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Let Your Spirit Fly A tale of the painful past and the evil in us all
Chapter 1
He was running. Running from what--he couldn't quite recall. It was something awful, though, something horrible he didn't want to catch him. Something evil. Or was it really evil--or was there just something incredibly, insanely wrong with it? No....not it....him. It was a him, not just an it--a "him" that Falco couldn't let get near him. The man--who was it? What was so loathsome about him? Falco stared down at the ground as he ran, noticing that his body was that of a child--whatever was happening was something that had taken place when he couldn't have been more than ten years old. Something--something on the ground...was it.... Corn? Falco awoke from the nightmare with a gasp, then calmed down as he realised it had only been a dream. He was still in his bed in the sleeping quarters of Great Fox. He was safe. But....again he racked his memories, trying to figure out what was triggering such awful nightmares; he'd been having them for months now. Was it someone from school, or--who? Who would he have such terrible memories of? Who had been so frighteningly horrendous to him that he would remember it in such a way? Eventually he slipped back into a troubled sleep, but the dreams still haunted him.
* * *
The next morning, Falco looked terrible. The little sleep he had gotten had been filled with the monstrous nightmares. "B-boy, do YOU ever look awful," commented Slippy. "Shut up." "Gee, s-someone's a little touchy!" retorted the toad defensively. "I didn't get much sleep, okay?" The previous night was causing Falco to be even more irritable and angry than usual--usually his comments were mostly good-natured, but today Falco was in a bad mood. A very bad mood. "Lay off, Slippy," said Fox, who was eating dry cereal at the metal table. "What's up, Falco?" "I've been having those dreams again. They started about six months ago--I thought they'd stopped, but they're back, and worse than before," Falco told his friend when they were out of the snide Slippy's earshot. "It's really starting to get on my nerves. I think it might be better if I could just figure out what they were all about--I can't go on like this, wondering what the heck I'm dreaming about that's so terrible." "I don't know what to tell you," Fox shrugged. "I don't really know of anything we could do to help." "That's fine! It's fine! I didn't ask you to help. I'll be fine on my own." Falco was again getting angry for no reason. "The hell you will! I don't believe a word you just said, Falco," muttered Fox. "Yeah, well, that's your problem." Falco grabbed a box of cereal and went out to eat his breakfast by himself. He found some solitude in a small recreation deck in the outer parts of Great Fox. Munching the cereal with a vengeance, he rummaged through every childhood memory he could muster up and tried desperately to figure out what his dreams were about, staring blankly out into the void. He was midway through remembering his fourth birthday and suddenly realised he had no more memories of his young life before one of meeting foster parents on Corneria at ten years old. Suddenly, he heard someone come in behind him. "Get out of here, Peppy. I want to be alone." "What's eatin' at you, Falco?" "What, Fox didn't tell you?" Falco laughed bitterly. "He tells you everything else, the little.....Geez, I'm sorry. I don't know what's wrong with me today. I guess I just had a rough night." Falco turned away and thrust his wing into the cereal box. The vehemence with which he performed this action prompted Peppy to speak. "Now come on, you don't grab cereal like you're trying to tear its heart out because of a 'rough night'. What's going on?" "I've just been having bad dreams. That's all. Bad dreams," Falco chewed the cereal with quite a bit of vigor, considering. "Dreams. About what?" "I DON'T KNOW. That's the bad part. I can't figure out what's going on in them, just that it's something horrible. I don't even know who the bad guy is." "What do you know?" "I know I'm running. I'm a kid. I know I don't want whoever it is to catch up to me, because--I don't know why I don't. I don't know what he did." "Sounds like you don't know a lot of things. Do you think you would feel better if you did know all those things?" "Of course! What do you think?" "Even if they were painful things to know?" Falco paused. "Yes." "Well, I'll let you be alone now. See you." Peppy left the rec room and went back down the corridor. Falco went back to his cereal and his memories.
