Fixing What's Broken

'The enemy of my enemy is my friend' That's what they say. He's foiled my plans for years and yet I can't bring myself to destroy him. I created him by mistake, but I've fallen for him. Love is a two way street, and in that situation and in life, you have to make your own descions.

"What have you done? To my beautiful machine?" Cortex looked ready to cry at the sight of what had become of his invention, the Cortex Matrix chamber, but he held back his tears. All of his long, two decades worth of work on a portable gadget meant to enhance the perfect rhythm of Wumpa Islands had gone down the drain. His giant robot ( that resembled Crash's face in a way depending on how you looked at it) had been rebuilt, good as new. It was now sitting on the upper level of the dance floor like a display. Cortex wasn't even the one responsible for causing the bad vibes, he had got sent clear to the other side of the island when his device was hijacked. He didn't even get to test it out for himself. The day had just gone from bad to worse.

Two tribe members bumped him from left to right, before Mags stepped up behind the scientist and slapped him hard on the back, causing him to lose his footing and stumble forward. He almost fell face first onto the stone floor, "Isn't it amazing? I fixed it all up for ya, and check this out." The inventor pulled a remote out from underneath her hat and pushed a bright, red button. Dr. Cortex just gaped in horror at the sight of fireworks being shot into the sky. What irritated him even more was a set of explosives going off and creating Crash's head with various lights. "Catch ya later perkalator." Mags then danced right past him.

The Tech Sorcerer turned his head to look at a certain orange bandicoot who simply clicked his tounge and pointed at him. Cortex narrowed his eyes and sent an ice, cold glare at his archnemesis, while gritting his teeth. He had always been jealous of his fame. Noticing that, Crash nervously shuffled away from him and disappeared behind a group of islanders. Cortex was outraged, it just wasn't fair: why did he have to lose every battle to a mutated bandicoot he created by mistake? He had failed at trying to turn him evil and make him general of his army. He labled Crash as "The Failed Creation" and cast him aside. They had been enemies ever since, with one acception and a temprary truce on Twinsanity Island however. But Crash had always felt something for his creator and was sure that Cortex felt the same way about him.

"It's not fair, why did my machine fail, and send me flying sky high?" The doctor gripped his hair and screamed in agony as he sank down on his knees. "I just cannot win, even after twenty years!" The colorful lights of the Synchronization Celebration, a celebration that only came around once every twenty years, pulled him out of his tirade. As he started to tilt his head up tword the sky to try and enjoy the party, something out of the corner of his eye caught his attention. It was crawling on all fours away from the broken machine and as Cortex carefully analyzed it, he reeled back in shock and disbelif. He couldn't beleive what he was seeing: it was Fake Crash, Crash Bandicoots evil doppleganger and also a minion to Cortex himself. What was he doing here? He was supposed to be locked up in the scientists castle. "Am I dreaming, or is that who I think it is?" He rubbed his eyes and blinked a couple of times, but the bandicoot was still there in the flesh. Looking around with crazy eyes, and bushy eyebrows, Fake Crash looked over and grinned a toothy grin.

"YOU! Cortex seethed. Feeling a sense of rage overcoming him, he ran forward and tackled Fake Crash to the ground. He grabbed him by the neck and pinned him down. "Are you the one who stole and hijacked my machine?!" The mutant nodded yes while at the same time, he grappled to escape from the vice grip Cortex had around him: gripping his wrists and trying to pry him off. It was to no avail however. "Because of you, everybody here on the island think's I'm the one to blame for the bad vibes!" Cortex paused, remembering something he heard in the village. "Well all except one islander who doesn't beleive that I'm a bad guy, but still! Take my machine will you?!" The two rolled overtop one another until they hit the metal surface of the machine, a clang was heard as they smashed into it, a loose piece breaking off in their heated struggle.

