Chapter Seven: Our Raining Symphony
First Pov (Faye)
Goodbye? I opened my eyes, confused by the word. Immediately, my leg kicked out, knocking the gun away from Spike's temple. A gun blast sounded through the air, then silence. The only sound I could hear was the beating of my own heart as it thundered against my rib cage. What was going on? Then…
"What the HELL do you think you were doing?!" Spike yelled at me, glancing up at the hole in the ceiling, made by my efforts to keep him alive.
"What do mean what was I thinking? What the hell is wrong with you! Are you planning to commit suicide or kill me?" I shouted back, my face boiling red.
"You are suppose to be dead!" he snapped, paler than I remembered. "I didn't…you are…whatever." He slunk back in his seat, lighting a cigarette.
I could feel the pain in my leg shooting up from my earlier attempts. I was in the hospital for a reason. Straining myself now wasn't likely the best way to become cured. Still, the way I had been woken up wasn't the normal behavior of the guy who normally referred to me as "the shrew" either. What was wrong with Spike anyway? There were several small beads of sweat lining his brow, making him appear as though nervous. I had never seen him upset over anything, unless it was Julia. He was always so passive. So what could cause him to turn into a wreck now?
"Where's Jet?" I asked, lazily, gazing over to the window on my other side.
Outside, rain was falling in a steady rhythm. I smiled, despite the pain I had. Rain, for some reason, had always comforted me. Perhaps it was because rain doesn't have a past or a future. It just exists to fall from the sky. It has one bright moment of life, then nothing. I figure that's how my life will be when I look back on it. My past is so fuzzy, it barely is there. As for my future…those seeking a life as a bounty hunter don't usually live very long. I'll be lucky if I see my next birthday…whenever that is.
"Ed fell asleep waiting. He took her and the dog back to the Bebop," he replied, as the smell of smoke drifted under his nose. I could see his reflection in the glass, as well as my own. "He took our ships back with him. He should be back in another hour or so."
I nodded. There wasn't anything to say.
Time passed in and out. I must have dozed just as often. When I woke again, Spike was staring out the window. It was still raining. I sat up and watched him. Softly, so softly that I barely heard him, he started to tell me something.
"You know what the rain is, Faye? It's all the tears you force yourself never to cry, even when life has beaten down on you to the end of your rope. When everything in your life has gone wrong, you think you've got it all figured out, then something worse happens; that's always the day it rains. That's how it has always been and that's how it will always be."
I knew what he meant. He was thinking about her again. Julia. I could tell that she was dead, had been able to tell since the moment he had walked back onto the ship alone. It had been in his eyes, those two eyes that weren't exactly the same color. Still, his story wasn't told. I had no idea why he was standing here by my side, why he wasn't dead. It was all a mystery. Spike was a mystery.
"Why are you here, Spike?" I asked, looking out into the storm. "Why aren't you dead?"
"It wasn't my time to go," he shrugged, though the motion barely existed. "I don't know why I stayed here. I should have gone, but-," he trailed off. His eyes, never the exact shade, took on the appearance of recalling a memory from the distant past.
"They tracked us down. They blew-up her car and came in. Some were smart and got positions around us, to trap us in. When we reached the roof, I realized we were stuck. I yelled at her to get down so I could shoot on of them. Just before I could warn her again, she was hit…right in the back." His voice shook slightly, but he cleared his throat. "I don't remember killing him, but I must have or else he would have killed me. Then she was in my arms." His voice got soft, then slowly faded off.
I swallowed. A large, uncomfortable lump had formed in my throat. Now it wouldn't go away.
"Remember when you told me that I was leaving to die?" he asked, rolling his cigarette between his fingers. I nodded, recalling how I had acted. "You may have been right," he grinned. I glanced up at him, not understanding the meaning behind the words.
"I went back. Vicious was there. He slashed me and I shot him. He fell and I held out until the sun rose. By that time, the cavalry had arrived." Spike shook his head, smirking to himself. "Bang," he said, pointing an index finger at the wall across from me. He sighed, taking a drag of his cigarette. "He is the only one who can kill me and I was the only person who could show him death."
How did you deal with something like that? To have the love of your life shot to death right before your eyes would break any man, even the almightily Spike Spiegel. Though he seemed to have taken it quite well, almost too well. Of course, all the times he had gone off to stand somewhere and think…that, perhaps, was his way of dealing with it. Still…
"Do you know what she said to me?"