* * *
He spent all that day by himself, searching through the past. By nightfall he had nothing. That night, he again had the dream. Running--running down a street. Yes, it was a street. He ran and ran for what seemed like hours, but when he turned around, he was still the same distance from--from what? A house. The same distance from the house. But whose house was it? That's my house, he realised with a start. But why am I running away from my own house? A loud noise came from within the house, and his consciousness slipped away as he turned around and ran with mindless panic. A window shattered. He tried to go faster. A loud male voice shouted from the broken windows. He couldn't hear what he was saying, but he didn't like it. He watched the house stay the same distance away no matter how hard he pushed himself. As he saw a large shape emerge from the doorway, a barrier seemed to break and he was moving, the house and the figure shrinking in the distance. He tripped on a stone and fell heavily to the pavement, skinning one side of his face His right wing crashed into a tall, jagged boulder and a searing pain shot up the entire right side of his body as he heard an echoing crack. He stared at the wing, mouth agape. It hung at an awkward, unearthly angle. Something about looking at it was revolting. It started to bleed, and for some reason, Falco didn't get up and continue running. He just stared at his wing....until... "WAKE UP!" He did so, at least partially. A hazy shape was hovering over him. A face got closer. It was Fox...but.... "NO!" Falco almost screamed. Fox's face had twisted, mutated--into--what? Who? "Falco, calm down!" yelled Fox. "It's just me." As his awareness slowly returned, Falco looked around the room. "What--what just happened?" "You overslept, dingleberry. We're going to the other system today, remember? It's possibly the biggest mission we've ever gone on. I didn't think you of all people would forget and oversleep, but...anyway, I was just waking you up. Sheesh, who the heck did you think I was?" "I......I don't know," replied the falcon, puzzled.
* * *
Yes, of course. The Pelsyla System. Shrouded and unknown. Only three teams had ever gone, and a grand total of none had ever returned. About three light-years from Lylat, it was covered in mystery and rumours. Fox had volunteered the Star Fox team to make the trip, and General Pepper warily granted them permission. Besides, he knew he couldn't really stop them anyway, as they were a mercenary unit and not really under his command anyway. And so here they were. Pelsyla. Hovering outside the second planet of the system, they couldn't see much of it; it appeared mostly green and silvery-gray from space, but they couldn't be sure what the surface was actually like. Pelsyla. The name was oddly familiar. Falco curbed the gnawing and clashing emotions from the dreams and tried to focus on the mission, but wasn't doing a very good job of it. Slippy, as always, was ridiculously overconfident and optimistic, and it was grating heavily on Falco's nerves. After a quick bite of breakfast, Fox decided it was time to go. Slippy got up with all his usual enthusiasm and began to march down the long, bare hall to the docking bay. After about ten seconds when he realised no one else was coming, he ducked back inside. "Hey guys, am I going b-by myself or what? Coming or not?" Slippy stood, arms akimbo, doing his best to look stern. "Yeah, yeah, we're coming." Falco stood up from the table with Peppy and Fox, and they straggled in the general direction of the docking bay. Eventually they made it into their Arwings, albeit tentatively and very, very slowly. ROB opened the bay doors, and Falco jetted out of Great Fox and spiraled towards the atmosphere, following Slippy and Peppy. Fox, as usual, brought up the rear. As the planet got larger and larger and they finally dropped into the atmosphere and decreased the altitude further and further, they saw the planet for what it truly was. "What the--it's....a big farm." Peppy searched for a better word to describe what they were seeing but came up with nothing. "What the heck?!" "I wonder..." murmured Fox. "Take a good look at this place. It's midday, but there's no one in the fields. Is this really a farm, or is it just meant to look like one? Something's wrong here. Either we picked a part of the planet that's totally deserted....or...." "Or they were expecting us," Falco finished as it dawned on him. "You have that right, kiddies. Bring your aircraft down nice and slow, and nobody will get killed. At least, not painfully." A goat appeared in the comlink. He was munching a piece of tin and had his hooves on a table of some sort. "Now do you wanna do this the hard way or what?" Falco stared at his comlink. I know that face. But...from where? Falco didn't know who the goat was, but felt an irrational hatred for him. "We're not coming down, scumbag! You can take your threats and--" "Falco, shhhhhhh...!! You'll get him mad at us..." "I heard that, you mangy excuse for an animal," growled the goat. "Trust me, your friend there did nothing to make me madder than I already was. You'll get plenty of chance to play commander, believe you me. Now if you'll comply with orders you'll make this a lot easier on yourselves." Slippy gulped and slowly nudged downwards. "Slippy!! Wait for my command!" barked Fox. "Your amphiboid friend made the right choice.....fox. But you, my friend, just made a very bad decision. OPEN FIRE!" Five metal silos twisted open. "Oh mah gawsh! Pulse cannons! We gotta get out of here NOW, Fox!" Peppy said, alarmed. "You boys aren't going anywhere," the goat's voice was icy. "Except straight down." Disc-shaped bolts of pure energy exploded out of every cannon at an alarming speed. "Don't you try to go blaming this one on me, Fox!" Falco rolled out of the path of one of the cannons. "You said it, not me...." Fox dove sharply and pulled up to avoid another shot. "AAHHH!" Slippy somersaulted out of one cannon's path and right into another's. "Help me!" The blast had taken