Disclaimer: On first chapter.

A/N: It's been forever since I've updated anything. I found this on my computer today, near finished, so I went ahead and finished it up.

When Dreaming Ends

by my fragile trust

Chapter 2

Run Away

He knew where she would be. It was ironic that the two considered the graveyard their place, even though they were never there together. But for Spike, the place was the unforgettable setting of her betrayal. It was her absence that he remembered so well.

And now she was going to be there. Now she was going to be the one waiting. But unlike her, he was going to ignore the danger and follow through. Spike could never betray the woman he had always loved. Just as she had had her reasons for not meeting him that day, he had his reasons for meeting her this day.

This day they would run away.

"Run away!?" exclaims the shorter man. The taller man, slightly disgruntled at the interruption, nods.

"Yes run away. Why in the hell did ya' have to interrupt me like that? You're goin' to find out the rest of the story anyway. You impatient mongrel…" comments the taller man in annoyance.

"I know that. What I mean, though, is why would they run away? If it's true that they haven't seen each other in all these years, doesn't it seem kind of strange that they'd drop everything and leave?" questions the shorter man avidly.

"It's circumstantial. They're both runnin' from pasts that are tryin' to kill them. I know I'd run away if I was bein' chased, wouldn't you? And besides, the two never actually had contact with one another for many years. They had a lot to catch up on," explains the taller as he sips his beer.

"Oh," replies the shorter frankly.

"Yeah, 'oh'. Now let me get on with the story will ya'?" says the taller, still annoyed.

"Alright, alright," the shorter man says in defense.

"Well anyway. So Spike had just left the Cowboy Bebop and reached the graveyard…"

They came face to face at long last, but there was no celebratory confetti or balloons. In reality, it appeared as if there was no emotion at all. Spike's face remained devoid of anything. The mere sight of his dead expression could make even the strongest man shutter. But Julia, she didn't bat an eye. She stared him down just as intently as he stared at her. Two lost souls had at last found each other but in those first moments neither held anything for the other. No love, no pain, no regret.

In that very moment, two lives made a full circle. The graveyard, the pounding rain. And like before they were surviving. The Syndicate was making its rounds, going down the list, exterminating the small fires of mutiny. Extinguishing the fire that existed between two people, both then and now.

But his emotionless face lied. After all of these years, somehow, the fire within Spike had not gone out. And he wasn't about to let the pouring rain or the guns of the Syndicate decide his fate again. He had survived death before, and he was going to do so once more. This time, with her.

His unwavering gaze remained locked on hers even as she stiffly raised her arm, the end of the gun barrel pointing at his forehead. His hand clenched around the thorny stem of the blood red rose when she spoke, her voice an awkward tone of foreign familiarity—his responses all the same.

"It was raining that day as well."

She was remembering just like he.

"And so you didn't come because of the rain?"

The hurt, though masked in expression, was revealed within his bland sarcasm.

"I was supposed to kill you. It was all set up. If I had, I would've been free."

Freedom is fleeting.

"So why didn't you? You chose to be hunted. Why?"

Put an end to the unforgiving questions.

"Why did you love me?"

So she did it for love…He was silent.

"Let's just go away somewhere. Escape. Vanish and go somewhere where there's no one else. Just the two of us."

Her voice spoke his thoughts. She understood.

So they drove. In a heavy silence Spike steered the car and Julia sat; all was still but his hands and her eyes. The tires screeched beneath them on a particularly sharp turn—he had no use for the brake. Her morose eyes moved to him and he could undoubtedly feel them, but he did not stir.

"There is so much." Her voice struck the silence a thunderous blow and he flinched. His jaw clenched in a stance of conviction.

"But there is never too much." She continued. "Not even in death." Her folded hands in her lap were turning white under the crushing pressure of her tightly wound emotion. She stared down at them in wide-eyed fright.

"It hurts, doesn't it." His words were as stiff as his attitude and they weighed heavily within the confined space of the car. The building tension was suffocating. She returned her gaze to him, the wetness of her eyes pleading him; and she whispered…

"Forgive and for—"

"Wrong, Julia. You never forget." His voice was so soft, so barely audible…so strong.

"Spike…I will not apologize." Her lost courage was suddenly reawakened and she turned her entire body towards him. But he responded with a smirk.

"There is not need for apologies, Julia, because I forgive you." Their hands reached to one another and entwined. His fingers folded over hers and she squeezed his with a sweet confidence that reassured their unification.

Spike and Julia had returned.

The taller man pauses a long moment, the tiniest of smiles playing on his lips.

"So…where are they going?" asks the shorter with the timid curiosity of a child. The taller man gives his head a quick shake and sloshes the last bit of his beer into his mouth.

"They're runnin' away. Don't you follow anythin'?" asks the taller in annoyance.

"Yeah, yeah. There's been barely any action so somethin's got to happen soon…" The shorter man's voice trails off under the irritated stare of the taller man.

"This isn't some action flick ya' know. This is a true story. So pipe down and just listen, will ya'?" When the shorter man nods mutely, the disgruntled taller man leans forward in his chair.

"Well, you're right. Somethin' does happen. Somethin' that changes their plans a bit…"