Disclaimer: I do not own these characters. They are owned by whoever
created Cowboy Bebop...^_^; Whom I should know of by now....
Mutual Feelings
She hid behind the couch, her heart pumping and the tears falling from her dark, foggy eyes like waterfalls. Why her? She didn't understand. This wasn't happening. It couldn't be happening.
"Stephanie! Stephanie! You come here when I call for you!" Daddy yelled. Oh god...it was. Stephanie clutched the blue t-shirt near her chest and closed her eyes. She stood up and jumped over the couch and tried to pass him up, but her foot caught on the crocheted quilt that her mother had made and his hand came out and took her by the hair. He pulled her back and she uttered a painful screech.
"Shut up!" He screamed at her, his black eyes small and blood shot. Stephanie whimpered and closed her own. He threw her on the couch and plopped back into his dirty, brown recliner. So long. He was gone for too long. His eyes were glazed over and hateful. Ever since he left...it was all his fault.
"Get me another beer." He muttered. She nodded her head and stood up. She walked passed him quickly and grabbed a long neck glass bottle out of the refrigerator.
Oh Lyle, why did you go? Where did you go? She handed the beer to her father and sat back down on the couch, whimpering and sobbing.
"Oh go away. Damn crybaby." He mumbled as he gulped down his beer. Stephanie ran out of the room, her wet and sweaty face in her hands. She ran out the door and then just kept on running, not knowing where she was going or when she would stop.
"Isn't there anything on this piece of junk to eat?!" Faye shouted. Jet and Spike both sighed and dropped their heads.
"We'll be landing on Earth in a minute so shut up already." Jet told her. Ed ran in and jumped on top of everyone with a squeal.
"YAY! Ed see home!" She told them. Spike rolled his eyes and walked out of the room. Faye lounged in the seat he had once occupied and looked out the large glass window.
"This place is so boring." She sighed. Ein and Ed barked around the piloting area, jumping up and down, sharing the same enthusiasm. Ed ran back out with her arms spread wide and made airplane noises. She ran passed a mopey Spike and into the living room. She landed in front of her computer and pulled her goggles over her big, bright eyes.
"Hellooooo Earth!" She howled.
They landed in a small field with a nearby town with small houses surrounded by craters. Ed was the first one out, followed by Ein. She jumped from the ship and onto the ground. Ein, with a yelp, jumped after her landing into her arms.
"So what are we going to do?" Faye asked, looking over Jet's shoulder as he typed. He grumbled something and Faye lifted an eyebrow.
"Some body has a stick up their ass." She commented and then walked away and went to the living room.
"Where's Ed?" She asked Spike, who was trying to sleep on the yellow couch. He opened an eye and looked at Ed's computer.
"She disappeared." He said. She nodded her head and sat down and began to lounge.
Meanwhile...
"Buuuuuuuuuu! Reeeeaaarr!" Ed "flew" around the green grass with her arms out. She jumped in the air and did a flip. When she landed on all fours she found herself looking into bright emerald eyes. They were wide and curious. The girl laughed and copied off of Ed's move, jumping up and flipping in the air.
"Me copy!" She laughed. Ein barked and panted, letting his tongue hang out.
"Hey!" Ed said and pointed at the young woman. She looked to be seventeen or eighteen, but she acted just like Ed. The girl tilted her head and nodded.
"Stephy like playing Monkey See!" She said and clapped her hands. Ed smiled big and galloped over to her.
"Ed is Ed!" She introduced herself and stuck out her hand.
"I'm Stephy!" She shook her hand and giggled. Ein wobbled up to the two and barked.
"That's Ein!" Stephy's eyes grew wide and she picked Ein up.
"PUUUPPPYYY!!!" She squealed. Ein's eyes grew wide and a teardrop formed on the side of his head. She hugged him tight and then set him down.
"Where did Ed and Ein come from?" Stephy asked.
"Bebop!" Ed said and twirled around with one leg out.
"Bebop?" Stephy repeated not sure of what it was. Ed nodded her head and took Stephy's wrist. She pulled her in the direction of the spaceship. When they came up to it she looked at it with a finger to her chin.
"Ooooooo..." She uttered and then followed Ed into the ship. She did her airplane impression and then jumped up into a hole and landed in the livingroom.
"Faye Faye!" She called out.
"You said she disappeared." Faye told Spike. Spike shrugged his thin shoulders.
"I guess she reappeared." He said and kept on sleeping. Ed and Stephy flung themselves down the metal stairs and landed in front of Faye, smiling broadly. Spike quickly and quietly sat up and climbed over the couch. He tiptoed out of the room and shut the round door behind him. Faye smiled, her lips twitching and her eyes showing fear.
"This is Faye!" Ed said. Stephy sniffed her up and down and then smiled.
"Faye FAYE!" She yelled and jumped on her. Faye yelled out and then pushed the girl off her.
"Get off of me you little brat!" Faye yelled. Stephy tilted her head and then her eyes changed from bright green to a dark hazel and an evil smile appeared on her face.
