Myruu! Howdy everyone. Sorry this took longer than expected, but thanks to listening repetitively to Fukai Mori, My Will, Every Heart, and all the other IY songs, I was able to finish it. I know, I Know, IY with Cowboy Bebop?!?! Oh, well. If a cute guy in a pink(sorry, RED) kimono appears with fuzzy woof-woof ears, just let me know, I'll edit it out. The first bit is just Faye's wack-wack thoughts, but bear with me pple! *looks around madly* It's writers block!

Oh, yesh.

InoownBoycoyBopbe.NosueGatgo.Gatgogotnomoney.

~*~*~

Faye sighed as she pushed the buttons on the machine. She had caught a nice bounty last night and had just turned him in. The machine beeped as it finished depositing the correct amount of Woolongs on her card. She placed her card in her bra, having no where else to put it at the moment. Puling on one of her suspenders, she bitterly muttered something about the damn suit not having pockets.

Cigarette in mouth and hands folded behind her head, she drifted down the streets. She had just been drifting around since she had seen him. Since Spike had shown up at her door. She had been drifting, more dead than she was before, for a week and a half now. She had caught one bounty, but that was all. She had accomplished nothing else since then. She had basically just sat around the house, sleeping, eating, and watching TV. I sound like Spike, she thought to herself before cursing silently. She could hardly go a minute without thinking of him. He was on her mind a lot, partially because of the nightmares she had about him, partially because she had loved him.

Correction, still loved him.

Why did every thing have to hurt so much? Why couldn't the rest of the world just piss off? A drop of rain, a tear from the heavens, rolled down the tip of her nose and soon lost half of what it started out as, now it was merely a wet trace down her nose. Poor raindrop. It didn't have enough initiative to reach the ground. It couldn't form its own puddle.

Her finger reached up to wipe the wet off. Her head turned skywards as she watched the clouds drift, moving across the sky in dark gray masses, forming rain. The heavens cry with me, she thought melodramatically and continued her walk. She was going to get soaked if she kept walking in the pace she was, but part of her wanted to be submerged in the wetness, maybe it would wash away the grime that it felt like was covering her.

Her hand pulled out the card with her newly added money. Half of her screamed 'casinos', 'lotteries', 'races', 'go blow it somewhere', 'bet away your grief'. The other half told her to go buy food. She had been eating stale tortillas, beer, and cup noodles for the last month now. She wanted some real food. Something that wasn't stale, something that didn't taste stale even if it was fresh, and something besides beer.

The rain came down harder now, sinking into her skin and leaving behind a cold chill. She had never been warm, the coldness for her was nothing. Hands behind her head she walked on, the card back in its hiding place, the sadness forgotten, if only for a second, as she stared up at the clouds and watched them drift slowly along, wanting the raindrops they produced to form their own puddles.

She had convinced herself it was nothing more than a desperate dream. He hadn't really been there, it was all an illusion. An illusion from a bit too much scotch and anything else she drank. He had felt so real, alcohol messes up your brain, you know. His scent still lingered in her room, the smell of cigarette smoke of spices hung on her couch. That was created by desperate needs, she had decided. Yet she had slept on that sofa until his scent wore away, she had drunken herself into a drunken delusional stupor, day after day, in the hopes of seeing him again. It had taken a week to convince herself it was a dream, but she wished for reality.

When she arrived at the store she was naught but a soggy mess. Her mascara had run, most of it had been washed off but she still had two light black lines running down her face. Her tangled purple hair around her pail face. It hung to her shoulders now, and she hadn't bothered to cut it short. Her headband was tucked away, not likely ever to be pulled out again. The rest of her just dripped on the floor as she strolled through the isles and pulled things off of the shelves. If it was cheap and good-looking and easy to make, it was thrown into the little shopping basket.

At the register she leaned a bit too hard on the counter, flustered her face a bit, and licked her lips. The young male cashier, staring so intently at her, forgot to ring up some items, merely threw them into the plastic bag. This day was looking up on her. Smiling at him, she gave him her card, he had cut off a good percent of what she had to pay. Blowing a kiss over her shoulder she strode out of the store, back into the rain. Her plastic grocery bag tied shut, her head turned down a bit to keep the pouring rain from her eyes. How safe was the rain on Callisto? Would it have some affect on her skin?

She blew a straggling piece of hair from her face. Who did she have to look good for anyway? Not that she was implying that she had tried to look good for Spike, she looked good anyway. Not these days though, she thought bitterly. Look at you Faye, broken up by a guy who never looked twice in your direction. Broken up by a guy who never gave you one good compliment. Broken up by a guy that didn't give a shit about anyone else. But he sure was sexy.

