I don't own Cowboy Bebop

=Every New Day (part I)=

He stared out the window of the ship and saw the rubble on the ground. This was the exact location of where Spike and Faye were supposed to be. He glanced down worriedly, feeling his heart begin to pound faster in his chest. He pressed a few buttons and heard the soft moans of the ship as he landed it nearby.

Getting out of the seat, he raced down the halls, opened the hatch and jumped onto the ground.

The sun beat down against his bald head as he raised one arm to block the light. The sight that met his eyes was both disturbing and horrible. Nothing looked as if it survived. He started to kick a few pieces of debris around, exposing smears of blood. He could feel his heart stop in his chest. No…

He walked further, searching around the wasteland frantically.

Then, he found her. She sat with her back to him, on a fallen log. Her leg's were crossed, and she held a cigarette loosely in her mouth. The wind blew causing the thin strands of purple hair to caress her cheeks. She brushed her hair back with one shaky hand, glanced up at the man, and quickly looked away. The star she had been watching so carefully had blinked out.

"Jet," she said. Her voice had so much warmth in it that it made his heart lurch. She was alive and she was back. But…

"Where's Spike?" he asked.

Faye shrugged her slender shoulders. She took the cigarette from her lips and flipped it into the wreckage. "I haven't seen the lunkhead…"

Jet sighed. She was lying. "What happened?" he tried again.

Faye's eyes became watery and distant. A thoughtful look came across her face as she slowly stood and patted the dirt from her bottom. "Jet," she said as she looked past him to the Bebop, "I'm tired. Do you think I can go to sleep for a little bit?"

Jet rubbed the top of his head in confusion. Finally he shrugged and said, "Of course."

===

She sat in her room rubbing her hair dry. She had cleaned herself as best as she could and had changed into her pajamas. It was hard to wipe the blood from her skin. For some odd reason, she wanted to keep it there as a reminder. She shut her eyes, the memory still burning underneath her eye lids.

She could feel the gun burning in her grasp. The retraction and the pain…it was so fresh in her mind.

Jet knocked on the door and entered. He had a tray full of what appeared to be food. He set it in front of Faye to eat. "I want you to finish that."

Faye made a face but did as she was told. Picking up the spork, she let it hover in the air near her mouth before she set it back down. Finally, she said, "It happened so fast."

Jet was silent. He didn't want to show her that he was thirsty for this information.

She lay in her bed--the "food" forgotten--and shut her eyes. She might as well bring those memories back to the surface… She had to get it off her chest.

===

Faye had fallen from the chair. The chains around her wrists were no more. She staggered to a sitting position, and collected her thoughts. She could run out of here…but first… "Spike," she whispered.

She stood up. Her body still felt sluggish from the drug. Slowly, she made her way to the door.

Her eyes adjusted to the dim light. Down a flight of stairs, she could see Vicious and Spike standing close to one another. Vicious stepped back, and Faye could see the blood on the sword.

Spike's blood.

She kept herself from reacting quickly. She wasn't going to act like a fool now. She had to be careful. She crept down the stairs wishing that she had her gun.

They were talking, that much she could tell. Suddenly, Spike fired. Reacting, she ducked quickly and landed face first into a hard metal object. What the heck is this?! She picked up the object and realized it was a gun…How?

She picked it up--it was heavy in her hands--and she snuck up to Vicious and Spike. She was close…very close.

She caught Spike's mismatched eyes on her. It was only for a fraction of a second, but she knew he had seen her.

Spike aimed.

What's he doing? Faye saw that his gun was aimed no where near Vicious. Spike fired and Vicious grinned.

"You missed."

Spike glanced at Faye again. "Did I?"

Faye crawled up to Vicious back and fired. The bullet erupted from the front of his chest and he fell in agony. Faye almost dropped the gun. It's retraction burned at her achy bones and sluggish muscles.

Faye shot him again and again until all she heard was the click of the gun. She felt Spike's hands encircle her wrists and pull the gun from her hands.

"It's done," he whispered into her ear. Faye shivered violently as his voice invaded her. She could no longer stand and fell to the floor. Spike knelt beside her and pulled out the medicine kit he had strapped to his belt. He began to attend to her wounds.

Faye saw the gash in Spike's chest. Wordlessly, she searched in the kit for more bandages and slowly applied pressure to his wound. She could feel the wetness of the blood seep through the bandages. She waited until the bleeding stopped before she turned to look into his eyes.

"You're a lousy shot." Faye said softly.

Spike frowned. "Are you kidding? I was aiming for those damn wires. He was going to blow up this place."

"Liar," Faye replied. She could feel his heartbeat under her finger tips. It made her uneasy. She took her hands away and fumbled to find more words to say.

Spike was just finishing wrapping a cut on her leg, when he reacted. He cocked his head up as if he heard something off in the distance.

"What is it?"

He covered her mouth in his hand. "Shh!"

He stood up, grabbing Faye's hand, and dragged her to the door. Faye looked back, wondering what Spike had heard. She saw the small smirk over Vicious' face and the small detonator in his hands. "You did miss, Spike…" Vicious whispered hoarsely.

They heard the explosion. Spike pushed Faye in front of him as glass shards began to fall from the sky. He took off his jacket and threw it around Faye. "Keep running, you slow woman!"

===

"That doesn't explain it. Where is he, then?" Jet asked.

Faye moved her arm about two inches above her face and peeked at Jet. He could see the tears falling freely down her face.

===

Spike stumbled on a piece of rubble. He fell with a large thud and Faye turned. "Just keep going!"

"NO!" Faye screamed. She wrapped her arms around his waist and helped him up. They continued to run toward the door.

They were so close but far too late. The ceiling cried out and was about to give way when she felt Spike shove her out the door.

Faye twisted around and watched in horror as the building collapsed.

===

She turned in her bed as Jet left her to herself. This was the second time she couldn't stop him from dying.

If only…if only…if only what? I couldn't save him twice! I'm still weak…

I'm useless…

She let her eyes flutter shut.

===

Jet looked through the rubble, but it was no use. There was no evidence of Spike anywhere let alone Vicious. He sighed and hung his head. His hand covered his tired eyes as he went back into the Bebop.

This day was done.

=End Chapter=

Every New Day is a song title from Five Iron Frenzy.

Not my best, but oh well. Anyway, sorry for the eternity it took to get this chapter up. Finals are a pain.

Again, thanks to all the people who reviewed. The next chapter will be the last of Every New Day. So hang in there. But since there was a split vote between happy ending and evil ending, I have no clue which it should be…Is there a way to do two?