( Alternate Ending for The Crow : Wicked Prayer, because damn it, Jimmy Cuervo, I can't, he's so amazingly fucking sexy.. And I've taken the liberty of pairing him with an OC, who is but is not Lily.. All will be explained in the story.. This might or might not be more than a one shot, it all depends on feedback, if it's good enough, I'll continue this little one shot. Liberties have been taken slightly with the movie verse to make things make sense. And if this seems a little insane, sorry.. I got the idea earlier out of the blue, so I typed it up and am now sharing it.. Feedback depends on whether I make this one anything beyond a one shot.)

"You have to find me again, Jimmy. We promised.. We'd always be together, one way or another."

The voice came again, it was Lily, clear and soft, caressing his ear as the evening breeze caressed his cheek. He sat about a mile out of town, in the swing on the old tree they called 'their spot'.

The spot he'd have married her, had she not been killed.

He'd had a lot of time to think since he'd been taken over by the spirit of the Crow, and he'd gotten the surprising reward of having a second shot at life. He thought about his old life and how he wished he'd have fought harder for them while she was alive.

Granted, the young male had put up one hell of a fight, he'd been up against her family, the tribe she was born into, you name it, but still..

There was so much more he wanted to say, he wanted to do.

"What do you mean? Where are you?" he found himself muttering aloud as he lit a cigarette and squeezed his eyes shut, picturing Lily, his Lily, he could almost see her laugh, he could almost see the smile that started at her lips and ended with her eyes brightening.

"You always did need that little push, didn't you, Jimmy. Follow the crows. They'll lead you straight to me and you'll know. So will I."

He stretched lazily, looked at the bottle of tequila he held in his hand, and scowling momentarily, he poured it out.

This was a drunken hallucination, it had to be.

At least that's what he thought until the two crows landed on a limb nearby, and stared at him intently for at least 5 and a half minutes. He sighed raggedly as he said firmly, "The revenge is finished, guys. Now I just wanna be left alone. To mourn."

The crows however, seemed to have other plans for him, and they landed on his arms, squawking noisily, their cries grating his nerves in this drunken stupor he found himself in presently.

"Okay, damn it."

"Follow them, Jimmy.. Don't you want me anymore? I'm waiting."

He squeezed his eyes shut, this was the part that hurt the most. He still felt her touch, her kiss, her small warm body pressed against him at night when he tried to sleep, tried NOT seeing what he'd 'lived' through..

But he hadn't really lived, had he?

And was he alive now?

How had all this happened, to him of all people?

All questions he'd asked himself when he'd been taken over and raised from the grave by the Crow.

And all questions he'd yet to find the answers to.

But this latest thing, hearing her voice everywhere.. hearing her saying she was still out there..

His hopes raised momentarily, and he reminded himself he was a fool to think this was true, that there was any more to this than his heavy drinking as a way to cope with losing her.

Nothing more.

He stood and stumbled a few steps in the direction that the twin crows flew in, found himself near another dive bar in town, El Gato Blanco.

He'd been about to turn and walk away, but the voice came again, abou the same time as he noticed a brunette that looked so much like her for a moment, he had to blink and rub his alcohol hazed eyes.

"In here, Jimmy. I'm waiting. What do you think?"

As if on autopilot, he walked into the bar, slid onto a worn down leather stool as the brunette walked past him.

For some reason, he reached out, grabbed her hand, stopping her.

Lila turned and glared, then something bizarre happened. It was almost like she got flooded with all these memories.. Memories that didn't belong to her, yet bizarrely enough, they did.

She raked her hand through her hair and said quietly, "Do I know you?"

Jimmy started to let go of her, get up, walk, but instead, when he tried to move, it felt like his legs were made of concrete and weighed a ton each. He opened his mouth to speak, but she looked at him another moment and then blinked as if something were going on..

"Probably not, but I could have sworn.. Know what? Forget it, I'll take a bottle of tequila, please, Miss?"

"It's Lila."

He gaped at her a moment, and then shook his head, muttering to himself peculiarly.

Lila reluctantly turned and walked away, stopping about halfway to the back, to watch him. "Okay, what the fuck just happened.. Who is he?"

"That's some guy named Jimmy.. Comes in with a few of the other workers occasionally.. He normally never stays long, never really talks either, come to think of it.. Wh? He's cute, right?" her coworker Amanda spoke up from behind her with a wry grin as she added, "He's been through some really, really bad stuff, poor guy."

"Such as?"

"Well, he was really really serious with some girl from the reservation in the next town named Lily.. Saw her get killed.. They say it messed with his mind, because for a while, he claimed that he died too, and somehow, he was bought back to life to get revenge."

