw, to tease and pleasure him.

Fox groaned long and loud. He leaned back, onto his elbows, and then all the way onto his back on the blankets. His left paw went to her head, between her ears, and he guided her in matching rhythm, delighted beyond all measure. Meanwhile, his right paw linked up to her left, interlacing his fingers with hers, so that her engagement ring stood up between his knuckles.

The only woman to ever go down on him like this was Miyu, and it was very different. Miyu had a shorter maw, and she didn't put emotion into the act ... at least not like this. He was delighted by the way Krystal devoured him with passion and lust.

Fox tightened his fist, firmly holding her by the hair.

It was exciting to Krystal. She couldn't quite be sure why ... maybe because it was proof that he was throwing himself into the act with fervor and a masculine side she never got to see from him before now. It was ... it was hot.

She bobbed her head firmly, while holding onto his paw firmly with her free one. There was a burning need between her thighs that she couldn't ignore. But, with one paw on the base of his cock, and the other interlaced with his fingers, she had no way to touch her body. Instead, she flexed the muscles at her pelvic floor, tensing up with feverish need.

She knew one thing was for certain - she was going to mate with her lover tonight. She'd thought about it many times over the last ... almost two years with Fox.

And, while they'd never made love before, she had thought about what it might be like many times, alone in bed, or in the privacy of the shower. But now ... it was actually going to happen.

Her heart was pounding its way out of her chest. There was a burn of need deep inside that craved to be sated. Furthermore, she couldn't understand why his flesh was so incredibly delicious. She drew her paw from his, brought both of them beneath the swell of her bust, and lifted her chest from beneath, trying to use it to envelop his cock.

She panted softly, giving her jaw a break ... it wasn't something she'd done before, so the muscles of her jawline were tight. She slid her full firm breasts up and down over the length of his dick. There was something thrilling and primal about how naturally she fell into this rhythm with him.

Fox had two mates in the past. He wanted to please her, but he also wanted to make sure she was turned on enough for this act to occur. He shifted his weight, so that he was on one knee in front of her.

Krystal was just a tiny bit shorter than him, sitting, and she looked up at him with doe-like eyes.

Fox guided her onto her back and knelt between her ankles. He doubled over, grasped her firmly by the hips, and used his nose to nudge her thighs apart. His left paw grasped her hip tightly. His thumb came to the silken mound of her sex. His fingers captured the side of her ass cheek, again making her body feel small in his grasp.

His right paw linked up to her left, again, interlacing his fingers with her own, so that her engagement ring stone was between his knuckles. He used his left thumb to pull at the flesh of her mound, drawing the folds apart that hid the sensitive nub of her clitoris.

His tongue darted out, lapping at the little pink button.

Krystal squirmed, immediately panting with a need she'd never felt before. "Oh fuck," she breathed.

Fox had only heard her cuss a handful of times, and for some reason, the tone of her voice made it incredibly hot. His tongue licked upward, rolling across the little pink nub.

She squeezed his paw firmly, indicating that he was doing a good job.

He continued to lap at that little pink button for another moment, then his head lowered a bit, and his tongue thrust forward, buried into her silken slit, forcing her folds apart.

Krystal's hips lifted from the floor and her paw closed into a near-fist, tightly grasping his paw in her own. She panted loud and lewdly. "Oh my god, Fox!" She tugged at his paw, drawing him close.

Fox followed her meaning and crept forward. He moved above her, trailing his lips back up her smooth toned tummy. There was something salacious and taboo about making love in the middle of a mission. But their passions ran hot, and he couldn't deny her. His lips continued upward, between her voluptuary breasts, which parted wide.

Before his kisses could reach her neck, she reached for his face and guided his mouth to her own.

Her lips parted in sybaritic self-indulgence, wanting to taste his tongue again. Their muzzles slanted together heatedly hedonistic in her hunger for him. She kept purchase on either side of his face, reveling in the way his whiskers tickled her palms.

His own paws moved over her body, clutching her breast in his right, and grasping her hip and then her rump with his right.

Krystal lifted her long lean legs, wrapped them around his waist, and crossed her ankles. She pressed her heels into his rump, just beneath the base of his tail, and pulled him close.

Fox, despite not having a lover in roughly a decade, was experienced in this moment. No paws needed, no touch necessary, no guidance required. His flesh met hers, and his hips rolled forward, angling himself naturally. It all came back, like riding a bicycle. There was something natural, primally instinctive, and honest about this, and he reveled in the moment.

Krystal's body tensed instinctively. She felt him sink into her flesh. Her well-adjusted sense of logic was out the window, and she surrendered to the passion that possessed her heart and soul.

She never thought her first time would be in such a romantic setting ... an ancient castle-like dwelling, in front of a flickering fire, during a rainstorm. It was like something out of a romance novel.

She always thought her first time would be in a soft bed with rose pedals all around. But, despite the lack of a big fancy bed, it was exactly as she'd always wanted her first time to happen. She decided the epicurean luxuries could wait until their wedding night.

It felt like she was falling in love all over again for the first time. This carnal side of Fox was so welcome, and his wanton behavior was the most venereal and promiscuous thing she'd ever experienced.

She felt him plunge deep into her body, and that incredible length provided a sensation of incredible depth that she'd never experienced before. It was as if he'd hit bottom - almost like he was grinding up against her cervix with every thrust.

She expected it to hurt, or to feel like she was having her interior organs rearranged, but she was so incredibly turned on, and so desirous, that his reach was able to cure her inner ache with the first thrust. She enjoyed his slow, deep, calm movements. It was sensual and loving.

But she craved more. She didn't hurt. She, instead, felt a little bit numb. Was that the breaking of her hymen? Had she lost that by accident before now? She couldn't be sure. She didn't care anymore - she craved more. Something more risqué and ribald. She craved something that boarded on scurrilous and raunchy.

She broke the kiss, lifted her head with a deep gasp, and cried out in delight, right into his ear. "Harder! Harder, Fox! It feels so good. I need it so bad." The ache was deep, and only he could hit that spot the right way. She clung to him, and in an innocently needy tone, she whispered, "Please," to him.

Then she said it again, but louder. "Please," she begged. "Please, Fox. Please, baby!"

Fox became wild with unconstrained abandon. He loved the way she cried out. Her tongue hung from her bottom lip, brushing against his ear. The smutty tone she used was rather musical to his ears.

His licentious rutting soon found a rhythm, and his lascivious pawing at her body became a smooth, sure, possessive touch. And then? He felt something he would never forget. Something he never felt before this moment. He felt her clinch those lush little folds of her flower around his cock. His eyes widened and his manhood throbbed. He'd never experienced something so tight before. The silken flower of her pussy hugged every inch of his cock, clinging to him with such control that it felt amazing.

Fox tensed his body, trying to hold back from reaching release too soon. It was difficult.

Krystal reached down and pawed at his athletic rump, pulling him against her. "Like that, oh my goddess, just like that," she said, coaching him to the best of her ability.

She telepathically fed off of his pleasure, and she loved the sensuality of it all. "Go on," she goaded. "I want to feel it, please!" It felt so good to talk so bad. She clung to him, arching her hips up off the blanketed ground. "Fill me," she pleaded.

Fox met the rise of her hips by slamming himself downward, and then? He reached an intense orgasm that took his breath away. He clenched his eyes shut and ground his molars together, while burying his face into her exposed neck. "Hnnggh," he grunted in a muffled tone against her throat. "Cumming," he mumbled in a breathy pant.

She sensed his wording, followed by feeling the sensation of warm frothy cream flooding her body. It felt so wet and the rush of liquid heat triggered in intense release that had been building up since he first kissed her.

This was a climax unlike any she'd experienced before. Until now, she'd only had clitoral releases ... in the shower, or while curled up in the fetal position beneath her covers in the middle of the night. But, no, this was different. This orgasm came from deep within, and was unique, new, different, powerful, better.

And then? She experienced the one she expected, which overlapped the big one. Was this ... multiples? Was this what she'd read about from romance novels? Because no collection of words could've ever prepared her ... for what it felt like ... to cum for a man with whom she was deeply in love.

This sensation? It was intoxicating, and it was an instant game changer. It was the new bar by which she would judge every romance novel for the rest of her life.

After two years of flirting with this man ... after waiting for so long to know his touch ... after wanting this so badly, every day, for six hundred days ... she couldn't believe it was finally happening. But her body? It hungered for this moment.

The orgasm consumed her, and she retreated into it, making it her entire existence for ... however long it lasted. There was no way to know, because, for Krystal, time stood still.

And then Fox kissed her. Her eyes widened. It was then that she realized he kissed her to keep her quiet. Had she screamed? Was she still screaming when he thrust his tongue into her mouth? How long had she screamed? She couldn't be sure if she'd screamed, of if she just moaned loud enough to surprise him.

Somewhere, at the back of her head, she was pretty sure she might have screamed long, loud, and lewdly.

She had wanted nothing more than to know Fox McCloud's touch. She remembered feeling disappointed the night he proposed, when he didn't make love to her. She came to understand it - he lost every woman he'd touched in one way or another, but she was going to be different. She wasn't going to fall victim to the McCloud curse. She vowed it to herself, especially if sex with him was going to be this intense.

The logical part of her brain rationalized this moment. Some part, deep down, in the back of her head, told her that the intensity of her orgasms was linked to the intensity of the emotions she felt for him, and for the excitement of their first mating.

He continued to buck his hips while kissing her with an intensity and passion that was utterly consuming.

She brought her paws up his back and sifted her fingers through the slightly longer tuft of white fur atop of his head.

Fox broke the kiss to breathe hard, but he kept his lips against hers. He spoke against her mouth, between panting. "I love you."

And with that, she was undone. She never expected words, which she'd heard him say in the past, to catch her so off guard, but she felt his love and adoration when he said it.

She knew it was pillow talk, but she also knew that the only time he'd ever said it in the past was when he'd put a ring on her finger. The fact that she could sense the truth and honesty in his words made them that much more meaningful.