off a good part of his left wing. Slippy tried to regain control as his Arwing drifted downwards, being bombarded by laser fire from all five cannons as it went. Finally he temporarily got out of the fray and hailed ROB for supplies, but the small box and its contents was destroyed by an unknown source before it could reach Slippy and the others. With no warning, the roofs of every barn folded down and small aircraft began pouring out. The ships were ill-equipped and not very well made, but the pilots were obviously trained and they avoided the laser blasts from the cannons and went after Star Fox without much difficulty, it seemed. "FOX! These guys're gunning for me, take care of them!" Peppy shouted, spinning away from a cannon but being hit by a barrage from the three ships behind him. Fox did his best to comply, but was quickly pursued by six more fighters. "Falco! Help us!" Falco spun around and took out five fighters, but was immediately occupied by seven more of the troops. "As you can see, there is no one who can help you now. Surrender, or your deaths will be more painful than they would already have been. You've taken the torture level a few more steps by forcing us to go this far. Now...if you won't come down like good little woodland creatures, we might have to take you down manually. Just come back with us..." The goat glowered at them through their smoking comlinks. "WE WON'T GO WITH YOU!" Falco yelled as loudly as he could into the speaker. Another memory flash. Leaning against a tree...someone over him...what? NO! "I WON'T GO BACK!!"......and all at once he was back to reality and he was going down, the ground getting closer but spinning around, the sight of it making him sick to his stomach. The last thing he saw before he crashed was....green plants? Corn? Then he smashed into hard soil with smoke and fire coming out of his Arwing everywhere. He stumbled out of the craft seconds before an internal fire broke out and slowly began consuming the little plane from the inside out. He witnessed similar fates to his friends with a blank face. He stared numbly at his right wing. The thought playing over and over again in his mind....it was a song. A song he had learned as a kid. Child of the universe....let your spirit fly...you are the chosen one, to try and touch the sky. Then he lost consciousness.
Chapter 2
"Up....get up...what's wrong........ what happened?..... shell-shocked...... be fine........ nothing we can do........going to kill that goat....." Voices faded in and out as Falco slowly awoke. Bright, blurry shapes were everywhere. As he became more aware, he took note of the fact that he was lying on a cold, concrete floor. People were standing over him. It was impossibly bright; there shouldn't be so much light....the sun was shining with full force through...bars? They were in a cage? "What...what's going on?" he inquired hoarsely. One of the faces he recognised as Fox answered. "All four of us got shot down, but you're the only one who got knocked out. You woke up for a little bit, but you were in shock--it was really weird. You kept mumbling something about someone after you trying to get you. You said they'd already gotten your cousin, or something like that, and they were trying to break your wing..." "SHUT UP!" Falco screeched. "What the heck--" Fox jumped back in surprise. Peppy put a hand on his shoulder and whispered something. They walked over to the opposite corner, where Slippy was sulking. "You shoulda just gone d-down an' let us surrender," whined the familiar high-pitched set of pipes. "Now we're g-gonna get TORTURED!" Falco was consumed in his own thoughts, oblivious to everything around him. Slippy raised his voice just loud enough for Falco to hear. "And what's up with Falco? Does he have an egg up his--" "That's enough, Slippy!" commanded Peppy sharply. Slippy settled down crankily. Falco glared at him. "Slippy, Falco's having some....problems right now, and to tell you the truth, you haven't really been making it easy for him." "Oh sure, leaving me out in the d-dark again, why don't you? I've b-been a part of this team as long as Falco or Fox. Why doesn't anyone ever t-tell me any of this? S-sure, he's gotta tell P-peppy cause he's the old mentor guy. And gotta tell Fox, the b-best friend. Sheesh, what am I, stewed eel?" Slippy set his mouth in a straight line. "Well, you've gotta admit, you've never put yourself off as the most understanding guy! Just give Falco a break for a while," Fox beseeched the toad. Meanwhile, Falco had fallen back asleep. "Guess he's tired," shrugged Peppy.
* * *
On the street...running...tripped....MY WING! What happened to...NO! He was sitting on the sidewalk again, staring at the disgusting angle of his wing again as someone got closer and closer.... NOOOO!! He got up and ran, limping noticeably, dragging his left foot and nursing his right wing as he went as fast as he could. He--the bad guy--whoever it was--came up behind him and tried to knock him to the ground, but Falco spun around and slammed him in the face with his one good wing. He couldn't see the face--it was all foggy--but he didn't really stop to look as he turned back around and kept running. He noticed that his wing was smarting more than it ought to--as if he had hit a stone face mask, or solid bone, or...a beak? He couldn't get far--not with his condition--and eventually he fell down again and couldn't get back up. The man came up and laughed. Falco shut his eyes, not willing to see what came next. Nothing. Nothing happened. The man stepped forward and the face came into view. Falco woke himself up with the awful realisation he got then. He kept silent and curled up tightly with his thoughts. He remembered now. Remembered everything. Remembered what the man had done. Remembered what he, Falco, had done. The man.... .....It was his father. As the moonlight cast its clammy glow over him, Falco stared off into the distance through the bars of the outdoor cage he now found himself in and pored over a single thought. Is there some good in everyone?
