The Calm

Disclaimer: if you can't tell by now that I am not the owner of Bebop, or Sith for that matter. Well, then... you're just not that observant, are you?

The Calm
Chapter 40: The Return of Rain Deacon


Months had passed. Amaya was better, her casts removed and her jaww abw able to move without pain. Her hair had grown longer now, a chin length curtain of black that was usually parted so her left eye was covered. Her eye had not been replaced, the socket only filled with a black glass sphere that seemed to have a strange light of its own. A haunting void that seemed to draw out the soul of those that looked within its seemingly endless depths. She had told the doctors that she could see the universe just fine with one eye, and joked that her missing eye may make her look all the more intimidating.

The doctors were ready to release her, nearly a year after being brought in; she was finally going to come home. Her recovery had been reported as amazing and miraculous, featured in a few medical journals even. A woman, so brutally tortured and broken, thought to possibly never walk again, was up and about, although with the assistance of a cane and slower than what she had once been. All other scars had been faded by the doctors, her skin seemingly pure and unscathed until closer look. Her eye the only visual testimony of the horrors she had seen in her life.

Unfortunately, a fool within the medical community had compared her DNA to that of Rain Deacon, after noticing how similar she was in appearance to the seemingly deceased woman. He had reported his findings that she was, in fact, Ms. Deacon. This in turn created media uproar. Rain Deacon had returned from the grave, and all of Mars wanted to know why she had ‘staged’ her own death. Statements had been issued by Vicious, saying that she was not Rain Deacon and that she was in no way related to the late woman of the Red Dragons. Many, older, members of the Red Dragons were not convinced, and unfortunately, neither was the world.

So it was at that time that Rain, ‘Amaya to her friends’, Deacon retd tod to the world, and her time as the wolf had ended. The Red Dragons was in an uproar, calling her the Dark Angel of the syndicate, and causing all sorts of problems. Some members thought that Vicious had attacked Rain and locked her away in the hospital so he could take over the syndicate. Others believed that Vicious was doing fine, and changing the hands of rule would be unsafe to the syndicate, whose enemies were at every corner, waiting for their chance.

Rain was the one to decide, finally. She publicly stood before other members of the press and syndicate members that she had chosen to fake her death and Vicious was the correct person to be in control of the Dragons. In her speech, she spoke of fortifying the foundations of the group she had tried to destroy, telling the world how she had ‘te’ Vi’ Vicious by attempting to destroy the syndicate, only to be thwarted by his amazing leadership.

In the end, Rain ‘Amaya’ Deacon was given a high rank in the syndicate by a very appreciative Vicious, for her speech had ceased quite a few small uprisings in the ranks of the Dragons. She held her old office and held her old job, as assistant head and public face of the Red Dragon syndicate.

~*~*~*~

She stared out blankly at the city below her. She could remember loathing this view, when it had been forced upon her. ‘Things seem different now, I feel different now,’ she sighed mentally. ‘The world seems far lighter, more fragile than it did so long ago. Perhaps it’s because I no longer see the world through two eyes, or because I myself am more fragile than I was then.’

“Well, well, well, nice digs!” Faye’s excited voice rang through the room.

Amaya turned and grinned. Faye’s belly was quite swollen, her hunch being correct that first day she had awoken. Faye was now a good six months pregnant with a pair of twins, which made her look larger. “Came to visit, eh?” she asked.

“This is your old office?” Faye asked incredulously.

Rain nodded. “Yes, same office. I think I like it more than I did all those years ago, though. You here alone?” she asked.

Faye shook her head. “I lost Ed and Aurora.”

Amaya chuckled. “Oh dear.”

“Yep, an eighteen and five year old are loose in the building. God help us all,” Faye laughed as she took a seat on one of the couches at one end of the office.

“Hopefully, they’ll get bored and find us,” she said as she pressed a button on her phone.

“Yes, Ms. Deacon?” a voice called over the speaker.

“Tell the building to be on alert. My daughter and Miss Edward are loose in the building.”

“We’ll have a team looking for them in two minutes.”

“Thank you, Jack,” she bid as she turned the speaker off.

Faye giggled and shook her head. “You seem to have fallen back into stride here.”

Amaya sighed. “Yes, but I guess it never left me. The syndicate and I were always had a symbiotic relation of sorts.”

Faye raised a brow. “Right… and you tried to destroy it because you were testing Vicious’ leadership abilities,” Faye teased.