The residants of Wumpa Island looked up in shock. "Hey guys, cut it out, we're suppose to be enjoying this glorious celebration!" Cantata shouted as him and Banjo sperated the two, stopping the from tearing each other limb from limb.

"Let me go, just give me five minutes with that buck toothed, crazy eyed, machine hijacker! I'll give him a what for!" Cortex fumed. As soon as he was let go he reached into his lab coat and pulled out his ray gun. He set it to the lowest setting, (just enough to stun him) and took aim at the idoiotic looking bandicoot. He fired the shot and sure enough, the blast hit it's inital target. Fake Crash toppled over and writhed around on the ground, his entire body shaking as the beam spread throughout him. Soon, the bandicoot laid there, limp and motionless, staring up into the lighted sky. Spyro, Mags and the rest of the tribe members looked on horrified. Some of them gasped in shock and horror. Cantata grabbed Cortex's arm and restrained it behind his back, making him wince in pain.

A floating tiki mask glided over to them, he had colorful feathers sticking out of the top of his head. He spoke with a deep voice, "Cortex, what have you done?!" Aku Aku demended. The scientists actions resulted in irritated and disappointed looks from almost everyone, including Tenor, who had always assumed that Cortex was a good guy deep down.

"I...I..." He trailed off. What had he done? At that moment, Dr. Cortex felt the slightest pang of guilt overcome him, that regretful feeling stabbed him through the heart like a knife. "I'm so sorry!" Cantata then released him. His hands trembled as he dropped his weapon to the ground, shaken with fear. The tears that he had fought to hold back earlier, presented themselves in his eyes once more, but this time, he didn't hold them back. They fell from his eyes and splashed onto the ground. He then remembered Crash awakwardly shuffling away from him.

Cortex knew he had to make things right with him. Crash may have been a failed experiment, but he was still a living thing with feelings. He ran away from everyone to find him, hiding his face as he went along, luckily nobody noticed him crying. While Fake Crash simply (after recovering from the shock), sprinted away into the jungle, before he was tackled by anyone else.

The real Crash was trudging back over the same broken bridge he had crossed mere moments ago to get to the dance hall. He looked behind him only to gaze up at the stars being showered in the fireworks. He kicked a rock off a cliff before he continued on. Pretty soon he reentered Wumpa Valley. Scurring up a nearby tree in a flash, he extended his arm out and plucked a Wumpa Fruit off the top. Sliding back down to the ground, Crash bit into it, its purple juices dripping down his chin. He wondered if Cortex would get over what had happened tonight. Throughout the years since he was created, he had always shown affection and conern for his creator. Cortex however never returned it, instead he tried to do away with him. The hatred continued between the two as the years went on.

After crossing back over the rickety bridge, Dr. Cortex flew through the thick jungle on his hoverboard, calling for Crash as he flicked the tears away, "Crash, hey Crash where did you go?!" Crash's ears pricked up when he heard his name being called. He looked over his shoulder to find Cortex flying tword him. He hopped off his hoverboard and slowly walked tword him. Crash gazed at the man quizzically, wondering to himself why his creator was here. Cortex pulled his ray gun from his coat and aimed it at two ripe looking Wumpa Fruit. Pulling the trigger, the beam cut the multicolored apples down, where he caught them in his hands. He then plopped down beside Crash and leaned up against the same tree as him.

Extending his arm out, he offered him the fruit, Crash complied and took it. "I couldn't have you wandering around here alone, I know you're capable of taking care of yourself, but still. And I wanted to apologize for giving you the evil eye back at the dance hall. I thought you were the one who took my machine, not that other, whacky version of you." Cortex felt his stomach sink as he spoke again, "Crash, do you think you can forgive me for everything I've ever tried to do to you over the years?" He asked. Saying that felt like acid was burning a hole right through his tounge. When Crash didn't responed right away, Cortex took the scilence as a no. As he bit into the ripe fruit, he looked up into the sky and found that the lights and firecrackers were still going off. He was so wrapped up in seeing that, that he didn't even notice his frenemy scooting closer to him.

