Call Me, Call Me
~A Spike Spiegel One-Shot~
Disclaimer: I do not own Cowboy Bebop or any CB characters. I do, however, own my OC (Mallory Longoria) and her sister (Melanie). Credit for the title goes to the composer Yoko Kanno.
Every time she closed her eyes, it was him she thought of. Him. The man who had been her childhood friend, the one who walked away from it all. And for what, to join a criminal organization? No, there had to be more to it. Why throw away everything and receive hardly anything in return? Every time Mallory thought about it, she could never come up with an answer.
That's why she still searched for him. That's why she had spent the last seven years looking for him. She had no idea if he was still alive or if he had died a long time, but she still sought after him. Honestly, she would have been okay with finding a gravestone with his name on it. But, truthful, she hoped to God that he was still alive and breathing.
She just wanted to hold his hand like old times, and fall asleep to the sound of him telling her a story. It would have been their childhood all over again. Only this time, they were grown adults. Both in their late twenties, and both with pasts they didn't care to talk about. Though, Mallory was sure that he was worse off than she was. She didn't go and join the syndicate like he did. The Red Dragon Crime Syndicate, that's who he had signed his life away to.
He never gave her a reason why he joined, all he did was just walk out the door and never return. He never called, never tried to contact her, never visited her. It was like Spike Spiegel just didn't exist anymore, but the memories still remained.
.
.
Whenever Mallory closed her eyes, she thought of the days when she and Spike would run through the empty fields pretending to be explorers, bounty hunters, pilots, and anything else their little imaginative minds could think up. One day, they decided to put their action packed adventures aside and take a more relaxed approached. They ended up played house. Spike was the husband, and Mallory had been the wife. They had even convinced Mallory's little sister Melanie to be their daughter. After they had been playing for a few hours, Melanie got tired and ran inside to take a nap, leaving Spike and Mallory to their own devices.
"Hey, Mallory?" Spike had asked as they lay down in the field.
"Yes, Spike?" Mallory had responded.
"One day, you'll be my wife for real. And we'll have our own house together! We might even have a daughter or a son, and maybe even a dog! What do you think?"
Little nine-year old Mallory smiled at her best friend.
"Are you just saying that, or is that a promise?"
Spike sat up. "That's a promise!" He had said excitedly.
"We'll even shake on it." He stuck out his hand and Mallory took it in her own, squeezing it as she looked him in the eye.
"Alright, then. It's a promise."
.
.
Mallory had to get to Spike, but she didn't know how. She had no idea where to even start looking for him. After he left for the syndicate, he pretty much dropped off the map.
'Is he even still alive?' Mallory would ask herself whenever she would lay awake at night. Was he? Or, was he long dead and buried? The very thought of Spike being dead scared Mallory to no end. Why couldn't she find even a small trace of him? Had he really just disappeared like that? Guilt and doubt consumed Mallory, torturing her almost every waking second.
"I've got to find him," She would tell herself. When it really came down to it, Mallory just wanted Spike to call her and tell her that he was okay. She wanted him to tell that everything was going alright. She wanted her mind to be eased, but that was like asking the heavens to make it rain money. That just gave her more reasons to find him. More reasons for her to search the galaxy, looking for just one man.
"Come on Spike, give me a sign that you still care." That's all Mallory could ask for, a sign that he was still alive.
.
.
That sign came to her as she walked along a dirt road through an almost abandoned town on Earth. She had stopped here to see a large fountain that was built around the time her great-grandparents had met. As she looked at it, the water loudly spouted from the fountain, causing miniature waterfalls to fall from the broken middle section to the cracked base. She sighed as she looked at the small rainbow that the water droplets were making.
Rainbows, waterfalls, and bright, sunny dreams.
All things that dated back to her childhood. Mallory clenched her fist as tears pricked the back of her eyes, fighting to escape. There was hardly any hope left for her. She'd been searching for seven years, and hadn't found a single trace of her childhood best friend. What made her think that she was ever going to find one? She slumped down against the base of the fountain, the rocks scrapping against the back of her shirt. Her long blonde hair blew into her face, obscuring her vision.
When she had managed to fight the locks back, she saw a pair of legs in white high heels standing in front of her.
"Excuse me, but are you from around here?" The woman asked her.
Mallory looked up, her eyes climbing the figure until she had found her faces. "No, uh, I'm not. I'm just here to look for someone."
The woman, who had violet hair, tugged at her skimpy yellow jumpsuit. "So am I."
Mallory picked herself up off of the ground, "I guess we're both looking for a piece of our past."
The woman nodded and looked out at the ocean.
"We're probably looking for two totally different people though," She said with a sad tone.
This time, Mallory nodded. "You're probably right. I'm looking for a man who walked out of my life when we were young. I've been searching for seven years, and I haven't found a single clue as to where he could be. Spike was never this hard to find when we were kids."
The woman quickly looked at her with a shocked expression.
"Spike? No, it couldn't be the same guy," She said almost quietly.
"Wait, you know a guy named Spike? Spike Spiegel? He has green hair, kind of grows in a sideways afro," Mallory made random hand gestures to describe his hair, "and he's really tall and lanky, hard to miss in a crowd. Is that anything like-"
The violet-haired woman didn't let Mallory finish her sentence. "That's him. That's the Spike I know."
Tears came to Mallory's eyes. Finally, her search had come to end! Tears spilled like wildfire, splashing onto the dirt. The woman with violet hair stared at Mallory for a minute.
"Are you okay?"
Mallory managed to nodded before she attempted to wipe away some of the tears.
