A/N: I'm back! And this time with a new, unique twist on an old fan favorite. You see what I mean soon. :)

Anyway, this story may be a bit different from what you guys may expect from me. You guys might have expected a tense and suspenseful update to First Contact, but I decided to change it up a bit and start a story that's a little... well... you'll see.

So, that being said, I would like to hear from you guys what you think of this. I'm not used to writing a story like this, that being it less tense and more loose, so I'd like as much feedback as possible. You guys haven't disappointed in terms of feedback for me, and I'd like to see that trend continue.

I believe I've said enough, so I leave you at that. And guys, please be generous with the feedback. I'd really love to know what you guys think. So, sit back, grab a snack, and enjoy the first chapter of "Far From Home". Take care you guys; I'll see you next time.

Fox shivered as he tightened his white nylon jacket and sunk his neck down into his soft crimson scarf, stepping out of his small apartment building and onto the sidewalk.

"Isn't it supposed to be summer?" he mumbled to himself as he turned and walked down the street. "It's pretty cold for summer."

The orange vulpine was right, but he wasn't at the same time. He was right about it being summer, and he was also correct in assuming it should have been warm. Even on the first of September in the human's dating scale, it shouldn't have been as cold as it actually was. Well, it would have been warm, if he wasn't standing in the middle of Storrs, Connecticut on a windy, overcast day in the middle of a below-average temperature swing.

Storrs, Connecticut; September 1st, 2023; 9:04 A.M. That's where twenty-one-year-old Fox McCloud was in time and space. At five foot eight and roughly one hundred and fifty-five pounds, he fit in with the Earth city and population relatively well stature-wise. The only thing that made him stick out were the things that were literally sticking out. Underneath his white hood that he had swiftly thrown over his head to protect himself from the unusually cold wind were two light brown vulpine ears. A long, cream colored muzzle jutted out just under his pale, emerald green eyes. His shaggy eyebrows and long mohawk contained the same light cream colored pigment, along with his entire face coated in a thick coat of light brown fur. That same color of brown, almost orange fur coated every square inch of his frame, including the long, bushy tail that jutted out from his waistline and ended just above his ankles, with that cream color returning for the tip of it.

Even though the vulpine had been living alone in a small apartment that the United States' government had lent him for just over a week now, he had already felt accustomed to the humans. The humans ranged in size and stature, but all of them didn't vary too much from the vulpine's size. Granted, the humans were not Cornerians at all, but most of their characteristics stayed relatively the same. Their faces were flat, except for a small rounded protrusion that stuck out above their mouth. Their eyes were a bit smaller than his, as well as their teeth, ears, and mouth, but they could still see, hear, speak, and eat just as well as he could. Nobody had any fur, except for a few of the males that he would see every now and again that had a patch of varying colored fur surrounding their mouth, cheeks, and neck. Most, if not all had hair; some much more than others in some cases. Even with all of these differences, Fox still didn't mind his new company.

He just wished he could say the same about everyone else.

Everywhere he went he would be watched by countless pairs of eyes. Most of them stayed in silence, but others had whispered to each other, questioning who, or sometimes even what he was. He didn't blame them at all though; guaranteed no one on this planet had seen such a species as himself. He admitted he was different than everyone else, but some of the words that the humans had whispered behind his back that he just managed to pick up were relatively derogatory, rudimentary, judgmental, and all-in-all uncalled for. He had heard words like "dog", "furry", "anthro", and "fur-ball", amongst other things that he preferred not to restate.

Although the different species, culture, customs, and lifestyle titles hung over him like a giant neon sign in the middle of a bustling metropolitan city, he still knew what he wanted on a planet light years from home. He wanted a new opportunity.

A new life.