"I love you more," she replied, then pulled his head down, so that his lips met hers again. She wasn't sure where she'd heard 'I love you more' before. A book? A TV program, perhaps? A cinema feature, maybe? She knew it wasn't something from Cerinia, because 'I love you' wasn't a saying there - the feeling was something telepathically felt by another of her race. But she reveled in those words, here, in Lylat, because there was something pure and romantic about hearing a man freely express his feelings.

She sensed that Fox really liked hearing her say the phrase back.

Fox broke the kiss, panting softly. "That ... was..." He held his breath for a few seconds to clear his mind. Then, without even thinking before speaking, he just let the words roll off the tip of his tongue. "...Fucking amazing."

She reached her left paw down and gave his rump a gentle pat. "Be easy, hm?"

Fox nodded in understanding, and slowly drew his hips back, withdrawing himself from hilt to tip. His impressive length dropped to the base of her tail, between her legs. He arched his hips a bit, resting his throbbing cock over the top of her mound, so that his balls came to rest against her gooey entrance.

The sensations made her flinch a bit. "So ... heh. Amazing, am I?"

"I loved you for your cleverness and hot figure before today. But now? You've ruined me for other women for the rest of time."

Krystal beamed in response. "Okay, if that was pillow talk, it was the best pillow talk I've ever heard. They don't have men talk like that in romance novels."

"Oh yeah? How do men talk in your books?"

Krystal chuckled softly. "They complement the woman in romantic ways, and appeal to her mind. They talk, well, like a man being written by a woman."

Fox rolled off of her body and laid beside her. He laughed aloud and draped his forearm across his forehead, breathing heavy and steady. "So, it's fake?"

"It is to me. One of the only parts of romance novels that killed it for me."

"Really? In what way?"

"When the stable boy speaks to the wayward rogue princess like a poet, it doesn't feel realistic. This? What you and I have? This is real. And, uh..." She suddenly lost the ability to speak.

"Yeah?" He turned his head sidelong, staring at the side of her face. "What?"

In a softer voice, she replied, "It, uh ... was ... amazing for me, too."

Fox replied with a brilliant Cheshire grin. "Yeah?"

Krystal nodded. "You were trained well."

Fox laughed nervously. "Trained?"

Krystal nodded. "On Cerinia, two telepathic mates would walk each other through the act so that they knew how to best please one another. But you have no idea what I'm feeling, so you have to rely on training and experience. I've heard of women seeking out men who know how to make love, so that the man will know how to please her. That's the custom here, isn't it? To an extent. I know it depends on the woman, of course, but where I am from, there are no secrets, there is no judgment of past lovers."

"Ah. Are people monogamous in your society?"

"Some. If they've found someone that they fall in love with ... someone to grow old with, then the couple becomes monogamous. It typically happens in old age ... that person you love even when sex isn't involved anymore. But before children come along, yes, many Cerinians were polygamous. That ... that is the term, isn't it?"

"Yeah. Here, in Lylat, Vulpine people are known for monogamy. That's okay, right?"

Krystal smiled. "Fox, I've never known any other way than this. With you. When I left Cerinia, I was still a virgin. I ... was a virgin until tonight."

Fox smiled brightly, to the point it made the corners of his face hurt. "I ... always figured, but I wouldn't have judged either way. I am flattered to be your first."

"I am flattered you called me amazing in comparison to your past experiences." She turned to face him, so that her nose brushed against his, while they lay side-by-side. "I fed off your feelings and bared down to please you best. That's how sex works in my culture. But the fact you knew how to touch me without being telepathic? That is truly impressive, Fox."

"I took your paw, remember? We held hands. When I do something you like, I feel your hand tense up. I, uh ... also really like the fact that you're a screamer."

Krystal felt flush in the face all at once. "I'm ... what?" She heard him, but sometimes it was easier with a telepathic race, so that she didn't have to hear or say such things out loud. "I didn't catch that." She wasn't sure why she lied. It just ... came out.

He rolled onto his side, propped up on an elbow, and said, "It's hot to hear you get so ... vocal. That also helped me know I was doing things the right way. Well, that, and the way you kept saying, 'it feels so good,' and 'just like that.' Heh."

Krystal's face ached from tensing up with flushness. She reached back and swatted at his chest. "Okay, okay! I had to make sure you kept doing things that felt good, you goofball."

Fox chuckled softly. He leaned in close and brushed his nose against her ear. Then, in a soft voice, he said, "You know what else was really hot? 'Please. Harder. Please.' I'd have held back longer, because I wanted to last longer for you, but when you said that? I couldn't control myself."

Krystal bit her lower lip, hearing her words spoken back to her, but when he continued explaining himself ... when he talked about losing control ... that was intoxicating. She rolled onto her side, propped up on her elbow, so that she faced him in a way that mirrored his posture. Her breasts heaved to the side, resting one atop the other by her elbow.

He met her gaze. "What?"

"You? The epitome of willpower and control?"

Fox chuckled. "I have a temper. At least I used to when I was a teenager. Ask anyone who was familiar with my obsession during the Lylat War. I was a hot head until I was in the cockpit. That was the only thing that could focus me. Willpower wasn't ever something used to describe me."

"Yeah? That's just proof you're a passionate man. Passion doesn't just mean sex. It means having intense emotions. But, Fox, when you're in the field, you're the most controlled man I've ever met. And your willpower? Even the Krazoa spirits could attest to it - you passed their willpower test in a way that humbled their initial thoughts of you. And from what you've told me about the test of fear? It took incredible willpower and control to master your fears. So, for you to tell me that you lost control for me? That I affect you that much? It's ... very ... sexy."

Fox was propping his head on a paw, but he used his free paw to take her by the backside of her head. He drew her close, until their lips slanted across one another.

Krystal's heart pounded in her chest again. They kissed in a heated way for a moment or so, then she broke the kiss, and, in a breathy voice, said, "I can't remember if I've told you this before, but this ... kissing ... with the tongues ... it's not something my culture did. But ... I really like it. I can't get enough of it. It really turns me on."

"Does it, now?" He brushed his lips against hers again, teasingly, then flicked his tongue across her lips. He drew her head close once more, but he didn't kiss her yet. He only teased that he would kiss her.

"You are a bad man."

"I thought I was a good boy with bad habits."

Krystal grinned. "I did say that, didn't I?"

"Mm, yeah, ya did." He brushed his lips against hers again, maw open, but didn't yet make out with her. "I like knowing I turn you on."

She couldn't stand the teasing. She reached over, took his pelt in her fists, and pushed him firmly onto his back, then she kicked her leg out, over him, and straddled his body. She doubled over at the waist, and firmly pressed her lips against his. While sitting atop of his hips, she pushed her tongue into his muzzle, and kissed him the way he had kissed her earlier.

Fox put his paws on her hips to keep her steady while she sat on his lap, pinning him to his back.

She ground her hips back and forth, sliding her slick dew-drenched flower petals across his manhood. She could feel it firm up against her sex. That frothy honey coating of their mixed juices coated his cock, making it a smooth slippery ride. She continued to kiss him while rubbing herself back and forth against his firming member.

Fox reached down, where their bodies met, and helped to guide his cock upward and inward.

Krystal's eyes widened at the delightful sensation of penetration, again. It was as though he slipped right into her with such ease that she gasped in pleasure, as though it had somehow caught her off guard.

Fox bucked upward, stuffing her deep, especially at the angle in which she topped him.

Krystal's breasts heaved with each shifting movement of her body. She rode him hard, taking every inch of that impressively over-average manhood. He was slightly longer than the depth of her pussy, and it made her feel filled to the brim in a way she never expected before.

She panted in delight, and leaned down so that her tummy was flush against his, so that she could better handle his length.

Fox kept his paws firmly on her hips, guiding her in the motion that helped her reach another climax her body needed.

After a moment, she stopped shifting her hips, and crawled off of him. She wanted to stand, but her legs were shaking to the point that she couldn't manage it.

Fox got to his feet. His cock throbbed, fully swollen. He ran his fingers through her hair, and drew her head close, so that is pulsing member brushed the side of her cheek in a possessive and objective manner.

Their eyes met. He grinned down at her, and she looked coyly up at him with a pounding heart.

Fox reached down and put his paws beneath her arms. He lifted her to her feet, then bounced her against his knee, so that he could lift her up by her hips. Without warning, he set her down on a stone object, nearby, that resembled a small rectangular table.

Krystal looked up at him, still panting from her last release. A slight grin tugged at the corners of her muzzle, and she afforded him a tired wink. "Okay, tough guy. You can pick me up like a play-thing. That's actually hot. I had mine ... your turn."

Fox took her by the shoulders. He rolled her over, until she was on her side, then he put his other paw on her hip, and guided her onto all fours.

Krystal looked back at him, lifted her tail, and braced herself on the low table.

Fox gripped her hips, on either side of her rump, and used his thumbs to spread her pussy lips apart. He arched his back a bit, and sank into her without any resistance.

She was so wet and slippery that there was virtually no friction. She tightened her stomach and tensed her pelvic floor, clinching his cock in her luscious little lips.

Fox groaned.

The sound he made sent an electric shock of yearning from her ears down to the bottom of her spine. She continued to bare down on him with all the muscle control she had in her lower body.

Somewhere at the back of her mind, she wondered how sore she would be the next day.

Fox reached his left paw around her and grasped her breast possessively. He sank into her body, balls deep, so that they slapped against the backside of her thighs. He withdrew, to the tip, and plunged into her body again, cramming himself into her flesh with a physical hunger he'd never experienced for any other woman, before.

Krystal braced herself on the edge of the alter, crying out between each pant. He went deep. She felt her insides being rearranged to accept the depth of his reach, but, at this angle, it helped with taking him so deeply, at least more so than when she sat up tall, perched on his manhood, moments earlier.

Fox reached his other paw around her body, and wrapped his right arm around her neck, so that her throat was in the crook of his elbow. It was a comfortable place to be, and the possessive clinging made her body writhe with need.

