Rain

Disclaimer: For the last time! I don\'t own Bebop!

Rain
Chapter 30: Fading away

The streets were quiet, like the calm before the storm. Rain could feel the tension in the air as she entered the Red Dragon building. The place lay in ruins. The guards lay dead or crying for help, the syndicate doctors trying their best to tend to the injured. She wasn’t noticed as she moved up the only decently stable escalator towards the second floor. She followed the carnage to the elevator, walking inside and casting a confident yet understanding eye upon the dead. The shadow of death was growing, weighing down her heart as the doors opened again. Her eyes falling upon the corpse of those that she had seen before, possibly conversed with. They grew wide as her grey orbs fell upon the dead body of Shin.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered to the dead man as she ran down the hall. She knew where Vicious was going to be.

[Flashback]

Eve stretched as she holstered her gun. Her grey eyes seemed dead and cold, like those of a doll. She turned to her temporary partner and grinned. “That was a workout.”

Vicious snorted a laugh. “Are you always this cynical after you kill?” he asked.

“Yeah, but Sith never complains. I’m sure she and Spike are having fun with their target tonight,” Eve teased.

“Oh yes, Spike will make quite an impression on your pet sociopath. He’s probably going to lose a limb,” Vicious said.

“Was that sarcasm I hear?” Eve taunted.

“I have a sense of humor, just as much as you do.”

“Uh huh. Sure, Vicious, and one day you’ll be sitting on top of the world, ruler of it all!” Eve joked.

“Damn right,” Vicious laughed.

[End flashback]

Rain stumbled and fell into a wall as the building shook and smoke billowed into the hall. ‘Gotta make it dramatic don’t you, Vicious?’ Slowly, she crept forward, her gun poised. She could hear voices. Silently she moved through the smoke. Dawn would break soon, the storm was letting up.

“So, you’re finally awake. I told you before, Spike... that I am the only one who can kill you,” Vicious’ cold voice rang.

“I’ll return those words back to you, Vicious,” Spike returned.

Rain’s eyes went downcast as she holstered her gun in a pocket. This had been her doing, her fault that it had all come to this.

[Flashback]

“She’s betraying you, Vicious,” Eve said softly as she exhaled a line of smoke.

Vicious turned to the grey eyed woman and raised an eyebrow. “Is she? How can you know? You hate Julia.”

“True, but I don’t like watched her screw your partner behind your back. It makes her… untrustworthy, and she may try to kill you while you sleep if she’s that devious.”

“Now I know you’re joking, Spike wouldn’t betray me, not with her.”

Eve sighed and turned to the cold eyed man. This was becoming annoying. Maybe she was getting used to having men believe her, maybe Vicious was too used to watching her lie. No matter the reason, he was making this hard. She needed Julia either abandoned or dead, and she preferred dead.

“Have I ever lied to you? And I mean about serious issues,” Eve asked.

“I don’t know, have you? You lie to everyone else, why not me?”

“Don’t turn this on me. I know you’ve suspected her, you just don’t want to believe that she could lure Spike.”

Vicious’ eyes grew hurt as he turned away from her. “He’s my friend.”

“He’s also a man. A confused, easily manipulated, man.”

[End Flashback]

“Either way, we were destined to end up like this,” Vicious’ voice broke her thoughts.

She turned quickly and watched as they ran to each other. She watched as blood blossomed in the air from cuts on Spike’s body, Vicious’ katana, the cause. She then winced as a shot rang through the air and Vicious’ katana flew from hand.and. Both weapons clattered to the floor, each one catching the other’s weapon. For a moment they stopped, frozen in stalemate.

~*~*~*~

Within the dusky light of Laughing Bull’s tent, Jet waited, watching the old man before him.

“Where is Spike now?” Jet asked.

“All organisms... All beings with life all have their own stars. The moment a new life is born a new star is born and becomes the guardian star. This star we stand on is someone\'s guardian star as well. That red star, that blue star... When a life ends, the star falls, and disappears,” Laughing Bull’s haggared and rough voice said.

“Please don’t say that,” Jet’s voice was soft, full of denial.

“Running Rock.”

“Don’t call me that name!”

“His star will not fall, but hers shall.”

“This is stupid. I can’t believe it.”

“Do not fear death. Death is always at your side. When you show fear, it will spring at you faster than light. If you do not show fear, it will only gently look over you...”

~*~*~*~

Spike’s voice grew low. “Julia’s dead… let’s end this.”

“If that is your wish,” Vicious agreed.

They both slid one another’s weapons. Their minds so involved in their fight, they don’t see the speeding shadow coming between them. Spike fires his gun as Vicious’ sword slashes forward, each knowing that they connected by the sound of tearing flesh. Both cannot feel pain as light of bright white flashes past their eyes. As the light fades, their bloodlust cooling, their eyes widen.

Rain’s grey eyes stay on both of them as she clutches her waist and falls to her knees. ‘They can’t die,’ her only thought.

“RAIN!” they both shouted as she fell.

She knew this pain, had felt it so many times before; the cut of Vicious’ blade, the bite of a bullet in her flesh, and the feel of her life leaving her. Death felt suffocating on her. “Don’t die,” she whispered.

Vicious dropped his sword and lifted her limp form into his arms. “Rain…”

Rain turned her fading eyes to Spike and then Vicious. “My fault… I was jealous of Julia. I didn’t know… wasn’t thinking. Don’t die… your needed,” she whispered.

Vicious looked the Spike. “Needed?”