He and some of his closest friends back home had managed to band up to eliminate an evil mad scientist that had initiated war on his home system, and succeeded in bringing peace back to their world. Star Fox was a huge success, and the members were praised as heroes for a very long time even after the war's end. However, that event three years ago was the last majorly eventful thing that happened in the vulpine's life up until now. There was no need for a mercenary group in Lylat anymore ever since Andross had been destroyed. That meant that business for Star Fox would be extremely slow, and that slow business eventually put Star Fox under. The tod's family business went bankrupt, and was forced to disband forever. Peppy had reapplied for a position in the CDF, but it seemed as though Falco and Slippy vanished off the face of Corneria after he had no other choice but to let them go.

A victim of constant depression, overwhelming loneliness, an extreme lack of opportunity, and just overall boredom, Fox desperately tried to find a way to reestablish himself in the world. One main thing that he wanted to do was to get back into his education, due to the fact that he was forced to drop out of Corneria High when war broke out. After his heroic exploits, he had never gone back to complete his formal education. You would think that the hero of the gruesomely violent Lylat War would be a shoo-in for the numerous universities on Corneria, but in reality nobody would accept him. That drop-out was a stain on his education record, and most schools looked at that one stain and turned him away, disregarding who he actually was and the circumstances that the drop-out was based upon.

The loneliness factor was a huge reason to restart. Granted, everyone on Corneria absolutely adored him ever since his heroic exploits. However, put the word 'adored' into quotations. Putting it into basic words; they loved his name and what he did, not him and who he actually was. And since everyone in the entire Lylat System knew who he was, it was hard to come across someone that appreciated his person, not his actions. Most of his previous "relationships" that he had with some of the women back on Corneria always ended the same way, and he preferred not to think about some of them. They wanted his name, his status, even sometimes his sexuality, but none of them actually cared for who he was; and that's how it was for two years after Star Fox disbanded. Everywhere he went he was flocked by desperate women or paparazzi journalists pleading him to get back into action.

His patience was being tested.

Although he still had a few friends from his days back in the academy that he still cared about, they were all overshadowed by the copious amounts of publicity he had received. He still kept in contact with them, mainly because those people were the only ones that were friends with him, and not actually there to tag along to get a piece of his fame. They actually cared for him. He got along with them very well, but, as stated before, the fame hindered his ability to interact with them. As a matter of fact, the fame ruined his relationship with one of them, and it pained him to even think about the incident. All he was trying to do was keep them away from the disease of fame too, and the only way he could have done that was to pretty much limit his socialization entirely. Thus the depression and loneliness set in.

It snapped his patience in half.

With his publicity at an all-time high, his friends growing more and more distant, and his emotions taking a heavier toll than he had previously anticipated, the vulpine essentially said "screw it," and packed up everything he had to his name and left. He just wanted to get away from the plague of celebrity life and the pain of inopportunity and start over, and this was the only alternative he could have executed without going to the extreme. He wanted to go somewhere where the people there didn't swarm him with questions and pictures everywhere he went. He wanted to live a normal life.

His journey of restarting his life took him out of Corneria, completely out of Lylat, and to an entirely different planetary system light years away, specifically to a planet referred to by the local population as Earth.

As soon as Fox stepped foot on Earth, he instantly recognized the similarities with this planet to Corneria. The air was fresh and clean, the water was the same as well, and the planet was a perfect hybrid of technologically advanced cities, luscious forests, and stunning wildlife much like his own homeworld. Granted, Earth was far less advanced than Corneria was, but it was still a breathtakingly beautiful planet nonetheless. It only took the vulpine a few hours to get accustomed to the new planet after arriving for the first time, considering gravity and air quality was roughly the same between both planets.

Upon his arrival, the planet's inhabitants, referred to as the humans, were surprisingly courteous and helpful with the vulpine. As a matter of fact, he was surprised that the humans didn't thoroughly question him about military actions or just force him to leave entirely after landing. The nation that he had landed at, which he eventually learned was called the United States, cooperated with him fully; giving him everything he needed to have a pleasant stay on the planet. They even offered to give him a bit of personal protection, but he politely declined, saying, "You don't need to protect someone who can easily protect himself. Trust me."

