Chapter 12
Almost done…so sleepy…
Later that night, a celebration of freedom rang through Miaka's home and a bar on Jupiter. There weren't many people there, a few men enjoying a round of drinks, and a young woman with short purple hair and green eyes. The drinks within their party were thick, and Shin was ahead of them all.
"Alright, this next toast is to Samantha, daughter of Spike and Julia, with their streignth, determination, and Spike's cocky ass attitude!" Shin declared. Charles whooped and toasted.
"Excuse me?" the woman with the purple hair said to Samantha. "are you talking about Spike Spiegel?" she asked.
"Yeah, he's my father. Well, was" Samantha answered.
"I never knew he had a daughter…" the woman said in a low voice.
"Did you know him?" Shin asked, handing the woman a drink. Charles Ray and Shawn had stopped their loud celebrating and were listening intently.
"We were on the same team, we were bounty hunters" the woman answered.
"Are you Faye Valentine?" Shin asked. The woman shushed him.
"Yes, but don't let it get around. Just call me Jade" Faye answered. Samantha looked at her oddly.
"Why'd you change your name?" she asked.
"After your father left to find Vicious, the team split up. I had a lot of debts, and I couldn't pay them off. Your father told me that he had faked his own death, and it worked, so I did the same thing and changed my name" she said. "I saw him right before he died. It hit Jet, his best friend, pretty hard. All Jet did was repeat a story about a Tiger-striped cat" Faye said.
"Do you remember it?" Shin asked. Faye's appearance and somewhat sobered him up.
"There was once a tiger striped cat, who died a million deaths and was reborn. He was owned by various people whom he didn't really care for. One time he was born a stray, which meant he was free. He wandered the streets, and finally he met up with a white female cat. They spent their days happy together, but the white cat was getting weak, and died of old age. The tiger striped cat…"
"Cried a million times, and finally died, but was never reborn" Shin finished.
"How'd you know that?" Samantha asked him.
"I don't know…it just came to me all of a sudden" he replied.
"That is how it ended. Jet said Spike told that story to him right before he left" Faye said.
"Did you know my mother?" Samantha asked her.
"I only met her once. She was amazing, dangerous but loving. She saved my life, and I saved hers. She gave me a message to deliver to Spike, and he went to find her" she said.
"What was the message?" Samantha asked.
"It was simple, I didn't understand it. She said 'I'll be waiting there, tell him I'll keep on waiting'" Behind them, the others had gone back to celebrating, Shin had gone back as well.
"I should get back to them, do you wanna join us?" Samantha asked.
"Thanks, I usually lone it, but what the hell?" Faye said, and the two of them went back to the celebration.
"It's getting kinda late, and we gotta get back to Ganymede soon. I'll talk to you later Shin, nice meeting you Samantha" Charles said. They all said their goodbyes, and the three men left the building.
"Next time we need something blown up, we'll call them" Samantha said.
"So what's the deal? You stopped the Syndicate or something?" Faye asked. Samantha's thoughts went back to the Syndicate cathedral. Yusuke's dead body crumpled up on the floor, and she shivered.
"Are you cold?" Shin asked. "It's burning up in here!"
"No, I just feel a little sick" she replied.
"I'll take you home" Shin said. "Nice meeting you Faye"
"Same here" Faye replied. Shin helped her to the car.
"You can stay with me tonight, Miaka probably wants her house back, I've got an extra room. I'll take you to your grandma's tomorrow, but you need rest tonight" Shin said as they drove along. He looked at her injuries. "Do you need a doctor?" he asked.
"I'll see one tomorrow, these aren't too bad" she said as he helped her into the house. He led her into a spare bedroom and covered her up with a thick blanket. He kissed her cheek.
"Goodnight" he said, but Samantha had already fallen asleep.
Her dreams haunted her that night. They were flashbacks…her standing over Yusuke's dead body, with the triumphant look on her face; while he bled to death; angelic voices of praise. A rose in a puddle. Gun shots, and a glass eye. "This is all just a dream"
"Yeah, just a dream". Her mother's blonde hair; Vicious' cold gray eyes, and her father, fighting for love. Torn pieces of paper floating from a window, a red light flashing on an answering machine. The Red Dragon emblem. So close, but yet so far away…
Samantha woke up screaming, her throat raw. Sweat soaking her hair, and her vision blurred my the painful dreams. Shin ran through the door.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
"It was all…just a dream" she said weakly.
"Yeah, just a dream" he replied. She wasn't sure if that was really what he said, but that's what she heard. She laid back down on the pillow, and Shin stroked her hair until she fell back asleep.