The Calm

Disclaimer: Nope, not owner... save for me original characters! Them be mine!

The Calm
Chapter 32: Pain

Faye had contacted Ed and Jet. The Bebop was heading towards Mars to lend a hand. Help they would most definitely need. Vicious was catatonic, under the watchful eye of James. He appeared so helpless and small. Faye had never seen him like this. To be perfectly honest, she liked Vicious, as long as he wasn’t acting like some cold sociopath.

Faye sighed as she stared out the window. It was raining. God, she hated the rain! It reminded her far too much of her lost friend.

[Flashback]

The ship was quiet, most of the occupants asleep. Ed was curled up on the stairs, Ein sleeping nearby. Jet and Spike were in their respective rooms. Jet’s being near the quarters while Spike snoozed on the couch. This left Faye and Rain alone in the hanger, Faye watching Rain as she tinkered on her new zipcraft.

Rain had been with them for two months now. She had been a welcome presence on the ship for Faye, being another female on a ship of males and Ed. Faye and Rain had become fast friends, with Rain’s cooking and mechanical skills attributing to that.

Faye sighed heavily, “I still don’t see the problem.”

Rain grumbled and reached blindly for a tool. “It hesitates slightly. I don’t care what Jet says, I can feel it.”

“I’m not talking about the ship. I meant, what’s the big deal with you and Spike? You both have history. And you have to admit that he’s cute in a gangly, goofy, fuzzy haired way. So why’d you push him away that night?” Faye asked.

Rain slid from beneath the ship. Her face was smudged with dirt and oil. A dark eyebrow was risen as she stared at Faye. She had, at one time at a bar, told Faye about the night she’d been convinced to join the crew. Rain noted to never get drunk again, it caused too many problems.

“Well?” Faye asked as she held out a cloth.

Rain snatched it from the violet haired woman’s hand and wiped her face clean. She then sighed and shook her head. “What does it matter? Honestly, I just wasn’t at a point where having sex with Spike would have been smart.”

Faye snorted. “Didn’t stop you from screwing him a few nights ago.”

Rain choked and her eyebrow twitched as she glared at Faye. “We were not screwing. You honestly have never heard sparring before.”

“Sounded like sex to me,” Faye ed bed before shooting Rain a smirk.

Rain’s jaw dropped as she threw the, now dirty, rag at Faye. “Bitch!” she shouted playfully.

Faye laughed and threw the rag back. “Whore!”

Rain scowled playfully before tackling the other woman to the ground. The girls wrestled lightly before parting, both out of breath and giggling.

“So, how was he?” Faye asked.

Rain pouted before grinning cattily. “I should be asking that. Well, more of, has he learned anything new?”

Faye blushed. “Not funny.”

Rain fell backwards as she laughed. “I knew it!”

[End Flashback]

Faye felt the sting of tears as the rain continued to fall. “Why? Why did you have to be so easy to love?” she asked out loud as she wept.

“It’s just who she is,” a deep voice said as a pair of warm arms encircled her.

Faye turned to see the understanding brown of her husband gazing back at her. “Oh, Spike!” she cried out at she fell to his chest. “Why couldn’t we save them? Why? I should have protected him better, I should have fought harder when they dragged you away. I should have hunted Amaya down and dragged her back here! Why couldn’t I? I wasn’t strong enough. Why wasn’t I strong enough?”

He said nothing, he didn’t know what to say. He just held her tight as she wept. He then heard himself speak, unable to stop the words that flowed like water from his lips. “You couldn’t have changed anything, Faye. The only difference would be that I’d have lost you and Jack. I couldn’t have, wouldn’t have come back without you.”

“You mean without HER!” Faye spat.

Spike shook his head. “Faye,” he started as she leveled her emerald orbs with his own. “Faye, I chose you! I may have loved her once, hell, I’ll always love her. But, like Vicious, I didn’t choose to stay with her. I chose you, Faye. I love you, I married you, I had a son with you, and I will never leave you,” he vowed. “Even if, god forbid, I die before you. I’ll wait outside heaven or hell, most likely hell, until you join me.”

Faye smiled and cried out his name as she embraced him. She then pulled away and slapped him.

“What?” he shouted as he stared at her, dumbfounded.

“Took you long enough! Why didn’t you say any of that before?!” she shouted.