"Brat? I say dear... you do use harsh words." Steph whispered and then jumped onto Faye. Faye looked at her in confusion and then growled.
"GET OFF OF ME!" She screamed, her cry echoing throughout the ship. She pushed the girl off and stood up. Steph closed her eyes and shook a finger.
"Tsk tsk tsk... is that the way to treat a guest. How rude." Steph said. She jumped up and landed on her two feet making Ed fall over on her back as she watched. Faye was a woman much shorter than herself, with violet hair and emerald eyes. She was very beautiful, but her eyes were far off as if she searched for something.
"Who are you?!" Faye asked and glared. Steph brushed her fingernails on her dirty and torn t-shirt and chuckled in her throat. Curious too.
"The name's Steph." She said and bowed. Ed tilted her head and looked at the teenager in confusion. She straightened herself showing her true height, she was much taller than Faye, making her have to look up and she wore a t-shirt with the sleeves torn off showing her muscular arms.
"Well Steph...you act just like Ed. And it's ANNOYING!" Faye yelled again, her face turning bright red. Steph just laughed and lifted a leg in the air and set it down hard on the table between them, her black combat boot dinting the metal slightly. She lifted a light eyebrow, correspondig with her white gold hair. She had a mouth, but Steph could compete just as well.
"Faye Valentine... I've heard of you." She whispered. Faye and Ed both looked at her in shock and made weird noises. "Gambler? I bet I could beat you at a game of Black Jack." Faye shook her head to get rid of her freaked out feeling and returned Steph's smile.
"Sure you could." Faye said sarcastically. She grabbed a deck of cards and sat down, the odd ball teenager across from her. Ed sat at the table to watch if either of them cheated. Faye flipped the cards through her fingers quickly and eagerly. She kept her jaded eyes on Steph, who was still smiling.
The games were quick and Faye ended up winning most of them, cheating on most of them too but Steph remained calm, her face still with that evil and seductive smile on it.
She's a good cheater...just like Lyle. Steph said in her mind. Inside she laughed at the response from her host. He did too, and how would you know? You've never played a game of cards since...well since he left. Her mental host was silent.
"Okay, how about a few more?" Faye asked. "I just need a little more money and I'll be satisfied." Steph nodded her head. The game went diligently, Faye's face straight, game face. Steph's hazel eyes never left Faye's face. A normal person wouldn't see the slip of thin fingers, but Steph did.
"How about I deal them this time?" Steph said and slipped the cards from Faye's hands. Faye sort of twitched but she let Steph take them. Steph shuffled the cards oddly and almost as if she were a Jester performing a magic trick. The first game was quite intense. Steph looked at her cards to find a Jack and a five of spades. Faye had a Queen so far from what she could see. She tapped her finger on the metal. Steph gave her a card. Faye's face twisted and then straightened out again. Steph gave herself a card and smiled. Six of hearts.
"Black Jack." She said. Faye growled and gave the cards back to Steph. After a few more games, Steph won back all her money and a bit of Faye's. Steph was calm and handled the cards delicately. She knew what she was doing and she knew it well. Faye was getting angry and morose all at the same time. The games went by slower this time, to Faye, for she kept loosing more and more money with each bet.
"Poor Faye...." Ed said and frowned. Steph laughed quietly to herself and took her money.
"Like I always say, nobody likes a cheater." She said to Faye. Faye growled and clenched her fists. Ed jumped up when the round door opened and Jet walked in.
"Hey, I found a bounty..." He looked at Steph. "Who's she?" Steph's eyes turned bright green again and she smiled. She jumped on Faye's head and in front of Jet.
"Stephy!" She said. Faye lifted an eyebrow. He was tall, taller than herself and very buff. She looked at his arm and tilted her head. It was metal.
Wonder what for? Stephy thought. Maybe he lost it you dimwit. Steph replied with a sigh in her mental thoughts.
"Oh no... not another one..." Jet sighed.
"Another what?" Stephy questioned him. He sighed and walked down the small flight of stairs.
"Is she staying?" He asked Faye.
"Not that I know of." Faye answered. She was still suspicious and kept her eyes on Steph or Stephy...whichever one she was called. Ed laughed and jumped in the air.
"Stephy is just visiting!" Ed told them. Jet let out another sigh … of relief. Then Spike poked his head through one of the holes and stepped in. When he spotted Ed and the other girl he turned around and began to leave.
"Ah ah ah!" Ed said and stopped Spike. He cringed with one foot lifted in the air and turned around.
"Spike meet Stephy too!" She said with a gigantic smile. Ed grabbed Spike's hand and led him over to Stephy, who was still scrutinizing Jet and hadn't noticed Spike. Ed tapped her shoulder and smiled when she turned to her.
"Spike!" Stephy looked up and her eyes widened, changing into a light green almost yellow color. She screamed and lifted her leg in the air, kicking Spike in the chin. He fell backwards in surprise and shook his head. Stephanie screamed and backed away with her closed fists hiding only some of her horrified face. Out of her pocket fell a piece of paper.
