AUTHOR'S NOTE THINGIE: NO, i do NOT own Cowboy Bebop's universe, nor the characters therein. I do own my OC, and some of the story's idea. The other part of the OCs and ideas are belong to Sireg. Yep, the story is based on a Roleplay game i play with her, and i would like to settle this: In the Rp, Oliver and Gren are got close to eachother, but they are just FRIENDS. Close friends though, but nothing more. So no worries all you Anti-Marysues! (I'm one of the anti-marysue club myself anyway. XD ) The lyric quotes aren't mine either, unless i tell otherwise. "Die with your boots on" belongs to Iron Maiden, "Spread your wings" belongs to Queen. And one last note about the story: If you read it, please review. It's not that big deal leaving some words on someone's work if you have struggled yourself over it, ne:) I will reply.
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FALLING AWAY...
Chapter 1: Die with your boots on…
"…No point asking what's the game…No point asking who's to blame
If you gonna die, die with your boots on…"
- I swear I pack my bags, and leave this lousy town…
Gren didn't answer, he was busy staring at his tea, and gathering his thoughts. His conversation partner sighed, and repeated the sentence. The blue-haired finally raised his head, and blinked a few times.
- Excuse me… I wasn't pay attention…
- I. Said. I. Wanna. Leave. As. Soon. As. Possible. – Oliver replied. He was getting frustrated from the cold and boredom. It was three moths ago since they left Callisto, and ended up on Tijuana. They were traveling from town to town, to get rid of the bounty hunters, who were after the nice amount of woolongs on Grencia's head, and to avoid being bored to death…
- But where do you want to go? – The older man asked. – We've been everywhere… we spent some time on each planet of this frickin' solar system…
- At least we should find something to occupy us… You know, I'm kinda annoying after a while if I must sit on me arse for this effin long…
Gren nodded.
- Yep…
- Hm? What was that?
- Sign of agreement…
- For what? We should leave, or I'm annoying?
- Both.
And with that, they stood up from the table and left the small bar they sat in for a drink.
- "Spread your wings and fly away…Fly away…Far away… Spread your little wings and fly away, fly away far away… "
Oliver was singing for the whole trip. Gren didn't mind, in fact he liked the other's voice, the thing that bothered him was that his partner was singing this one song for half day long now.
He found himself humming the tunes of "Goodnight Julia", just for avoid his ears to hear the other's singing.
- You lied…
The blue haired stopped humming, and turned around from the pilot's seat. His face was a bit confused.
- You told me you can't sing. – Oliver explained his sentence. – That was a lie. You can sing. And you do it well.
Gren smiled and shook his head. At least they were both humming the same tune this time, and it wasn't "Spread your wings".
The Space Lion landed on the top of a motel near the edge of the town.
- Where are we? – The younger one asked indifferently.
- Somewhere we will spend the night, and will buy some fuel.
- Oh.
They jumped out from the pod, and walked down into the building. Inside a lot of people gathered, and the air was filled with smoke. Gren started to cough immediately. Somehow they managed to rent a room, and bought some food and fuel for the pod. A bit later they were laying on the bed, Gren was half asleep; Oliver was staring at the ceiling.
- Hey…
- Hm?
- I wanted to ask something from you…
- If you'll ask that I'm asleep already again, I will kick you around…
Oliver chuckled. He was playing this stupid game once, and Gren was still grumpy because of it.
- No, no silly games this time. I wanted to ask about that meeting of yours with your err…- what shall I say… - ex-lover?
Gren raised his head and opened his sad blue eyes.
- What do you want to know?
- Did you succeed? Now you know why did he frame you? Or if he did it by his own will?
The sapphire eyes turned away from the youngster, and were staring at the wall, like it was kind of a mirror to the painful memory…
- Yes, I succeeded… And the reality is quite painful, if you know what I mean.
He felt the touch of the other's hand on his shoulder.
- I'm so sorry…
- Why? You don't have anything to do with it…
- I feel sorry for you, Niisan. You love him…But he doesn't love you. And I know how it feels, believe me.