He climbed up onto the alter, behind her, pressing her down so that her face was touching the concrete, but with his right arm around her throat, from behind, and his left paw clinging to her breast. He had his way with her, slamming his hips from tip to base.

"Holy-bloody-hell," she gasped in delight. "That's it, Fox. Just like that, my God, you're so deep." She panted to try and get control of her pounding heart. She could feel the pulsation of his throbbing member buried inside of her. She could feel the slap of his balls against her inner thighs. She'd never felt so desired before now. She'd never delighted so much in being physically possessed. It was like a drug, but this addiction was safe. She felt ... safe. Safe from judgment, safe from harm, and safe from worries. "Cum in me," she panted. "Knock me up, baby."

"You know I'm going to," he said in a commanding tone. "I'm going to make you mine. No ... you are mine. My little vixen." Fox was going with her pillow talk, but he was more than happy to talk to her in such a possessive manner. He wasn't sure what had overcome him, but he didn't fight it.

She loved it. She loved how much he was getting into it. She clenched her teeth and clinched her sex to milk him of every drop she could take.

Fox had only ever experienced anal once, and it was with Miyu. But this? This vixen was tighter than anything he'd ever experienced before, and it was incredible. He held her struggling, writhing, shifting body in his arms, pumping his hips, pillaging those engorged petals, which were full of her need of him.

He felt wetness dribbling down his inner thigh. He wasn't sure if it was his seed from earlier, but he didn't care right now. He'd never came twice in a row like this, but right now he was pretty sure he was about to.

He'd never hungered for a woman like this before. He clung to her, pounding her slick slit possessively.

Krystal came again. It came naturally, without having to relax into it, because she was still warmed up from earlier. Her body undulated from the waves of pleasure that took her breath away. She could breathe despite the arm around her throat, simulating a primal position that felt simply Neanderthal in nature. But, for some reason, it was the most intense thing she'd ever experienced in her life.

Fox felt her flail beneath him, and it turned him on. He tuned out the sound of her shrieking in pleasure. He just continued with that motion, and that commanding touch on her body. He thrusted hard and deep, until, finally, he reached his second release.

He emptied himself into her. That jet of thick warm cream drenched her inner walls with a fresh coating of pearl nectar. The milky substance flooded her so deeply and fully, after being filled twice, that it rolled down her inner thighs, making a mess of her pelt.

She felt thoroughly used, and, at the same time, she felt safe and protected in his arms. "Yesss," she hissed at the sensation of his second orgasm. She was delighted at the feeling of being flooded again. It was exactly what she craved to put out the fire burning hot in her loins.

Fox gave one last deep thrust, then he held still, gently grinding his hips against hers, making sure not to spill anymore than had already escaped her slick nethers.

They panted together, and he put his right foot down, on the floor, to balance himself. "Holy hell, that was ... just..."

Words failed her as well. "Ngh," she grunted. She spoke without thinking, just blurting out whatever floated across her tongue. "God, you sure know how to fuck." And then she was horrified, but too tired to apologize.

Fox laughed in a winded way. He didn't know if it was her race or if she just knew how to bare down really well, but he was certain that he would never find a woman who could make love as well as his fiancée, and he decided, at that moment, that no other woman would ever be good enough ever again. "Ruined," he panted.

"For other women? Good," she replied. "Just think ... with a little more experience, I'll be even better."

"You're already better than anyone else I've ever touched," said Fox. "If you learned how to have sex this well from romance novels, then I will buy you every damn book ever written."

Krystal laughed. "You're better than any book, Fox. Now that I have the real thing, and now that I have a man who knows how to fulfill my cravings, I doubt I'll ever read another romance novel for the rest of my days. You just keep making love to me like that, okay?"

"Yeah?"

"Yes. If you do, I promise I'll do whatever you want, whenever you want it." She panted for a moment, until she managed to catch her breath, then she said, "I could go for a sandwich."

Fox laughed. "God. A sandwich? Really?"

"I heard it on the internet. Heh. Isn't that what guys want after sex?"

Fox laughed again. "Krystal, after mind-blowing sex like this? I'll make you whatever kind of sandwich you want. I'll fly back to Corneria, buy out a sandwich shoppe, and bring them all back. Gourmet sandwiches. Whatever you want, hon."

Krystal grinned. "Well, I could get used to that, especially since I'm raw and sore, after that barrage on my senses."

"Oh, a barrage, was it?"

"Well, when you took command, I was expecting an adventure, not an all out assault. I never imagined sex could be like that. You went from zero to a hundred in a blink. On a scale of one-to-ten, I give it a sixty-four."

Silence.

"Too much, Fox?"

"I'll allow it, pilot."

They both grinned.

Fox withdrew his arms from around her body, and put his paws gently on her hips to keep her steadied. He stood up, then he stretched.

Krystal slid her legs around and sat down on the edge of the old stone alter. She looked at his taut abs while he stretched, then she shook her head with a grin. "Once I can walk again, we may have to consider round two, hmm?"

"Don't tell me you could go again," he said with a grin.

"No, I need a moment. I was just ... looking at what's mine." She reached a paw out and touched his toned abdominals. "All mine."

Fox shook his head with a grin. "What if ... we ... cohabitated?"

"You want to share quarters? Like ... flatmates?"

"If you want, or we could take things a step further..."

"Wait, you mean...?" In a softer tone, she asked, "Share a bed?"

"Why not?"

Krystal licked her lips. "I don't know if I could ever say no to that. Just promise we'll have more nights like this...?"

Fox ran his paws up through his sweat-moistened hair, followed by a firm nod. "God, are you kidding, Krystal? My testosterone is going to go through the roof, now. Supply and demand, or whatever. I can't keep my paws off of you. We're going to start sleeping in every morning, the gang will snicker behind our backs."

"Oh, morning sex, too? That sounds delightful. Wait..." She stared at him for a moment. "What is ... morning wood?" She tilted her head a bit. "Oh, really? Men wake up with erections? Now that is fascinating. I might have to see for myself before you wake up. God, I feel like I just won the interplanetary lottery."

Fox chuckled. "No, I definitely won the lotto tonight. No doubt about it."

"We both did, and I'm happy to share it with you." She reached forward, still sitting on the stone slab, and kissed his abs, playfully. She could feel the creamy release running down her thighs. It dripped off the edge of the alter, onto the floor.

She closed her lips over his semi-flacid cock and took him all the way until her nose was buried against his abdominal muscles. She knew she wouldn't have been able to do it while he was fully erect, but she could while he was only half inflated. She suckled for a moment, then she drew her head back and looked up at him with doe-like eyes. "There. All clean."

Fox grinned at her. "God, that was hot as hell. C'mon, let's lay down for a bit. See if we can't get a little shut-eye."

"Oh, I get post-coital snuggles, too?!" Krystal laughed softly and slid off the edge of the alter. "I can't believe we just had sex on that thing."

Fox shrugged. "Whatever it was used for two thousand years ago, it's not used for that anymore. I'm sure whatever anthropologist studies it next will be angry and say we desecrated it but ... whatever."

"Uh-huh." She sank to the blanketed floor with a sigh of content. "God, that was really, really nice."

"You, uh ... you're leaking. Want the same cleanup treatment you gave me?"

Krystal shook her head with a chuckle. "No, I want to savor ever drop." She laid down on her back and put her feet up in the air. "But, first, I want it to do its job."

Fox laid down beside her and pulled her close, pushing his nose against her neck. "After that, I know I'm going to sleep great."

"Good. Me, too." She brought her knees to her breast, and wrapped her paws beneath her legs, keeping them up. She nuzzled his face with her own. "They say it's only a fifteen percent chance that sex leads to pregnancy."

"Guess we'll have to have sex seven times a day if we want to have a 105 percent chance of getting you knocked up."

Krystal laughed. "I like that math."

"I like you."

She murred softly in reply. "I love you."

Fox rolled onto his side, next to her, and kissed her softly. After a moment, having his lips pursed against hers, he broke the kiss and then he kissed her nose. "Thank you for a night I'll never forget."

She glanced at the flickering log, then back into his eyes. "I think that's my line. Sleep well, love."

"And you," he said, followed by one more kiss. He rolled onto his back, put a paw beneath his head, and drew her close, so that her head was in the nutch between his arm and his chest.

It felt like a natural body pillow. She snuggled into the warm pelt of his chest, draped one leg over his thighs, and closed her eyes. "By the goddess, this is really nice."

"Mm, it really is," he whispered back.

"I am so comfortable," she murmured. Her eyes felt heavy, and the sound of rain made it easy to relax into him.

"I hope Andrew just up-and-leaves, so we can turn this into a mini vacation."

Krystal sighed softly. "That would be too lovely..." and then she grumbled softly. "Oh, dammit."

"What's wrong?"

"I, uh ... think I have to pee."

"You want an escort to the tall bathrooms?"

"No, love. I'll manage. I'll take the top blanket and head down. And my staff, just in case."

"You sound disappointed."

"One more thing the romance novels got wrong. Everybody pees. Just wish I didn't have to go two flights down to find the bloody lavatories. But, no, love. Like I said ... I'll manage."

X

X

The next morning...

Krystal felt her lover against her backside. She sighed softly in content and stretched a bit, then relaxed. She lay on her right hip with her clothes rolled up beneath her head as a makeshift pillow.

She never intended to lose her virginity in, of all places, an ancient temple. It seemed a bit taboo and sacrilegious, but after reflecting on what little she learned of their race, and how the Krazoa placed incredible emphasis on procreation, due to their dwindling numbers, the alter room actually felt ... appropriate.

She expected to feel guilty or awkward, but she didn't. Instead, she felt freer than she had felt in ages. She felt as though she could take on any challenge, because she had a fiancé to stand by her side.

She thought back on the details of the previous night. She recalled some of the things she said to Fox in the throes of passion. She didn't know where those things came from, but it came natural with him, and she didn't feel judged in any way.

She felt Fox stir against her backside. She reached back and gave his hip a gentle pat. "You awake?"

