Pen: And now for something completely distracting...you from your normal lives! Go to a library! You'll find much better-

Sword: *knocks out Pen*

Thanks. I hate when he does that.

Sword: No problem. Can I introduce the story? Please?

Ok, I gotta go work on something else anyway.

Sword: Yay! *claps hands and jumps around* Oh! You're here! Well, the author does not own any of the characters, Nintendo does. And the song that inspired this story is owned by DHT. Oh, I'm so excited! I can't wait for the story! So read it! Go on, read it! Read it, read it, read it, read it, read it, read it...READ IT!

Ok, calm down. This takes place after Star Fox Command. And it's called-

Listen to Your Heart

Krystal gazed around the hanger one last time. She was carrying the last of her belongings to her arwing, but she had been stopped by the need to remember and reflect. She thought back to all the adventures they had over the years. Fox and her especially.

Krystal turned to each arwing. Her eyes fell upon Slippy's first. Always the one getting in trouble, she and the others had constantly had to save him whenever he decided to get cocky like Falco. Unfortunately, Slippy didn't have the skill and usually lost his nerve halfway through, ending up with enemies chasing after him.

But Slippy made up for it with his mechanical abilities. Always finding new ways to upgrade their arwings by either making them faster, better protected, or more lethal. And he made for surprisingly good conversation and a good friend. In fact, Krystal thought back to the talk they had less than a little over two hours ago.

"But why?" Slippy had shrieked in his usual voice when Krystal told him that she was leaving.

Krystal tried to ignore his question as she went around her room, packing things into her bags. Finally, Slippy stood in front of her, giving her a glare that Krystal made Krystal want to laugh more than tell him. But she decided it was only fair to tell him, as he had been a good friend.

"Because Fox doesn't want me here," she replied casually, as she continued packing.

Slippy's jaw hung open. "W-what are you talking about? Of course he does!"

"Really?" Krystal asked in an uninterested tone. "He seemed to make it very clear I was to leave after helping you guys." She zipped up a bag and flung it over her shoulder.

"But he still likes you!" Slippy continued to protest. "Can't you see?"

Krystal could see it, but it hadn't changed Fox from the kind of person he was when he first kicked her off the team. Nothing had changed, so there was no reason for her to stay.

"Goodbye Slippy," she answered as she walked out of the room, leaving a depressed Slippy to try and make sense of the whole situation.

Now here she was, almost ready to go. In fact, she would have been gone now if she hadn't felt the need to reminisce about the past. She turned to the next Arwing in line. Falco's.

Never one for any kind of serious talk, Krystal wasn't exactly close to him as a friend. However, as a teammate, he was invaluable. Fox would never admit it, but Falco was a big part of the reason why they were usually so successful on their missions.

Krystal headed down the corridor after she had left the sobbing Slippy on her bed. She didn't need this. Krystal knew that she had to get off the Great Fox as fast as she could.

Just as she reached the end of the white corridor, she ran into Fox's avian friend. He was leaning against the frame of the open door, eyes closed, not even giving her a glance. She shrugged and decided to walk right by him.

When she was in front of him, his eyes snapped open. "You know that what you told the frog was a bunch of-"

"Save it Falco," she replied.

Falco sighed. "I'm not gonna try and stop you. It's your decision. But," and he raised a finger to gain her full attention, "I've known Fox longer than you. And I can tell when he's hiding something."

Krystal waited for more, but Falco returned to his previous position of relaxing in the frame. He said nothing else as she returned to walking to her Arwing, albeit a little slower now.

Falco's words kept echoing in her head. Fox hiding something? Well, it didn't matter to her whether or not what he was doing. She wasn't going to play his game of trying to guess what he really wants.

Her eyes fell on her own Arwing. Same model, just like the others. This one had once belonged to Peppy, back when the hare was young enough to still fly with Fox and the rest of the team. But after he had retired, they had kept it as a spare and for Slippy to tinker around with. The next time it had seen action was whenever she had joined and Fox had shown her how to fly.

Krystal neared the hanger, hoping that she didn't run into anyone else.

"Krystal?" an old voice queried. Apparently, hope wasn't enough.

Krystal turned to the voice's owner. "Hello Peppy."

The aging hare gave a weak smile. As the acting father figure of the team, he had comforted Krystal many times. She always felt that when things were bad or she just needed advice, Peppy was the one she could turn too. But right now, Krystal simply wanted to leave.

"Did you come to stop me?" Krystal questioned.