They fell in silence, and remained that way for a long time, before the younger one spoke again.
- Have nice dreams… I'm off to sleep…
- Yea…Night.
Gren turned around, but he couldn't fall asleep for a long time.
So no wonder he was a bit grumpy next morning.
- When will you wake up? – Oliver poked the ball of blankets, which supposed to be Gren's hideout from the daylight. He was lost under the sheets, only his ponytail was visible.
Oliver pulled it, but the only answer he got was some muttered curses, and a thin hand reaching out, and pulling the ponytail under the blanket.
- Anyway. I'm going to the bathroom, and after that I go and catch something for breakfast… I hope you will poke your nice little nose out from the bed until I finish…
The other muttered something, but Oliver didn't understand it clearly…Only a few words, which was connected to his "dear mother". He laughed out loud, and slapped the ball, where he thought his friend's back was, and left for taking a bath.
A bit later he heard a knock on the bathroom door.
- Wha?
- 'Ts me…
He slid down under the giant amount of bubbles, and shouted out.
- Come in…I didn't lock the door.
So the door opened, and he faced a sleepy Gren, covered only in a sheet.
- Time for the next shift… - he said. Oliver smiled, and shook his head.
- Okay, okay… Just wait until I get out.
The other nodded and turned around.
- Not if you could show anything new… OW!
Oliver chuckled, and dropped the towel, which he used to slap the other with. They were both different a little bit from other people, and they found the fact, that they are the same in this way funny and sad at the same time.
- Turn back… I have my clothes on.
Gren turned back, and stepped inside the water, waiting for the other to leave the bathroom.
- I go and get something for breakfast. – Oliver said. – I will knock when I came back.
The other nodded, and threw the sheet out when the younger left.
- Finally… - he sighed. He liked the younger one very muchly, but he just needed his solitude. He leaned back, and closed his eyes. The water wasn't so hot, it cooled a little bit since he sat in it, but he didn't care. He was thinking of that day, when he met again with Vicious, and when everything went terribly wrong. He almost died that day, and still couldn't believe that he survived that fall. He didn't realize that he fell asleep again… And was dreaming of a long lost day… When they were together, and he was happy, defying the fact that a war was going on around him.
Oliver returned after a half hour, and found their room a bit too silent… He put down the plastic bags that he was carrying, and immediately went to the bathroom. His heart was beating like a drum, when he saw the still body in the water, but then he saw that Gren's chest is moving as he breathes. He sighed from relief, and stepped closer to his friend.
- Hey, Sleeping beauty… Wake up! – he poked the other's nose. The blue eyes opened slowly, and then their owner sprung up.
- Dang! Why didn't you knock?
- I did…But you were sleeping like dead, so you didn't answer, and I …
He hesitated. Is it a good thing if he tells him, that he was worried about him? He decided to do it.
- … I was scared to death… I thought that you… - his voice cracked. The other stared at him suspiciously for a moment, but then burst out laughing.
- Oh my… You're so nice… Don't worry, I won't die yet.
He reached out, and caressed the younger one's face. He told him that he is ill, and the sickness is incurable. So the younger man was worrying about him since. He thought that it's nice from him, but it disturbed him too. He decided to get out from the cold water, and he took his clothes on.
- Don't know what happened to me, but I sleep a bit too much lately. – He said. Oliver nodded, and walked out from the bathroom, to dig out the food he brought from the plastic bags.
- Oooo…what have we got? – Gren leaned over the other's back, watching as he stirred some food-like mixture in a bowl.
- They said it will be chicken-soup when I can finally manage to warm it up, and mix with the noodles and the spice.
- It looks like it's alive...
Oliver laughed, and started to sing a silly song about some weird things in the fridge.
Gren was listening to the falsetto singing for a while, but then he decided to go back to the bedroom. He started to pack their bags again, for leaving.
- Wonder when will we stop… - he asked.
- Hm? – Oliver stopped singing and walked in from the tiny kitchen. – What did you say, Niisan?
- I was wondering where do we go from here…
- I don't know either… You know what? Let's leave it to time… We will find out something.
