Session #3
It was later that night and the entire Bebop was silent. Jet was in the kitchen cleaning up the mess that had been made by Ed and Ein, who were banned from the kitchen and forbidden to leave the living area...well, Ed was still in the living area; the meat on four legs was hiding from sight as he was in fear of what she would do to him if she should ever find him. The thought brought a bit of a smile to her face before she remembered what else had happened.
The Bounty Antoni Bevelt had disappeared from the scene as soon as the stupid mutt and its owner, Ed, distracted Jet and her long enough. It was as if they had the whole thing planned out. While this got her royally pissed at them--the dog especially--Jet had only sighed, shrugged, and said that Bevelt couldn't have gone far. While this had caught her attention long enough for Ein to make his get-away, Jet didn't enlighten her with the information that lead him to that conclusion.
And now, here she was, wandering the halls as she tended to do whenever she needed to have time think. She didn't like where her thoughts were taking her.
The topic of everyone's discomfort here on the Bebop. The reason why she started this annoying habit of walking down the empty halls of the large ship during the nights. The one person who had managed to turn their lives upside down when he left and yet made everything make sense when he came back.
Spike Spiegel. The man who could just be known as the bane of her existance.
Ever since that 'test' of Bevelt's in the living area of the Bebop, Spike hadn't shown his face and that had made Faye wonder even more about the words that had been exchanged between the two men, former mentor and student...
...now that was something that sounded completely weird. Spike have a mentor?
Scratch that thought. Someone actually wanted to be his mentor?
Well, that didn't change anything. It just made her wonder more about the enigma that was Spike. It was as if whenever she learned something else about him, there was just a thousand more questions that needed answering. Like, had he really been the next in line for the Red Dragon? And if he had, why give it up? Was it just because of Julia? Because he had wanted to escape Vicious' wrath for betraying him?
Just thinking about this made her head hurt. Why was she even trying to find out more about him anyway? Why should she care? Hadn't he left them one year ago? Left them to follow the past to its death? Follow Julia to hers? Why the hell was she thinking about the asshole who broke apart their lives on the Bebop?
...because she cared, she knew. And it was hell that she cared for the stupid lunkhead who acted as though returning from certain death after a year was the most natural thing in the world to do. Cared for a man who could care less about her.
Wasn't that the story of her life...
No need to continue on that train of thought. Something else was bothering her about that arguement she had witnessed in the living area. Spike yielding to Bevelt.
Spike did not yield for anyone, let alone an old man who made less sense than Spike himself did.
...or perhaps he did make sense. Only to Spike. Only Spike seemed to understand the message Bevelt was sending him when they had that staring contest. That battle of wits. What had Bevelt said before that?
"By the skin of your nose."
"Plenty of skin left to lose."
"Even if it belongs to another?"
She paused. What had Spike thought when Bevelt asked that question? Did he think about what had happened to Julia? How Julia had taken the bullet because he was trying to run from the Syndicate, run from Vicious? Or had it been to Vicious? Or, maybe, could he have actually considered the members of the rag-tag Bebop crew of misfits?
She shook her head. That was just ridiculous. Since when did he start to care anyway? What, did he suddenly grow a heart while he was away? Suddenly realize that he had left them to die for nothing? Realize that the past was dead but he wasn't? What the hell kind of an idiot did he take her for, anyway?
It was all an act. That was what it was. That's what it had to have been. An act.
Just why the hell was she still thinking about the stupid asshole lunkhead when she had specifically thought to herself that she didn't want to think about him?! She didn't need to listen to these thoughts of hers! She didn't need this!
Almost as if echoing her thoughts, his voice suddenly drifted into her hearing, "...don't need to listen to this--"
"That is where you're wrong. You always only listen to half of what was said, leaving the rest to imagination. Will you listen for once?" Bevelt's voice interrupted, agitated and tight, almost as if he was becoming tired of the way Spike was speaking to him.
Curious about what they were talking about, Faye couldn't help but to continue to come closer to the entrance of the hangar, where Bevelt and Spike's...discussion was taking place.