Chapter 3
As the sun rose over the distant green hills, it shone brightly in the faces of the Star Fox team. Fox yawned and stretched, then remembered where he was and frowned. A small crowd of sheep, cows, and pigs had gathered around the ridiculously public prison he and his friends had been locked in. A goat pushed through the crowd. Fox recognised it as the same one who'd ordered them around from who-knows-where the previous day. Now the other members of his team were waking up. As he stole a glance back at his friends, he noticed that Falco was leaning against the one solid wall of the confines, wide awake. Was he awake all night? wondered Fox to himself. Slippy woke up with a start. "What on--oh, darn, I was hoping it had been a nightmare," Slippy murmured. Peppy rubbed his eyes. "What's going on, Fox?" The goat answered. "I think you know, old hare. Today's the day. Do you want to know what's going to happen to you now?" He leaned closer. "Torture." Slippy shrieked. The goat laughed. "Lighten up! I was just kidding. That whole thing yesterday--we were just foolin' with ya. Nah, Falco and I, we go way back, don't we, old buddy?" Falco glared at him, but didn't say anything. "Fine--sometimes I guess ya just don't feel like talking! My name's Rhandon. Nice to meet you." Peppy frowned. "If you'd be kind enough to end this foolish masquerade and let us out of here--?" Rhandon squinted. "You must be joking. We ain't gonna torture you, but you're still our prisoners." Falco turned away and commented in steely tones, "Your power has warped your mind. You're completely mad. You know you're not fit to lick our boots." Rhandon backed away, front hooves in the air. "Who-o-a, touchy! Thought we were friends, Falc." "Sure. Friends." Falco almost spat the words out with cold hatred. "Look, I'm just trying to make your stay here as pleasant as possible. Excuse me for trying to make you guys feel welcome." Rhandon trotted off, back to wherever he'd come from. Peppy turned to his comrades. "He's totally insane, isn't he?" "Ya got that right. He oughtta be dead now. Wish he was," muttered Falco. "Now hang on just a minute! Where do you even know this guy from?" "From a long time ago when I was a kid. I don't really care to talk about it." "Fine, just k-keep us guessing," shouted Slippy angrily. "SHUT UP, Slippy! I said I don't want to talk about it! You already know everything you need to know about Rhandon, trust me."
* * *
All throughout that day, farm animals came to gawk at them. Falco sent most of them scurrying with a stern look. As morning faded to afternoon, a sheep strolled up to the cage. Falco glared at him. The sheep continued. Falco glared harder. The sheep didn't stop. "GET OUTTA HERE!" yelled Falco. "Excuse me, I'm not here to mock you people," the sheep informed them. "My name's Pietro Komossarova. My friends call me Pete. Maybe I could help you guys out." "I doubt that, kid, but you can try," shrugged Fox. Pete sighed. "I know Rhandon's a bit much at times. But I'm sure I can get him to move you into better quarters." "Go ahead and try. Try to reason with that bag of...of...." Falco was searching for a harsh enough curse word to describe Rhandon, but couldn't come up with one. "He's the stupidest, most dishonorable piece of junk I ever had the displeasure of knowing. He won't listen to reason." "Well, if that's what you want," Pete sighed. "If you WANT to stay in this cage where everyone can stare at you all day--" "Don't listen to the b-bird!" Slippy yelled. "He forgot to take his happy pills." "SHUT UP, Slippy!!" Falco shouted. "P-please! Get us into some better living space, I'm getting c-claustrophobic in h-here!!" "Okay," Pete smiled. "See you later." "Yeah," replied Falco. "Whatever." As if I care.
* * *
Later in the day, a squadron of armed horses in tattered uniforms marched up to the cage. One of them unlocked the door and shoved the Star Fox team into the mud. "You watch it, buster!" Fox wiped dirt and grime out of his mouth. "Keep your trap shut or Rhandon might change his mind," ordered the horse. "It doesn't matter what Rhandon says. He's not in charge here and you know it, Col. Gregory." Pete was standing off to the side with a clipboard. "He may be in charge of shooting innocent bystanders down, but I'm the one who takes care of them once they're here. Now these guys are our guests, so treat them like it!" "Pete?" Fox gaped. "Got that right. Ya know, I think I like this job." "This planet is totally messed up," murmured Peppy as they were led into a colossal stone fortress.
