Chapter XII
Shattered
Chapter XII
Alex was groggy, and he couldn't open his eyes. He must have fallen asleep. For some reason he felt pleasantly warm. His memory was still disjointed from the night before. He was covered up in some kind of fuzzy blanket. He gave it an experimental squeeze and was rewarded with a strange sound that reminded him of purring. Confused he forced his eyes open and looked at the blanket.
It wasn't a blanket.
Krystal was entrapping him. Her arms were clutching his chest and her legs had wrapped around his, and her long fluffy tail had blanketed the both of them. She was still asleep, but was making that adorable sound. Her face was mesmerizing. The striking blue fur and tribal markings were truly something beautiful to behold. This was by far the best thing he had ever woken up to. He did not want it to end, so he let himself go back to sleep. For the first time in a long time it was relaxing and restful.
Krystal woke up feeling like a million credits, despite the turbulent night. She noticed that she was still holding on to Alex. That was fine with her. Still, her stomach growled its displeasure, signifying her hunger. So, reluctantly, she untangled herself from her human, which promptly shook him from his slumber. "Krys?"
"Hey Alex."
"What were you doing in here?"
"You know, just taking care of my favorite human!" She exclaimed cheerily.
He laughed a hardy laugh, thankful that it wasn't ruined by a fit. "I'm the only human."
"Details, details." She shrugged off.
He laughed some more. "Well in any case, thanks for being here." He said happily.
"I'll always be there for you." She said, green eyes sparkling.
He got of the bed and swept her into a hug. "And I'll be there for you." He whispered into her ear, tickling the fur and making her shiver. He pulled away and looked into her eyes. "Now! Lest get some grub, I feel especially hungry today."
"How coincidental! So do I!"
"Well then what are we waiting for?" He had changed out of the tank top and back into his outfit, (minus the jacket) he had to see about getting new clothes.
Krystal was wearing a purple skirt and shirt combo with sandals, In his opinion she looked great. Those thoughts aside, they left his room and headed down to the kitchenette for breakfast. When they got there they saw a half asleep avian and an orange vulpine at the table. Falco was drinking something that smelled allot like coffee and Fox's head was buried in his cereal.
"This place looks so lively!" Alex said jokingly. Falco just looked up and grunted. Fox was still knocked out. "Now this just won't do, will it Krystal?"
"Oh not at all!" She exclaimed pseudo haughtily.
"I guess we will just have to fix it!" Alex said with a dangerous gleam in his eye. He practically flew to the industrial sized fridge, with Krystal on his heels laughing at his antics. He flung the metal door open and took a quick inventory. "Mmmm...I know! How about some good old fashioned eggs and bacon, with...pancakes?" Krystal's stomach growled in agreement causing her to blush profusely. "It appears we are in agreement." He felt great today, maybe the sickness has abated.
He grabbed a whole box of eggs and what appeared to be bacon. On his way out he snatched some pancake mix. What was most surprising about living with anthropomorphic animals was the fact they had the exact same food products. "Hey Falco, where do you guys he eggs?"
Falco looked a him "chickens."
"But...I...you...never mind." He said somewhat deflated. "Anyways! Let's get cooking." He went to the stove, it was much more complicated then he had seen before. "Why do they make these things so damn confusing, I mean seriously, you don't need this many freaking buttons!" Krystal just giggled and watched, not helping. It took him a good ten minutes to figure the wretched thing out. But by then he was cooking up a storm. Krystal watched him, slack jawed, as he expertly prepared scrambled eggs, while frying the bacon. The smell had drifted past Falco and Fox. The bird looked more awake, and fox had jolted out of his cereal and was snuffling in the direction of the food.
"Wasa szat." He said incoherently, milk dripping off his muzzle. For one crazy second Alex had a flashback to when Krystal was crying over him. He swiftly buried that notion.
"Real breakfast." He boasted to the confused vulpine.
As he returned his focus to the feast he was preparing the other members of starfox began to walk in. First was Slippy who was pointedly trying to discover where the magnificent aroma was originating from. Then came Peppy who was smiling and mumbling something about 'real food for once.' Moments later Miyu and Fay waltzed in and halted when they saw who was cooking. Which caused Penelope and Lupa to crash into them. Once they were sorted out they headed over to the chef.
"You....can cook?" Miyu said unbelievingly.
"Yep taught by the best, my mother." He grinned sadly.
Penelope pushed through everyone and tackled the grinning human. "Big brother made food!" He almost collided with the flaming stove.
"Whoa there little one! Careful!" He scooped her up and held her cooking with one hand now. "And yes I did, but its not done yet."
"Finally a guy that can cook." Fay said happily.
"Yeah, I used to cook for my mom and little sister before a shipped out. I got to be pretty good at it." He said modestly.
"Pretty good?" Lupa scoffed, " it smells absolutely wonderful!"
"I would hope so, because your the ones eating it." He chuckled.
They all took note of his good mood and Krystal commented on it. "Your acting happy today."
He set down the spatula after flipping the pancakes and brought Krystal into a hug with his now free hand and kissed her on her fuzzy cheek. "Why wouldn't I? The necros are gone, I'm still alive, and I have you guys!" He said jovially. She blushed under his lavish affection.
Then he set down Penelope and shushed them all out. "Now go sit, I need room." With them out of the picture he could return his focus to cooking, he was humming to himself and smiling.
"What's up with him?" Fox said as he watched the human cook.
"I don't know, he was like that since he woke up." Krystal half muttered as she watched.
"Since he woke up, you were with him?" Falco asked sneakily.