"I don't want to, and I don't have to." Spike voice was flat, cold, toneless. Tell-tale signs that he was becoming angered with the old man, angered at the fact that he was being forced into speaking. Faye knew he was being forced because Spike wouldn't have spoken if he could have helped it. Just like how he used to be.
He never changed.
"No, you don't," Bevelt conceded as Faye leaned up against the cool metal wall outside of the hangar, ears carefully trained to listen to every single syllable that was spoken, "but it would be best if you did. You're still confused about what is reality and what isn't. You're life is built on so many lies that you cannot possibly know where it even began."
That caught her attention. Living a life on lies, right, Spike? That was something she never considered. Living a life in mystery, she could always assume with the way he never spoke about himself. But lies? Things were definitely becoming interesting with this newest Bounty.
She leaned to the right a little to see what was going on inside the hangar. As it turned out, the two men were having a stand-off, eyes never breaking contact and stances in a defensive position.
...or maybe it was just Spike who was in a defensive stance.
"I know the difference between dreams and reality--" Spike began to say, only to be interrupted by Bevelts questioning expression.
"Do you?" the old man inquired seriously. "Who are you? Who are you with? Where are you? Who do you want? How long have you known them?" His eyes narrowed slightly as though he was trying to see what the younger man was thinking. "Until you can answer all of those, you don't know the difference between night and day."
Faye's brow furrowed. What the hell kind of questions were those? They were so simple to answer it was laughable.
The former student of Bevelt's, however, didn't seem to think this was so humorous. "This is ridiculous!" he exclaimed, breaking from the false calm he had been using. Faye could only blink in surprise.
Spike hadn't actually shouted once since he returned to the Bebop. In fact, when she actually thought about it, the lunkhead was a lot more quiet than he used to be. No...he was quiet before as well, but he never seemed so...expressionless, so...hollow. Yes, that was the word. Hollow. Before, even though he acted as though he could care less about life, even though he acted extremely distant and reserved...he had never been hollow. Empty.
This realization made a shiver go up her spine. Perhaps he had changed...
Spike continued to shout, "I'm a grown man! I don't need anymore lessons from you!"
"Oh, really?" questioned Bevelt shrewdly. "Answer the questions then."
There was a long pause, and for a moment, Faye wondered if Spike was ever going to answer.
Then he spoke, voice tired as though he had used all of his energy shouting at the old man, "I am myself, a person. I'm with only myself and you, at the moment. I am on the living plane, onboard a ship in space. I want--" He stopped.
Faye wondered, why had he stopped? What had the question been again? What--no, who did he want? If that was the question, why stop?
Bevelt, who had been nodding along with the answers, paused and then looked up with an amused look in his dark brown eyes. "Oh, couldn't do it, eh? And you were doing so well."
"Shut up."
The slightly shorter, grey-haired man shook his head, humor still in his elder face. "You have much to learn, but I cannot teach a floundering bird how to fly! Get yourself out of the water and dry off. It's time to use those wings of yours for flight, not swimming."
Spike didn't reply for a moment. "...you're friends with Laughing Bull, aren't you?"
"And if I am?" Bevelt asked with an indignant sniff before giving the younger man a calloused, pointed look. "He's got a good observation of you, a bird who struggles to swim with an aquatic creature and ultimately drowns. Well, you've drowned twice because of that creature. Time to get out of the water and into the air, where you belong."
Spike sighed and leaned against the wall he was standing next to, rubbing his head. "All this symbolism's hurting my head," he muttered.
"You're just trying to discourage me," said Bevelt, ignoring his former student's weariness. "Oh, don't worry, I know you can fly. Your 'broken wing' isn't fooling me as it has many others."
"How 'bout we stop with the symbolic double-meanings?" Spike suggested gruffly, giving his former mentor a narrowed-eyed look.
Again Bevelt gave an indignant sniff. "I happen to like it, thank you very much."