They settled that, and ate their late breakfast. After a half hour, they were sitting in the Space Lion again, watching the winter sky turning to dark.
- I hate twilight… - Oliver muttered. – It reminds me of demise… Of the end of something.
Gren wondered why the other said that. He looked out from the window too, and for a moment, he forgot everything. It was a long time ago, when he last watched a sunset.
- I think it's beautiful… In a bittersweet way.
- Just like you…
The older man turned back and left the sight of the setting sun. They fell in silence for the rest of the journey. Finally they decided to turn the autopilot on, and sleep. At least Gren tried to avoid conversation with the younger man. His last sentence confused him very muchly. He was thinking on the deeper meaning of the twilight-demise pairing, and found that the kid was right in some way. But still, he was bothered about the last sentence. "It's beautifully bittersweet…Just like you.." He heard the other stirring behind him, and giving a deep sigh, like a sign of relief when some uncomfortable thing is over. He didn't know what was he afraid of, but he suddenly felt uncomfortable when the younger was around. He finally realized why. The other's look on his face, his eyes… His soft touch when he patted his shoulder, or hugged him.
"You can't be… Please if any god exist in the universe, don't let it be…"
They landed in a small town, half world away from the other before. The weather was too warm here, and they left their coats behind in the pod.
- We're getting low on "resources" if you know what I mean… - Gren told his companion when they sat down to eat something.
- Hmm… I wonder what we shall do… Find a job?
The blue-haired nodded, it wasn't a bad idea.
- Both of us are musicians… I wonder if there are any clubs that hire us…
Oliver was staring at the cloudless blue sky, and then he turned his head to the other.
- Okay, but we're not the same style… I never heard of alter-rock-jazz before.
They laughed.
- Maybe we should invent it. – Gren chuckled - … God that would be awful…
- Yeah… But I wonder how you look like in a spiked suit.
- Funny. Or rather weird. Not my style, you know.
- We should find it out, really. – The younger laughed. Gren took his coat, and slapped him with it.
- Ow…
- See? That happens when you make me angry. Don't do it again. – He waved a finger on the younger one.
- Sorry, Niisan. – Oliver said, but stuck out his tongue when Grencia turned around.
Later they found a place where they could stay and work. But unfortunately, only Gren could stay as a musician.
- Dang. I hate being a waiter… - Oliver grunted when they finally got to go. - … And that moron groped me… I swear I break some bones tonight, and they won't be mine.
- Calm down already… It's over.
- Yeah…for a day. Tomorrow it will start over again.
- Can you show me which idiot was that?
- Why?
- I have a gun, you know.
He finally stopped grumbling, and looked at the older man with surprise.
- Are you…Are you going to shoot him?
Gren laughed. He wasn't serious about the gun. Not if he didn't have one, but he wasn't going to kill the guy who groped his friend.
- No, I was joking. But I have some unwanted words for that person. And according to your looks, he gets the lesser bad if I talk to him, then if I let you kick the life out of him.
- True.
The owner's barking ended their conversation.
- What did he say? – Oliver asked, because he didn't understand clearly what the other yelled.
- I think he has some problems with me… - Gren said. - …Gimme a sec.
He walked to the small, ugly old man, and listened to his dressing-down patiently. Oliver couldn't help but admire the other man's patience. If the victim would be him, he was sure to yell the head of the owner down, and losing his new job immediately. Finally the shorty stopped yapping and let them go.
- I think it's kinda obvious we won't work for him. – Gren grumbled. –He pissed me off a bit…
Oliver didn't answer, he was too busy thinking.
- I know what we will do. – He heard Gren's voice. He raised his head, and looked at him.
- What?
- We will go home. I'm fed up with running.
- Well… It's fine with me…really. – He said finally. – But are you sure we can go back to Callisto?
Gren nodded.
-That's the safest place. And the bounty on my head is about to expire anyway.
They settled that, and headed to the pod right away. Both of them hoped that their trip back to Callisto will be as calm as the way away from it was.
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Okay, the ending of this chapter sucks like hell... But it was written in a hurry, so yea... That was my excuse.