Grown to Love

Chapter Twenty-Six

Rain had started to pick up and with it came a stronger wind. The rain hit the old wooden roof, loud tip-tap sounds arising from every droplet that hit the surface. The roof kept everyone dry but the old cracked up wooden walls gave passage to the cold wind. The group of runaways were already hours settled into the house and were searching for old items to take warmth with. Falco rummaged through on of one the closest and pulled out several boxes. He opened each up and found old dish ware and children's toys. He sighed. "You find anything Slippy?" He listened for the toad's response. From across the room Slippy called back. "I've found some old blankets." Falco got to his feet and walked over and found that Slippy had in fact found several old blankets. "'Ey. Nice work Slippy. Let's see how many we can spread out among us all." In total, Falco and Slippy had unfolded three large blankets. They seemed to be big enough to cover two people and Slippy looked up at Falco. "That'd leave one person without warmth." "Yeah I can see that Slip." Falco sighed. "If anything, I could sacrifice myself for everyone's warmth. I refuse to let Peppy get cold. He's getting to old to be where we are and the last thing I want is for him to grow cold and brittle." Slippy began to fold the blankets again and placed them on a dusted off shelf. "We should talk to fox about it. He'd give us an idea on how to deal with this." Falco nods. He then blinks and looks around. "Say, have you seen Fox anyway?" Slippy thought for a moment. "I think he went up with Wolf to the second floor when we got here. Haven't seen him come down since." Falco frowned and turned to the stairs. He went up without another word. He got to the top and looked around. "Hold still." He heard Fox's voice from down the hall. He sneered questionably and started making his way to the hall. "Nn..Fox Stop!" Wolf's voice called out. Falco's eyes grew and he made his way to the room at the end of the hall. The door was wide open and both Fox and Wolf turned their heads when Falco got to the door. Falco choked on his own words as he saw Fox tending to the wound on Wolf's shoulder. Falco blinked, cleared his throat, and placed his hand behind his neck. "S-Sorry about that. I was looking for Fox and thought—" "thought what?" Wolf asked as he glared at Falco. "N-Nothing. Guess I'm just kind of nervous about you guys staying with our team." Fox sighed. "Falco, you'll have to deal with it. Right now we all have to get used to being around one another; enemy or not." He smiled down at Wolf. Wolf looked away and huffed angrily. Falco raised a brow. "So is this all you've been doing since we got here? Tending to his wound?" Fox scoffed. "No. I was planning to do it at first but Wolf wanted to know why WE were on the run from Pepper. I spent a good while explaining to him what happened between us. I even filled him in with the past...again." Fox sighed. "However, it didn't seem to trigger the Wolf I know. He's still "Andross' elite soldier". I don't get why he didn't break from the brainwash." "You've brought that up several time's now McCloud. I'm starting to believe you're a little crazy." Wolf joked. Fox's expression didn't change though. "Anyway," started. He placed the wet towel against Wolf's wound, pressing hard on it. A shot of pain went up Wolf's arm and he winced hard, letting out a loud yelp. "Careful!" He barked. Ignoring him, Fox continued. "What'd you need Falco?" "Oh right," Falco relaxed and came to his regular low and laid back tone of voice. "Slippy and I managed to find some blankets for the cold. Problem is there's only three large ones and we estimated that they're big enough for two people. What do you propose we do?" Fox tilt his head to the side slightly and closed his eyes as he started to quietly think. "Give Leon and Pigma one. The rest of your team use the last two. I don't need one." Wolf said suddenly. "What?" Fox opened his eyes in a bit of shock. "You can't be serious." Falco clasped his hands together. "Works for me." Fox snapped a glare at him. Falco shrugged and walked away. Fox sighed as he removed the wet towel from Wolf's shoulder. "Well, it's a lot cleaner than it was earlier. If we can wrap it up it shouldn't bleed more." He looked around, trying to see if there was any material he could use as a bandage, like he had done with the old towel he was using. He'd rinsed it several times before using it to clean wolf up as it seemed like it wasn't as old as many of the other items on the second floor. Wolf stood and rolled his shoulders back, his back popping as he did so. "Ah don't sweat it Pup. I'll be fine." A sigh escaped Wolf as he made his way to the window. He looked out, seeing the dark gray of night grow. "So Fox. What's the plan to stopping General Pepper from ruining