Bebop Blues
Chapter 22: Meteor
"It has been a while, Singing Dragon."
"I know."
Faye stared from the old man, Laughing Bull, as Mai had told her, to Mai and back again as they conversed.
They met him on Tijuana, and Faye had never seen a stranger sight.
"You are not seeking him this time."
"Which him?"
"Ah, cryptic child, you must stop running from your fate and-"
"-join the lofty realm intended for me by the great spirit."
Laughing Bull looked at her. "The longer the soul waits, the more difficult the journey to that realm will be." The sand from his hand sifted to the ground; he seemed disappointed by Mai's insistence of defying her fate. "I do not speak so openly to other seekers. You have always been special, Singing Dragon."
"I'm looking for Old Man Jacobs." Mai was in no mood for a discussion, though she took Laughing Bull's words to heart. She didn't deny them as Jet would have, but she couldn't submit to them without fulfilling her physical worldly mission.
Laughing Bull closed his eyes before staring into the sands. "A silver snake hides where the desert flower can find him; they are two sides the same, the lineage of the desert seedling."
Mai frowned.
Faye looked at them confused.
Mai had warned her not to speak to Laughing Bull, lest she felt like having an hour or two of introspection.
But Faye Valentine didn't take orders from anyone.
"What does that even mean?" she asked in exasperation.
Laughing Bull turned to stare at her, a twinkling in his eyes. "The oldest star I've met on this plane, Dashing Fox. You are a special one."
She blinked at him. "Special?"
"A guardian star and a polar star, all have one but not the other. Your place in the great sky is coming to light, Dashing Fox. Your guardian star-"
"We'll be going now," Mai interrupted. She grabbed Faye's wrist, and they exited the tent.
Mai slammed into someone.
"Fancy meeting you here," Spike said with a smirk.
Mai looked up at him. "You seek wisdom, Swimming Bird?"
Spike raised an eyebrow to her. "You've been in some funk lately, Mai. I'm guessing Laughing Bull didn't help."
"I believe what he says, but we have differing views on the timeframe."
"So, you really are dreaming."
"Some of us have opened the door before, Spike. Some of us also want to have our cake and eat it, too." She glared at him. "If you know where Roy is, now would be your cue."
Spike was grating on her patience.
He stood his ground and put his hands to his shoulders, palms out. "I'm innocent."
"Fuck you," she spat. She was still holding on to Faye's wrist, and they left Spike standing in front of the tent.
"You can let go of me, Mai," Faye finally said when they reached their ships.
Mai dropped her grip. "Sorry."
"What gives? Why are you so upset?"
"Sometimes the truths we know are worse a burden than the ones we wish we knew."
Cryptic again.
Faye pouted. She was finally attuned to the blunt Mai, and now she was back to riddles and double-meanings.
"You know, it was nice to have someone to talk to that wasn't so heavy worded."
"Like Spike?"
Faye flinched. "No. He talks to me like I'm nothing. You talk to me like a friend."
"And I still am."
"You're being cryptic again."
Mai shrugged. "I never say more than I need to."
"Mai! Faye! Rose is missing!" Jet yelled from their coms in each ship.
"What?" Faye yelled.
"She's not missing, Jet; she's gone to find the silver snake. He's killed Old Man Jacobs in search of the Desert Rose."
"How did you get all that from Laughing Bull?" Jet asked exasperated.
"Because she's a hippie, Jet," Spike answered from behind them.
He looked concerned with whatever Laughing Bull had relayed to him.
Mai and Faye turned to face him.
"They're on the far edge of Titan in Hill's Edge," he finished.
"Then let's get going," Mai said.
"Wait! What the hell is going on?" Faye asked.
Something didn't feel right.
"Jet, we're gonna' need Ed and Ein on this one, and I'd make sure you and Flora fly out here, too," Mai informed them.
"What? Why?" Jet was getting desperate for answers.
"Because this is it. We're at the final stretch. The end of the road," Mai concluded.
Everyone went silent.
"Victor is the silver snake..." Faye said finally.