"Stay away! Don't hurt me! PLEASE! I didn't do ANYTHING!" She cried out as she stopped near the wall. He was back. But he was dead. Stephanie was confused and scared. What was going on? Who were these people?! Everyone looked at her in confusion and bewilderment.
"I think she's scared of you." Faye said. Spike kept his eyes on the frightened teenager and nodded his head.
"The feeling is mutual..." He replied. Jet looked down and picked up the piece of paper. Stephanie watched Jet closely. Her picture had fallen from her pocket. It was a picture of Lyle, the only picture of her big brother. He had died in the middle of a big gun fight over on Venus, or so she was told. He had left her here with her father, really a name he hadn't earned yet. Stephanie kept her yellow-green eyes shut, remembering what the back of the picture said.
Stephanie,
Take care of Pops while I'm gone. and try to keep Steph under control, Pops will get angry if Steph ever got fresh wth him. Keep your chin up and I'll come back to take you with me to Venus!
Bro
The man with the metal arm, Jet, looked at Stephanie and then at Spike.
"I know why she's so scared." He said. No they didn't... how could they?! They had no idea what she had gone through! She was frightened of her father, frightened that if she went back with this man who looked like her brother that her father would deny it and beat her again. The man showed the tall skinny one the picture.
"Ah..." He nodded his head and looked at the picture. He wasn't Lyle. But... but he looked so much like him.
I'm so confused! Stephanie screamed in her mind. She held her hair in her clenched fists, keeping her eyes closed tight.
"What?" She heard Faye ask.
*** "Hey! Over here!" Lyle said, waving his hands back and forth in a big arch. Stephanie looked around and then tossed the ball to him. It went in a completely different direction, but he still went after it.
"It's okay! Let's try again." Her green haired brother said and handed her the ball once more. He kneeled down in front of her and set the ball in her hand a certain way. "Now just feel where your target is, don't focus on it with your eyes, focus on it with all your other senses." He stood up and laughed. "Okay, let's try again!" He backed away from her and crouched down. Stephanie closed her eyes and relaxed, taking in everything around her. She heard her brother calling to her and she let the ball fly. Then she heard a thud and a great yell.
"You did it!" Lyle yelped. ***
Faye Valentine looked at the picture and then pried it from his hands. "Oh my GOD! He looks just like you!"
Ed walked slowly over towards Stephanie and shook her shoulder. She whimpered and looked up.
"Oh Ed..." She sobbed. "Is he gone? Is he? Lyle..." She whispered. Ed laughed.
"Silly! That's not Lyle! That's Spike!" She ran over to Faye and took the picture.
"Hey! I was reading that!" She whined. Ed showed Stephanie the picture and pointed to the man.
"That's Lyle." Stephanie whispered and then held the picture close to her heart. "He died a while ago and left me all alone, just like my mother." She said with a sigh. Or did he?
"No!" Ed protested. "Your mom and Lyle are still with you!" She laughed and did a flip over Stephanie's head. "Always and forever!" Stephanie laughed and looked back up at Spike. Her eyes remained the same but they had a more heart felt look to them.
"You look just like him." She whispered. Spike smirked and put a hand behind his head, scratching it. Then her eyes went back to dark hazel.
"Stephanie needs rest." She said with a solemn face. Steph felt it was time Stephanie got some well needed rest, the poor host hadn't slept in days, with her father and all.
"What?" Jet asked.
"Stephanie. Needs. Rest." She said slower. Idiots.
"But you are Stephanie." Faye told her. Steph rolled her eyes and put her hands on her hips.
"I'm the only one who knows out of this whole damn group..." She sighed. "Stephanie is the host of myself and one other, Stephy. When Lyle left, Stephanie's beatings grew worse. We were made to deal with it."
"What a minute..." Spike stopped her. "'Beatings?'" He repeated.
"Yeah... her father drinks and gets very abusive at the smallest things. Stephanie developed split-personalities when her brother died. All three of us are completely different people, just in one person. You see he was part of his father's old and extinct 'posse' and was killed about three years ago." She said. Steph looked away and sat in a chair with one leg over the arm rest.
"Anyway, Stephanie's pretty much had to raise herself, with my help. If she didn't have me she would be dead by now." Steph closed her eyes.
***Stephanie cried out as she was hit in the back with her father's fist.
"Please! Daddy! Stop!" Stephanie cried out. She was hit again in the face with his hand.
"Shut up!" He screamed at her. ***
"Stephy and I try to help, but Stephanie is stubborn." Steph looked up at Faye and smiled, then at the rest.
"Daddy beats Stephanie?!" Ed whimpered. Ein barked and growled. "AH! Poor Stephanie!" Right then, Ed's computer started beeping.
"Bebop have VISITOOOOR!" Ed said and ran in her funky run over to her computer. She typed rapidly on the pad and a camera picture opened on the screen. Steph and the others glanced at the screen and Steph sighed in annoyance.
"Great... just what she needs." She sighed. Jet kneeled down behind Ed and looked at the guy.
