..Naw, it won't be that bad. I decided to be less evil with it :P. Anyways, pretty much the chapters from now on until the end will be either angsty, dramatic, or mushy with the love stuff. Enjoy it while it lasts!
Special thanks to:
Lady Razorsharp- Wow! I think that's the first I had from you,
and I'm very glad you loved it! And I'm glad you liked my version
of Brain Scratch.. wasn't quite sure if it was good enough, really ^_^;
AniGirl 7 - Oh my! A cheer for me!...and Ed! xD Thanks
so much!
oblivious - You could actually read that page o.o! Oh
but don't you think it's a bit suspicious that they didn't at least leave
my author's notes in the beginning of my fic where it had all the translations
of which screen name belonged to who? Or even saying that it was
my fanfic? The only names I've seen were either 'Mooncat' or 'Zero'
or something like that.
Fire Mistress - A best story? Mine? *_* why sanku!
lol
Jcool7689 - Hey thanks for the comment! I'm glad you thought
it was amazing! Sanku~
Cowgirl13 - Auw thanks so much! Yeah.. pretty fishy those
Russians.. can't be too careful nowadays *grumble grumble*
Stella the Warrior - I'm glad you liked the slow romance, I
just love making them so painstakingly long to wait *tee-hee* Well,
this chapter is a bit short and because you've already read the whole thing,
I guess this won't take you as much time to read lol. Enjoy!
(by the way, it would be cowgirl lol)
Autophage - What an honor! You're first Cowboy Bebop fic
*jumps around in joy* I'm so happy you liked it! But there are many
other great fanfics out there @.@ search on! There are a lot of great authors
in the Cowboy Bebop section ^_^. Spike, die? *shakes head*
Nuu-nu-nu... that's already been seen and done so... ^_~ (hehe.. I just
gave out a hint xD)
Sukera - Hiya! Your wish just came true! I have updated
as fast as I can xD! I'm so honored to be claimed talented by you
^_^ *whee* Ooh, I think I'll check out your fic!
Mwahahahaha-*cough cough*-ha!
Italics - thoughts/memories/flashbacks
The Untold Story of the Ugly Duckling: part One
"Aren't you excited? It's a trip around the moon!"
"I am! I can't believe my father got us this free ride up there! ...Can you imagine? Space!"
"It's going to be wonderful... nothing but the deep void and the billions of stars..."
"It's going to be so romantic... because you're around.."
||
She was staring elsewhere, he spotted, as morning broke into the day and their routine eating of breakfast, consisting of instant noodles in shitake soup, was in action, and all of the ship's tenants ate in the living quarters. He inspected that the woman seemed to be focused on the blunt end of her wooden chopsticks, though her mind's focus was elsewhere. He was keen to pick up the certain quietness in her this morning, but didn't find it that peculiar. The woman had in fact just come out of a long brainwashing event last night, which left her confused for half of the time during the explanation. Maybe, he thought, she was just too tired.
"You want any more?" he looked over to her, catching her eyes instantly, and motioned his chopsticks to the large bowl of noodles in the middle of the table.
"No.. no thanks, I still got plenty," she answered hesitantly, annoyed that the attention she placed elsewhere was wrenched from her mind. Of course she was being quiet this morning, and with new, almost emotional reason; not that they would ever understand. She was afraid of what had been opened to her the night before, and she didn't expect it would shock her so much to make her start acting oddly around her comrades. That and question their ability to understand her. Though the truth has now been seen by her, she could sense her soul enlighten, maybe glow with the feeling of completeness. After all, why not? She was after this since she woke up from the cold sleep.
She found only one bad thing about it: What would she do now?
The man across her was becoming skeptical. He wasn't stupid; he had asked her if she wanted more because her bowl had barely any left. Now her peculiar actions were starting to pick on his curiosity as well as his nerves. He wondered what she was hiding, or even if she is hiding something from them. He couldn't understand or think up of what she could be keeping away from him, but he could sense by the way she seemed drifted away once again, that the problem, or whatever it may be, is very serious and personal, and it wasn't his style to meddle into people's business unless asked for. So he played 'the ignorant' and kept quiet, slurping now and then as he sucked the thin noodles through his lips.
||
"It's shaking! ..is that normal?"
"The ship is just taking off.. don't be afraid Faye.."
