DISCLAIMER: Hamlet and its passages are property of William Shakespeare. Faye Valentine, Sally Jung, and other characters from Cowboy Bebop are property Sunrise, Bandai, or whoever it is owns them. Any non-series (ie Agnes) character is mine.
Perchance to Dream - A Story About Faye
by LuLu
Shimmering folds of white.
She had never seen anything so beautiful but so simple. The way it fitted her body, though it had been used years before and would be used years after, was perfect. The way it flowed like a wave when she spun to look in the mirror. Everything about this gown was perfect. She only wished she could wear it more than this once, she thought to herself as she fixed her hair. After trying half a dozen styles, including an outrageous updo that involved way too many bobby pins, she had decided on leaving it down. Simple, yes, but it was fitting. It was...it was her.
"Faye~!" her mother called from downstairs. "Faye, dear, you're going to be late. You don't want to miss the ceremony, do you!?'
"I'm coming, Mom!" Faye returned, running the brush through her hair a few more times to ensure every strand was perfect. Now, all she needed was the right thing to hold it in place. "Where's the hairspray?"
She head her mother sigh. "Faye, you always come up with these things at the last minute! Do you need me to come up there?"
"No, Mom, just tell me where it is."
"Under the sink, behind my makeup bag."
"Thanks, Mom!"
Faye moved into the bathroom. Hiking up her gown to make sure it wouldn't dirty itself on the floor (though her mother always made sure it was spotless anyway), she crouched down and opened the door that led to the cabinet under the sink. Hairspray, hairspray...there was everything anyone could ever need in there, but she found it right where her mother had said - behind the large, spotted makeup bag her mother always used. She removed it and stood again, making sure nothing had been mussed. And she was still perfect, she smiled to herself as she spritzed the product on her head. Well, perfect enough. Faye studied herself in the mirror, making a memory of this moment.
"Faye!" her father called from downstairs. "Come on, it's time to go."
"Yes, Daddy~" she called, coming out of the bathroom and to the top of the second-floor stairs. "How do I look?" she asked, twirling, letting the white fabric spin around her.
"Beautiful," he smiled.
"Just wonderful," added her mother.
Faye looked at them standing together and smiled. Her father was a tall, thin man with brown eyes and shadowy, violet-tinged hair, which she inherited from him, just as he'd inherited from his mother. It was an ongoing joke in the family that the holder of the Vachelle hair color changed its gender each generation. On the other hand, Faye had gotten her green eyes and curvy figure from her shorter, brown-haired mother, both of which she appreciated greatly.
"You're going to be late," she told her daughter softly.
Faye sighed. "I know, I know. Do Grandma and Gramps have their tickets?"
"Yes," said her father.
"We can go, then? Something tells me I've got Sally waiting."
"Yes, Faye, we can go. I know how much you don't want to miss this. Even if you can't get ready on time," he added, teasing.
Today, Sunday, May 29th, 2016, was Faye Vachelle's high-school graduation.
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Outside the school's gym, the ninety-eight students of the Class of 2016 were congregating before the ceremony. After showing her parents to their seats, Faye joined the loud, excited group of girls in their white gowns and the boys in royal blue.
"Faye!" Sally exclaimed, breaking herself away from a small group of students and running to hug her friends. "Are you excited?"
"Very," Faye smiled. "Where's Agnes?"
Agnes Ormsby was the class' valedictorian and one of Faye's closest friends, along with Sally Jung. The two of them would have hated her for being so perfect if it weren't for the fact that she was so sweet. Agnes was the most brilliant girl in the class (tutoring Faye more than once in her math classes), class co-president, graceful, athletic (a star basketball player) and beautiful, too, with long, wavy blonde hair and deep blue eyes (but the ongoing joke was that Faye had the bigger bust). Though she could have been the envy of every girl in school, she was the most liked because of her cheerful demeanor.
"Oh, she's getting ready to make her speech," said Sally, rolling her eyes before breaking into a laugh.
"It's Graduation Day, though! Can't she get her mind off that speech for just one minute!"
"That depends," joked an approaching figure. "Are you two pure enough to wear white?"
"Of course we are, Agnes!" answered Sally, but her face was bright red. Faye was the only one Sally had told her biggest secret to - that she and her boyfriend had slept together on prom night.
"How's Peter, Agnes~?" Faye teased on behalf of Sally.
"He's fi~ne!" replied Agnes, hands on her hips and not a trace of red on her face.
"Why are you asking, Faye?" asked Sally innocently. "You're the one who went with him to prom..."
"...but I was the one who left with him," Agnes reminded her, and they all broke down into giggles.
