This is placed after Spike's "death" only, obivously, he survived. Julia is dead and so is Vicious, althought I'm not quite sure where I am going with this. This story mainly revolves around Faye so, if you don't like Faye you might want to leave. Enjoy.

The Last Fragments of You

by: Alternative Therapy

Prologue

Faye Valentine smoothed the wrinkles out of her dress, the cool black silk still able to make her feel beautiful even after the nightmares that she had survived through while wearing this skimpy thing. Although, Faye couldn't help but feel a slight comfort in the fact that ever time she had worn it she had managed to live through whatever nightmare was presented to her. Faye pulled lightly on one of the shoulder straps and shook her head; it was a miracle the dress was still intact.

Faye grabbed her silver necklace off her dresser and paused to look at it. The fake diamond glinting off the pale light off the ceiling fan, though it was cheap it still fit the part nicely accompanying the earrings that she had bought so long ago. Her slender fingers pulled the metal clasp through the strands of her hair and she grimaced in pain as she hooked it together. She paused looking at the mirror her long hair hanging limply about her shoulders.

She easily reached up gathering her hair and with a simple twist she molded her hair into an intricate mass to form a bun. When Faye drew her hands away she smiled satisfied at the end result. She wasn't exactly sure when she had learned the skills of putting on her painted face, a picture of perfection, a mask, but it had come in handy over the years. It allowed her to get what she wanted. Either managing to catch a bounty with a simple wink of an eye, or hiding the truth and ugliness of her past, she always got what she wanted.

Faye Valentine had survived many encounters over the years, and she knew that she hadn't survived them by being the angel the perfect face portrayed. There were many times when it would come down to kill or be killed and in those emotion hastened moments it usually did not take long to make a life worthy decision.

Faye slowly sunk onto her bed and bent down to slip on the new sleek black shoes that she had bought earlier in the day for his approaching hunt. This hunt was going to be in a classy joint, and her white boots and yellow suit just wouldn't cut it in this place, so Faye found herself in a downtown district of mars searching to make her outfit complete.

Faye found herself struggling over an issue that most women would have found simple – save the money and buy the cheap knock offs. But as Faye had stood in front of that shoe display pondering the amount left on her card, she couldn't help but think of how nice it would be to be able to own one nice thing. And, she now reasoned as she stared at her well curved and painted reflection in the mirror, that she had made the right decision.

She couldn't help but think how gaudy the cheap leather would have looked compared to the fine silk of her dress. Several loud thumps pulled Faye out of her thoughts before the door slide open. Spike's lanky form leaned against the opposite wall, a cigarette hanging limply from his mouth and his hand resting on the knee of the foot that was propped up against the same wall he was leaning against. This position only lead Faye to believe that out of sheer laziness that the several loud thumps had been Spike kicking the door instead of knocking like a normal person.

Though it was very brief and concealed, Faye didn't miss the sweep of his eyes over her body; any emotions that he may have felt easily blurred and quickly dissipated behind a single puff of smoke that rose from his mouth. Faye quirked an eyebrow at his wrinkled attire but refrained from speaking. Any curt or teasing words would automatically lead to a fight and both knew that a fight before a bounty never sat well with either of them and they usually ended up either killing their bounty head or allowing him to escape.

Of course, this theory had not been tested since he came back from his mission for death. No, it was hard to draw any emotion out of Spike these days, now that his precious Julia was dead and he had nothing more to live for. It left Faye wondering why he just didn't end it all if he thought he didn't have anything to live for. Faye lowered her gaze and could only think about herself; even if you had nothing to live for, you lived for yourself at least that was what she had believed.

So, instead of trying to start any sort of fight with Spike, Faye inclined her head in a small nod of hello and pushed a lose strand of purple hair behind her ear. Spike responded by pulling the cigarette out of his mouth and flicking some ash onto the floor before forcing his mahogany eyes to meet hers. "Jet wanted to know if you're ready?" The sound of his voice was soft and hoarse sounding, almost eerie among the din of the ship.

Faye allowed a silence to carry for several seconds before she glanced away, head lowering in shame at the fact that she had not been able to keep his gaze; that she had been out done by the cowboy again in a simple staring match, even if Spike hadn't thought of it as a competition. But ever since the day she had shot several bullets into the ceiling she would find moments of weakness in herself that she could not cover quickly enough in front of this cool and aloof man and she was sure that he knew exactly what she felt. Faye drew in a shaky breath and nodded lightly. "Yes. Tell Jet I'll be right there."

Spike stayed where he was, eyes locked skeptically on Faye, words not needed to express his suspicion of her covered words. Faye had done a wonderful job tonight of covering up her vulnerability, but it was in her hesitancy to answer that he caught her. Faye could still feel Spike staring down at her and she slowly worked up the courage to force her eyes to lock with his once again. Staring up at him she was able to speak more firmly than she had before, a voice daring Spike to challenge her. "I just need to get my gun."

Whether she had managed to play off her hesitancy to speak or not remained to be seen, but something in her voice had convinced Spoke that she was fine for the moment and he stalked away as if he had just happened to be passing by. Faye closed her eyes in relief and her right had found the strap that had her gun plastered almost painfully to her upper inner thigh.

She made sure it was secure and threw a glance back to her image in the mirror, suddenly needing a cigarette more than she ever had. She walked over to her desk and pulled a pack of cigarettes out of the drawer, and examined its contents before lighting up. A few hit quickly soothed the nerves that Spike had managed to fray, but as Faye studied her worry creased face in the mirror, she knew that she would need a lot more confidence if her plan was going to succeed. And that meant overcoming the doubt that Spike so easily filled her with. She would do the only thing she really knew how to do. Face the problem head on and hope she survived.