Star Crossed [an old and terrible Star Fox fanfic]

Prologue - Dreams

James sat on the balcony, looking up into the sky. It was his favorite time of day, when the afternoon gradually blurred into evening. The Cornerian sun started to softly set behind him. The stars started to appear, quite soon in this evening, and not a few stray ones. This view was one of the planet of Corneria's proudest features, that helped it develop the life and sophistication that it had garnered. It was a map to technology... from the astrolabe, to the telescopes, to the starships, as anyone would have known. From there, they reached the wide expanses of the solar system: Lylat. You could see glimpses of the planets from here, though they were barely distinguishable from the faraway stars. Only someone who had studied the starmap like James would be able to pick them out. There were many... but most were uninhabited or unimportant. He picked out the essentials, a mental practice he loved.

The slightly bluish speck... Aquas, the water planet. The water there was nice, but that's really all there was. Fichina... same, but with snow. At least they built a base there. Macbeth, the toxic-atmosphered but mineral-enriched, where only a few companies mined. Titania, a red ball of nothing but crust and desolation. Then, Venom... the exile planet, where that one primate scientist, Dr. Andross, had recently been sent by General Pepper. James thanked these lucky stars for him not having anything to do with that. Then, a little closer, there was Papetoon, the sandy desert planet. The desolation there was a good haven for anyone who needed to be hidden, and that's often where Corneria sent people in danger to hide. Indeed, during a brief missile scare, that's where he retreated with his wife. That's where she gave birth... to their wonderful son.

"Hey dad!" Fox suddenly yelped, scampering onto this balcony while waving his little tail in excitement. "I was at Bill's house."

"That's Bill Grey you're talking about, right?" the fatherly fox chuckled, turning his chair around.

"Sure is," the smaller fox nodded, holding his arms out and flying around the room. "Nyoom nyoommm!"

"Who's my little pilot?!" James teased lovingly, his own tail wagging at the sight of his son being happy.

"I am! I am!" Fox giggled, landing square in his father's lap... then sighing, his smile suddenly fading a bit.

This last change of expression frightened James a little. "Hey, what's the matter? I saw that, you know."

"I was gonna tell you, dad," the younger McCloud sighed. "I wanted Falco to come along and play at Bill's, too, but Bill's mom and dad don't want to let him in."

"Really! Hmph. Typical of them," James rolled his eyes, making a mental note to call them later. "Well, Fox. I'll let you make a choice, and tell you what's what. It's a pretty hard one at first, but, just think."

"Are we getting ice cream, and you want me to think of flavors?" Fox yipped jokingly.

"We haven't in a while! Think about that, too, but... Tell me. What do you know about birds? What have you been told?" he asked, a little urgenly.

"They're noisy, and a nuisance. They're inferior, whatever that means," Fox shrugged.

James suddenly grabbed his son's shoulder. "Last word. What was it?"

"Inferior," Fox repeated.

"I don't want to ever hear you say and mean that word again. That's a mean word," the father instructed.

"Is it a swearword?" the younger vulpine asked, afraid.

"No, it's not a curse word. In a few ways, though, it's worse," James explained: "It means that a person, or a group of people, are not as good as another group. A lot... of Cornerians say that birds and lizards are inferior, and noisy and naughty and things. General Pepper's not perfect," James said. "Sometimes he makes that mistake and says that, too. But tell me, Fox! Can you tell me about Falco?"