* * *
They were moved into individual cells the size of an average living room with adjoining windows. "If they have a place as nice as this for prisoners, what do actual citizens get?" queried Falco, surveying the rug on the floor and the potted plant--Potted plant! imagine! in the corner by the cot. Fox didn't answer, but was surprised and relieved that Falco wasn't raving about what a jerk Rhandon was or analysing his nightmares. Is he back to normal or what? Fox wondered. Falco normal? Heeheehee..... For the next few weeks, they hung out in the cells and were served palatable but mostly flavourless meals. It was a life, but not much of one; they continually plotted escape but were consistently thwarted by the high security of the place. One night, five weeks after their first night on the planet (Senshanoba, as they soon found out), Fox woke up in the middle of the night. He tried to get back to sleep for a while, but didn't succeed. Eventually he got up and started wandering around his cell. He looked out the window for a while, but there wasn't much to see--miles and miles of fields, mostly wheat and corn, stretching as far as the eye could see. Fox sighed and sat down on the floor. He heard some movement in the next room. Fox peered through the small adjoining vent. "Are you awake, Falco?" "Yeah." "Watcha doin'?" "Nothing. Thinking." "'bout what?" Fox was making small talk, anxious to have something to do. Falco didn't say anything for a long time. "Are you still awake?" Fox squinted. Finally Falco spoke. “You know how sometimes...when you’re looking at something...and you get deja vu, or something? And how they tell you that it’s just something that happens to everyone and it doesn’t mean anything?” “Errr...yeah...” “I’ve been...thinking about that lately, and I think it might not be true. I mean...I think there’s something more to it. You know, like something that’s a lot like that thing you’re seeing, only reversed. And you remember it somewhere in the back of you mind, but you don’t consciously remember it at all.” “Uhhh....” “Well, I mean...it’s weird, but I remember all this...I really do, but I know that I’m really remembering it, and it’s from this reality and all that. But I kinda remember it differently, too. Reversed. And I don’t know why, or where.” “Oh...” “Yeah, it doesn’t make sense, does it? Maybe I’m just cracking up.” Fox didn't know what to say. "I don’t think you’re cracking up. I mean, whatever...I mean...I don't know. Maybe you’re right." Hours later, they finally fell back to sleep.
Chapter 4
Finally, six weeks after their capture, Rhandon strode haughtily into the holding area. "It's time. We heard that one of you has been having....er...mental difficulties, as we shall call them." He grinned hatefully. "We feel it our duty here on Senshanoba to find out what's ailing anyone in this condition. Anyway, we've got to do something unpleasant to you since we didn't torture you," finished the almost maniacal goat with a shrug. Fox looked at Falco. Falco looked at Peppy. Fox looked at Slippy. Slippy looked at Fox. Peppy looked at Slippy. Slippy looked at Falco. "I thought you were over that!" Slippy finally burst out when Rhandon left. "I am over that! Who told him?" Falco was getting mad. "I didn't," Fox held up his hands. "Sure as heck wasn't me." Peppy shook his head. "Well, I didn't do it!" squealed Slippy. "Great. Just peachy. This will only make it worse, I can assure all of you. Well, at least it's only me. You guys can sit here and wait while my worst enemy finds out all sorts of things he can use against me," Falco muttered bitterly. "Oh no, they'll come with you," Rhandon stepped back inside. "We'll all know things we can use against you. And none of them told me, don't worry. It was quite simple enough to figure it out on my own. Now if you're ready--?" Falco spat in Rhandon's face. Rhandon wasn't even affected. He called in some cows to take the four ragged mercenaries to his torture room.
* * *
Rhandon strapped Falco up to some sort of chair, then stuck two weird-looking metal panels on the sides of his head. Falco was giving him a look of the utmost hatred while this was going on, and most of the Senshanoban troops in the room were glad the look wasn't directed at them. Rhandon didn't react, though. "I'll see you in Hades, Rhandon," Falco muttered. "I think not. You, however, might consider yourself already there.” With those words, it was all over.
