Faye sat in the corner stool at the Blue Crow and cursed Fate. It figures that our bounty heads would come here. She didn't like being reminded of Gren. He had been the first man she'd sent off to die, that she'd been unable to save. Her gaze drifted resentfully to Spike.
He was sitting at a table, drinking contentedly. Callisto held bad memories for him as well, but Faye figured that he had so many, and was so used to dealing with them, that he wasn't really that bothered.
For his part, Jet was in another section of the room, keeping an eye on their bounties.
The five men they were after stood, and went outside. That was Faye's cue, and she slapped some money down on the bar and followed them.
Outside, the men turned as one, leering at her revealing yellow outfit, covered only by her open jacket. Faye pulled on her gloves. "All right, boys, let's get started."
The men were satisfied to acquiesce, and all five came at her at once. Faye dropped one with an elbow to the back and another with a knee to his midsection. When he doubled over, she brought her fist up into his nose, knocking him backwards and unconscious.
Spike announced his presence with a flying kick from the side, and Jet caught a fourth bounty in a headlock. The fifth one tried to grab Faye, who dodged; he tried to kick her, and she swept him off his feet and onto his back. The impact knocked the wind from him, and he was happy enough to stay put.
Jet and Spike took two each, and insisted on Faye cramming one into the Redtail with her. By the time they got back to the Bebop, the bounty was sporting several new lumps on his head and Faye stayed only long enough to dump him off before jetting off again.
"That girl." Jet shook his head. "Never know when she'll be back."
"Maybe we'll get lucky and she won't come back this time." Spike hoped aloud.
"No Faye- Faye?!" Edward shrieked. "Disaster, disaster! Earthquake, flood, meteor showers! Rocks rocks everywhere!" she added, zooming off into obscure portions of the Bebop that only she and Ein visited.
Jet gave his friend an incredulous look. "She's got it made here and she knows it. She always comes back."
"I can dream." Spike remarked.
"Sometimes I think you do nothing but dream." Jet muttered, heading off toward his quarters.
*
Faye sat in the corner barstool again, drinking. That saxophone player really sucks. Deciding she couldn't stand it anymore, she stood and left.
Half the men in the bar followed her.
Faye turned and smiled at seeing them. "Oh, good!" She pulled on her gloves.
The first man came at her. Faye took him down with an elbow to his ribs, and the next received a boot in his face. The third and fourth ones came together, and Faye managed to kick one and punch the other, but not before one of them cut her arm.
This might not be as easy as I thought. She dropped two more; one man's nails dragged down her leg and scratched it as he fell.
*
Spike raised his eyebrows at the Faye who came straggling in the common room.
Her jacket had several rips in it, and she had cuts on her arms, legs, and ribs. Bruises and welts were starting to rise.
"Have fun?" he asked sardonically.
"What happened to you?" Jet inquired.
"I decided to blow off some steam." Faye told him, leaving it at that. Sighing, Jet went after the medical supplies as she dropped onto the couch beside Spike. She shrugged out of one half of the jacket, but the other one stuck before Spike removed it for her.
Jet came back with the medical box. "Oh, shit, I forgot dinner!" he exclaimed, running into the kitchen.
Spike silently cleaned and bandaged her scratches for her. When he was done, Faye dragged herself off to her room and lay down on her bed. She drifted off to sleep.
*
Spike fell asleep on the couch, as per his usual habit. Dreams and memories mixed themselves before his eyes. Julia fell forever toward the ground, but her face morphed into Faye's. Spike backed up against his comrade during a battle, but the face that turned to face him, grinning, was not Vicious', but Jet's. Julia tore a card into pieces and let them flutter from a window. A rose was left in a puddle and a cigarette thrown carelessly onto the ground. His gun flew out of his hand, Vicious' sword from his. Vicious' mouth dropped as he, too, fell dead. Julia covered Annie with her coat, and Annie turned into Edward. Ein was a dead rug on the floor.
Faye sank down against a wall, crying.
' I got my memories back. But- no good came of it. There was nothing left; I had no place to go back to. This was the only place I could go.
' And now you're leaving, just like that!'
'Are you just going to throw your life away like it was nothing?!' The words echoed endlessly in his head.
*
Faye was dreaming.
She had been young when she'd had the accident that left her life in such peril that her parents made the decision to have her cryogenically frozen, and which would leave her frozen in time.
Faye, the daughter of a wealthy, powerful man, had been one of the lucky, fortunate first to go on an experimental spacecraft that would have opened trips into space to those rich enough to pay for it.
There had been a malfunction.
The young Faye had been enthralled with space, and looking out the window when suddenly her vision split and there was pain in her middle. She'd looked down at the wound, surprised; droplets of blood rose into the air as the artificial gravity faltered and failed, and Faye stared at them. It was so odd, to see herself bleeding that way, and made it seem unreal.
And then she woke up to the doctor who proudly proclaimed to have 'drowned more humans than Neptune!'
Drowning… she was drowning in tears. Faye was an inch tall, and staring up at herself as she sank down against the wall, crying.
'Are you just going to throw away your life like it was nothing?!'
He was.
Was he going to throw away his present and any hope of a future for his past?
He did.
And then he came back.
Faye watched herself crying. He came back.
Weird, I know. But I'm weird too. Normal is boring! You have to be crazy to keep from going insane! Cookies to: SpecterQueen, PimpinSatan, Et, Soranji- chan, and Liz012014.