Speaking of the nation's cooperation, Fox (at his own request) was unanimously accepted into the University of Connecticut a few days after his arrival, and was even given a place to stay right within campus grounds. They admitted him on a full scholarship in their engineering program, mainly because he was rather curious on the human's way of engineering. He wanted to see if he could gain some extra skills that everyone else on Corneria were never taught. This finally fulfilled his desire for extra education.

All of that aside, he was finally beginning to start the next chapter of his life, and although he was light years away from home and anyone he had ever cared about, he couldn't be happier.

His small apartment was just a six or seven minute walk from the college campus, maybe five if he was in a hurry. Even Fox himself was struck with awe upon his first look at the beautiful picturesque campus grounds. There were breathtaking views and gorgeous scenery everywhere he looked, with some easily accessible ways of entertainment not too far away as well. However, all Fox wanted to do right now was make it to the first class of the day without being marked tardy on his first day of university life. It was already embarrassing as it was, being the only Cornerian on a human campus, but it'd be even worse if he was late to a lecture.

As late as it actually was in the morning, Fox was over twenty minutes early for his first class. The lecture hall wasn't the biggest building on the campus, and he actually preferred its smaller size. His only hope was that the class itself wasn't completely overflowing with students. Even though he had put his life on the line by wiping out Andross back on his home system, he was still nervous. His anxiety levels were high, mainly because he was uncertain on how the humans would respond to such a different student on the campus with them. He hoped he wouldn't be publicly idolized like he was back home, and hopefully not in a negative way unlike his praise back on Corneria. For once in his life, he just wanted to be a normal person, living a normal life like everyone else was. He didn't know that feeling, and he hoped to experience it on this new planet.

Fox slipped into the small, rounded lecture hall, then breathed a sigh of relief when he noticed it was almost completely empty except for three other humans in the room. One he instantly recognized was the professor; a tall, lanky man with short, slicked back dirty blonde hair, and a very neat and tidy dark blue suit jacket. The one male student he saw was sitting in the very back corner with his head propped up on his hand, looking at a small tablet leaning up against a stack of textbooks with some dark blue headphones plugged into the device sitting over his ears. The other student was female for one, and she was sitting near the front of the room with her legs crossed, gazing at a book that she had open with one hand. The male up in the corner looked smaller than the professor, with a full head of light blonde curly hair and a thin beard of the same color. The female towards the front was very skinny, and had relatively longer light brown hair which was braided into one long ponytail that sat over her shoulder.

Fox threw back his white hood and shook his head faintly, putting his cream colored mohawk back into place. He adjusted his somewhat heavy black backpack on his shoulders as he hesitantly trotted up to the professor at his desk. The professor was skimming through a large stack of papers while occasionally glancing back up at his computer screen for a second or two, but as soon as he saw the vulpine out of the corner of his eye he instantly dropped the papers and leaned back in his chair with his hand over his chest.

"Oh my god I forgot you were in my class," he exclaimed quietly and breathily, trying to regain his bearings. Fox gave a slight grin back as the man lifted himself out of the office chair. "You're, uh… Fox, right?"

"Yeah," Fox replied nervously.

"Pleasure to have you," he said, holding out his hand. Fox internally shrugged and grasped the human's hand as he continued. "I'm Professor Lewis. I'll be your instructor for the next… I dunno, hour or so?" he smirked, taking a quick glance at his watch.

"Cool," Fox impulsively blurted out to avoid an awkward silence.

"First time on Earth, I'd assume?"

Fox nodded and glanced at his pale blue glowing wrist watch. "I've been here for just over a week. So far, I actually really enjoy it here. It's a really nice place."

"Awesome! Glad you're liking it," Professor Lewis said with a smile. "If there's anything you need help with, don't be afraid to ask. I can help you out if you need it."

