If you're looking for a wacky misadventure with Ed and Ein you're in the wrong place. There's a bit of humor, but with humor comes anguish, something that Ed is not used to. This story is an attempt to shed some light on Ed's feelings about her father, while maintaining her personality. I hope this story does justice to Ed's character, and I hope you enjoy it.
Bare Feet
The canyon ground was burning, but she didn't feel the calluses on her feet. The heat burned her skin, but she needed a blanket. The hours turned into days, which turned into weeks, yet she always had something to smile about. Radical Edward, once a loner turned member of the Bebop, was once again living on her own, with Ein as her faithful companion, on a journey.
Since Edward left the ship a month ago, she had been looking for her father. The only real family she had. She barely knew him, and had rarely seen him in her lifetime, but she knew she must. She had to be doing the right thing.
But what she seemed to wonder was when would it end? How long does doing the right thing take? Will she ever find her father?
And," if the father person wanted me so much, why did he run away without me?"
Ed's footsteps came to a complete halt. Ein stopped at Ed's heels, and whimpered in curiosity. She stared at the ground, deep in thought… things didn't seem to add up. This… "father person," he didn't seem capable of caring for Ed. He lost her, for many years, and found her, only to lose her yet again. Ed shook her head trying to rid these negative thoughts from her mind.
She remembered Faye's words."…You have someone waiting for you too. There's somewhere that you belong, Edward. You should go and find out where..."
"Don't worry, this time I'm looking for you." Ed continued walking. Ein stood in bewilderment, but followed her anyway.
__________
Nightfall came, once again. And once again the scrambling for a good place to sleep continued. Normally Ed would be fine sleeping on the hard rock under the stars, but not without an attempt to find a better spot first.
A devilish thought crossed Ed's mind.
"Oh Eiiiiiin, race you to the nearest cave?"
"Woof!"
"Oookaaaay!" She got in her running position, as Ein stood next to her. "Ready, set… GO! Ahaha!" Ed took off, Ein not too far behind. As the moon rose faster and faster, she ran faster and faster, arms flailing in the air, in hopes to find a cave nearby. She ran, and ran, and ran, as the stars stood motionless in the sky. Dust from the ground was kicked up everywhere, as her footsteps became more rapid. Her pace was very steady when compared to Ein's, who was right beside her. Alas, no shelter ever came in her sight. Ed and Ein, who had been running for a few minutes now, were both running out of breath. Ed's footsteps slowed down, as she plopped to the sandy ground, Ein not too far in front of her, had already fallen asleep.
"…You win, Ein…" Ed said as her eyes closed and she, too, fell asleep.
__________
As the first rays of light gently touched upon Ed's face, she awoke silently. Edward stretched her arms out as far as she could, then touched her toes with the tips of her fingers. After letting out a big sigh, Edward went over to Ein.
"Time to wake up, Ein…" she said as she shook him. Ein lay there silently. "…wake UP Ein!" Ed shook Ein more. Nothing. "WAKE UP!" Ed grabbed Ein by the front paws and threw him in the air. That woke him up. As Ein fell into Ed's arms, she could feel his heart pounding a million times a minute. "Aw, did Ed scare Ein?" Ein just stared into the horizon, motionless. "Ed is sorry." She put Ein down to his feet, however Ein, still in shock, fell sideways, still motionless, still staring into the horizon. Ein slowly picked himself onto his feet and walked towards Ed. "Good Ein!" Ed said.
Ed once again continued to walk, slowly reaching the endless horizon. After a few miles of walking she came across a giant crater. The crater seemed to be steaming, indicating that the comet that caused it had hit only recently.
"Father person must be near," Ed said. She jumped inside the crater, Ein right behind her. Ed ran around, sniffing for clues. All that seemed to be there was black rocks, heaps and heaps of steaming black rocks.
"Françoise,
is that you!?"
Ed turned around to face the
voice. It was her father, on the ground above her, calling her name.
"Eeeee!" Ed exclaimed as she climbed the incredibly steep crater to hug her father.
"Hey there! Ho hoo!" He embraced Edward like a father should do. This reassured her that she had made the right decision.
"…Father…"
__________
In a nearby tent, Edward, her father, and his assistant were all drinking tea, as they took a break from excavation.
"So, what have you been up to?" her father asked Ed.
"Ed has been on a looong journey! Bebop, Jet, Faye-Faye, Spike…"
"Spike… is that the guy who tried to beat me up? Heh, I sure showed him, right, Macinroe?"
"It's Macintyre, sir…"
"Eh whatever."
"And here is my bestest friend!" Ed grabbed Ein, and lifted him up above her head. "Hello, Ein! Say hello to father!" She propped Ein so that he would be facing Ed's father.
"Woof!"
"Is that a dog?" her father
asked.
"Yup yup! Edward's faaaavorite companion! Aren't you, Ein?"
"I see… you know, Françoise, if we're gonna be running around all day, we can't be carrying a dog around. That would just slow us down."
"Oh but Ein is resourceful! Ein is a data-…"
"We just can't have it. I'm sorry Françoise, but you're gonna have to let Ein go."
"…Let Ein go?" Ed looked at Ein, who had a sad look on his face. He knew exactly what was going on. "Edward's only friend?"