Faye had gone with Agnes's longtime boyfriend, mop-headed Peter Spiegel, to prom because he and Agnes had been having a fight at the time, but they got back together at the dance. Faye had facilitated it, actually, with Agnes's date, Phil Pierce, her co-president in the student council. The four (six, counting Sally and her boyfriend) left with the rest of the class to go on the post-prom boat party, but the reunited couple spent most of their time evading the chaperones so they could make out below deck. She and Sally had some great pictures from that party, especially when they passed by "the water sploosh", as Faye had always called it.
"Graduates, line up!" yelled Mrs. Johan, the school's strict vice-principal.
Faye and her friends stopped their laughter and, with the rest of the students, followed her order. In line, Faye was in-between Janie Underwood, a mousy, curly-haired brunette, and Tim Young, a track star that Faye had flirted with briefly her freshman year.
"Hey, Faye," he grinned at her.
"Hi, Tim," she smiled back. "Congratulations."
"You too."
"Odette Cleveland!" commanded Mrs. Johan sternly. "Get in your correct place, or you won't have a place in the graduation line at all."
Odette Cleveland, a tall, busty redhead who had had the senior class reputation for being easy, frowned and moved back where she belonged behind Christian Christopher. Adlai Jameson, the boy she had been getting touchy-feely with a few people back, was quite disappointed. Tim Young smirked.
"Looks like Adlai's going to be uncomfortable for the whole ceremony," he mumbled to Faye. She bit back a laugh.
"Is there a problem, Miss Vachelle?" asked Mrs. Johan.
"No, ma'am," Faye said.
"I want silence from all of you," she said, her voice rising to a volume the whole group could hear. "I know this is your graduation day and that you're all excited, but until you get your diplomas, you all have to listen to me. Is that clear?"
There were a few mumbles of assent.
"Is that clear?" she repeated, this time firmer.
"Yes, Mrs. Johan," droned the students.
"Good. Now, we've practiced this...when the music begins, do what you've practiced. In silence."
They all stood there for five minutes, soundless until the watchful eye of Mrs. Johan. Finally, the first chords of "Pomp and Circumstance" began to play, and the single-file procession began.
In the school gym were ten rows of metal folding chairs for the graduates to process into. In front of these rows were the platform where the administrators stood and the podium from where they spoke. Filling out the rest of the gym on both sides were two large sets of bleachers, where the families and other assorted attendees of the graduation sat. As Faye entered behind Janie Underwood, she could see her father's dark hair from the corner of her eye, and felt slightly relieved. When she made it to her seat, the first thing she did was look for Sally and Agnes. Sally, she immediately spied, was two rows up from Faye's and seven chairs over to the left, while Agnes was one row up and three seats to the right. She sent a smile to each of them before the principal began to speak.
"Good afternoon, students, parents, family, and friends," he began. "We are honored to have you all here to help celebrate the achievements of the Class of 2016." He continued in his panegyric for several more minutes before finally introducing Agnes and clearing the podium for her.
As Agnes made her way to the podium, Faye couldn't have felt prouder of her friend. She looked absolutely flawless today, with her golden hair back in a simple updo, letting a few curls fall down loose around her shoulders, and her confidence made her look even better. She had heard most of Agnes's speech beforehand when she practiced it in front of her and Sally, but today, she knew as Agnes approached the platform, it would sound like new.
When Agnes was finally standing in front of her microphone, she waved to Peter. Faye broke a small smile and looked over at Peter; he was giving a small wave back. Peter had confided to her at the dance that he wanted to marry Agnes someday. Faye had always had a little bit of a crush on him, but Agnes was one of her best friends, so she gave away those feelings for him as soon as he said it and committed herself to getting them back together, and now, here they were.
"Fellow students," Agnes began. "We are lucky because we are standing at a threshold. We can look back on our past, at our past four years at this school. These are years we will remember for many years, whether it be five years from now or fifty. In this time, we felt like we were being coddled by our teachers and administrators, but in reality, they were showing us how to live, and that we must learn from our mistakes when we make them. We are also at the point where we are gazing into an unknown future, where no one will be there to hold our hands to help us out when we make mistakes. We know that the time ahead of us will be a different, difficult time, but we will all get by with help from our friends and family. That is the miracle of these four years - our memories. As long as we remember the good times we've had, we can still make it.
"As we sit here today, getting ready to enter the real world, we at the same time find ourselves at the beginning of a new age. It is truly an amazing age. We have begun travel to space, and in less than five years it is predicted that civilians will be able to travel as well with the invention of the Gates. Soon we will be able to live on planets like Mars and Jupiter. Yet we must never forget our humanity. As people, we must remember our morals and our sense of tradition. We must remember that, as humans, we have a responsibility to create, not destroy, and love, not hate. It is a lot to live up to, but we must do everything we can to ensure the success of the world we are entering. Those expectations lie in us. They lie in the way we make our decisions, the way we live our lives, and, when the time comes, the way we raise our children. May we raise them to grow up and accept the expectations of our future the way we will accept our responsibilities now.
