Even more praise for your reviews:
Life is but a Dream2000: I'm glad you like the story. I agree with you, Aoshi rules. See you again!
Elf-Vulcan: I wouldn't say Spike is that hard a case, but he is definitely hard nonetheless. You want the ghost of Christmas yet to come? Here it is! Enjoy!
Hiei'sFireyGurl52890: Glad you like it! Here comes the end part of it. Thanks for your praise.
On with the ghost of Christmas yet to come! Thanks for all your reviews nice people. Oh yes, one more thing. This chapter, being set in the future, will be a bit more of a drama then a comedy and Spike will be out of character near the very end, so be warned. Bye! -Randall Flagg2
The hooded figure approached Spike, slowly, silently, not uttering so much as a whisper. Although he was not one who was easily intimidated, Spike felt a twinge of fear as the ghost came towards him. He could see none of its features, save for an outstretched hand which held a scabbard with a katana in it. At last, the ghost stopped in front of him.
"Are you the ghost of Christmas yet to come?" Spike asked. The ghost said nothing.
"I said are you the ghost of Christmas yet to come?" he asked again. This time the specter reached up and pulled back its hood to reveal its face. Spike expected to see a skull or nothing at all, but instead it was the face of a man with a hateful, cold expression on his face with long white hair.
"Vicious!" Spike hissed, pulling out his gun. He fired a shot directly at his rival's head, only to have it pass through him with no ill effect. Vicious smirked.
"Come. I have much to show you." he said in that cold voice that never failed to annoy Spike. He was a bit reluctant to be following the one person he would like to see hung from a tree, but something told him that it would be for the better. Spike swallowed his pride and went down the hallway of the bebop with his old rival. They stepped into a dark corridor and came out in a prison. In the various cells were many of the bounties that they had caught over time.
"Why are we here?"
"Just listen." Vicious grunted. One of the inmates spoke up.
"I don't know anything about it. All I know is that he's as dead as a doornail."
"When did he kick the bucket?" another asked.
"Last night I think. It's kind of hard for me to believe though. You might think a guy like him would never die."
"Well good riddance to him I say. That'll teach him to kick the shit out of me like he did!" This was followed by joyous, sadistic laughter.
"So what are you saying Vicious? What do these people have to do with my future?" Vicious said nothing. The red dragon operative only pointed onwards with his katana and led Spike out of the prison and into a dark alley where three people were gathered. One was a handsome boy of about fifteen with long red hair and green eyes. The other was short with red eyes and spiky black hair. The last one wore some crazily outdated clothing and had long hair tied in a long braid. He carried a long spear in the shape of a lightening bolt. At the center was a beautiful woman with long, thick cyan colored hair.
"So what do you have boys?" the woman asked.
"A fair deal Miss Ryoko. This one definitely had a lot on him." said the one with the braided hair.
"Well, show me what you have and I'll give you what its worth." Ryoko said. The boy with the red hair stepped up and produced his plunder. He gave to the woman a few ties, some shoes and a pistol. Ryoko tallied up the money on a pocket notebook and handed sixty woolongs to the boy.
"You never do get much, do you Kurama? A bit ironic for one who was once the most feared thief of them all." the short one said sarcastically. The red haired boy narrowed his eyes slightly.
"Well if you're so confident in your amount Hiei, why don't you go next?" Kurama asked. Hiei boldly stepped forward and showed what he had collected. Some bed sheets, a box of bullets, and a large mirror. Ryoko added up the sum and handed him what appeared to be one hundred and fifteen woolongs..
"Not a bad score Hiei, not a bad score. And you Hiten?"
Hiten hefted a sack off of his shoulder and revealed its contents. The bag contained a bunch of suits and shirts, some of them still a bit damp with what seemed like sweat.
"Well? Is it sufficient?" Hiten asked. Ryoko grinned.
"You don't mean you undressed him and took of his clothes when he was dead, do you?" she asked, shelling out a very large sum of money to Hiten. The man smiled.
"Yes I did. It's not like anybody could care about one like him." he said. The thieves broke out into hearty laughter. Spike was repulsed.
