Summary: The bebop are getting into the holiday season. Well, everybody
except for Spike who is getting selfish with the bounties. When Spike
refuses to share their first big bounty, will the ghosts of Christmas past,
present, and future change him? Anime crossover time! Read and find out!
WARNING!! MUST BE READ BEFORE YOU READ THIS!!!
I know it's a bit early for Christmas, but I couldn't resist. This is my first humor story and there will be characters from different animes. Thanks for any reviews and enjoy the holidays when they come. I do not own Cowboy Bebop, any other anime that appears in here or "A Christmas Carol".
-Randall Flagg2
Note: The characters will retain their original names, but they shall have different roles. Also, the bebop will also play the role of the Cratchit family without bearing the name. Therefore I have just assigned them to "roles" instead of the actual characters, although I will try to keep close to the book. This applies to other characters as well. So Spike, being the Scrooge like character, will kind of be in the mood of Scrooge but will retain his name. Some characters might be a bit OOC, so be warned.
The bebop crew: As themselves. (They shall ever so slightly play the role of the Cratchit family as well as Scrooge at the same time).
Tiny Tim Role: Ein
Charity woman: Botan.
Charity man: Kenshin Himura.
Role of Spike's younger sister: Sasami.
Fezziwig Role: Katsushito Masaki.
Spike's former lover: Julia.
Fence (That means somebody who pays you for stolen goods): Ryoko.
Thief 1: Kurama.
Thief 2: Hiei.
Thief 3: Hiten.
Jacob Marley Role: Kagato
Ghost of Christmas Past: Aoshi Shinomori. (Why? Aoshi's cool, that's why! Sheesh!)
Ghost of Christmas Present: Kagome Higurashi.
Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come: Vicious
Let us begin, shall we?
Spike Spiegal cursed under his breath. The day had been bad, and it was about to get worse. First he had to go to earth of all places to capture a new bounty, then he had gotten the shit kicked out of him by that same bounty, and then when he had finally caught the guy and turned him in to the authorities he had almost crashed the Swordfish II on his way back. One might think that things couldn't get any worse, but he knew they would. Oh, how he knew they would. How did he know it was going to get worse you might ask? He knew it would be crazy when he got back to the bebop because they had finally managed to catch a ten thousand woolong bounty. Oh sure, it would put them out of financial debt for awhile, but that wasn't what was on Spike's mind. What was on Spike's mind right now was how they would split up the bounty now that they had collected. Ten million woolongs was a heck of a lot of money, and Spike had a gut feeling that things would be pretty crazy when he got back. Up in the distance, the familiar shape of the not so good ship bebop hung in outer space. Spike flew into the hangar and parked the ship that he kicked so many times. "Here goes nothing." he muttered as he stepped into the hallway that he had stayed on for so long.
The interior of the bebop was not as it usually was decorated. It was now decorated in holly which was laced with a few berries every now and again. Spike muttered something under his breath and flopped onto the couch with a cigarette. The nicotine filled stick eased his mind and reassured him that things would be alright. He almost forgot about the fight that would inevitably happen soon as the smoke entered his system. With the money they had gotten, they could patch up the bebop and get some food to eat. Spike longed for a piece of meat. If he had to live off of bell peppers and beef (without the beef of course) for much longer, he would go crazy. How long had it been since he had had meat? A month? A year? God may know, Spike did not. He just laid back and let the cigarette take him into his own world when something jumped into the air and landed on him.
"HIIII!!!" Squealed the voice of Ed as she bounced up and down on Spike's chest. "Merry Chirstmas Spike person!" she giggled. As Spike bucked up and down under Ed's bounces, he noticed that Ed was wearing a red santa clause hat on her head, covering up her poofy hair. Spike sighed. He hated this time of year. Ever since Ed had brought up the subject of Christmas a month ago before December, everybody except for Spike had been preparing for the holiday. Jet had stopped tending to his bonsai trees and had bought a Christmas tree for the bebop. He had also found some old ornaments up in the attic, near where the refrigerator that had caused them so many problems had been (Toys in the Attic episode). Ed had downloaded some Christmas tunes for them to listen to and had played them nonstop. Even Ein and Faye seemed to be in the mood. Faye had quit worrying about herself and had bought all sorts of holly with some bounty money and had decorated the bebop walls. Ein's contribution to them was to stop chewing up things and not bark so much, even if he had to. He even wore a wreathe of holly on his head. It wasn't much, but what else could a corgi do? Spike really hated this time of year. Everybody but him had focused on being in Spirit for Christmas instead of focusing on more important matters, like fixing the ship or getting more food. What did this holiday mean to them anyway? All they did was celebrate the birth of the son of god and exchange gifts with others. It seemed pointless to him. What they saw in it, he did not know.