"These past four years have been the best years of my life. I thank you all, Class of 2016, and wish the best for every one of you."
Agnes let out an overflowing, and the class began to applaud. Faye knew most of them didn't know the thought Agnes had put into that speech, but she, Sally, and Peter knew, and they applauded the loudest of all. As she headed back to her seat, the principal took control of the microphone again.
"Thank you, Agnes," he said. "Now, as tradition goes, the faculty will give their speeches on the Class of 2016."
Every year at graduation, members of the faculty made speeches about each one of the graduates. It made the ceremony longer, of course, but everyone always appreciated them. The way the tradition ran, it was always a secret as to who every teacher would speak about, but most of the students could guess - the jocks had the gym teacher speak, the historians had the history teacher speak, the musicians had the band teacher speak - it was almost typical. Some of the stories were funny, some of them were sad, but all came from a person who really meant what they said. Faye shifted in her seat as the speeches were made. She had no idea who her speaker was. She didn't excel fantastically in anything, and she had never formed any special bonds with a teacher. What if they couldn't find anyone to speak for her? She would feel so stupid if she were the only one without a speaker. Her heart was pounding after Janie Underwood's speaker, band director Mr. Hanson, finished. The principal approached the podium to reveal her speaker.
"Speaking in support of Faye Vachelle," he announced, "is Mr. Alan Lyon."
Faye's eyes widened in surprise. Around her, there were a few whispers. Sally (whose speaker had been Ms. Grenning, an art teacher) turned around from her seat and smiled at her through the row between them.
"Way to go, Faye!" she mouthed. "Mr. Lyon, of all people!"
Mr. Lyon was one of the favorite teachers at school, had taught Faye's AP Literature class her senior year. It was the only honors-level class she had ever placed in, but then again, English was the subject in which most of the senior class had Mr. Lyon as a teacher. He was clever, intelligent, and passionate about what the class studied, inspiring even the laziest students in his class. But Faye had never thought herself to be "inspired" or anything of the sort. What if it was a mistake? Faye was afraid it was. Yet Mr. Lyon was there, standing at the podium, smiling directly at Faye...or so it looked.
"Faye Vachelle," he began, but stopped to chuckle to himself. Faye blinked. Was this joke? She almost wanted to stand up and stop it, but the tone in Mr. Lyon's voice seemed to say 'No, Faye, this is exactly the way it should be.' She let him continue. "I had the privilege of teaching her only this year. At first, I thought she was a below average student put in an upper level class, judging on her sleeping habits." Faye colored slightly. "However, if anyone here knows Faye, they know she loves to argue -" Some of the members of the audience nodded. Faye could hear her father's deep, tickled laughter from his seat on the bleachers "-and she and I soon got into a few...heated discussions, so to speak, mostly about why I quality and quantity of the homework I assigned." Her father's laughter was louder. "But from those arguments she and I had, I knew she had something she just wasn't letting through.
"Earlier this semester, we as a class began to read Hamlet. I always offer my class chances to read the parts on their own, but Faye always sat in her back row seat, silent, until we came to the first scene of Act Three, Hamlet's famous 'To be, or not to be?' soliloquy. When I asked for volunteers to read the scene, I was surprised and pleased to see Faye's hand shoot into the air.
'All right, Faye,' I said, 'you can be Ophelia. Now, who wants to play Hamlet?'
Faye's hand was still in the air, so I called on her again.
'I raised my hand for Hamlet, not Ophelia,' she told me matter-of-factly.
'I don't know of any guys who would want to play Ophelia to your Hamlet,' I told her. The class laughed, but she stood firm.
'I'll play Ophelia, too, if you really want,' she said in return, 'but I want to read this. You're not going to stop me, Mr. Lyon.'
We continued on like that for a few more minutes, but I finally said 'Fine,' and let her. Let me tell you, Faye did the best job of anyone I've ever seen in delivering that soliloquy. It was the first time I'd ever let a student win an argument against me, and, as a teacher, one of the best decisions I've made. When they asked me who I'd like to speak for today, Faye immediately came to mind for the display she made in my class that day. So, congratulations, Faye. I knew you'd do it."
As he stepped down from the podium, there was boisterous applause, the loudest, from what Faye could tell, coming from the small section of her own relatives. From in front of her, Sally and Agnes (whose speaker had been the principal himself) sent bright smiles. Faye smiled proudly. As far as she was concerned, her speaker was the best surprise of the day.
"Finally," said the principal after the applause subsided, "is Timothy Young, and his speaker is Mrs. Lena Armstrong."