"Thank you," Fox smiled. The man glanced over the vulpine's shoulder to the empty seats, then shrugged his shoulders with a grin.

"Well, Fox, you have about fifteen minutes to yourself before class starts, so go ahead and find a seat. I don't really care where you sit, just as long as you're in the room."

"Alright, thanks," Fox replied before turning around and trotting up the stairs to the eighth row of seats, which was the very last row of seats in the small lecture hall. He found a seat right in the middle of the long row of light blue padded seats, then tossed his backpack on the ground near his seat and began unpacking a few of his supplies. He was so preoccupied with unloading his bag that he failed to recognize the man in the corner of the room had shifted his gaze from the tablet to the vulpine with a quizzical stare.

Keeping his head propped on his hand, he slowly pulled his headphones down around his neck and secretly slipped out his smartphone from his jeans pocket. He wedged it in between his hand and his head, trying to look as inconspicuous as possible as another voice spewed out of the device into his ear.

"Hey Anders, how you doing?" another male voice resounded from the device.

"He's here," The blonde haired man Anders said almost silently, trying not to alert the foxlike creature as he placed a few small books on his portion of the table.

"Who? And why are you so quiet?" he asked confusedly. Anders hissed quietly to signal him to keep his voice down. He wanted to be careful that he couldn't hear his phone, mainly because he assumed with those large vulpine ears sticking out of the top of his head he could probably hear a pin drop from the library on the other side of the campus.

"The furry dude," Anders whispered through clenched teeth. He probably could have heard the other man's jaw drop through the receiver.

"He's in your class?" he questioned, instantly lowering his voice.

"He's like… twelve seats down from my row." Anders replied, glancing back and forth from the vulpine to his tablet, making sure that the fox didn't make eye contact with him. "He just walked in not three minutes ago."

"Holy shit… Well? What's he look like?"

"Like what everyone else says; a giant golden-brown fuzzy fox," Anders said bluntly, eyeballing the tod in his row. "He's got like a white hooded jacket on… I think that's a red scarf wrapped around his neck… Some kind of wrist watch, but it almost looks like a paper-thin smartphone screen stuck to a leather strap… He's got blue jeans, but his huge tail is sticking out of the back… He seriously looks like the product of someone taking a human body and stapling a fox's head and tail on it…"

"Cooool," the man cooed, reminiscent of a little kid that just opened up a birthday present. "He seriously looks like a fox?"

"Almost exactly," Anders responded, continuously keeping his voice low. "Full coat of orangy-brown fur. Two floppy ears. White muzzle. Tail. Paws. He looks exactly like an anthropomorphic red fox."

Fox yawned and shook his head slightly, forcing Anders to look away before he started laughing. "Acts like one too," he added, clamping his nose with his fingers to suppress his laughter.

"If he acts like one, you might want to keep your distance on 'em," the other man stated frankly. "Might bite you or growl at you or something."

Anders faintly shook his head. "Nah, he looks perfectly harmless… I'm gonna go say hi to him."

"Are you sure? He might not understand you."

"He understood the professor just fine, and he even spoke a bit of English. What's the worst that could happen?"

The caller went silent for a few seconds, then came back with a skeptical tone. "Alright. Tell me how it goes. I'll see you next class."

"Kay, take care bud," Anders said, then pocketed the small device. He hesitantly stood up and walked over towards the fox, but the vulpine was still busy gazing at his textbook. He slipped into the seat next to the fox with a slight grin, and once the noise of his sweatshirt rustling against the seat became audible for the vulpine, his ears twitched and he turned his head to face the human. Anders' blue eyes shot wide open as they made contact with the tod's green eyes, sapping away all of the man's courage and mental capacity to form a basically structured sentence.

"Woah," Anders exclaimed softly with his smile increasing. "You're– woah…"

Fox chuckled slightly as he raised his eyebrow. "Something… wrong?" he asked with a smirk.