"This is disgusting. What are you trying to tell me with this image?" Spike asked. Vicious said nothing. He unsheathed his katana and swept it through the air. Now they were inside of a dark room with very little light and dust seemed to almost perforate the room. Spike sneezed. Vicious pointed towards a bed where the shape of a body was, its form covered up by a bed sheet making it look amorphous in the dim light.
"What do you want this time?"
"Take off the sheet." Vicious growled. "I want you to see what's under there." Spike did not move an inch. He wanted to see who or what was underneath the sheet, but his fear was holding him back. Vicious continued to point. "Take it off I said." the white haired man hissed.
"I- I can't. I don't know why, but I can't." Spike said. "Show me something else. Show me some tenderness connected with a death." Vicious pointed with his Katana and led Spike into the shadows again. Soon enough they were in the familiar corridors of the bebop. It was the same as always, but there was the slight feeling of sadness in the air. Spike saw Ed walked by and felt a little it worried. Yes it was Ed alright, but something was different about her. She wasn't yelling and giggling as she always was. She was actually walking without swinging her arms and legs in pendulum like motions and she seemed to be very depressed. Vicious smirked again.
"Are you alright Ed?" came the voice of Jet from the other room.
"I'm alright." Ed replied, her voice lacking any happiness at all. Spike could not believe it. She had talked normally! He had waited so long to hear that, but for some reason he felt a bit sad. For Ed to talk normally, something must have happened. Nothing good he imagined, from her tone of voice. And where was he himself? Was he out hunting for a bounty again? He had no clue. Vicious led him into the kitchen where Spike watched the scene unfold.
"You don't sound alright." Faye said.
Ed sighed. "No, I'm not alright. I just miss him, that's all." she said. From inside the kitchen, Jet rubbed Ed's back.
"You'll get over it. He's in a better place now." Jet said. Spike didn't understand what they were talking about, but he had a gut feeling that he did know at the same time. Ed walked out of the room, sniffling slightly. Spike turned to Jet and Faye who were now having a discussion of their own.
"Do you really think she'll get over it?" Faye asked.
Jet sat back in his chair. "To be honest, I think she'll get better but I don't think she'll fully recover. She loved him to death you know." he sighed. "Maybe if we had gotten more food he would have made it."
"Well at least he didn't suffer." replied the shrew. Spike surveyed the room and saw a food bowl in the corner of the room. It was dusty and had cobwebs on it. He realized at once what had happened.
"You mean Ein died?" he asked his mortal enemy. Vicious nodded. They went down a hallway and as Spike passed Ed's room, he could hear muffled sobs. He looked in to see the poor hacker girl weeping into her pillow, her sobs muffled by the cloth. He had never seen Ed cry like this before. She was doing it quietly, soundlessly which was somehow frightening to him. Vicious spoke up.
"Now do you see the cost of your greediness? You took most of the good food and Ein died from malnutrition. And now Ed is heartbroken all because of your selfishness. Do you still enjoy it?" he asked. Spike was too shocked to reply. Had he really hurt Ed this badly? Yes, he did hate Ein, but now he wished the damn dog had lived. If he could have such an influence on Ed and the others, he should have every right to live. Spike sighed and as he went down the hallway with Vicious, he could have sworn that one single tear escaped his eye. He shook his head and went after his enemy. When Vicious opened the door at the end of the hall, they were in an old graveyard.
"Why are we here?" Spike asked. Vicious pointed downwards towards an isolated grave.
"Look at this. This is the last of the images I can show you." the ghost Vicious said.
"Before I look, tell me one thing. Are these things that will be in the future, or are they shadows of things that only might be?" (A/N Yes, I know Spike dies in the end of the series, but bear with me please.)
"Just look!" Vicious snarled. "I don't have time for your rambling, now look." Spike approached the grave. And read his own name on the stone. He was now officially freaked out.
"I'm the guy on the bed?" he half screamed. Vicious grinned. Spike fell to his knees and began to beg. He didn't know why he was doing this, but he was. "No, no, don't let it be!! I'll change!! I promise I will! Don't let me die!" Spike pleaded, already humiliated enough for begging like a dog to his rival. Vicious continued to grin.
"Maybe I will, if you beg enough." he said.