Faye and her classmates listened anxiously but diligently as Mrs. Armstrong, a history teacher, spoke of Tim, the last student before they got their diplomas. They all cheered when she was finished telling everyone about how gifted Timothy was when it came to memorizing dates and names and his passion for the quirks of history. Faye was surprised that the track coach hadn't been his speaker, but still applauded politely when Mrs. Armstrong finished.
Like everything else, the diplomas were distributed in alphabetical order, each student having to continue standing until every student received their diploma. As Faye accepted hers, she was given a hug from Mr. Lyon, and as soon as she and Tim were back at their seats, the principal congratulated them as the Class of 2016. Applause surrounded them as they threw their caps into the air. Faye hugged the (now former) classmates on each side of her, Tim and Janie, then Agnes, and then anyone else that came to her.
"We did it!" exclaimed Sally, who had practically leapt over the chairs to get to her.
"Of course we did it!" Faye laughed.
Faye had graduated with a B- average, which would have been a flat C without a well deserved A in AP Literature.
After the ceremony each graduate met with their parents for photographs, as was expected. Faye received countless hugs and kisses from not only her parents and grandparents, but Agnes and Sally's parents as well.
"Mrs. Vachelle?" asked Agnes after what seemed like the hundredth round of photographs. "Do you mind if we steal your daughter away for a mini graduation party at my house? It'll just be a few of us."
"Not at all, Agnes," Faye's mother said. "Have fun, Faye."
"Thanks, Mom," she said, giving her a peck on the cheek. "I'll be home later."
Her father nodded.
"Congratulations again, honey," he said.
"Thanks, Dad."
The three were off to celebrate.
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Four years later, Faye was sitting comfortably in her seat of the Gate I ship, eighth row, next to the window. The trip had been a belated birthday gift from her parents, who wanted her to be the first member of their family to enter space and be part of the inaugural group of people to pass through the newly completed Gate. She had said an emotional goodbye to them just before boarding. Sally and Agnes had come, too, to wish her a good trip and a safe return home. Three months after her re-arrival on Earth, they reminded her, Agnes and Peter were getting married, and Faye was going to be a bridesmaid. As she thought of this and the good-luck wishes of her parents, she smiled. Their destination, according to the pilot's last announcement, was coming up soon. She shut the photo album she had been looking at and slid it under her seat. From the view outside her window, she thought she could see vague shadows of where they were headed.
"All right, folks," said the deep, crackly voice coming from the cockpit, "we're approaching the Gate now. Congratulations, everyone, you're the first people to cross!"
As the people in the ship began to clap and cheer, the ship began to tremble slightly.
"Don't worry, folks," the captain assured. "It's just some turbulence, no need to be worried." However, there were traces of apprehension in his voice.
Faye gripped the armrest of her seat and looked through the window. Outside her window, Faye saw the moon crack nearly in half, and then she knew something was wrong. The ship's quaking was growing more violent as the ship was reaching the halfway point of the gate, and despite the captain's attempts to calm the passengers, they began to rise out of their seats in panic. The ship's force of gravity gave out a few moments later, and the passengers who had resisted getting up, including Faye, found themselves floating out of their seats.
Even though the loss of gravity kept her from having control over what was happening to her, Faye was too frightened to move on her own. Yet in the back of her mind, she heard her own voice from her senior year of high school.
...To die, to sleep-
No more-and by a sleep we say to end
The heartache of a thousand and one natural shocks
That flesh is heir to-'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep-
To sleep, perchance to dream. Ay, there's the rub,
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause. There's the respect
That makes calamity of so long a life...
As fire began to flood the cabin of the ship, she was surprised to find that fear had left her. That voice, drowning out the other passenger's screams, reminded her that this wasn't death, it was just sleep. To sleep, perchance to dream. She would wake up, she knew. The Gate I exploded, and only one more thought crossed her mind:
After the long, dream-filled sleep, she hoped that all she could do was remember.
Fin.
Author's notes: I've always wanted to write a Faye fanfic, and I though that something pre-series would be good to write about. This fanfic underwent a lot of changes as it was being developed in my mind (ie, the original included a fortune teller, but I eventually thought it to be unnecessary). Including Shakespeare was an accident that ended up shaping the fanfic. The soliloquy Mr. Lyon mentions and the excerpt from it that Faye quotes is, in notation, Hamlet 3.1.64-98. The fanfic in itself was written on a whim...I had the first paragraphs written and saved back in December, but didn't even touch it again until 2-8-02, on a day I was sick from school. I may write additional fanfics about the other main members of Bebop in this same style (pre-series), but not necessarily releated to one another.
And May 29th, 2016, *is* a Sunday. I checked ^^;
Special thanks to the people that havereviewed this for me, especially Lady Iapetus, who pointed out my error. It's been over a year since I watched Bebop (and I only caught a few episodes of the CN run), so things have slipped my mind, and I thank her for being so helpful. Hopefully everyone likes the name I've chosen as a replacement
Please review! Every writer appreciates feedback, including me. Thanks!