I stared at him, but didn't say a word. Julia had been everything he had protected for all those years. I had never believed him. I had always hated her. Before I had known the real story, I thought I had everything figured out. But after meeting her, after seeing how she affected him, all my theories had gone out the door. I had been utterly wrong.
"This is a dream." He took another drag, nodding. "It is just a bad dream that we can't wake up from."
"Do you miss her?" I asked, trying to be nonchalant about it, as I continued to survey the weather.
"Romance isn't all it's cracked up to be," he shrugged, dropping his hands into his pockets. "In the end, it wouldn't have worked. She was a person sent to kill me by my best friend and even in her last breath of life; I still doubted the sincerity in her voice. Love can't exist in such a shadow." His cigarette died and he stomped it out with his foot.
"You didn't answer the question," I pointed out.
He glanced over at me and I turned to meet his eyes. They told me all I needed to know. The defeated glaze that covered them sickened me. This was the side of Spike I had never see…had never wanted to see. I had always pictured him as the leader, the one who would hold us together, but now, seeing him like this made everything change.
It is unfair to believe that someone is incapable of being hurt. Even a person as strong as Spike deserved the ability to crash every now and then. It was only humane. Anything else would have killed him quicker than all he had had to endure.
"Goodnight," he stood, walking away.
At least it wasn't a goodbye. I was making progress, no matter how small.
I could hear the hanger door. I opened my eyes and rose from the couch, where I had been sleeping. Spike walked in, blood everywhere. His hair was tussled and his face was awfully pale. I moved forward, about to ask him what had happened, when he collapsed at my feet.
I screamed for Jet. How could this be happening? Frantically, I shook him, saying his name over and over again. Then he moved. Slowly, he put his hands on my face, staring into my eyes. "I…I love you…," he smiled, caressing my cheek with his thumb. "Julia." Then his eyes rolled back in his head.
He was gone, like my heart.
Third Person Pov (Faye)
Faye jolted awake in her hospital bed, rewarded for her motions by a harsh prickling sensation all over, but mainly on her side. That's when she remembered it all. Mr. Bounty Head. The bullet she had taken to protect the ones she had grown to love. Spike's confession. Everything suddenly became quite clear.
A bit groggy, she blinked several times before a yawn escaped her lips. The rain had stopped sometime during the night. The curtains could not conceal the bright sunlight. Beeps from her heart monitor and a new IV alerted her that a nurse had paid a visit to her room earlier. She noticed a button on the side panel of her bed. Pressing it in, she heard a muffled bell chime in the corridor outside the room.
Moments later, a nurse, dressed in her uniform smock, entered, whinging about dogs being allowed in the hospital. At the same time, a skinny Bohemian girl with wild red-hair came racing in. Ein trailed close behind, his tongue dangling out of his mouth, along with a line of drool. Then Jet strolled in, eyeing her carefully. The nurse took in the strange collection of visitors and grumbled in agitation, shaking her head as she took Faye's blood pressure.
"How do you feel?" he asked, watching the nurse's actions.
"As well as anyone else who took a bullet," she answered, smiling over at Ed, who was speaking to Ein about the rules of the hospital. "I'm glad the kid's alright."
Jet followed her eyes. "You were never one to take a liking to her," he commented, returning his attention to the Romani.
"Things change," she explained.
Jet nodded, "Yeah."
The nurse finished and left, so the ex-cop looked around the room. Coming closer, he spoke in a hushed tone. "Spike told me about Julia last night. He said he told you first." There was a moment of no conversation as Ed and Ein got snapped at by the nurse for bouncing on the empty bed aside of Faye. Ms. Valentine smiled once more. "What did you think?"
"I think Spike loved her," she replied, seriously.
Jet agreed, "Me too."
"So, where is he?"
"He went to the Syndicate."
A/N: I know that this was entirely too short, but if anyone has been reading my profile, which you should if you are concerned about the length of my chapters or how long it takes me to update, you know that I have very precious little time to write. Hopefully, I'll be able to work on "Pure Heart" (Inuyasha fic: Kagome/Sesshomaru, Miroku/Sango) soon and get another chapter out for "Reality Behind the Movie" (Labyrinth fic: Sarah/Jareth). Until then, please check my profile for updates of what is going on. Neveada