"Well, I don't, thank you very much."
"Are you mocking me?"
"...nah. I'm too tired."
And he did sound tired. Not tired in the sense that he was in need of sleep. Tired...tired in the sense that he didn't want to continue on. Didn't want to keep on keeping up with what he had been given with this other chance at life.
...tired of acting as though he cared.
Bevelt didn't seem to come to the same conclusion Faye had and merely chuckled lowly at the statement before reaching up and patting the tall Bounty Hunter on the shoulder. "You may still have much to learn, but you have certainly learned a lot since you left."
Spike gave him a lopsided grin. "Well, I couldn't stay seventeen forever, you know."
"No, I don't suppose you can." The two of them seemed to come to the conclusion that it was time to leave, and Spike pushed himself away from the wall to leave when Bevelt spoke again, "Some advice, though, Spike."
Spike turned to him. "Huh? What?"
A wry grin appeared on the old man's face before he sobered and seemed to take on a serious air. "Try not to lose another life. A man can only die once in reality--"
In a typical act of his, Spike closed his eyes and had a ghost of smile on his face. That mysterious, knowing, smirk-like smile that always came whenever someone expressed their concern for him. That always came because he knew that even though they were concerned, he himself wasn't. "Well, for now, I'm still a tiger-striped cat with nine lives, and I'm on my fourth one."
Bevelt didn't seem to notice the expression once again, and Faye had to wonder if he even saw it. "Hm...you're pretty good with the symbolic meanings when you want to be," he commented lightly.
"I learn only from the best," Spike replied before the two of them began to walk toward the doorway Faye was at. Faye immediately pressed herself against the wall as she heard Spike then ask, "So how did you get away from Jet and Faye?"
There was a low chuckle. "Edward helped. She caused a mess in the kitchen and got that dog to do...something. Heh, nice bunch you've got here."
"Well, it was just me and Jet--"
"Jet and I--"
"Me and Jet," Spike reiterated pointedly. "Then we got Ein by accident--"
"You have horrible oratory skills," Bevelt said disdainfully, interrupting the younger man yet again.
"Look," Spike replied with annoyance lacing his voice, "you can correct how I live or how I act, but don't you go correcting how I talk."
"You'll never get anything otherwise." Faye rolled her eyes. Did the old man have to bicker with whatever Spike said? She could understand Spike's annoyance, though she honestly found the lanky man's reaction to be fairly humorous and entertaining for her.
They both exited the hanger, luckily turning the opposite way from Faye's hiding place. "Anyway," Spike continued, sounding lighter than he had sounded during the previous conversation. Faye narrowed her eyes. It was all a part of the act. The ever-continuing on that he always played. "Like I was saying: me and Jet found Ein and then we ran into Faye at a Casino--"
"Jet and I," Bevelt said once more and added before Spike could say anything, "Gambling?"
Faye could imagine the sour look on his face as he responded, "Damn it, Tony. I'm not eleven."
The old man waved off the annoyed words carelessly as they continued down the hall. Spike put his hands his pockets and hunched his shoulders slightly, scuffing his shoes against the metal flooring as his former mentor said calmly, "Of course not. Continue, please."
Spike was quiet for a second before he finally said with some amusement in his voice, "You know, you're annoying when you want to be."
Bevelt shrugged. "It's a gift..." he said before their voices became too soft for her to hear.
Faye continued to lean against the wall, staring at the path the two men had taken before she looked up at the ceiling, resisting the urge to release a sigh. Nothing had changed. Everything was the same. Even she couldn't admit to trying to act like something had happened...because it seemed like nothing had happened at all. They were all back...on one ship...and yet they still weren't together...in one place.
"Had your talk with Spike?" he asked, looking over to the older man, who sat himself into the chair, while Jet himself was sitting on the couch that usually served as Spike's bed.
It was late--well into the night, and Spike, Faye, and Ed had all gone their separate ways. Faye--to her room, Spike--to somewhere that even Antoni had no clue about, and Ed--to her own bed on top of the refrigerator. How the kid could sleep on it was beyond him, but at that moment, he was more concerned with the man who now sat across from him.