Perchance to Dream - A Story About Faye
by LuLu
Shimmering folds of white.
She had never seen anything so beautiful but so simple. The way it fitted her body, though it had been used years before and would be used years after, was perfect. The way it flowed like a wave when she spun to look in the mirror. Everything about this gown was perfect. She only wished she could wear it more than this once, she thought to herself as she fixed her hair. After trying half a dozen styles, including an outrageous updo that involved way too many bobby pins, she had decided on leaving it down. Simple, yes, but it was fitting. It was...it was her.
"Faye~!" her mother called from downstairs. "Faye, dear, you're going to be late. You don't want to miss the ceremony, do you!?'
"I'm coming, Mom!" Faye returned, running the brush through her hair a few more times to ensure every strand was perfect. Now, all she needed was the right thing to hold it in place. "Where's the hairspray?"
She head her mother sigh. "Faye, you always come up with these things at the last minute! Do you need me to come up there?"
"No, Mom, just tell me where it is."
"Under the sink, behind my makeup bag."
"Thanks, Mom!"
Faye moved into the bathroom. Hiking up her gown to make sure it wouldn't dirty itself on the floor (though her mother always made sure it was spotless anyway), she crouched down and opened the door that led to the cabinet under the sink. Hairspray, hairspray...there was everything anyone could ever need in there, but she found it right where her mother had said - behind the large, spotted makeup bag her mother always used. She removed it and stood again, making sure nothing had been mussed. And she was still perfect, she smiled to herself as she spritzed the product on her head. Well, perfect enough. Faye studied herself in the mirror, making a memory of this moment.
"Faye!" her father called from downstairs. "Come on, it's time to go."
"Yes, Daddy~" she called, coming out of the bathroom and to the top of the second-floor stairs. "How do I look?" she asked, twirling, letting the white fabric spin around her.
"Beautiful," he smiled.
"Just wonderful," added her mother.
Faye looked at them standing together and smiled. Her father was a tall, thin man with brown eyes and shadowy, violet-tinged hair, which she inherited from him, just as he'd inherited from his mother. It was an ongoing joke in the family that the holder of the Vachelle hair color changed its gender each generation. On the other hand, Faye had gotten her green eyes and curvy figure from her shorter, brown-haired mother, both of which she appreciated greatly.
"You're going to be late," she told her daughter softly.
Faye sighed. "I know, I know. Do Grandma and Gramps have their tickets?"
"Yes," said her father.
"We can go, then? Something tells me I've got Sally waiting."
"Yes, Faye, we can go. I know how much you don't want to miss this. Even if you can't get ready on time," he added, teasing.
Today, Sunday, May 29th, 2016, was Faye Vachelle's high-school graduation.
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Outside the school's gym, the ninety-eight students of the Class of 2016 were congregating before the ceremony. After showing her parents to their seats, Faye joined the loud, excited group of girls in their white gowns and the boys in royal blue.
"Faye!" Sally exclaimed, breaking herself away from a small group of students and running to hug her friends. "Are you excited?"
"Very," Faye smiled. "Where's Agnes?"
Agnes Ormsby was the class' valedictorian and one of Faye's closest friends, along with Sally Jung. The two of them would have hated her for being so perfect if it weren't for the fact that she was so sweet. Agnes was the most brilliant girl in the class (tutoring Faye more than once in her math classes), class co-president, graceful, athletic (a star basketball player) and beautiful, too, with long, wavy blonde hair and deep blue eyes (but the ongoing joke was that Faye had the bigger bust). Though she could have been the envy of every girl in school, she was the most liked because of her cheerful demeanor.
"Oh, she's getting ready to make her speech," said Sally, rolling her eyes before breaking into a laugh.
"It's Graduation Day, though! Can't she get her mind off that speech for just one minute!"
"That depends," joked an approaching figure. "Are you two pure enough to wear white?"
"Of course we are, Agnes!" answered Sally, but her face was bright red. Faye was the only one Sally had told her biggest secret to - that she and her boyfriend had slept together on prom night.
"How's Peter, Agnes~?" Faye teased on behalf of Sally.
"He's fi~ne!" replied Agnes, hands on her hips and not a trace of red on her face.
"Why are you asking, Faye?" asked Sally innocently. "You're the one who went with him to prom..."
"...but I was the one who left with him," Agnes reminded her, and they all broke down into giggles.
Faye had gone with Agnes's longtime boyfriend, mop-headed Peter Spiegel, to prom because he and Agnes had been having a fight at the time, but they got back together at the dance. Faye had facilitated it, actually, with Agnes's date, Phil Pierce, her co-president in the student council. The four (six, counting Sally and her boyfriend) left with the rest of the class to go on the post-prom boat party, but the reunited couple spent most of their time evading the chaperones so they could make out below deck. She and Sally had some great pictures from that party, especially when they passed by "the water sploosh", as Faye had always called it.
