A/N: alright, this chapter came together a lot quicker than I expected it to. I'm not sure if more chapters will follow this, but I've left it open to revisit, should inspiration strike me. I hope you guys enjoy where I went with this!
Faye had spent longer in the hanger than she cared to admit. Even after the Swordfish was nothing more than a speck on the horizon, she stared out at the sky. Eventually, her feet turned her away, and her legs carried her forward. Her eyes were swollen and angry from the tears, but as her body pulled her down the hall, they couldn't seem to muster anymore.
She was sure he was dead. She knew enough about the syndicate to know most didn't make it out alive. How many more times could he possibly cheat death at their hands. She was going to have to deal with the fact of his absence sooner or later. It was just a matter of letting herself feel it. A feat that would have been easier had the events in the hanger not occurred.
What even was that? It wasn't love. It didn't even feel like lust. Catharsis maybe? Whatever it was, it had happened, and he had left. So what was the point in dwelling on a fleeting few minutes in time. Nothing was going to come of this, he was gone and she couldn't stop it.
She was walking down the hall when his voice cut through her musing. It was someone talking to Jet. She quickly moved over to the doorway where the voice was coming from. It was one of his cop buddies, but what was he saying? "Just wanted to let you know, something's gone on in town. A large fight broke out at the Red Dragons headquarters. We believe it has something to do with the coup but we can't be sure. There's a team who's going to head out to assess the damage, but the force isn't planning to look into this as it stands." Her breath caught in her throat and she leaned forward to hear better. The voice continued on, "I'm just letting you know, because I know one of your boys had some dealings in the past. Figured you guys hadn't listened and left Mars. You may want to go check it out."
She didn't hear Jets response. She was already running back toward the hanger. Jet was going to be furious with her for stealing the Hammerhead but the Redwing was still out of commission. She didn't even know if she was doing this all in vain, but she had to see for herself. If this was the only closure she was going to get, then so be it. At least it was something.
She wasn't sure where she was going, she had flown the same direction Spike had left in. If the damages were serious there would be signs. How many large gang fights could there be in one area after all. It seemed like she had been flying blindly towards her unknown destination for far too long. Shouldn't she have seen something by now? Then there it was...smoke. Pouring into the sky, thick and grey. Her heart tightened in her chest, had there been an explosion? She pushed the ship as quickly as it would go straight towards the billowing smoke.
As she got lower she saw it, the sharp red metal of his ship. He had to be here somewhere. The state he was in however, was questionable. She steeled herself and emotions as she landed the stolen ship, but as soon as it hit the ground she practically fell out of it with the speed of her exit. She caught herself before she hit the pavement. Once steady she looked up and a strangled cry fell from her lips.
There was debris everywhere. Smoke was still coming off of the building and it burned her eyes. She expected screaming from bystanders but surprisingly enough, this street seemed empty. She walked towards the destroyed building, carefully surveying her surroundings. There wasn't much sign of a struggle aside from the pieces of building littering the ground. There weren't even bodies, or were they all inside?
She headed towards the stairs in front of her. They were incredibly long and seemed to disappear in the smoke. She took a deep breath and began her ascent, not sure if she wanted to know what she would find. Her heels clicked loudly in the silence around her, she internally wished for any other noise. The silence was haunting.
At first she couldn't make out what was on the stairs in front of her. More rubble from the explosions? No...it didn't look like that. Was it, moving? It looked like it was, but just barely. Small movements almost lost among the rest of the scene, but they were movements. She paused for a second, straining her eyes to see what exactly it was. It was long...and misshapen. Her eyes widened and she started sprinting. Her feet barely keeping up with the rest of her body. She fell forward but it didn't stop her, she shot her hands forward and clambered back to her feet.
"SPIKE?!" It was half question, half horrified scream as it erupted from her mouth. She got to him on the stairs and fell to her hands and knees. There was blood everywhere. He appeared to be leaking it onto the steps from multiple points on his body. Her hand reached out, fingers hovering just above him, he was barely breathing. "Spike...", she whispered. Her fingers touched down on his shoulder gently and she heard it.
His moan was muffled and barely audible as his face was still against the stairs. She knew she heard it though. Her hand pulled away and covered her mouth. Tears stinging her eyes as she took him in. He looked like he had been through hell, she had seen him beat up before but this was worse. "Spike...I'm gonna turn you over, I need to see where else your hurt. You're losing a lot of blood...we need to get you back to the ship." She didn't wait for a response, not even sure he could give her one.
The noise he made when she moved him pierced the silence and she swiftly threw her hand over his mouth to muffle his scream. "I'm sorry...I'm so sorry" the words fell frantically out of her mouth as she tried to quiet him. "I don't know who is around, or who is coming. We have to be quiet and we have to hurry." She ran her eyes across his body, assessing the damage to it. Aside from the wounds to his arms he had a rather large slash across his stomach.
Faye looked up now, and around quickly. She was only about 100-200 yards from the Swordfish. She could see it from where they were. It was just a matter of getting him to it and both of them in. It was small, but it still had more room than Jet's ship. She would come back later with him for it, no one would bother it for now. Satisfied with her thoughts she turned her attention back to Spike laying in front of her.
The worst wound was his stomach, she would have to do something about it before she moved him. "Spike this is going to hurt I need you to stay as still as you can", and with that she took to pulling his arms as gingerly as she could out of his jacket. Spike bit his lip to stifle the noise and she shimmied his jacket down to his waist. Off came her jacket next, and she pressed it against his stomach. This elicited a groan and tears began to prick his eyes. She tied his sleeves tightly around his waist to hold pressure on his stomach and he thrashed against the stairs.
