Hello again! I'm back with my next chapter! Yey-ness!! Ha-ppy New Year! Anyway, thanks again to the people who have reviewed this story, it's true that the reviews help the writer, they've kept me going! Special thanks to Deathdragon and Randall Flagg2, luvv you guys!! ^_^ So yah, here's the next chapter!

Disclaimer: I don't own Cowboy Bebop!

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"Damn it! He got away AGAIN!" Spike yelled as he slammed his fist into the living room table and leaving a visible dent. After Obsession had run away, Spike had gone searching all through the rooms on that floor; Jet had stayed behind because Faye was still visibly shaken. Spike'd returned after finding nothing, "Where'd that bastard get to?!"

"Now c'mon everybody, clam down," Jet said, motioning for Spike to sit down on the couch. "This is no time to loose our heads."

"Calm down? JET! FAYE JUST GOT ATTACKED!" Spike screamed, pointing to Faye who was sitting on the chair hugging her knees to herself. "And now we can't even find this guy! This is no time to b-"

"Don't you think I realize that?!" Jet yelled back, pushing Spike onto the couch. "But you can't let that affect your judgment!"

"Bu-"

"No buts!" Jet yelled as Spike tried to defend himself. "Don't you understand that Obsession is after you? This is all part of his plan to draw you out! To get you alone and not thinking clearly!"

"I can handle Obsession," Spike retorted, "after what he did to Faye I can handle anything that he throws at me!"

"Jet's right." Faye said out of the blue. Spike and Jet both immediately turned to her both looking a little shocked. She hadn't said anything since the attack and she'd stopped crying pretty quickly too. She'd just sat there like some soulless shell shaking all over. "Obsession wants to draw you out, the only reason he attacked me was because I was an obstacle that he wanted to get rid of. His focus hasn't shifted from you to me; you're forever on his mind."

"Well that's comforting," Spike shot out angrily, crossing his arms and slouching like a moody teenager.

"It wasn't meant to be, it's just a fact that YOU of all people should be aware of." Faye said, glaring at Spike.

"As long as he's on this ship, he'll never stop hunting you. He won't stop trying to kill Faye either to get her out of the way," Jet said sitting down. "We have to think rationally about how to get him off the Bebop."

"So that's it," Spike said, sitting up and looking at Jet.

"So what's it?"

"Why you can be all calm and tranquil. You think that Obsession's only after Faye and me? Oh no, he's after everyone. He's after Faye because he thinks that she's competition, but now he'll be after you too. You protected Faye and I'm betting that he won't be too happy about that beating that you gave him." Spike said staring at Jet and waiting for his reaction.

"I do know that," Jet said, "and that's why I have to be that calming force behind this."

"You be calm, I'm not going to sit around waiting for death to come. This is not the way I'm going down!" Spike jumped up off the couch and ran out into the hallway.

"No Spike, come back!" Faye yelled after him, standing up and getting ready to run after him.

"Let him go." Jet said, his eyes fixed on the spot that Spike had stood moments before. "He's got his own way of dealing with stuff and we should respect that."

"But he could die!" Faye said, but after a few seconds she added, "But then again you're probably right, you know Spike better then I do."

"And I know that Spike won't let this kill him," Jet said, crossing his arms and sitting back. "He won't let anything kill him until his spirit is broken."

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Spike walked angrily down the hallway, his eyes set, his fists clenching and unclenching, his footsteps falling heavily on the metal floor. Every step that he took caused an echo that bounced hauntingly off the walls. He knew the risks of this, he knew that Obsession was probably following his every step, and that's just what he wanted. He was baiting Obsession. "Come out, come out, wherever you are," Spike thought to himself. "C'mon, there's no one to stop you or beat you up, nothing but little old' me!" He stopped and glanced over his shoulder, nothing but an empty hallway. He turned his head back forward and squinted into the darkness ahead of him, still nothing. "Damn it!" Spike whispered. He was ready, he was alert, and nothing could take him down now. But of course, whenever you're ready to face the enemy, the enemy goes on stealth.

He continued walking, this time not as angrily and with his hands stuck loosely in his pockets. He began thinking about the "discussion" that he'd had with Jet and Faye before he stormed off. Those guys were right; this was no time for brashness and hot-headed behavior. He'd convinced himself that that wasn't how he was acting, that he was being logical and taking the initiative to stop a murder before it happened. "Heh, I'm such an idiot," Spike said with a small chuckle that gave the same ghostly echo. Plus that adrenaline rush that he'd been on wouldn't have been the best mix with his fighting style; he was supposed to be the calm one! He smiled at his own rashness and turned around to go back to the living room when he felt it, a gust of cool air straight on the back of his neck.

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After taking a glance at the clock, Jet had decided to get some kind of food cooked for that days' meal. It had been almost an hour since Spike had gone away on his little fit huffing and puffing like the Big Bad Wolf, and he figured that after Spike calmed down a little bit he would come back to the living room and he would probably be hungry. Faye was in the kitchen with him, having taken back up her unusual silence, the silence that seemed to have come over the entire ship. Even its usual creaks and bumps that you could set your watch by seemed to have quieted down. While he enjoyed it every now and then, this silence was becoming too much for him, the paranoia, jumping at every sound, he couldn't stand it!

"So what do you think?" Jet asked, turning to Faye with a frying pan in one had and waving the smell in her direction with the other. "Edible?" Faye sniffed at the air slightly but only shrugged. "That's the fifth time I've tried to start a conversation with that girl," Jet thought to himself, setting the frying pan back on the stove and giving its contents a few stirs. "I wouldn't think she could keep silent for this long. It's kind of scary." Jet turned off the heat to the stove and was just about to walk out of the kitchen when Faye spoke.