"Graduates, line up!" yelled Mrs. Johan, the school's strict vice-principal.
Faye and her friends stopped their laughter and, with the rest of the students, followed her order. In line, Faye was in-between Janie Underwood, a mousy, curly-haired brunette, and Tim Young, a track star that Faye had flirted with briefly her freshman year.
"Hey, Faye," he grinned at her.
"Hi, Tim," she smiled back. "Congratulations."
"You too."
"Odette Cleveland!" commanded Mrs. Johan sternly. "Get in your correct place, or you won't have a place in the graduation line at all."
Odette Cleveland, a tall, busty redhead who had had the senior class reputation for being easy, frowned and moved back where she belonged behind Christian Christopher. Adlai Jameson, the boy she had been getting touchy-feely with a few people back, was quite disappointed. Tim Young smirked.
"Looks like Adlai's going to be uncomfortable for the whole ceremony," he mumbled to Faye. She bit back a laugh.
"Is there a problem, Miss Vachelle?" asked Mrs. Johan.
"No, ma'am," Faye said.
"I want silence from all of you," she said, her voice rising to a volume the whole group could hear. "I know this is your graduation day and that you're all excited, but until you get your diplomas, you all have to listen to me. Is that clear?"
There were a few mumbles of assent.
"Is that clear?" she repeated, this time firmer.
"Yes, Mrs. Johan," droned the students.
"Good. Now, we've practiced this...when the music begins, do what you've practiced. In silence."
They all stood there for five minutes, soundless until the watchful eye of Mrs. Johan. Finally, the first chords of "Pomp and Circumstance" began to play, and the single-file procession began.
In the school gym were ten rows of metal folding chairs for the graduates to process into. In front of these rows were the platform where the administrators stood and the podium from where they spoke. Filling out the rest of the gym on both sides were two large sets of bleachers, where the families and other assorted attendees of the graduation sat. As Faye entered behind Janie Underwood, she could see her father's dark hair from the corner of her eye, and felt slightly relieved. When she made it to her seat, the first thing she did was look for Sally and Agnes. Sally, she immediately spied, was two rows up from Faye's and seven chairs over to the left, while Agnes was one row up and three seats to the right. She sent a smile to each of them before the principal began to speak.
"Good afternoon, students, parents, family, and friends," he began. "We are honored to have you all here to help celebrate the achievements of the Class of 2016." He continued in his panegyric for several more minutes before finally introducing Agnes and clearing the podium for her.
As Agnes made her way to the podium, Faye couldn't have felt prouder of her friend. She looked absolutely flawless today, with her golden hair back in a simple updo, letting a few curls fall down loose around her shoulders, and her confidence made her look even better. She had heard most of Agnes's speech beforehand when she practiced it in front of her and Sally, but today, she knew as Agnes approached the platform, it would sound like new.
When Agnes was finally standing in front of her microphone, she waved to Peter. Faye broke a small smile and looked over at Peter; he was giving a small wave back. Peter had confided to her at the dance that he wanted to marry Agnes someday. Faye had always had a little bit of a crush on him, but Agnes was one of her best friends, so she gave away those feelings for him as soon as he said it and committed herself to getting them back together, and now, here they were.
"Fellow students," Agnes began. "We are lucky because we are standing at a threshold. We can look back on our past, at our past four years at this school. These are years we will remember for many years, whether it be five years from now or fifty. In this time, we felt like we were being coddled by our teachers and administrators, but in reality, they were showing us how to live, and that we must learn from our mistakes when we make them. We are also at the point where we are gazing into an unknown future, where no one will be there to hold our hands to help us out when we make mistakes. We know that the time ahead of us will be a different, difficult time, but we will all get by with help from our friends and family. That is the miracle of these four years - our memories. As long as we remember the good times we've had, we can still make it.
"As we sit here today, getting ready to enter the real world, we at the same time find ourselves at the beginning of a new age. It is truly an amazing age. We have begun travel to space, and in less than five years it is predicted that civilians will be able to travel as well with the invention of the Gates. Soon we will be able to live on planets like Mars and Jupiter. Yet we must never forget our humanity. As people, we must remember our morals and our sense of tradition. We must remember that, as humans, we have a responsibility to create, not destroy, and love, not hate. It is a lot to live up to, but we must do everything we can to ensure the success of the world we are entering. Those expectations lie in us. They lie in the way we make our decisions, the way we live our lives, and, when the time comes, the way we raise our children. May we raise them to grow up and accept the expectations of our future the way we will accept our responsibilities now.
