Chapter 4

A new life, a new reason why….

Laughing Bull tired with age but wise as time, healing the broken star. The body stirs but he knows he will not wake. He looks up at the first evening star for guidance; he watches as the star brightens then dims, brightens then dims. He stares back at the human, a bit concerned about the future soon to be present. He knows though he will be taken care of as long as the man that lies before him can see beyond his past.

He prepares his remedies and sprinkles it on the man he is healing. Chanting his prayers for a speedy cure; He bandages the sword wounds on the man before him. Taking out a bullet or two before it gets infected. He stares up at his comrades.

"This Swimming Bird can survive, if he can find forgiveness. This Swimming Bird lost his past but he has not yet lost his future."

His two brothers nod in unison; kneeling and entering the room they helped Laughing Bull with the cure.

~~~~ In Mars~~~~~~

Walking the streets of Mars, Faye can't help but acknowledge the pain she is feeling in her heart. 'What am I going to do?'

She walks aimlessly and bumps in to an elderly woman who turns around and starts telling her off. Oblivious to the rude remarks, she continues her walk to the Bebop

'Did he not care about us? About-- me?'

She looks up to the red purple sky,

'you're an asshole, Lunkhead'

she continues on '

What about Jet? Should I leave? Where do I go? Should I leave and forget?...no. I can't do that to Jet, granted he's a tough bastard, but he's the only family I have, I can't lose connection with the only thing I know. What about that kid and her stupid mutt? Are they ok? God, I hope so'

She opens the hangar door and makes her way to the yellow couch lying there staring at the fan slowly rotating. How can she leave a place that was now her home? To leave would be too cowardly and Faye Valentine is no coward, but to stay? To face facts every time she walks by his room, this yellow couch she lays on, almost seemed impossible, his ghostly image already haunting her; while she stares at the door frame she can see him leaning there-- smoking a cigarette, head slightly lowered and a smirk that you couldn't help but admire.

As quickly as she saw it, he vanished

"WAIT! DON'T GO!....wait."

she lays her head in her hands and cries. The tears she's been holding in since seeing the building spill out and it seems there is no stopping them. She pulls out his gun, stares at it and pulls the trigger, nothing shot out.

"Crazy bastard"

she couldn't help but smile.

Though she knows it would be hard to deal with for a great while it was better than being alone, and right now she didn't want to be she lays down on the couch too tired to move and too blind by her tears she lays on the couch where she can smell him and sleep.

~~~~2 hours later~~~~

Jet walks in a bit tired and sore from the long walk. He was grateful that he didn't return too early, upon seeing Faye lying down with a tear stained face. He wouldn't have been able to stay in control anymore. He finds a blanket and lays it on top of her. Walking to the kitchen he fixes up the usual, bell peppers and beef, without the beef.

~~~On earth~~~

"Oooh!."

The sound of clicking is heard.

"nyaaa!!"

in the dark in a messy room, you see an outline of a very excited, Ed. Eyes glowing eerily she looks at Ein a bit shocked at seeing the wicked grin upon her face he perked up his ears and tilted his head

"arf?"

Ed glances at Ein

"Pow! Chyaa! I found them, yes I did, the beep, beep, bop, boop, THE BEBOP!"

she flips backwards and rolls in to a ball, rolling towards Ein she picks him up and shucks him to the air "paaauuuu!"

Ed miraculously catches him.

"We are going back to the place where we belong Ein"

hearing this news Ein wiggles his tail and barks in excitement.

"SHHHH!!...Ein"

She crouches down to Ein holding his snout lightly.

"We can't let the spooky-ooky MOOONSSSTER! Hear us Ein, he's not good for Ed"

upon saying this she howls and wiggles her arms to give it a ghost effect. Glancing at the snoring figures she frowns a bit.

She couldn't leave father-person, but she was bored and inside she knew he wouldn't notice. Petting Ein on the head, he nuzzled up to her. Looking determined she smiles and with a spray can she found she wrote "Ed " across the wall. She packed up tomato and secured Ein with her on her super scooter. And they were off! With bright hopes for the future.

~~~ 10 miles south~~~

In a docking station, three men are lifting crates to a carrier. Ed eavesdrops to see where the cargo is going.

"Hey! Jake! What the hell are you doing!"

the fat sweaty man yells at a teenage boy. Jake looks up at the man a bit annoyed, he could have sworn he saw a little dog.

"What does it look like I'm doing!"

the fat man, a bit ticked off yells back

"Get your ass over here and start moving these fuckin' crates!"