"No, I just… wow…" he said, unable to comprehend the frame that was sitting in the seat next to him. Fox put his furred arm on the table as he turned slightly to face the blonde human.

"Don't stress it; I get that a lot," Fox smiled, outstretching his orange paw. "Name's Fox McCloud."

It took all of Anders' willpower not to laugh out loud as he grasped the vulpine's paw. He's a fox, and his name is Fox. Why is that so funny to me? I don't want to laugh at the poor fella, but– Just get your shit together man, say something to him that doesn't make you sound like a complete dumbass. Ready, go.

"I'm Anders Thompson. It's a pleasure to meet you," Anders finally said, firmly shaking the humanlike paw.

"Pleasure's all mine," Fox replied with a smile, looking up and down the human's frame.

Anders was a relatively small and thin man, standing at five foot nine and one hundred and fifty pounds, but he still looked incredibly strong and athletic. He had a smaller nose in comparison to the other humans, and his pale blue eyes were unlike anything the vulpine had ever seen. His skin color was a lot lighter than the average man, which went well with his light blonde curly hair and beard. He was wearing a light gray hooded sweatshirt with the words "UConn" in black letters embroidered on the front, along with a pair of worn out blue jeans and some black athletic sneakers. His dark blue headphones sat loosely around his neck, along with a silver chain with a small cross charm hanging from the bottom of it.

"So, what brings you to UConn, Fox?" Anders asked after retracting his hand.

Fox shrugged his shoulders and paws. "I just wanted to get away from my old life. Wanted to start fresh."

"Old life?" Anders echoed curiously. "What do you mean by that?"

"Well, I was a mercenary a few years ago," Fox explained, watching the human's eyes open wide again. "Saved my home planet from a huge war. I was essentially a celebrity back home, but I hated the fame. I honestly hated it. It was the worst time of my life after the war."

Anders raised an eyebrow, prompting the vulpine to continue after a momentary sigh. "I was a hero, but at the same time I couldn't keep in contact with anyone I actually cared about. My parents were killed before that war, and I had to push my closest friends away to keep them from being idolized like I was. I struggled with depression for a while because of it, and I was tired of not having anything else to do, so I basically packed up everything I had and left. I wanted to restart, and coming to Earth was probably the best decision I could ever make to help with that."

Anders smiled as he gently patted the vulpine's shoulder. "Good to know that. Hey, if there's anything you need, don't hesitate to let me know. I'd be more than happy to help you out."

"Wow, thanks," Fox said thoughtfully.

"So, you were a mercenary?" Anders asked.

"For a few years, yeah."

"Where?"

"I had ties with the Cornerian Defense Force, which is the military organization on my home planet. I'm from a planet we call Corneria, which is a planet that is almost identical to yours. It's got technology, natural and artificial resources, wildlife, civilizations; pretty much everything you guys have."

Anders hummed and scratched at his beard. "Does everyone else on Corneria look like you?"

"I wish," Fox chuckled sarcastically. "Corneria is a melting pot of all sorts of sub-species. We all vary in terms of appearance."

Anders gave another quizzical glance to the vulpine, prompting Fox's eyebrows to shoot up as he pulled his pale blue glowing wristlet in front of his face. Anders cocked his head and pointed at it.

"What's that?"

"This is our standard issue Cornerian transmitter," Fox explained, swiping through the holographic screen on his wrist. "It's got everything from radio lines, cell phone receivers, translators, and a whole bunch of other things that I haven't gotten to check out yet. I just got it a week before I left, so I've still been trying to figure out what it does."

"Translators?" Anders repeated questioningly. Fox nodded as he continued swiping through the wristlet.

"That's how I'm talking to you, and how I can understand you," he explained with a smile.

"Oh… I just thought you were really good at speaking English. What's your native language sound like?"

Fox flicked a switch on the transmitter, then quickly cleared his throat. "Tun'se nui de viesé," he recited, making Anders raise his eyebrows.

