Reflection

-(-

The only question that comes to my mind is 'What have I gotten myself into this time?' This was nothing like times with Julia or any other woman I have happened upon, it is different, it is natural, almost feral, yet something about it makes me apprehensive. What if I am not able to stay with her, what will happen? I never used to be apprehensive.

The most unnerving thing about this experience is that I am becoming attached to her...and I am not one to become attached with anything, especially women. Julia said that women are all liars. Yet, Faye doesn't lie for the thrill or deceit of lying.

Faye lies because that is what she had to do. Her past, as much as I comprehend, was forgotten, and she was forced to make things up, create things so she could survive as an adult with the experience of a child. Isn't making and creating things from nothing lying? Or was she just surviving with an inherent talent of verbal creativity? My eyes look at her, though she looks serene asleep; she has a.... sprite-like...quality, that makes you do a quick double-take.

Beep beep beeeeeeep beep bee-

My mouth becomes a straight line; it's my employer, Mr. Kaze. I actually respect this man. This is commendable, considering people, save two or three, are pathetic useless idiots. His eyes hold loyalty and integrity even in these times and on Callisto. I answer my communicator, which I leave on at all times.

"Hello Kaze." I speak monotone as I stand up from the bed and enter the kitchen, Princess notices and immediately, yet subtly, moves between the exit door and me. I pass by her and enter the kitchen with a roll of a curious eye.

"You didn't tell me...you are the actual legend, the myth, the true Vicious of the old Red Dragon Syndicate, son of one of the most intelligent men that has walked the planet Mars, and you didn't have the balls to tell me." He thunders quietly into the comm.

"You never asked, besides, I am no longer affiliated with the Red Dragons, I no longer have an attachment towards them." I spit apathetically back. My blue grey eyes smirking

"Too bad the Red Dragons still have an attachment to you. The leader, mind you the actual leader of the Red Dragons, Daemon, has just hired a few hours ago, a hit on you, raised the hit on Faye Valentine by 7 million and Shin Tashjian by 7.5 million." My eyes widen, how did they figure out I was a hitman so fast? The only reason why they would kill me so fast is if they figured out I am hired to kill Shin.

Did Shin rat me out? A part of me wants to believe it; another part of me thinks I am stupid for thinking so.

"Who did you hire to kill me? He better be a challenge to fight…" I state flatly, like anyone can harm me anyway. The dog behind me growls with her one ear planted stiffly on her head.

"I couldn't do a damn thing; the hit went right over my head, to Vincent. I didn't have a fucking say in it, Vincent has been connected to the Red Dragons the entire time. The shit has been against me the entire time, getting his hits from the Red Dragons without my cut!" I hear glass shattering in the background and I curse myself silently, this has gotten clearer now.

Vincent knows who I am; we were with each other on Titan for three weeks.

"I heard he wasn't pleased about the kill at all, you two weren't enemies, you know that. He seemed 'less than enthusiastic' about it." I stopped; I noticed that we had done a few hits together, like Syndicate partners. Yet, I could not bring myself to think of him as one, something about him I never liked; that and partners have a tendency of turning on you.

"Also, I'd like to give you some very peculiar information. Considering you as the old Vicious of the Red Dragons, guess who came back from the grave and claimed the leadership position of the Black Falcons?....Julia." Then the spiritual glass shattered around me and I almost dropped the communicator, I feel asphyxiated. She is dead, the snake is dead. That idiot Spike would have never come after me if she was alive. The bitch, she is alive and I bet Spike didn't know. A cold lump formed in my throat and a knot in my gut. Things have definitely have become complicated.

"Vicious.....Vicious....are you there?!" I hear Kaze's curious voice.

"...are you positive it is Julia...you could be mistaken..." I let my silver hair refract some of the fluorescent light.

"Vicious my boy, men like me don't make mistakes and live." I hear the man chuckle on the other line. I couldn't help but to smirk a small bit also.

"I have to go." I hang up and nearly throw the communicator, I settle with a yell instead, the dog behind me slinks into the shadows, the broken window blows in a sour breeze from the pitch black night, something is not right.

"Damn..."I snarl and press Shin's number into the communicator; I need to straighten some things out with him. The communicator beeps five times and I was about to hang up when an unexpected voice answers the comm..

"Let me guess...this is Vicious." The cop answers the communicator and I curse silently.

"You're correct...do you want a prize?" I bite dryly, my strained eyes narrowing

"No, but what do you want?" I hear the cop's anxiety ring through the communicator, the dislike in his voice is thickly apparent.

"I need you to tell Shin a message." I speak with an urgent edge, I am a little pissed.

"He isn't here." The cop lowly replies, I hear a child in the background repeat Shin's name over and over.