A man who was a part of a dangerous past that had killed his partner one too many times for Jet's taste.
"Yep," Antoni said lightly, reminding Jet of Spike back before the craziness really started. Oh, yeah...he remembered that Spike and couldn't help but to wince with the thought of all the Bounty money blown because of damages...
"Good," he responded, standing, hoping that Antoni hadn't seen the wince. "Ready to go?"
There was only one answer that Jet was expecting. "Nope."
He sighed and sat himself on the couch again, leaning forward and propping his elbow on his knee and his chin on his hand. "I knew there was a catch," he muttered bitterly to himself, hating the idea of having this man on board his ship anymore. Memories were bad enough, but when the real thing came along, then the memories just come back more and more until they were all stuck back in the situation they had gotten themselves out of not too long ago.
Antoni chuckled, not seeming to notice his dark thoughts. "Sorry, Black," he said before sobering some and continuing, "but you won't be able to hold me if I don't want to be captured. So, I'm kind of a free man on a free ship, right?"
Jet rubbed his face tiredly. He needed sleep... "I thought you had nothing to live for," he muttered, not looking to Antoni, though he knew what kind of expression the other man had.
It was a almost-pained, almost-saddened look. He knew it was there because that's all there ever was when it came to the memories that haunted Spike's footsteps even in the world of the dead. "I was mistaken," the old Bounty said slowly. "I suppose I still feel that I need to help my former...eh...student, should I say?"
Jet didn't reply.
"You understand what I mean," Antoni continued firmly, making Jet look up at him. "You are concerned for him, and I am very relieved that you are."
Jet furrowed his brow. "Why is that?" he asked, not completely sure what Antoni was getting at.
The old man smiled wistfully as he waved a hand in the air. "It makes me feel as though the Swimming Bird is finally drying his plumage so that he may fly." He paused to look at Jet again with a softened gaze. "I thank you for that, Jet Black. You and the others give him hope."
Hope. Now that was something that was ironic enough to make any non-cynical person laugh their ass off. If they gave Spike any hope whatsoever, the young Bounty Hunter showed no sign of accepting it. He didn't show whether or not he appreciated it, either. Instead, all he did was throw it in their faces that day he left...
He was being bitter, Jet knew, but he couldn't help himself. He had known that one day...Spike would have done it. Would have gone out the way he had. Then again...he hadn't counted on Spike's return, so...maybe...
He sighed, "...I wish that had been enough last time."
Faye woke up late the next morning, wondering around the halls with blurred eyes as she went to the bathroom to take a shower. She hadn't noticed anything around her until she got out of the shower, feeling much better than she had earlier. She was so used to not having much more people wondering the halls that she hadn't brought any extra clothes to change into when she got out of the shower, so she ended up walking back to her room in a towel. Not that she minded, so long as a certain someone stayed out of her sight.
Once changed into her white tank top and blue jean shorts--her more common clothes these days, she headed to the kitchen, only to be distracted by someone humming. She looked around until she realized it was coming from under a stairway. She rolled her eyes before she looked under it and asked with some curiosity, "What are you doing, Ed?"
Ed laughed a little, flinging her hands about in her hyper way before she went back to furiously typing on her computer. "Tell everyone BYE-BYE for Anti-person!"
Faye rose an eyebrow at that before she leaned against the stairs, taking out a cigarette from her 'special' hiding place. "Oh, really?" she asked, now only mildly interested as she stuck the butt of the cigarette inbetween her lips. "Well, you're good at goodbyes, aren't you?"
The hacker girl hummed happily and then laughed, saying, "Edward knows Spike-person kept pinwheely!"
Faye, who was just about to light up, stopped at this. "Pinwheely, huh?" she asked, wondering what Ed was talking about. Apparently, the hacker had given the lunkhead a goodbye gift before departing to Earth.