"So basically, he's a nutcase."

"But.. he's a sexy one."

"Yeah, no, I'll pass. But.. Nevermind.." Lila started as she decided to keep quiet what'd happened when she touched his hand, the flood of memories that she'd seen like a movie playing in front of her eyelids.

"Shit.. I should go get him his tequila." Lila remembered as she made herself stop staring at the man, tried to shake the odd and peculiar feelings she'd had since just moments ago, when all that happened just because he grabbed her hand.

She jumped, sliding gracefully over the bar, grabbed for the bottle of tequila, fully aware of his eyes on her as she did this.

With a wry smile, she slid the bottle to him and then asked calmly, "You sure you want the whole bottle?"

"Yeah." Jimmy said gruffly, still trying to process the bizarre thing that happened when he'd grabbed her wrist moments before.

So he'd heard of 'possession' before, but he wasn't a man who was given to any particular beliefs either way, really..

'It's me, Jimmy.. I just.. I haven't got enough power yet. But I'm getting stronger.'

He blinked as he heard her voice again, right next to his ear.

The argument from the back of the bar had his ears perked as he watched Lila, the bartender he'd mistaken for Lily getting into it with a really out of control and really drunken guy he recognized from Lily's reservation.

"You have her eyes!"

"Get your god damn hands offa me, sir or I'll put you directly on her ass!"

"You look just like my baby sister."

Lila rolled her eyes at the man and was just about to slug him when the voice spoke up from behind her, quietly.

"He's right.. You look like.. There's this girl.."

Lila groaned as she muttered to herself, "Two crazies."

Snatching her cigarettes and a lighter, she stormed out into the alley, slid down the wall, sitting on the cold hard ground as she lit a cigarette and tried to stop her hands shaking.

"What the fuck is happening tonight? I mean I realize it's Ravenfest over at the res, but really?" she muttered aloud as she heard an odd voice, right next to her ear, quietly..

'You are me and I am you. You need Jimmy, he needs , he needs me, but you're going to have to work.'

"Who the fuck are you and what the fuck are you trying to pull?" Lila asked as she stood, a pocketknife raised as she sliced at literal air.

Her grandma had been a full blooded indian, one of the tribe that the dead girl was from, and it was the anniversary of her death..

She thought back to all of the old tales, and she raked her hand through her hair as she muttered quietly, "Nah. That shit's not real."

'Oh but it is. It's very real.'

"Show yourself, god damn it." Lila commanded as she made the sign of the cross, looked around and then added, "Nope.. Never drinking a drop again, no sir."

' I can't, Lila, because I'm you.'

She'd been about to walk back into the bar, when she heard an all out brawl breaking out and for some reason, her first concern was Jimmy.

She darted inside just in time to find the two men from earlier ganging up on him.

"Hey.. Beat it." she muttered as she swung her fists, flicked open her pocketknife, and tried her best to even the odds.

Jimmy, however, stood in front of her, and eventually, picked her up, placing her out of the way as he said calmly, "Not gonna let you get hurt, Lil."

She nodded dumbly as she sat there and more memories came flooding back.

Was this Lily person taking over her mind and body? And if she were, how was this possible?

"Fuck this.. I'ma go see a shrink just as soon as my shift is up. If that doesn't work? Going to find a priest, yes sir.. Going to get myself exorcised."

'You can't. Just let this happen. We'll co-exist and merge, be one girl.'

The fight came to an end and Lila grumbled as she helped the drunken male to the back of the bar, grabbed ice wordlessly, pressed it tenderly to his face as she bit her full lower lip and studied him intently, a confused expression on her face.

The stuff her friend Amanda told her about him earlier came back and she found herself asking him things.. And what really made her concerned was that before he even really said the answers, she apparently already knew them.

"You don't do this a lot, do ya, Jimmy?"

"Only when those assholes are around. They've never.."

"They've never liked you.. Because of me, err, I mean Lily, right?"

"Basically, yeah.. Wait, did you.."

"Look, it's been a weird night, I've had night school all week, and I've got nursing finals.. It's stress, believe me.. And if it's not, it's nothing that a shrink visit or an exorcism can't fix."

Jimmy hid a slight smile as he noticed a fading scar on her arm.. A scar similar to one smaller that Lily had.

"Where'd you get that?"

"I, umm.. Actually, you know what? This is gonna sound weird but this is the first time I've noticed it.. maybe I got it when I was taking out the empties to the alley one night?"