"What do you want?" Spike grunted, gently pushing the teenage girl off of his stomach.
"Edward just wants to wish Spikey a holly jolly Christmas!" she giggled.
"Well could you wish it to me some other time?" Spike growled. "I'm trying to sleep."
Ed frowned. "Spike person should not be naughty. Santa is watching Spike person." Spike could not believe those words. Ed still believed in that story? How childish could she get?
"Santa doesn't know jack shit." he grunted and turned on his side, only to be turned around by Ed.
"Spike person shouldn't say such things! Santa will not give him any gifts!"
"Oooh, I'm sooo scared!" Spike said sarcastically, pretending to tremble. Realizing that she would not get through to him, Ed pouted and stormed out of the room and into the kitchen. She sat down at the table and sulked. Jet, who was busily cooking the usual meal went over to the hacker girl.
"Hey Ed, what's wrong?" the ex-cop asked.
"Spike person was mean to Ed!" she grumbled.
"What did he do this time?"
"He just mean." Ed sighed, and laid her head down on the table. "Why is Spike person so mean at Christmas?"
"I don't know. I'll talk to him." Jet said, and left the room. Ed continued to sulk until she felt a cold, soft something rub against her ankle. She looked down to see a certain welsh corgi looking up at her with a look that was begging her not to be sad. Ein was getting a bit skinny since they had not had much to eat lately, but he was alright for the time being. Ed quickly snapped back to the bubbly attitude she normally had and grabbed him up. Ein wheezed as Ed hugged him with the force of a boa constrictor squeezing its prey.
"Hi Ein! Edward wishes Ein a merry Christmas!" she crowed as she hugged Ein almost to death. He quickly regretted getting near the playful girl and began to squirm out of her grasp.
In the living room, Spike was dozing off when the cybernetic hand of Jet Black fell on his shoulder. Spike was turned around to look into the face of the man who bore an expression of annoyance on his face.
"Why did you have to do that Spike?" he asked, irritably.
"Do what?"
"You hurt Ed's feelings Spike." the bulky man replied. "She was sulking in the kitchen over something you did to her. What did you do?"
Spike laid back down on the couch, the cigarette jammed securely in his mouth. "I didn't do anything. She was being annoying and I told her to leave me alone."
"I think it would take her a lot more then that to hurt her feelings like that Spike."
"Fine then." Spike sighed. "She was bouncing on my chest and screaming merry Christmas into my face. You think that wouldn't annoy me?"
"Nevertheless, you shouldn't have done whatever you did to her." Jet muttered. Spike bolted upright and stood face to face with his teammate.
"I didn't do anything damn it!" Spike snarled. "She was annoying me while I was relaxing, so I told her to leave! Is there anything wrong with that?!" Jet sighed and walked out of the room, realizing it was pointless to try to talk to Spike like this. Spike didn't get it. So he had told Ed to leave him alone. What was so bad about that? Okay, sure, he had been a bit sarcastic with her, but he was in no mood to be disturbed. He was more concerned over the bounty and what they should do with it. He knew what he wanted to use it for before he had found the bounty. With the money, they could fix the bebop up and get more food. He had no intention of dividing it up this time. It was selfish of him, but it was better then splitting it up. Faye would probably use it to by stuff from those old magazines she read and more devices to rip off people, and Jet would most likely put it to some other use before focusing on the Ship's condition and leave them low in the woolong department. By keeping the bounty for himself this time, Spike could insure that everything would be kosher with repairs and food. He laid back down to try to rest once again when a third annoyance drifted down the corner.
"Well, well, if it isn't the lunkhead." Faye Valentine muttered. Spike grunted and shot a look at the queen of the shrews. Faye was not dressed in that usual banana colored clothing she always wore. She was dressed in something similar to the skimpy outfit, but it was red and green. Spike groaned. Red and green, the colors of Christmas. If Ed's suggestion could snag Faye, who knew what could happen.
"Hello slutface." Spike grunted, puffing on the last bit of his cigarette. "Cheat anybody lately?"