"These past four years have been the best years of my life. I thank you all, Class of 2016, and wish the best for every one of you."
Agnes let out an overflowing, and the class began to applaud. Faye knew most of them didn't know the thought Agnes had put into that speech, but she, Sally, and Peter knew, and they applauded the loudest of all. As she headed back to her seat, the principal took control of the microphone again.
"Thank you, Agnes," he said. "Now, as tradition goes, the faculty will give their speeches on the Class of 2016."
Every year at graduation, members of the faculty made speeches about each one of the graduates. It made the ceremony longer, of course, but everyone always appreciated them. The way the tradition ran, it was always a secret as to who every teacher would speak about, but most of the students could guess - the jocks had the gym teacher speak, the historians had the history teacher speak, the musicians had the band teacher speak - it was almost typical. Some of the stories were funny, some of them were sad, but all came from a person who really meant what they said. Faye shifted in her seat as the speeches were made. She had no idea who her speaker was. She didn't excel fantastically in anything, and she had never formed any special bonds with a teacher. What if they couldn't find anyone to speak for her? She would feel so stupid if she were the only one without a speaker. Her heart was pounding after Janie Underwood's speaker, band director Mr. Hanson, finished. The principal approached the podium to reveal her speaker.
"Speaking in support of Faye Vachelle," he announced, "is Mr. Alan Lyon."
Faye's eyes widened in surprise. Around her, there were a few whispers. Sally (whose speaker had been Ms. Grenning, an art teacher) turned around from her seat and smiled at her through the row between them.
"Way to go, Faye!" she mouthed. "Mr. Lyon, of all people!"
Mr. Lyon was one of the favorite teachers at school, had taught Faye's AP Literature class her senior year. It was the only honors-level class she had ever placed in, but then again, English was the subject in which most of the senior class had Mr. Lyon as a teacher. He was clever, intelligent, and passionate about what the class studied, inspiring even the laziest students in his class. But Faye had never thought herself to be "inspired" or anything of the sort. What if it was a mistake? Faye was afraid it was. Yet Mr. Lyon was there, standing at the podium, smiling directly at Faye...or so it looked.
"Faye Vachelle," he began, but stopped to chuckle to himself. Faye blinked. Was this joke? She almost wanted to stand up and stop it, but the tone in Mr. Lyon's voice seemed to say 'No, Faye, this is exactly the way it should be.' She let him continue. "I had the privilege of teaching her only this year. At first, I thought she was a below average student put in an upper level class, judging on her sleeping habits." Faye colored slightly. "However, if anyone here knows Faye, they know she loves to argue -" Some of the members of the audience nodded. Faye could hear her father's deep, tickled laughter from his seat on the bleachers "-and she and I soon got into a few...heated discussions, so to speak, mostly about why I quality and quantity of the homework I assigned." Her father's laughter was louder. "But from those arguments she and I had, I knew she had something she just wasn't letting through.
"Earlier this semester, we as a class began to read Hamlet. I always offer my class chances to read the parts on their own, but Faye always sat in her back row seat, silent, until we came to the first scene of Act Three, Hamlet's famous 'To be, or not to be?' soliloquy. When I asked for volunteers to read the scene, I was surprised and pleased to see Faye's hand shoot into the air.
'All right, Faye,' I said, 'you can be Ophelia. Now, who wants to play Hamlet?'
Faye's hand was still in the air, so I called on her again.
'I raised my hand for Hamlet, not Ophelia,' she told me matter-of-factly.
'I don't know of any guys who would want to play Ophelia to your Hamlet,' I told her. The class laughed, but she stood firm.
'I'll play Ophelia, too, if you really want,' she said in return, 'but I want to read this. You're not going to stop me, Mr. Lyon.'
We continued on like that for a few more minutes, but I finally said 'Fine,' and let her. Let me tell you, Faye did the best job of anyone I've ever seen in delivering that soliloquy. It was the first time I'd ever let a student win an argument against me, and, as a teacher, one of the best decisions I've made. When they asked me who I'd like to speak for today, Faye immediately came to mind for the display she made in my class that day. So, congratulations, Faye. I knew you'd do it."
As he stepped down from the podium, there was boisterous applause, the loudest, from what Faye could tell, coming from the small section of her own relatives. From in front of her, Sally and Agnes (whose speaker had been the principal himself) sent bright smiles. Faye smiled proudly. As far as she was concerned, her speaker was the best surprise of the day.
"Finally," said the principal after the applause subsided, "is Timothy Young, and his speaker is Mrs. Lena Armstrong."
Faye and her classmates listened anxiously but diligently as Mrs. Armstrong, a history teacher, spoke of Tim, the last student before they got their diplomas. They all cheered when she was finished telling everyone about how gifted Timothy was when it came to memorizing dates and names and his passion for the quirks of history. Faye was surprised that the track coach hadn't been his speaker, but still applauded politely when Mrs. Armstrong finished.