Even as she said it, she knew it not to be true, and she looked at him for a moment, moving closer, licking her lip as she squinted, focused on a shard of glass sticking out of his cheek from a hit he'd taken with a broken long neck bottle. "Be real still, Jimmy." she said quietly, her voice coming out almost like the voice she kept hearing in her mind in the alley a few moments ago.

He winced as she pulled the slim shard of glass out of his cheek and then said "Ouch."

"I'm.. I'm sorry, I didn't mean for it to hurt?" she muttered as their eyes met and she found her lips migrating closer to his.

Amanda's throat clearing from the doorway as she announced grimly, "Dex is here, Lila.. And he's more drunk than he was last time.. He's out front, demanding you come out."

"God damn it. I told him we're done."

"Yeah? Well maybe this time, you should show him, hmm?" Amanda asked in amusement, alluding to the fact that she'd picked up on the tension, seen the 'almost kiss' moments ago before speaking up.

Lila slid off of Jimmy's lap, she'd been sitting just on the edge to clean out his scrapes, and muttered, "You. Stay put."

"You need help?" he called out, wondering what was going on between them, if this is what Lily's voice meant when he'd heard her earlier.

His eyes watched Lila's body as she ran out into the front of the bar.

Curious, he peeked out through the crack in the door, watched as she and some taller and truth be told, meaner looking guy got into it, violently.

'jimmy, he's going to hurt her! If you want this to happen, if you want me back, you have to save her!'

His hand found closed around a heavy wooden butcher knife and he walked into the main part of the bar, right over to the man, who currently held Lila by the throat, almost off the floor.

"Put her down."

Dex's gaze shot up and he laughed as he asked, "Really, babe? You ditch me for the county crazy? The guy who swears he's died and come back once? The pathetic bastard who let his girlfriend die, right in front of him?"

Lila rolled her eyes at Dex, sent her forehead smashing into his nose as she elbowed him quickly, and lunged almost as immediately as she was on her feet again. She'd had quite enough of his shit, personally, and for some reason, tonight, she just felt stronger than the norm.

'I'm trying to help you, we've got to give Jimmy some time to get to Dex's gun. He wants to shoot you, Lila. He can't shoot us, you have to fight, damn it.'

Jimmy spotted the pistol tucked away into Dex's jeans and he lunged on the man's back, grabbing it, cocking the hammer back, sliding it off safety as he smirked and said "you're gonna fuck off now, right? Don't make me shoot you, Dexter."

Dex looked at him and dropped Lila onto the floor hard, he'd gotten a hold of her again..

Turning, he walked out the door, looking back over his shoulder at Jimmy and then at Lila..

Something was really, really different about his former girlfriend, he couldn't outright put his hand on it..

She just didn't 'look herself' tonight..

Then again, she'd always sort of resembled Cuervo's chick, Lily..

Lila turned to Jimmy and said quietly, "Thanks.. But you could have gotten your own ass shot."

"It wouldn't have been the first time." Jimmy mused as he shrugged nonchalantly, looked at her and asked, "Want me to walk you home?"

"If you don't mind, I don't suppose it'd hurt.." Lila muttered as she thought to herself, 'Okay, Lily.. If this is you, I'll let you exist within me.. But I'm not saying I believe any of this hoo doo bulshit either, understood?'

"So.. your ex.."

"Is an asshole, and if I ever get my hands on a loaded gun, he's dead." Lila said abruptly as Jimmy nodded and then asked, "Earlier.. Did something weird happen to you when I grabbed your wrist?"

"What do you mean?"

"Nevermind.."

The walk continued in silence, and soon the two stood at Lila's door.

Lila raked her hand through her hair as she said quietly, "Come inside a little bit."

Jimmy started to decline, but then he heard it again..

'Jimmy, this is real, it's really happening.. She is me, I am her.. "

He thumped out his cigarette and stepped into the small and sparsely furnished house as he looked around, went back over the events of the night.

Lila watched him and then asked quietly, "You okay?"

"Yeah, it's just.. Deja vu.."

"I know what you mean."

They looked at each other for a moment, both wanting to say what'd happened, but neither wanting to really admit out loud that for whatever reason, supernatural or just plain weirdness, they were sort of drawn to one another.

Almost like old lovers reuniting after a long time apart.

Lila found herself moving closer and she leaned against him, her hands going to his scruffy, stubble filled cheeks as she pulled him into a kiss as if she weren't even control of her own body any longer.

Jimmy deepened the kiss, leaned her back against the counter in her kitchen, his hands moving slowly over an unfamiliar yet all too familiar body.

The kiss broke and for what seemed like an hour at least, they just stood staring at one another as the heat from the summer night outside, crept into the small open front door on the house.