Ed spun to her, finished with the computer, and nodded enthusiastically. "Mm hmm!" she said brightly before wagging a finger at Faye. "Ed knows he keeps lotsa things!"
This sparked Faye's curiosity more than anything. Who knew Spike would be a pack-rat? "He does, does he?" she asked, not able to help herself. "What kind of things?"
Ed put her index finger to her lips, looking somewhat creepy as she smiled with her internet goggles on. "Sh! Secret!"
The Huntress thought for a moment before brightening as she came up with a way to get the child hacker to tell her this 'secret.' "All right," she said, leaning down to get closer to her. "Tell me, and Spike doesn't have to know--"
"Doesn't have to know what?"
Faye jumped at the sound of his voice, looking up to the top of the stairs to see him watching her coolly, not a care in the world. He had a cigarette smoking from his lips, and he was still wearing that stupid yellow shirt and blue pants. Honestly, Faye wondered, didn't he ever want to dress just a little differently?
Ed then decided to supply Spike with an answer to his question, "Faye-Faye says--!"
Faye slammed a hand against the child's mouth, muffling the words that continued to come even if they could be understood. Laughing a little, the Huntress said up to Spike, "I didn't say anything!" Then her expression turned to annoyance, and she bluntly said, "It's a secret, Spike. I'm sure you know what a secret is."
The Bounty Hunter shrugged. "Whatever."
Faye fumed. She couldn't stand how he just brushed off everything in the world. One of these days--oh, wait. That day had already come--twice.
Spike was turning to go when he threw back his message, "Jet wants us all in the living area."
This made the young woman blink in surprise. "Now?"
"No," the lanky man said with a sarcastic touch. "Seventy-two years from now." Then, he walked off, acting as if the conversation had never taken place.
With a puzzled frown on her face, Faye released Ed, who looked up to her curiously and asked, "Tell secret now?"
Faye shook her head. "Later, Ed," she said, more distracted now than before. Jet wanted them all in the living area? When had that ever happen besides a big bounty? As the question plagued her mind, the Huntress headed off to the meeting area, leaving Ed to wonder under the stairs.
"Edward should understand Bebop-Bebop people," the child hacker said with a nod.
By the time the small crew had assembled in the appointed area, Jet still wasn't prepared to say anything. So he let the two other Bounty Hunters squabble some over nothing. Really, it was a lot better than the silence that went on when no one spoke. Just how to explain things...
"Come on, Jet," he heard Faye said with an exasperated-whining tone. "You call us here and don't say anything. What's the deal?"
When he didn't reply, Spike threw in dully, "He looks like someone died again."
"Well, you're still here," Faye responded off-handedly, making Jet's eye tick.
"I didn't mean me--"
"Ooooooooh..." This was a new one. Normally, Ed wasn't involved with conversations between Faye and Spike. No one really wanted to get in between them. One: they both had guns. Two: they both had bad tempers. Three: ...well, Jet could only hope there wasn't a three, but with the way things had changed between the crew since Spike's leaving and returning, he couldn't say there wasn't a third reason.
"What are you doing, Ed?" Spike asked while, Jet saw out of the corner of his eye, looking up at the strange girl to see the top-half of her body perched on top of his head.
In an act that could only suit Edward, the hacker rubbed her cheek against the lanky man's hair with humming in an amused way. "Spike-person have soft lunkhead."
There was only a brief silence as this statement took its sweet time to sink in.
"What?" Spike asked, totally lost with what that meant.
Faye eagerly reached out a hand. "Let me see--"
The Hunter caught it before it could touch him. "Hell no. Get away from me," he stated coolly.
The Huntress' eye twitched. "I'm not going to give you the Plague!" she exclaimed, pushing against his hold to try to see if what Ed had stated was true.
Spike ended up having to lean against one side of the couch. "I doubt it," he said, amused. "Should I start 'Ring Around the Rosie'?"
Faye smirked. "Didn't know you were that kind of guy."
"Didn't know you liked touching a guy's hair," Spike responded with a smirk of his own.