"Please alter my future! I can't die like this! I will honor the lessons taught to me in my heart and I won't shut out the lessons the spirits taught me! Alter it!" Spike screamed up at the ghost. Vicious drove his sword into the ground and created a large fissure in the ground. Spike screamed like a banshee as he fell through it. Just as he blacked out, he screamed out one last time to have his future altered.
Spike jerked awake in his bed. He had made it! He was alive! The shadows of the things that would have been may be dispelled. He knew they would be. He was safe! Spike looked at his clock and saw it was eleven fifteen. "They did it all in a few hours! I'm free!" he shrieked. Wait a moment. It was still Christmas eve! The stores were still open. "I might as well go get them some things before they wake up." he thought to himself. He dashed to the room where they kept the collected bounty money, gathered it up, and dashed to the Swordfish II. He sped off for mars which was conveniently only a half hour away.
When Spike made it to mars, he was lucky. The stores were still open and people were still doing some last minute shopping. He went into the grocery store first and gathered as much food as he could, including what to him looked like the biggest, fattest turkey he had ever seen in his life! Then he went into the mall and picked out a few presents for the crew. On the way out, Spike ran into the two charity people he had met earlier.
"Oh hello sir would you li- AAHH!!" Botan screamed.
"She recognizes me." Spike thought. The girl tried to flee, but Spike jumped in front of her. Before she or her partner could say anything, he spoke up. "I just want to say I'm sorry for yesterday and I'd like to donate after all." Spike handed them a shopping bag with a thousand woolongs in it.
"Are you serious?" Kenshin asked.
"Yep." Spike replied.
"Thanks a lot sir! The poor thank you as well!" Botan chirped. Spike waved goodbye and headed out and flew back to the bebop. He managed to get the gifts under the tree before the rest of them woke up, wrapped and labled.
Next morning.
As always, Ed was the first person to wake up. She yawned and stretched, clad in a red nightgown which had not been washed in who knows how long. She jumped out of bed, threw on her clothes faster than a runaway train and skipped down the hallway, scooping up Ein as she went along towards the downstairs. Just as she reached the stairs, she stopped. "Edward has forgotten to wake the others!" she gasped and dashed back to wake up the others. Soon enough, everybody was awake courtesy of a hyperactive teenager. When they got downstairs, they got the surprise of their lives.
"Where did the gifts come from?" Faye said in awe. Even Ein seemed to be in shock. The corgi's eyes were wide and his jaw had dropped low enough to touch the ground. Spike stepped in front of them.
"I got them." he said, triumphantly. Everybody's jaws dropped open. Faye walked up and put her hand on Spike's forehead.
"Are you okay lunkhead? Maybe you should get more sleep." she said. Spike only smiled.
"Merry Christmas." he whispered. Faye stared at him for a moment, and then fainted. When she recovered, they went to opening the gifts, expecting them to bombs or spring loaded pies or something. Spike never acted like this.
Jet got a book called "1001 ways to grow Bonsai Trees."
Faye got a bunch of clothes that she had been ogling in her magazines. They were of course, slutty.
Ed got some new goggles and some computer games.
Ein got a pair of large, juicy steaks.
Everybody was amazed by the sudden change in Spike. Later on, even went back on his vow not to share the bounty and split it up between his comrades. And of course, everybody enjoyed Christmas dinner. They were quite surprised to see such a huge turkey on their table, but they were definitely not going to complain or ask questions. They were hungry and it had been forever since they had had meat. Even Ein got a bit of turkey to go with his steaks.
That day was a Christmas to remember. It seemed that Spike had turned over a new leaf. Unfortunately, New Years eve came soon and after a heaping round of booze, pretzels, and cigarettes, Spike reverted back to his old bitter self. Oh well.
Somewhere, in the other world.
"So how did it go?" Aoshi asked as Vicious stepped into the room.
"It went well." he replied.
"Did you get anything on your cloak camera?" Kagome asked. Vicious smirked and produced a small video cassette from his cloak. He went to a VCR and stuck it in. The ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future sat down and watched the scene of Spike begging in his terror. Soon enough, every one of them, even Vicious, was laughing uncontrollably and gasping for breath.