He gasped a little when he felt a furry hand rest itself on top his own. Crash then wrapped his other arm around him and pulled him closer. Cortex blushed a little when he felt himself pressed up against the bandicoots warm fur, but he didn't mind, instead of pushing him away as he would normally do, Cortex just nuzzled against him. The man knew he had been forgiven. However, he still wanted to be one hundred percent confirmed. Cortex then repeated his question, "Crash, can you forgive me for all the times I've tried to destroy you?" The marsupial nodded his head up and down, which meant a yes. "Good to know." Breathing in a sigh of releif, Cortex slipped his hand into Crash's. "Crash, there's something I've been wanting to tell you for years now, but I've let my hatred and anger get the better of me." Feeling his breath catch in his throat, his heart was fluttering away like a butterfly, and he swallowed heavily before finally being able to speak, "Crash, I, I love you, I've loved you for a long time, I thought the feeling would pass, but it never did. And as long as I'm being honest right now, you're not that big of a failure." Crash knew exactly what he meant. He had felt the same about Cortex too. He had been right all along.

Crash removed his interlaced hand from Cortex's and placed it under his head while the other grabbed under his legs and picked him up. Cortex was then gently placed in the bandicoots lap. He sighed and looked up at the starry night sky before looking back at him. "Lovely night, wouldn't you say?" After taking in all the twinkling lights, Crash smiled and nodded. He then planted a kiss on top Cortex's head, making him gasp and look him straight in the eye. "Crash, did you just...?" The sentence was cut short as Crash kissed Cortex on the lips. The scientist wrapped his arms around his creation and let his eyes slip shut as he kissed him back, returning the gesture. Clearly he was enjoying this too much to complain or try and shove him back, he was taken by surprise in the heat of the moment. The two then pulled away and Crash grinned at him, "Ok, I don't mind that one bit, maybe you're not so bad after all." Cortex admitted, resting his head on his shoulder.

Soon his eyes started growing heavy with sleep, he looked up to find that the bandicoot was already heading for a warm, peaceful slumber, while rocking Cortex back and forth. Cortex tried to keep eyes open, but soon, the feeling of sleep overtook him too and he was rather enjoying being rocked back and forth. He tightened his embrace around Crash and he did the same, the warmth was nice and inviting. Pretty soon, they had fallen asleep together. Even though Dr. Cortex would never confess or admit to it, he would rather be right here snuggled up against his worst enemy instead of being chased by the islands wildlife or at the party being yelled at by angry villagers. This was perfect, it was even better then being at the celebration. Both Crash and Cortex didn't even care about what had happened back in the dance hall, (the battling, or the raging reunion with Fake Crash) all they cared about was right now.

A/N

Hello everyone! Boy, it's been so hard coming back to the Skylanders fandom after being gone so long. XD I know the Twisted Journey has been on the back burner for months now, but I just had to write this. I've only seen two other stories about this pairing. I think the Cortex x Crash pairing is just so adorable. I personally own the Thumpin Wumpa Islands adventure pack. This is my first time ever writing something for Crash (I've been doing some research on the games and the characters. And I've been watching the cutscenes from Crash Twinsanity) To tell the truth: I was never a big Crash Bandicoot fan. Back in the day it was old Spyro games along with Pac Man World 2, 3, and World Rally on the PS2. But after playing through the Thumpin Wumpa Islands adventure pack in Skylanders Imaginators, I'm now obsessed over Crash and especially Dr. Neo Cortex. I have 2 cosplay outfits of him! (One for Skylanders Imaginators and the other for Crash Twinsanity) XD Even though I've never actually played any of the old Crash games, I'm on the hunt for them, god I wish I could go back a few years and alter my childhood! It's not fair! XD Ok, until next time R&R and keep smiling! And have a happy Easter everyone! :3