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Star Fox: Earthborn
1st Installment

Chapter 4: The Talk
Time: 8th week of training, 5 months after events on planet Sauria

The weeks that came after Krystal's birthday were only getting harder for David. But with every day, he made progression. His body became stronger, he could run faster and he even succeeded in blocking some of Krystal's kicks and punches. Fox was proud of David's ongoing improvement and Falco, Slippy and Peppy began to see him as a respectable friend. David was quite the addition to their crew: a very talkative, intelligent person with a healthy sense of humor and a wide variety of interests. The guys could talk with him about anything, from talking about weapons and overall awesomeness with Falco to discussing human history with Peppy.

As for Krystal, she was amazed by his progress. But there was something else about him, a growing sense of doubt in her opinion of the young human. He was nothing like she thought he would be, for he'd helped her to restart her quest and he even appeared to be interested in her culture: David suddenly asked her one day if she could teach him about her meditational skills.
Krystal had never expected this; she was so surprised by David's willingness to be involved in her ancient spiritual rituals that she agreed. After every self defense lesson, she'd proceed to teach him breathing techniques and relaxing chants. To hear someone repeating the Cerinian Chants with her made her feel like she was home, with someone who really cared for her. Because of this, she slowly seemed to make contact with him.

Sometimes, she caught herself just looking at him while they were meditating. There was something rather interesting about him and his calm appearance, which she tried to find out. And the more Krystal tried, the more she became calm herself. But every time she noticed herself doing this, she felt her anger boiling up again. She remembered her past and she remembered her pain: she still unloaded her pain on David during their workouts. She was confused, misunderstood and hurt; she only told herself that she hated him, the human that had so brutally invaded her life.

But no matter how hard Krystal hit him, no matter how many times he had to patch his bleeding wounds; David felt sincere compassion for the young girl. David had always been of a sensitive nature, so it didn't take much for him to notice that there was something more behind Krystal's bitter and sad behavior. He felt terribly sorry for her, because he knew that deep inside, behind the mask of anger and pain, she was a warm and caring person. He felt more and more the need to talk with her about what troubled her; he had started to care about Krystal…

..

One night, Krystal couldn't sleep. It had been a long day with a rather disappointing mission, since she hadn't been able get a single drop of information considering Cerinia out of the poor paying convoy of traders they had to protect.

"This isn't going anywhere" she thought. "Lucky enough I still have a roof above my head and an everyday meal; otherwise it'd be awfully similar to my life before I came here. And at least I'm among people who are nice to me. Even David has been strangely kind to me ever since he's been with us…"

She blamed herself right away for thinking kindly about David.

"Just hear yourself, you're getting soft!"

But what probably irritated her most was that she just couldn't get her mind to stop raging and take a break, allowing her to sleep.

"Ugh… I'll go for a glass of fruit juice then" she finally thought.

..

As Krystal walked into the common room she found David there as well, eating a night time snack.

"Blast, what is HE doing here? Can't I just be on my own for a moment?"

"Oh, hey Krystal, how are you tonight?" David asked her.

"You know, my evening was rather nice, until now" she harshly said back.

"Oh, uh... Alright then…"

Krystal walked to the fridge, got a pack of fruit juice and a glass, took it to the table and took place on the far edge of the bench, where she continued staring away with an annoyed look on her face. David felt rather uncomfortable: he wanted to talk to Krystal, but he didn't quite know where to start.

"Krystal?" he finally said. "I know it's probably not my business, but eh… What happened to Cerinia?"

"Well, you are right; it IS none of your business" Krystal said back.
"How dare he start about my Cerinia?" she thought right after.

"I'm sorry Krystal; I shouldn't have started about it" David said in an attempt to apologize. "I just wanted to know what we're-"

Krystal slammed her hand on the table. "What do you not understand about 'none of your business'? Just leave me alone!"

David had enough of Krystal's harshness. "Krystal, what did I do to you?" he asked her.

"What?" Krystal said back.

"What have I done to deserve this? Why can't you just tell me for once, instead of shutting me off?"