Spike smiled and kissed her deeply. His Faye, his spitfire of a wife, was back. Now, all he needed to do was find Amaya.

~*~*~*~

Amaya groaned as pain lanced through her body. She could feel the tearing pain in her wrists as the wire bit into her flesh. Her back resembled so much bloody meat., the skin rended by knife and whip alike. The tattoos that had once resided on her body were erased. Cut out of her skin by an enthusiastic blonde. She could feel cold blood and other fluids running down her legs. Her mind screamed as the images of Julia’s men violating her body came forth.

“Awake again, I see,” Julia’s cool voice stated.

“Why are you-“ Amaya began, her voice hoarse from her screams earlier.

“You should know, why!” Julia interrupted venomously. “You represent everything I hate. You had it all, everything I deserved. The power, the wealth, the prestige, and the love of Spike and Vicious! Everything I desired, everything I deserved, but was refused!”

“I received those things because I earned them and because Mao wanted me to have them. Not because I wanted to infuriate you!” Amaya growled. “All I ever wanted was some semblance of a normal life. To be happy. I never wanted the power or the prestige or the wealth! I never wanted to be this manipulating shell of a human being that I am. But Mao and the Van chose it for me.”

“Liar! You just admitted that you’re a liar, a manipulator! You think you can con me into releasing you? Into forgiving you? This is all your fault!” Julia screamed as she motioned to the concrete room that they both occupied. Amaya winced as she felt her right shoulder dislocate from hanging above the damned drain in the floor. “If you had just stayed in your place, this would have never happened.”

“You should prepare for the consequences, Julia,” Amaya whimpered.

Julia snorted. “What consequences?”

Amaya grunted as she attempted to pop her shoulder back into place while still hanging there. “For all your plans and schemes, you never anticipated that they’d heal all wounds and hunt you down for what you’ve done to them.”

Julia smirked. “What about the things I’ve done and going to do to you?” she asked.

“Like you said, Julia. I’m a lair. They know who and what I am now, weather I live or die will not matter to them for all the things I did to them. We’re both doomed, Julia. You most of all.”

Julia pouted. “How disappointing, they already broke your spirit. Almost makes torturing you to death not worth it…. Almost.”

“Don’t give them all the credit, Julia. I’ve done quite a bit of it myself. Not to mention what you did to Spike and James.”

Julia smiled. “Yes, I showed you how you could protect them from nothing. How truly weak you are.” The blonde woman paused. “My, my, you are good. Almost had me fooled. What a wonderous talent you possess. Without even an effort you nearly had me believing that I could do no more to you. Had you learned your place all those years ago, I could have used your talents to such a dazzling degree.”

“Had I not despised you from the get go, we could have made a great team. Fortunately, for me, I had a better partner in Sith.”

Julia scowled. “Sith… I’ll kill her yet. Her and her brat. I have a score to settle with that crazy bitch.”

Amaya laughed, the sound echoing off the bare walls. It was, like Amaya herself, a combination between her and Kaishi. Julia shivered involuntarily as the combination of pride, warmth, arrogance, and pure evil slithered through her system. It was then that she could see the truth in Amaya’s pain clouded eyes. Julia was not in charge right now, Amaya was. The manipulation that she had thought she had evaded had been a rouse. Amaya had allowed everything to happen in this conversation. She made Julia feel overconfident and spill her own arrogance and insecurities out onto the table without even knowing it. She, this puppetmaster of lies! Julia snarled. She would not be led around like a dog!

“I’m going to enjoy breaking your every bone in your body. I will torture you until starving dogs pity your pathetic state. I will make you lock your mind away so no one can waken you. You thought what I did to Spike and James was bad. Amaya, the heavens will weep for you. Hell will weep.”

Amaya smirked. “Try your best, Julia. I’m waiting.”

Julia grinned. “Don’t wait too long.”

~*~*~*~
Levii: Okay, things are getting a little dark now. Oh, and someone commented on how Vicious and Sith seemed to be the only one's with a working relationship, so I put in the Spike/Faye moment to show that although once strained, they are very much together, and still care about one another. I also thought that Faye needed a little time in the spotlight for a bit. I've been sort of neglecting her lately. Anyways, tell me your thoughts! Isn't Julia an uber bitch? Muahahaha! REVIEW!