Fox opened his eyes. "Hey, you." His voice was gruff, groggy, and deep.

It sent chills down her spine.

She smiled at him and he smiled back.

Krystal licked her lips, then she bit her lower one with a coquettish smile. "I enjoyed myself last night." She wiggled her rump against his crotch, and she felt ... exactly what she expected. She felt his morning wood against her backside. "Well, hello there, Mr. Flight Stick."

Fox chortled softly. "Let's not give it nicknames. That's kind of weird."

"Fine by me. So, you don't have any regrets?"

"Not in the least," said McCloud. He draped an arm around her waist and nuzzled his nose into her hair, until it touched the nape of her neck. "I thought we were going to wait until marriage ... but ... I'm glad we didn't." Fox offered her a playful sort of pat on her hip. At least ... playful for his personality and archetype. "What I mean is, I enjoyed myself, too. A lot. I hope we can do it again."

"And more often?" Krystal rolled over to face him, so that she was lying on her left hip. She brushed her nose against his.

Fox's smile brightened. "Yes, more often would be great." He kissed her nose with a wry grin. "Sex with you was mind-blowing. Maybe it's because it was my first time with a telepath, or maybe it's just because I never felt this way about a woman before."

She brushed his nose with hers again. "I agree."

"With what?"

"All of it," she said. "Sex more often. Mind-blowing sex. Having feelings and being so ... incredibly in love. All of the above. It was like a drug. I'm going to wind up having a Fox McCloud addiction."

Fox's eyes dipped, looking over her nude body.

Krystal grinned, waited until his eyes were pointed down, then quickly did the same in return. She licked her lips, discretely, and sat up.

"Not this morning, though, huh?"

"We should make up a little time for sleeping in. But there is definitely time, later, for more fun." She reached for her bag and pulled a clean outfit free. One that was form fitting but not terribly stifling. "Besides, I need to walk a bit, first ... maybe that will get my organs back to where they belong."

Her outfit consisted of a pair of shorts, a vest-shirt, and a flowing light-material silver jacket with double pockets on each side.

"Fun later, huh? Good," he said with a decidedly confident and cocky smile. "I like how you shower me in all these compliments."

"I like that you can take no for an answer."

"You're worth the wait."

"Mm, good answer." She pulled a pair of panties and bra from the bag, put them on her body, then the shorts and silver-and-green vest, followed by the jacket. She reached back, ran her paws back through her hair to put it on the outside of the jacket collar, and stood up. She slid her foot-paws into her shoes and touched her engagement ring to make sure it was safe and sound on her finger.

Meanwhile, Fox got up, grabbed his gear, and dressed in the same outfit he wore the day before - work pants and a sleeveless shirt, with a gear vest overtop to provide pockets.

"You are such a boy."

"Yup."

Krystal stretched until popping a few joints - shoulders, hips, lower back, and neck. She fixed her bangs with her fingers, licked her lips, and turned to face her lover. "Ready when you are, Fox."

Fox cleared his throat but ignored the nickname. "Oh, I'm ready. Y'know, I think I love watching you get dressed almost as much as I love watching you get _un_dressed."

A sassy grin tugged at the corner of her muzzle, but she didn't say anything. Instead, she turned to her other clothes, still in a pile on the floor, and picked them up. She folded her outfit and put it into her gear bag. She sealed the bag shut, stood up straight, and shouldered it, then glanced over her shoulder. "Where you just staring at my ass?"

Fox chuckled. "What if I was?"

She chuckled in return with a grin. "If I'd asked you that yesterday, you'd have turned red and stuttered all over yourself."

"Well, today, I'm happy to announce that, yes, I was, in fact, staring at your backside. The shorts look great. Then again, so did the bodysuit you wore yesterday."

"Mm. Your physique is pleasing to the eye as well. It is probably why teenage girls bought posters of you for their bedroom walls after you defeated Andross the first time."

Fox pursed his lips, cleared his throat, and swallowed the awkward lump in his throat. "How did you know about that?"

Krystal laughed. "Falco still had a few posters left in the stock room of the old Great Fox." As an afterthought, she added, "It really is a shame the extra posters burned up with the destruction of Great Fox on the Aparoid home-world."

"Wait ... did you have one in your quarters? I never saw it, if you did."

Krystal grinned brightly. "I did. You'd have known that if you ever came into my bedroom."

"I ... never went past your living room," said Fox.

"Mm-hmm, exactly." Her grin broadened, and she added, "I had one in my locker, as well. But now I have the real thing, and I can see the goods without the mercenary uniform getting in the way."

Fox shook his head with a chuckle. "I never knew. Wait ... did Falco know?"

"Good god, no. I just took them from the stockroom. And don't you dare tell Falco, either."

"Wouldn't dream of it. So, how'd you know they belonged to Falco, anyhow?"

"I discretely asked Peppy about them, and he laughed and told me Falco was capitalizing off an image of you and another image of the two of you together. I, of course, only put up the poster of you."

Fox grinned impishly. "Well, that's a relief."

"I don't have my posters anymore. So, every time I open my locker, you're going to have to pose for me without a shirt."

Fox laughed. "Oh, am I, now?"

"Yes. That'll make me smile when I get into my flight gear."

"Well, if we cohabitate, it'll be easy to get ready together, like that."

"Such a fancy word for sharing a bedroom."

"Yeah, I suppose you're right. Fine, then. Let's move in together."

Krystal offered him a playful smile. "You know, you boys should do Fireman style calendars. The team is still relevant for saving Lylat from the Aparoids. All the women who bought those posters back in the day have grown up; they'll have office jobs or work in cubicles. That's a perfect place for a calendar. I could make arrangements to find a photographer and..."

Fox lifted his paws. "Whoa, whoa, slow down. Let's not market the team's sexuality. I want to be taken seriously by the military and by local governments on planets around the system. How about we just ... shelf that idea for the moment."

Krystal chuckled. "All right. But it's basically free money. Think about it."

"All right, I will."

"Because if you don't capitalize on it, Falco probably will. And then you don't get a say in how you appear."

Fox chuckled. "I really don't feel like getting an agent, but ... well, you might be right. Still, let's revisit that conversation another time. Besides, you'd have to do a sexy pinup pic, too."

Krystal laughed. "What makes you think I'd not be okay with that?"

"Okay, now we're definitely not doing it." Fox grinned.

Krystal mirrored his grin. "You could be my photographer. We could get creative, you know, and keep the best ones for ourselves."

"Again, let's shelf that idea. Just for now. And, hey, show me where the bathrooms are in this place."

"Of course. Let's take down the emergency blankets from the windows, first. Then we'll both head downstairs together."

Without warning, the temple shook from a distant rumbling. Dust wafted down from the ceiling, making the moon and stars windows in the ceiling turn into dusty pillars of light.

Fox grimaced. "That ... felt like a distant explosion or a weapon's impact." He lifted his gauntlet on his forearm and pressed a button. "Peppy, you there?"

Peppy's voice came over the line without delay. "Fox, I've been patched in all along. Not sure what the rumble was, but I felt it, too."

Fox swallowed. His mouth felt dry. "How, uh ... much did you hear?"

Peppy scoffed over the line. "Oh, grow up, Fox. We're all adults, here."

Krystal shrugged. "Awkward, but I'm bloody well sure that Peppy can respect his godson popping 'round for a bit of how's your father with the woman to whom he's engaged." She cleared her throat, leaned in closer to Fox's wrist, and added, "You seem gentlemanly, Peppy. I trust you turned down the volume, then?"

"Yeah, actually" Peppy replied firmly. "I turned the volume down last night, because you two deserve your privacy. And, for the record, I think the sexy calendar idea is a _great way to promote the team's presence. Just ... not me. I'm a married man. Hell, I'm an old man. But, hey, Fox ... forget an agent - just have Krystal handle the team's image. She'll keep it tasteful; she'll be a good gauge as to what the average Lylat woman wants to see. Trust her judgement_."

Krystal smirked in silence.

"You'll want a gay guy to be your photographer. They're supposed to be who the supermodels trust."

Krystal laughed in delight. "Falco is a jock. A fighter jock and a gamer jock, but a jock never-the-less. Do you think he'd be comfortable with that?"

Peppy scoffed. "We tell him to suck it up!"

Fox face-palmed with a blank expression. "Okay, okay. We're tabling that conversation for later, remember? Do you know where the point of origin is for whatever caused the disturbance?"

"_Afraid not. Contact Slippy or ROB. That fancy new carrier will have recorded the incident on its sensor_s."

"Copy that, Pep. I'm glad it wasn't anything that involved you, directly."

Peppy chuckled. "Trust me, I'd have told you if I dropped a bomb on Andrew. All right, go ahead and hit up Slippy. I'll stay patched in."

"All right, Pep." Fox opened a channel to the new carrier ship, and said, "Slippy, ROB, whoever - this is Fox..."

"Hiya, Fox! We were just looking at some sort of energy disturbance in your area. Roughly three miles from Peppy's location, and about four miles from yours. Not sure what caused it, but we don't see any craters on the scans. No signs of impact, no smoke or fire ... not sure what caused it, but ROB hypothesizes that it may have taken place underground."

Fox sighed. "Great. I hope Andrew isn't trying to separate Miracle."

"Let's hope not!" Slippy replied. "We'll keep looking into it from up here. I'll send coordinates to you for the epicenter of the disturbance if you want to check it out."

"Rodger that. Thanks, Slippy."

"Glad to help! Keep me in the loop! Slippy - out!"

Fox turned to Krystal. "Well, we're back on the clock."

"We're salary - we were never off the clock."

Fox chuckled. "I love how you've grown accustomed to Lylat expressions in such a short time with us."

Krystal replied with a playful wink.

"Shall we?"

She nodded in response. "Lead the way, my lead-stallion."

Fox grinned at her. "Stallion, huh?"

"I, uh ... don't know where that came from." She tucked a lock of hair back behind her ear. "But it still applies - lead the way."