our lives?" Fox walked over, leaning against the wall, and looked out the window as well. "I'm not sure. Right now my only concern is Peppy. He's not doing too well. I think he's gotten super stressed about this whole situation and he's getting older. I want him happy is all. He doesn't deserve to be put into stress like this." Wolf said nothing and looked over at Fox. Fox never looked away from the window. "Listen," Wolf started. "I know I've only just come out as your enemy, but I'm willing to help in anyway possible. If there's anything my team and I could do to help you guys, just let me know." Fox smiled slightly and looked back at Wolf. "Thanks..." He stood firmly and started making his way to the door. He looked over his shoulder and saw Wolf looking back out the window. He quickly ran over to him and placed a kiss on his cheek. He the hurried out of the room. Wolf stood shocked, facing the door, and felt his face grow warm. He put his hand in his cheek and felt himself grow warm and fuzzy. He leaned against the wall and breathed in heavily. As Fox made it to the bottom of the stairs he found Peppy wrapped in a blanket. He walked over to him. "You doing alright Peppy?" He asked with slight concern in his voice. "Oh, don't you worry about me Fox. You shouldn't be concerned about me when what we should be concerned about is if we'll be able to get to General Pepper and have him see what he's doing is wrong." "Yeah I get that. I just don't know how we'll even do that. I don't have a plan yet really." A nervous chuckle left Fox. Peppy then placed his hand on Fox's shoulder. "You'll figure it out. You're a smart guy. You were trained for extreme measures and nothing can get in your way." Fox smiled but looked down at the ground, his smile fading quickly. "What if we have to stay here for a long period of time? We don't have a plan, weapons, our Arwings, or food and proper shelter. I feel like if anything happens to any of the people here I'll be responsible." "You can't think like that Fox. You have to think like a leader. Besides, Wolf's here right? I'm sure he's an excellent leader as a soldier for Andross. I'm sure if you can get to him again you'd both make a perfect set of leaders. You two would be working so well with each other, why, I think we'd have a chance in this fight." "You really think so?" Fox smirked at the slight boasting Peppy gave him. "I know so." Peppy replied with a smile. Fox gave a slight nod and got straight to his feet again. "I should try talking to Wolf then." He made his way to the stairs again but paused at the bottom. "It's getting late. You guys should rest up. I was told there's only three blankets. Peppy, I want you to have your own. Leon and Pigma," at the sound of their names, Leon and Pigma, who sat in the corner of the room, looked over at Fox. "You two share a blanket. Falco and Slippy will share one." "A-And what about you Fox?" Slippy asked as he walked up to the blanket that sat next to Peppy. "I don't think I'll be sleeping anytime soon. I'm going to try coming up with a plan. I want you guys to be rested and warm. It doesn't seem like the rain and wind will be stopping anytime soon either so it's bound to get cold tonight." "And what about Wolf?" Pigma placed his hands on his hips and snorted as he questioned Fox. "If he needs warmth, he can share with one of you two and whoever gets kicked will have to share with Peppy. Again, I won't need one." With that, Fox made his way back up the stares. He made his way to the room from before. Wolf was laying in the old bed that sat in the room, his back facing the opening of the door. Fox quietly made his way to the bed and sat on the edge of it, his back facing Wolf's. "Hey Wolf, you awake?" He asked with a soft voice. It was a moment before he finally got a response. "What do you want now?" Wolf's voice was soft, almost inaudible. He didn't sound angry or monotone like he did earlier. His tone gave Fox slight relief, telling him that they wouldn't have to worry about being stabbed in the back during their time working together. "I came to see if you wanted to try coming up with a plan together." Wolf scoffed lightly. "You're asking me to help you come up with a plan?" He then sat up and turned toward Fox. "Well yeah," Fox too turned to face Wolf. "You and me are both leaders. It only makes sense to work together in coming up with a plan. Besides, my team isn't used to being the enemy here. Now I know you and your team haven't been on your "mission" for long but you've been trained for something like this right? What would you do in a situation like this?" Wolf thought for a moment. "Outsmart the enemy. We want them to isolate them self so we can get them to talk and listen to us. We give them an offer they absolutely can't refuse. Many times, if they have backup, like General Pepper will