Amaya rolled her eyes dramatically and took a seat in an overstuffed chair. “Oh shut up, Faye.”

~*~*~*~

Julia was enraged as she stared at the morning paper. “Rain Deacon officially returns to Red Dragon Syndicate after four year absence,” she read aloud. “The Dark Angel brings hope and prosperity to the Red Dragons.”

“Um… what do you wish us to do, Miss Julia?” a henchmen asked.

Julia’s lips twisted into a cruel smile. “That bitch thinks she’s won. That she’s seen the last of me. She thinks that she can just take her life back. Well, now she weak. She’s an easy target, a public target. They all think I’ve disappeared. They all thought I did my worst when I tortured her. They’re going to learn how wrong they are.”

“What do you have planned?” another man asked.

Julia laughed coldly, a cheap imitation of Rain’s, but still just as scary. “Bring me Kage.”

The men all stiffened in fear. “K-Kage? Y-you want Kage? Are you sure Miss?” the first man asked.

Julia narrowed her blue eyes at the man. “Are you questioning me?” she asked. “No one questions me! You’re nothing, you do as I say! Understand that?! Now bring me Kage!” she screamed as she walked over the man and tossed him out the door.

The other men scrambled away, in fear of their boss’ rage.

Julia laughed. “You’re going to suffer more than you ever thought you could have, Rain. And this time, I’m making sure you perish from it.”

~*~*~*~

She stared blankly into the mirror, her scarred empty eye glaring back at her, the black glass ball that held her socket in correct alignment, glinting in the pale light. Jet and Ed had moved back to the Bebop, while Spike and Faye had moved out to an apartment of their own. Spike could not bear to live within that ship again. The bitter memories of Julia’s horrifying wounds that had been inflicted upon him were far too fresh in his mind. Faye seemed to not mind, she herself forever burned with the memories of her lost son.

James was another matter entirely. She loved him, she knew that, and he her, but things had changed. She would forever know that they could not have a family, her body to scarred and damaged now, leaving her barren. True, she had Aurora, and would always cherish her beloved daughter, but the very thought that she was so destroyed that her child would never have a sibling from her was painful. She had held it in, the mental pain and anguish that ate at her very soul. Things had become too hectic to allow herself that time. Things had happened to fast, and she had been so focused on first recovery and then, then on her return to the syndicate, she just had no time.

She whimpered at that thought. Time was lost to her, so was identity. Now she was Rain again, although in name only. Who was she? She wasn’t Rain, the calm and warm hearted woman that had died. She wasn’t Eve, the cocky and arrogantly naïve assassin of the syndicate, nor was she Amaya any more, the cold resurrection and lone wolf that hunted the night for a justice that she could not grasp.

Whoever she was, she was back in the limelight, behind a desk because she no longer had the capabilities to be an assassin. She would forever be unable to fight again. Her hands and legs too damaged to ever hold a sword or pistol with the same old precision that she once possessed. The skills that had defined every life she had led, the very base of every existence she had once grasped, was gone. What purpose did she have now? Sure, she was still quicker than most with a blade or gun, but were she to go against Sith or Vicious or Spike, or even Jet, she would be a deadly increment slower. Julia had made her vulnerable and weak. And she had made Julia turn her hateful and cruel eyes towards herself and those she loved. She laughed hollowly, she was now more broken than she had eveen. en.

Tears burned her eyes as she stared at her reflection. ‘I let her win. I let her destroy me. They all blame themselves, but it was my fault. I created Julia,’ she said to herself.

“Haven’t seen much of you lately,” Sith’s voice resonated through the room, like a comforting dream she had long forgotten.

Amaya turned, her hair falling over her unseeing eye. “Sith…” she gasped as she turned. “I’ve been busy.”

“You’re overworking yourself,” Sith stated.

Amaya nodded. “I guess I could be. Of course, I’ve been so occupied; I haven’t been able to think of it at all.”

“Don’t act genteel with me, Amaya. We have things to talk about.”

Amaya stiffened her grey eye filling with guilt and sorrow before flashing back to her serene and calm façade. “Alright. What do you want to talk about?” she asked as she turned.

“How are you, really?”

“Tired.”

“You shouldn’t be doing all this. You don’t need to leave the apartment all day, I know Vicious doesn’t.”

“No, he locks himself in his study all day. I know he’s been avoiding everyone. Of course, so have I,” she laughed bitterly.

