The perched bodies of light in the universe seemed like endless realizations for Spike. These lights came flashing by. They reminded him of impossibilities and of how different he had been for the preceding days. Since he saw Julia taken away by bullets, a vacuous space inside him grew. Now that Faye's gone… He couldn't help but feel that space getting larger than before. It's not right. What the hell!

The azure headache was a pretty sight walking around bebop.

But it would be the end of the universe if I lost my senses then.

The thought of Faye…

I can't help it…

It's chaotic! Damn!

…………………..

"Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. Whatever!" she handed the man the money and went off without hesitation. "I can't believe a soda can cost so much as a race ticket. When was the last time I had a soda, anyway? Hell!" she was muttering as she saunters downtown. A few people gazed at the TVs on a window display.

……

Bang!

Cowgirl: Hello, Cowboys!

Jim: Today, we have a special treat for you! We're sure you'll enjoy this big hunt. (chuckles) Beautiful hunt!

Cowgirl: Jim, I think their eyes will be swooning blue. So, let's give the name of the new bounty-bound-to-be-taken celebrity.

Jim: She is Faye Valentine. Yes! She, not he! I know that sounds amazing.

Cowgirl: (looking at a few papers) So, she ran away without paying her debts. That's a bit low.

Jim: Pretty tough for a cat! They are willing to give anything just to have her caught. Wow!

Cowgirl: We have news that she is now in –

Jim: Oh devil! It's time to part.

Cowgirl: Too bad. See you next time space Cowboy!

Bang!

……….

Huh?

What the?

How could they?

Why?

Just for that?

"Mooommmyyy! She looks exactly like the lady on TV." A little girl pointed at her, distracting the sequence of queries on her mind. Eventually, all eyes were drawn to her. It was about a second of a frozen moment. Then, it hit her!

"Damn that torn-head!" she was on, a track fielder on the go.

Faye almost reached her monoracer when bullets rained her way.

"Faye Valentine! You can run but you can't hide." An old grumpy voice belonging to a stout man got to her nerves. It was a split moment when a few more bounty hunters came after her with shotguns, bombs, calibers, and all the destructive devices they plan to use on her.

"Go to hell maniacs!" and she was off towards space again.

I need to find my own planet. These geeks won't stop.

But first, I must find those nut-heads!

"Grrr! You're dead meat!"

She turned in every alley to avoid her determined suitors. Suitors who see the bounty on her head instead of her face. Unfortunately, she went inside a dead-end. "Crazy walls!" She was forced to turn around, face to face with attempting murder, attempting rape and planning slavery. Continuously, she fired her furious frustrations. "Let's see if you maniacs won't leave me alone. Go away!" And the poor alley was harassed and fogged afterwards. When the prosecutors gawked at the previous view, there was no Faye at the dead-end corner.

She was miles away.

Too bad, you're all scumbags!

She's furious but…

Bebop…

Will she come back?

………..

"What!"

Jet's face lit up in awe. Spike included Faye on the bounty list.

"She owes us. And didn't pay a single sweat." The man said casually.

Jet lit up a cigar and sat down comfortably on the couch. "Well, you have a point. But what if someone else takes her down? What on space are you gonna give them?" His statements were clear and testing. "Or maybe they'll just have her as a slave. As I think about it, that's a great thing!"

Spike joined the atmosphere. He lit his own cigarette, "Too bad for whoever would do such baloney. Just imagining the poor guy makes me cry with pity for him. She'll never be of good use." And he shook his shoulders with abhorrence.

"Then, why do you still want her back?"

"She owes us something. She's a thief." It's as though the conversation was just one of those simple talks about bounty heads.

"She's not Julia, Spike." Jet said flatly.

"She's not Julia. Fire and ice don't mix, Jet."

Jet could only smile. What an excuse! The prickle of his hair has gotten into his head.

…………………………

She was drawing nearer and her heart just can't stop pounding so hard. This is preposterous! She felt the blood rushing through her head as the familiar view comes in contact with her eyes.

Inhale.

Exhale.

