A/N: I want to take a moment to thank each and every reviewer. The end is approaching, and never in my life did I think I would ever hit 100 reviews. This chapter is near and dear to my heart, and it was by far one of the most emotional writing experiences I've had. The next two chapters are also of the same caliber in that regard. Two more chapters after this. Enjoy.

Bebop Blues

Chapter 28: See You Space Cowboy

Humming.

Or maybe that was the ringing and pain in her ears.

No.

That was a distinctively male hum.

Smooth, like water.

Not the pulsating thrum she was accustomed to hearing.

This hum was different.

She was used to deep, blue waves of comfort and solace.

These were dark green, pulsing waves of resolve.

Resolution of self.

Some song of finality for the dead walking.

She opened her mouth to speak and coughed.

Gagged really.

Whatever had knocked her out had done quite the number on her throat.

She could taste the blood in her mouth like copper coins beneath her tongue for the boatman.

But she wasn't there just yet.

She'd keep her coins for the time being.

"You're up," the hummer replied.

"Spike…" she commented weakly, though she was unsure whether or not she had actually spoken.

She could feel him pressed against her back, cool metal on her wrists and a lump on her head.

"Turns out that Victor's a better shot than he is a swordsman."

She suspected he would be smoking if he could.

"Faye escaped."

Mai coughed as she tried to speak again.

"He patched you up after he shot you. Right through the throat. Barely missed your jugular."

Maybe she couldn't speak.

And coughing and gagging hurt so damn bad.

"Faye ran past him as he shot. Didn't even see him turn from the darkness."

"She's the luckiest one of all," Mai commented.

Scratched and broken. Her voice had been dead since the explosion on Victor's ship, but now it was laced with sorrow and defeat.

It was Earth shattered like the Moon.

Spike was waxing poetic again.

"Least you can still talk."

"And breathe." Her vision was almost back to full now, and she suspected that the lump on the back of her head was the result of her hitting the floor from the impact of the bullet. "How did he get you?"

Spike let out a solitary chuckle. "Paralysis gas, the damn coward."

"He always was."

"So what do you know, Mai?"

She let out a chuckle this time, and a singular tear fell from her eye (the real one) to her lap. The question was heavier than it appeared.

It felt ironic.

There were bars between them, but they were handcuffed back to back.

Her legs were curled to her side; his were splayed in front of him. A few feet to her left (his right), were more bars.

Such an ancient prison for the forward thinkers.

"He was overshadowed by Vicious for a reason."

Her voice was nearly normal.

Still broken. The volume was inconsistent, as though it were barely a voice at all, more the wind whipping at Spike's ears.

"Got a light?" he asked.

She laughed. Truly laughed. Her eyes and voice were even briefly bright. "And how do you suppose you'll be able to smoke?"

She could see his reflection in the mirror ahead of her; it showed the mirror in front of him.

Victor was such the arrogant asshole; he wanted his victims to see the pain in each other.

Spike leaned forward to grab a cigarette from the floor.

With his teeth.

"My mouth's just as a useful as my hands."

She laughed again. If she didn't know Spike (or Faye, for that matter), she'd swear he was flirting.

"Still can't light it."

"The oral fixation is good enough."

She raised an eyebrow before laughing again.

"You can't fool me, Mai," he replied.

His voice was deadly serious.

She sobered and looked to the ground in front of her, a wistful smile on her lips. "I know."

"You were supposed to die on Mars, weren't you?" he asked.

"Yeah."

"Then all this laughing is you trying to fill these last few hours with something other than pain," he answered.

She had never expected a straight comment from Spike.

He was always indirect.

"You're right. I don't fool you at all." She leaned her head back, his bushy hair pushing at her from between the thick bars.

She began humming her tune.

And somehow, the Earth was whole again.

"What song is that?" he finally asked when she was done humming.

"Home," she answered cryptically, "but you'll know when they play it at my funeral."

"You'll live forever, Mai."

"No, because Rin will."

He froze a moment, but regained composure quickly.

"So you know," he commented.

"All I know is that if I come into contact with Rin, my death is imminent. I also know that Rin is the only person who could keep me alive."

"If you know all that, then why be selfless?"

"You tell me."

He blinked.

He couldn't tell if she was bluffing.

If she knew, truly knew, or just had some sort of resolve to pry the answer from him.

"Something in the way she's named attracts me like no other mother," Mai sing-songed.

"Hm," he stalled.

"I have some crazy notion that I need to protect her."

"You know Rin is a her?"

Mai coughed and gagged again.

Spike leaned his head back this time, gingerly so as not to hurt her further. "Tell me Mai, what do you know? Roy isn't the only one with secrets."

She smirked. "Victor wanted to marry me. Become leader of the Syndicate, sleep and bargain his way into the circle of elders and rule with a loose cannon of a fist."

Spike waited patiently for the telling of her tale; he could really use a light.

"So, imagine his anger when I run off and elope with Roy."

"Mao approved?"

"Of course. He even encouraged we elope. Annie was a witness…" Mai said softly.

Spike offered silence in respect.

"Victor's been bitter, but Vicious, well, he was a whole other animal."

Spike said nothing.

"Victor took a backseat to Vicious. He would have even followed him to Titan if he had been old enough. Victor went rogue from the Syndicate pretty darn quick after I was named "Mai Spiegel." He started hiring out ex-cons and outside Syndicate goons to keep Roy and me on our toes."