most likely have, we want to use the main enemy as bait. We can try ticking Pepper to isolate himself from Cornerian Soldiers and we talk to him, have him listen to us, and if soldiers threaten to attack us, we threaten to hurt the General." Fox swallowed hard. He gave a nervous smile. "Isn't that a little harsh?" He asked. "Fox," Wolf quickly replied. "We have to do whatever it takes to get our way. There's no mercy shown when you're the enemy. You have to show that you'll do anything to get your way." "Right, right..." Wolf examine Fox's body language; his wilting ears, his hunched back, and his fidgety fingers. "But," he sighed. "I'm sure we can maybe come up with a different solution." Fox perked up again. "You really think so?" Wolf nods in response. He then lays back and exhaled slowly. "We'll figure it out. Don't get too worried about it. Now let's get some rest. We've got to get movie when the rain subsides. Staying in one place for too long isn't the smartest move after all." Fox looked up at the roof then back to Wolf. "You're gonna stay up here?" "Uh yes? Why what's wrong with it?" Fox shrugged. "Won't you get cold? The roof's cracked." Wolf chuckled in response. "You don't got to worry about me getting cold. I've got tough fur. If you want, you can go warm up. I'll be fine up here." Fox bit in his finger lightly. "Ha, about that." Wolf gave him a slightly confused glare. "Didn't Falco day there were three? Leon and Pigma got one. That leaves one for Falco and Slippy and one for you and Peppy." "I told Peppy he could have one to himself. I didn't want him to bother sharing with someone else. I even gave it up in case you wanted some warmth." "You didn't have to do that Fox." Fox shrugged. "Guess I didn't think it through." Wolf quickly got up and off the bed. "Take the bed. You can even use my coat to keep warm." He said suddenly. "Oh no no. It's fine Wolf, really." Replies Fox as he quickly got to his own feet. "Fox, I insist." "Wolf no I'm ok really." Wolf huffed and quickly took hold of Fox's wrist. He had him sit back in the bed again. Fox pushed back, trying to get up but Wolf wouldn't let go. Fox then pulled on the collar of Wolf's shirt. Wolf fell on top of Fox and held him self up. His nose sat against Fox's and both his and Fox's faces grew red. He then pulled himself away quickly and sat back. He cleared his throat. "Take the bed." Fox sat up and looked down at his hands. He sighed heavily. "Wolf, if we do fix this whole situation with Pepper, are you going back to Andross?" "Yes. Why wouldn't I? I work for him. I've dedicated my life to working for him." "You really don't recall anything from before?" Fox's eyes started to shine and Wolf was able to tell. "Look, you said you've told me this whole stuff of our past before and that it supposedly broke me free from whatever it is Andross did to me but I can't recall anything. I told you earlier, I'm sorry if whatever you and I had in the past is gone from my memory." Fox wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. "N-No it's ok. I just wanted to know what you'd end up doing after this. I've come to accept this new You. I can't keep crying about it if there's nothing I can do. I just wish we weren't enemies." "Then work for Andross with me. We'll be allies. We'd get rid of terrible people like Pepper. We could make the Lylat System better." Fox shook his head. "I can't forgive Pepper for everything he's done but he's still doing what he thinks is best for Corneria. Everything I hold against him has affected me personally but not Corneria or the Lylat System. He's still a good man towards this galaxy. Even if I lose my place as leader of Star Fox after all this, General Pepper can't be taken out. Andross does though." "Alright..." Wolf looked away and toward the floor. His own ears feel back and his voice broke. He breathed in with a slight shakiness to his breath. "Then I guess that places marks where we are going to be after this whole situation." "I...didn't think you'd take that so harshly." Fox questionably said. "I'm not." Started Wolf. "I just thought that maybe working wit you wouldn't be so bad. But we seem to have our own opinions on certain things." "Right..." The room grew tense and quiet, only the wind howling outside and the rain hitting the roof made the silence less painfully awkward. Without another word, Fox got to his side and laid down. He turned so that his back was facing the door and slightly away from Wolf. Wolf said nothing and got to his feet. He walked out of the room quietly and made his way to the first floor. He found everyone laid out along the floor, covering themselves in the blankets, fast asleep. He got to the small flattened part of the staircase and sat down, leaning against the railing. He sighed and leaned his head back, closing his eyes and drifted to sleep.