You're Gonna Carry That Weight

By Sailor Red

Cowboy Bebop belongs to Bandai Ent. / Sunrise inc.

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Chapter 9

Fade to Black

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Faye could feel her entire body shaking. How can Vicious be alive? How is that possible?

Of course it was possible. After all, Spike was alive. Spike had been horribly injured and he still made it, and Vicious was his Martial brother. Therefore, it was entirely possible that Vicious could have made it out too . . .

Faye wanted to tell the rational side of her brain to shut up, but it was the only thing keeping her from balling herself into a fetal position at the moment. Vicious was the one person in most likely the entire universe that terrified Faye. That man was so inherently evil that . . .

Faye gulped and shakily lit a cigarette, staring at the vid screen in horror. This man was strong enough and skilled enough to take down Spike.

Faye choked on her smoke.

When Spike sees this, he's going to try to run to his death again . . .

Faye's fear of the silver haired man left her and was immediately replaced by the fear of losing Spike again, a fear so powerful she felt as if she couldn't move.

When Spike sees this . . .

Faye felt tears fly freely from emerald eyes.

When Spike sees this . . .

Faye rose to her feet, pulled out her gun, and shot the vid screen. Spike would not see this. She would not allow him to run blindly to his death again.

This time, she would be the one doing the running.

This time, she would die.

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Spike walked into the sitting room, and Jet went to water his bonsai. They had screwed up. Without Faye, they couldn't get close enough to the bounty, and he had gotten away.

Spike sat down on the familiar couch and put his feet up on the table. He was about to click on the vid screen, when he noticed the bullet hole through it. He leapt to his feet and cursed loudly.

"That stupid bitch!" Spike had had about all he could take of that purple haired woman. What the hell had possessed her to break the . . .

Where was she, anyway? She said she was going to go back to the ship, but . . .

Spike's eyes widened. Now that he thought about it, he didn't remember seeing the Red Tail in the hangar. Something inside Spike snapped, something that made him feel like his intestines were tying all his vital organs together and squeezing them mercilessly. Something was wrong. Something was horribly wrong. Then he saw it.

On the table, there was a plain white business envelope underneath an empty beer can. Spike didn't think for a second as he grabbed it and ripped it open.

Spike,

So you found this letter. How observant of you. I bet it took you a while. Anyway, I'm probably not coming back. You see, I saw this bounty that was simply too good to pass up, and I just have to go after it. You know how much I love to gamble.

Well, this is probably going to be my final wager. The odds are pretty bad, and I'm probably not going to make it out of this alive. Actually, I'm almost positive I'm going to die. That's okay, though. It doesn't really matter anyway.

Tell Ed that it's been fun, tell Ein that he's a stupid mutt, but I love him anyway.

Give Jet my thanks for putting up with my shit, and for the love of god, get that man some cooking lessons, or you're all going to die of food poisoning.

Oh, and Spike . . . don't come after me.

The reason I'm going is so that you don't have to. I'm serious. Stay on the Bebop. Otherwise I die in vain, and I'll have to haunt you for the rest of your life.

Hey, if I make it out of this alive, then I'll be a rich woman. I can get my own ship and call it the "Hey Spike, Kiss my Ass"

Catchy, isn't it?

Bai!

Faye

Spike crumpled up the letter and threw it to the floor. Shit. Who the hell was she after?

Spike's eyes lit up in realization. Why would she be so concerned about him following her? Who would be the one person that he would be likely to run out blindly after, even if he knew he was going to . . .

Shit.

Vicious is still alive.

And Faye was going to get herself killed facing him, just so that he wouldn't . . .

Shit.

"JET!" Spike yelled. "Faye says 'thanks for putting up with her shit' and to 'get cooking lessons!' I'm going to Mars!" Jet ran to the sitting area, and then to the hangar to see Spike taking off. What the hell was going on?

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Blood. Faye could taste it in her mouth; she could feel it rolling down her arm. She had already been punched multiple times in the face and stabbed in the shoulder. She was not down. Hell no. She wouldn't go down while that man still stood.

"Miss Valentine, you still haven't told me your reason for your visit. I must admit I was surprised." Faye rose to her feet, and was immediately kicked in the gut.

Blood spurted out of her mouth and landed on Vicious' cheek. He laughed.

"You know, it's not polite for a lady to spit. Then again, you're not much of a lady, are you?" He kicked her again, harder, and more violently.

"Vicious, I'm going to kill you." Faye spat out, forcing herself to her feet, forcing her hand to her gun. Vicious smiled evilly.

"Kill me? Really." He looked amusedly at himself, and then at Faye's battered frame. "You don't seem to be doing a very good job. After all, I don't have many injuries at all, whereas you . . ." he smirked. "You barely seem to be able to stand."

"You talk too much, Vicious." Faye quickly raised her gun and shot blindly at the man, silently praying for the bullet to hit anywhere. Anywhere that would disable him. She succeeded.

"Fuck!" Vicious gripped his right shoulder. He glared at the purple haired woman. "No matter. I can still kill you. You're just a pathetic excuse for a woman, after all." Swiftly, he ran over to her and kicked the gun out of her hand. Faye turned her head automatically to see which way the gun went and was fiercely kicked in the jaw. Her body slid across the ground until her head hit the wall. She groaned and tried to open her eyes, immediately shutting them as blood trickled into them. Vicious laughed manically, and walked over to her, picked her up by her hair, then threw her back to the ground and proceeded to kick her in her gut and chest area, taking delight in the cracking sounds of her ribs.

Faye could only feel pain. She could only see darkness. Each breath she took seemed harder to take than the last. She was dying. She was definitely going to die here. She didn't want to die.

If she died, and Vicious was still alive, then Spike would find out, and he would die too. Why did she have to be so weak? Tears, crimson and crystalline fell from her eyes. No. She could not die yet. She would not die yet. There had to be a way.

"VICIOUS!" Faye gasped at the sound of a familiar voice; the last voice that she wanted to hear right now.

"No . . ." Faye whispered, choking on blood. She cleared her throat as much as possible, and screamed. "NO!!"

Vicious laughed loudly and lifted Faye to her feet in a strangle hold. He bent his head and whispered into her ear.

"Looks like my old friend is here. I think we should pay him a visit . . . Oh! Looks like he couldn't wait for me to go and greet him, he's already here."

Spike ran into the room, his gun ready.

"Hello old friend. What brings you here?" Spike spun around at the sound of Vicious' voice and watched him creep out of the shadows, a beaten and broken Faye nearly unconscious in his grasp. Spike's eyes narrowed, his grip on his gun tightened.

Faye . . .

"Now Spike, I wouldn't point that at me right now. What if you were to misfire? This woman here, I don't think she'd survive a bullet wound. Hell, if I were to kick her again, or maybe . . ." His squeeze around Faye's neck tightened and Faye instinctively clawed at Vicious' arm, frantically trying to get air. "Maybe I should just wait for her to suffocate. Wouldn't that be fun?" He laughed. "She's cute when she squirms, isn't she?"

"Vicious . . ." Vicious looked up to him and smirked.

"What? You want to fight? Fine." He turned to Faye and loosened his grip. "Goodbye, Miss Valentine."

Before Faye knew what was happening, she was released. In that split second, a gun fired, and her world faded to black.

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To be continued . . .

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Hey minna. The next chapter will be the last. I know I left you a bit of a cliffy, but hey, you expect that from me, right? ^_^  I've gotta go, it's late and I have to work tomorrow. Ptth. Well, Ja!

*This Fic is copyright March - July 2002 Sailor Red / Elaine Mahlecke