**Author's Note** OK, I'm doing this finally for both this story and my other just plain Trigun fan-fiction. I'm gonna respond to the very kind reviews left by my lovely readers who are giving me incentive and motivation to keep going with this story. I really appreciate it all. So, without further ado…
Irin- Yes..writing…*types away on her keyboard*
Hidden Angel- A good start?! Thank you! ^_^ I hope you like the chapters to come as well!
ArsinoetheXVII – Great! Someone in for the long haul! (I hope you have a bit of patience, sometimes I go through spurts where…I just can't write a dern thing.) I'm glad the characters are found well-written, too. That was one of my main concerns.
Rosebud- You…I LOVE YOU! Thank you for such a lengthy review- this is the stuff I need to keep going! I'm more than pleased to have read it and to know that I've managed to keep the characters the way they are supposed to be. I completely agree that I've been disappointed in reading fics where the author has made the character very unlike the way they're supposed to be. Heh, as for the mushrooms…well that session was one of my absolute favorites. Ed should've gone off by herself more often I think. *shrugs* Ach…thanks for pointing out that mistake about the Redwing. I honestly couldn't remember what Spike's transport was called, so I'll be correcting that. ^_^
Luis- I think you've reviewed this story the most J Thanks for the encouragement and the comments about each chapter. It will be very interesting to find out what happens when these two casts collide, won't it? All I've got to say is…Vash's first impression of Faye Valentine. *giggles madly*
Disclaimer: I do not own any characters from Trigun or Cowboy BeBop nor am I in any way affiliated with the writers, producers, animators, ECT. …With this said and done…let's continue!
Session Unknown: Vacation
Part Five
Crash and Burn
For the most part the trip toward Venus was uneventful. If one could call the constant bickering between Spike and Faye and the incessant and confusing ramblings of Ed uneventful that is. The BeBop had already passed through one of the gates leading toward their destination, and was heading for the second which would ultimately lead them to the blue and green planet.
The steady tap-tap-tap of Ed at her laptop was now the only sound to be heard, besides the sleepy whimpering of Ein and the faint music from Spike's headphones. Jet had the door to the cockpit open as he leaned back in his chair, absently keeping them on course when something caught his eye. Out of the left corner of the window there were strange looking lights.
"Huh? What the hell is that?" He asked himself, leaning forward in his seat.
Turning swiftly, Jet punched the door to the cockpit open and yelled out to the others.
"Hey you guys, come here, take a look at this!"
It took a good minute for all three to finally crowd Jet in the cockpit, neither Faye nor Spike seeming too pleased to have moved from their spots. Ed on the other hand didn't seem to mind at all. She grinned and pressed her face against the window, eyes wide.
"Oh! Pretty colors! Oh, what is that? What's that?!" she cried curiously, pointing to the display of bright and colorful lights dancing among the stars.
Faye soon caught a glimpse of it over the bushy red-orange hair on top of Ed's head, and firmly but gently pushed the girl aside, her hands on the console. It was beautiful to look at- the colors were infinite, blending into the other, spanning across about a mile wide. They shimmered and danced and lit up the darkness of space and were very enchanting to gaze upon.
Spike was not so impressed. "Yeah, so? What's so thrilling about that?"
The older man raised an eyebrow, "You say it like you've seen that before- don't tell me you have."
"No, I haven't, but I don't see why it's such a big deal, it's just a bunch of lights." He replied flatly, lighting a cigarette and inhaled deeply.
"Ed will look it up!" the girl beamed and bounded off for her laptop.
"You just have no eye for beauty," Faye snorted in reply to Spike's comment, then grabbed the controls of the BeBop, steering it closer to the lights.
Jet, in a moment of panic, tried to wrestle them away from her. "Faye, what're you doing?! Let go, we don't know what the hell that is!"
However the BeBop had already gotten a little too close to the strange yet wonderful display; Jet found it difficult to steer clear of it. He groaned with exasperation, trying to turn the BeBop away, but it was as though something was reeling them in.
"Ed found data!" she bounded back to the cockpit with her computer in hand and Ein at her feet. "Pretty lights in space are not common but stay far from them, it says."
A sharp glare was delivered in Faye's direction from Jet as he spoke, "It seems a little too late for that- I can't get the ship to change course again. Why does it say to steer clear, Edward?"
Ed glanced at the lights, frowning slightly as she looked back to the computer screen. "It says here that it's a sign of…wormholes. Zap! Into somewhere else you'll go! Never home again or…ooh…Ed feels funny…"
She stopped to place a hand on her head. Her eyes had a hard time focusing as the rest of her body felt suddenly very heavy. It wasn't long before the others began to feel the same way, like their heads and feet were being pulled toward their navels.
"What the hell's going on?" Faye groaned, "Wormholes aren't supposed to be real! I've heard stories about what they do to people! I'm too young and pretty to die!" she gasped, green eyes widening as she turned to look at the others.
Spike had lost his cigarette, and despite what was happening as the BeBop continued to get drawn in, he fumbled for another to replace it. He smirked.
"I wouldn't go that far to say you're too young, Faye- you're a lot older than me, remember?"
She couldn't retaliate. She felt sick to her stomach, nausea washing over her every molecule. Slumping to the ground, Faye whacked her head against the console, just as the BeBop jerked violently, causing Ed and Spike to fall to the floor, and Jet to be pressed against his seat. They couldn't scream, they couldn't speak, and they could barely breathe. Everything went brilliantly white, and then frighteningly black…
* * *
The BeBop was picking up speed at an excruciatingly high rate, dive bombing from a second burst of colorful dancing lights straight for the surface of a desert planet. It wasn't until Ein barked sharply several times that the crew woke up feeling like they'd just been pulled inside out and upside down. Jet blinked groggily and glanced out the window, then did a double take.
"Oh shit!" he cried, trying desperately to regain control of the ship.
"What is it?! What's happening?" Faye leaned over his shoulder, then saw what he did. Land rushing up to them very quickly, and darkness all around. She beat on the back of Jet's shoulders, "What are you waiting for, pull us back up, hurry!"
"Crash and burn! Oh no!" Ed cried in what might've been thought of as horror as she clutched her laptop to her chest, unable to look away from the window.
Spike groaned and pulled another cigarette from his pocket, only to see they had all been crushed and ground into nothing. "Aw, great…can't even die with the comfort of that," he muttered.
Jet, realizing there was nothing he could do about the ship, shouted to the other three. "The controls are fried! I can't do a damn thing- brace yourselves!"
With a wail, Faye grabbed the thing nearest to her, which happened to be Spike's jacket, and buried her face into it. What rotten luck- she'd already placed her bets on some of the races on Venus and now she wouldn't live to see if she'd won or not. The lanky crew member didn't flinch, his mismatched brown eyes gazed unblinkingly to their approaching fate.
"Whatever happens, happens," he muttered and waited for the impact as Ed and Ein curled up at Jet's feet.