The woman's smirk went from amused to predatory. "You're not a guy; you're a lunkhead," she stated before pushing again to get her hand passed his guard. "Now hold still--"
She ended up accidentally falling on top of Spike as the lanky man tried to shove her away. Faye's landing on top of the Hunter did not put him in a good mood. "Get off!" he exclaimed, trying to shove her away still while she stubbornly tried to succeed in her quest.
Then, Ed popped out of nowhere from next to Spike's head, looking to Ein, who stood off to the side, safely out of harm's way. "Do you think Faye-Faye and Spike-person like each other, Ein?"
Again, everyone froze.
Jet rubbed his forehead, knowing the explosion that would happen. That was one thing that was never said around those two. Well, he thought to himself with some amusement, out of the mouths of babes...
"WHAT?"
The two of them immediately separated. Faye on one side of the couch and Spike on the other.
"What kind of things have you been hearing!" Faye shouted with an indignant look on her face.
"Really!" Spike agreed before his expression fell into another smirk. "Who'd like a shrew, anyhow?"
Jet mentally shook his head. On with another match...
He'd have to stop this before it escalated...
"A shrew?" Faye demanded, more indignant than before as she glared at the lanky man on the other side of the couch. "Is that what I am?"
Spike pinched his forefinger and thumb together, the digits only being separated by a small space. "In a nutshell," he said with even more amusement, "nicely wrapped."
Faye's eye ticked. "You--!" She lunged at Spike, knocking him back against the couch as they started to actually bicker while physically fighting with each other.
One of them would have pulled out their gun, but Jet interfered with a simple, "Spike."
"Huh?" the other man responded dimly as he looked over to him.
Jet didn't look straight at him and was quiet for a moment before he decided to finally speak, "Antoni's going to be on the Bebop for a while. I want you to make sure he doesn't cause trouble."
"But--"
Now he looked at the younger Bounty Hunter with a mild glare. "I'm sorry," he said in a my-house-my-rules tone, "did that sound like a request?" Jet then looked down as he thought about the next topic. "Faye...get off Spike for a moment, will ya?"
Realizing the position she was in, Faye immediately detached herself from Spike. "Are you assuming something in that head of yours?" she asked Jet with an annoyed look.
"I am," Spike put in, raising a hand as he sat himself up again, the smirk still present on his face. "I'm assuming you eat lead--"
Before this could get into another bickering word-match, Jet snapped, "Knock it off." He then turned to Faye, his expression serious. "Faye, I need to talk to you. Privately." He then looked to Spike. "Spike, take Edward and check on Antoni."
"Bu--" Spike stopped himself before he could finish the objection. What was the use when Jet was giving him that look? "Fine," he grudgingly agreed, standing and walking off, Ed following him without being prompted.
The two of them walked down the halls of the Bebop in silence before Ed finally spoke up in an unusually serious manner, "Is Spike-person mad at Edward?"
The question made Spike stop and then look to her. The hacker looked very much like a child that had done something wrong, circling her toe against the ground. It seemed like Ed was actually someone who could see that not all things were the same. Kind of strange, since Spike was so used to having everything as they were.
"No, Ed," he said seriously before a faintly amused look came onto his face. He wasn't mad at Ed. Who could be, really? Well, annoyed--yes, but the terms 'mad' or 'angry' or 'at wits end' would be all for Faye. Ed--well...Ed was Ed. Not much more to it than that.
"In fact," he said, looking around for a moment in a casual way before he leaned forward, putting himself on her level, "I never got a chance to say this, but between you and me, I kind of missed your wacky self."
It was tough to admit it, but it was true. When Ed had first left the Bebop, it was a sign for him that things were coming to an end. Faye had gone, too, so what else could he think? Then everything went to hell, and during that year of recovery, Spike had actually found himself missing the insanity that could only be known as the crew of the Bebop. Kind of sad, really, seeing as he never saw himself as a person that would get attached to something...
