Mwahahar~
Italics - thoughts
All brain, and no heart pt2
He could hear voices in the background; one shrilly voice and one low, older voice. He was confused though, he could not place faces on the voices he barely could hear. He opened his mouth to respond, only his voice let out a groan of slight pain, curiosity, and disturbance.
"Hey Spike! You awake?"
Spike? He thought over the name that the low voice mentioned to him. For a second, he didn't know it was his own.
"Spike, get up!"
Spike.... I'm Spike..
Realization suddenly struck him and his mind finally clarified that he truly was. Within a second, and without anymore thought, he forced his body to bolt straight up to face the voice who called him from the darkness of his mind. The face was foreign, but at the same time he knew who the man was.
"Jet," he said in a low whisper, not quite in a question, but more of a statement. Little did he know that his condition didn't support his idea of bolting upright so quickly, and so he fell back down to the soft cushions of a long, yellow couch. Pounding pain soon filled his head as he laid back down on the cushions, and his hands immediately sprang up to hold his aching.
The older man gave a laugh, "Idiot," he muttered under his breath. He picked up a warm soaked towel from a nearby bowl and wringed it dry. Holding it gently over the hand that covered Spike's forehead, he ordered him to place it on.
Complying, Spike let the warm feeling of the fuzzy towel sink into his skin and skull. With eyes closed, he thought over his position and wondered how he was brought confused when awoken, back in the safety of the Bebop when he was supposed to be after some bounty and save....
"Faye?" Jet interjected, "She's awake," he spoke a little slowly in which Spike caught suspicious. Another thing was, Spike didn't understand how the man knew that he himself was about to dwell into questioning about the woman.
"You're talking out loud, Spike," Jet gave a chuckle, "That's how I know."
Spike remained quiet for a while before a lopsided grin emerged from his lips, "I was?" Trying to sit up again, he moved slowly with the help of the one arm of the couch, his other hand supporting the damp towel above his eyes. He moved his tired eyes to the balding man, a grin on his face still, "What the hell happened, Jet?"
Standing up, Jet rubbed the back of his neck tiredly, "I caught Londes while you were about to take a beauty nap," he said bluntly and reached out a hand for the towel from Spike, "Let me get that warmed up again."
Giving the man the towel, Spike leaned forward, his elbows on his knees, as he proceedingly took his time to take in all the information, "Wait, that still doesn't answer my question. I thought I had Londes, and Faye, and the next thing I know I'm lying on this couch with a headache..."
Jet placed the bowl with the towel down and sat back down on the table in the middle of the room with a sigh, "You did have Londes, just not the right one. You did have Faye, just not at the greatest moment," Jet's eyes moved to the 'Brain Dream' across the room, "I tried that damn thing right after you left to find those two, and I figured how it helps brainwashing cult members into SCRATCH."
"How?" Spike questioned, soaking in the facts thrown at him.
"By electronic pulses, small pulses, that invigorates certain membranes and brain cells and triggers comfort by the will of another," Jet gave a chuckle at the sight of Spike's disgusted face, "Which means, small waves of electrons that are transferred by invisible signals from a strong source into the air around them within the radius of 1 mile. But if you were initiated, meaning you've been brainwashed by the original source, through the 'Brain Dream', then the signal can travel as far as miles beyond space. You, then, was on the brink of being brainwashed but luckily Ed and I got to the real Londes first."
Letting out a small chuckle, Spike scratched his closed eyes warily, "So that's why I couldn't remember you for a while there," he gave a sigh and laid back, "And Faye? I saw her fall to the floor while Londes was trying to brainwash me--or at least that's what it sounded like from what you're saying happened."
Jet continued to rub his aching neck again as his eyes showed pure discern for the words he was going to say, "Ah, Faye... The brainwashing.. well... If the victim has already been initiated, versus one who hasn't been but has been affected by it without initiation, the damage towards hiding memory and losing them is very effective."
Spike stared at Jet for a minute before his mind registered what his point was being brought up to, "So where is she?"
He pointed towards the dark hall downstairs leading to the rooms and beyond, "I locked her up.. in the lavatory."
~
It was dark and humid in the room she was placed in. And she
didn't like it at all.
The room was a small, confined space. A low toilet sat in the middle and center of the room, bars, one of which her hands were bounded to with metal handcuffs, edged along the two parallel walls on her sides, and the tiled, cold floor kept her bare feet cold enough to succumb to the hot, heavy air around her. She breathed in a ragged breath that shivered and racked her whole body as she sat still on the closed toilet.