Like everything else, the diplomas were distributed in alphabetical order, each student having to continue standing until every student received their diploma. As Faye accepted hers, she was given a hug from Mr. Lyon, and as soon as she and Tim were back at their seats, the principal congratulated them as the Class of 2016. Applause surrounded them as they threw their caps into the air. Faye hugged the (now former) classmates on each side of her, Tim and Janie, then Agnes, and then anyone else that came to her.
"We did it!" exclaimed Sally, who had practically leapt over the chairs to get to her.
"Of course we did it!" Faye laughed.
Faye had graduated with a B- average, which would have been a flat C without a well deserved A in AP Literature.
After the ceremony each graduate met with their parents for photographs, as was expected. Faye received countless hugs and kisses from not only her parents and grandparents, but Agnes and Sally's parents as well.
"Mrs. Vachelle?" asked Agnes after what seemed like the hundredth round of photographs. "Do you mind if we steal your daughter away for a mini graduation party at my house? It'll just be a few of us."
"Not at all, Agnes," Faye's mother said. "Have fun, Faye."
"Thanks, Mom," she said, giving her a peck on the cheek. "I'll be home later."
Her father nodded.
"Congratulations again, honey," he said.
"Thanks, Dad."
The three were off to celebrate.
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Four years later, Faye was sitting comfortably in her seat of the Gate I ship, eighth row, next to the window. The trip had been a belated birthday gift from her parents, who wanted her to be the first member of their family to enter space and be part of the inaugural group of people to pass through the newly completed Gate. She had said an emotional goodbye to them just before boarding. Sally and Agnes had come, too, to wish her a good trip and a safe return home. Three months after her re-arrival on Earth, they reminded her, Agnes and Peter were getting married, and Faye was going to be a bridesmaid. As she thought of this and the good-luck wishes of her parents, she smiled. Their destination, according to the pilot's last announcement, was coming up soon. She shut the photo album she had been looking at and slid it under her seat. From the view outside her window, she thought she could see vague shadows of where they were headed.
"All right, folks," said the deep, crackly voice coming from the cockpit, "we're approaching the Gate now. Congratulations, everyone, you're the first people to cross!"
As the people in the ship began to clap and cheer, the ship began to tremble slightly.
"Don't worry, folks," the captain assured. "It's just some turbulence, no need to be worried." However, there were traces of apprehension in his voice.
Faye gripped the armrest of her seat and looked through the window. Outside her window, Faye saw the moon crack nearly in half, and then she knew something was wrong. The ship's quaking was growing more violent as the ship was reaching the halfway point of the gate, and despite the captain's attempts to calm the passengers, they began to rise out of their seats in panic. The ship's force of gravity gave out a few moments later, and the passengers who had resisted getting up, including Faye, found themselves floating out of their seats.
Even though the loss of gravity kept her from having control over what was happening to her, Faye was too frightened to move on her own. Yet in the back of her mind, she heard her own voice from her senior year of high school.
...To die, to sleep-
No more-and by a sleep we say to end
The heartache of a thousand and one natural shocks
That flesh is heir to-'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep-
To sleep, perchance to dream. Ay, there's the rub,
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause. There's the respect
That makes calamity of so long a life...
As fire began to flood the cabin of the ship, she was surprised to find that fear had left her. That voice, drowning out the other passenger's screams, reminded her that this wasn't death, it was just sleep. To sleep, perchance to dream. She would wake up, she knew. The Gate I exploded, and only one more thought crossed her mind:
After the long, dream-filled sleep, she hoped that all she could do was remember.
Fin.
Author's notes: I've always wanted to write a Faye fanfic, and I though that something pre-series would be good to write about. This fanfic underwent a lot of changes as it was being developed in my mind (ie, the original included a fortune teller, but I eventually thought it to be unnecessary). Including Shakespeare was an accident that ended up shaping the fanfic. The soliloquy Mr. Lyon mentions and the excerpt from it that Faye quotes is, in notation, Hamlet 3.1.64-98. The fanfic in itself was written on a whim...I had the first paragraphs written and saved back in December, but didn't even touch it again until 2-8-02, on a day I was sick from school. I may write additional fanfics about the other main members of Bebop in this same style (pre-series), but not necessarily releated to one another.
And May 29th, 2016, *is* a Sunday. I checked ^^;
Special thanks to the people that havereviewed this for me, especially Lady Iapetus, who pointed out my error. It's been over a year since I watched Bebop (and I only caught a few episodes of the CN run), so things have slipped my mind, and I thank her for being so helpful. Hopefully everyone likes the name I've chosen as a replacement
Please review! Every writer appreciates feedback, including me. Thanks!