* * *
He was back here. It was so nice...he thought he should probably leave, but what was the point? Oh, there was Rhandon...his friend...and Pietro, his enemy. There wasn’t anything going on. He could stay here, it would be okay. What....What? They were asking him a question. He’d better answer them, didn’t want to be rude... "When I was seven, my mother left," said Falco. "Some people said it was because dad drank. I knew better. She left because she knew what he was all about. She didn’t take me with her, though. She was scared to, maybe. Or maybe she just didn’t care. No one believed me. No one ever believed anything I said back then. Said I hung out with 'the wrong crowd'. By the time I was in seventh grade, I was the wrong crowd. After he got rid of my mother, my dad grabbed me and some of my friends and blasted off to some other star system. He was in cahoots with Andross, but back then Andross was just out to get Pepper because of his disagreements with the bioweaponry, and those complaints weren't revealed until years later....nobody ever knew it, but Andross was responsible for making Edena the uninhabited world it was when he was exiled there. He already had an army of Venomians. But my dad was trying to get more troops for him. Everyone thought he was a drunk--that was his cover. But he was smart. Too smart. He had mastered techniques of brainwashing and was getting ready to exercise them on us."
* * *
Fox was dumbfounded. Here was Falco, who wouldn’t tell any of his friends what was going on. And he was spilling his guts to Rhandon. The guy he hated. Something was seriously wrong here, and he had to stop it. He motioned to Peppy and Slippy, and they started trying to start a fight with the guards. Rhandon shot him with a level 1 blaster, enough to stun but not to kill. "Heh heh...oh, no wait." Rhandon chuckled gleefully, but Falco was talking again, and Rhandon didn't want to miss any of this. Falco wasn’t talking anymore, at least he didn’t think he was. He was reliving the entire experience in his mind, and life wasn’t as good as it had been twenty seconds before.
* * *
"You MURDERER!" Falco screamed in his father's face. The front door was securely locked from the inside, so Falco grabbed a chair and smashed the knob off. The door swang open and Falco ran down the street. Anthony broke a window and called out after him. Then he tripped out the front door and took off after his son. Falco went down hard and cracked his wing on a jagged rock. The displacement of the small rock caused a larger rock to roll off the side of the road and onto his foot, another onto his already maimed wing. Falco cried out, and stared at his wing, revolted at the sickening angle. He had to get up and keep going, or he'd go back to the house, where he'd be brainwashed and who knows what else. His father was a twisted man. Falco pushed himself off the ground and ran, albeit painfully. He ignored the agony and kept going. As his father gained, he punched him as hard as he could in the beak. Eventually he collapsed though, and Anthony loomed over him like an unstoppable abhorrence or juggernaut. Falco's mind filled with terror. He wouldn't kill me--he's my own father! But he killed his own nephew... Is there some good in everyone? “Gonna come back or get yourself killed?” His father asked in warning tones. Falco cursed at him then, and spat in his face. His father’s face became dangerous. "If you don’t come back, you won’t like it." "I'll NEVER go back!" "You don’t look like you’re in much of a position to make a decision like that." The voice was cold and hard. "I'll find a way," Falco was glaring with all his might even as the pain seared up and down all over. "I've sworn a vow," Anthony glowered. "One day I swear I will dip my wing in Pepper's blood. And no upstart kid is going to stop me." Falco scowled. And then he did the unthinkable. He picked up a heavy limb from a tree and brought it crashing down on his father's head, knocking him out immediately. Then he snatched the blaster away and shot him twice in the heart. Suddenly repulsed by what he realised he had done, Falco stumbled back and fell down. He tried not to throw up. Although he wasn't mourning through his father and knew the world was probably better off without a man like Anthony Lombardi, tears welled up in his eyes and he fainted. * * * Falco woke up two hours later on a hyperspace flight. He looked around dully. "Where are we going?" A cheetah answered. "Lylat. You'll be moved to Corneria. Life will be better there." Falco laid back down, numbly. "I'm going home?" The cheetah nodded. "What happened to the others--my friends?" The big cat shook its head. "There aren't any others, anymore. A blast from Venomian bombers leveled the entire sector....."
* * *
Falco stopped talking. Rhandon waited for him to go on, but he was done. Although he tried not to show it, the goat was feeling a tad bit sickened by what he knew he had made his old acquaintance do. "Well, I guess he's done. Turn the machine off, gentlemen." Shaken up, a pig complied. Falco was back almost instantly. With a start, he looked around and realised that he had just told Rhandon everything without even a protest. Stupid machine, he screamed in his head. It made me think he was my friend... Pure loathe for Rhandon shone madly in his eyes, and, with almost inhuman strength, he broke the restraints and went after the goat. Rhandon tried to cry out, but Falco was on him immediately, pounding away, and screaming almost nonintelligibly. "CURSE YOU, Rhandon! My pain is my own!!" Rhandon gasped for air. "Get...this...guy...OFF ME!!!" "You had NO RIGHT!!" Falco didn't stop punching his antagonist until every soldier in the room grabbed him. They beat him up proper; at least thirty troops were on him, punching, kicking, biting. Peppy and Slippy were watching all this with horror in their faces. Fox was still unconscious, and Slippy silently thought to himself that Fox was rather lucky for this fact. A resounding and sickening crack echoed through the room as the soldiers slammed Falco’s beak into the hard concrete floor. When they finally dragged him back down the hallway, he was in terrible shape, but Rhandon's condition was worse. Falco got some satisfaction out of that, at least.