She was afraid, all of a sudden, and couldn't think up why. From the moment she woke up she had felt confused and attacked the first person she saw. A man with sharp eyes and a bald top. Her first instinct was to strike, and she failed miserably, falling head first before she could kick him. She had tried to strike him again, in his attempt to help her up her feet, but the punch only twirled her from her spot and her back became vulnerable as the man held her in a head lock.
He had called her by some name, and it was odd that she recognized it and took it in as her name. He asked her other questions too: Where do you live? Who am I? Where are we now? All of which she did not know, and that's what her answer was. Somehow the questions interrogated to her triggered a voice in her mind:
Destroy.. destroy those who try to stop you're journey to freedom!
And she desperately tried to free herself and hurt the man, but the man was too powerful for her and gripped her like an octopus. He had lectured her then, telling her that if she didn't cooperate then it left him no choice but to place her somewhere else.
That's how she had ended up in her so called 'prison'.
Destroy...
She breathed the word in thickly, intending to do as the voice told her once she got the chance. She plotted in her time spent there, and all plots lead to chances only her fate can decide what would happen next.
Her throat held her ragged breaths in as heavy footsteps made there way to the front of the entrance in front of her. Shadows danced from the small light that came in from the slit on the bottom of the door.
There was a small hiss of air as the door slid open, light shining to her eyes painfully that she had to squint almost her eyes closed just to be able to surpass the yellow, bright light.
And she peered, through the clumped, sweat-soaked, purple hair in front of her eyes as her two visitors came into sight.
Destroy...
Her voice let out a trill growl, scratching her dry throat as she spotted the man with the green mass of hair. In an instant, she forced herself up and backed away, ready to strike him on cue.
"She's still not responding to anything except her name," she watched as the bald man talked to the green haired man, who continued to eye her with an unreadable expression.
She watched intently as the green haired man nodded to the bald man's words, and stepped forward slowly. She positioned her right foot slightly behind the other, ready to pounce to the man if he got near enough.
Destroy...
"Faye," the man asked in a whisper.
And she answered to him, not fully understanding why or how...
~
"What do you want, Spike?" the woman hissed to him, her dark jade eyes
full in trance and hate. He was surprised that she recognized him.
Spike stared at her eyes through the purple waterfall that cascaded over them, "Do you know where you are?" he wasn't sure what he was supposed to say, but the thought of seeing if her memory was coming back slowly was any evident, seemed to be a good idea then.
"In prison," she answered in the same tone, in the same expression, in the same position. She didn't waver on her spot one bit, even if her hands were tied and sore from the cuffs around them, and if her feet was dangling and shaking from the heated air of the lavatory.
He creased his eyebrows at her, "Do you know what's going on?"
"You're stopping me from being free," he had to admit that she was polite enough to answer his questions, but wished that she spoke more truth that just the bullshit she was fed, "And now you've got me locked up in this hell hole until I die."
Spike shook his head at her answer, "You're back into the Bebop, Faye. You live here," he watched as she quivered as soon as he had said live, "Don't you remember?"
The woman stood silent for a minute before her eyes flashed with curiosity for a second before returning to its intent stare, "Remember what?" she asked in spite, "There's nothing to remember."
He could see her struggle at his question, new sweat began to seep out of her forehead and her knees began to tremble more violently than before, "You mean, you don't remember anything do you?"
He saw it, the Faye he saw when she was sick, the Faye he saw when they were by themselves in a room, the Faye he loved to see. The woman faltered to talk and gave up on standing as she sulked back in her seat atop the closed toilet, her eyes softening but still in trance as they moved to the floor of the room. He took this opportunity to step closer to her.
A huge mistake.
The woman wasn't really transfixed to his question, more so she was tricking him into stepping closer as she so that she could plant a kick squarely on his jaw. He stumbled back, surprised, shocked, anger mixed with amazement as he stared at her wide eyed. He could tell the move proved hard for her to do as she stood rigid breathless, shaking as an orange leaf dangling in the cold autumn wind. Fists clenched on the metal bar on her side for support, she remained standing and eyeing him venomously.
"There is nothing to remember," she repeated in a whisper before collapsing with a groan to the floor on her knees, her hands slouched above her from the cuffs that burned her wrists. She turned her face to the cold metal wall, letting the feeling sear her warm cheeks. Closing her eyes, she prepared herself to rest her tired body, not minding if the two men would bother her, knowing there was nothing she could do about it.
Spike slowly stood up from his spot and walked carefully back towards her. He noticed that she did not bother to see who was up there or even bother to move further away from him. He approached her even closer, slowly placing a hand over on of hers.
He felt her shiver in his touch and her body tensed. He pulled away abruptly and turned to face Jet, "Give me the keys."