"What did you mean?" she asked in a quiet voice, sitting up on the counter and swinging her leg slightly.

"You mean when I asked if the food was edible?" Jet asked back jokingly, taking off his white apron and tossing it on the ground.

"When you said that Spike wouldn't let this kill him, that he wouldn't let anything kill him until his spirit was broken." Faye said looking up.

"Well, we both know that Spike can be a complicated guy sometimes," Jet said, leaning against the counter opposite Faye. "I mean he can be cool as a cucumber one day, but then be cussing like a Red Necks mother the next, going from gentleman to jerk in a few seconds. But that's the way that he is, that's his personality and his spirit. He's developed that egotistical attitude over the years and he's not going to let anything bring him down as long as he has that 'I'm the Man' thing going for him."

"I'm not really following your logic Jet," Faye said, her brow becoming knitted and her eyes focused on the ground.

"Oh," Jet said with a small smile, scratching at his chin. "I guess that I can ramble a little. To put it plain and short, Spike won't quit until he's beat. When someone proves to him that he's not top-of-the-world stuff, he'll let himself go."

"But Spike's been beaten before, lots of times," Faye said, still focusing on her spot on the floor with a piercing stare.

"He's been beaten, yes, but never bettered," Jet said with a small nod. "Every time that he's lost a fight, he's always come up with some explanation to where the outcome was his fault, that he'd slipped up somewhere along the line. Only when someone comes along who can beat Spike at his best and prove that they can take on what he takes on every day ten- fold will he finally rest."

"Now I get it," Faye said, looking up at Jet. "So you don't think that Obsession is that wonder man who can defeat Spike the Magnificent."

"Definitely not, if I could beat him then Spike can beat him." Jet said, but then added as a thought to himself, "I hope." Faye gave a little nod and hopped off the counter. She went over and took a small bit of food out of the pan, sticking it in her mouth and turning to leave.

"Oh, by the way, the answer is 'no'." she said as she walked out of the kitchen.

"'No' is the answer to what Faye?" Jet asked, turning towards her and watching her go.

"No that food is NOT edible," Faye said turning her head back towards the kitchen, taking the chewed chunk of food out of her mouth and tossing it in the garbage. Jet shrugged at Faye's comment and went searching for some plates.

"So what else is new?" he thought.

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A shiver went up Spike's spine, causing his head to involuntarily twitch. He turned around, pulling out his gun as he did. He half expected to be met with a pair of maniacal eyes staring at him from the blackness, but again there was nothing there. Spike only now noticed that his breathing was coming in short quick gasps and he hated himself for it. "Pull yourself together Spike," he said to himself, "calmness and light." He began searching for the cause of the breeze to calm his nerves and soon saw an air vent above him. He concluded that the breeze had come from that, though it still didn't explain how it had hit him at the angle that it had on the back of his neck. "You're making yourself into a walking mental case here buddy," he thought to himself.

He turned to go back to the living room when another noise stopped him. It was coming from the dark end of the hallway . . . and it sounded like foot steps. It went from a lighter step to a loud 'thunk' and back again. Spike remembered that Obsession had been beaten up and could possibly have a limp. He began slowly backing up, wishing that he still had some of that adrenaline.

The 'foot steps' grew louder and finally the cause came out into the light. The Bebop had many stowaways; most of them came in the form of rats, so Jet was frequently setting traps at random places on the ship. The noise was nothing but a very unlucky rat; it had gotten both of its legs stuck in a mousetrap. The pitiful figure crawled out into the light, pushing itself forward with its front paws and using whatever lower body strength it had to lift up the mousetrap that had become a permanent part of its bottom half. Spike let out a long breath and stared at the grotesque figure moving towards him. Blood was splattering on the floor whenever it lifted the mousetrap and brought it back down and soaked the rat's fur. The wire hinge had snapped right down before the small animals' hips and it had gone clear through the fur and skin to the bone, the surrounding flesh had been frayed and was now hanging off the useless back legs.

Spike cocked his head to the side; he couldn't believe that he was watching this for so long! "I'm becoming more psycho by the minute," he thought to himself. He lifted the gun that was still in his hand and took careful aim. "I'm dong this for your own good little friend," Spike said just before he pulled the trigger. The bullet hit the rat's head and it virtually exploded, leaving an impressive blood splatter on the ground. "Well now that I have that nonsense over with,' Spike said, yet again turning around to head towards the living room. "Surprisingly that worked up quite an appetite. I wonder if Jet read my mind and figured that I'd be hungry when I got done with my mood." He began walking down the hallway, sticking close to the right side of the wall so he wouldn't have any more scares with the air vents as they were on the left side. He began laughing a little uncontrollably at his own paranoia when out of nowhere something landed oh his shoulder.

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Dream: *sits in front of her computer hugging a Spike plushie* Ooooo! What will happen next for our dashing hero?!

Spike: *walks in wearing a 19th century style cloak* Yes, what will happen to ME? *takes haughty pose*

Dream: *pets the plushie's hair* I have reached indecision! I could take the truly evil route of DOOM or I could take the easy route and just get this fic over with.

Spike: Do either of these involve death and destruction?

Dream: *nods vigorously* Uh-huh!

Spike: Which one of them involves me with the whole death and destruction?

Dream: The first one more then the second, HENCE the name.

Spike: *pretends to be deep in thought* Hmmmm...I wonder which one you should write.

Dream: Yes, I know, it is a challenge to decide!

Spike: *gets "Revelation" face* How about you DON'T kill me!

Dream: *strokes chin* We'll see, we'll see!

Spike: What do you mean "we'll see"?

Dream: Until next time folks!

Spike: WHAT DO YOU MEAN "WE'LL SEE"?!?!

The *Dream* Goes On . . .