Fox carefully pried the emergency blankets from each window, packed them, shouldered his gear, and headed for the hallway with the stairs.

He followed Krystal to the bathrooms, and they helped each other up onto the shoulder height potties.

Afterward, Fox took point, leading her out of the temple the way they came. They made small talk the entire rest of the way through the palace.

It didn't take long to emerge outside.

He glanced at his gauntlet readout and headed across the ruins with Krystal at his side.

The buildings were impressive. The architecture was modern, perhaps even a touch futuristic by Cornerian standards. There were some plants growing up the walls, like ivy, but for the most part, the buildings were clear of any debris, and looked barren inside and out.

The streets were paved in most areas, and they were constructed of brickwork stones in a few areas. There were cracks where weeds had grown up through the paving, but it was immediately apparent that the overgrowth was once a great deal worse before Miracle lost its atmosphere the first time around, a long time ago.

The current ivy, weeds, and other growth in the area was roughly several years old at most.

The buildings around them were set in a grid of road infrastructure, and the tastefully artsy designs of the architecture had slopes above windows, sharp lines around doorways, and elegant roofs with carvings where pillars met rooftop overhangs. Most of the columns were fluted and had carved flourishes at the top, where they met the roofing.

Occasionally, there would be a building with fading signage over the front entrance. Some of the signage appeared to have empty cavities set into the signs, where, presumably, it was designed to be backlit.

Fox stared at one particular sign in passing, where runic looking letters had been recessed, with, likely, glass filling, so that whatever light source had been installed in the sign, the lettering would have glowed.

Krystal ran a paw through the locks of her cerulean strands. "Is it me or ... could it be possible that modern Cornerians had once been influenced by Krazoan designs?" She cleared her throat and tried to reexplain herself. "I guess, what I mean to say, is, perhaps the Krazoa had contact with Cornerians, and they left an impression on Cornerian architecture, leading Cornerians to mimic this style?"

Fox shook his head. "Cornerians never used stuff that looked like this until the cusp of interstellar travel. Within the past eighty years. I mean, sure we had signage outside of stores that looked like this, but that's just economy 101 ... make store signage something that has presence, functionality, and simplicity. I guess it's just ingrained in basic logic for sentient species."

Krystal rubbed her chin. "You might be right. Come to think of it, even Cerinian stores used backlit signage. Been that way for as long as I can tell."

"It's kind of neat to see that the Krazoa were the same as the rest of us. They just figured it out sooner; we all came to a lot of the same conclusions about how to maintain our society."

The two foxes continued in the direction of the disturbance until there was a building with a large wall behind it. The foliage of tall trees could be seen beyond the wall, but most of the tallest trees were dead and had no leaves. Only a little bit of greenery dotted the landscape beyond the high wall.

Fox turned around and looked back at the city ruins behind him, then back at the lone building in front of him. "C'mon, follow me."

Krystal followed her mate inside the building.

The entrance was plain and un-special. There seemed to be a wraparound counter adjacent to the front door, but there was little more to suggest it was used for anything important. There was no chair, there was nothing on the counter save for dust.

She followed Fox through the room, down a large main corridor up ahead. They didn't get far before the hallway opened up into a massive room connecting similar shops, like the one from which they came.

"Some sort of mall?" Fox wondered aloud.

Up ahead was a concrete and metal staircase going beneath the ground.

On a nearby wall was a large empty circle with a black metallic ring set into the concrete.

Fox shook his head with a sigh. "Another unpowered teleportation portal, I'm sure."

"Shall we see what is beneath us?" Krystal gestured to the stairs. "They look extremely solid."

Fox nodded. "Couldn't hurt. If I was Andrew, hiding from my enemies, I would want to be underground."

Krystal followed Fox down the steps. They both used flashlights on their blasters to illuminate the area.

Up ahead, there were devices that appeared to look quite similar to Cornerian-style turnstiles. The mechanisms were long corroded and locked into place. Krystal ducked beneath while Fox hoped over.

On the other side, they continued down a flight of steps.

At the bottom of the large concrete and metal staircase was what could only be described as a subway tunnel.

"I'll be damned," whispered Fox. "This is a mass transit system."

Krystal feigned a smile. "Yes, and it runs in the direction of the explosion we saw. We are certainly headed in the right direction."

Fox raised his left arm and touched a button on his computerized gauntlet. "Peppy, we found an underground transit station. There are signs but they're too faded to read anymore. We're taking a tunnel in the direction of the incident."

Peppy's voice replied, sounding distant and staticky. "Fox...? You're ...-ing up bad. Range is ... and the ... with the ... Stay safe!"

"Rodger that. Breaking up bad from poor range, due to operating underground. Staying safe. Be well, old man. See you soon. Fox out."

Krystal frowned. "I guess we're on our own for a bit."

"Yeah, guess so. At least we're well rested. At least I know I am."

She grinned in reply. "Best sleep I've ever had on a field rack."

Fox returned her grin. "Good." His grin broadened a bit. "But we didn't sleep on a field rack."

"Don't be daft, you know what I meant ... a bed in the field, then, yeah? Anyway, I've been thinking..."

"Yeah? What about, hon?"

She offered a slight smile in the dark. She liked being called 'hon' and whatever else he might call her since their night together. She cleared her throat. "Well, maybe the reason I've been thinking so much about motherhood is because I'm looking around at this ... this extinct civilization, and it's making me internalize on my own situation."

"Let's survive this job, first, then we'll focus on making sure Cerinia isn't forgotten."

"I appreciate that. I'll try to stay focused in the meantime." She waved her light about, looking at the interior of the large beautiful tracks. Only ... the tracks didn't exist. There were just rectangular ruts in the ground every three meters apart.

Fox lowered to a knee and held his gauntlet out in front of himself. "Oh, this is wild."

"What is it?"

"Magnetic levitation. Two-thousand-year-old mag-lev tracks. I can feel a very slight force pushing up on my gauntlet and blaster. It naturally repels metal, but there's no electricity to power the magnets under our feet."

Krystal nodded firmly in understanding. "They were advanced enough to teleport through wavering purple ponds. They were advanced enough to split a planet apart without destroying it, and without destroying the atmosphere. And the technology worked on the first try without testing or preventative maintenance for the machinery, two thousand years after being designed and implemented. I'd say the Krazoa were the most impressive aliens I've ever heard of so far. No offense to the rest of Lylat, of course."

"Yeah, none taken ... I'm impressed, too. And leave it up to people like Andross and Andrew to wanna figure out ways to weaponize their legacies."

Krystal again smiled slightly in the darkness. She pointed her flashlight at his feet. "You want to protect their legacy. That's sweet."

"Well, first and foremost, I want to protect Lylat. I kind of like living here. I'd like to think you've come to call it home, too. If I ever hang up my blaster and have a kid, I'd hope that people who think like Andrew and his uncle won't have the ability to militarize third world planets like Venom anymore."

Krystal lifted her light and looked around at the architecture of the tunnel. "Do you ever wonder how things would have been if the Oikonny and Bowman line chose not to act the way they did?"

Fox shrugged. "You mean if Andross didn't kill my mother, lose his sanity, and wage interstellar warfare over his beef with John Pepper?"

"Could you imagine it, Fox? Andrew would sit on social media and complain about his entitled lifestyle and mediocre wealth beneath a rich scientist uncle and an ultra-motivated aunt with a CEO position. Meanwhile, Andross would have a manifesto, wind up getting arrested for causing civil unrest when he tries to overthrow a local government."

"Yeah," Fox agreed, adding, "Because someone like Andross doesn't want to put the hard work into getting elected, instead." He pointed his light forward and continued into the gloom. After a moment, Fox realized that his shadow was stretching out in front of him. A wry grin tugged at the corners of his muzzle. "Are you ... pointing your light on my tail?"

"Oh, am I? Oops." Her playful tone punctuated her wanton flirting. "I know, I know. Time and place. It's just ... we've been an item for a while now, and I finally feel betrothed to you. I'm just enjoying that aspect. I'll keep it between us."

Fox chuckled. "Oh, no, I like it, trust me. I like that you know how to mix work with play. The rest of my team is all play and some work. Peppy was always all work and little play. I like that you know how to balance it."

"I like that you're opening up to being playful. Up until now, you've been all work and _no_play."

"It's how I was raised. My father's idea of fooling around was memorizing the Cornerian Constitution, then belching it in a recital so I would impress his war buddies. The belching felt like I had a childhood, but I was still a preteen that had to memorize an entire document of laws. I'll work on finding real balance," Fox said with a hint of promise in his tone.

"I'll hold you to that. I like that we have chemistry, I just never get to see it unless we're in a small room with all the doors locked. But last night? That was ... very special to me. Thank you, Fox."

"I, uh..." He trailed off and thought of a way to say something that would be genuine and sweet, and not sound like a typical mercenary. He licked his lips, searching for how to word his bottled emotions. "I'm really honored to have been your first. You chose me, and I'll never forget that, Krystal."

She responded with a soft smile. "If you keep treating me like you are right now, you can be my second, third, and my fourth as well. Maybe we'll even reach that number before we leave Miracle."

Fox grinned with a hint of blush burning at his cheeks. He was glad it was dark. However, instead of choking on words, he relaxed his posture and, without thinking about it, he replied, "Go ahead and also mark me down for your fifth time, all the way up through your hundredth time. I'm good for it."

She reached a free paw up and patted the side of his face. "I truly look forward to it."

"You and me both," he replied.

"In the meantime," she said in a playful tone, "I will point my flashlight at you from behind, so I can appreciate what's mine."

"Oh, is that right?" Fox's gauntlet chirped from an incoming call. "Shoot, hold on."

She remained quiet.

He touched a receive button.

Peppy's holographic image appeared from the shoulders to his ears.

"Fox!" Peppy's voice was a bit tinny. "After ai lost the call, you disappeared from my sensors for a few minutes. I can see you again. Are you guys all right?"

"Yeah, we must finally be under a section with no buildings above us. We're underground checking out this old Mag-Lev transit system."