Chapter 5
A few weeks later, when Rhandon was passably recovered, he moped around in his chambers for a while. Everything Falco had said was true; he had known because he was there. He'd been hired by Joseph as a kid to help him. He knew most people could have forgiven him for that, if he'd been brainwashed. But the worst part was, he'd come willingly. He'd always been evil, even as a child. He hated that about himself, but it seemed to him that if he was a bad egg, then he was, and that wasn't his problem. It's just everyone else that has to suffer, he thought to himself.
* * *
Pete got the Star Fox team released from prison a few days later. He had them escorted to Great Fox, which took them back to Lylat immediately. Everyone tried to act like things were normal, but nobody pulled it off very well. Falco felt terrible. Humiliated that now everyone knew. What if they kicked him out of the team or something? He'd killed his own father.... Fox reported to General Pepper and told him that Pelsyla was a barren wasteland, and all the other teams had disappeared because of a strange reality flux, or some such yarn. No story was too stupid, as long as they didn't tell anyone what really happened on Senshanoba. Still trying to pretend that everything was just peachy, Fox accepted a mission to check out a weird meteor that had crashed down somewhere on Macbeth. It was a stupid, easy mission, and Pepper was shocked that Fox wanted it; he had been about to assign it to the newest unit as a practice mission. There wasn't really that much weirdness about the meteor anyway, it was just an odd color and had starworms living in it. The four Arwings flew out of Great Fox and searched for the meteor. They expected a bit of fighting, as some of Andross's old loyalists who couldn't accept the fact that Andross was dead (or so everyone thought) were still holding out on the former supply base. They got what they were hoping for, as a small squadron of old, beat-up Venomian fighters soon appeared on the horizon. They sent threatening messages to the Star Fox team, but Fox, Falco, Slippy, and Peppy had nothing but contempt for the idiotic troops. Twenty or so of them broke off and started tailing Fox and Falco as the Star Fox team split up in two different directions. Fox looked out his front window and saw Falco flying off into the distance, going as quickly as he could. Fox hailed him, puzzled. "Falco, stay with me!" Fox expected a snide comment at least, but Falco didn't respond at all. "Falco, where are you going?! Come back!" "I'm....sorry. I can’t stay here anymore...It'll be a better life for you. I’ll come back someday..." "Falco! No!! STOP!" But it was too late. Falco had moved out of range and was out of sight. He had too much of a head start to be caught up with, but the rest of the Star Fox team tried. They wiped out the small force of Venomians with relative ease and spent the rest of the mission looking for Falco. They never ended up checking out the meteor, and they never found Falco either.
Chapter 6
Falco exited the atmosphere and was heading for Katina. I'll spare them having to kick me out, he thought. And even if they're too nice to do that, I can't show my face around them anymore anyway. He slipped into Katina's biosphere a few hours later and spent the next three hours or so flying around aimlessly. Eventually he got hungry and touched down in front of a restaurant/night club thing of some sort. He walked inside and sat down at a table, ordering a vegetable plate. As he mulled over the happenings of the past months, he gulped down water greedily. Oh, what a twisted web we weave, he thought to himself. The lighting in the restaurant gave it a nice atmosphere, but Falco was too depressed to notice. I’ve always liked to think of myself as a good guy, but I killed my own father, and it wasn't an accident--I wanted him dead. If I had to do it all over again, I'd probably do the same thing. What's wrong with me? Is there some good in everyone? A few minutes after he got his meal, a female tabby cat walked over to his table. "Hi," she said. "These weirdos didn't reserve us a table, can we sit with you?" Falco looked up blandly. "Sure, whatever." "Thanks," she said, flashing a smile. "I'm Gloria, and these are my friends Katrine and Clarisse," the cat said, motioning to an Australian Shepherd and a raccoon. They seemed friendly enough, and told Falco they were in a band that was performing later that night. Gloria ordered club sandwiches for the three of them, then they all started talking to Falco. They were so nice, it seemed unearthly. "So, what's your name?" Falco looked up. “What..? Oh, I'm...uh...Tony.” "So what brings you here tonight?" chattered Gloria. "Oh, nothing." "Nothing? You mean you were just going about your business and all of a sudden appeared here?" "Basically," Falco bit off a carrot stick. They laughed. Falco hadn't meant to be funny; it was the truth. "Are you okay? You seem so sad," remarked Clarisse wistfully. "No, I'm.....fine. Really." "Are you sure?" Gloria looked genuinely concerned. “Yes.” “Really