"I love only what I don't hate."
"What do you hate?"
"Love."
The man looked at the enigma of a woman before him.
"You want to leave?" He lit his cigarette.
"Yeah," she twisted the ends of her apron.
"And go where?"
"Eden."
"Where's that?"
"I don't know. Somewhere very good."
"This universe is a hell in itself."
"I know."
"There isn't such thing as good. Only evil."
"Good grows off of evil."
"You're digressing. What are you going to do about Vicious?"
"I don't know."
"He'll try to kill us."
"We'll hide."
"I don't like that."
"Then he won't know."
"He always has ways of knowing."
"Spike, I love him."
He puffed on his cigarette.
"And I hate him for that," she continued.
"Why?"
"I hate love."
"What about me?"
"I hate you. And because of that I don't."
"Whatever."
She smiled. "I want to live in a dream."
"You already are."
"None of this is real?"
"No, it's only real when you're dead. Life is a bunch of images and sounds."
"What about emotions?"
"They're not real."
"Oh?"
"Emotions are just the results of defects in your brain."
"Lovely."
"Yeah."
She fell solemn. "So I'm just a defect of your brain?"
"The best one there is, and trust me, there are lots of em'."
She chuckled.
"So what are we doing about him?" He leaned back.
"We have to hide."
"We can't do that together."
"I know. I'll run until I can find you again. And you?"
"Bounty hunting sounds good."
"Bounty hunting?"
"Yeah."
She looked down. "What if you meet someone else?"
Spike laughed. "Who could I possibly meet while chasing bounty heads?"
She smiled, "I guess you're right."
***
Faye kicked his tombstone. "It's all your damn fault!" she screamed.
A crow cawed in response. She sighed. Spike was a fool to go after Julia and to die trying to avenge her. Well, at least he was happy. Yeah, he and Julia were happy while she was miserable. Damn Julia.
"Well, hey there," A low voice called from behind her. "That's not very respectful."
Faye was in awe. Perhaps it was just her head playing with her, but if she heard correctly, that voice sounded like, "Spike!?"
She turned around with excitement and wonder. Instead, she found a pair of green eyes. "Spike?" he asked with confusion.
"Sorry, you sounded like an old friend of mine..." She turned away. That was a bit embarrassing: screaming out a dead man's name expecting him to be the stranger behind her.
"You shouldn't live in the past."
"I try not to." She looked at him. He had a thin, angular face and the same bed-head hair as Spike. The only difference was that it was black. She shook her head. No, he looked exactly like Spike! The only alterations were his hair and eye color and clothing. Oh, and he was a little more buff.
He raised an eyebrow. "Something wrong?"
"Huh? Oh, no. Sorry. You just look like someone I know, er, someone I knew."
"You're living in the past," he smiled.
Faye turned around. "It's not something easy to forget."
"No, it isn't."
"What are you doing here?"
"Just walking."
"A graveyard isn't the pleasantest place to walk."
"Pleasantest?"
"Just a word I made up on a whim."
"Oh, I see."
Faye itched with curiosity concerning the man. "What's your name?"
"I'm not allowed to talk to strangers."
"I think you've already had a conversation with one."
"Okay, fine. Promise not to laugh?"
Faye put her hand up as if in oath. "I promise."
He chuckled. "Alright, my name is Marley."
"I don't see what's so funny about that."
"People usually laugh when I tell them."
"I think it's sexy," Faye laughed.
Marley chuckled. "Whatever floats your boat. What's your name?"
"Faye Valentine."
"That's pretty."
"Nice to know."
"So why are you out here? Well, besides kicking people's gravestones in fury."
Faye smiled. "I'd like to know that to."
The man pulled out a cigarette and lit it. "What do you do for a living?"
"I'm a bounty hunter."
"Oh? I figured."
Faye crossed her arms. "How?"
The man shrugged. "Intuition maybe?"
Faye sighed.
"And I also know that you live on the ship, Bebop, with an ex-cop named Jet."
"Remarkable intuition," she took out her gun and pointed it at him. "Who the hell are you?"
"I'm Marley, you know that," he smiled and puffed on his cigarette. She shot it out of his hand. "What's your last name?"
"Oh, I hate telling that."
"You better start liking it." She held the gun to his head.
"Alright, I guess you win. It's Spiegel."
***
Jet wiped the beads of sweat on his forehead as he repaired a section of the ship.
"Jet, are you there?" A face popped onto the screen.
"Faye? God, where have you been? The ship needs preparing, so get your ass back here and-"
"Jet, I found a new friend. Check for his name on the database."
"Alright, what is it?"
"Marley Spiegel."
"What!?"
"You heard me. Is there a bounty on him or anything?"
"Hold on." The keyboard clicked furiously. "Yeah, 500,000 woo-longs. It's not bad. But, wait, is he related to-"
"Yep. It's a small universe after all."
"Are we turning him in?" Jet scratched his head.
"I don't know. Should we?"
"Bring him here, I want to talk to him. Does he know about what happened to Spike?"
"Yeah, he knows. I'll bring him over now."
"How are they related?"
"Brothers."
A/N: Yay! First Bebop fic ever! Well, if there are any discontinuities from the series, I apologize because I've only seen a total of eight of the episodes plus the movie. Love it? Hate it? Review. I'll continue if I get enough encouragement. If I continue, it will eventually turn into an action/romance story. If you have any suggestions regarding the future plotline, put it in the review. ^_^ Thank you in advance!