"Hey! That's Kan Johnson, there's a twenty thousand woolong bounty on him!" Jet said. Ed smiled and "ooh'ed". Spike and Faye both looked over Ed's shoulder as she turned on the microphone. He was wobbling around with a sawed-off shotgun and a beer bottle in his hands.
"Stephanie! Come home and get me a beer!" He screamed and looked up at the camera.
"That's Stephanie's father?" Faye asked and pointed to the drunken man. Steph stood up and nodded her head.
"None other..." She sighed. She lifted her arms in the air and stretched. "I had better go out and deal with him." She said and rolled her eyes. She walked out and closed the hatch behind her.
"This is kind of confusing..." Faye said and leaned on Jet's shoulder. Jet just chuckled and watched.
"Okay old man, go home..." Steph said and turned him around.
"What?! What did you call me?!" Kan yelped and swung his arm around, hitting Steph in the face with the beer bottle.
"Man..." Spike said as he lit a cigarette. "Some father, has to have a little girl go get his beer." He snickered and took a long drag from his cigarette. Faye growled.
"Are we just gonna watch?!" Faye asked in disbelief.
"What else are we gonna do?" Spike asked. Faye growled and clenched her fists.
"UGH!" She flailed her arms and grabbed her gun. That brat still had her money and her father was worth more.
Steph! Don't hurt him! Stephanie yelped in her mind. Steph just growled and glared at the man.
"Don't look at me like that you useless piece of junk!" Kan yelled. Steph wanted to listen to Stephanie, but the old man was really making her mad and she was getting tired of this pointless abusiveness.
"Kan!" She heard from behind. Steph turned around and saw Faye standing behind her holding out her gun. "Put down your gun."
"I don't need your help." Steph told her. Faye shrugged.
"If I do help you, you'll have to pay me back somehow. What better way than with the money I lost?" She said with a clever smile. Steph rolled her eyes and then turned back at Kan. He threw his beer at Steph and she knocked it away.
"Stephanie! I told you never to talk to strangers!" Kan yelled and held his gun up at Faye. He pulled the trigger, but Faye dodged the flying bullet. Steph ran up to Kan but he pistol whipped her with the barrel of his gun and sent her backwards.
*** "Lyle?" Stephanie asked innocently as she bit down into her hamburger. "Why does Daddy hurt you?" She looked up at him and saw his face grow dark and ridged.
"He's changed Stephanie. When Mother died he changed." He looked at her with a desperate look in his eyes. "Promise me you will always do what he says, okay?" Stephanie looked at him with lifted eyebrows, her thin white gold hair flying into her face as a breeze blew passed.
"Okay Lyle..." She smiled, closing her yellow-green eyes. "I promise!"***
Steph's eyes turned yellow green and she looked up to see Jet and Spike standing beside Faye. Kan growled and lifted his gun again.
"What is this? A joke?!" He laughed and began to shoot again. Faye shot back, while Jet went over to Stephanie.
"Are you okay?" He asked. She nodded her head and stood up. Kan reloaded his gun clumsily, dropping one of his bullets. Spike went up to him and kicked him in the face, sending him to the ground. His gun and the bullet fell in front of her feet.
Pick it up Stephanie. Steph said in her mind.
You can end all this. Stephy added. Stephanie looked at the gun and picked it up hesitantly along with the bullet. She put it in the barrel, her hands shaking uncontrollably. She lifted it up and watched as Spke picked up the dazed man and held his hands behind his back.
Stephanie lifted the shotgun as tears poured from her eyes.
*** Kan threw his new daughter in the air, smiling and laughing as she giggled a small baby giggle. His beautiful wife sat on a picnic blanket as Lyle ran around her with a model airplane in his hands.
"My lovely princess... my beautiful, priceless princess." He sang to her, his voice echoing through out her ears. ***
"Stephanie! Wait!" Jet yelled and ran towards her. But it was too late. She pulled the trigger and shot him threw the head, his blood splattering all over Spike's face. Visions, flashes of her once loving father passed beneath her eyelids.
"Dammit!" Spike cursed. Stephanie opened her eyes, her vision blurred from tears. She dropped the gun and clenched her hair in her hands. She shook her head and fel to her knees, sobbing and shaking.
"Oh god..." Faye whispered.
"Stephanie..." She heard Lyle's words. "Stephanie... you're free now."
See ya Stephanie, great knowing you. Steph whispered in her mind.
Maybe we can play sometime Stephanie! Stephy giggled and then disappeared. Stephanie felt so different now. It was as if a great weight had been taken off her back. She couldn't feel Steph or Stephy, the two people she had grown so fond of. But… she didn't need them now. He was gone and she was free. She looked up and saw Faye kneeling beside her, Spike and Jet standing behind her.
"Stephanie? Are you okay?" Faye asked. Stephanie looked at the fallen body of her abuser and her father. Her eyebrows furrowed together and then she smiled sadly. He was gone.
"Yes... I'm free now."
A young woman once said..."Any man who makes you cry, isn't worth your tears. But any man who's worth your tears, will never make you cry."
