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Disclaimer: There once was a man from Peru, who dreamed he owned Cowboy Bebop, Unfortunately, though, all he owned was...his toe? Man, I hate rhyming.

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Author's Notes: Hello everyone. I was scanning through fanfiction, trying to find something to read, and I realized just how many unfinished fics there are. It shocked me! I can't let this story go out like that!!! I WILL FINISH!!!!

Sere: Yeah right.

::throws her out the window::



Won't be having any more disturbances, so on with the show – erm, story!!!

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Review Responses:

The Ronin: No kidding about Kill Bill 2? Crap, and I liked the first one so much. Anyway, I'll try not to overwhelm the story with...FLUFFINESS. I don't want it to be corny or anything. I'm going to try and make it seem natural. Hope you approve!

Dishrag1313: You know, you really should write a fanfiction in which you carelessly torture Gene while people stand by and laugh.

StoryWeaver1: You'll find out a lot of what's going on inside poor little Melfina's head in this chapter, I promise. Enjoy!

EngelderNacht: Angel of the Night, eh, Angel of the Night? (Buh-dum-bum- bummm!) Okay, horrible joke, but hey – I try. That's a really cool name. My name is the name of the supposed first empress of Japan/sun goddess. Oh, and don't worry about Retsuna. She shall prevail. Well, continue on in the story. Not necessarily prevail, but...oh just read on.

CinMin: Thank you! I'm glad you're enjoying the story! Please continue to read!!!

Rai Kasshu: YAY! You've reviewed twice!!!! does a dance That makes you an official cool person now!!! Just kidding, you were cool from the beginning. Thanks for reviewing! I appreciate it!

Speed Demon: Thank you for your review! I don't think you have reviewed before, ne? Well, thanks for taking the time to do so!!!

Layline: Hey! Thanks for reviewing, hope you enjoy this chapter!

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(In the last chapter...)

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"Mihiro, I cannot permit you to die. I need your help."

He grinned.

"I know I owe you a favor, Suzuka, but I really don't think I'm going to pull through this one." His smile disappeared to be replaced by pain.

"You idiot."

He laughed, a difficult feat.

"Yeah, well, I love you too, you bitch..."

His eyes closed and he let out his final breath. "Damnit," cursed Suzuka softly. She felt sad, but there was no time to mourn the loss of her friend. She needed to help Melfina.

She glanced over to where the young woman was lying and sighed when she noticed that she'd fainted once again.

"Damnit," she repeated.

----

Two hours had passed.

Gene narrowed his eyes and reached for his jacket.

"Are you going now?" asked Jim, looking at his watch.

Gene nodded and headed towards the door.

"If anyone calls, you can reach me through the phone."

Jim nodded. He knew who "anyone" was.

Gene took a deep breath and opened the door.

And was met with a sight for sore eyes.

"Melfina!"

(WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT? READ ON TO FIND OUT!)

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Prince Charming: Chapter 13

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"Melfina!"

Mel slowly opened her eyes when she heard Gene's voice, an incredibly painful feat no matter how small.

"Gene?" she whispered weakly.

She hurt. She hurt so badly.

Gene didn't respond, and Melfina's eyes had closed once more, so she could not see his reaction to her weak response.

"Gene," said another voice – Suzuka – urgently, "we need to get her some help."

There was an outraged growl.

"I thought the whole reason you were gone so long was to get Melfina the help she needed in the first place!"

Suzuka "hmphed".

"The help I was to enlist," she said, coldly, still feeling distressed on the death of Mihiro, "is no longer able to assist us. He was caught in the crossfire."

Gene's face was overcome with his own kind of understanding.

"Of course," he said, quietly. Then he shook his head and reached for Melfina, drawing her out of Suzuka's arms.

And although he couldn't help what was to happen, he felt truly guilty. It was his fault she was in this condition. It was his fault...

"Gene, this is no time to point fingers," Suzuka said, putting her hand on his shoulder for a moment. "Right now we just need to get help."

Gene nodded, but hesitantly.

"How are we going to find someone that can help anyway?" asked a voice. He and Suzuka looked down to find Jim with a determined look on his face.

Suzuka smiled softly.

"We're going to go look, that's how Jim. Go get Aisha and get her to help you search the town for anyone that specializes in bio-android technology. I'm going to go get started right now."

Jim shook his head vigorously, gave her the thumbs-up sign and ran off up the stairs, shouting Aisha's name.

Suzuka glanced over at Gene once, her indication of leaving, and disappeared back into the cold night air.

Gene, however, hardly noticed; he was busy staring down at Melfina's pain filled face.

----

'What's going on?' wondered Mel, trying to take deep breaths to control the pain deep within her chest.

Thoughts were continually running through her head.

RED HAIR...Gene...SWORD...KNIFE...pain...blue eyes, blonde hair, child's laughter...Betrayal...Gene...

"Melfina?"

The single inquiry rang through all the confusion and straight into the agony settled in the middle of Mel's body.

"Gene?"

She opened her eyes slowly. When he didn't say anything, she shut her eyes again, only to faintly hear Suzuka speak and then Jim...and then, silence.

What could have been moments, hours, days later, Mel felt herself being wrapped in something warm and laid down on something soft.

She was exhausted, and as someone began to whisper quietly, it soothed her into a light sleep.

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"Melfina?" Gene asked once more as he settled her down on the couch, wrapping her in his jacket. He wasn't surprised when she didn't respond.

He lifted his hand to her forehead and smoothed away her hair in a very gentle, un-Gene-like way.

His emotions were so mixed up! He was guilty...worried...caring...and then, scarily enough, afraid. Gene Starwind wasn't supposed to be afraid of ANYTHING.

But he was.

"You know," Gene whispered, leaning forward a little. "I really do love you Melfina."

For a moment, he simply listened to her breathing.

Then he lifted his hands to his face and tried to keep tears from overtaking him.

"I'm sorry."

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And there so it ends.

Well, at least this chapter.

I hope that I did an okay job portraying Gene's feelings. It was a real challenge for me to write about him stuck in such a situation, because I wasn't going to make him flat out burst into tears like Vash (Trigun) or become completely stoic like Spike (Cowboy Bebop). So I tried. I hope you approve.

Adieu.