Ed smiled at him with that giant, cheesy grin that sometimes made Spike wonder about her actual sanity--as messed up as everyone else's was. "Edward glad! Ed missed Spike-person, too!"
"Okay, good," Spike said before straightening up. He then looked to her with a light, devious grin on his face. "Now, remember: just between you and me. I've got an image to uphold for a while longer."
There was no way he would let Jet or Faye see the change in him. Not when they themselves didn't seem all that different. That wouldn't be fair, now would it? Or maybe...it was that he was too used to being how he was...and to acknowledge the change...
That would change everything.
"Secret?" Ed asked curiously.
"You got it." Just another secret on top of all the others. What could one more hurt?
Ed laughed and latched onto his leg, making Spike feel more uncomfortable than he already was. Kids still did that to him. That hadn't changed a bit. "Yay! 'Nother secret!"
That reminded him... "Hey, about that..." he said, prying the child hacker from his leg, "What were you and Faye talking about?"
Ed shook her finger at Spike. "No, no," she said lightly. "Bad Spike-person. Not Spike-person's secret."
Well, at least he wasn't the only one.
"Ah, never mind," he said, brushing off the topic as he then continued the journey to the back of the Bebop where he was almost sure Antoni would be. "I'll find out in other ways."
His usual training area was darker than he would like, but that was always a sure sign that Antoni was there. "Antoni?" he asked, but when he received no answer, he called, "Hey, Tony!"
"You're too loud," Antoni's voice said, coming from Spike's left.
"What the hell are you--" Spike began to ask before he saw Antoni's silhouette move swiftly and efficiently. Then, the lights came on, courtesy of Ed. Spike felt crushed at what he saw.
Antoni stood in front of a demolished bag, sand continuing to pour from it as the old man calm himself from his workout. Then he turned to the distraught Bounty Hunter. "Now. What is it you wanted?"
Spike could only stare. "...my...punching bag..."
...Antoni had killed it!
Ed summed up his feelings pretty nicely, "Edward thinks Spike-person loved baggy."
He couldn't help it that he felt that way. He'd had that bag for a long time, and it had always managed to stand up against his attacks, no matter how angry or frustrated he was. And now, Antoni killed it...
The old man turned to the broken bag and snorted. "Such material possessions."
Spike's eye twitched as he felt the common annoyance rise. "Couldn't you have killed Faye's ship or something?" he demanded, hating that Antoni always did this. It was all a test to him. "Anything not mine?"
"You big baby," Antoni said with a frown as he looked back to his former student. "I'll fix it later. It will be better than before, if you want."
Spike immediately shook his head and held out his hands. "No, no! I can do it myself!"
If he let Antoni do it, he'd end up with something that he'd continuously break his limbs on. That was one difference between the two of them. Antoni had a much more brawny figure than Spike and relied on strength more than he did. Mostly he used speed and agility to defeat his oponents.
"Good," Antoni stated, turning to grab a towel he had set aside. "Jet speaking with Ms. Faye."
It wasn't a question, but Spike answered anyway, "Yeah, and it's just Faye, you know."
His former mentor paused from wiping the sweat from his face as he then said with a puzzled look. "She has yet to tell me otherwise," he said, looking carefully to Spike, who was letting his eyes idly wander around the room. "Why? Have you ever called her such?"
At this Spike couldn't help but to roll his eyes. "We met in a Casino, Tony. Misses don't go to Casinos."
"You'd be surprised," Antoni murmured before slinging the towel over his shoulder. For such an old man, he was in very good shape. "So Ms. Faye is not a Miss, but this other woman...she was?"
Immediately, there was a difference in Spike's stance. He was on the defensive, pulling himself inward and keeping Antoni out and away. "I didn't say that, either," he said calmly with a cool touch as he walked passed the elder man to take down his broken punching bag.
Antoni was silent for a moment before he said without looking to Spike, "You shouldn't ignore the topic of the woman who had led you to death twice. It is not healthy."