"Oh shut up Spike. You really shouldn't be so bitter during this time of year. It's Christmas."
"You're one to talk." the green haired bounty hunter retorted. "You're normally the bitchiest thing a guy can run into." Spike suddenly shot upright and began to massage his leg where the bitch god had booted him.
"So what if I am? Even I have a cheerful side Spike. I bet even you do." she growled. Faye walked out of the room, deciding to leave Spike alone with his own bitterness. As she left, there was a knock at the hangar door. Spike threw out his cigarette and went to answer the door. In the doorway stood a man with long red hair and light blue eyes. He was wearing rather old fashioned clothing which seemed to be from the 1800's. To his left was a woman in a pink kimono with blue hair that was tied in a ponytail and what looked like the most cheerful expression Spike had ever seen on a living face.
"Hello!" said the woman in the kimono. "My name is Botan and this is my friend and partner Kenshin Himura! Might we make a small request?" she asked in a voice that was so bubbly that Spike thought it could rival Ed's cheer.
"What kind of request?"
"Well, it's the holiday season and we're collecting for the poor, that we are." Kenshin said. We were wondering if you would like to make a small dona-"
BANG!! Spike instinctively raised his gun up to the ceiling and fired a single shot. The man and woman ran off so fast that Spike could have sworn that they were leaving after images. Oh well, they needed to be frightened off. If he had said no, they would have tried to persuade him to give up some money, and he was willing to bet his soul that he would have relented in the end. And anyway, it wasn't like he had shot anybody. He had just driven them off, that was all. He walked away, only to be confronted by an angry looking Jet.
"What the hell did you do?!" he roared. "Are you crazy Spike?! You shouldn't have done that!" he scolded.
"What? They would have tried to take some of the bounty for their own purposes!"
"Well it's Christmas Spike! I don't like them much either, but I was willing to make a few sacrifices at this time of year! You're supposed to stop caring about yourself at this time of year and worry about others for a change!"
"I guess you don't want a share of the bounty then. I wasn't planning to give any of it to you of Faye for good reason and I guess it was the right thing to do." Spike said, walking off to his room.
"What do you mean?" Jet asked, curious about Spike's words.
"I mean that this time I'm keeping the bounty for myself this time so I can put it to good use. You guys will probably blow it on Christmas stuff when we should really use it for fixing the ship." he said.
"That can wait until the next bounty! The money we got this time could help make this season better!" Jet said in an almost pleading tone.
"Your one to talk Jet. And what if we don't catch the next bounty? What then, huh Jet? We'll be with out a ship and without food!" Spike growled, and walked off to his room to sleep. Jet was disappointed by Spike's words, but decided that it wasn't worth wrecking Christmas over. After all, he tomorrow was Christmas day and that would no doubt change Spike's attitude. Jet walked off back to the kitchen and resumed cooking. Needless to say, his partner did not show up for dinner.
Later on in the evening, Spike tossed and turned in his bed. No matter what he did, he couldn't get comfortable. After trying every single position that a human being could possibly sleep in, Spike just splayed out his arms and legs and stared up at the ceiling. It was getting very cold. Spike shivered. Hadn't Jet or Faye turned on the heat? No, that was wrong. It probably was turned on. The other possibility was that Ed was crawling around in the ducts again. Spike climbed out of bed, still dressed only in his boxer shorts and undershirt, and opened up the duct. He jumped up a bit to look in it and amazingly saw no traces of the crazy hacker in it. He was puzzled. If the heat was on and Ed was not playing around, what could make his room become so cold? The bounty hunter climbed down and wrapped himself up in the sheets and blankets. Still the temperature plunged until Spike could see his breath. Then, very distantly, he could hear the sound of chains rattling.
"What the hell?" he murmured. Spike laid back down and then jumped as the piercing howl of a certain data dog filled the hallway, causing him to jump. He sat up just in time to see something transparent and shimmering levitate into his room. At first it was ill defined in the dim light. Then Spike's eyes adjusted to the darkness and he saw that the shape was the form of a tall man with white hair and a pair of old fashioned spectacles on his nose. His expression was calm and cocky looking. He wore white clothes and white gloves. However the strangest thing was that this figure was bound all over with chains from the ankles up. Spike felt his neck hair prickle as he realized that the person in front of him was a ghost!
"Who the hell are you?" Spike asked, shakily.