Jake gives up his search but will keep a careful eye out for it, and glares at his boss

"Damn lazy bastard, can't even do shit!"

He sighs as goes to the crates.

Keeping Ein close to her, she slithers down to one crate to the other slowly getting closer. All she needs to do is find a crate big enough for her and Ein that is being shipped to Mars. Ein, whines as Ed's bone crushing death grip never faltered. Ed looks down

"Shhh…Ein….we have to be quiet"

She sees two boxes. One tall and skinny and one short and round and coincidentally enough they were going to mars.

"Nyaaa! "

She grins and for a second she looked like an evil scientist. She crouches down, looking to her left, right, forward and back and

"HEY!"

Ed stands up and crouches back down. Jake a bit confused by seeing Ed tries to talk to her

"Hey! Kid! You can't be here!"

Ed starts growling along with Ein

"huh?"

Jake sees Ed ready to pounce

"Are you ok?"

Ed whispers to Ein

"Ein, open the crates"

Ein with no question goes off.

"Hey stop!....siiit!....sit! lay down! Halt!"

Jake yelled as many commands to the dog, but it was like the dog had no ears.

Going back to the matter at hand he points a finger at Ed. Opening her mouth she bit down. He started screaming. Trying to pry her mouth open she starts to jump around. Spinning him in circles and crawling all over him, she starts biting his head.

"Hey kid, stop it! Knock it out! Ouch!!! That hurts!"

Jake a bit confused was trying to figure out what in the world was going on. It was just a day of hard labor and cheap pay. Being attacked by possibly a boy or a girl he really couldn't tell and its dog was not in his agenda. He grabbed Ed by the ankles, not strong enough to hurt her but just enough pressure for Ed to curiously stare at him. "Huunn?" Ed looks up Jake's jeans stuffed in her mouth.

"Let!....Go….of…meee!"

Jake growled out the words holding back his frustration.

"….?_?"

Ed slowly let herself drop slithering to a stand, spitting out the jeans she torn off

"What is the trouble Capt'n?"

Ed stands at attention saluting.

"uh…you are not allowed to be here"

Jakes starts pushing her out.

" You should go back home"

Ed looks up

"That's what I'm doing"

she smiles wide at him

"huh? What do you mean? This isn't your home"

He stopped and places a hand on her shoulder.

"Of course this is not my home, silly. Me and Ein are going back to where we belong!"

"Oi, boy! GET TO WORK! Eh!"

Bill starts walking over to Jake unable to see the two small companions.

"Stupid kid! They are all lazy!"

He grumbles to himself.

"Look kid, you are going to get me in trouble, please just go home"

Ed looks at him a bit confused

"That is what I am trying to do" ^^;

Jake pays close attention to Ed and noticing that Ed is a girl, feeling a bit sorry for the girl he sighs "Alright, where do you need to go?"

at this Ed perks up

"oooh! We are going to the Bebop!"

she starts to hop around him laughing her heart out.

"Shhh!...keep it down! My boss is coming…where is the bebop?"

He starts to whisper and crouching a bit so his boss can't see him.

"The bebop is at mars! It's at Mars!!!"

she shouted unable to contain her excitement. Ein starts barking as well .

"WHAT IN GODS NAME ARE YOU DOING THERE!!!"

Bill starts to hurry over to Jake getting very frustrated with the lack of work Jake has done. Too angry to pay attention to the crates that just fell right in front of him missing him by mere inches. To shocked to move, Jake uses this chaotic time to put Ed and Ein in the boxes that were being shipped to mars.

"okay just stay still, whatever you do, don't make any noise and if they see you just run"

he pets Ein and tries to shake hands with Ed only to have her lick his palm like a dog. Grossed out but having no choice but to appreciate the gesture he closes them in and moves them to the proper ship.

Bill finally out of his daze grabs Jake by the scruff of his collar

"listen boy! You better start doing some work around 'ere or you gonna get 'irself fired, eh! Do we gots an understandin'?"

Jake nods noticing the yellow/green teeth and putrid breathe Bill breathed out. Letting him fall, he waddles back inside his office and slams the door. He carefully moves the two crates as careful as he could "Shhh…stay quiet….not a sound you guys…"

"NYAH!!.....ouch……ouchies!......uh oh"

Ed tried her hardest not to smash Ein but gravity was just too strong for the scrawny genius

"auuuunff!!"

