Disclaimer: I don't own the Bebop boys, I'm not making money on them, so just enjoy and don't sue me.

Session Eleven: Two Angels Who Were Rescued From the Fall

Spike stepped through the rusty iron gate of the old graveyard and looked around. A woman with a child stood by a gravestone, heads bowed in reverent silence. An old man laid a quivering bouquet of flowers on another grave. Spike shoved his hands in his pockets and started walking through the cemetery. He didn't know what he expected in this Scarlet Nanashi, but these people didn't seem to fit the description. Besides, Gren's grave was over the hill.

Spike had pretty much guessed who the Nanashi was. There was only person who would know who Radical Edward was and connect her with the Bebop crew. Not to mention, she had also called Spike by name, wanted to meet by Gren's grave and she provided Jet with the systems information for the Bebop after she had wiped them from the Bebop's computers four months ago. Mira. Yet another failure in the chapter of Spike Spiegal's life. He wondered why she wanted to meet him. Why not Jet or Faye? He chuckled to himself. She would probably try to kill him. And after her rejection of his confession of love for her, death seemed like such a small thing. But at least now she knew how he felt towards her. And with her losing Gren so recently, he wasn't about to bring up those feelings again. She would come to him one day. He only hoped that it would be one day soon.

He could see Gren's grave up ahead and there was a person standing there. At first Spike thought he had the wrong grave. There was woman standing there, dressed in dark pants, and a bright red leather jacket with the gold Dragon of the Red Dragon Syndicate emblazoned on the back. But long, wavy tresses of pearl white hair hung over the woman's shoulder. Well, there was only one way to find out who this was.

"Nanashi."

She turned around slowly, sweeping the dark sunglasses off with a graceful hand. The eyes were the same artic blue, but they seemed older. The face was the same angular lines, but harder and more drawn. She looked so different.

"Spike."

"I figured out it was you. Have you always been the Nanashi?"

"Yes, I have. I wondered if you were really going to come."

Spike grew serious. "I will always come when you need me."

He saw her swallow as she placed the sunglasses back on her nose. "We need to get going. Time is running out and Vicious is not a pacient man."

"May I pay my respects first?"

Mira turned around annoyed. "Spike-"

"I liked him."

She stopped mid-rant and listened.

"He was a good man, not just to you, but to everyone. If he knew your name, he considered you a friend. He took everyone at face value, no one had a past. A past to Gren was merely something that brought you here, not something to look back on and regret. I wish more people were like him. This world would be a lot nicer. I'll miss him. But I'll miss him even more because his death hurt you. It wasn't fair for him to be taken like that. You both deserved better than what you were given."

Spike turned to go but found Mira standing in front of him. Sun glinted off something underneath her sunglasses. He realized it was tear. A flash of memory struck him. It was when Mira had learned of Julia's death just after taking him in and nursing him back to health.

"Mira, stay in here and eat. We have three years to catch up on."

"Not tonight Spike. I'm sure you want to be alone for a little while."

Spike was careful not let his voice get harsh, but kept it quiet and low. "And do what? Grieve for her? I don't have enough tears to cry for her."

"I do."

"Crying isn't going to bring her back, Mira. You know that."

"I'm not grieving for just her."

Something cold and wet touched his hand. Spike blinked back to the present. He had instinctively reached out to wipe the stray tear from off her cheek.

"You haven't grieved yet for him, have you Mira?"

A sad smile touched her lips. "I don't have enough tears to cry."

"You'll find them. And if you don't, you can borrow some of mine. That night, after you left me, telling me you were going to grieve for Julia, I did cry for her. And I was right, it didn't bring her back. But it did give me closure. I realized she was gone and there was nothing I could do to bring her back. You need to do the same with Gren."

He watched her bottom lip quivers slightly as she tried to hide the fact. He took a chance and pulled her into his arms, hugging her tightly. As soon as he did, the tears did come. Three months worth of them. Spike held her while she cried into his shoulder, grateful that he could relieve some of her pain.

___________________________________

Jet leaned back in the chair he had set out on the deck of the Bebop and took a long drawl on his cigar. He had expected Spike to be back before now, but if it was Mira he was meeting, well, the longer he was away to better the outcome would be. When he and Mira had their conversation on the bridge, he knew deep down that Spike was the one for her. She would keep him in line, and he would always protect her from anything harmful. As idiotic and brash as Spike was, he never failed to come through when it mattered.

