As Wars Rage On
Chapter One: Ed
It had been years since she had last seen her old friends from the Bebop. Idly, she often wondered what had become of the bounty hunters after she had left to be with her father, although she had been told numerous times the fate of Spike, she still did not believe it. After her dog, Ein died soon after she left the Bebop, her personality sobered and she became more serious about life.
Her father abandoned her two years after he had claimed her, and she quickly grew up in both mind and body. Ed scowled slightly at the thought of her father. He had used her for her hacking skills to steal money from the White Tiger Syndicate. She still kicked herself for believing that he actually came back to be with her. After that stunt, he disappeared and Ed was almost grateful, until she realized that Syndicate was now afer her. Having no fighting skills at all, and her computer her addiction, the Syndicate found her rather easily.
She discarded her trademark spandex shorts and cut off top, for some tight, revealing and risque black outfit that hugged her newly acquired curves and shapely figure nicely. The outfit reminded her of Faye, and a mourning smile gently graced her lips. Unfortunately, Faye was not there to save her now, and the outfit was something she was supposed to wear. It was her "uniform" for the Syndicate. They valued her hacking skills as well as her body. More often, though, they preferred the latter.
In the glare if a neon sign
she laid her body down
The damned walked in beside her
And laid his money down
As she lay on the bed, naked beneath it's suffocating blankets, her executioner, as he liked to be called, walked into the room. A black ribbon tied his silver hair behind his head, and his smooth, beautiful, young face made him appear to be an angel.
Ed was always reminded of Spike's story about his beautiful angel that got away. She did not understand why some one so beautiful would want to be wasting his time in the "harem" as she preferred to call it, but the apprehensive sinking feeling in her stomach instantly told her she did not want to know the answer to her curiosity. Questions like that would get one killed, or maimed. In Ed's case, she would welcome her death. She shrank away from the man advancing toward her, even though in the back of her mind she knew that she should be used to this kind of torture by now.
He said, "Don't try to scream now,
But I want this one to hurt and
tonight, my pretty one I'm gonna
get my money's worth
Gulping her fear and the giant lump that rose in her throat she murmured seductively, but almost robotically, "I'll do anything you want me to. You're in control; you're the boss."
In her mind she was screaming for help, her shrieks echoing in her head like the shrill wind ripping through an empty grave yard. She knew no one would help her, or listen to her for that matter; they never did.
She said, "They just don't understand,
I don't do this for pleasure,
I just do it cuz I swear I didn't want to
And I swear I didn't know that things like this
could happen to a seventeen year old
He bit her lip savagely, like she was a piece of savory meat that he could not get enough of. Her now long red hair was a tangled mess beneath her shoulders, and his rough hands rubbed angrily over her delicate body. Her eyes sprung with unshed tears, and she closed them and pretended that she was back to her innocent childhood days, where her friends would save her. She forgot her surroundings for a moment, as the man reached his peak, and bruised her poor body.
She only opened her eyes again, when his slender hands wrapped around her neck. She gasped for a second, and with her wide eyes stared at the man still straddling her. He traced her face with a finger, and unconsciously she shivered in fear. He crushed her body with his own, and she choked against his chest.
"Ahh, shh, child, I am in control am I not? We don't want to have to teach you a lesson, now would we?"
Dizzy and weak from lack of oxygen, she barely shook her head in submissive agreement, just as she was taught when they first dragged her into the Syndicate. She saw him pull out the katana from beneath the bed, just as he always did when it was his turn with her, and it was always his "turn" after she finished any assignment for the Syndicate. Her eyes shined in the gleaming sword, and for the hundredth time in her new life, she prayed death would come for her. Death was a welcomed sign, for a person who no longer wanted to be apart of the Syndicate.
He leapt from her, and gently sliced the blade across her chest. It cut through her delicate skin, and small beads of crimson black blood bubbled to meet the stainless steel blade. The silver haired man grinned broadly, all signs of human moral gone from his angelic face.
Ed realized now what she had been trying to place about the man that had tortured her for so long; he was one of the fallen angels she had always been warned about.
"You know, Ed, this blade belonged to my father. He killed your friend Spike-person, as you once called him, with the tip. My father was the greatest Syndicate leader there was. It's a shame he had to die so soon."
He turned to her bruised and bleeding body, her big eyes staring at him, as if she cared about what he was talking about. His evil smirk once again contorted his vile features, as he went back to the broken girl lying on the bed. He pulled the katana to her again, this time aligning it with the hollow of her throat.
"However, we received word that he was rebuilding the Red Dragon Syndicate, our greatest rival. Does it hurt you to know that he faked his own death, to rebuild the very thing he destroyed? Well, now it does not matter what you think, the problem with this matter is the fact he has been looking for you. It appears he found your father, who sputtered the same story you did, but Spike turned him in for a bounty."
Ed remained stoic, knowing that any emotion that flickered across her face would anger him to the point he would not murder her, and he knew that is what she desired.
"And we of course can not allow him to find you alive; you know too many of our secrets."
Ed's heart swelled at this statement. He was going to finally release her from her personal hell. She lay still, waiting for the fatal wound, the blow that would end her misery, but it never came. When she opened her eyes, she found the fallen angel had left her alone in the room with her suffering and scars he inflicted upon her. The salty tears fell down her pale face, and prayed the Red Dragon Syndicate did not try to save her, for there was nothing left of her to save.
I've bundled up all these fears inside
And bottled up all of this pain
And no one and nothing can take this away
AN: I don't own Cowboy Bebop or the song Father's Son, which is sung by 3 Doors Down. Ed may seem slightly OOC. If you don't like it, then don't read it, because flames only shake an author's confidence, and I need to re-boost my ego some how! J/k. Besides everyone has to grow up eventually, right?