Inhale.

And her heart's too loud for her to realize she's holding her breath.

This is preposterous!

Until the familiar metal started shooting her with deadly stars. "What a welcome!"

Swooshing and swaying, she tried to avoid damage. She geared sideways to the left and right. And her monitor says, "Power low. Power low. Power low. Power low."

"BULLCOWS! Does heaven have to reciprocate bad luck!"

"Welcome back, Faye." She has been craving to hear that easy toned voice since who-knows-when.

"Spike." There was no hint of anger in her voice, she knew. It was a simple stating of a name.

"How did you like your farewell party? Ehem! I mean welcome party." His tone, still easy but a bit testing.

She braced herself and ignored the crying need of her vehicle. Faye launched all her bullets towards Swordfish. She even launched a missile!

"You want to send me to hell, eh?" said Spike, not even a bit bothered by her rampage.

"You son of a planet! What did you think you just did? You scheduled my death. You're not just booby but totally nuts!" every word flying with her bullets.

"What's the big deal with money, anyway? So, I owe you so much. You don't have to set me up in a big rabbit hunt. I'll pay my debts, you vagabond!"

All she heard was Spike laughing. He was laughing like he wouldn't have much time to do it tomorrow. "You stole something Faye Valentine."

"So now, you've got the nerve to call my name like I did the worst thing on the universe! Aside from meeting you, what else would it be, dumb-dumb?"

"Stop calling me names. I think there's really no sense of etiquette running in that pretty blue head." The Swordfish waved to and fro, not getting into contact with Faye's icy surprises.

"There must have been some mistake when you were baptized in a woman's name."

Her machine continued crying, "Power low. Power low. Power low." And it was devastating but she ignored it. "I may be a ran-away whatever but I'm not a thief who would leave evidences, Spike-head."

"Well, this time you did. And you're setting my life into a big bang." He was unreadable. Now, Faye couldn't read what was in it.

"I don't know what the hell you're – " her words were cut off by the sudden shutting down of her monopod. And she ran out of ammunition. She's just as worse as lost in space.

She heard the clutch of Spike's monoracer on her monopod. He's carrying her towards bebop.

"Corny."

Huh? What's this guy talking about? She rested her head and gazed at the glittered blackness.

"Spike. I don't want to go back." She was serious. "I know where I belong now. I know, it's not like me but it's true."

"Yah, so you don't want to bring doom to our peaceful place anymore. Pity, but I won't let you leave."

"Spike?" Spike's face shaped into a staid expression. "You have stolen me away from my grief grave. Won't you even care to join me in my eternal suffering Faye?"

"You're… You're nuts! What the hell are you talking about? I don't understand the language of aliens so why don't you speak English!" it's the inner mechanism working again.

The guy's face shifted into aghast. "This is one of the most frustrating time of my life. It's humiliating to say those words and now, you're telling me you don't understand. Where were you when God showered the human race with logic?" He was obviously a bit shied with her reaction.

"Why you - !"

Before she could continue the face in her monitor broke into a thin understanding smile. "Faye, let's stop this. Let's just go home."

"Home?"

"That's the only way you could return what you have taken away when you ran away."

………………………………………………………………….

The silence was deafening but vast. It was one of those times that words are not just enough to expressed inner thoughts.

And Faye started to hum that recognizable tune… the music that woke him up from hell and took him back to reality.

It was the same music that made him remember Julia. But more than that, it's the music of an unpredictable meteor shower in his life – a more beautiful magic than he did not see in his eyes… he saw the past and somehow the future… but he never saw this coming.

Falling in love with Faye was too destructive for my eyes to see. It's like an unbearable admission of the end of the world! Meeting her was a mistake.

But it was the perfect mistake.

……………………………………………………………………………….

Guys,

Thanks a lot. I've been really busy. As I've told you, this is my first fanfic… It might be the last though. I' m too busy with life to sit around and dream (too bad, eh?)

Well, I hope you liked it. Anyway, I'll stay attached to still. I enjoyed doing this fic... really.

tnx! ;-P