disclaimer: *stares* ....you and i both know that if I owned cowboy bebop spike would have stood up julia. And lived. ^.^ so leave me alone!
Thankyou thankyou thankyou:
Bitchy Brunette: heh. yeah, if you hadn't said anything you still would've been waiting. ^^ Thanks for the 'push' and i hope this chappie lives up to your expectations!
IceAngel: Glad ya think it cool! Thanx for reviewing- even tho you didn't know the anime! ur the best!
estrella424: *phew* i was afraid the beginning was going to be super crappy...i'm happy you found it to be good. I hope this doesn't let you down!
sora: hehe, glad ya like it! hm, i don't think faye will let spike die, but you never know...(esp if he uses up all the shampoo! lol)
FoXY-LaDy: Yay! you thought it was interesting! (here i was convinced it was boring, dammit. ~.^) i'm happy you were so enthused about it, and i hope this will sate you!
~text~ contains scenes from a flashback
~*
The ship left dark smoke trails in the sky as Faye made her way back to the Bebop. It was a decision she knew she'd come to regret, but...that dream...
It had been disturbing; it had been so real. And that woman. Faye had never seen anyone like her before, so how had she come up with a woman like that; a model for Spike's Julia?
Not only that, but in the dream, she'd followed Spike to the Red Dragon HQ and had seen him fall. And die. Spike was practically invincible. He couldn't die, it was something she would never expect to have to see.
She shook her head, laughing at herself for worrying about Spike. Spike was Spike, he didn't need an anxious woman fluttering over him. Besides, when had she started to care? Those who cared were always shot down with those they cared about. She was a loner, a loner in every sense of the word. No matter what some stupid man said about her wanting to leave before someone left her.
She reached the Bebop and docked her ship, climbing out, noting the absence of the boys' ships. She scowled, "Figures. Wait until I'm gone before going out." She muttered, folding her arms.
She sauntered inside the ship, looking around for Ed and Ein. Usually they would've bounded out by now to see her. Not that she wanted to hear that girl's abnormally happy laughter and annoying words, or see the dog's uncanny stare and hear his irritating bark, but...
She was all alone. The ship, for the first time she could remember, was completely empty. She didn't think Ed and Ein would go with Jet and Spike anywhere, but then again, you never did know. ESPECIALLY if they were FINALLY going out to have some fun, WITHOUT her.
She was filled with a sense of injustice, that they would all go out, like some celebration that she'd gone. Had they given up so quickly on her? Or had they been waiting for her to leave? Well, she'd show those asses. She searched around for paper and pencil, and once she found them, she started writing.
Hey-
Gone shopping, be back soon!
Faye
Oh, by the way, I didn't have any money, so I used the ship's. Hope ya don't mind ^^
She smirked victoriously as she signed the note with a flourish. "That'll teach you." She murmured, and promptly went to where she knew the ship safe was. She opened up the safe, humming to herself, remembering the last time she'd done this. She cheerfully took out six thousand woolongs, and closed the safe with a satisfying slam.
Hmmm....that would take care of Jet, but what about Spike? She grinned devilishly, and quickly trotted down the corridors. A half hour later she emerged from the bathroom, and swaggered out of the ship. She climbed into her Redtail with a wicked grin plastered on her face.
"Shopping time." She purred in a sing-song voice, and laughed, powering up her ship to leave.
*
Five very satisfying hours later she was staggering up a street, very suspiciously slanting upwards. Not that she had any doubt that it was slanting up to torture her. She was carrying about six heavy bags, the total weight rivaling her own. She would've called a cab...but she'd used up all the money. She didn't feel like getting a ride the old-fashioned way, so she'd just have to walk. Damn the street boys.
She'd parked her ship a little bit away from the city, remembering the last time when she'd had a few words sprayed across the tail, at which Jet had laughed and told her to clean it herself. A grimace crossed her face as she remembered. Her hands had ached from the prolonged usage of heavy tools. It wasn't until she'd been scrubbing for at least 10 hours before Jet had told her she'd have to use something other than plain paint. Like some new-fangled spray over, since what those asses had used couldn't be covered up with paint. Jeez, it wasn't like she'd know since at the time this had been created she'd been in cryo. So of course she hadn't wanted a repeat. What sane woman would?
The distance hadn't seemed long when she'd parked. Of course, that was before she'd gone happily shopping halfway across the city, not thinking of the return trip with heavy bags. Next time she'd convince some dumb lout to carry it for her. Someone stupid who would be easily persuaded to the task at a single glance at her. Being a woman was good.
Then again, the only two she even came close to trusting wouldn't be so easily convinced. Well, Spike was stupid, but he'd refuse to do anything that involved helping her. "A-r-g-h! Stupid, lazy, lunk-headed, jackass bastard..." She ranted to herself, blaming every little drop of sweat on Spike. It was all his fault. Just the thought of him made things worse. He was such an arrogant little prick...unbearable was what he was.
"You're in good shape, girl, but maybe a few exercises wouldn't be misplaced..." She panted, pausing for a moment on the sharply inclining street put there just for her to stumble upon when she was carrying heavy groceries for miles. She was nearly doubled over from her exertions, knowing she'd feel each and every muscle in her body the next morning. She huffed for a few seconds before starting her climb again, bags firmly grasped in her hands. She tried to ignore the hair plastered to her face, and the sweat that would no doubt ruin her complexion.
Tires screeched behind her at the bottom of the hill, nearly making her drop her bags as she was pulled from her thoughts unpleasantly. She panted with renewed effort as she came back from the brink of a heart attack, and would've jumped but for the weight pulling her down. She mentally cursed the driver in her head, knowing it was probably a he and wanting him to drop off the planet for catching her off guard.