"hehehe.. Sorry.. I guess I'm kind of nervous.. I mean, what if--!"
"No, nothing's going to happen. Don't worry, Faye, I'll save you."
||
"Oh god..." her right palm slapped her forehead; the scene causing all eyes to her. Besides the eyes which burned at her in question, a new feeling of sick sloshing came to the pit of her stomach; she knew she had to get out of the room, even if her act would cause more attention than she would want. She stood up quickly, shading her face with a palm of her hand as she exited the room without another word.
"Uh..Faye, what's wrong?" Jet asked as the woman passed by, but he got no answer.
Immediately, Spike stood up and went after her, following her towards the dark corridor, curious as to why she was going towards her room so quickly.
||
"Wow.. we're so high up!"
"Look at Earth, Faye."
"It's so.... so blue..."
"It won't be soon until we get to see the moon. It's going to be great."
"When I get married.. I want to get married here, in space, overlooking Earth.."
".....We could do that Faye."
||
She shoved the duffel bag from her small closet and to her bed, quickly taking down all her clothes and belongings and stuffing them inside it. She didn't notice the man standing on her doorway, watching quietly.
||
"So what do you think of space, Faye?"
"It's paradise. I wonder why people took this long to create spaceships. So many people back in the past don't know what they're missing."
"The moon is beautiful. Look out your window, Faye."
"Oh my.... I've changed my mind! That's where I want to get married... That's where--"
-----------------------------------------------
"Are you okay?"
-----------------------------------------------
"Faye?"
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"Faye!"
||
It had surprised him when a strangled sob escaped her lips and her shoulders shook, perhaps it would be a good time for him to ask.
"Faye?" he kept his voice soothing, cool, concerned.
The woman turned around, surprised to see the man, and quickly brushed an arm across her face before turning back to her bag, "What do you want?"
At first he didn't answer, instead he welcomed himself inside and walked to her side, where she stopped her packing to stare at her bag.
"Going on a trip?" he didn't want to get into the real problem too quickly, afraid that he would scare her away.
She shook her head uncomfortably, her tinted cheeks mildly stained with wetness, "No.. actually.. I think I'm going to leave."
The words which escaped her lips seemed to stung him in a way that he knew somehow he never liked. He was trying to find the words to say, if only his mind could register what phrase or with what emotion he should say it in. So he stood still, watching as the woman continue to pack, and it wasn't until the zipper of the duffel bag made contact to the other end that his throat found voice.
"Why?"
She threw a strap on a shoulder and turned to him with eyes of despair, "I've.. I've got to find something," she sighed at Spike's gaze; it seemed to infatuate her in an adorable way, so she had to turn elsewhere, "I can't tell you.. what it is, but when I find it.. I don't know.. maybe I'll come back."
Not waiting for a comment or reply, she stepped ahead in front of him and lifted her feet to plant a small kiss on his cheek, "See you later, cowboy." and with that, she departed out the door and to the hanger.
It wasn't until the heavy rumbling of the Redtail's engine that he decided he didn't want her to go. He had prepared hard to change for her, and swore to himself that he would, and just when he was going to start doing what he started, she had to leave. Besides, he hadn't felt the need to bring closeness between him and or another since he met Julia. Faye was the second person that made him want to know what life was about, and what his life was all about. He thought ahead in the future, how he would feel and be like when he loses another person who he was grateful to have around in all his life, and didn't find the scenes in front of him any bearable.
"Wait Faye-Faye!! Take Edward with you! Edward likes Faye-Faye!" the orange haired kid came sprinting down the hanger, reaching it faster than Spike did as he stood there and watched the large hanger doors close shut. A small, saddened moan escaped the young girl's lips as she cried out to Faye; cry out with the same emotion as Spike would.
"Come back, Faye-Faye! Don't leave Edward!"
||
-"Emerald Bar".Earth.2 hours later.-
"Ungrateful.. we give her hospitality all those times and one day, she decides to run off without reason," Jet mumbled as he peered down on his fifth shot of vodka, "Here I thought she changed at least a bit... Can't believe her.. the nerve," he kicked his left foot, almost knocking the small dog under his stool.