*~*Anonymous
Mutual Feelings
She hid behind the couch, her heart pumping and the tears falling from her dark, foggy eyes like waterfalls. Why her? She didn't understand. This wasn't happening. It couldn't be happening.
"Stephanie! Stephanie! You come here when I call for you!" Daddy yelled. Oh god...it was. Stephanie clutched the blue t-shirt near her chest and closed her eyes. She stood up and jumped over the couch and tried to pass him up, but her foot caught on the crocheted quilt that her mother had made and his hand came out and took her by the hair. He pulled her back and she uttered a painful screech.
"Shut up!" He screamed at her, his black eyes small and blood shot. Stephanie whimpered and closed her own. He threw her on the couch and plopped back into his dirty, brown recliner. So long. He was gone for too long. His eyes were glazed over and hateful. Ever since he left...it was all his fault.
"Get me another beer." He muttered. She nodded her head and stood up. She walked passed him quickly and grabbed a long neck glass bottle out of the refrigerator.
Oh Lyle, why did you go? Where did you go? She handed the beer to her father and sat back down on the couch, whimpering and sobbing.
"Oh go away. Damn crybaby." He mumbled as he gulped down his beer. Stephanie ran out of the room, her wet and sweaty face in her hands. She ran out the door and then just kept on running, not knowing where she was going or when she would stop.
"Isn't there anything on this piece of junk to eat?!" Faye shouted. Jet and Spike both sighed and dropped their heads.
"We'll be landing on Earth in a minute so shut up already." Jet told her. Ed ran in and jumped on top of everyone with a squeal.
"YAY! Ed see home!" She told them. Spike rolled his eyes and walked out of the room. Faye lounged in the seat he had once occupied and looked out the large glass window.
"This place is so boring." She sighed. Ein and Ed barked around the piloting area, jumping up and down, sharing the same enthusiasm. Ed ran back out with her arms spread wide and made airplane noises. She ran passed a mopey Spike and into the living room. She landed in front of her computer and pulled her goggles over her big, bright eyes.
"Hellooooo Earth!" She howled.
They landed in a small field with a nearby town with small houses surrounded by craters. Ed was the first one out, followed by Ein. She jumped from the ship and onto the ground. Ein, with a yelp, jumped after her landing into her arms.
"So what are we going to do?" Faye asked, looking over Jet's shoulder as he typed. He grumbled something and Faye lifted an eyebrow.
"Some body has a stick up their ass." She commented and then walked away and went to the living room.
"Where's Ed?" She asked Spike, who was trying to sleep on the yellow couch. He opened an eye and looked at Ed's computer.
"She disappeared." He said. She nodded her head and sat down and began to lounge.
Meanwhile...
"Buuuuuuuuuu! Reeeeaaarr!" Ed "flew" around the green grass with her arms out. She jumped in the air and did a flip. When she landed on all fours she found herself looking into bright emerald eyes. They were wide and curious. The girl laughed and copied off of Ed's move, jumping up and flipping in the air.
"Me copy!" She laughed. Ein barked and panted, letting his tongue hang out.
"Hey!" Ed said and pointed at the young woman. She looked to be seventeen or eighteen, but she acted just like Ed. The girl tilted her head and nodded.
"Stephy like playing Monkey See!" She said and clapped her hands. Ed smiled big and galloped over to her.
"Ed is Ed!" She introduced herself and stuck out her hand.
"I'm Stephy!" She shook her hand and giggled. Ein wobbled up to the two and barked.
"That's Ein!" Stephy's eyes grew wide and she picked Ein up.
"PUUUPPPYYY!!!" She squealed. Ein's eyes grew wide and a teardrop formed on the side of his head. She hugged him tight and then set him down.
"Where did Ed and Ein come from?" Stephy asked.
"Bebop!" Ed said and twirled around with one leg out.
"Bebop?" Stephy repeated not sure of what it was. Ed nodded her head and took Stephy's wrist. She pulled her in the direction of the spaceship. When they came up to it she looked at it with a finger to her chin.
"Ooooooo..." She uttered and then followed Ed into the ship. She did her airplane impression and then jumped up into a hole and landed in the livingroom.
"Faye Faye!" She called out.
"You said she disappeared." Faye told Spike. Spike shrugged his thin shoulders.
"I guess she reappeared." He said and kept on sleeping. Ed and Stephy flung themselves down the metal stairs and landed in front of Faye, smiling broadly. Spike quickly and quietly sat up and climbed over the couch. He tiptoed out of the room and shut the round door behind him. Faye smiled, her lips twitching and her eyes showing fear.
"This is Faye!" Ed said. Stephy sniffed her up and down and then smiled.
"Faye FAYE!" She yelled and jumped on her. Faye yelled out and then pushed the girl off her.
"Get off of me you little brat!" Faye yelled. Stephy tilted her head and then her eyes changed from bright green to a dark hazel and an evil smile appeared on her face.
"Brat? I say dear... you do use harsh words." Steph whispered and then jumped onto Faye. Faye looked at her in confusion and then growled.
