Faye stumbled through the living room and into the kitchen, sleep blurring her eyes. Jet stood beside the stove, wrapped in a short robe and wearing fuzzy slippers. The right slipper was tapping irritably. Faye sat down at the table and grunted. Jet slammed a plate down in front of her. Faye picked up a fork and poked at the white gooey mess, grumbling unintelligibly.
"Faye," he said, clearing his throat. "Do you have any idea where we are right now?"
Mumble, mumble, "…bounty on Mars."
"Yes, that is the destination I set the ship's computer for. However, we are not on Mars," he said through clenched teeth. "We're on Earth!" Faye blinked.
Mumble, mumble, "…Earth sucks."
"Not only that," Jet agreed, "but Earth is not harboring the 8 million woolong bounty we are after." Faye grunted. Jet stared at her, his anger growing. "Faye! This is all your fault!" he roared. This seemed to shake the purple-haired bounty huntress awake.
"Hey! I didn't change those coordinates!" she protested.
"I know!" Jet shouted. "But you pulled this very same stunt before, making that idiot Spike think he could get away with it!" Faye's mouth dropped open. Jet threw up his hands and stalked out of the kitchen. Faye watched him retreat, then turned back to poking her breakfast.
"I really don't think this is edible," she muttered, as Ed wandered by. "Trash, Ed." Ed halted immediately and Faye scraped the white stuff into her open mouth. Ed swallowed it in one gulp and rubbed her stomach happily.
"Thanky, thanky Faye-Faye!"
"At least someone around here appreciates me," Faye commented sulkily, watching Ed skip off.
Spike lay on the park bench, eyes closed, and cigarette hanging loosely in his fingertips. Suddenly he felt something poking his face cautiously.
"I told you he's dead!"
"Is not!"
"Is too!"
"Is not!" Spike opened one eye and rolled it around until he caught sight of two small, dark haired children. One was holding a stick.
"Is too!"
"Is not!"
"Is too! Look – " One of the kids reached over to Spike's limp hand and snatched his still burning cigarette. "Could I do that if he was – " Spike sat up and growled. Both the children screamed and ran away, dropping the cigarette in the grass. Spike picked it up and brushed it off before putting it back in his mouth.
"Damn kid germs," he muttered, glowering into the distance. He had been wandering around the park for nearly three hours, with no clue how to proceed. It wasn't as if he could simply approach strangers and strike up a conversation. "…Hey, my name's Spike Spiegel," Spike muttered in a mock bright tone. "I think a friend of mine was around here last week…do know her? Her name's Faye Valentine – well, actually that's not her real name…I don't know her real name…but I was wondering if you saw her talking to a weird man with silver hair and an ugly bird…" Spike snorted.
"Yes, Muffy did." Spike shouted and whirled around, coming face to face with a round, beaming face.
"What?"
"Muffy saw Faye and Vicious talking." The strange woman (?) turned around and began pushing her shopping cart while Spike gaped at her.
"Wh-What? Wait! How do you know Faye and Vicious?" Spike demanded, leaping over the bench and following her. The wo/man paused and scrounged around in her shopping cart, giving Spike a chance to study her. S/he was dressed in a shapeless gray garment, had white hair that stuck up in odd places and a very brown, very wrinkled face. Spike was 75% sure it was female.
"Muffy has found it!" Muffy announced cheerfully, handing Spike something. Spike continued to stared at her.
"So this is Ed all grown up," he said bemusedly, then looked down at what she handed him. A picture. It was undeniably Faye. Besides the characteristic green eyes, tiny red mouth, and delicate white face, Spike recognized that little girl from Faye's video. "Ah, say, Muffy…you didn't happen to hear any of that conversation between Faye and Vicious, did you?"
"Certainly," Muffy sniffed. "Muffy remembers all."
"Oh, yeah?" Spike said doubtfully. "Well, whatever you could remember would be a big help – "
"First stranger-man comes with Muffy."
"Uh – hey, wait!" Spike dashed after the rapidly moving old woman. She pushed her cart to the street beside the park and began to climb the steep hill. Spike panted after her. When they reached the top, she walked through the gateway of what looked like was once a grand estate, but the asteroids had long reduced the mansion to a crumbling foundation. The wind whipped around fiercely, and Spike dug his hands into his jacket pockets. "What'd you bring us up here for?" he asked sullenly.
"This was Faye's house!" Muffy said brightly. Spike straightened and looked around a little more closely. "Faye was here when he came… 'Hello Miss Valentine.'" Spike started at the near-perfect imitation of Vicious' raspy voice. " 'You!'" Spike's mouth dropped open. She had Faye's voice and facial expression down to a tee.
Here is my fortune
here is my fame
here is my future
it's in my pocket
and if my fortune
weren't only lint and small change
wishing in one hand
bird in the other
see which one will take me farthest from here
here is my hopelessness
though i'm not helpless
i need a window
that i can climb through
just one small opening
a little lantern to light my way
discovering my hands
catch at the altar
i fall on my face as the words hit my ear
here is my fortune
here is my fame
here is my future
it's in my pocket
il est dans mon poche
"Il est dans mon poche"! By Over the Rhine. Find out what happened between Faye and Vicious…next time!