Peppy slowly shook his head, the same weak smile still planted on his face. "No, it's not my place," he answered, hinting at the two people whose decision it was. "I came to say goodbye."

"Goodbye Peppy," Krystal responded, before entering the hanger, trying to fight back the tears that threatened to overtake her.

Krystal shuddered as she wiped her eyes. The last Arwing in line, which was right next to hers, was Fox's. But she hadn't seen him ever since she had decided to leave. She figured it was because he didn't care, that he had wanted Krystal to leave and that there was nothing more to say.

Krystal heard a clanking sound coming near her. Almost like heavy stomping footstep, too heavy for any normal person. She turned around to find herself face to face with a shiny robot with red eyes.

"Oh hello ROB," she said.

"Hello Krystal," ROB responded in his normal metallic voice. "Are you leaving?"

Krystal nodded. "Yes, its time for me to go." She hung her head at that last part, which ROB picked up on.

"My sensors indicate that your facial muscles are curved down, your shoulders are not straight, and that you seem physically weak," he noted as Krystal's bag hung in front of her, barely touching the ground. "All of these point to something being wrong."

"Nothing's wrong ROB," Krystal replied, forcing a smile.

"Now your facial muscles are strained, instead of relaxed like in a normal smile," ROB told her. "Something must be wrong."

"ROB," Krystal warned, becoming irritated, "nothing is wrong." She was aggravated at everyone who kept thinking that she wanted to stay or that kept trying to convince her that Fox wanted her to stay. "Now was there something you need or can I go?"

ROB straightened to attention as he seemed to recall something. "Yes, there is someone here who wishes to talk to you. I was sent ahead to stall you until he gets here."

"Who is it?" Krystal asked, but she already had an idea of who it could be.

The door to the hanger slid open and a figure stepped inside. "Here he is," ROB answered.

There, in his flight suit and staring at her, was Fox. Krystal felt as though her heartbeat could now be heard echoing around the entire hanger. But in reality, the only one who could probably hear it was ROB.

Fox walked up to her, slowly and cautiously, as if he was approaching some animal that would run at any sudden movement.

Fox stood in front of Krystal, both of them wanting to tear their eyes away to make this easier, but finding that they couldn't. After a moment of silence, Fox cleared his throat and decided to start.

"Krystal, I-" but he stopped, causing Krystal to catch her breath in his throat. All that ran through her head is Why did he stop? She followed Fox's gaze to see that he was staring at ROB.

They both almost glared at ROB, who continued to stand there, not picking up on their silent request. Finally, Fox decided to voice it. "Uh, ROB. You mind giving us a minute?"

"Not at all," ROB replied. He continued to stand there.

"Alone?" Fox added, grinding his teeth.

ROB walked off to the hanger door and exited, leaving Fox and Krystal by themselves.

"So Krystal," Fox began again, rubbing his neck, "I wanted to say..." He trailed off again, as if looking for the right words. Krystal hung onto each word, hoping that he would say what she had secretly wanted him to say.

Fox sighed, pulling his face down with his hand. "Good luck," he finally said.

Krystal huffed. "Fine, goodbye," she replied before turning to her arwing. She opened it and threw her bag inside, but as she was climbing into it, she felt a hand grab her wrist.

"Wait Krystal."

Krystal turned to find Fox staring at her with pleading eyes. She had never seen him like this. So, she decided to listen to what he had to say.

"I...I don't want you to leave," Fox finally admitted. "I want you to stay."

"That's not what you said when I came back...or what you said a few years ago," Krystal stated almost coldly.

Fox winced. But he shook his head and continued. "Look, I know I should never have kicked you off the team. I was wrong."

Krystal was shocked by that. Fox apologizing for something was a rare thing indeed.

"Please stay," Fox begged.

Krystal barely heard him as she fought with her heart. She had wanted so bad for Fox to tell her that, but she was afraid that thing might end up like they did. That at some point, Fox might leave her again.

Krystal studied Fox's eyes, searching for any sign of a lie. She could find none.

She took a deep breath. "Will you promise me something?"

"Anything," Fox said excitedly.

"Never leave me again."

Fox grinned and pulled her into an embrace.

"I promise," Fox answered. Krystal smiled as her tears finally started to fall. She leaned in close and met Fox's lips with hers.

A/N: That's it.

Sword: Aw! Wasn't that sweet Pen?

Pen: I need to vomit.

Well, please read and review.

Sword: Stop ruining the moment! En garde!