Ein sqealed

Jake walking as casual as he could

"hey kid, what's in that box" J

ake froze

"NOTHING!...(cough)…nothing"

The older man couldn't help but look suspicious at him,

"Are you hiding something?"

he steps a little closer

"Uh, no! of course not!, I mean what could I possibly hide? I'm just a kid, I just saw a rat"

The man widens his eyes

"Is that right? A rat, you say?"

"Yea-huh, you know how those rats can be..very…uh…viciously weird?"

Jake was so confused

"ooooh!!! Ein where is the rat? Do you see it boy?"

Ed questioned the dog, she was confused, there were no rats, she picked up Ein and looked under him, then crawled to the other side

"huh?"

Jake blushes as the box starts to make it's own sound effects and rattles from Ed and Ein's movement

"Hey kid, what's in there?"

"I told you nothing, it's….those….damn….rats!!"

he shouts out as he stomps and kicks the box

"nyaaaAAh!!, ouches!! Mr. Jake person that hurts!!"

Ed glares at the little peep hole. The worker comes closer,

"what did it say?"

he comes close enough to open the crate and Jake holds his breath hoping that Ed and Ein could somehow turn invisible,

"Doooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!"

the lunch bell rings

"huh! Sweet! Lunch!! See ya kid, that box better not be talking to me or anything or I'm shooting holes the next time it speaks to me"

He walks away while his stomach grumbles.

Finally calm enough to take a deep breath

"whoa…that was close"

He puts the crate inside the ship and puts it in a dark corner

"Make sure you guys are nice and quiet ok, here you guys can have my lunch"

He opens the crate enough to slip the bag through

"oooh!! Thank you Mister Jake person!!"

Ed smiles at him,

"Come on Ein, we'll save this for later,aaaaaaauuuuuughh….let's take a nap"

she chokes Ein to a bone crushing hug as he let's a out a little squeal of surprise, soon fixing himself they both fell asleep with smiles on their faces for their home return.

(At the Bebop)

"Wait!!"

Faye runs to the figure up ahead, tripping on the wet floor

"hold on!!"

She gets up and starts running again, but the figure just gets smaller and smaller, she hasn't advanced much since she started running

"Please Spike!! Wait for me!!!"

Her eyes glimmer with tears and she notices she's starting to get closer to him bit by bit, He turns around and looks at her and continues walking away as he is whispering something

"what?"

she questioned

"Wait up damn it!!"

and there up ahead she sees her, Julia looking so elegant, so beautiful even the angels were jealous and Spike smiling as he wraps his arms around her. Faye stops running afraid of what she is seeing, not wanting to believe it, she sees Spike leaning down a bit to give Julia a passionate kiss, Faye turned away too embarrassed of herself, god she was such a fool; who was she to compete with this woman? Even in death her shadow loomed over her but she couldn't just give up

"Spike…..what about us?"

Jet, Ed and the dog appear next to her Spike looks over and shakes his head

"What about me? SPIKE!" Spike glances at her

"Bell peppers with beef" Faye looks up

"What?"

and everything melts away and that is all she can smell, Bell peppers and beef? She slowly wakes up stretching along the sofa, careful not to move too quick as her tired bones and lower back slowly adjust themselves.

'Is that beef I smell?'

She props herself up with her elbows, sticking her nose in the air she sniffs

"What is that smell?"

she gets up and walks toward the kitchen.

Jet finishing the final touches of his dinner he notices Faye walking in a bit dazed

"What is that?"

Jet looks up

"What is what?"

Faye takes a seat at the little round table

"That smell, it smells so good…it actually smells like bell peppers and beef! I mean actual beef in there"

Faye lifts herself more to smell the air in hopes to some how taste it. Jet a bit worried

"Haven't you eaten?"

Faye answers a quick no

"oh that's a shame I only made food enough for me."

Jet smirks a bit at seeing Faye's pouting face

"Are you serious? I mean, I've always liked your food, especially now, with all that beef!"

She licks her lips in full anticipation.

"hagh!"

Jet coughs out

"No, need to lie, and get that look off your face!... geesh worse than a kid"

He sets both their plates down

"Oh really? I get to have a plate?"

Faye smiles, she didn't realize it 'til now but she really was hungry, she hasn't ate since….well, it's been four days.

"Well it's not like I'm going to let you starve"

Jet rolls his eyes when Faye starts choking

"Chew your food, Faye"

She couldn't help but laugh a little, despite the situation, she needed some comfort and what better comfort than food? They eat their food in comfortable silence. Enjoying the best thing that happened to the both of them; so far.