No, bad mind.

She allowed herself a light smile.

"Still tricking the cashier the old ways huh?" a familiar lazy, way too casual voice asked.

Her head was on its way to fling around in a circle.

It's not real!

Don't hurt yourself, don't look!

She stopped mid-turn, adjusted the bag on her hip, and kept walking. She wouldn't fall for it. She would just act like that was really him, she wouldn't look. That way, even if he was fake, she wouldn't see it, she would be able to think—

But why do you want to believe he's alive? It's only hurting you.

Hey, I love the pain.

Her sad smile was on her face as she trudged home in silence, riding in melancholy bliss.

~*~*~

"Hey, Jet," she said to her com. He had paged her soon after she got back to her apartment. She gave him a warm smile, a smile just for a friend, as he had become a good one after Spike died. Only a friend, mind you. He was twelve years older than she was. That give you a hint anywhere? Friends.

"Hey, Faye."(- It rhymes! Sorry, ruining the MoOd)

Silence.

"Soooo," she drawled. "Did you call just to say 'hey', or you got something else?"

Jet smiled as he seemed to remember something. "Yeah I—"

A loud crash erupted in his background followed by an inhuman yell. A series of more crashes occurred, followed by a series more of incoherent ramblings that sounded strangely masculine—

"Be right back Faye, gotta check something," he said. Yet he said it so fast it sounded more like

'BareighbackFaygottacheeksomein.' Then the com was shut off and a blank screen appeared.

Faye shrugged as she tossed the com over her shoulder and grabbed a can of beer and some instant noodles. She was half way done eating them when she realized that she had gone to the store to buy something different. Hastily jumping to her feet she flung open her kitchen cabinet doors to find that the only thing she had bought was noodles, bread, some dairy products, and instant cookie mix. Oh, and beer and tortillas. Great. She would be eating the same thing for another month. Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid. Damn spike. Constantly haunting her.

She was more than halfway to insanity when her com rang again. She practically flung herself on it and jammed at the buttons. She needed to talk to someone. Being alone was making her think way too much.

"Jet," she greeted, her voice not letting him in on any of her insanity.

"Yeah. I was wondering if you wanted to come over to the Bebop, Ed's here and she wants to see you."

"Ed? You found Ed?" she asked, trying to hide the excitement in her voice. Sure, the kid was crazy, hyperactive, and annoying, but Faye found that she had come to like the little pain in the ass.

Jet nodded. "She said something about needing to find 'her place in the world'. Kid gets crazier and crazier."

Faye smiled weakly. Hell, when she told the kid about finding a place in the world, she hadn't expected her to listen. "Yeah."

"Can you come? You're not busy are you? Cause if you are—"

"Pu-leezh come Faye-Faye!!!" cried a shrill voice. Soon hands wrapped around Jet's balding head and a mop of tangled orange obscured the view, then a face made its way into being. "Hi-hi Faye-Faye! Come to see Edward? Pu-leezh?"

Faye smiled. "Sure, kid."

"Great, see you here. We're at the harbor, shouldn't be hard to spot the Bebop. Hey— Ed, watch it!!" Another loud crash was heard before the screen went blank.

Faye stared at it awhile before she started to laugh. It'd been a long while since she had laughed. It felt good. She left the house in dry clothes, a pair of jeans and a casual tank top and blue-jean jacket. She brushed her hair until it shone and re-applied her makeup. She had people to look nice for again.

For once in a long while she was happy.

It had taken a while for her to get her Redtail out of the garage she had it kept in. It had taken a while because her Redtail wasn't supposed to be in there, but where else would she keep the thing for free? Now she was airborne, flying over the city and towards the harbor. Callisto was an ugly city if you were ground level, walking in it's crowded dirty midts, smelling its rank smells, breathing its toxic air. But from up in the sky, there seemed to be color, it seemed livly and, actually, beautiful. It was like an old painting, a bit musky but, overall, a piece of work that's actually wonderful.

She silently snorted to herself. Callisto could never be anything other than hideous.

The water from the harbor jumped up and danced as she lowered her Redtail and skimmed its tops. She could feel the licks of the water splashing against the sides of her ship, as she looked over all of the ships and boats in search of the Bebop. How hard could it be to find a broken down grey ship? She almost cried out when she finally spotted it. The once husky and chipped gray ship was looking actually decent. It had a new paint job, still the same color gray, but it shone in the light unlike the old Bebop, who even when in the sun, looked much like death itself. The words 'Bebop' were still written sloppily across the side though, red spray paint and a shaky hand.

