Cowboy Bebop Fan Fiction ❯ The Man With Different Eyes ❯ A Secret Suprise Past ( Chapter 3 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

“What on earth is you problem!?!, you can’t even bring me a stupid little girl. I should shoot you,” The silver hair youth exclaimed. The two men before him shrunk back.



“Please master, it was not our fault entirely,” The older man replied. The youth glared at him.



“Then please tell me Jiro, who’s fault is it?,” He ground out. The older man winced at his tone.



“Master Vendom, the man who attacked us, he was Spike. The man who killed your uncle, he is still alive,” Jiro informed the young man. His gleaming blue eyes widened slightly at the news, but then a cold cackled erupted from his pale lips.



“Please, what a lame excuse Jiro. There is no possible way that man is still alive,” Vendom cackled. Jiro shook his head sadly at his master’s ignorance.



“Master, he speaks that truth,” The ever silent partner said. The young man took a step forward to stand beside Jiro. He regarded Vendom with an unwavering stare.



“Jiro speaks truthfully. Spike Spiegel is still alive”. Vendom collected himself, and then sat upon the edge of his cherry wood desk. He smirked, reaching up to brush aside on lock of his silver hair.



“Very well. I will send out the hunters, and have him killed. And while their at it, I might as well have then bring me the girl, since you two could not even manage that,” He said. Then he hopped off his desk and left the room, the door slamming shut after him. The two men sighed and Jiro turned to the young man beside him.



“I’m glad we’re still alive,” He sighed, upon his pale face he adorned a sheepish grin. The young man nodded in agreement before they to left the room as well.











Rosa found Faye first. She had just come out from the bath room, a trail of steam leaking out from the door behind her. She smiled at Rosa, and regarded her with a confident stare as she passed her, clad in nothing but a towel. Rosa admired Faye, because she was a beautiful woman, and she took pride in the way she looked. Rosa knew that when she was shipped off to an orphanage, she would always like to remember the woman who had unwittingly become a surrogate sister to her.



“Faye… can you tell me about Spike?,” Rosa asked her. Faye’s smile wavered slightly, but it was quickly replaced.



“What is it that’s you want to know?,” She inquired. Rosa followed her back to their shared room, and sat down on her makeshift bed as Faye pulled on a large t-shirt, and let the towel slip out from under it.



“He was asking me earlier about a syndicate, he seems really concerned and angry about it,” She told the older girl. Faye nodded, taking a seat on her own bed.



“Well, a long way back he was involved in a syndicate, but he dropped out of it, and later on was hunted. His best friend betrayed him, and they nearly killed each other. But Spike won out, he destroyed the syndicate, along with Vicious,” Faye said. Rosa sighed, and pulled her knees to her chest, to rest her chin there.



“Was Vicious a close friend of his?,” Rosa asked, her tone one of interest, but also of sadness. Faye sighed.



“They had been very close, until they both fell in love with the same woman. After that Spike dropped from the Syndicate, and Vicious rose to try and take over it. The woman they loved in the end was killed. Murdered right after Spike had finally found her… that’s why he went back that day. And that’s why he almost died…,” Faye sighed at the memory, and once again brushed aside the crumble pieces of her heart. She knew in his mind she was nothing but a fellow bounty hunter, and woman with an attitude problem. She knew he couldn’t move on from his past, since every day he relived it through one eye.



“Faye, what was her name? What was the name of the woman?,” Rosa asked. Faye looked up at her, across her green eyes flashed the memory of the blonde angel.



“Her name was, Julia”. The young girl blinked, and then she nodded looking down at her feet. She closed her eyes as tears she hadn’t known where there threatened to spill. Julia, again that name.



“Hey, what’s the matter?,” Faye asked, noticing the girls watery gaze. Rosa shook her head, and buried her head in her arms.



“It’s nothing. Just something in my eye,” She dismissed. Faye smiled, and then Rosa left her alone. The green eyed woman just sighed. A thought had struck her when she had first laid eyes on this girl, she was almost a match case to that angel Julia. Of course their were two exceptions, one being her youth, and two being her oddly memorable brown eyes.