"My name is Kagato. I have come to warn you Spike Spiegal." the ghost said in a slightly British tone.
"Warn me of what? And how do you know my name?"
"Never mind your name, I have come to warn you to change your ways and to change them soon. If you do not, you will end up as I did!" Kagato exclaimed. His voice was loud enough to hear down the hall and Ein gave another howl. The howl of the corgi turned into a yelp of pain as Faye's foot slammed into him with an audible *WHUMP!*.
"You don't mean share the bounty with the rest of them! If I do that it will all be wasted." Spike snarled at the ghost. Kagato conjured and energy blade in his hand and pointed it at Spike's throat.
"Listen to me and listen well. Your greed is what I must warn you of. Greed is what earned me these chains. In life I traveled the universe, selfishly seeking the ultimate energy, and now I must wander the universe for eternity and see what I could have done with my life instead of searching for power! I sinned in greed, as you are doing right now! Unless you change your ways, you will end up as I did! Do you not know how long your chain is?" Spike was suddenly hurled to the ground as what seemed to be fifty pounds of chains crushed him.
"I don't believe you! You must be some hologram that Ed made to scare me!" he said. Kagato snarled in frustration and sliced Spike's bed in half. That was all it took to convince him that he was a real as real could get. The chains vanished and Spike got up nervously.
"If you wish to avoid the fate that I fell to, you must be haunted by three more apparitions. The first shall come at one in the morning. The second shall come at noon, and the final spirit will come at midnight. Heed their lessons well Spike!" Kagato said, and flew through the wall. Spike looked out the window and watched as it flew off into deep space, only to see it crash into a satellite and be carried off into a black hole. "OH SHIT!!" Spike heard the ghost roar before it was sucked in, satellite and all.
Spike was puzzled. If this was the result of to many cigarettes, then he would gladly give up. That vision was creepier then anything he had seen. Nah, he couldn't have seen that. He must have been hallucinating or dreaming. "I didn't see that." he said. Spike took the blankets from his sliced up bed and lay down on the floor. He was about to try to sleep again when he got up and turned on the lights to his room. It was childish, but something told him that what he saw was no hallucination. Finally, he loaded his pistol and bundled up with it in his hands like a stuffed toy. At last, he fell asleep.
That's it for now. Next up, the ghost of Christmas past comes for Spike. Now review please. Randall Flagg2
WARNING!! MUST BE READ BEFORE YOU READ THIS!!!
I know it's a bit early for Christmas, but I couldn't resist. This is my first humor story and there will be characters from different animes. Thanks for any reviews and enjoy the holidays when they come. I do not own Cowboy Bebop, any other anime that appears in here or "A Christmas Carol".
-Randall Flagg2
Note: The characters will retain their original names, but they shall have different roles. Also, the bebop will also play the role of the Cratchit family without bearing the name. Therefore I have just assigned them to "roles" instead of the actual characters, although I will try to keep close to the book. This applies to other characters as well. So Spike, being the Scrooge like character, will kind of be in the mood of Scrooge but will retain his name. Some characters might be a bit OOC, so be warned.
The bebop crew: As themselves. (They shall ever so slightly play the role of the Cratchit family as well as Scrooge at the same time).
Tiny Tim Role: Ein
Charity woman: Botan.
Charity man: Kenshin Himura.
Role of Spike's younger sister: Sasami.
Fezziwig Role: Katsushito Masaki.
Spike's former lover: Julia.
Fence (That means somebody who pays you for stolen goods): Ryoko.
Thief 1: Kurama.
Thief 2: Hiei.
Thief 3: Hiten.
Jacob Marley Role: Kagato
Ghost of Christmas Past: Aoshi Shinomori. (Why? Aoshi's cool, that's why! Sheesh!)
Ghost of Christmas Present: Kagome Higurashi.
Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come: Vicious
Let us begin, shall we?
Spike Spiegal cursed under his breath. The day had been bad, and it was about to get worse. First he had to go to earth of all places to capture a new bounty, then he had gotten the shit kicked out of him by that same bounty, and then when he had finally caught the guy and turned him in to the authorities he had almost crashed the Swordfish II on his way back. One might think that things couldn't get any worse, but he knew they would. Oh, how he knew they would. How did he know it was going to get worse you might ask? He knew it would be crazy when he got back to the bebop because they had finally managed to catch a ten thousand woolong bounty. Oh sure, it would put them out of financial debt for awhile, but that wasn't what was on Spike's mind. What was on Spike's mind right now was how they would split up the bounty now that they had collected. Ten million woolongs was a heck of a lot of money, and Spike had a gut feeling that things would be pretty crazy when he got back. Up in the distance, the familiar shape of the not so good ship bebop hung in outer space. Spike flew into the hangar and parked the ship that he kicked so many times. "Here goes nothing." he muttered as he stepped into the hallway that he had stayed on for so long.