Her cussing stopped as she realized that the car might be a ticket out of that hellhole. She whirled, ready to bring the car to a halt with a few moves, when bullets gone wide whizzed past her head. This time she did drop her bags, taking a step back and reaching for her gun with wide eyes.
There was a red car in front, with a woman driving, and three black cars pursuing. Oh. Going after a poor, wronged woman, were they? Bastards. Time they met-
Her thoughts and her hand froze as de-ja-vu blossomed into her mind. She started trembling as she recognized the scenario from her dream. She knew where this would head, if it went far enough. Julia was going to die anyhow...but how could she not help another like her? Even if it meant losing Spike.
Losing Spike. Forever.
Ass! She didn't need him! He was constantly getting on her nerves, he couldn't take a joke and he was always wrecking things!
But if he wasn't there then who would get the money for food? She'd actually have to work.
He was always screwing things up. And he didn't care about anyone but his precious Julia and his enemy. And he insulted her singing.
He was the closest thing to family. And wasn't that what she'd given up on, to be with the crew of the Bebop?
She bit her lip, and jumped back in surprise as the cars flashed past, the red car spinning out of control as a bullet hit a tire. The three in back paced the red car, like wolves after a wounded deer. A deer that soon plowed into a building. Faye winced at the impact, against her will moving towards the scene, her bags forgotten behind her. The woman had made it out of the car, and was using it for a shield as she reached for a gun.
She came up empty handed. Faye could read the curse on the woman's lips, one repeated in her own mind.
Fuck.
The men from the cars had jumped out, the woman attempting to flee. They had quickly surrounded her, and she stopped where she stood, looking around with as calm and dangerous a look as could be expected.
~She's like an angel from the underworld. Or perhaps a devil in paradise.~
The words she'd spoken in her dream came floating unbidden to her mind, as she watched the woman cooly regard the men who were approaching her with devilish delight on their faces. She simply stood there, as if not willing to expend energy on a situation that would be a lose in the long run. Oh, what a woman indeed. The men closed, the one in front of her pulling out a gun. Faye was suddenly running, her own gun out in her hands, moisture she would later deny glittering wildly in her eyes. A single shot ran out.
The woman fell, blood flowing red around an arm she'd placed to her stomach, her eyes not surprised, but regretful.
Cold settled over Faye, and she shot, bullets finding their marks in the soft flesh of targets who hadn't acknowledged her presence.
Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang....Bang.
Five men fell, as she rushed to the woman's side, staring down in a mixture of jealousy, sorrow, and numbness. A need to know was suddenly pulsing with every beat of her heart. Her lips quivered, as the woman gave her the same gaze as in her dream. Only now it was fogged.
~Bang
Bang
Bang
Bang
Bang. Five bullets had flown, aimed carelessly towards the retreating back of a man she couldn't admit her love for. Just as he'd only admit love for one. Just as he'd die for one, on a stupid whim...~
She choked as the hopeless tears from her dream haunted her now, trailing slowly down her face, tickling her cold skin with their lightness. Damn that man. Damn him to hell! She knew, with a cold fear that grabbed her heart, the truth that had been in her dream.
"Julia-?"
"You...saved...me," The woman known as Julia forced out, a tiny little smile betraying bitterness to an otherwise accepting face. "F...Faye...?" Her tone mocked Faye's, a pale version of the throaty, rich voice she remembered so well from her dream. Strands of long, wavy blond hair fell over a face beautiful and mysterious. Lips lush and red parted slightly, the strain of speaking showing itself in a thin red trail trickling down to her jaw. A horrible sense of unfairness permeated Faye's smooth exterior, that Julia had gotten to Spike before her. That Spike had fallen for Julia. And somehow...that Julia was now dying before her. A goddess who had come through hell to suddenly stop and fall with broken wings.
"Yeah." Faye knew her face was reflecting every thought that had crossed her mind. Worse still, she couldn't control it. And she didn't care. How? How could her dream have been so right? And yet...had it changed things? Could she really have saved Julia in a different place and time? Would Spike now live? It seemed an even trade, to Faye's tightly clenched stomach and hands.
"Y-you....know...Ss....Sp...ah...Spike?" Julia's voice had fallen to a hoarse whisper, the brightness of her eyes failing. Faye shot up from where she'd unconsciously crouched by Julia, fearing the next part. It didn't matter that Julia was dying. Spike. Shamefully, all she could think of was Spike. That one little allowance frightened her. The truth of her dream scared her shitless. She crushed beneath fire and ice the seed that she had allowed to plant itself in her heart. She would never allow herself to dash her heart against stone. Not again. She wasn't meant to be a catalyst; she realized that as she looked at herself honestly for the first time since coming out of her cold sleep. She would simply break.
As if to compound her confusion and dark thoughts, memories opened like a sunburst to her shocked mind. Julia lay dying at her feet, trying desperately to tell her precious message to Faye. Blood pooling touched her boots, and Faye stared as it stained the pristine white. Julia moved slightly, reaching out to touch Faye.
And she ran.
~*
A/N: well, was that drawn out or what? Faye will certainly have some heavy thinking to do, especially if she's not going to tell Spike.
Spike: She's not going to tell me? *glare*
me: what? you'll be happier not knowing *pictures Spike running carefree in a field of flowers* ooh, wait...no, that's scary *shudder*
Spike: *looks hopeless*
Anyhows, please review, and i'll try to put up the next chapter in a timely manner (some prodding may be necessary ~.^)
Treekat