The older man simply dug in his pocket and pulled out a ring of keys. Jet didn't ask, but he assumed Spike was going to free the woman from handcuffs, in which he didn't have any objections against. At the state she was in now, it was clear that she wouldn't be able to try a move again, and he knew Spike was just trying to move her from the humid lavatory to elsewhere cooler and more comfortable.
Indeed, Spike did just that, and freed the woman's arms from the metal bar. Her hands fell heavily to the floor yet she kept her position, her forehead still pressed to the cold wall. Without hesitation, Spike gave Jet the set of handcuffs and keys then leaned down to the floor behind the woman. Placing a hand behind her knees, the other behind her head and around her shoulders, he picked her up with ease; the woman uncaring and not fighting against him let her hands dangle downwards as her head tiredly laid back suspended.
He carefully moved out of the small lavatory, trying to move through the halls without having the woman in his arms bump any walls. Walking towards her room, Spike motioned for Jet to follow him, saying that he would be needing the handcuffs still. He glanced at Faye in his arms, who's eyes watched the ceiling move above her in dullness, and unconsciously gripped her closer in his arms.
The woman noticed it and glanced at him shortly, flashing him a curious look before returning her blanched eyes to the ceiling above. At the moment, she didn't care what would happen next. Her thoughts were only drowned by a flashing warning, calling out to her..
You've failed.... terminate your mission now.
~
They entered her small dark room, both men and the frail woman in Spike's
arms. Moving a careful towards the side of the wall to his right,
Spike switched the lights open, making Faye squint her eyes at the sudden
brightness.
"Okay, Faye," Spike began as he made his way towards her bed to set her down, "This is your room. You stay here and get your rest," he moved his eyes towards the faithful Jet and asked for the handcuffs.
Giving them to him, Jet watched as Spike gently took hold of one of Faye's slightly swollen wrists and cuffed them between a thin pipe that lined the wall where her bed was against, "You think we'll need those again?"
Finishing up, Spike stood straight and glanced at Jet, "I'm not sure, but there's no way in hell I'd want to wake with a gun pointed at my head." he threw the keys at the small desk in the room, not far from the front door, "We'll keep her here until she remembers everything."
Jet sighed, "Which can take a long while," he finished before grinning at his fellow comrade, "You've change a lot Spike. Just look at you, being so patriotic and generous. Now if Faye was herself, I think she'd be scared shit!" Jet began to laugh at his little comment.
For a while, Spike stared quietly at Jet as he laughed before glancing back to the hopeless Faye, who laid motionless on her bed, eyes to the ceiling, "I just realized something, Jet."
Jet stopped his laughing and looked over to Spike curiously, "What?"
"Faye quit trying to defend herself," Spike let out slowly.
"Because she was tired," Jet finished.
"No, Faye quit defending herself," Spike repeated even slower and sat down the woman's bed; Faye kept herself motionless and uncaring at his action, "What's the ISSP report say when SCRATCH members quit defending themselves?"
For a minute, Jet's face turned ghastly white, "No, there's no way she'll be able to. She's tied up and everything."
Lifting a hand up in front of Faye's face, he waved a hand at her and noticed that she refused to use any of her reflexes such as blinking, "I don't think she needs anything else to do it." Frustration began to emerge in his mind and he leaned closer to her, his face above her own as he spoke, "Faye?" it was when he noticed it; there was barely any air coming out of her slightly parted mouth.
His hands immediately shot up to grab her shoulders and shook her hard, "Goddamn it Faye! Breath!" her hair toppled up and down as he shook her, and when he stopped after a second, she was still unresponsive and eyes glued to the ceiling.
Jet stood surprised at Spike's accusation, "What?! She's suffocating herself?!"
"Get an oxygen tank! She's not suffocating herself while I'm around!" he demanded angrily to Jet, and watched as the bald man dashed towards the hanger. Turning back to the woman, who was now dangling from his arms, he furrowed his eyebrows at her, "What's wrong with you, Faye?! What the hell is wrong with you!"
She remained quiet, but tears slowly appeared in her eyes as she continued her gaze upwards.
Spike, who began to breath heavily with anxiety and fright, clasped her face with both hands and titled it, forcing her eyes to look directly at his, "This is stupid, Faye, what are you doing?" he pleaded to her softly, "Come on! This is not you!"
Faye's eyes closed, a lone tear trailed down on her cheek as she sobbed softly in small gasps, "I failed.. I failed!" she moaned, letting her head fall to Spike's shoulder, "I failed!"
Slightly confused but otherwise relieved, Spike moved his hands around her back and held her tighter to him, "Fail?"
"I failed!" she moaned louder, "No one deserves to live when they fail! No one!"