"All right, good to hear. Conditions were ripe for a storm to form, faster than fog on a windshield, and it's a bad one. Rain is coming down so hard that it's causing mudslides."

Fox blinked. "What?! We were just on the surface less than twenty minutes ago, and the skies were clear. Is it on the other side of the moon?"

"No, in your location. Small moon means quick storms show up and can cover most of Miracle's surface with ease. It's raining so hard that your initial landing zone is completely flooded already. If you're underground, expect that mess to drain into those tunnels. I'm surprised it hasn't already."

Fox looked around. He turned his gaze back to Peppy. "Don't jinx us, Pep. It's dry as a bone down here."

"You're the one that will jinx yourself with talk like that."

"Peppy ... I'm telling you, there's no flooding down here. Maybe there's sewage or drainage designed into these tunnels. I don't know. Maybe this was common weather back in the old days for the Krazoa that lived here. Anyhow, I'll take precautions. Thanks for the head's up."

"All right, Fox. I'll let you know if anything changes."

McCloud ended the call. He turned to Krystal with a shrug. "I guess we got down here just in time."

"Let's hope his worries don't materialize. He sounded rather concerned. It must be serious."

"Well, for now, let's keep moving."

She replied with a firm nod of her head and fell into step alongside of him. "I wonder if we'll find the transit car for this tunnel."

"I'd love to see one. I love vehicles of any kind. I'm curious about the design."

She replied with a wry grin. "Such a 'boy' thing to say. I doubt they hot-rodded their trains."

Fox shrugged. "I still hope it looks cool."

The two foxes continued walking through the large empty transit tunnel. Their voices echoed off the walls while they walked and talked together.

After a while of walking, Krystal paused and tilted her head. She listened to the sounds at the end of the tunnel and held her breath, briefly. "I hear the rain," she announced.

"We're almost out of here, huh?"

"To wherever the tunnel connects. Which, I suppose, is good, because it means that this ancient tunnel has gone two thousand years without collapsing."

Fox pointed his light to the left, where an intersecting tunnel passed through the area. "Which way?"

Krystal cocked her head and cupped her paw behind her ear. "We keep straight. I look forward to exploring the other directions, but..."

Fox cleared his throat to interrupt her. He pointed his light to the right with a grin. "That way did collapse."

Krystal pointed her own light down the right tunnel. "Oh. So it has." She pointed her light down the left tunnel. "But that one seems clear." She cut the light back to the blockage and offered her mate a wry grin. "But it's not completely blocked. Just partially blocked. Look, there, we could easily go around the partial collapse. But a Mag-Lev train, no."

They continued forward in the original direction. After another moment, there was light up ahead at the end of the tunnel. The sound of rain grew louder, echoing off the tunnel walls.

Krystal quickened her footsteps and Fox followed her, protectively. She came to a stairwell and proceeded up the stairs. It was wide enough for accommodating more than a hundred people at one time, but not large enough for a bustling city like Cornerian Capital City.

The steps concluded in what would have once been a beautiful terminal station area. The overgrowth had climbed up the concrete walls, pillars, ticket station, concession areas, and the cracked tile floors, but rain poured in through broken skylights, and pooled on the ground.

Rain runoff flowed toward the main entrance, where the doors were missing. The roar of rain could be heard outside and through the missing windows above.

Krystal pointed her blaster's light around the area. "One would think this was something out of Corneria or Cerinia's own past ... just older."

"And for taller people," said Fox. He pointed to a concession booth counter. "That's as high as we stand."

"Mm, true." She nodded in agreement. "Good eye."

"Yup."

She pointed her lights at a few wall benches and a section of booth's counter that was much lower. "For Cerinian people? I mean, we know they had computers in my language, and control rooms with benches our size."

"Krystal, that's probably why you and I are compatible. At some point, our ancestors all worked for the Krazoa."

Krystal grinned at him. "Which is, perhaps, why you and I could operate Krazoan tech on Sauria. As I recall, Fox, there were tunnels, hallways, and sewer ways that were tall enough for us, but not for a Krazoan."

"Very true."

She waved her light around the area, just taking it all in. "Incredible."

Fox rubbed the nape of his neck, massaging it from the way he'd slept on the ground the night before. "I was in awe of the Krazoa the first time I saw the ruins of Sauria, but ... it seems like they were just like us in a lot of ways, too. Normal people. Traveling. Doing things. Buying food and drinks..." He nodded to the booth across the room, once more.

Krystal's grin broadened. "Mm, if that is, indeed, a concession stand. Yes, that is what it looks like to us. It is our logic that assumes the use of that booth. But, maybe not. It could have been a place to buy..." She rubbed her chin and thought about her time on Sauria. "...Cheat tokens. They might not have used the strange well system, yet."

Fox laughed. "Pretty sure that was a dinosaur thing."

"I'm sure you're right. But you know what I mean. Just because it looks like a place to grab a bite doesn't mean it was."

"I suppose you're right. Makes you wonder if their society was hung up on hobbies, junk food, and bitching about one another ... like ours."

Krystal chuckled. "My society wasn't. We didn't have memes, we didn't have much in the way of junk food, and there was no 'bitching' about one another. Everyone already knew how I felt about them, and I knew how they felt about me. Deceit was an odd custom, in a manner of speaking. I cannot help but wonder if the Krazoa could communicate with one another in a similar fashion, or if they spoke."

"Telepathy sounds like it would make society very different."

Krystal shrugged. "My people didn't have poetry or musical lyrics the way yours does. Art was quite different, as there were rarely individual artists the way Lylat is used to. There were no rich inventors - everyone added their ideas; communities worked together to come up with important inventions, and no one could claim that another stole their idea. Each city and each nation was it's own communal group. And, over time, even those walls fell, thanks to my parents and other likes them. Before long, we became a global race."

Fox pursed his lips together. "Yeah, that would be weird to me."

Krystal smiled softly. "Individuality was seen as a color or hue to make the collective consciousness. I was a purple flower in a meadow where every flower's color was different, or, at the very least, different hues of a handful of colors. You had your red flower people, you know? And some were pink, some were dark blood color. You had your blue people, whose personalities ranged from aqua colored to dark indigo, with everything else in between - navy blue, cobalt, cyan, such and so-forth."

Fox rubbed his chin. "How are you adapting to being your own individual?"

"I love it and I hate it. I've always adored having 'me' time, and now I have that all the time, even when I'm with people. It's why I signed up for exploration missions and trained to become a pilot - and that turned into the reason why I wasn't on the planet when the surface became fully uninhabitable. But ... having full time individuality for myself? It comes at a price ... the ultimate loneliness. I very well may be the last Cerinian being in existence. I certainly hope not, but ... it's possible. And that? Well, that's terrifying to me. It means I'm the last of my kind. And, one day, I want to mother a child. I want to mother multiple children if possible. What about you?"

Fox rubbed his chin scruff. "My dad did a pretty awesome job. My mom was really great while I had her in my life. I'd like to think I'd be a great father. And by the time it happens, Lylat will be safe."

"What if it happened tomorrow? I'm not saying I'm pregnant after last night, but ... I need to know you wouldn't freak out."

Fox moved a bit closer and put a paw on her shoulder. "I wouldn't freak out. I promise. Does this mean you prefer not to use contraceptives going forward?"

"I would never want to, no. I'm the last of my kind. Any child I have would be wanted. You can't have 'an accident' if you want any child that comes along, even if the timing is inconvenient."

Fox nodded firmly. "I understand. It's sort of a ... 'let fate decide for it to happen when it happens' - that sorta thing, right?"

She nodded emphatically. "Yes, exactly." A smile spread across her muzzle. "I'm glad you understand my situation."

"I appreciate it. I respect it. And if something happens? Well, all I ask is that we consider getting married before the kid is born. Peppy kinda' instilled these traditional ideas in my head, you know?"

Krystal glanced away as the two crossed the ancient over-grown tram-station. "I've read up on the basics of Lylat cultures. I understand the concept and stigma of the 'bastardized soul.' I can respect and appreciate the concept - wanting to make sure your children have parents, both if possible, in the child's life. If I am to become pregnant, you will be the first to know, quick as you like, and a preacher will be the second to know. Agreed?"

Fox smiled. He'd never thought about doing the family thing, especially not without long drawn-out planning. But ... there was something wholesome about the idea, the very notion, of having a safe star system and raising children in it. He reached for her paw and interlaced his fingers with her own. "I can't protect Lylat when I'm old. I need a trainee to pass on the legacy."

"I would love to give you a son or daughter to keep Lylat safe, one day. And so I can pass on my culture and legacy, as well." Krystal felt her heart pounding in her chest. She was delighted, excited, and quietly overjoyed. She felt like she found the right man and a way to bring back a small piece of Cerinia. "We, uh," she trailed off, cleared her throat, and said, "...we should look at finances and a brick-and-mortar house one day."

"Definitely. And don't worry, I have some savings put aside from when Star Fox won the war for Corneria. Finances? Yeah, we'll be okay, no matter what happens. Even if it happened tomorrow."

"I'm glad to hear it, Fox." More like delighted... "I trust you have this handled. And I'll trust in the decisions you make on the matter."

"Thanks. I won't let'cha down."

"I'm sure you won't."

Fox gave her paw a gentle squeeze. And, just like that, the rain, outside, stopped all at once.

She returned the affectionate gesture of squeezing his paw, and the. She followed him to the main exit. They approached the empty doorway where two large doors were missing, and she looked out into an overgrown modernized city with modernized architecture, but there were no signs of vehicles or road infrastructure.

Instead, the layout suggested that everyone walked or used teleportation pads. The buildings were far enough apart to support a squadron of speeder bikes, but the apparent idea of Krazoan streets was akin to wide alleys.

Fox stuffed his blaster into his holster, thumbed the switch to deactivate the light, and reached up to rub his chin. "Well, it kind of looks like one giant sidewalk."

"Side ... walk." Krystal eyed him with a wry grin. She flipped the switch on her flashlight and put her blaster into a holster on her hip.