"Well then, I will tell you. It might be of some concern to you, being that you were partners with Spike as I once was." An unmentioned respect filtered through us, though not enough for a friendly tone.

"What? Let me guess...you found out Spike was a mass murder, or something else that would ruin his reputation! If it is I don't want to hear it, understand?!" I'm surprised by his reaction; it never occurred to me I would smear Spike's reputation even if he had one.

"It turns out that his precious angel, Julia, is alive, and the leader of the Black Falcon syndicate." A predictable deafening pause greeted me; the dog stopped growling and is next to me, leaning up against my leg with grit in her eyes.

"That does it I'm coming to Phoenix." Shin told Jet I was alive and where I was.

"Why are you telling me this, are you going senile in old age and want a 'nice little friendship'?" My words float through the silence I hear a snicker from the other line.

"Don't flatter yourself; I wouldn't be your friend if Venus froze over." I hear a snide remark from the cop.

"Then why are you telling me?!" I hiss and yell, taking out my fury on him.

"Because there is no one else I can fucking tell!" Oh the irony, of all people he can confide in he picks me. I can see why Spike and he were such good partners. Jet trusted Spike indefinitely, so did I. The break of that trust, Julia, ruined both Jet's and mine friendship with him. He betrayed me and the irony is, he sacrificed everything for her, she ended up betraying him.

"Now I know why you and Spike got along so great." I state with a bare glimpse of humor.

"Now I know why your name is Vicious." I smirk came to my lips; he was one of the few people to ever say that to my face.

"Goodbye cop." I quickly slip.

"See you Vicious." I hang up and instantly turn around to see Faye standing there.

(POV change)

'Warmth, like the beaches that I grew up on, the stunning seaside harnessed the suns rays and splayed them across your body till you were a toasted brown color. I can almost smell the salt and feel the zephyrs dancing in my hair. Yet I don't think it is the sun, or the ivory sand, or the turquoise sea rippling with wind, I think it's him.

I look behind me and see him there, his eyes no longer cold stone, his katana is no longer by his side. His wispy silver hair, like ribbons of moonlight, gets caught in the wind and sail there for a moment. I smirk and saunter over to him, wanting for him to touch me. It's so illogical unreasonable, unfounded, and ironic, yet I just want him to touch me.

He notices me and takes a step, the wind shifts and the sand blows around him, concealing him in a whirlwind of dust. I feel my legs cemented to the sand, stuck and frozen. He is leaving me, panic swells within me.

I struggle to get free, to shake myself of the suffocating sand that seems to drown me. Right when I loose hope, the sand is gone, and Vicious lays on the sand, motionless. A trail of titan blood streams from his back....and I feel my dry throat begging to scream.

—end dream—

My eyes blink open harshly, I find myself tangled totally in my sheets, and my face buried in my pillow. I lift my head and realize it is still night, and Vicious isn't beside me. I grab my pistol from my pillow quietly, and quickly untangle myself from the heavy sheets put on a T-shirt and shorts and make my way to the kitchen.

My heart begins to slow its pace as I hear Vicious' calming voice, but I soon realize that there is a rushed and irritated tone underlying it, he better have a good reason to be talking to some random guy instead of just staying in bed like a normal person!

"It turns out his precious angel, Julia, is alive and the leader of the Black Falcon syndicate." My grip on the pistol tightens and I almost click the safety out of habit. There is just no way...just no way. I saw her in the morgue, she was smiling, she was dead. She was cold and dead! I hear Vicious' voice bark a few more times, but I am too confused and angry to care.

I storm into my kitchen and fire a shot into the soundless void, by this time Vicious had already finished his conversation. Princess is standing beside him, her ears planted on the back of her head.

"She is supposed to be dead. Why is she alive? How do you know? I saw her, I saw her body…she is dead!" I shriek at him enraged, I feel my eyes burn and constrict. She isn't supposed to be alive, she is supposed to be with Spike, "This isn't fair....she and Spike are supposed to be together not Julia and y-anyone else!" I fire another shot, this time near Vicious, he watches it fly over his shoulder

"Calm down Faye, I will deal with Julia in time; she is not of any concern right now." His eyes return to normal after being a millimeter wider than usual. He takes a step towards me and stops. He whips around to the window that he busted out earlier. His eyes narrow threateningly. Then I see someone, outside on the fire escape, his thick black hair, runs matted down his back.

"We meet again, partner." The voice deeply and hollowly fills the empty room with a faint apprehension. Immediately, I point my gun at the intruder, Princess' russet eyes become feral and her whole body shudders with belligerence.

"Vincent, leave, you don't belong in a syndicate." Vicious' eyes narrow into slits of steel as he effortlessly lashes out his long katana. The voice chuckles and he smiles vacantly, how does Vicious know Vincent exactly?