"I've been searching for him for what seems like ten thousand years. He never called, not once after he left. And I vowed to find him. I felt so guilty for not putting up a fight and just allowing my best friend to walk out of my life. We've known each other since we were basically born, and I just let him leave like that. I couldn't forgive myself…" Mallory choked back the tears and wiped her face with a handkerchief.
"Please tell me where I can find him! I have to see him!"
The woman pointed over to her ship that was docked about a hundred feet away.
"You can take it back to the Bebop. Don't keep him waiting. They should be orbiting the Earth, or somewhere close to it"
Mallory hugged her and before she started to run to the red ship, she stopped for a second.
"What's your name?"
The woman smiled, "Faye. Faye Valentine."
Mallory hugged her again. "My name is Mallory Longoria, and I am forever in your debt!"
Just as she articulated the last syllable, Mallory sprinted off to the ship. She had finally gotten the break she deserved.
.
.
As she circled half-way around the planet, Mallory began to doubt herself a little. Would she really find Spike now? She worried that he wouldn't remember her.
'I can't think about that now. I have to find him,' She told herself reassuringly.
She worked her way out towards the moon and the nearest gateway. Every time she didn't find something, a little piece of her high hopes crumbled. She continued to scan around her, but after another hour, she came up empty.
"Dammit!" She screamed. "Just another dead end!" Mallory pounded her fist against the control panel, hitting a few buttons in the process.
Suddenly, the sound of static filled the cockpit. Mallory's ear perked at the sound.
"Hello?" A voice called.
"Faye?" It asked.
"No. This isn't Faye. She's just letting me borrow her ship. My name is Mallory, and I'm looking for Spike. Do you know where to find him? Please help me."
The voice was quiet, but Mallory could still here the static.
"We're about a thousand meters in front of you. The docking bay is in the back of the ship." The transmission was cut off and Mallory gunned the ship. She was so close to finally seeing him.
.
.
The bay door opened and Mallory pulled the ship inside, gently landing it in an open space. She saw two other ships, a yellow one that had the name Hammerhead written on the side, and another that had the name Swordfish II printed just under the cockpit. After getting out of the ship, Mallory looked around to see tools and ship parts strewn about the tables that were lined against the wall.
"So, you're looking for Spike, huh?" A man's voice called out. It was the same voice that had talked to her on the intercom system.
"Yes, I am."
The man walked closer, "Well, you're in the right place. This is the Bebop, and my name is Jet."
Mallory couldn't help but start to tear up. "Jet, thank you so much for helping me. Where is he?"
Jet pointed to the door, "He's in the parlor, lounging on the couch. Just keep going down the hallway, and it dead ends in there."
Mallory walked over to him and hugged him. "Thank you, once again Jet."
She sprinted to the door, thrust it open, and raced down the hallway. She could see the parlor. It was like the light at the end of a tunnel. Being so close only made Mallory run faster and take longer strides. She was out of breath by the time she reached the parlor, but when she got there, she saw a pair of green-ish black boots hanging off the end of the couch. Mallory made her way over to the couch, and walked around it.
There was Spike, looking just as he did the day he left all those years ago.
"Spike?" Mallory quietly said as she stepped closer to the couch.
"Spike?"
He stirred and opened his eyes to look at her. He gasped and tumbled off the couch, making a loud thud as he landed on the metal floor. After groaning and picking himself back up, Spike took a seat on the couch without taking his eyes off of Mallory.
"You're actually alive! I feared that you had been killed when you worked for the syndicate... I've been looking for you for so long, and now you're actually right here in front of me. You never called me… Why? I prayed every day that you would walk back through my door, or call me and tell me that you were alive and everything was alright. God, Spike, I've been tortured by the fact that I let you walk out of my life."
Spike looked shocked, and he didn't say a word.
"You don't remember me, do you? I feared that as well…" Mallory looked down at the ground and started to tear up. "I've been looking for you for seven years, and when I finally find you… You don't remember me. Me, of all people. Your own childhood best friend." Tears slid down her cheeks. She crumpled to the floor, and sat on her knees crying.
"Why, Spike? Why?"
A pair of arms wrapped around her and she opened her eyes to see Spike holding her.
"I never meant to walk out like I did. It just… happened. It was easier that way. I didn't want you to think that I didn't care about you or our families. I had to leave, because I had to protect everyone. I'm sorry, Mallory."
Mallory continued to cry. "But, Spike, why didn't you ever come back? I waited for you for so long and when I realized that you weren't coming, I started looking for you!"
He stroked her hair and rocked her a little.
"If the syndicate knew about you or our families, they could have killed you. When I deserted the syndicate, they would have come after you looking for me. That's what I wanted to avoid."
Mallory shook her head. "I've been waiting for so long! I've missed you so much, Spike. It's been killing me these past ten years."
Spike wiped her tears away. "I know, Mallory, and I'm really sorry. Please, don't cry anymore. I'm here with you now."
This didn't stop Mallory from continuing to sob for a few minutes before finally being able to calm down.
"Spike, do you remember the promise that you made to me when we were nine?" Spike thought for a minute.
"Was it the promise that I made that day we played house?"
Mallory nodded.
"What about it?" He asked.
"Do you still mean it, or are you going to break it?"
He didn't answer at first.
"I guess I shouldn't have expected you to keep a silly little promise like that, especially since we haven't seen each other in so long. You probably met a-"
Mallory was silenced by Spike's lips meeting hers.
"I meant it, even if I never called. I never stopped thinking about how I walk out of your life, and I felt so guilty for never trying to find you. I figured that you had moved on and started your own life."
Mallory shook her head. "Oh, god no, Spike. I promised myself to someone when I was nine. And I stuck to that."
Spike put on a half-smile. "So, what do you say about picking up where we left off?"
Mallory smiled widely. "I'd have to say that is the best idea I've ever heard."