"Yeah, make sure you got that translator on when you talk to us," he laughed. "I didn't understand a word you said."

"I didn't expect you to, honestly," Fox chuckled back, then suddenly readjusted his shoulder and put the transmitter in the human's face. There was a picture on the screen of the orange vulpine with a tall blue falcon, a small frog, and an older gray rabbit standing next to a large silver and blue fighter jet.

"That was my team," Fox explained, pointing to the people surrounding himself. "Falco, Slippy, and Peppy. They were part of the mercenary group we ran, but ever since the war ended we really haven't seen each other much."

"Were they your friends?"

"More or less," the tod smirked, swiping through more pictures saved to his wristlet. "Oh, here's some of my academy friends," he exclaimed, showing the man a picture with himself, a tan and black speckled feline, a white canine with a red bow in her curly hair, a tall gray pit-bull, and a smaller sand colored fox with incredibly large ears. "Miyu, Fay, Bill, and Fara."

"Aww, that one right there is adorable," Anders grinned, pointing at the speckled lynx that had a sly smirk creased across her short muzzle.

"Yeah, she is," Fox replied, feeling his cheeks start to warm up. "She… well… She was a really good friend of mine."

Anders nodded and faced the rest of the room. As they had been talking, the lecture hall gradually started filling up. Almost all of the seats around the room were taken, but, as predictable as it was, the seats around the vulpine were empty except for the seat he was in. Most of the students in the room were chatting with each other, but a few kept glancing back at Fox with questionable stares. Anders looked at the clock and saw that there were only three more minutes until the class would start, then turned his head back to the large fox.

"You have any classes after this one, Fox?" he asked.

"Just a few. Why'd you ask?"

"I want to introduce you to a few of my friends. I'm pretty sure they'd be stoked to meet you," Anders explained, making the vulpine show off his canine teeth with a smile.

"I'd love to! Thanks so much Anders."

"Anytime," Anders grinned, then handed Fox a slip of paper and stood up out of his seat. "Just meet me at my apartment when your classes are over, okay?"

"Sure thing," Fox replied, watching the curly haired human walk over and slip back into his seat in the corner of the room. He looked at the slip of paper, which had a quickly scribbled down address along with a ten digit number on the bottom of the paper. The ends of his muzzle curled upwards slightly as he copied down the number into his transmitter, then held the device up to his maw. He made a sly glance down the row to the human who had just sat down, then watched as he pulled out his phone and put it up against his face.

"Hello?"

"This thing working?" Fox said in a fake uncertain voice. Anders lifted an eyebrow, then slowly pivoted his head around and saw the vulpine with his wristlet in one paw, and his other paw waving slightly.

"Your transmitter can call our phones?" Anders asked in disbelief, trying his hardest not to blow up laughing.

"Apparently so," Fox replied. "I just wanted to test if this thing worked. I'll talk to ya after class."

"Not a problem Fox. See ya then," Anders said before ending the call and putting the device back into his pants. Fox had just put his arm down as a loud reverberating bell instantly quieted the room and started the vulpine's first human college course.

Oh boy, here we go…

##########

Tap tap tap tap tap

"Fox? You home?"

The female canine glanced down at her transmitter for a few seconds, then lightly rapped her claws on the door of the medium-sized suburban house again. After waiting a few seconds, she sighed and tapped on the door once again with more force.

"Fox?"

Again, deafening silence resounded from the other side of the door. The canine sighed as she stepped away from the door and sat on the front steps. She tapped in a few numbers to her transmitter, then held the device up to her white furred muzzle.

"Hey, Miyu, have you seen Fox at all?"

"Uh, not since… over a week ago," another female voice replied. "Why?"

"He's not answering his door. I've been knocking on it for the last minute now and he still hasn't responded."

"Hmmm," Miyu hummed curiously. "Do you know for sure he's home?"

"Yeah, his car is parked in the driveway."

"Huh… Strange… M'kay, I'll come over real quick and see what's up."