~
She couldn't believe what she was doing at the moment, she didn't know
his actions affected her greatly causing her to actually stop her process
of termination for herself, and confessing to him exactly why she been
trying to hold her breath to death. She knew she was supposed to
hate him, but now she was confused. The voice told her that the man
was whom she should be after, and yet she rests on his shoulder at that
moment.
Maybe the voice had been wrong the whole time. Maybe what these people, and this man, tried to tell her was actually real. She recognizes the people for sure, but the facts about them that she knew were clearly very different. She could feel it, a difference in her mind as she began to question the voice who talked to her mysteriously.
"You don't have to listen to him anymore, Faye," the low voice above her head began to talk, the odd feeling of his voice rumbling in his throat made her calm slightly, "He's been feeding you bullshit. You're not his puppet anymore."
"How... do you know it was him?" she whispered hoarsely and looked up at him.
The man looked down at her with his mismatched, garnet eyes and fluttering smile, "He's gone, he can't do anything to you now. You didn't fail, Faye," her back became rigid as the man moved his lips to her left cheek, placing an affection she never recognized to have experienced before, "You're still here, you didn't fail."
The words, the feelings, the confusion all burst out in her like a floodgate, letting new possibilities and suspicious scenes enter her mind. It gave her a look of shock as she was face to face with the green-haired man once again, this time his face held more recognition in her memory.
"What..." she spoke hesitantly, feeling greatly unsure than before, "What?"
The man noticed her expression and looked at her oddly, "Faye?"
"Yeah?" she asked curiously, the man just eyed her back as oddly as before, "I-I don't get it. What are you doing here?"
"What am I--??" the man restated and cocked his head at her, "This brainwashing thing is really annoying, especially when you're the one affected," the man joked.
"Shut up, Lunkhead," she shot back acidly, "What the hell are you talking about?" she had to admit, the sudden change in her responses and behavior she couldn't get how and why it had began, but she felt a certain normality within her.
The look he was giving now was more surprised, "What did you call me?"
As if everything she was taught by the voice disappeared, washing down the sink hole of a dirty tub, Faye expanded her changes, welcoming in it's natural feeling. She shrugged away from the man's grip and tilted a brow at him, "You heard me, Lunkhead, what the hell are you doing here?"
~
Spike looked down at Faye skeptically as she stared back just the same,
"Don't be fooling me now, Faye, you know it's not going to work this time."
"Look, the only person you're fooling here is yourself. Now I'm going to ask you again.. what the hell are you doing here?!" she yelled loudly, hoping Spike would just let her have her answer, but instead she found herself within the arms of the man once again, "Let me go! What's wrong with you?!"
"Are you serious?" Spike asked anxiously, grabbing her shoulders and shoving his face in front of hers, "You remember everything?"
Faye's cheeks flushed slightly red, "Huh? What?! What are you talking about?!" she shoved him away again, only to find that her left hand seemed to be tied to something, keeping her to shove him with both hands. She turned to her left and stared hard at the cuffs around her red wrist. Turning slowly back to Spike with eyes closed, she opened them and blazed her eyes at him, "Okay, I didn't mind it when I found myself hugging you for some reason, but this has got be way out of line!" she pointed to her left hand, cuffed at the pipe, "Tell me what's going on here!"
At the very moment, Jet rushed in breathless, a tank of oxygen in his arms, "Spike!" he stopped his call suddenly when an annoyed Faye moved her eyes to him.
"Jet, what the hell is he doing?!" Faye demanded, only having the bald man drop the tank, wide eyes at her, and a mouth wide open.
"What the--?" Jet began, moving his eyes to Spike not far away, "She's back or what?"
Faye watched as Spike gleefully said 'yeah', and let out a frustrating growl, "Someone please tell me.. Just what in the world is going on around this ship?!!??!"
~
A grueling two hours was spent in Faye's room, discussing the events
in which Faye replied, 'Yeah right?!', when Spike and Jet spoke of it.
It was almost amusing to find Faye very close-minded of what had happened
to her, asking many questions along the explanation to its end. Half
of the time, she stared in disbelief and awe at the times when she had
tried to kill Spike. Of course shortly after she laughed amusingly.
"I kicked you in the face!" she shoved her face at him in glee, absorbing Spike's look of resent, "How'd that feel, cowboy?"
Spike chose to ignore this, knowing he had a few events to talk about that could greatly embarrass her, "I had to carry your fat butt to your room!"
The throwing of insults in the room laid a comfortable air of normality, and even Ed, who came from the starboard after programming the Bebop to Earth as Jet requested, tumbled around aimlessly in the occasion.