"Yeah."
"But that means-"
"Stop," Jet interrupted Faye. "I know what you're getting at, and I refuse to believe it."
"But you don't even know what we're talking about, do you, Jet? You weren't here to hear that the silver snake and the desert flower are both the lineage of the seedling," Mai pointed out.
He grew silent and stoic.
Running Rock indeed.
"She told you, and you lashed out and refused to believe it. But face it, Victor is that child's father, and Rose was the Syndicate's top sniper."
Everyone grew silent.
"Mai, your eye..." Faye said quietly.
But Mai could hear it, whirring and dilating, focusing in and out as memories played.
Spike's didn't work quite that way.
Mai put a hand to her eye, her palm covering the cybernetic organ. "This runs deeper than you think," she said to Spike, her expression going flat.
"And it's not your job to stop it," he answered.
She climbed into the Blues. "I know that. I'm not finding him to die."
"You just said as much," Spike answered again. He was getting angry, and he didn't know why.
"Faye, I'll send you the coordinates." Mai then turned to Spike. "And you, too, Lunkhead."
She hopped into her ship without another word and took off, the coordinates flashing on Faye and Spike's screen.
"What the hell was that?" Faye screamed at Spike. "What does she mean by all that?"
Spike's mouth drew taut. "Faye, you talk too much."
As he approached the Swordfish, she threw herself in front of him and planted her feet to the ground. Her hands her on her hips, and the fire in her eyes burning brighter than ever. "Bullshit."
"Wrong game."
"Then what game is this, Spike? Why do all of you keep on insisting on facing death for nothing?"
He stepped toward her, his brown, mismatched orbs piercing into her clear, green ones. "It's not for nothing, Faye."
They both felt it. That flashback to when Spike left the Bebop to die. It shook them to realize this was not the first time they'd had this conversation, and it shook them worse to realize that they needed this conversation.
"You didn't even die, Spike."
"Faye."
"I'm not dealing with this again."
"Faye." His voice grew louder.
"It's always a damn Spiegel," she laughed meekly.
He kissed her.
Her eyes went wide, and she promptly stopped talking.
"Takes too much to shut you up," he responded when he pulled back.
She slapped him.
He rubbed his face, shrugged and proceeded to hop into the Swordfish.
"You've got some nerve, asshole! Why the hell-"
"Spike! You there?"
Faye froze.
Roy.
On Spike's vidcom.
As though it were the most normal thing in the world.
"Yeah."
"She take off?"
"That's one hell of a firecracker you've got," Spike replied.
Roy laughed heartily. "I'll meet you guys on Titan, then. I'll keep an eye out for Rose, too."
Faye jumped to the edge of the cockpit, her arms holding over the edge as she looked at the screen.
"What the hell is going on?" she asked him.
His grey eyes stared back solemnly. He and Spike shared the same facial structure, but with short buzzed brown hair and grey eyes, they almost seemed distantly related as opposed to brothers.
The smirk gave it away, though.
"She's putting an end to the Syndicate," he answered.
Faye's arms pulled her further in; her head was practically in Spike's lap now. "What do you mean, "putting an end?" The Syndicate has been toast ever since Spike-"
"Faye, get out of my lap," Spike said, his eyebrow raised and a smirk on his face. He looked torn between irritation and flirtation.
Faye looked at him, her eyes lighting briefly with thoughts of nights long past.
She blinked before sliding to the ground.
"Faye!" Her vidcom yelled.
Roy had switched focus.
As she ran to the Red Tail, Spike took off.
Something in her gut was churning.
"There's been a change of plans," a second voice joined in.
Mai stared back at her, determination writ upon her features.
Spike joined the call. "Quit changing things."
"Keep up, Cowboy," Mai quipped.
"Back to the Mezzo," Roy commanded.
"Roger that," responded Faye. She turned her com off; she wanted silence.
She took one last look from the meteor she was departing.
As a shooting star crossed her vision, her stomach lurched.
Dashing Fox was chasing dreams.