Now they had to move, she just had to get him draped on her back. She put her hands under him and lifted slowly, as she did she turned him so his back was against the stairs. The pain of sitting him in this position must have been too much because at this point he passed out. Luckily she hadn't let him go and he slumped against her chest. With as much strength as she could muster she held him away from her and turned her back to him. When she let him go he crashed into her back and they both fell forward.
Her hands shot out and caught them before they hit the steps. She had to move carefully, these stairs were the only thing between her and the ship. After a lot of careful shifting of weight she managed to get him in a comfortable spot and she grabbed onto the sleeves that were falling forward. She pulled them forward to steady Spike against her back and took a first cautious step.
He was heavier than he looked. Probably because he was passed out and had no way to hold any of his own weight. Her knees buckled slightly as she stepped, but her need to get him somewhere safe was enough to stop her from falling. It took twice as long to get down the stairs with him, but she made it. It was a short walk to the Swordfish and all she had to do was get him in it and they would be gone.
When they got to the ship she took the sleeves in her hand and tied them around her waist as well. It must have hurt him because suddenly he was awake and groaning in her ear. "F...Faye?" His question barely loud enough to hear. "Spike, we're gonna get in your ship, and I'm gonna fly us back to the Bebop." He mumbled something she couldn't make out and his head lolled against her shoulder.
Somehow, she managed to heave them both into the cab of his ship, and she untied him from her back. She carefully leaned him against the side of the cab and he winced painfully before going still again. She sat herself down, her legs and arms shaking violently. "I did it" she thought to herself. "I actually did it." Looking over at him, she let herself smile slightly. He would be fine, he had been badly hurt before and he would make it out of this too, he had to.
She tore her eyes away from him and quickly glanced at Jet's ship making a mental note of where it was before she took off. The return trip was faster, perhaps because her mind wasn't racing with images of Spike's dead body. She had saved him, and he was gonna owe her big now. The last thought made her chuckle to herself.
Faye could see Jet standing outside scanning the skies. How long had she been gone? It couldn't have been more than an hour, at most. She quickly landed and before she could even attempt to get out he was there, banging on the ship. "What the hell Faye?! WHERE IS MY SHIP?! Where did you go?!" His yelling made her jump and she pressed herself into the seat before opening the hatch. "Are you serious Faye?!" He was yelling again. "Jet please, help me get him out..." His yelling was cut short as his eyes followed to where she was gesturing.
Jet's eyes widened and he looked between the two of them. Spike, slumped over and bleeding, Faye covered in ash and what he assumed was Spikes blood. "Where did you even find him?" Jet's question was dripping with confusion. "It's not important right now. All that matters is I did find him, and now I need your help getting him inside." With a very stern look and a finger sharply pointed at her face he responded. "We are going to discuss this later." "Fine" was all she said in response. Not giving a damn about the reprocussions of her actions.
With Jet's help she managed to get him inside. His wounds had been relatively treatable. His stomach had needed stitches and cleaning. This had not come without a fight, resulting in him passing out again. Probably from his own thrashing, but at least he was safe and his wounds were tended.
.OoO.
It had been three days. After fixing up Spike, Jet had ripped her a new one. After which, much to her surprise, he grabbed her and hugged her tightly. He had whispered 'thank you' before letting her go. They had eventually gone together to retrieve the hammerhead, but that seemed like forever ago at this point. Faye had convinced Jet to move Spike, who was covered in bandages and heavily sedated, to her room. He had given her a rather odd look at the request, but she shrugged it off.
She wondered how much longer he could possibly sleep. Part of her wondered if she had got to him too late and he was just too far gone, but she pushed those thoughts away. Most of her time was spent sitting at the foot of her bed, her arms wrapped around her knees as she alternated between watching him and the memories of her past dancing on the TV screen.
She was watching her younger self interact with friends when she heard it. Mumbling? She paused the tape and whipped her head around to face him. His fingers were twitching, as if he was trying to reach for something. She could see the bandages covering his face moving with his words and she quickly leaned forward and moved them. "You used to be so cute, what happened Faye?" Her mouth fell open and she saw his eyes flick to the paused screen. She looked at it and back to him and then smiled. He was trying to goad her, instead just the sound of his voice had brought tears to her eyes.
"Shut up you jerk" she sobbed before falling forward onto him, careful to keep her weight off his torso. Her arms snaked around his neck and she pulled herself tightly against him. He groaned loudly but she felt his arm wrap around her. "I told you I wouldn't die." She could hear the smile in his voice as she cried against his neck and shoulder. "Only because I saved your stupid ass." Her hand tapping the back of his head lightly. She expected him to laugh, but instead he stiffened against her.
"Faye..." he started, "thank you...for saving me." She pushed herself away from him and looked down at his face. He looked deadly serious as he gazed back at her. "I mean it, I would have died there. I planned to die there on those step...and then you were there. I can't remember anything else, but you were there. And you're the reason I'm still here." "Spike, I...I couldn't let you die." She wipes away tears that were falling onto her cheeks. "Besides, now you owe me one", she said in a singsong voice with a small laugh. She stuck her tongue out at him and he smiled.
His hand moved to her neck and he gently pulled her forward, her arms caught her just before she fell against his chest and he leaned his head up to hers. He kissed her slowly and as he did he felt her tears falling onto his face. She leaned into him and kissed him back pressing herself against him while she did. When his head fell back she laid her against his chest and listened to his heart beating under her ear. His fingers crept into her hair and began to lazily play with it.
She wouldn't let him know but she hadn't slept the three days he had been out; and with his heartbeat in her ear and his fingers in her hair, she relaxed for the first time since this had all begun. Her eyes closed and she smiled to herself, everything was going to be fine now. He was home, she was home, and adventures were waiting.
See you space cowboy...