Miss Independent
I don't have an imaginative mind to come up w/ a better one)
Disclaimer: The characters of Cowboy Bebop are not mine; if they are, I wouldn't be doing a fanfiction.
Author's Note: I have only seen parts of the series so you will notice as you read along that I have gaps in my knowledge of Cowboy Bebop. Feel free to correct me when you see a mistake.
The night was still young, but the late autumn had turned it dark. The street lamps were on, illuminating the shop signs and the people walking beneath them.
A young woman walked briskly amongst the crowd, intent on getting out of the cold weather. A cold breeze buffeted her face and scattered her locks of hair. A few strands blew into her face and her hand reached up to pin them behind her ear. The hand went down and braced itself back around her slim figure, pinning her coat as close to her body as possible.
"Faye!" a voice called behind her.
The woman stopped, turned toward the voice, and her body froze. A child of about ten ran excitedly in her direction with arms spread out ready for a hug. Her face panicked for a split second and turned into one of confusion. She did not recognize the child at all and stood awkwardly, but readied herself for the hug coming.
A brush of her coat, the child ran past and into another woman's arms just right behind her. She turned around and stared at the pair, not hearing the excited conversation between the two. She continued to follow them with her eyes as they disappear down the street hand in hand.
A few feet away from her, she caught a reflection of herself in a shop window. She was different and looked nothing like the Faye Valentine she once was. She had changed everything about her: her looks, her job, her home, and down to her very name.
She had thrown away her tight yellow outfit for more conservative ones. Her hair had grown long over the years and she had let it be. Perhaps five years…five years since she was on the Bebop with Spike and Jet. She had let it grow since then, with an occasional trim to keep it at waist length. Her skin wore more colors than the ghostly tint she once had. Perhaps suntan or perhaps she was more outgoing, but she looked healthier than she did. She was a completely different person, or perhaps not so different from the person she once was before the accident.
Sometimes thinking back, she always wondered what would have happened if the accident never occurred. She wouldn't have suffered so much loss she was sure. That Faye, the lost person that woke up without a memory…she turned back toward her destination…is no longer the same. She had shed the weight of that Faye for a life more…calmer, more stable.
She entered her apartment and kicked the door behind her until it clicked. Dropping her mail down on the table without even glancing at them, she walked toward her room.
The name etched "Irene Valentine" in printed letters on the envelopes. When she changed her name, she couldn't bring herself to change a part of her heritage and so it still remained how it had been. They were just bills, she was sure. She hasn't had a letter in decades and she wasn't going to start expecting any at the moment. She sighed. She could deal with them later, when she would be less tired.
Light streamed in from the window, filling the whole room. Faye stirred and buried her head beneath her pillow in her attempt to shut out the light. Minutes passed and she knew better. Drowsily, she forced herself to get out of bed.
It was already passed eleven. She groaned. Almost already haft a day gone. She had wanted to wake up especially early for it today, but she guessed it couldn't be helped. She had gotten home near midnight and her sub-consciousness had intentionally prolonged her sleep, she knew.
She had avoided it for five years and wasn't going to eagerly face it now. Five years…she couldn't avoid it forever. It was time she should come to term with it, she decided.
She showered and made herself a little breakfast. She found no appetite and so left the food still mostly intact in her trash can.
Two hours later, she gingerly walked on the surface of Mars. A bouquet held in her arms. The surrounding seemed different than was the last time she remembered. Perhaps it was because of the new occupants adding on and expanding the place since last time. More likely, however, it was because she hasn't even care to notice because of the grim occasion. Her heart was too numb and devoid of feelings and concentrations then.
Reading down the row, she went down toward the next. Had she gotten it wrong?
She stopped, frozen.
"Hey," softly. She found her voice atlas.
"Long time huh, cowboy?" she waited, expecting the tombstone to answer her back. All that stared back at her was the bold inscription Spike Spiegel and dated at the bottom of it.
"Sorry I haven't come back to visit." Her heart throbbed. She was going to offer and explanation, but figured he wouldn't hear her anyway. It had been painful then, and it was painful now.
She and Spike had crossed swords like cats and dogs. Without realizing it, he had become a more important part of her life. Not until he was gone did it hit her, already then he was out of her life for good.
She had cried, the first time she had shed any tears for well over fifty years. Even when she had woken up from her cryogenic sleep without her parents, a coin in her pocket, or even her own identity she did not even shed a drop. When he left, she knew his fate even before they found his body. She had cried for nights then…all for him.
"I'm doing fine. It's my day off…"
"I'm a nurse now you know," she allowed a slight smile. How Spike would have laughed had he heard it.
Silence etched. The wind swept, rustling the trees nearby as if uncomfortable with the silence itself.
She had played out the meeting repeatedly in her mind, but now that she was here she found the words didn't come as easily as she had imagined. She grabbed whatever came closest to her mind.
"I left," she offered.
"I left the Bebop."
Laying the roses down, Faye slowly brushed the epitaph with her fingers. A sad expression played across her face.
"Faye?"
Startled, she turned around to face the figure she just passed.
"By golly, you've changed," the man took off his hat with his free hand.
She suppressed a look of surprise. Of course, why hasn't she thought of it? It was the anniversary of Spike's death and naturally Jet would come to visit. It shouldn't have been a surprise to her if she ran into him here.
"It's been awhile," she said.
He merely grunted. "Running off like that…and look at you now." Awed. "I almost didn't recognize you for a moment there."
She squirmed under his gaze. "How have you been?" she asked, distracting him and his later comment.
"Oh, just here and there," he motioned his hand, momentarily forgetting the single rose in his hand. "After you left, I quit the bounty business, picking up odd jobs wherever I could."
"How about you?" he nodded toward her. "You seem to be doing fine yourself."
She shrugged and tried to answer casually, "I suppose."
He accepted her answer and didn't question it further.
"Too bad Ed and Ein couldn't be here. It'll be quite a reunion wouldn't it?"
"It wouldn't be like old times though," she said and he thought he traced a hint of bitterness.
"Have you seen them?"
She looked up and stared at him, "if anyone saw them, I thought it'd be you."
Jet ran a hand through his hair, only to touch the bald spot on his head. He looked at his hand as something ran through his mind and let it drop back to his side. "I've seen them once, a year after you left."
"She was fine and still with her father then," he said afterward, disappointed that she hasn't asked further. He had thought she was quite fond of the child.
He shuffled his feet in the silence that followed. "Why don't you come visit Spike again and we can catch up on missing times afterward." He nodded ahead toward her last destination, glad that he hasn't said 'old times.'
"No."
"Work?"
"No."
He sighed, disappointed again. What was he expecting? Even if she had changed, this was still Faye after all. "Well, later then." He turned and about to leave, but stopped and gave her a fatherly squeeze on the shoulder.
"In case if you change your mind," a card was slipped into her hand. "Or if you ever need anything," he finished.
Faye watched him left and turned around to walk away from the cemetery. Her heart was lighter, yet a little heavier at the same time. She had made her peace with his death. But how can he ask her to live back their lives on the Bebop? With them. With him…that was too much to ask of her, at least for now.