Disclaimer – I do no own Cowboy Bebop. This is my imagination at midnight after cramming for a trigonometry test. Sue me. No, wait, please don't do that. You wouldn't get much out of me anyway. I'm dead broke.

Content – A little suspense, weirdness (Duh, the story's about Ed mostly), POV changes, some betrayal, lurking shadows, heavy sarcasm, and some other stuff. Maybe fluff. *eats the fluff*

Dancing in the Dark

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Chapter 1

Slow Dance, Sleepy Beauty

"Eh…"

It was the first word uttered from my mouth, not very intelligent sounding, but to me, and the people who knew me, it was a manageable translation of "Good morning, sunshine!"

I rolled over on the couch, hidden springs poking through to my ribs. Try as I must, I couldn't dismiss it from me, nor could I render myself deaf of the never-ending sound of Ed's computer buzzing, squeaking, or being tapped upon. My brain was fizzling from my short sleep, almost burning with the want to return to the void of slumber.

But, sadly, I couldn't.

I frowned. The pattern of keyboard buttons and downloading filled my ears. Why, in all the things that had to happen in the universe, did sounds have to be enhanced six-hundred times right before you fall asleep? "Damnit Ed," I mumbled, opening one eye to glance at the thin form hunched over the computer called Tomato. Goggles strapped to her head, she was gleefully doing something on her laptop while the glow of the screen lit up her curious features. I squeezed my eyes shut, wrapped a throw pillow around my face, and tried closing my ears. I sat there a moment, frowning again under the pressure of the pillow on my face. Nevermind that the pillow was dirty and smelled bad, I could still hear it.

In one motion, I tore the pillow from my face and sat up. I opened my mouth to scream something at her when Ed's arms whipped up into the air.

"BLUE!!"

The outburst startled me, and I fell off the couch and onto the floor. My hand shot to catch myself on the edge of the coffee table, but instead, I ended up just hurting my hand on the corner and sliding the table over five inches. I lay my head down on the cool floor, trying to get over the fact that I was fully awake and would get no more sleep. Still, her cries reverberated throughout the room.

"Blue! Blue!! Blueblueblueblueblueblue!!! Blue-Blue!!"

I pulled up my shoulders a bit and stared at the young girl who looked as if she had been raised by animals. Her hair looked like wildfire as she danced about the room, hopping over the cord that connected her goggles to her computer. "Ed, what's gotten into you?" I said, more to myself than to Edward. The girl turned towards me, opening her arms as if to give me a breath-taking hug.

"BLUE!!"

It seems to have been the only word in her vocabulary at the moment. "What do you mean 'blue'?" I asked, hoping she would calm down and not wake Faye or Jet. I didn't know the precise hour, but judging by the fuzzy version of the world I was receiving, it was too damn early for either to awaken. I pulled myself up with the coffee table and looked at her. She was standing in the same position as when she screamed her last word.

"Edward going to see Blue!!"

I blinked at her, my mouth open, somewhat in shock and somewhat in abruptly halted speech. She wasn't making sense, like she ever did, but it seemed to be worse. I tried to rationalize her words. Going to see blue? Was she going to buy a coloring book and old moldy crayons again? My mind groaned as I remembered her last adventure with an ancient artist's tools made of colored wax. "Ed…" I said slowly, "what in the world is wrong with you?" I stopped speaking for a minute before a thought crept forth and I gasped. I leaned forward. "Edward… did you eat that black stuff in the back of the fridge?!" I demanded of her. She wrapped her arms around herself and shook her head with a happy smile spread across her face. She let out a loud giggle and fell to the floor. I stared as she rolled around, tangling cords around her and still screaming about 'blue'. I opened my mouth to speak but something interrupted me.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?! I NEED MY BEAUTY REST YA KNOW!"

"Damnit Faye, you don't need yell so loud…."

A growl came from behind red lacquered lips, taking a territorial sound to it. I knew Jet had raised his eyebrows and was throwing a sleepy, yet don't-mess-with-me, glare in Faye's direction.

I sighed and let my forehead fall against the cool wood of the table's edge as Ed still danced about the floor, still shrieking about something confusing.

You can't start a fire

You can't start a fire without a spark

This gun's for hire

Even if we're just dancing in the dark…

Sorry it's so short! But there are some things I wanted to put in the next chapter but they were connected to things I was going to put in at the end of this chapter blah, blah, blah, and blah… It just wouldn't make sense if I added half of it here and then the rest in the next chapter, ya know?