"So, where is he?"

Jet suppressed a groan. "I don't know Faye, he hasn't called to tell me."

"Do you really think it was Mira? Or could it have been someone else?"

"Someone else? As in who?"

"I don't know. Maybe someone from his Syndicate. Possibly even Vicious."

Jet took a puff on his cigar. "Possibly. But you should know by now, Spike is a big boy. He can take care of himself."

"Really? Might I remind you of the time when he-"

"Okay. So he's gotten into a few scrapes in the past. But the Nanashi really is Mira. Like Spike said, who else would know to connect Radical Edward with us? Besides," Jet smiled and stood up, "here they come now."

Faye looked down to see Spike and Mira walked towards the ship. From the looks of it, neither one was talking to the other. Spike had his hands in his pockets, as always, and Mira merely walked by his side. Faye squinted. The hair color was wrong.

"Jet, I don't think that's Mira. Her hair is white."

Jet looked down. "No, that's Mira. Walks like her. I'll guess we'll find out when they get up here. But before they do Faye, is she anything like Julia?"

"She's exactly like Julia. But Mira has a way to talk, allowing you to think she's opening up to you, when in fact, she's saying nothing at all. Julia was mysterious, but Mira is a ghost. Ed said that Nanashi was Japanese for "I have no name". Let me just say, that's the perfect name for Mira."

Jet nodded his head in understanding. The only thing he did know about Mira, was that she was good person. That was enough for him. However, seeing the serious faces of Spike and Mira, he realized he was about to learn a lot more about her.

______________________________

Mira shifted uncomfortably under the eyes of Spike, Jet, Faye, Ed and even Ein. Taking a deep breath, she began the hardest speech of her life.

"From my research on Vicious, he's planning to make Mao Yenrai's old mansion into the new headquaters of the Red Dragons. What I can tell from correspondence between him and others from the Syndicate, he has a large following. And he still wants me to join as well, as his advisor."

Spike spoke up from the corner. "What I know of Vicious is he was never one to share power. What makes you think that he's going to give you that position?"

"I never mentioned how long I would be in that position. He knows that I am the Nanashi. How, I can't tell, but he knows. He won't kill me on the spot for two reasons. One, I'm certain of, the second, I can't be so sure will be a protection. The first is he knows about the file collection. If he can get me into the Syndicate again, he will have access to those files. Once he has those, I'm dead."

"So what's your plan?" Jet asked.

"Let me go in. I'll give him a fake disk and while he thinks he converting it over, I'll be able to shut down his secreity and let you guys in. We take out Vicious, and the power goes to me. After that, I disband the Syndicate. And it ends, everything."

Faye leaned forward in her chair. "What is the file collection?"

"It's a library of data disks that I've collected over the years. All that it contains is information. From Earth's history, to the every catalogued species of bird, I have it on disk."

"So what information does Vicious what?" Ed asked from her position on the floor.

"Among all the information that I have, bank accounts are included. If he gets a hold of those, he will have the entire galaxy at his disposal."

Jet fixed Mira with a hard gaze. "So why did you save those bank accounts?"

"At the time I was in need of money. I had," she cast a quick glance over to Spike, "someone to take care of. I can get in touch with Vicious tonight and be on Mars by tomorrow. That is if you four give the go ahead."

Faye nodded her head immediately, quickly followed by Ed. Jet looked over at Spike, who slowly nodded his head. Jet turned back to Mira.

"Alright, get in touch with Vicious. But tell me something before you do. You said there were two reasons Vicious would keep you alive, one you were sure of and one you were not. The one you're sure of is the data disk with the bank accounts."

"Correct."

"What was the second?"

"May I tell you a story?"

Jet cocked an eyebrow. "Go ahead."

"There was this boy, the son of a literary scholar. His name was Merlin, named after the magician in the Arthurian legends. He grew up as any normal, privileged boy would: the best school, the high class circles, the expensive life. He was happy with that as a child. However, when he grew up, so did his ambition. He wanted a better life and saw the only means to get such, was to have more money. And that's what he set out to do. In the process, he lost his own soul and became someone else. Someone completely dedicated to the pursuit of absolute wealth. The man named Merlin was destroyed by his own ambition, and from the flames rose a completely new person. He was named, appropriately, Vicious."

"And how do you know that is his story?"

"Because I was with him every step of the way. I was with him on Titan. And I was with him when he joined the Syndicate."

"Why?"

"I'm his twin sister."