I own only the characters that don't appear in the show. If you've seen them moving, you hallucinate, or they belong to the guy who did Cowboy Bebop.

Spoilers Galore. You have been warned.

Basic Plot: An overall theme in Cowboy Bebop is It's All a Dream. What if it was? Spike wakes up after the end of the 26th episode, and discovers that the entire series was a cold sleep dream. He begins searching for a remnant of his life on the Bebop, and finds more than he bargains for.

Edit: I finally got off my ass and decided to finish this. Do you all hate me? I'm sorry..

Dreaming

Spike stumbled down the steps, his mind thinking of all the people who had died. Julia was dead, shot by a member of the Red Dragon. He still loved her, and it hurt.

He was dying.

Shin. He was a great guy, when you got right down to it. What more could you want in a friend?

He could feel his mind fading.

Vicious. He felt no remorse about him. They were friends once, but Spike couldn't be around people like him, cruel and cold.

The cowboy stopped, knowing he hadn't the strength to go on. Thinking of all the people he would leave behind, he knew that they were strong enough to go on without him. Jet could take care of himself, and Faye was a smart girl who could live on her own. Ed was only a teenager, but she was well off with Tomato, Ein, and her father. She could live a healthy life and grow up to be a great person.

Spike Speigel, a bounty hunter, cowboy, and former Red Dragon member raised his fingers. Aiming at the sky, he shot out the sun.

"Bang".

He dropped.

CVYCVYCVYCVY

He woke, sweating. Looking up, he saw a large collection of lights. It looked like what Faye described when she woke up from Cold Sleep, actually.

Cold Sleep? When did he get into CS? He would ask Jet. Jet would know.

"Ah, he's awake. Look at me, please".

Spike looked towards the voice. It came from a sickeningly cheerful doctor who must be inspecting him, making sure there were no remaining injuries. It was too early for a doctor to be cheerful.

"It's too early for you to be cheerful." Spike muttered. He hated happy people when he was like this.

The doctor refused to let Spike's dour attitude ruin his day. He was getting married in a week, and everybody should be happy, just like him.

Sitting up, Spike grabbed the cheerful doctor by the throat, digging his thumb and middle finger into the soft skin right behind the jawbone. It was painful.

Looking straight into the doctor's eyes, Spike spoke very clearly, enunciating each word.

"I'm going to ask you some questions. They are going to be Yes-Or-No. You are going to answer them by nodding or shaking your head. You will not say a word. Do you understand?"

The doctor feebly attempted to nod. When that failed, he bugged his eyes out a little more, hoping it got the message across.

Spike set the man down, and began rubbing his head. Getting up that quickly had given him a killer headache. Was this some new sort of booze he got? Did he get wildly raging drunk, and pass out? If he did.He really didn't want to know what Faye had done while he was zoned. Quickly, he checked his wallet. He didn't find it. He didn't find anything, for that matter. No pants. Or a shirt. Or.he hoped the doctor was straight.

Glaring at the doctor, he began the questioning.

"First, where the hell am I?

The doctor fumbled for a minute, then backpedaled, attempting to get as much space between him and the violent man as possible.

Realizing his faux pas, Spike quickly rephrased the question. It didn't do to look stupid in front of strangers, even if you had no idea who they were.

Something about that thought bothered Spike, but he let it go. He had more important things on his mind to worry about petty details.

"Okay, how about this. Am I in a hospital?

Spastically, the doctor nodded. He looked vaguely like some sort of bird. A woodpecker, though Spike had only seen them in wildlife preserves on Mars when he was a kid.

"Okay. Now that we have that cleared up, was I in Cold Sleep?

Again, the doctor nodded. Spike almost laughed, it was kind of scary how much the doctor was frightened of him.

"Calm down, I'm not gonna hurt ya. You can talk now."

You could see the tension drain out of the doc's face. Very relaxing sight. The doctor just looked at Spike, not taking the chance of setting him off again.

"Okay. So, why was I in Cold Sleep?

That, the doctor could answer. Sort of. "Well, this is actually kind of embarrassing."

That didn't sound good. "Explain", Spike demanded.

The doctor loosened a tie he wasn't wearing. The action gave him some degree of comfort. Or it was a habit. Spike didn't know. Spike didn't care.

"Well, we don't know. We were doing a routine check of everybody in Sleep, and we found you. Since we have no record of your being checked in, we have no idea who you are, or why you're here. We revived you as soon as-"

The doctor's speech was cut off as Spike lunged and grabbed him by the next again. Doc's eyes promptly began their bulging.

"You mean you just 'found' me here? You have no idea how long I've been here? You have no idea why I was frozen?"

Throwing himself backwards, the doctor managed to jerk himself out of Scary Man's grip.

"We do routine checks every 20 years, sir. You couldn't have been here longer than that, or we would have noticed".

Spike stood up, ready to leave. "Alright, then I have one more question. Where are my clothes?"

The doctor started crawling for the door. "Well, that's the other thing."

CVYCVYCVYCVY

"Doctor Johnson? I have a feeling I shouldn't ask." The doctor sighed, and gave his normal reply. "A man took them".

His colleague stared at him. "Wow. I never thought.But that's perfectly okay, that's fine, you're still my friend."

Doctor Johnson sighed. He had no idea how he would explain this to his fiancée.

CVYCVYCVYCVY

Spike could feel the blood rushing to his head. His cheeks, more specifically. He was blushing. Perhaps taking the doctor's clothes wasn't the best idea, especially if Spike didn't want to be noticed.

Spike quickly sprinted down the street, accidentally bumping into an innocent stranger in his haste. Turning to show his good will, he quickly ducked into a clothing store and checked how much money was in his brand new wallet.

CVYCVYCVYCVY

Spike was ready to take on the world, now. Well, no. He was ready to take on a goodly portion of the world, maybe 5 or 6 people. If he was lucky. In any case, Spike now had some new clothes which apparently fit in with what everybody else was wearing.

Now, for food and drink. And information, if he could find it.

Zeroing in on a bar, Spike crossed the busy street, making his own personal intersection. After making it across with several curses ringing in his ears, he entered the bar.

Exit 1.

Okay, I finally got up and finished the first chapter. Yay me.

Coming up next: Spike finds food, some nice alcohol, and even some information. But wait.Now he's in a junkyard? Perhaps a raging drunk wasn't the best person to ask.

I'll try to get the next chapter up sometime next week. But I'm notorious for breaking promises.