Fox chuckled. "Yeah, okay, you're right. I guess the proper term would be ... walkway, since everywhere looks like a walkway. I like how the ground between buildings is all grassy."

"My culture used to use individual vehicles the way Corneria still does. We had interstates, highways, byways ... and then, around the time that my parents were children, the single-use vehicle and family vehicle went extinct. Instant travel became preferred. We used mass transit for travel beyond the range of local teleporters. But to get across town, you would teleport to the travel hub at the center of a town, and then take the next teleporter pad to, say, work ... the shopping center, things like that."

Fox glanced down at where he still held her paw. "How'd you transport a large cart of groceries or ... say, like, some lumber from the hardware store?"

"Transporting goods was hard on the power grid, and it used more resources than necessary, so you would have your shopping goods delivered to your home with a courier service. So, large transactions kept delivery services in business. They delivered using vehicles - using the infrastructure of my grandparents' era. Large groups of children were also transported to learning facilities - schools. They took vehicles very similar to a Cornerian school bus. Because our society was used to instantly arriving at hubs or at our destination, it was considered, well, fun to travel by buses."

Fox chuckled and shook his head. "Do you have pictures or videos of home?"

Krystal laughed. "You're only just asking about that? Of course I do. Plenty of them. They're loaded on the data storage computers for my old shuttle. Not just ones that I've taken, but ones that were downloaded off my world's version of the internet. The files are packed onto a data capsule. I guess 'packed' isn't the right word, but ... they're condensed to fit as much data as possible onto the capsule."

"I understand."

Krystal smiled. She gestured to the ancient overgrown city that stretched out before the two, and said, "Shall we explore ... I mean ... look for Andrew?"

Fox grinned at her and repeated something she'd said to him several times recently. "Let's."

She replied with an impish grin of amusement.

X

X

Hours later...

Krystal traced her fingertips over the delicate marble-work carved into the front of stairs, which led up to a fabulous tower of unknown meaning. Each step depicted fifteen inches of various stories or possibly Krazoan history. The top two steps were about twenty inches in height with excessively beautiful sculpting work.

She looked over her shoulder at the city all around the tower, but the nearest building was half a mile in any given direction. She stood up tall on the top two steps and turned to face Fox. "Why do you suppose there is so much real estate surrounding this tower?"

Fox surmised, "Respect. Deep respect for its meaning to the Krazoa. Whatever this tower meant to them, it was given a wide birth and the grounds were kept in really good condition."

"Immaculate condition," she agreed. "I have never seen anything so..." She shook her head, at a loss for words. She took a deep breath, followed by a soft sigh. "These stairs are quite the reminder that the Krazoa were really tall."

"Yeah, no kidding. And you're right. There's nothing on Sauria like this."

"That we saw."

"True."

Krystal feigned a slight smile. "You know, you're a surprisingly intelligent man."

"You mean ... for a mercenary?"

"Well, yes, but in general. I never get to see this side of your mind. Only the shrewd and calculating side that shows itself in battle. But this side of you? It's refreshing."

Fox returned her slight smile. "Yeah? Looking at things and figuring out how people work is what I do. It's the reason I'm able to survive in different fields of battle, whether on the ground, in a tank or sub, in the sky or stars ... it's just what I do. I look at something, assess it from various perspectives, figure it out, and act accordingly. Y'know, I've seen some amazing defenses, and Sauria has proof of amazing Krazoan technology that could be used to attack or defend if necessary ... but here ... it's different. There's more culture. It's almost like ... a cultural center compared to Sauria."

"What're you thinking, Fox? You're hard to read right now."

"I'm thinking that Sauria was where they planned to live when splitting the planet into arks, and it's where they farmed. But all their cultural stuff, all their religious stuff, all their historical stuff, and all the stuff they wanted to protect? It was here, and ... possibly on the moon that crashed into Sauria to make Moon Mountain Pass. And, at least at some point, this moon is where they lived, shopped, and raised their families."

"Your theories really surprise me, but they seem plausible to me."

Fox offered her a confident smile. "Yeah, I'm not just a pretty face."

Krystal laughed with a shake of her head. "Uh-huh. Oh, you're a pretty face all right, Fox McCloud." She approached a large entrance with a massive metallic door. "Now, let's figure out how to open this, shall we?"

Fox nodded firmly in agreement. "Let's," he said with a grin.

"Okay, you're teasing me for using that word."

"I'm teasing you because I like you."

She beamed with delight. "All right, pretty boy. Open this tower for me without blowing it up."

"Challenge accepted." Fox cracked his knuckles, then stretched them, causing his fingerless gloves to creek softly. "I may need your staff, considering how useful it was on Sauria, but I'll be happy to do any grunt work."

Krystal laughed again. "Now you're just trying to appeal to my headstrong-yet-effeminate side."

"You have one of those?"

"Mm, you probably can't tell because I also have that side of myself that I showed you last night." She bit her lower lip with a somewhat coy smile.

Fox melted, figuratively, on the ground tiles. He cleared his throat and licked his lips. "Uh, yeah, so..."

She withdrew her staff, extended it to full length, and gave it a twirl. "I was kidding about you opening this door for me, love."

"Wait, you were?"

"I was." She pointed the staff at the doors and used a flame technique similar to how Fox utilized Prince Tricky's fire-breath. She heated the doors for a moment.

Fox backed away to a safe distance.

Krystal sprinted toward the doors, put her boot on the door frame, boosted herself upward, then brought her staff down and struck the ground in front of the doorway.

The marble cracked down the steps to the tiled ground.

She dropped to a crouch, tossed her locks back from her face, and stood up. She turned to the doors once more and took several steps back. She pointed her staff at them and used the ice-blast feature, but only just enough to cool the doors.

"What'd all that do?"

"Warm up the doorway and tracks, shake the things a bit loose, then cool the doors, themselves, while leaving the tracks heated. Expansion of the tracks followed by slight shrinkage of the doors. They should be cool enough, now."

Fox tilted his head. "This I've gotta see."

Krystal pushed the head of her staff between the two massive doors, and, with a grunt, she leveraged them apart. "Thing is," she grunted, adding, "Andrew wouldn't have come this way. Else there would be signs he opened these already."

"Yeah. That part sucks."

"It does, yes," she agreed with another grunt. She continued to leverage the doors apart, until, finally, they rumbled on their tracks and slid apart. Krystal grit her teeth and shouted through clenched molars. She tensed her body and put all of her weight into leveraging the staff pole.

"Jeeze, you're going to bend it!"

"H'ngh!" she replied in a loud tone, forcing the doors apart until there was enough room for a person to get through.

"Okay, okay. I'm impressed! Sheesh." Fox chuckled nervously. "With the staff for not bending, I mean. You put some serious leverage on it."

Krystal doubled over, panting softly. She dropped the pole at her feet with a clang, and she braced her palms on her knees. She squatted for a moment, lowering her center mass, until she found her breath.

"You okay?"

"Never better," she breathed without any tone. Then, meekly, "Cheers."

"Show off."

"Hot dogger," she corrected with a tired grin. "I am all that is woman."

"Yeah, I can see that."

She slumped onto her rump, leaning up against the right door, still panting. "I'm amazing, I know." She gently thumped her head back against the surface, took a deep breath, and held it for a few seconds. She released that breath, slowly, and repeated herself until she controlled her breathing. "I don't see Falco down here opening doors for the famous celebrity mercenary - Fox McCloud. I mean, shoot, I'd give me a raise after that display."

Fox chuckled. "Done! Twenty-five percent more, starting now. You know, I like getting to know this side of you. It's like Falco's video game - achievement unlocked!"

"You 'unlocked' me all right. My father used to call me a 'pistol.' Now you get to see it."

"I like it. A lot."

"Good. There's no going back. You're seeing the full-real-me, now."

"I look forward to marrying you. You ready?"

Krystal's face brightened. "To tie the knot? Sure! I guess! Ready as I'll ever be," she replied with a firm nod. She snatched her staff from the ground and reached a paw upward.

Fox took her by the forearm and lifted her to a standing position. "Guns out."

Krystal holstered her staff, withdrew her blaster, and said, "You should scan the area for molds and mildews before we go in there and try breathing that stuff."

Fox nodded firmly and reached his gauntlet through the doors. He did an area scan for toxins and waited for the computer to chime. "Thanks for reminding me this time. I didn't have to blast a hole in these doors, either."

"You're leveling up, Fox."

He drew his forearm back and looked down at the display. "I guess, uh, because this moon had no atmosphere for a few years, it killed whatever mildew and mold had been in this structure. But, according to this scan, it goes straight down."

"Well, that's ... something. Let's check it out."

"I'm not going to lie, that was impressive, prying apart those two multi-ton doors with only your staff."

Krystal chuckled. "Yeah, yeah. The Legend of Krystal. All Sharpclaw fear me for I am the mightiest mammal. They snuffle in fear." She put the staff on her back, pushed her beaded bangs from her face, and pointed her flashlight-mounted blaster in through the doors, lighting up the darkness beyond.

Fox opened a channel to Peppy, causing Hare's holographic head to appear above Fox's wrist. "Hey, just checking in." He stepped in first, holding his own lit blaster in front of himself. "We found our way through a Mag-Lev tunnel, and, at the center of a residential sector, we found a tower with a tunnel beneath it. Krystal got the doors open. We scanned the interior and it's safe ... breathable air. We're going to explore."

"All right, Fox! You'd better stay safe. Hey, Krystal! How're you holding up?"

Krystal followed Fox through the doors. She opened her muzzle to reply, but without warning, the massive doors slammed shut with a thud. Krystal dove forward, put her paws on the floor, and rolled through. She stood up, whirled about, and pointed her light back at the doors. "My God, they could've crushed me!"

Peppy exhaled, followed by a grandfatherly shake of his head. "You could've been a Krystal Sandwich."

Krystal rolled her eyes. "Oh, leave me alone, so I can enjoy my sandwich, General Hare."

