Be Forever Blue

Chapter Two: But Home is Nowhere

"What do you mean that's not you? Of course that's you!" Faye yelled.

"I'm tellin' ya! It ain't me! It's someone else who looks like me!!"

"So that wasn't your mug shot on 'Big Shot' today? That wasn't you? Who was it then?"

"How am I supposed to know that?? Someone's framed me, again." Spike looked at his syndicate picture. He was better back then. He was the framer, not the framed...

"Someone from the syndicate? Who?" Faye took a second to look in Spike's mismatched eyes. Why were his eyes such different colors anyway?

"Probably Vicious."

"Why is he so against you? I thought you guys were friends."

"Because I took Julia from him."

"You mean she was with him first?"

"Yeah." Spike never realized how much it hurt to remember that she was with Vicious first...

"Yuck! Who would wanna be with him?"

"Don't ask me. But he was much better looking back then..."

"Well, do you know how much you're worth? Fifty Million, that's how much! And it's double if they take you down alive!"

"Well don't worry, I won't be taken alive. And since when did you get so concerned?" Spike sent Faye a sharp glare.

"Well, you can sulk over your lost love all you want! Because I don't care, and I'm not concerned!" She slammed the door on her way out of his messy room.

Spike grinned as he got dressed and grabbed his gun and the keys to the Swordfish II. He left the Bebop in search of his long lost love.

Jet walked into the Bebop right after Spike left. "What's going on?"

Faye looked up, tears in her eyes. "I guess Spike is leaving to go find Julia. Did you hear about his bounty? Fifty million... double if caught alive..."

"Well, I'm leaving too. But just to go live with Alisa. I'm not planning on taking the Bebop with me, so you can buy it for the price of Spike."

"You know I can't afford that! And I'm not turning Spike in!"

"I know you won't buy it, that's why I'm offering..."

"I don't care! I'm going after him."

"Good luck. He's probably already gone now, Faye. He's not comin' back."

Faye left on the Redtail, and somewhere in Jet's heart, he hoped that Spike wouldn't get caught. He knew it wasn't him.

Julia stood before the Red Dragon's building. Was Spike in there? Was it just another trap? She had been through that before. Traps. Why was she so gullible? She opened the doors and began walking to the ceremony hall. When she stood before the dark crimson doors of the hall, memories overwhelmed her...

It was the day that Vicious and Spike were accepted into the syndicate. They received their badges, ID's and their codes and passwords. It was just after the ceremony, it was reception time... Julia was standing by the door, ready to go home with Vicious, when Spike came up to her. "So, you're Vicious' woman? Julia, right? Heard all about you..." "Spike Spiegel, right? I saw your ceremony ten seconds ago. It's about time I met you. Vicious talks about you all the time." "Really? What does he say?" "Just about what a good shot you are. How you want to live free, even when joining a tight syndicate..." "So, are you in the syndicate, too?" "Yeah, I am. I'm only a third degree lackey to the Elders, though. But I'm not into cheap shooting at all." "Killed anyone yet?" Julia laughed. "Of course not! Third degrees don't ever get to kill. Thank the gods..." Spike laughed greatly, and Vicious came up behind him. "Ready Julia?" "Yeah, I'm ready. Nice to have finally met you, Spike Spiegel." "Yeah, I know." Julia laughed again, and Vicious grabbed her around the waist and pulled her close. "Later Vicious." Spike said. "Bye." Vicious and Julia went home and Spike stayed there thinking.

She smiled bitterly. That was where she first met Spike. Right behind these doors. She loaded her gun, and walked inside, half-expecting to be attacked at once. But there was nothing in that room but the dead bodies of the syndicate members and the mutilatedbodies of the elders in the corner. Nothing but blood all over the walls and floor. She knew Spike wasn't capable of doing all of that by himself. Why would he do that anyway?

"Is anyone alive?" She yelled.

"Yes. It's me. Shin."

"Shin? Oh my gosh! How did you live through this? Who did this anyway?"

"I'm involved. I was on Vicious' side. It was Vicious who made me hire this guy who calls himself 'Imperfect'. He's dressing up as Spike and causing havoc within the syndicate." Shin looked much more depressed than usual.

"Slow down and breathe. Who's 'Imperfect'?"

"Supposedly a master of disguise. We're paying him well. He does a great job."

"And you wanted to do this because..."

"It's not me!! Okay? It's Vicious who wants to do away with Spike!! I'm sick of people pinning it on me!!"

"Hey! I'm not pinning this on anyone! Not yet. So why are you with Vicious? Why be on his side instead of trying to find Spike and warn him?" Julia took Shin by the shoulders and shook hard.

"I'm only protecting the order. Or at least that's what Vicious is claiming." He looked away from Julia's piercing gaze.

"Okay, I can see you have no interesting information for me. So you can go on and do your thing. But first, where's Vicious?"

Spike sat at the counter of Annie's store, drinking again.

"So what brings you here?" The heavy-set woman asked him, filling up the shot glass to the top with whisky.

"How long has it been since you seen Julia?" Spike replied, very depressed.

"About three years ago. I saw her on Tharsis at the Yellow Rose bar. She was really down. I couldn't talk to her, since she fell asleep after she said 'hi'."