Faye grinned. The old man must have a lot of time on his hands, it would be good for him to talk to someone other than Ed. It would be good for her to talk to him too. It would keep her mind off of Spike, who seemed to haunt her thoughts more than often as of late. Ever since that night. She shuddered as she convinced herself it was only a dream once more. It couldn't have been real, Spike was dead. Dead, dead, dead. She shook her head to clear her thoughts. No the time for her psychotic thoughts. Jet, Ed, Jet, Ed. Time for them now. Not the other guy.

Spike, Spike, Spike.

Arrgh! Damn mind! Always thinking what it wants, she hissed under her breath. A heavy grunt escaped her as she half crash landed on the Bebop. She hadn't been paying attention and her ship had dropped from too high up and knocked the wind out of her. She blew a stray strand of unbound hair from her eyes before grouchily sliding out of her vessel. The new deck painting was now scratched in several places, as the gray was paint now on the Redtail from where it scratched the deck.

"Oh well," she muttered. "It's like old times now, anyway."

No sooner had she entered the ship and began walking down the hall, she realized her left leg felt a bit heavy…

"Ed," she greeted, and patted her new red-haired growth on the head.

The girl beamed with happiness before dropping off, running around her in circles, once, twice, thrice, then commenced running down the hall screaming at the top of her lungs, "Faye-Faye's here! Faye-Faye's here!!", and then she made a rhyme, "Faye-Faye Faye-Faye Bo-Bafe Banana-nana Fo-Fafe, Fe-Fi Fo Fafe, it's Faye-Faye! Wheee!!" Then she disappeared, probably into a vent somewhere.

"So much for wanting to see me," she muttered before walking into the make-shift living room and plopping down on the vinal sofa, waiting for Jet to make his appearance.

She began to flip through the channels on the TV Ed 'improved' and found that it did have more channels, but most only got static and the ones that came in clear were shows that would put you to sleep in three minutes flat. At around channel four-hundred and fifty-seven, she was bored sick. In the humid air, her skin began to stick to the sofa and she soon found herself going crazy waiting for Jet to come out. Hadn't he heard Ed? How could he Not have heard Ed?

Grumbling she stood and began walking up the steps yelling, "Jet! Jet! Get your ass out here!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming," came the familiar voice of Jet from down the hall as Faye took on the second step.

"Keep your panties on woman," was the second voice that didn't sound like Jet OR Ed, and had a surprisingly lazy, laid back tone to it. It sounded like the voice of a former Bebopper with fuzzy green hair, mismatched eyes, a lanky figure, and a really nice ass.

Faye stopped a step or two at the top of the stairs. Was that?

And out of the shadows—

"Yo."

—he stepped, with a crooked smile and lazy eyes.

Faye was a deer caught in headlights, staring at nothing, but something at the same time. And he just stared back. It was like being in denial for the umpteenth time, and she didn't know what to do- what could she do- so she stood there, feeling light-headed, but not really dizzy. And then she moved forward, reached a hand out and poked him. He didn't dissolve or dissapear, but he jumped at her, as if he was delighted by her confusion, and she jumped back in response. What was she going to do? How did women in the old days get out of situations like this?

Aha! They fainted, but how was she going to—

Feeling a presence near her, her eyes immediately went back into focus, only to find Spike's face right in front of hers, as he grinned at her predicament.

"Boo."

And she found out how to faint, as all of her troubles, worries, angers, wonders, and any and every other emotion pilled on top of another until she felt so weighted down she could hardly stand. Then, the world was turned as her eyes lost focus, as her breath shallowed and she fell backwards, her left shoulder connecting hard against the metal top step, and her head hitting something hard and cold, as she fell backwards down the steps. She felt warmth tickling down her neck, before she blacked out, doing something she never had done before.

She had fainted.

~*~*~

Ach. Left you on a cliffie! MUAHA! HAHA! I know, I know. Faye DOESN'T faint, but, oh well! 2 late now!! I luff the ultimate confusion that Faye leaves. She so versatile. ^_______^ Me likes working with her. Spikey's kinda versatile too. ^_______________^ And he's sexy! Well, Faye's cute to you guys out there, but me being a girl and all. Yesh, you get it.

Well the next chappie should be up soon. Probably. Maybe. Hopefully. Depends. R&R's always welcome! As well as constructive Crits!

Ta, ta 4 now!