"Okay, but hurry. I'm really worried about him."

"Aww, don't worry Fay. I'm sure he's ok. Might just be oversleeping."

Fay brushed some of her hair out of her eyes and sniffed slightly. "I hope so. Just hurry, please."

"Alright, alright, I'm on my way."

Fay put down her arm and sighed loudly, glancing up at the cloudless sky.

"Come on Miyu," she mumbled, tapping her foot on the sidewalk impatiently. A few minutes of messing with the bow in her hair, checking her transmitter, and constantly fiddling with her outfit finally stopped as a red metallic motorbike screeched around the corner and came to an abrupt halt right at the start of the driveway of the house. A medium sized tan and black speckled female feline stepped off the bike and tossed her helmet in the grass near the mailbox, then quickly leapt up the short set of stairs and up to the small, young canine.

"He still hasn't answered?" Miyu questioned. Fay shook her head in negativity with her muzzle pointed towards the ground.

"I'm really starting to get worried," Fay spoke in a cracking voice. "He was acting real strange when we went to go see that movie over a week ago."

"I didn't really see anything wrong with him," Miyu admitted, scratching at her large tufted ears.

"He just seemed… off," Fay stated with a concerned stare at the lynx. "I know he's been struggling with depression and all, but that day at the movie theatre… It just didn't feel like him. He was obviously sad; his ears were constantly folded back, and his tail was always between his legs everywhere he went that day. It looked like he just didn't want to be here anymore. I could really see the sadness in the way he acted."

"I'm sure he's alright," Miyu said, trying her best to console the canine. "I dated Foxie for a while, and believe me; he can act like that because of depression. He probably just needs a quick picker-upper from two of his best friends."

Fay glanced up at the lynx with a toothy smile, making her chuckle slightly as she pulled a small key ring from her pocket.

"Like I said, he's probably oversleeping," Miyu said with a smirk. "Come on; let's give him a nice little wake up call."

Fay giggled and covered her maw as she stood up and came up behind the lynx who had just stuck the key in the door handle. She slowly cracked the recently unlocked door open, making sure not to make an overly loud sound resound through the silent house. Fay practically pushed the lynx out of the way as she rushed into the house, then instantly shivered and nuzzled herself into her scarf.

"It's cold in here," Fay complained, looking around the small living room. "Fox never has it cold in his house. Somethings definitely off with him."

Miyu nodded with a puzzled expression on her short muzzle, looking around the living room that was surprisingly cleaner than usual. Fay quickly spun around and silently slid through the hallway on the far side of the room. She stopped at the first door which was cracked slightly, then turned back to Miyu who was slowly pursuing. She put her paw on the door handle and looked at the lynx expectantly, making Miyu nod slightly. Fay hesitantly pushed the door open, then sighed in relief as she looked in the small bedroom.

"There," she pointed at a large bulge in the dark covers of the bed. Miyu giggled and nudged her shoulder.

"Go get 'em," she said in a childish voice, making the canine rush towards the bed and dove onto the covers. The bulge in the bed gave away to air as Fay jumped onto it, and almost fell off the other end as she was anticipating a person creating the bulge. She started breathing quickly and jerked the covers off of the bed.

"He's not in here!" Fay cried, her paranoia slowly increasing. "Fox?! Fox, you here?!"

Miyu was pushed backwards again as the small canine bolted from the room and slipped back into the living room. She followed the white spaniel into the main room, and walked in to Fay pacing wildly with her paws folded under her chest.

"Where is he?" she asked, her blue eyes beginning to glisten. Miyu shrugged her shoulders and her paws with a confused stare.

"I dunno kid," the lynx replied, kicking at the floor. "Honestly, I don't know."

"He didn't… did… did he?" she asked with a terrified look and tear rolling down her cheek. Miyu quickly shook her head.

"No, Foxie wouldn't do that. I know he's dealing with nasty depression, but he would never do that. That's not him."