"Yeah well...uh I went to check up on him last nigh and he was...not doing well." She said cryptically, Penelope was at the table.
"I see." Falco said slowly.
"Yet this morning he woke up in a fantastic mood, it was very nice."
Fay mumbled enviously. "Lucky you."
"Yes well its good to see him so well, I might not need to do the checkup." Lupa said hopefully.
"I can only hope as well." Fox replied.
"Alright guys, breakfast is served!" Alex exclaimed as he set down three massive platters. One was full of pancakes, another a mountain of eggs, and the last a mound of bacon.
They dug in with gusto. Mouth full of food, Falco ordained "you are now the ships chef."
"Oh I don't think I'm that good."
"Sure you are!" Slippy said already on his third plate.
"Well I will only accept the position of Krystal takes up the mantle of sous chef."
"I would be delighted." She said.
"Yay! Big brother makes the best food!" Penelope added.
"Why aren't you eating son?" Peppy asked concernedly.
Indeed he wasn't, he was just watching them from the side. "I don't want to be a burden."
"What no way! You sit down this instant, right here!" Fay ordered and made him sit next to her and Krystal.
"If you insist." Falco handed him a plate and Miyu filled it up. Lupa gave him utensils and Penelope tossed him a napkin. He looked at all of them, they may not be human, but they were his family.
Fay nudged him with her shoulder and smiled happily, canines showing. "Isn't this better?"
He returned it, "much."
Breakfast was finished in a few hours, most of that time was spent talking. Once it was over they broke up into their usual groups and wandered off to do their usual morning routines. He stopped Slippy outside the dining area.
"Hey Slip."
"Yeah Alex?"
"Do you think I could use the mechanics facilities? I need to repair my armor, and maybe add some things to it."
"Of course you can! Follow me, I was just heading their myself."
"Alright give me a second." With Slippy waiting he went to talk to Krystal. He found her taking with Fay.
"How would I do that?" He heard her ask.
"Just go up to him and ask, he'll understand." Krystal answered.
"I don't know."
"I'll help."
He interrupted them. "Hey Krys!" He kissed her on the cheek again.
"Hey Alex." She smiled mirthfully.
"Just wanted to let you know I was going to be at the shop for a spell, working on my suit." Fay was looking at him oddly but he paid it no mind.
"Alright, I might stop by."
"That would brighten my day!" He said sincerely. "See you soon."
With that taken care of he rejoined Slippy after making a brief stop at his room and picking up his modules. When he saw the mechanics room his jaw dropped. It was a engineers wet dream.
It was full of tools and supplies, everything he would need to fix his suit and add some much needed upgrades. "Color me impressed Slip."
"Really, you like it?"
"Like it, I love it! It has got to be, hands down, the best looking shop I've ever seen."
"How do you know so much?"
"Well, my friend Santiago was a engineer before the war and he taught me all he knew about his trade. So I'm actually pretty knowledgeable about this."
Slippy was ecstatic, at last someone who could understand him, someone he could talk to about his passion. "Great!"
"How about you give me a hand, huh Slip?" He asked.
"It would be my pleasure."
They examined his suit once he recovered it from his device. It was in bad shape. Most of the plating was ripped off and it was chock full of holes. The mechanism for the retractable, tractable helmet was damaged and the interface tool was cracked. "Those necromorphs really did a number on it huh?" Slippy commented.
"Yeah, I think in the end it was worser off then me."
"Well don't fret, I have all the things we could need to fix it." Slippy assured. It took them three hours to repair the suit to its former glory, that was without breaks or distractions. They were so absorbed in their work they didn't notice Krystal and Fay enter.
They watched the two work, of more exactly Alex. The room was fairly hot with all the machine running so he had taken off his shirt and was only covered on the lower half. They watched as he tried to bend a piece of metal into shape with his bare hands. His muscles were rippling with the effort of his exertion. As an amazing show as that was they frowned sadly as they gazed at his chest. After his near fatal battle on Aquas he sported a new grisly assortment of scars, with a massive one on his abdomen. Even with modern medical science they couldn't competing erase such grievous wounds. They would forever mark him, a testament to his dance with death.
He finished conforming the metal and looked up to spot the two women. "Hi!" He greeted, golden eyes locked onto theirs. "What brings two beautiful women to this gritty and dirty operation."
Fay's brown and white fur turned a dark shade of pink at the compliment and Krystal just smiled warmly. "Just checking in on you." She replied.
"Well then you missed out on the fun stuff, it's all over now, it's back to its old self." He gestured to his armor. It looked brand spanking new. It's black and red plating had a glossy coat and the tears were mended. "I'll install the upgrades later."
"Well that's good, Fay and I have something to ask you since your no longer busy." Krystal said.
"All righty, let me just clean up and I'll meet you outside." Alex answered. They exited and he helped Slippy clean up. Once he was done he cleaned himself up and put his shirt back on. Then he left the shop and saw the two women waiting for him. "So what did you need me for?"
"Fay had a question to ask you." Krystal explained.
"Alright what was it?"
"Well first I had one."
"Shoot."
"We are in a relationship right?" She asked surprising him.
"I certainly hope so." Alex answered.
"Oh we are, it's just her question relates to that."
Alex was now nervous, he felt as if he had just stepped onto uneven ground. "How?"
Krystal motioned for Fay to take over. And she did, terribly. "Well...uh....I was...wondering...if....you...uh." She was fumbling trying to find out how to ask for what she wanted.
Krystal decided to help her. "She wants to be your girlfriend to."
His mind broke.
"Whaaaaaaaaaaa........."