Internally, Spike sighed, growing weary of how this was a topic that they always touched on whenever they spoke with each other. "Could we talk about this later?" he asked dully, carefully lowering the busted bag to the ground.
"Why not now?"
"Because--" Spike said, looking back to the entrance of the room, only to see that his only excuse was blown because a certain someone was missing. "Ed?"
Antoni appeared to amused at this, probably knowing he had his former student caught. "Edward is a very cunning child," he said lightly before looking over to Spike. "You could learn from her."
"Me learn from Ed?" Spike didn't look back to him and was just staring at the broken bag, his mind not on present things.
"Since I have given up on your grammatical errors," Antoni said with a slightly exasperated tone, "let us continue our previous topic--"
"No."
There was a long silence. "What was that?"
Spike stood up straight and looked over to Antoni with dead serious expression. "I said no," he reiterated more firmly to make a point. "You can't get me to talk, and I'm not gonna."
"Ever the rebellious one," his former mentor said, yet again seeming to mistaken his intentions. This wasn't rebellion. This was leaving the past well enough alone. He'd learned too well what happened when someone goes after the past.
But then, Antoni said something that seemed more serious, "You might not talk, but you will listen."
Spike crossed his arms, watching him coolly. "I'd like to see you try and make me."
A small smirk crossed Antoni's face. "Do I hear a challenge?" he asked with an eagerness that only a fighte could show.
Spike barely had time to return the smirk before he had to duck under a fist and throw his leg out to his attacker's gut. Antoni was able to absorb this quicker than Spike had expected and was able to catch the younger man off-guard by throwing his own kick to his chest, knocking him back into the sand. A cloud of dust rose, and Spike had mistakenly opened his eyes during that time, getting some of it in them before he rolled to dodge a punch. He then kicked out again, knocking Antoni back some to allow him some time to get to his feet. Once he was up, he swung his arms toward the elder man's jaw, only to have them caught in the other man's larger hands.
It was a shortly lived fight, and once again, Spike found himself losing to Antoni. Just like the last time they had done this dance. It wasn't a bad thing really. Antoni had more experience, and while Spike was fast, he was still just a bit faster.
So that was how Spike ended up quickly having one of his arms behind his back, between his shoulder blades, with Antoni's strong arm around his neck.
"Good. Good," Antoni said before releasing Spike, who stepped away from him, just a little sour that he had been caught like that. "You've really taken Bruce Lee to heart, eh?"
"Couldn't afford not to," Spike responded, lifting his left hand to rub at his eyes, which were now full of sand.
It was stopped, however, by the elder martial artist grabbing his wrist and turning it slightly. The two of them were silent with what was shown.
"...what is this?" Antoni asked quietly, looking up to Spike, who carefully twisted his arm from his grasp and rubbed at his eyes some.
"Nothing," he answered off-handedly as he started to head out of the room, needing to clean out the sand from his eyes. "Something I got a long time ago."
The elder man's voice grimly responded, "Battle scars aren't nearly so neat."
Spike paused in the doorway, a smirk coming on his face as he had thought the same thing many times before. "I'll be sure to remember that next time," he said to his former mentor before he then rubbed at his eyes again. "I'm going to go take a shower before the sand damages my eyes."
Then he left without another word, without an explanation. Antoni already knew, he knew. So...what was the point, really? Of explaining it all?
Coming Episode:
Jet: The melody of the conflict rises with the rhythm of trouble. It's one thing to let go of the past. It's another to have the past let go of you. The past can never truly die, only become forgotten. To face it once more is to have it remembered and allowing it to become free. Next episode: Rising Drum Beats. Going forward sometimes means you have to go backward.
Author's Notes: -.-' Badly done chapter. Screw it. I wanted to update this thing :p Anyway, the characters might be a little out of character (-prays that they aren't-) but I promise I'll fix it if they really seem that way. I don't want them to be that way! -winces- Oh, well...-sighs-
Notes: I actually cut a whole scene from this session because, one: it took up space and two: it didn't really have a purpose. So...that would be it, really.