THE END
Thanks for the reviews! I hope you liked it! Enjoy the holidays when they come! -Randall Flagg2
Life is but a Dream2000: I'm glad you like the story. I agree with you, Aoshi rules. See you again!
Elf-Vulcan: I wouldn't say Spike is that hard a case, but he is definitely hard nonetheless. You want the ghost of Christmas yet to come? Here it is! Enjoy!
Hiei'sFireyGurl52890: Glad you like it! Here comes the end part of it. Thanks for your praise.
On with the ghost of Christmas yet to come! Thanks for all your reviews nice people. Oh yes, one more thing. This chapter, being set in the future, will be a bit more of a drama then a comedy and Spike will be out of character near the very end, so be warned. Bye! -Randall Flagg2
The hooded figure approached Spike, slowly, silently, not uttering so much as a whisper. Although he was not one who was easily intimidated, Spike felt a twinge of fear as the ghost came towards him. He could see none of its features, save for an outstretched hand which held a scabbard with a katana in it. At last, the ghost stopped in front of him.
"Are you the ghost of Christmas yet to come?" Spike asked. The ghost said nothing.
"I said are you the ghost of Christmas yet to come?" he asked again. This time the specter reached up and pulled back its hood to reveal its face. Spike expected to see a skull or nothing at all, but instead it was the face of a man with a hateful, cold expression on his face with long white hair.
"Vicious!" Spike hissed, pulling out his gun. He fired a shot directly at his rival's head, only to have it pass through him with no ill effect. Vicious smirked.
"Come. I have much to show you." he said in that cold voice that never failed to annoy Spike. He was a bit reluctant to be following the one person he would like to see hung from a tree, but something told him that it would be for the better. Spike swallowed his pride and went down the hallway of the bebop with his old rival. They stepped into a dark corridor and came out in a prison. In the various cells were many of the bounties that they had caught over time.
"Why are we here?"
"Just listen." Vicious grunted. One of the inmates spoke up.
"I don't know anything about it. All I know is that he's as dead as a doornail."
"When did he kick the bucket?" another asked.
"Last night I think. It's kind of hard for me to believe though. You might think a guy like him would never die."
"Well good riddance to him I say. That'll teach him to kick the shit out of me like he did!" This was followed by joyous, sadistic laughter.
"So what are you saying Vicious? What do these people have to do with my future?" Vicious said nothing. The red dragon operative only pointed onwards with his katana and led Spike out of the prison and into a dark alley where three people were gathered. One was a handsome boy of about fifteen with long red hair and green eyes. The other was short with red eyes and spiky black hair. The last one wore some crazily outdated clothing and had long hair tied in a long braid. He carried a long spear in the shape of a lightening bolt. At the center was a beautiful woman with long, thick cyan colored hair.
"So what do you have boys?" the woman asked.
"A fair deal Miss Ryoko. This one definitely had a lot on him." said the one with the braided hair.
"Well, show me what you have and I'll give you what its worth." Ryoko said. The boy with the red hair stepped up and produced his plunder. He gave to the woman a few ties, some shoes and a pistol. Ryoko tallied up the money on a pocket notebook and handed sixty woolongs to the boy.
"You never do get much, do you Kurama? A bit ironic for one who was once the most feared thief of them all." the short one said sarcastically. The red haired boy narrowed his eyes slightly.
"Well if you're so confident in your amount Hiei, why don't you go next?" Kurama asked. Hiei boldly stepped forward and showed what he had collected. Some bed sheets, a box of bullets, and a large mirror. Ryoko added up the sum and handed him what appeared to be one hundred and fifteen woolongs..
"Not a bad score Hiei, not a bad score. And you Hiten?"
Hiten hefted a sack off of his shoulder and revealed its contents. The bag contained a bunch of suits and shirts, some of them still a bit damp with what seemed like sweat.
"Well? Is it sufficient?" Hiten asked. Ryoko grinned.
"You don't mean you undressed him and took of his clothes when he was dead, do you?" she asked, shelling out a very large sum of money to Hiten. The man smiled.
"Yes I did. It's not like anybody could care about one like him." he said. The thieves broke out into hearty laughter. Spike was repulsed.