Rain choked a hoarse laugh. “Dumbasses… Sith and Aurora… they need you, Vicious. Faye and Jack… don’t throw true happiness away, Spike,” she said.

“But… Rain,” Spike gasped.

“Death needed a sacrifice, and I’ve escaped his hands too many times before. It’s been my time for a long time now. I… I know now. I was so blind,” she whispered.

Spike stood. “I’ll get a doctor!” he said as he ran from the room, leaving Vicious holding the bleeding and broken body of Rain.

Rain lifted a heavy, pale hand and touched Vicious’ face. “I love you, I have for so long. I’m… I’m sorry,” she confessed as her grey eyes grew faded and her hand fell to the floor, her body going completely limp.

Vicious could feel the drying blood on his cheek as hot tears escaped his eyes. He pressed his face into her cooling body and wept, his sobs reverberating through the air as the pale sun peeked over the horizon.

~*~*~*~

*I close my eyes and I keep seeing things
Rainbow waterfalls
Sunny liquid dream*

He had watched as they took her body away, he had seen the look of desperation in the cold blue eyes of his former partner.

“You’re back!” Faye’s voice rang through the ship.

Spike looked up to Faye’s smiling and relieved eyes. “Yeah, for good.”

*Confusion creeps inside me raining doubt
Gotta get to you
But I don’t know how*

“You’re covered in blood,” her voice grew quiet.

Spike locked his eyes with hers and nodded. “Yeah, most of it isn’t mine.”

“Spike! You’re back!” Jet’s voice greeted.

Spike’ss grs grew saddened as he turned to his old friend. “Yeah.”

Jet’s eyes grew confused. “What? What happened?”

“Jet… Rain…” Spike started.

*Call me, call me
Let me know that it’s alright
Call me, call me
Don’t you think that it’s ‘bout time
Please won’t you call and*

Jet fell to the floor. Faye could feel tears well up in her eyes. “No… no, it can’t be!” she gasped.

“She died to save our lives, she said that we… were needed,” Spike ground out, trying to keep his total sadness from seeping into his voice.

*Ease my mind
Reasons for me to find you
Peace of mind
What can I do
To get me to you*

~*~*~*~

Sith was at the apartment, waiting, Aurora in her arms. He could see love in her eyes; true caring for the innocent, frail creature in her arms. Softly, he closed the door.

*I had your number quite some time ago
Back when we were one
But I had to grow*

“You are injured,” Sith’s voice broke the silence. It sounded soft, filled with… fear. Something that her had never imagines she could ever have felt.

“It’s nothing,” he responded.

*Ten thousand years I’ve searched it seems and now
Gotta get to you
But I don’t know how*

“She promised that you’d live,” Sith said as she stood, turning to him.

Vicious locked his eyes to hers. “She always did keep a promise.”

Sith’s eyes flashed coal and then obsidian. “She’s dead, isn’t she?”

*Call me, Call me
Let me know that you are there
Call me, call me
I wanna know that you still care
Come now won’t you*

Vicious nodded. “Yes.”

Sith took a deep breath and turned, heading for Aurora’s room. Vicious followed her, watching as she placed the sleeping infant in the crib and took a moment to watch her. He could still see the love for the child in her eyes as she watched Aurora sleep. He wanted to stop time, stop that moment, make the pain and suffering vanish from his mind. He wanted to stay in that momentary world of innocence and love, but he couldn’t. Sith turned to him and motioned that he leave the room.

Vicious took a seat on the darkly colored couch in the living room. He waited for Sith, watching for her as she emerged from the hall. “You should go clean up,” she suggested as she pulled a cigarette from a pocket and lit it.

Vicious nodded and stood, heading for a bathroom. “She told me that you needed me, and that… she loved me, before she died.”

Sith turned to Vicious, a single tear falling down her completely stoic face. “She always did like to ightight.”

Vicious moved forward and took Sith in his arms. “I need you to stay with me now, Sith. You and Aurora are all I have left,” he whispered before pressing his lips to hers.

~*~*~*~

Two years later…

The freezing sheets of rain poured upon the streets as a fine mist floated above the ground. Few people now dashed upon the streets, trying to run between the raindrops. The dim illumination of the streetlamps gave a mysterious glow to the nearly deserted street. A shadowy silhouette watched from an alley as a couple walked down the streets. The man’s silver hair was pulled back in a ponytail, his ice blue eyes looking down at the crimson haired woman next to him. A child, no older than three walked between them, her pale blonde hair shining in the light of the streetlamps. Her pale blue eyes dancing with innocence and laughter as she walked along with them.

The flare of a cigarette in the dark illuminated a pair of grey eyes and a pale face. There were more scars covering her now, her hair was long again, much like it had been before. She smiled softly as the family walked into an apartment building. She sighed as she lifted the collar of her black coat and shivered slightly as cold water slid down her neck. She then pulled the cigarette from her mouth and walked out into the shadows, her form melting away.

*Ease my mind
Reasons for me to find you
Peace of mind
Reasons for living my life
Ease my mind
Reasons for me to know you
Peace of mind
What can I do
To get me to you*

Dragons Never Die…. They Only Fade Away.

~*~*~*~
Song: \"Call me, Call me\" from the Cowboy Bebop soudtrack, Blue

Levii: And that, my friends, is the end. I have to say that I have loved writing this story. I hope you have all loved reading it just as much. This has been a lot of fun, but it is time to say goodbye. Remember to review, and until next we meet... Aideu.

^_^