"You have me now! What more could you ask for? I know I couldn't ask for more…"
Ed continued to stare at Ein.
"Ein and Ed need some rest." Ed grabbed Ein and walked out of the tent, and fell to the ground. She curled up, and tried to fall asleep. "Edward love Ein, but… Edward also love father…"
Then Ed began to think realistically about it.
"Edward… love father… Edward love… father…" She repeated this to herself. "Edward… love father?"
Ed remembers… Ed was playing with my friend… then Ed's friend left. Then the other kids left… and… Ed was the only one there. Ed cried, and cried… But Ed found a new home... Ed made new friends, and forgot about father. Father left me… father left me… father didn't care about me. And father still doesn't care.
"Father person didn't care at all…" Images of Jet, Faye and Spike flashed in her mind. "Father person isn't like Jet … Jet never left me."
Ed rolled to her other side to see her father talking with his assistant, and laughing.
"Father person doesn't need me," Edward thought to herself. "…And Ed doesn't need father person either." Ed tried not to dwell, as she slowly fell asleep.
__________
"TIME TO WAKE UP!" Ed's father hollered in her ear.
"Ack!" Edward exclaimed as she jumped to her feet.
"Come on, Françoise! We've got a big day ahead of us! We've got to search for new land formations in the earth! Come on, not a second to lose!" Just then a comet came hurdling to the ground in the distance. "There's our first target! Let's go!" He grabbed his things and began to run. "Come on, Macintosh!"
"It's Macintyre!"
"Edward can track the comets on the computer!" Edward pulled out her laptop and began typing. Her fingers moved at the speed of light. "Right here, here and here! Hehehe!"
Her father and Macintyre stood in bewilderment at what Ed was doing…
"Aw come on, Ed! You can't trust computers! Besides, you have no idea what you're doing. Come on, let's go find that meteor!"
"…Bebop always needed Edward's help…"
"Yes, but you don't need to be with those lowlifes anymore. You're with me now, Edward! Your flesh and blood! This is where you belong!"
"It's the best...belonging is the very best thing there is..."
"This is not where Edward belongs! Edward belongs with the people that need Edward!" she screamed, almost hysterical. "Edward belongs with the people that care for Edward! Edward belongs with the people that don't ever forget her!" Edward slowly lifted her head. "Edward… doesn't belong here."
"…Edward… I'm your father…"
"…You're not my father… you're my father person. Goodbye." Edward grabbed her things in one arm, and grabbed Ein in the other, and starting running. To where she did not know, for what reason, she was unsure of. She just needed to be away. Maybe in hopes of finding the Bebop one day.
But… no matter what she would find, she would walk first.
__________
Walk she did, and once again, minutes turned into hours, which turned into days. Edward made sure she walked in the opposite direction from which she came, in hopes of finding some sort of life other than that of her father's. And to her surprise, she did just a few days after she had left. One of the few remaining towns left on earth was kept under a strong dome that could withstand anything, even a meteor.
Edward slowly walked into the town, dragging her seemingly heavy feet across the street to the nearest inn. Ed slowly walked into the building with Ein and stood for a second or two… then passed out onto her back.
A few minutes later, Ed woke up to Ein's licks on her face, and many townspeople staring at her in awe.
"W-what happened?" She questioned.
"Are you all right!?" someone asked.
"Do you need anything?" another person asked.
"Someone call a doctor!"
Edward focused her attention on the small television located on the counter in front of her where she saw what she never dreamed of seeing.
"In other news, there are new leads with the police today as of what caused famous bounty hunter Spike Spiegal's death." Those last three words echoed forever in Edward's mind.
"Spike… dead?" Edward questioned… "Spike… not dead!… Spike alive! No! It can't be true!"
Edward scrambled to her feet, grabbed her things and ran back outside, and ran and ran into an uncivilized area. She sat down, took out her computer, and logged onto the bounty hunter database. She hadn't gone into this site since she left the Bebop.
"S-P-I-K-E…" she typed, "S-P-I-E-G-A-L…" Sure enough, a picture of Spike appeared, with an inscription next to it.
"SPIKE SPIEGAL: 2044-2071""Edward… confused… Spike is really… gone?" She stared at the picture for a little while. She knew she had to have an emotion, but she didn't know what it was. She just… stared. Her eyes shifted from Spike's picture, to the inscription next to it, back to the picture, in an endless cycle that lasted for hours.
Ein crawled up on Edward's lap. He rested his head on Edward's leg. All of a sudden, Edward felt a wet drop on her leg. She broke out of her state of shock and looked at Ein, who had been crying.
"Edward's leg… is wet…" Ein shed another tear onto Edward's leg. Edward whispered to herself. "Ein is crying… because Spike is dead…" And then it hit her. "Spike is… dead. Spike is never coming back," she said to herself, as her voice quivered uncontrollably. Edward looked at Spike's picture one last time, and then shut her computer off. Edward wrapped her hands around her body began to tremble. "Edward's friend is gone forever." Everything became blurry. This was a sensation that she had forgotten, a sensation she hadn't experienced since she was a child.
Edward then noticed her cheeks were wet.
"Now… Edward is… crying…" she said, sniffling.
Edward hugged Ein, as they both cried throughout the night.