The interior of the bebop was not as it usually was decorated. It was now decorated in holly which was laced with a few berries every now and again. Spike muttered something under his breath and flopped onto the couch with a cigarette. The nicotine filled stick eased his mind and reassured him that things would be alright. He almost forgot about the fight that would inevitably happen soon as the smoke entered his system. With the money they had gotten, they could patch up the bebop and get some food to eat. Spike longed for a piece of meat. If he had to live off of bell peppers and beef (without the beef of course) for much longer, he would go crazy. How long had it been since he had had meat? A month? A year? God may know, Spike did not. He just laid back and let the cigarette take him into his own world when something jumped into the air and landed on him.
"HIIII!!!" Squealed the voice of Ed as she bounced up and down on Spike's chest. "Merry Chirstmas Spike person!" she giggled. As Spike bucked up and down under Ed's bounces, he noticed that Ed was wearing a red santa clause hat on her head, covering up her poofy hair. Spike sighed. He hated this time of year. Ever since Ed had brought up the subject of Christmas a month ago before December, everybody except for Spike had been preparing for the holiday. Jet had stopped tending to his bonsai trees and had bought a Christmas tree for the bebop. He had also found some old ornaments up in the attic, near where the refrigerator that had caused them so many problems had been (Toys in the Attic episode). Ed had downloaded some Christmas tunes for them to listen to and had played them nonstop. Even Ein and Faye seemed to be in the mood. Faye had quit worrying about herself and had bought all sorts of holly with some bounty money and had decorated the bebop walls. Ein's contribution to them was to stop chewing up things and not bark so much, even if he had to. He even wore a wreathe of holly on his head. It wasn't much, but what else could a corgi do? Spike really hated this time of year. Everybody but him had focused on being in Spirit for Christmas instead of focusing on more important matters, like fixing the ship or getting more food. What did this holiday mean to them anyway? All they did was celebrate the birth of the son of god and exchange gifts with others. It seemed pointless to him. What they saw in it, he did not know.
"What do you want?" Spike grunted, gently pushing the teenage girl off of his stomach.
"Edward just wants to wish Spikey a holly jolly Christmas!" she giggled.
"Well could you wish it to me some other time?" Spike growled. "I'm trying to sleep."
Ed frowned. "Spike person should not be naughty. Santa is watching Spike person." Spike could not believe those words. Ed still believed in that story? How childish could she get?
"Santa doesn't know jack shit." he grunted and turned on his side, only to be turned around by Ed.
"Spike person shouldn't say such things! Santa will not give him any gifts!"
"Oooh, I'm sooo scared!" Spike said sarcastically, pretending to tremble. Realizing that she would not get through to him, Ed pouted and stormed out of the room and into the kitchen. She sat down at the table and sulked. Jet, who was busily cooking the usual meal went over to the hacker girl.
"Hey Ed, what's wrong?" the ex-cop asked.
"Spike person was mean to Ed!" she grumbled.
"What did he do this time?"
"He just mean." Ed sighed, and laid her head down on the table. "Why is Spike person so mean at Christmas?"
"I don't know. I'll talk to him." Jet said, and left the room. Ed continued to sulk until she felt a cold, soft something rub against her ankle. She looked down to see a certain welsh corgi looking up at her with a look that was begging her not to be sad. Ein was getting a bit skinny since they had not had much to eat lately, but he was alright for the time being. Ed quickly snapped back to the bubbly attitude she normally had and grabbed him up. Ein wheezed as Ed hugged him with the force of a boa constrictor squeezing its prey.
"Hi Ein! Edward wishes Ein a merry Christmas!" she crowed as she hugged Ein almost to death. He quickly regretted getting near the playful girl and began to squirm out of her grasp.
In the living room, Spike was dozing off when the cybernetic hand of Jet Black fell on his shoulder. Spike was turned around to look into the face of the man who bore an expression of annoyance on his face.
"Why did you have to do that Spike?" he asked, irritably.