“I’m not mad at you,” Sith said suddenly, her voice different.

“I wish I could believe that. It’s hard not to see it all as my fault,” Amaya said as she grasped her cane, the light glinting on the silver pommel, an angelic figure emblazoned on that, and left the bathroom.

Sith followed the gray eyed woman to her bed, sitting on the edge next to her. “I was worried.”

Amaya seemed shocked. “About what?”

“I thought we’d lost you. That I had been too late.”

Amaya swallowed. “Then, it was real? You really did… you’re the one that found me? And Spike? Him too?” she asked softly, her voice laden with fear and sorrow. Sith nodded, unable to say anything. Amaya smiled tragically and began to cry silently. “I’m so sorry. I let her take me, I let her do those things to me and you found me. This is all my fault. I made her what she is; I made her into this monster! I’m so sorry, Sith! Please, forgive me?” she wept.

Sith stared at Amaya with an unreadable expression in her eyes. Amaya turned her face away from the penetrating black stare of her old partner, something she had never done in all the years that Sith had known her. She hadn’t stared her down defiantly, or warmly. She had just, turned away
“P
“Please, don’t do that,” Sith’s voice sounded vulnerable, and lost.

Amaya snapped her head back to Sith’s. “Don’t do what?”

“Don’t turn away from me. I can’t bear it.”

Amaya’s single eye softened. “This has been hard you, hasn’t it?” she asked softly.

Sith nodded. “You disappeared, and then Spike told us you were taken. Vicious became catatonic.”

“Not again!” Amaya gasped. “How long? How long was he out of it?”

“Until you were taken out of the ICU, a week and a half maybe. What do you mean, again?” Sith asked.

“You must have had a lot on your shoulders,” Amaya maneuvered back to the previous topic.

“Two children, along with Aurora and Adrian, it wasn’t easy.”

Amaya giggled. “Faye and Spike were that bad, eh?”

Sith let a half smile grace her lips. “James helped out a lot.”

Amaya nodded. “He does that. If he’s good for anything, it’s as a strong backup. Although, having compared it to some of his other talents…” Amaya teased.

“Stop, before you say a damned thing. That’s my brother your talking about,” Sith growled, her voice seemingly more playful than usual.

‘And who was that? Not Kate, not Miana… definitely not that animal. Hm…’ Amaya wondered as she spoke, “Okay, okay. No more dirty talk involving your brother.”

“I would have failed without his strength. Especially after Spike and I found you.”

Amaya sighed. “Spike has never been good with the whole ‘other people need comfort too,’ thing. He’s more centered around himself. I honestly have no idea how Faye puts up with him. I mean, I slept with the guy, sure, but being married to him? My god, she must be a saint!” Amaya ranted.

Sith let out a low chuckle. This was a spark of her old friend. Amaya may have changed slightly, but not by much. Not enough for a new name or identity. “I’m glad you’re back,” the crimson haired woman sighed, not really knowing what was spilling forth from her mouth.

Amaya smiled and pulled Sith into a warm embrace. “I could never stay asleep for long. And hey, now that my first week back at the syndicate is over, I can stay here more oftenceptcept, I’m going to refrain from locking myself away.”

“You’re going to have to help me with him on that,” Sith mumbled.

“Oh, don’t worry about that, I hired him a new assistant behind his back. He’s going to come out soon enough.”

Sith raised her head. “What did you do?”

Amaya laughed. “Nothing much, I just gave Spike a job is all.”

Sith let out another laugh and sat there beside her old friend on her bed. There was a feeling of calm within Amaya’s embrace, a quieting of the voices and emotions that had run so rampant in her mind. A content and serene moment in time, as the sound of a soft rain fell upon the world.

~*~*~*~

Levii: here it be! Julia's back on the scene and Amaya is now able to talk... thank god! She's showing some of her old personality, hiding what's really going on behind a smile and a comforting gesture. Not to mention I put her back in the syndicate. What do you guys think about her decision for her eye? What can I say, I like being weird. Alright ppls, it's time for me to beg for reviews. PLEASE, PLEASE, REVIEW ME! IT'S REALLY NOT THAT HARD. JUST GIVE ME SOMETHING, ANYTHING! JUST TELL ME THAT YOU'RE READING THIS AND HAVE THOUGHTS! IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE CRITISISM, OR EVEN MUCH OF ANYTHING, JUST PLEASE, SEND ME SOMETHING! REVIEW MEEEE!