"GET OFF OF ME!" She screamed, her cry echoing throughout the ship. She pushed the girl off and stood up. Steph closed her eyes and shook a finger.
"Tsk tsk tsk... is that the way to treat a guest. How rude." Steph said. She jumped up and landed on her two feet making Ed fall over on her back as she watched. Faye was a woman much shorter than herself, with violet hair and emerald eyes. She was very beautiful, but her eyes were far off as if she searched for something.
"Who are you?!" Faye asked and glared. Steph brushed her fingernails on her dirty and torn t-shirt and chuckled in her throat. Curious too.
"The name's Steph." She said and bowed. Ed tilted her head and looked at the teenager in confusion. She straightened herself showing her true height, she was much taller than Faye, making her have to look up and she wore a t-shirt with the sleeves torn off showing her muscular arms.
"Well Steph...you act just like Ed. And it's ANNOYING!" Faye yelled again, her face turning bright red. Steph just laughed and lifted a leg in the air and set it down hard on the table between them, her black combat boot dinting the metal slightly. She lifted a light eyebrow, correspondig with her white gold hair. She had a mouth, but Steph could compete just as well.
"Faye Valentine... I've heard of you." She whispered. Faye and Ed both looked at her in shock and made weird noises. "Gambler? I bet I could beat you at a game of Black Jack." Faye shook her head to get rid of her freaked out feeling and returned Steph's smile.
"Sure you could." Faye said sarcastically. She grabbed a deck of cards and sat down, the odd ball teenager across from her. Ed sat at the table to watch if either of them cheated. Faye flipped the cards through her fingers quickly and eagerly. She kept her jaded eyes on Steph, who was still smiling.
The games were quick and Faye ended up winning most of them, cheating on most of them too but Steph remained calm, her face still with that evil and seductive smile on it.
She's a good cheater...just like Lyle. Steph said in her mind. Inside she laughed at the response from her host. He did too, and how would you know? You've never played a game of cards since...well since he left. Her mental host was silent.
"Okay, how about a few more?" Faye asked. "I just need a little more money and I'll be satisfied." Steph nodded her head. The game went diligently, Faye's face straight, game face. Steph's hazel eyes never left Faye's face. A normal person wouldn't see the slip of thin fingers, but Steph did.
"How about I deal them this time?" Steph said and slipped the cards from Faye's hands. Faye sort of twitched but she let Steph take them. Steph shuffled the cards oddly and almost as if she were a Jester performing a magic trick. The first game was quite intense. Steph looked at her cards to find a Jack and a five of spades. Faye had a Queen so far from what she could see. She tapped her finger on the metal. Steph gave her a card. Faye's face twisted and then straightened out again. Steph gave herself a card and smiled. Six of hearts.
"Black Jack." She said. Faye growled and gave the cards back to Steph. After a few more games, Steph won back all her money and a bit of Faye's. Steph was calm and handled the cards delicately. She knew what she was doing and she knew it well. Faye was getting angry and morose all at the same time. The games went by slower this time, to Faye, for she kept loosing more and more money with each bet.
"Poor Faye...." Ed said and frowned. Steph laughed quietly to herself and took her money.
"Like I always say, nobody likes a cheater." She said to Faye. Faye growled and clenched her fists. Ed jumped up when the round door opened and Jet walked in.
"Hey, I found a bounty..." He looked at Steph. "Who's she?" Steph's eyes turned bright green again and she smiled. She jumped on Faye's head and in front of Jet.
"Stephy!" She said. Faye lifted an eyebrow. He was tall, taller than herself and very buff. She looked at his arm and tilted her head. It was metal.
Wonder what for? Stephy thought. Maybe he lost it you dimwit. Steph replied with a sigh in her mental thoughts.
"Oh no... not another one..." Jet sighed.
"Another what?" Stephy questioned him. He sighed and walked down the small flight of stairs.
"Is she staying?" He asked Faye.
"Not that I know of." Faye answered. She was still suspicious and kept her eyes on Steph or Stephy...whichever one she was called. Ed laughed and jumped in the air.
"Stephy is just visiting!" Ed told them. Jet let out another sigh … of relief. Then Spike poked his head through one of the holes and stepped in. When he spotted Ed and the other girl he turned around and began to leave.
"Ah ah ah!" Ed said and stopped Spike. He cringed with one foot lifted in the air and turned around.
"Spike meet Stephy too!" She said with a gigantic smile. Ed grabbed Spike's hand and led him over to Stephy, who was still scrutinizing Jet and hadn't noticed Spike. Ed tapped her shoulder and smiled when she turned to her.
"Spike!" Stephy looked up and her eyes widened, changing into a light green almost yellow color. She screamed and lifted her leg in the air, kicking Spike in the chin. He fell backwards in surprise and shook his head. Stephanie screamed and backed away with her closed fists hiding only some of her horrified face. Out of her pocket fell a piece of paper.