Thirty more minutes had passed before Jet escaped to his Bonsai room, and Faye, Spike, and Ed were the only ones left in her room. Seeing that Faye looked painfully sore and tired, Spike had insisted her to rest. Faye didn't disagree, and happily nodded while Ed was dragged out of her room by Spike, as she waved at her.
"Nighty-nighty, Faye-Faye! Sleepy-tighty! Have a good-nighty!"
Luckily to have her cuffs off, the strange questioning of why she couldn't remember anything before finding herself in Spike's arm earlier on, and that her room was free from Ed, she laid comfortably on her bed; closing her eyes to sleep a good sleep.
Three hours, maybe, and she awoke with a start. Her head began to throb as she lifted it from her pillows and gazed around unsurely. Her room was dark, with a small tight light escaping in from the bottom of her door that stung her blurred eyes as she blinked sleep away.
Something in her sleep had woke her; something from her dreams. It came in her mind that maybe it was just another one of her memories cloaked as a 'nightmare' and sighed disappointedly for she knew thinking more of it was ultimately impossible. But, once her train of thought drifted along her words, she saw an image flash in her mind. She hesitantly played the image back in her mind, as if rewinding the picture over and over and over again.
Before she knew it, her mind began to dwell further into the picture as it moved in play...
.. of a memory.
~review pleaze~
On the next chapter:
********************************
Punch: Howdy Amigos! Time for another round-up of preview shorts for It all Started with the Fat Guy!
Judy: Howdy ya'll! Looks like our first time here, isn't that right Punch?
Punch: That's right, Judy! You crazy ditz, you! Check this out, cowboys, we've got another cliffhanger!
Judy: Auw! Not another one!
Punch: Don't worry, bimbo! This chapter is the ending of All brain, and no heart, and the next chapter is indeed the beginning of the session known as Hard Luck Woman!
Judy: Oh really?! That's great!
Punch: Yeah, ain't it the spiffiest thing???
Judy: *starts jumping up and down* It is! *calms down and looks thoughtfull* But wait, what's Strifey up to?
Punch: *shrugs* No clue! The woman has been up on her knees in shi-bleep-!
Judy: Oh.. how sad! *fakes a tear* But hey! Let's go interview her anyways!
*Strife21 walks in unwillingly*
Punch: Howdy Strife! What's your plan for the next chapter?
Judy: Yes, please tell us! We are excited to know!
Strife21: *flips them the bird*
Judy: Oh I think she's telling us we're number one! How nice!
Punch: *sweatdrop, sweatdrop* Err.. can you at least give us the title, Strife? ..please? It's our only time on here, man!
Judy: Yes, after all you're #1! *flips the bird back to Strife21*
Strife21: e.e ............. *punches Judy*
Judy: *down and out*
Bell: DING! DING!
Punch: *sweatdrop* Hey Strife, come on eh? We got a show to do, and your readers want to know what's next.
Readers (you guys): *nods fast*
Strife21: ..............."The untold story of the ugly duckling"
Punch: And there you have it folks! The next chapter: "The untold story of the ugly duckling"!
Strife21: *walks away*
Punch: Catch you later, cowboys! Even though you'll never hear from us again!
Judy: *face down on the floor, giggling at the sight of her blood* Hey! My lipstick is running! I didn't know I put this much on!
Punch: *sweatdrop* Aye dios mio...
~laterz, cowboy....~
short a/n: Aye dios mio = "Oh Lord..." in Spanish
translation. @.@ see how helpful I am? lol.
**ATTENTION FANFIC WRITERS! YOUR FANFIC MAY BE PLAGERIZED!**
I was recently searching places where my fanfics have been placed
in (a routine I do just to make sure people aren't stealing any of mine
or others) and I came around a Russian site, which contains plagerized
work from me and others.
[ http://valentine.by.ru/fanf.htm ]
Between the brackets is the site address I found.
I know you may be thinking, "How do you know?! You can't even
read this thing!" Well with the way they placed the fanfics (which
some of them are re-named differently) they are listed with the title in
english, then Russian subject, then a name (I assume is an author name).
My "Cowboy Bebop Chat" fic is in here, un-creatively named "Chat Room #2",
and this person must have been very stupid to leave the line that Faye
says, that had my author name in it. That's how I came across it
on the first place :P. Anyways, there is another one, Russian also,
and if you'd like the link for that one, IM me on Aol Instant Messenger
or email me about it and I would happily give it up.
PLEASE TAKE A LOOK AT THE SITE AND SEE IF YOUR FIC IS PLAGERIZED!
Also, if any of you can understand the Russian, please tell me!
Thank you.