"Do you know anyone who would know where she is?"

"Well, as far as I'm concerned, she got along with the bar tender pretty well. He might have some information for you."

Spike nodded a thanks and left as he finished his drink.

At least now he had a trail...

Ed sat at her computer, goggles on as always. "Ed's gonna find you! Ed's gonna find you! Where art thou, oh fair Julia-person? Spi-Spi is searching too! You are loved! Yes! You are loved! Yes! You are! Yes!" She gasped. "Oh! I have found her! I have found her! Codename Julia! Oh, Spi-Spi!"

"Spike's already gone looking for her Ed. He's in trouble anyway," Faye said from behind.

"Spi-Spi? In trouble?" Ed took in a heavy gasp again. "NO!!"

Faye laughed. "Yeah. So you can track him down too."

Edward said nothing and got right to work.

Spike stood before the Yellow Rose bar. So this is the place. What if she was in there now? He only hoped that she would be.

He walked up to the bartender and held up Julia's picture. "I'm looking for this woman."

The bartender grinned as he took the picture. "This woman. Her name was Julia. She was in here about four times a week for a month three years ago."

"You remember her?"

"Yeah. She was pretty beautiful. Very sexy. You know, she had that mysterious aura around her. She had the same thing every night..." He put away a glass he was cleaning.

"You know where she went? Could you at least tell me about someone who might know?"

"I believe she said she was going to Lady's Peak, a very unique small town in Ganymede. Now, I'm busy, hope you find her."

Spike left immediately. Ganymede, huh? Maybe she went back to the syndicate...

Julia made her way to the grand hall, where Vicious lay in wait. She looked around very carefully. He was on the back wall, a glass of dark red wine in his hand. "So, Vicious. Still a vicious murderer?"

"Your wry sense of humor disgusts me. So do a few other things." He smashed the wine glass to the floor, and the red liquid was all over the floor. "I know what you and Spiegel were up to. Gonna run away, huh? Gonna leave your man for a sewer rat? It couldn't happen! I would have you killed rather than let you be with him."

"I was with him for a long time before I even left!" Julia aimed her gun and shot. She missed. She had also forgotten how powerful guns were. Her weapon of choice had always been a field knife. Suddenly, Vicious had her hands behind her back.

"So, when did he get you knocked up?"

"How did you know about that?" Julia was stunned.

"Well, between my spies and the medical records I hacked from the hospital's computer, I found out that you first lost the baby, and then when you gave a successful birth, you named her Samara."

"So you hack into a hospital's computer, had people spy on me, and know my daughter's name. What else did you find out?" She asked cooly, trying to figure out how to escape.

"Well, where should I begin? Should I start that you couldn't keep your daughter, so you put her in the only convent on Venus? Spike had a connection with a nun there, and she took her off your hands for free. Of course, you didn't even tell Spike she was born. On your twenty-fourth birthday, you promised Spike to run away with him to Ganymede. Just like in a dream. I know more, but I'll end it in this. You were both put into a mental hospital because of you losing the baby. You both felt so guilty because you 'fell down the stairs'."

"It was you! You hired Lin to push me, didn't you? You knew the whole time! Why didn't you say anything?"

"Who needed to say something when I was going to have you kill him anyway?" He grinned that freaky grin that he grinned only when he had his most horrible plans in mind. "So I've got to go now. Why don't you stay for a smoke?"

He lit a match and dropped it on the spilled wine, it all burst into violent flame, and there was Julia, sitting there with her hands and feet tied together. Helpless on the floor. She just had to get out somehow.

"Someone help me!" She cried. "Shin! Help!" She got into a coughing fit from the smoke. The whole room was on fire, and Vicious had already escaped. "Help!" Julia tried to keep speaking, but she fainted before she could continue. But in her mind, all she could think was, I have to see Spike. I have to tell him about Samara...

But just as she thought she would die, someone very familiar came, untied her hands and carried her out of the room.

She opened her eyes later and she wasn't in the Red Dragon's building anymore. She was on someone's ship. She sat up and she was only wearing her bra, someone's boxers, and her locket that Spike gave her for her twenty-fourth birthday. She saw that Spike was laying beside her on the bed, and she was just so happy. She missed that so much. Tears were in her eyes right away. She laid back down and watched Spike sleep, giving a small giggle when he snored.

Suddenly, his eyes snapped open. "Hey."

"Hey." Julia sobbed.

"I thought you'd never wake up. It's been a week since you fainted." He smiled. His skin was burned to a blistering crisp.

"No." She whispered. "It's been three years. I have so much I have to tell you." She touched his burned cheeks carefully, and he still cringed when she touched them. "I'm so sorry that I left you like that. I hope you can forgive me for a few days."

"I heard everything when you and Vicious were talking." He pulled her very close, and she buried her face in his chest. "You do have a lot of explaining to do."

There was nothing to believe in...

A/N: Please review on these two chapters. I need to know if I can continue.

Love,

Forsaken

p.s. if you want, e-mail me if you want me to alert you when the new chapter is up. I see some writers are doing it, so I'll attempt. My e-mail is either or