"Stay away! Don't hurt me! PLEASE! I didn't do ANYTHING!" She cried out as she stopped near the wall. He was back. But he was dead. Stephanie was confused and scared. What was going on? Who were these people?! Everyone looked at her in confusion and bewilderment.
"I think she's scared of you." Faye said. Spike kept his eyes on the frightened teenager and nodded his head.
"The feeling is mutual..." He replied. Jet looked down and picked up the piece of paper. Stephanie watched Jet closely. Her picture had fallen from her pocket. It was a picture of Lyle, the only picture of her big brother. He had died in the middle of a big gun fight over on Venus, or so she was told. He had left her here with her father, really a name he hadn't earned yet. Stephanie kept her yellow-green eyes shut, remembering what the back of the picture said.
Stephanie,
Take care of Pops while I'm gone. and try to keep Steph under control, Pops will get angry if Steph ever got fresh wth him. Keep your chin up and I'll come back to take you with me to Venus!
Bro
The man with the metal arm, Jet, looked at Stephanie and then at Spike.
"I know why she's so scared." He said. No they didn't... how could they?! They had no idea what she had gone through! She was frightened of her father, frightened that if she went back with this man who looked like her brother that her father would deny it and beat her again. The man showed the tall skinny one the picture.
"Ah..." He nodded his head and looked at the picture. He wasn't Lyle. But... but he looked so much like him.
I'm so confused! Stephanie screamed in her mind. She held her hair in her clenched fists, keeping her eyes closed tight.
"What?" She heard Faye ask.
*** "Hey! Over here!" Lyle said, waving his hands back and forth in a big arch. Stephanie looked around and then tossed the ball to him. It went in a completely different direction, but he still went after it.
"It's okay! Let's try again." Her green haired brother said and handed her the ball once more. He kneeled down in front of her and set the ball in her hand a certain way. "Now just feel where your target is, don't focus on it with your eyes, focus on it with all your other senses." He stood up and laughed. "Okay, let's try again!" He backed away from her and crouched down. Stephanie closed her eyes and relaxed, taking in everything around her. She heard her brother calling to her and she let the ball fly. Then she heard a thud and a great yell.
"You did it!" Lyle yelped. ***
Faye Valentine looked at the picture and then pried it from his hands. "Oh my GOD! He looks just like you!"
Ed walked slowly over towards Stephanie and shook her shoulder. She whimpered and looked up.
"Oh Ed..." She sobbed. "Is he gone? Is he? Lyle..." She whispered. Ed laughed.
"Silly! That's not Lyle! That's Spike!" She ran over to Faye and took the picture.
"Hey! I was reading that!" She whined. Ed showed Stephanie the picture and pointed to the man.
"That's Lyle." Stephanie whispered and then held the picture close to her heart. "He died a while ago and left me all alone, just like my mother." She said with a sigh. Or did he?
"No!" Ed protested. "Your mom and Lyle are still with you!" She laughed and did a flip over Stephanie's head. "Always and forever!" Stephanie laughed and looked back up at Spike. Her eyes remained the same but they had a more heart felt look to them.
"You look just like him." She whispered. Spike smirked and put a hand behind his head, scratching it. Then her eyes went back to dark hazel.
"Stephanie needs rest." She said with a solemn face. Steph felt it was time Stephanie got some well needed rest, the poor host hadn't slept in days, with her father and all.
"What?" Jet asked.
"Stephanie. Needs. Rest." She said slower. Idiots.
"But you are Stephanie." Faye told her. Steph rolled her eyes and put her hands on her hips.
"I'm the only one who knows out of this whole damn group..." She sighed. "Stephanie is the host of myself and one other, Stephy. When Lyle left, Stephanie's beatings grew worse. We were made to deal with it."
"What a minute..." Spike stopped her. "'Beatings?'" He repeated.
"Yeah... her father drinks and gets very abusive at the smallest things. Stephanie developed split-personalities when her brother died. All three of us are completely different people, just in one person. You see he was part of his father's old and extinct 'posse' and was killed about three years ago." She said. Steph looked away and sat in a chair with one leg over the arm rest.
"Anyway, Stephanie's pretty much had to raise herself, with my help. If she didn't have me she would be dead by now." Steph closed her eyes.
***Stephanie cried out as she was hit in the back with her father's fist.
"Please! Daddy! Stop!" Stephanie cried out. She was hit again in the face with his hand.
"Shut up!" He screamed at her. ***
"Stephy and I try to help, but Stephanie is stubborn." Steph looked up at Faye and smiled, then at the rest.
"Daddy beats Stephanie?!" Ed whimpered. Ein barked and growled. "AH! Poor Stephanie!" Right then, Ed's computer started beeping.
"Bebop have VISITOOOOR!" Ed said and ran in her funky run over to her computer. She typed rapidly on the pad and a camera picture opened on the screen. Steph and the others glanced at the screen and Steph sighed in annoyance.
"Great... just what she needs." She sighed. Jet kneeled down behind Ed and looked at the guy.