Fay buried her eyes in her paws as she sank down on the couch. Miyu sighed as she came around the back of the couch and patted the canine's shoulder.

"He'll turn up Fay. He might just be taking a walk outside. He told me he does that sometimes to take his mind off of everything."

"Why's he been struggling with depression so much?" Fay asked as she picked her head up.

"Honestly, I think he's getting tired of the fame," Miyu stated as she vaulted over the back of the couch and sat next to the canine. "Every time he tries to go anywhere with us, or anyone for that matter, he's always getting swarmed by people. I mean, he can't even get out of his own house without people yelling, 'Oh my god it's Fox McCloud!'"

Fay giggled as Miyu waved her arms around, shaking the large golden loop in her ear. The lynx sighed again and glanced at the floor.

"I could tell he got tired of the celebrity life real quick," she admitted, crossing her legs. "At first he loved it; seeing the little kits running up to him asking for autographs and pictures and stuff like that. The kits he loved, but eventually everyone started swarming him, and that constantly got in the way of his normal life. It got in the way of us, his friends, and pretty much everything he loved doing. He broke up with me a while back because he told me he didn't want me to be idolized as 'Fox's girlfriend'. As much as I would love to have a bit of the spotlight too, I'd probably be depressed if I couldn't have a normal life too. Honestly… I feel sorry for him."

Miyu slowly stood up and padded over to the kitchen that was connected with the living room. A large central countertop was the only barrier between the two places in the house, and the countertop was loaded with stacks of paperwork, a few empty soda bottles, and a small notepad. Miyu raised an eyebrow as she lifted the notepad off the counter. There was a beautifully written message in a perfect fancy looping handwriting with an unmistakable signature on the bottom, making the lynx gasp as she recognized the signature.

"Hey, Fay, look at this," she said, narrowing her eyes at the paper. "Fox wrote this."

Fay instantly shot up off the couch and rushed over to the speckled lynx. "What's it say?"

Miyu cleared her throat and read the words off the slip of paper. "My friends… To those who are reading this: I apologize that I could not say this to your faces, but I just did not feel comfortable bring myself to. I regret to inform you guys that… I'm leaving Corneria?"

"What?" Fay shrieked with her maw wide open. Miyu's eyes widened as she lifted up a paw and continued to read the rest of the note.

"I'm sorry, but I just could not continue the life I was living. I was not comfortable with the life I had. There was too much I had to worry about day in and day out, and I honestly could not take it anymore. By the time any of you read this, I will be long gone; probably in another galaxy or something, and I'm… I'm not sure if I will ever come back. I'm sorry that I could not say goodbye to you guys, but this was what I had to do. I just needed to put everything behind me and start over."

Miyu sniffed as a tear formed in her eye once she started to struggle to read the next lines. "To my close friends who have been with me since day one, I can't say how… how happy I was to get to know you… You guys… were the greatest…"

Miyu choked back a sob as she continued to the best of her abilities. "You guys were the greatest friends I could ever ask for… I may be light years away now, but just know I will always… I will always remember you… You… you guys take care… Fox McCloud."

The lynx dropped the pad of paper onto the floor with a dumfounded and shocked expression. Her ears folded over at the sight of Fay struggling to hold in her tears. Miyu sucked her lips into her muzzle and forced a slight smile as she held her arms out to the canine. Fay needed no second invitation as she buried herself into the lynx's grasp; wrapping both of her arms around her midsection as she laid her muzzle into the other female's shoulder.

"I… I can't believe he left," Fay choked, letting the water flow from her eyes and onto the lynx's clothes.

"Don't worry kid," Miyu said softly, gently rubbing the canine's back. "Wherever he is, I'm sure he's fine."

Fay whimpered and tightened her grasp on the feline. "I miss him already."

Miyu sniffed again and closed her eyes; trying her best to contain her emotions. "I do too Fay… I miss him too."