"This is disgusting. What are you trying to tell me with this image?" Spike asked. Vicious said nothing. He unsheathed his katana and swept it through the air. Now they were inside of a dark room with very little light and dust seemed to almost perforate the room. Spike sneezed. Vicious pointed towards a bed where the shape of a body was, its form covered up by a bed sheet making it look amorphous in the dim light.
"What do you want this time?"
"Take off the sheet." Vicious growled. "I want you to see what's under there." Spike did not move an inch. He wanted to see who or what was underneath the sheet, but his fear was holding him back. Vicious continued to point. "Take it off I said." the white haired man hissed.
"I- I can't. I don't know why, but I can't." Spike said. "Show me something else. Show me some tenderness connected with a death." Vicious pointed with his Katana and led Spike into the shadows again. Soon enough they were in the familiar corridors of the bebop. It was the same as always, but there was the slight feeling of sadness in the air. Spike saw Ed walked by and felt a little it worried. Yes it was Ed alright, but something was different about her. She wasn't yelling and giggling as she always was. She was actually walking without swinging her arms and legs in pendulum like motions and she seemed to be very depressed. Vicious smirked again.
"Are you alright Ed?" came the voice of Jet from the other room.
"I'm alright." Ed replied, her voice lacking any happiness at all. Spike could not believe it. She had talked normally! He had waited so long to hear that, but for some reason he felt a bit sad. For Ed to talk normally, something must have happened. Nothing good he imagined, from her tone of voice. And where was he himself? Was he out hunting for a bounty again? He had no clue. Vicious led him into the kitchen where Spike watched the scene unfold.
"You don't sound alright." Faye said.
Ed sighed. "No, I'm not alright. I just miss him, that's all." she said. From inside the kitchen, Jet rubbed Ed's back.
"You'll get over it. He's in a better place now." Jet said. Spike didn't understand what they were talking about, but he had a gut feeling that he did know at the same time. Ed walked out of the room, sniffling slightly. Spike turned to Jet and Faye who were now having a discussion of their own.
"Do you really think she'll get over it?" Faye asked.
Jet sat back in his chair. "To be honest, I think she'll get better but I don't think she'll fully recover. She loved him to death you know." he sighed. "Maybe if we had gotten more food he would have made it."
"Well at least he didn't suffer." replied the shrew. Spike surveyed the room and saw a food bowl in the corner of the room. It was dusty and had cobwebs on it. He realized at once what had happened.
"You mean Ein died?" he asked his mortal enemy. Vicious nodded. They went down a hallway and as Spike passed Ed's room, he could hear muffled sobs. He looked in to see the poor hacker girl weeping into her pillow, her sobs muffled by the cloth. He had never seen Ed cry like this before. She was doing it quietly, soundlessly which was somehow frightening to him. Vicious spoke up.
"Now do you see the cost of your greediness? You took most of the good food and Ein died from malnutrition. And now Ed is heartbroken all because of your selfishness. Do you still enjoy it?" he asked. Spike was too shocked to reply. Had he really hurt Ed this badly? Yes, he did hate Ein, but now he wished the damn dog had lived. If he could have such an influence on Ed and the others, he should have every right to live. Spike sighed and as he went down the hallway with Vicious, he could have sworn that one single tear escaped his eye. He shook his head and went after his enemy. When Vicious opened the door at the end of the hall, they were in an old graveyard.
"Why are we here?" Spike asked. Vicious pointed downwards towards an isolated grave.
"Look at this. This is the last of the images I can show you." the ghost Vicious said.
"Before I look, tell me one thing. Are these things that will be in the future, or are they shadows of things that only might be?" (A/N Yes, I know Spike dies in the end of the series, but bear with me please.)
"Just look!" Vicious snarled. "I don't have time for your rambling, now look." Spike approached the grave. And read his own name on the stone. He was now officially freaked out.
"I'm the guy on the bed?" he half screamed. Vicious grinned. Spike fell to his knees and began to beg. He didn't know why he was doing this, but he was. "No, no, don't let it be!! I'll change!! I promise I will! Don't let me die!" Spike pleaded, already humiliated enough for begging like a dog to his rival. Vicious continued to grin.
"Maybe I will, if you beg enough." he said.