"Jet, you don't know what you're talking about," said the man beside him, his tufts of green hair drooped lowly over his glazed eyes, "The woman's just.. confused or something. Something after last night must have come back to her and maybe that brainwashing effect didn't wear.. off..." he forced his round of vodka down his throat before angrily slamming its end against the bar, "Dammit! I don't even know what I'm talking about!"
Ed sat beside the green haired man, her feet dangling from the stool while she hummed a quiet tune that pretty much kept her usually loud mouth busy. The tune wasn't bouncy or happy though, it was more like a tune a funeral would play. It had a lot of low and long notes, that seemed to fall fast to the floor and scrape across the dirt until someone stepped on it and put it out of its misery.
Two more shots were poured to both of the older men; the bar man giving them a short warning about women as he passed by.
"This woman seemed to have caused big damage in your ship this morning. I tell you, women like that are everywhere."
In Spike's mind, the bar man was far from truth with his last phrase. Women like her aren't everywhere, "Women like Faye.. there's not much of them around."
"Thank god," Jet commented from his side and sucked in his shot before motioning for another one.
"There's only one Faye," Spike continued, staring past his glass of intoxicating liquid, "One Faye in this whole damn universe, and she's the only Faye I need," he spoke the last words softly, probably still timid to admit it so openly to people. It was true though, despite the way he always acts around her, he had always kept her somewhere special in his mind and heart. He sat up crookedly and pointed a long finger at the bar man, eyeing him suspiciously, "And don't you get the idea that I want her out my life because that already happened to me with a different girl, and I'll tell you that after living the way I did all this time, I learned a great lesson."
The bar man hesitated to ask, "And what was that?"
Spike placed his finger down, swigged his drink down his throat, and stood up to leave, "I didn't say I knew it just yet, I still have to find out whether or not I passed."
||
The azure sky began to tint into orange; glowing like an almost burned out light bulb in a dark alley. It was sunset now and light was streaming past her eyes in the way she had always remembered as a child growing up by the sea. The sun, as it was swallowed past the sea's horizon, would illuminate against the reflection of the glass-like, calm waters, and create a spectral of blue-orange brightness to the cooling sand below her feet.
The feelings she now felt became enjoyable to her, almost as if it could replace her air itself. It was a thing she remembered from way back when, and it was a feeling she had longed for all her life in this age of time. Yet, standing alone in the sand where her neighborhood once stood nearby, was all too empty. Something was missing, though she doubted anything else in her life was. But it was not her mind to think so, but her soul.
Nevertheless, she shrugged it off and continued her way to retrace her whole past as she walked up the long, white, dissolving cement road to where she remembered her home once stood.
||
He walked around the streets with a spectating gait; a young girl with an almost identical hair-do glumly stride beside him, singing the same tune from the bar. He had to admit, ever since Faye left, Ed had changed dramatically. It was as if Ed had lost a mother, or a sister. The song that escaped the young girl's lips was still low and sad, and it was now decorated with moans of "Oh Faye-Faye.."
"Ed, would you be quiet," Spike snapped after walking down the fourth block, "If you want to come with me, then you better just stop singing that stupid song."
"Edward's not singing..." the girl replied in a low voice, her head bowed down.
"Humming! Same thing.."
"Edward's not humming, either," the girl shook her head and slumped her shoulders forward, "Edward is crying... crying because Edward misses Faye-Faye lots."
He could feel annoyance flickering in the back of his head, but the girl's words had caught his throat and kept him from speaking. He could understand what the girl was feeling, for he was feeling them just the same. But he never carried the gift to act out most of his feelings. They continued to walk in silence; five, six blocks until they reached a risen street with an unbelievable view of the sea.
There they stopped, looking over the setting sun. Glancing over to the girl, Spike regretted to tell her to be quiet; the face she wore wasn't Ed-like at all.
"I'm sorry, Ed, go ahead and sing."
"Edward won't sing.. Edward will cry," the girl replied stiffly and continued on with her song, changing the notes with the way the waters of the sea drifted slowly on the sand below the small cliff.
For the first time of the day, Spike let out a small smile in ironic amusement as Ed's song drowned his head with thoughts of failure and forever misery.
||
Her feet carried her up the long road lethargically; the gravity of the area ahead seemed to pull her to it.
The long walls of gray shale on both sides of the street was beginning to become recognizable to her eyes, and her feet began to pound heavily into the road as they moved faster up the street.