sure?” Someone had said that to him before. Oh yes, now he remembered. Katt. “No, I’m not really sure at all.” Katrine looked sympathetic. "I guess you won’t want to talk about it...I mean, you hardly know us, but is there anything we can do to help?" “I’m not sure.” Gloria looked down. "Well--I'm usually not the kind of person people come to when they want to talk....but..." "I'm not even sure there's anything to talk about. I'm just feeling bad....about something I did a long time ago." Falco stared at his vegetables. "Do you...do you think there's some good in everyone?" Gloria looked off into the distance curiously. "Well, it's always been my belief that no one is ever truly beyond redemption. You just have to confess what you did....and no matter how bad it was, there's someone who can forgive you." She laughed. "Of course, most people say I'm a religious zealot." "But even if I was forgiven, I'm not sure I can ever forgive myself." Falco breathed out. "It all has to do with you. You just gotta have faith in yourself,” Katrine said. "I don't even know why I'm telling you this." Falco shook his head. "Well....Tony...sometimes, I think, things are so deep inside of us...that maybe we're not the best ones to get them out." Clarisse took a bite out of her sandwich. Falco started to say something, then stopped, then started again. "What would you say...if someone told you that they wanted to learn to forget about the past and live in the present, but they don’t know how?" "I would say they’re on the right track," Gloria responded thoughtfully. "Of course, I'm not the one you need to tell." With that, all three pushed back from the table. Katrine blew a kiss. "We're on, Tony. See you around." Falco watched them perform; they were pretty good. First they did a kind of depressing song about how it was hard to tell wrong from right now. Couldn't agree more, Falco thought to himself. After a few more songs, Gloria picked up the microphone. "We’d like to dedicate this next song to our friend, Tony,” she said with a wink. “We’re trying to tell him to cheer up! This song isn’t actually about his situation, but it does apply, and we like it anyway. At least, we’re hoping it’s not actually ABOUT his situation. No more riots or setting buses on fire, Tony dear,” she cautioned, wagging a finger at Falco. Everyone stared at him and laughed although they didn’t get it. Falco blushed deeply. Gloria went on. “It’s quite pertinent anyway though, so listen nonetheless.” Clarisse had disappeared before, and now she returned dragging six big boxes and a keyboard. “It’s my Moog,” she told the audience. “I have to play it for this song.” Falco listened to the words as Gloria sang the song. With relief, he noticed it wasn’t the same song that had been playing through his head all those weeks ago on the surface of Senshanoba. He’d always hated that song. So he listened to this one, paying attention to the lyrics.
“Dark and rolling figures move through prisms of no colour,
Startled eyes that sometimes see phantasmagourice splendour,
The night has gone, and taken its infractions
Sahara signs look down upon a world that glitters glibly, The three bowed, then packed up their instruments and equipment. Falco stayed at the club long after everyone had gone. Finally the manager came over. "Hey, bud, it's closing time. Time to clear out," he jerked his thumb in the direction of the exit. "Sure....sure. Thanks. Bye." Falco stood and loped out the door. He climbed into his Arwing and circled around for a while, not knowing what he should do. Finally, he got a lock on Great Fox's coordinates and set off.
* * *
Fox, Peppy, and Slippy were sitting in the dining room. They all looked tired. "Do you think he's ever going to come back?" sighed Slippy. "Does he think we can't forgive him? The past is the past; we've all got pasts." "I don't know," said Peppy. "Maybe the problem is forgiving himself." "Well, I guess we should go out again," Fox yawned. "I mean...gotta get some practice....I guess.....And we have a mission later today....I think..." "Yeah, sure..." They climbed into their Arwings and flew around slowly. Hours later, they flew down to Melrania, a little country on Macbeth, to clear out a small rebellion. Their skills had been better, and even the ill-trained reptilian forces were giving them a run for their money. Slippy started to panic. "T-t-this is h-harder than it should b-be!" Fox stared downwards. "We have to learn to function! Falco's...gone...somewhere....but we can't get hung up on that." "Trying to forget about me already, huh, Fox?" Falco spun into the battle. "Falco?!" "Don't sound so overjoyed," Falco said sarcastically. "Why so surprised? I told you I'd be back, and here I am!" "Good to see you again, Falco," Peppy said. "Aw, don't get all mushy on me or anything." Fox smiled. Things were at long last back to normal, or at least as normal as they ever would be for the Star Fox team. There is some good in everyone, but there’s some evil in everyone too...
End
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