"I don't think you understand the severity of the situation at hand Vicious, you have two Syndicates after you…and Faye, your time is about up as well." He pulls out a .45 and points it at Vicious; the grip on Vicious' katana tightens as he frowns.

"I'll give you to the count of three before I shoot. One…..two…." I click the safety, but he doesn't flinch; I narrow my jade eyes and aim towards his leg. I see Vicious motion to me to stop, but I am not going to let this guy Vincent push me around.

"Three!" I fire two rounds at him, but he surprisingly dodges them and shoots back at me, Princess leaps from her crouched spot on the kitchen floor and Vicious speeds across to me. Time seems to slow down as two bullets come at me, both shrieking to kill. I manage to dodge one, but I don't have enough time to dodge the other, it hits me in the left shoulder, as a little blood spurts from the wound, I fall to the floor from the impact. I can feel warm liquid flow down my arm and soak into my T-shirt.

My vision is a little fuzzy, but a man with a silver blur for hair swoops down and wraps something soft and warm around my shoulder, I wince as he puts pressure on the wound. I look into his eyes, the icicle cold is replaced by a blizzard of fire, his usual apathetic, and dry demeanor, washed over with an opaque fury.

"It's not that bad, I can take the bullet out, you go get Vincent." I shakily stand up, clamping a hand to my shoulder; I feel the blood soak threw his cloak that he wrapped around me.

"Stay put Faye; this won't take very long." Vicious' facial expression is suppressing a tempest of anger; the grip on his katana makes his knuckles white. As he stalks off towards where Vincent ran, his silver hair gleaming stridently, my vision clears all the way; I pick up my gun, ignoring the throbbing pain in my shoulder.

"You won't beat him with a damn sword; it—only has two bullets left, but take my gun." My eyes clear and I see Princess, laying indignantly, near the ledge of the fire escape, blood dripping from her abnormally long fangs. She bit Vincent, good dog. Her rib cage rises and falls, she is alive that's good.

"I vowed never to use a gun since the Titan war." He speaks with a sudden rush of vivid clarity. What vow? Who in their right mind would never use a gun ever again if you are in a syndicate?!

"I made the vow with Gren; I intend to honor my vow, even though he did not." With a turn of his head, I saw his face, illuminated by his halo of silver hair, he looked like an angel that had transformed, from a long dead empty angel, to a living angel, with a since of duty.

"Just don't be an ass and die on me—ok?" I manage to choke out the 'ok' as I wince from my shoulder injury.

"That bastard won't kill me; I've survived for this long, dying now would be pointless." His voice lilts the slightest bit, almost as if he were thinking of something that made him happy. I smirk back, applying pressure to my wound that has now become a background pain when I see his smirking face.

"Whatever you say Space samurai…" I feel my blood between my fingers, and it feels foreign. As soon as I get the bullet out and this wrapped up, 'I'll be your backup Vicious,' I promise myself silently. As he leaps out through the window, with the lithe grace of a striking falcon, the dream I had flashes across my mind, and I find myself running for the first aid box in my bedroom, the sooner I help him, the better.

He won't die on me. I made the mistake of not following Spike; I'm not making the same mistake with Vicious. An image of Spike flashes through my mind, his cocky grin and shock of green hair make me smile. The emotions that I held towards him haven't lessened, but they have changed…Spike was a great comrade, Vicious is something more.

Princess stirs in her sleep, and off in the distance I hear a rumble of a few powerful zip crafts…Phoenix is a city of rebirth, but it not only reincarnates the good, but also the bad. I silently pray that those zip crafts have nothing to do with Julia.

-of angels-

-(-

Sooo how bout that chapter? So Julia is back on the band wagon people throw tomatoes yeah I know…it sounds kinda far fetched, but think of it this way, she only got shot in the back…she could have survived that…well…I think XD

Anyway, some of Vincent's lines and fighting techniques from the movie might be in the coming chapters so I am stating this now, I don't own Vincent or many of his lines.

Though this Vincent will not be entirely based off the movie character, there will be differences. Like example…he is not a bio-terrorist and Electra is not in this fic, just because her hair and her wardrobe immensely bother me….sorry but it does, and there is just no room in the fic, too many characters anyway.

I hope some questions got answered this chapter, more will in the next…next chapter is the Vicious vs Vincent face off!

Don't get angry with Shin yet, he is still our choir-boy angel shinnie, just wait, he'll eventually get back in character…I think! Whether he goes through with his goal of getting Vicious is something you will have to wait for. XD

Anyway, please please please review, I Love ya'll!

(yes I live in the south so I can say Ya'll….there will be no 'yous' or 'yous guys' in this AN!)

REVIEW I command you….dangles cupcake and lime jello cup

L.O.H.