She could picture the days she spent running up the same street as she came home from school, from her friend's, and from the beach. She can hear it now, how she would squeal in delight as she ran, singing the songs that her mother would often play on the piano, or rambling her own made up words and babbling them into a song. Her feet weren't heavy now, they were getting lighter as she picked up more speed; her breaths coming into excited pants as the air around her lungs tightened.
Somehow, at some part of the street, she felt she was only half way until she reached her home. A sudden memory of having to often hold her cap or hat atop her head, came in mind, and unconsciously a hand lifted over her head to rest on top of her dark violet locks. She remembered, this was around the time her feet would pick up more speed as she raced home. And her feet did just that.
She sped faster, like she was running a marathon and is at first place while the finish line stood only yards away. Her eyes blurred a little in her vision as tears surfaced her eyes at the sight of an exterior wall and an open gate. Behind it stood a large mansion, still white as the road path she ran on, with a grand fountain in its front yard.
This was all too familiar, she thought, and wondered how the house could still be standing after so long.
It wasn't until she felt her breath calm and her feet relax that the vision of her perfectly kept home was only a mirage from her memories. Tears that threatened her eyes, poured without warning, as the structure of her home before her was nothing more than a 2-D outline of what was once her past. Her hand moved to hold the rail of the rusted gate as she held it tightly in pain; her home was gone.
She had no home; it was gone.
"Faye?"
She caught a glimpse of a figure inside the rubble of her home; a figure which opened her eyes and dwelled something more into her mind. She knew the person, and questioned whether or not he was only a mirage. After all.. he had died with her that day.
From the small darkness created by the still standing exterior wall, stood a man with pale blue eyes and smoky hair, which stood elegantly straight on top of his head. He came out from the dark, the orange light touching his skin silkily, and came to the front of the gate with a very shocked expression.
"Faye?" he tried again, seeing if the woman was in fact real, and he wasn't at all hallucinating.
Faye gripped the rail on the gate tighter and clenched her teeth, "You're not real.. why do you keep showing up! Just go away! You're not real!" evidently she thought the same for him. He wasn't the real person she knew long ago, she concluded in her mind, he was gone. Everything in her past was gone.
Hesitantly, the man placed a hand over hers on the railing; both of them felt the warmness of the other, and their eyes glued together in disbelief.
"You're here, Faye? You're alive.." the boy took his hand back and roughly pulled the rusted gate from its hinges; the bolts snapped off easily as he did. He didn't let the woman answer him as he grasped her into a crushing embrace; his eyes of sliver-blue tearing from happiness, "I knew you were alive! They told me, three years ago! And I found you! I did!"
It took her a while to absorb the scene until her eyes teared up once more as she choked out the name of the man whom she remembered to have loved,
"Marcus.."
To be continued....
~review pleaze~
On the next chapter:
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Strife21: Dear readers, if I may, I will take this time to explain our newest character.. Marcus. *pulls Marcus in*
Marcus: ......
Strife21: *suddenly dressed up as a reporter and shoves a microphone in front of Marcus face* So, Marcus, explain yourself.
Marcus: Well-*feedback* ....o.o;; -ahem- Well I'm Faye's rightful lover.
Strife21: *nods* Right, right...
Marcus: o.o;;... and um.. I was briefly introduced in the chapter "Feng Shue? What the heck is it? p.2"....
Strife21: Uh-huh... and who were you in that chapter?
Marcus: I was the man in the shuttle ship, sitting next to Faye...
Strife21: Right, right... *nods* So you are from her past, am I correct?
Marcus: Well.. you would have to be, wouldn't you? I mean you are the auth-
Strife21: *interrupts* Answer the question please.
Marcus: O.o;; um of course I am.
Strife21: Right.. *nods* So do you know what will happen in the next chapter?
Marcus: um.. you told me not to say...
Strife21: ......*turns quickly to the readers* "The Untold Story of the Ugly Duckling part 2" is next. Stay tuned readers, we are about finished with this tragic story.
Marcus: ..can I continue hugging Faye now?
Strife21: ~.~ .. just don't hug for too long.. I know I made you up and all, and Faye was your girlfriend in the past, but this story is still F/S.
Marcus: ;_; *sniff* ..right...
~laterz, cowboy....~