Fox shook his head. "She's a legend, Pep. But she definitely almost learned the greatest question of all - do we see a creator or are we reborn?"

Peppy chuckled. "The Legend of Krystal - Rebirth."

"All right, all right," Krystal said with a shake of her head. "Let's get moving."

Peppy cleared his throat. "Okay, I have the feed from your scanning app, Fox! Keep it streaming. Stay safe. I'm sending you a thing I've been trying to investigate. I want you to check it out. It's somewhere in your general vicinity."

"What?" Fox furrowed his brows. "What're you talking about?"

"There's something weird in the air, here. You're close to the source. I sent you the coordinates. You'll get the data file after we close this call. Take care, Fox!"

"Sandwiches are on me, later," said Krystal.

Peppy chuckled. His visual disappeared.

Fox smirked. "He'll take you up on that."

"Oh, I know." She glared at the doors, then turned to Fox with a shake of her head. "Okay, let's check out the tunnel beneath this tower." She looked up at the ceiling. "Okay, wait, what's up?"

"We should check out above us, first, then beneath us."

Krystal nodded firmly. "Sounds like a plan to me, love."

They took spiral steps, ascending up into the heights of the tower. Each floor had large non-functioning teleportation portals on the walls. Each was labeled in a clear sign, but neither Fox nor Krystal could read it.

One the third floor, there was a chained binder with handwritten scrawl inside. Fox opened it and went through the pages. "Man, I don't know how they made paper, but it's not degrading or crumbling, even after over two thousand years. I'm guessing they didn't make their paper from trees."

Krystal furrowed her brows. "Your kind makes books from trees?"

"Uh, yeah?"

"Fox, how did you not deforest your worlds?"

"We switched to e-readers," Fox said with a slight grin. "Seriously, I don't know. We planted more trees. Apparently, the Krazoa found a way to make paper from something other than trees."

"I always wondered why Cornerian paper felt so ... strange compared to the pages of books found on Cerinia. I don't know much about the process used by my people, but I can certainly tell you that it was never made from a forest. That sounds awful."

Fox shrugged. "Well, it seems the Krazoa were pretty modern, too, because this isn't regular paper, and it didn't come apart after all these years. Impressive. I wish I could read this stuff."

Krystal rubbed her chin, eyeing the information on the pages. "Something tells me that the Krazoa performed many services at this tower. I recognize some of the runic information, here, from tablets set I to walls as the temple we used last night. I'm thinking it was for religion. I'm also thinking the Krazoa performed medical services, blessings, and mate-ship joining in these buildings."

"I hope we find something to back up your theories, Krystal."

"I can't get last night out of my head."

"How so?"

"Let's just say that I look forward to our next time making camp."

Fox grinned at her. "Yeah, you and me both." He led her up to the next level of the tower. It was more of the same. The rooms lacked technology and had handwritten information on every floor.

By the time the couple made it to the top floor, they were quick to realize that it was set up as an observation deck. Some of the window frames still had glass in them. The one in the door leading out to a wraparound deck was missing its glass.

Fox removed his boot and used it to make sure there was no small bits of glass in the window frame of the door. Satisfied it was clear, he put his boot back on his foot and climbed through, then, holding onto the door firmly, he stomped his feet on the observation deck.

Krystal placed her paws atop of his, in the window frame of the door, just to keep hold of him while he crossed through. "Well?"

"It's solid. It doesn't even bounce a little. After two thousand years without maintenance, I'm thinking Cornerian architects should come here and study this place. It's really impressive, you know?" He helped her through the empty window frame in the door, and then he turned outward to face the rest of Miracle.

"It's so beautiful," said Krystal. "I can see the temple we camped at last night." The top of the temple peaked up through the tops of the tallest leafless trees in the distance. "Roughly ten miles or so. Maybe eleven?"

Fox nodded in agreement. He glanced at his gauntlet. "Twelve-point-one miles according to the GPS. We sure came a long way."

Krystal smiled softly. "Yes, we really did, Fox."

He replied with a wry smile. "Oh, wait, you were treating that as a metaphor."

"Yes. I was." She took his paw into her own and gave his a gentle squeeze. "Mm, I wonder how quick the Mag Lev tram would have traveled twelve miles."

"Maybe thirty seconds," said Fox. "They're pretty quick. At least on Corneria."

Krystal grinned. "So, that means the teleportation portals have a range under twelve miles." Her grin faded. "Perhaps ten miles for teleporting. Just a guess."

"Sounds like a reasonable assumption."

"Or, due to resource consumption, perhaps they were only used in long range operation for special occasions, like emergency responders." Krystal gazed out over the distant ruins in all directions, and the sections of young forest growth in between each abandoned township.

"Also a reasonable assumption." Fox sidled up a bit closer and rubbed his thumbs over her knuckles. "Everything up here is really beautiful."

Krystal grinned and took his paw. "Halfway decent pickup line."

"Like I said, I'm out of practice."

She chuckled softly. "It wasn't all that bad." She brought his paw up and kissed his fingers with a grin. "Actually, it was kind of brilliant."

"Wins the battle, not the war, huh?"

Krystal shook her head with an amused grin. "And what is your definition of a war won?"

"Our fiftieth wedding anniversary."

"Mm, now that was a good answer." She lifted his arm by his paw, stepped close, and pressed herself up against his chest, drawing his arm around herself. "But that would imply that there's some sort of resistance, in order to be a battle. You won't find that from me - I surrender."

Fox grinned. "I accept your unconditional surrender."

"Bloody hell, we're so corny together."

"I know, right?" Fox drew her close in his firm grasp.

She felt small and safe in his arms. It was kind of strange - she'd always felt confident, headstrong, and proud when growing up. But something about this, here, with him, made her feel oddly submissive and bordering on coy in his arms. It was ... actually nice.

"Krystal?"

"Mm?"

"Just checking. You zoned out on me, there, for a minute."

"Oh, sorry. Just doing a bit of self-reflection."

"Care to share?"

Krystal lifted her head and gently kissed his neck. "You make me feel safe. That's an important trait in a potential father to my children. Knowing you can keep us safe, y'know?"

"I'm happy to keep you safe, Princess."

Krystal scoffed. "I haven't been a princess since I left Cerinia. Actually, it's a bit weird to hear that. No offense."

"What's wrong with it?"

"Royalty is supposed to protect their people. I didn't do that. Neither did my parents. Just ... find a better pet name."

"All right, angel."

She chuckled softly. "I ... cannot hate on that one." A pause, then she shook her head with a soft sigh. "I sound like a fool - I know I do, but for some reason, it bothered me. Sorry. That, and it's weird to feel so ... girly in your arms. I hope you don't judge me for it."

"You know I won't." He lowered his head and kissed her nose. Then her lips.

She returned the kiss, and it evolved into a passionate lip-lock. After a moment, Krystal broke the kiss, panting softly. "God, this is not the time or place for this. But I want this so badly."

Fox licked his lips. "That makes two of us. If you want a 'litter' then I will give you a litter."

"A litter, hm?"

"As I recall, that's what you called it back when you first joined the team. Remember? Back when we sparred at the hotel on Corneria. If you want a litter, I'll give you a litter."

"God, that's hot." She sighed softly in content, but also in sexual frustration. "You want to seed me and breed me, flyboy?"

Fox cringed at the nickname.

Krystal sensed his memory of Fara Phoenix. She cleared her throat and shook her head. "Sorry. Will come up with something better."

"Look forward to hearing it."

Krystal grinned again. "Good. I look forward to thinking up a new nickname for you. I'm glad I'm not the only one that was weird over a name."

"You have any memories attached to being called that?"

In a very soft voice, she whispered, "It's what my father, Marcus, called me. He's gone, now. So is that nickname."

"Ah. Plus, it would be strange to call you something your daddy called you."

"True. Although, I heard that Cornerian women like to call their man 'daddy.' Not sure why."

"Shoot, me either. That's just weird."

"Perhaps it's meant in the manner that she wishes to make him a daddy by carrying his child for him?"

"You're just full of reasonable assumptions today."

Krystal chuckled softly. "I had my Wheaties today. That is what the cereal is called, isn't it?"

"Heh. Yeah. You had Wheaties and didn't share? Stingy."

She laughed softly. "Figurative Wheaties. They weren't very filling, otherwise."

"Fair enough."

"All right. As lovely as the view is, up here, we really should be on our way."

"But you're just staring at me. The view is out there."

"No, Fox. I'm definitely enjoying the view. But, still, we should move before we wind up having our way with one another, right here on the balcony."

Fox laughed softly. "Would that be so bad?"

"Probably not. I'd fancy a quick roger, but I'm trying to behave."

"You never use these euphemisms around the others."

"I'm trying to get away from it, but some of the old slang is coming back of late. Not sure why."

"It's amusing."

"Glad my churlishness amuses you, but I was raised to speak proper posh-like. Thing is, I've never been this way with anyone, and now I feel like I can explore this new side of myself with a real dish."

"Thank you for trusting me," said Fox.

"Let's go see what's beneath this tower, then, love."

"Right behind you. And, yes, this time I'll be looking. Because I can."

"Good." She particularly enjoyed flirting with her mate, whether the one-liners were corny or not. "We have an entire moon to ourselves, except for Peppy and a daft sod who is hiding from us. I really enjoy this time with you."

"I never thought a mission would turn into a vacation where I can't keep my paws off you."

Krystal replied with a wry grin. "Never thought we'd christen an altar of a temple belonging to an extinct alien race."

"Yeah, no kidding. I guess we could find a few ... less sacrilegious places around this moon. Then, after Andrew is turned over to the authorities, we can christen several areas of the Great Fox."

Krystal beamed. "Now that sounds like a plan. All right, let's stop tarrying about and find that moppet."

Fox pushed his paw into her back pocket and nodded for the stairs. "Let's get moving."

Krystal wiggled her rump so that his paw was buried deep in her back pocket. "Brilliant."

"I can't keep my paws off you. Why is that?"

"Who am I to argue?" she replied.