"Hey! That's Kan Johnson, there's a twenty thousand woolong bounty on him!" Jet said. Ed smiled and "ooh'ed". Spike and Faye both looked over Ed's shoulder as she turned on the microphone. He was wobbling around with a sawed-off shotgun and a beer bottle in his hands.
"Stephanie! Come home and get me a beer!" He screamed and looked up at the camera.
"That's Stephanie's father?" Faye asked and pointed to the drunken man. Steph stood up and nodded her head.
"None other..." She sighed. She lifted her arms in the air and stretched. "I had better go out and deal with him." She said and rolled her eyes. She walked out and closed the hatch behind her.
"This is kind of confusing..." Faye said and leaned on Jet's shoulder. Jet just chuckled and watched.
"Okay old man, go home..." Steph said and turned him around.
"What?! What did you call me?!" Kan yelped and swung his arm around, hitting Steph in the face with the beer bottle.
"Man..." Spike said as he lit a cigarette. "Some father, has to have a little girl go get his beer." He snickered and took a long drag from his cigarette. Faye growled.
"Are we just gonna watch?!" Faye asked in disbelief.
"What else are we gonna do?" Spike asked. Faye growled and clenched her fists.
"UGH!" She flailed her arms and grabbed her gun. That brat still had her money and her father was worth more.
Steph! Don't hurt him! Stephanie yelped in her mind. Steph just growled and glared at the man.
"Don't look at me like that you useless piece of junk!" Kan yelled. Steph wanted to listen to Stephanie, but the old man was really making her mad and she was getting tired of this pointless abusiveness.
"Kan!" She heard from behind. Steph turned around and saw Faye standing behind her holding out her gun. "Put down your gun."
"I don't need your help." Steph told her. Faye shrugged.
"If I do help you, you'll have to pay me back somehow. What better way than with the money I lost?" She said with a clever smile. Steph rolled her eyes and then turned back at Kan. He threw his beer at Steph and she knocked it away.
"Stephanie! I told you never to talk to strangers!" Kan yelled and held his gun up at Faye. He pulled the trigger, but Faye dodged the flying bullet. Steph ran up to Kan but he pistol whipped her with the barrel of his gun and sent her backwards.
*** "Lyle?" Stephanie asked innocently as she bit down into her hamburger. "Why does Daddy hurt you?" She looked up at him and saw his face grow dark and ridged.
"He's changed Stephanie. When Mother died he changed." He looked at her with a desperate look in his eyes. "Promise me you will always do what he says, okay?" Stephanie looked at him with lifted eyebrows, her thin white gold hair flying into her face as a breeze blew passed.
"Okay Lyle..." She smiled, closing her yellow-green eyes. "I promise!"***
Steph's eyes turned yellow green and she looked up to see Jet and Spike standing beside Faye. Kan growled and lifted his gun again.
"What is this? A joke?!" He laughed and began to shoot again. Faye shot back, while Jet went over to Stephanie.
"Are you okay?" He asked. She nodded her head and stood up. Kan reloaded his gun clumsily, dropping one of his bullets. Spike went up to him and kicked him in the face, sending him to the ground. His gun and the bullet fell in front of her feet.
Pick it up Stephanie. Steph said in her mind.
You can end all this. Stephy added. Stephanie looked at the gun and picked it up hesitantly along with the bullet. She put it in the barrel, her hands shaking uncontrollably. She lifted it up and watched as Spke picked up the dazed man and held his hands behind his back.
Stephanie lifted the shotgun as tears poured from her eyes.
*** Kan threw his new daughter in the air, smiling and laughing as she giggled a small baby giggle. His beautiful wife sat on a picnic blanket as Lyle ran around her with a model airplane in his hands.
"My lovely princess... my beautiful, priceless princess." He sang to her, his voice echoing through out her ears. ***
"Stephanie! Wait!" Jet yelled and ran towards her. But it was too late. She pulled the trigger and shot him threw the head, his blood splattering all over Spike's face. Visions, flashes of her once loving father passed beneath her eyelids.
"Dammit!" Spike cursed. Stephanie opened her eyes, her vision blurred from tears. She dropped the gun and clenched her hair in her hands. She shook her head and fel to her knees, sobbing and shaking.
"Oh god..." Faye whispered.
"Stephanie..." She heard Lyle's words. "Stephanie... you're free now."
See ya Stephanie, great knowing you. Steph whispered in her mind.
Maybe we can play sometime Stephanie! Stephy giggled and then disappeared. Stephanie felt so different now. It was as if a great weight had been taken off her back. She couldn't feel Steph or Stephy, the two people she had grown so fond of. But… she didn't need them now. He was gone and she was free. She looked up and saw Faye kneeling beside her, Spike and Jet standing behind her.
"Stephanie? Are you okay?" Faye asked. Stephanie looked at the fallen body of her abuser and her father. Her eyebrows furrowed together and then she smiled sadly. He was gone.
"Yes... I'm free now."
A young woman once said..."Any man who makes you cry, isn't worth your tears. But any man who's worth your tears, will never make you cry."
*~*Anonymous