"Please alter my future! I can't die like this! I will honor the lessons taught to me in my heart and I won't shut out the lessons the spirits taught me! Alter it!" Spike screamed up at the ghost. Vicious drove his sword into the ground and created a large fissure in the ground. Spike screamed like a banshee as he fell through it. Just as he blacked out, he screamed out one last time to have his future altered.
Spike jerked awake in his bed. He had made it! He was alive! The shadows of the things that would have been may be dispelled. He knew they would be. He was safe! Spike looked at his clock and saw it was eleven fifteen. "They did it all in a few hours! I'm free!" he shrieked. Wait a moment. It was still Christmas eve! The stores were still open. "I might as well go get them some things before they wake up." he thought to himself. He dashed to the room where they kept the collected bounty money, gathered it up, and dashed to the Swordfish II. He sped off for mars which was conveniently only a half hour away.
When Spike made it to mars, he was lucky. The stores were still open and people were still doing some last minute shopping. He went into the grocery store first and gathered as much food as he could, including what to him looked like the biggest, fattest turkey he had ever seen in his life! Then he went into the mall and picked out a few presents for the crew. On the way out, Spike ran into the two charity people he had met earlier.
"Oh hello sir would you li- AAHH!!" Botan screamed.
"She recognizes me." Spike thought. The girl tried to flee, but Spike jumped in front of her. Before she or her partner could say anything, he spoke up. "I just want to say I'm sorry for yesterday and I'd like to donate after all." Spike handed them a shopping bag with a thousand woolongs in it.
"Are you serious?" Kenshin asked.
"Yep." Spike replied.
"Thanks a lot sir! The poor thank you as well!" Botan chirped. Spike waved goodbye and headed out and flew back to the bebop. He managed to get the gifts under the tree before the rest of them woke up, wrapped and labled.
Next morning.
As always, Ed was the first person to wake up. She yawned and stretched, clad in a red nightgown which had not been washed in who knows how long. She jumped out of bed, threw on her clothes faster than a runaway train and skipped down the hallway, scooping up Ein as she went along towards the downstairs. Just as she reached the stairs, she stopped. "Edward has forgotten to wake the others!" she gasped and dashed back to wake up the others. Soon enough, everybody was awake courtesy of a hyperactive teenager. When they got downstairs, they got the surprise of their lives.
"Where did the gifts come from?" Faye said in awe. Even Ein seemed to be in shock. The corgi's eyes were wide and his jaw had dropped low enough to touch the ground. Spike stepped in front of them.
"I got them." he said, triumphantly. Everybody's jaws dropped open. Faye walked up and put her hand on Spike's forehead.
"Are you okay lunkhead? Maybe you should get more sleep." she said. Spike only smiled.
"Merry Christmas." he whispered. Faye stared at him for a moment, and then fainted. When she recovered, they went to opening the gifts, expecting them to bombs or spring loaded pies or something. Spike never acted like this.
Jet got a book called "1001 ways to grow Bonsai Trees."
Faye got a bunch of clothes that she had been ogling in her magazines. They were of course, slutty.
Ed got some new goggles and some computer games.
Ein got a pair of large, juicy steaks.
Everybody was amazed by the sudden change in Spike. Later on, even went back on his vow not to share the bounty and split it up between his comrades. And of course, everybody enjoyed Christmas dinner. They were quite surprised to see such a huge turkey on their table, but they were definitely not going to complain or ask questions. They were hungry and it had been forever since they had had meat. Even Ein got a bit of turkey to go with his steaks.
That day was a Christmas to remember. It seemed that Spike had turned over a new leaf. Unfortunately, New Years eve came soon and after a heaping round of booze, pretzels, and cigarettes, Spike reverted back to his old bitter self. Oh well.
Somewhere, in the other world.
"So how did it go?" Aoshi asked as Vicious stepped into the room.
"It went well." he replied.
"Did you get anything on your cloak camera?" Kagome asked. Vicious smirked and produced a small video cassette from his cloak. He went to a VCR and stuck it in. The ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future sat down and watched the scene of Spike begging in his terror. Soon enough, every one of them, even Vicious, was laughing uncontrollably and gasping for breath.
THE END
Thanks for the reviews! I hope you liked it! Enjoy the holidays when they come! -Randall Flagg2