"Do what?"
"You hurt Ed's feelings Spike." the bulky man replied. "She was sulking in the kitchen over something you did to her. What did you do?"
Spike laid back down on the couch, the cigarette jammed securely in his mouth. "I didn't do anything. She was being annoying and I told her to leave me alone."
"I think it would take her a lot more then that to hurt her feelings like that Spike."
"Fine then." Spike sighed. "She was bouncing on my chest and screaming merry Christmas into my face. You think that wouldn't annoy me?"
"Nevertheless, you shouldn't have done whatever you did to her." Jet muttered. Spike bolted upright and stood face to face with his teammate.
"I didn't do anything damn it!" Spike snarled. "She was annoying me while I was relaxing, so I told her to leave! Is there anything wrong with that?!" Jet sighed and walked out of the room, realizing it was pointless to try to talk to Spike like this. Spike didn't get it. So he had told Ed to leave him alone. What was so bad about that? Okay, sure, he had been a bit sarcastic with her, but he was in no mood to be disturbed. He was more concerned over the bounty and what they should do with it. He knew what he wanted to use it for before he had found the bounty. With the money, they could fix the bebop up and get more food. He had no intention of dividing it up this time. It was selfish of him, but it was better then splitting it up. Faye would probably use it to by stuff from those old magazines she read and more devices to rip off people, and Jet would most likely put it to some other use before focusing on the Ship's condition and leave them low in the woolong department. By keeping the bounty for himself this time, Spike could insure that everything would be kosher with repairs and food. He laid back down to try to rest once again when a third annoyance drifted down the corner.
"Well, well, if it isn't the lunkhead." Faye Valentine muttered. Spike grunted and shot a look at the queen of the shrews. Faye was not dressed in that usual banana colored clothing she always wore. She was dressed in something similar to the skimpy outfit, but it was red and green. Spike groaned. Red and green, the colors of Christmas. If Ed's suggestion could snag Faye, who knew what could happen.
"Hello slutface." Spike grunted, puffing on the last bit of his cigarette. "Cheat anybody lately?"
"Oh shut up Spike. You really shouldn't be so bitter during this time of year. It's Christmas."
"You're one to talk." the green haired bounty hunter retorted. "You're normally the bitchiest thing a guy can run into." Spike suddenly shot upright and began to massage his leg where the bitch god had booted him.
"So what if I am? Even I have a cheerful side Spike. I bet even you do." she growled. Faye walked out of the room, deciding to leave Spike alone with his own bitterness. As she left, there was a knock at the hangar door. Spike threw out his cigarette and went to answer the door. In the doorway stood a man with long red hair and light blue eyes. He was wearing rather old fashioned clothing which seemed to be from the 1800's. To his left was a woman in a pink kimono with blue hair that was tied in a ponytail and what looked like the most cheerful expression Spike had ever seen on a living face.
"Hello!" said the woman in the kimono. "My name is Botan and this is my friend and partner Kenshin Himura! Might we make a small request?" she asked in a voice that was so bubbly that Spike thought it could rival Ed's cheer.
"What kind of request?"
"Well, it's the holiday season and we're collecting for the poor, that we are." Kenshin said. We were wondering if you would like to make a small dona-"
BANG!! Spike instinctively raised his gun up to the ceiling and fired a single shot. The man and woman ran off so fast that Spike could have sworn that they were leaving after images. Oh well, they needed to be frightened off. If he had said no, they would have tried to persuade him to give up some money, and he was willing to bet his soul that he would have relented in the end. And anyway, it wasn't like he had shot anybody. He had just driven them off, that was all. He walked away, only to be confronted by an angry looking Jet.
"What the hell did you do?!" he roared. "Are you crazy Spike?! You shouldn't have done that!" he scolded.
"What? They would have tried to take some of the bounty for their own purposes!"
"Well it's Christmas Spike! I don't like them much either, but I was willing to make a few sacrifices at this time of year! You're supposed to stop caring about yourself at this time of year and worry about others for a change!"
"I guess you don't want a share of the bounty then. I wasn't planning to give any of it to you of Faye for good reason and I guess it was the right thing to do." Spike said, walking off to his room.
"What do you mean?" Jet asked, curious about Spike's words.
"I mean that this time I'm keeping the bounty for myself this time so I can put it to good use. You guys will probably blow it on Christmas stuff when we should really use it for fixing the ship." he said.