"So you really want to know why?!" Krystal yelled out of nowhere. "Fine, you're asking for it! It's because you are HUMAN! You are just like the murderers of my people, I know you are! Humans can only kill and destroy! I've seen it; I've seen how cruel humans can be! They are so bloody selfish that they even kill their own world! Don't you get it?!"

"What do you-"

"I'm not finished yet! When I first saw what was going on down on your planet, I said to myself that I never wanted to meet a human being! And then we were put up with you! I was put up with you and so forced to live on the same ship with a human! Humans could just as well have been the ones that took EVERYTHING from me! And YOU are one of them! You must be so proud..."
"I finally said it…"

David was stunned by Krystal's words. She thought of him the same as she thought of the monsters who took away her people… He just didn't know what to say.

"Krystal, I…"

"What."

"I don't know why you think of me the like that, but that's not who I am… Krystal, please. I know how you feel..."

"What?! That's it! How would you know a thing about what I feel?! You still have your family back on that bloody planet! And you know what? You may mean something to them, but you mean NOTHING to me! You are NOBODY!"

She saw something change in David's eyes; she had just managed to actually hurt his feelings.

"And what could you know about loss?!" she continued. "I lost everyone I ever had in the blink of an eye! They aren't there anymore, they are forever gone! You cannot pretend to even understand it a little bit! No one can! I am all alone with this pain!"

Krystal looked at David with tear-filled eyes. But instead of getting angry with her, or walking away, he looked straight back at her.

"Krystal, you didn't deserve what you have been through" he said. "No one does, but that it had to happen to you… Look, it doesn't matter what you may think of me, but I care about you. I care about you a lot… And every day I look at you, I can see that you are in pain. Believe it or not, but I hate to see you like that… "

"Well, then don't look at me… Makes us both happy" Krystal said with a small voice, trying to fight her tears back.

"Please, you don't have to keep up your mask anymore" David said. "I know that deep inside you are so good and so kind, I just wished that I could do something to make you happy... Krystal, I'm so sorry…"

Krystal was silent for a second, then she lowered her head in her hands and she softly began to cry…

"I…I just miss them so much… Every day I miss them and no one sees it, no one cares… I miss them so much, I feel like everyone has left me…"

David stood up.

"See, now even he'll leave me too!" Krystal thought.

But instead David moved over to Krystal, sat down next to her and put his hand on her shoulder. A moment later, Krystal leaned over to him as she let her pain out. She softly rested her head against David's chest, putting her arms around him. David put his arms gently around Krystal as well as her tears fell off her face and on his clothes. She cried for minutes, holding him tight, as if all the put-up sorrow was coming out at once. David felt his own tears for her sorrow roll from his eyes.
When Krystal calmed down a bit, she also noticed David's tears…

"Is he crying too? I thought… And what am I doing? But it feels too good to stop just now…"

"You know, Krystal, when you think it won't get better, there are always the precious memories of the places we come from… We'll always have them" David said while wiping his tears from his eyes.

They let go of each other slowly, but Krystal remained seated next to David. And for the first time, she smiled at him.

"… David, I…"

"So, Krystal, would you care telling me what Cerinia was like? I bet your world and its people were beautiful."

Krystal laughed, mixed with some last sobs…

"Alright then, but only if you'll tell me what Earth was like for you. I bet it wasn't all that bad. And please, would you tell me about your family?"

"I'll tell you all about it Krystal."

..

After hours of talking, Krystal was going to bed. The pack of juice was all empty with two glasses next to it. Krystal felt as if she was freed from a heavy burden. She smiled at David when she begged him goodnight.

"You know, you are right David. I still have the memories of my loved ones. And I'm sure that I will add a lot more good memories to them from now on."

"I couldn't agree more, Krystal. Well, I'll clean up here and then I'm also off to bed. I'm not much of a trainee for you guys if I'm tired."

"Oh, and David... I was wrong about you. I think that talking to you, to a friend... That was just what I needed... Thank you for sharing memories. And thank you for listening to me..."

"Thanks Krystal... It means a lot to me, more than you think…"

"Goodnight, David..."

"Goodnight, Krystal..."

As Krystal lay in bed, some minutes later, she thought of the talk she just had. She suddenly realized that all the pain she had felt for so long was entirely absent. It was as if talking like that with someone, what she hadn't done for years, made all her put up sorrow and pain wash away. Sure, she still felt sadness for her people, but she also felt joy in her heart again.