Spike remained stoic.

He really needed a light.

"Victor isn't out to restart the Syndicate. He's out to destroy it. He's out to remove any history of my father's legacy from this galaxy, myself included. He's a boy after revenge, not a man out for self-actualization."

Spike opened his mouth to interject.

"As twisted and disillusioned as that self-actualization may actually seem, Spike, Vicious was still seeking it. A man, not a boy," she answered firmly.

"What else do you know, Mai?"

"That Roy's kept his distance in order to protect that legacy."

"Sounds a bit selfish, don't you think?"

"Rin's a part of this legacy, too. If she can synthesize that damned stone, she's got something in her that scientists for years haven't."

"But don't you have it in you?"

She smirked. "So that's how it is, then." She paused thoughtfully before continuing. "Now it's your turn, Spike. What do you know?"

"I know that the reason why you're so opposed to Rose's cause is because you've taken that route."

"It can't cure the living, and it can't revive the dead."

"But you saved a piece for yourself," he commented dryly.
She smirked. "I did, but it turns my methods were pretty damn crude," she closed her eyes solemnly, "and dangerous."

"Roy wasn't too happy about that."

"Fake eyes run in the Spiegel family for it."

"Yours is different."

"It still has a trigger. Acts just like yours."

"It doesn't work."

She shrugged. "Guess it's gotta' be Roy."

He chuckled at her and shifted slightly.

The cement wasn't the comfiest of seats.

"So, Spike, from what I gather, this trigger has something to do with Rin. When you say it, though, I just freeze or cry."

"Always a damn Spiegel."

"So, Rin is something in this legacy that holds the elixir to life."

"Yeah."

Silence loomed over them as they fell into separate thought.

"Spike?"

"Yeah?"

"You still haven't told me what you know."

"I'm in love with Faye," he answered without missing a beat.

Mai's lips curled into a wide grin before she laughed, even brighter than before. "You don't know what love is, Spike. You know fleeting glimpses of color in a world of grey. Julia was your butterfly in a flock of moths."

He ignored her and continued. "There was once this tiger striped cat."

"Oh geez."

"This cat died a million deaths, revived and lived a million lives, and he was owned by various people who he really didn't care for. The cat wasn't afraid to die. Then one day the cat became a stray cat which meant he was free. He met a white female cat and the two of them spent their days together happily. Well, years passed and the white cat grew weak and died of old age. The tiger-striped cat cried a million times, and then he died too."

"He thought he wouldn't come back this time, huh?"

"Well, he was good and dead for a while, but then he found himself amidst the dragon's den. She showed the cat how to live for himself, without the female cat, except this dragon had a secret. It turns out that this tiger-striped cat wasn't a stray, and his litter was pretty keen on the dragon, too."

"Sounds about right."

"Well, the dragon flew, and the cat chased her for a while, but he soon found that she had taken company of another tiger-striped cat. A female one."

"She is a tigress, after all."

"And the boy cat didn't like that. He liked the dragon, you know. Really dug her."

"You like a woman that can kick your ass."

"But as the tiger-striped cat spent more time with the female cat and dragon, he realized that he didn't hate the cat so much."

"But you hate cats."

"The dragon made the cat a dragon of he own right. She didn't need anyone but herself, and if tolerance can foster into love and if this is the only life I've got then, I've gotta' amount it to something and stop pushing her out. Frozen fairies are hard to come by these days," he finished.

Yeah.

He wished he had never opened his mouth.

He wished he had a cigarette.

"So, you admit you like the shrew. You admit you care. Tigers do well together, but they're solitary creatures."

"Something like that."

"Your secret is safe with me. I won't tarnish your hard-ass reputation by revealing to the world that the great Spike Spiegel," she paused, "I mean, tiger-striped cat, has feelings. Though, considering the fit you had with Elizabeth after that conversation, I can't say I'm surprised."

"You heard that, huh?"
"I would have ripped her to shreds first if we hadn't been trying to stick to the plan."

They grew silent.

"So, you may not be in love, but when did you realize you gave a damn?"

"Somewhere between realizing you two showered together and the run-in with Victor on Io."

Mai paused to process his explanation and burst into laughter. "Jealous?"

"Confused as to why I cared," he shrugged.

Mai laughed some more, and Spike grew irritated. "Hey, still trying to figure you two out."

"Easy answer. I'm you."

"Funny."

"Seriously, Spike. Name a parallel we don't have."

"You're married."

"Fine."

"Why the sudden autobiography, Mai?"

There were footsteps approaching.

"I should ask you the same thing."

"You just asked me to tell you what I knew."

"As did you. Just think of this as my self-eulogy, some unsung elegy of my death to be."

Two figure at the bars to their side.

"Do you really want to know what I know, Mai?"

They were both staring at the people at the bars.

The woman was holding the bundle.

Victor had his gun to her back.

"What do you know, Spike?" Mai asked.

They stood from the floor, back to back as Victor and the woman stepped forward into Mai's cell slowly.

The woman unwrapped the bundle and held it in front of Mai's face, daintily as though it were delicate.

Mai's eyes went wide.

The mechanical one whirred to life.

Spike spoke.

"A dragon's gem is none for hoarding."