"That can wait until the next bounty! The money we got this time could help make this season better!" Jet said in an almost pleading tone.
"Your one to talk Jet. And what if we don't catch the next bounty? What then, huh Jet? We'll be with out a ship and without food!" Spike growled, and walked off to his room to sleep. Jet was disappointed by Spike's words, but decided that it wasn't worth wrecking Christmas over. After all, he tomorrow was Christmas day and that would no doubt change Spike's attitude. Jet walked off back to the kitchen and resumed cooking. Needless to say, his partner did not show up for dinner.
Later on in the evening, Spike tossed and turned in his bed. No matter what he did, he couldn't get comfortable. After trying every single position that a human being could possibly sleep in, Spike just splayed out his arms and legs and stared up at the ceiling. It was getting very cold. Spike shivered. Hadn't Jet or Faye turned on the heat? No, that was wrong. It probably was turned on. The other possibility was that Ed was crawling around in the ducts again. Spike climbed out of bed, still dressed only in his boxer shorts and undershirt, and opened up the duct. He jumped up a bit to look in it and amazingly saw no traces of the crazy hacker in it. He was puzzled. If the heat was on and Ed was not playing around, what could make his room become so cold? The bounty hunter climbed down and wrapped himself up in the sheets and blankets. Still the temperature plunged until Spike could see his breath. Then, very distantly, he could hear the sound of chains rattling.
"What the hell?" he murmured. Spike laid back down and then jumped as the piercing howl of a certain data dog filled the hallway, causing him to jump. He sat up just in time to see something transparent and shimmering levitate into his room. At first it was ill defined in the dim light. Then Spike's eyes adjusted to the darkness and he saw that the shape was the form of a tall man with white hair and a pair of old fashioned spectacles on his nose. His expression was calm and cocky looking. He wore white clothes and white gloves. However the strangest thing was that this figure was bound all over with chains from the ankles up. Spike felt his neck hair prickle as he realized that the person in front of him was a ghost!
"Who the hell are you?" Spike asked, shakily.
"My name is Kagato. I have come to warn you Spike Spiegal." the ghost said in a slightly British tone.
"Warn me of what? And how do you know my name?"
"Never mind your name, I have come to warn you to change your ways and to change them soon. If you do not, you will end up as I did!" Kagato exclaimed. His voice was loud enough to hear down the hall and Ein gave another howl. The howl of the corgi turned into a yelp of pain as Faye's foot slammed into him with an audible *WHUMP!*.
"You don't mean share the bounty with the rest of them! If I do that it will all be wasted." Spike snarled at the ghost. Kagato conjured and energy blade in his hand and pointed it at Spike's throat.
"Listen to me and listen well. Your greed is what I must warn you of. Greed is what earned me these chains. In life I traveled the universe, selfishly seeking the ultimate energy, and now I must wander the universe for eternity and see what I could have done with my life instead of searching for power! I sinned in greed, as you are doing right now! Unless you change your ways, you will end up as I did! Do you not know how long your chain is?" Spike was suddenly hurled to the ground as what seemed to be fifty pounds of chains crushed him.
"I don't believe you! You must be some hologram that Ed made to scare me!" he said. Kagato snarled in frustration and sliced Spike's bed in half. That was all it took to convince him that he was a real as real could get. The chains vanished and Spike got up nervously.
"If you wish to avoid the fate that I fell to, you must be haunted by three more apparitions. The first shall come at one in the morning. The second shall come at noon, and the final spirit will come at midnight. Heed their lessons well Spike!" Kagato said, and flew through the wall. Spike looked out the window and watched as it flew off into deep space, only to see it crash into a satellite and be carried off into a black hole. "OH SHIT!!" Spike heard the ghost roar before it was sucked in, satellite and all.
Spike was puzzled. If this was the result of to many cigarettes, then he would gladly give up. That vision was creepier then anything he had seen. Nah, he couldn't have seen that. He must have been hallucinating or dreaming. "I didn't see that." he said. Spike took the blankets from his sliced up bed and lay down on the floor. He was about to try to sleep again when he got up and turned on the lights to his room. It was childish, but something told him that what he saw was no hallucination. Finally, he loaded his pistol and bundled up with it in his hands like a stuffed toy. At last, he fell asleep.
That's it for now. Next up, the ghost of Christmas past comes for Spike. Now review please. Randall Flagg2