"I've treated David wrong… My parents taught me to be merciful and kind, but the pain made me see only the worst. But that's over with, now that I've gained a friend like him. I'd never thought that he would be so nice and so understanding... I think we'll get along just fine from now on."

And with that last thought, she smiled and fell asleep…

..

The next morning, David was strangely enough not woken up by Fox's voice telling him to 'get the fuck up', but instead by a soft knocking on his door. Surprised, he stood up and opened the door of his room to see who it was. He was even more surprised to find Krystal standing there, dressed in a casual tee and jogging pants. This was in fact the first time David saw Krystal wearing something else than her stylish black and blue battle suit.

"… Hey Krystal, what's up?" he said.

"Hey, good morning David" Krystal said clearly a bit insecure. "Uh, I was wondering if you'd like to make some breakfast with me. It's been long since I actually cooked something and I think the team could use a nice meal…"

David absolutely hadn't expected this from Krystal, but he was happy to hear it.

"Well, uh, sure! Sure I want to, let me just put on my socks and I'll be with you in a second!"

As they walked together to the common room, Krystal looked as if she wanted to say something but didn't quite know what. This wasn't strange of course, for she hadn't been talking a lot to David since he joined. He noticed her thinking and decided to break the silence himself.

"So Krystal, what were you planning on making? I'd really like to help, so I hope you can teach me about the kinds of food you have here" he said.

"Do you like to cook?" Krystal asked a bit surprised.

"In fact, I do. Back on Earth, I learned to cook while helping my mother."

"Well, I'm impressed David" Krystal said with a smile. "I think I can count the men I know who like to cook on one hand, so I'd be happy to show you around in the kitchen. I was planning to make some eggs, fresh bread and a warm cup of herbal tea."

"That sounds good, I can't wait!"

In the common room's small kitchen, Krystal showed David how to make fresh vanilla raisin bread by her mother's recipe. It would take some time in the oven, so in the meantime David helped her clean up.

"David?..." Krystal suddenly said.

"Yes?"

"Thank you again for yesterday… I feel so much better now; I even had my first night of untroubled sleep in months. I just want to say thank you for being there for me, and I really wished we would have talked like that sooner…"

"You don't need to thank me" he said with a smile. "I have really enjoyed talking to you and I am glad that you feel better because of it."

"Well, you did say that you wished you could do something to make me happy… And you did" Krystal said softly. David was so flattered that he could only smile at her.

..

Krystal and David finished making breakfast just in time, because when Krystal took her bread out of the oven the team walked into the common room.

First, they were all a bit amazed by what they saw, for everyone on the ship knew that Krystal never liked David. And now they had to believe that those two were standing side by side in the same kitchen, making the team breakfast.

"Okay, I probably don't want to know, but what is going on in here?" Falco asked.

"Does it matter?" Slippy said while taking place at the table. "All I know is that I smell a lot of delicious things to eat!"

"Why don't you all sit down" Krystal said. "The eggs are getting cold."

When everyone had a seat, they all gazed at their plates which were filled up with big slices of bread and stirred eggs. Krystal stood up.

"Guys, before we begin I want to apologize to all of you for the way I have been acting the last couple of weeks. I don't know what got to me, but David and I talked last night and it really helped me a lot. So, I just want to say that I'm sorry if I made some of you feel uncomfortable…"

Everyone noticed that Krystal had changed indeed, by the way she smiled and by the little spark of joy in her eyes.

In reaction to what she'd just said, Fox stood up and raised his cup of tea. "Team, I think we've got our Krystal back!"

As everyone cheered and started eating and talking, Krystal looked at David with a playful smile.

"I'm still going to hit you during the workouts, you now that right?"

David smiled and used his mind to think his answer back. "Well, since it's called 'self defense', I can fight back."

"You better be ready for it, but I know you can make it."

"Thank you Krystal…"

"No, thank you…"

Then, they joined their friends and enjoyed the simple but delicious breakfast while talking and laughing with each other. Everything was like it always should have been on that day…

TO BE CONTINUED…