Spike rolled over again. He had been up the whole night, it seemed every time he closed his eyes one of two things popped up to haunt him. He either saw again as Vicious finally fell to the floor a beaten man. Or again he would watch as Julia fell from her grace, and then he would watch her breath her last breath. He couldn’t get that image from his mind. He couldn’t let himself forget, because then he would wonder if she truly had died. He sighed to himself, and sat up, tossing the covers from his body.



“Julia…why are you haunting me?,” He questioned. He sighed again, and then found strength to get to his feet, and head to the small kitchen just down the hall. As he passed by Faye’s room, he noticed Rosa’s bed was empty.



“Aw, shit,” He grumbled, as he turned back around and headed for the ship’s hull. As he was met by the cool night air, he looked about the hull to find a small figure standing off to the tip. She was leaned over the side, with her legs hung over the edge, and head cast toward the sky. She seemed to be thinking of something.



“Rosa?,” He called to her. He noticed the jump she gave, and then the way she relaxed when she realized it was him.



“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be out here,” She said. He shook his head and made his way over, to take a seat beside her. She looked paler then usual, and didn’t meet his eyes, as she smiled at him.




They sat together in silence for the longest time, both thinking of their past, and both mulling over questions they knew would never be answered. Rosa was the first to break the silence, as she turned to gaze at Spike.



“Could I ask you a question?,” She said. Spike was silent for a moment, and then he nodded.



“Sure, why not”. Rosa looked away, and then at the sky.



“Say you have always run from lies, you know that it doesn’t solve anything but still you run. And then one day you realize that you’ve been trying so hard to run from the one lie that was actually true, and now your stuck in a situation where this truth could get you the one thing you’ve always wanted. But you still don’t want to except it, because the truth hurts, and it’s going to hurt all those around you. Should you except this truth, or should you continue to run blindly in hopes it will stop haunting you?”.




Spike cast a side ways glance at the girl beside him, and then back at the stars that shined above them. She had put it in simple terms, but really what she was asking was a hard question. Spike realized then that this wasn’t some lonely lost little girl in need of guidance, and that the reason she wanted so badly to run away was because she was running from something. He knew the feeling but at the same time he felt lost as to what he could say to answer her question.



“Well, I can’t say I have all the answers, but I can say that running from something isn’t always the best choice. Because eventually what you’re running from is going to catch up to you, so the best thing to do is confront it now, before it snowballs out of control,” He told her. Rosa nodded, and then with a sigh she turned to look at him. He noticed then there was a glossy sheen that covered her eyes from unshed tears. She blinked them back, and looked away.



“I have something… I want to tell you,” She said. Spike looked at her, and watched as she tensed under his gaze. He waited for her to continue, but when she didn’t he looked to her.



“Just spit it out,” He told her, smiling slightly, as he tried to lighten the mood. She took a deep breath and looked into his eyes, with a certain determination that was unwavering.



“My parents, the ones who died in the gate accident weren’t my real parents. They had been foster parents to me. My mother had given me up when I was young, because she knew her life was too dangerous for a child. And well, I had never known my father,” She stopped there, and took a shaky breath. “… My mother, her name was… Julia”.



Spike felt a jolt in his heart as he heard this. She wasn’t looking at him, and he realized then she was silently crying.



“Julia was my mother, and I was a love child. I lived with her until I was four, but then she gave me away, telling me she’d be back one day to take me to a magical place where we could live happily ever after. She said she was going to find my father, and she was going to bring him back to me, and show me that he was everything she had promised he would be. But she never made it back”.



“So I was left in the foster care of some friends of hers, and then when they died I was off to live with some woman who told me I was her Aunt. But I knew the truth then, and I knew that I was alone. And so after she handed me off to the orphanage I planned my escape and set out to find my father”.



“Spike… do you know where I’m going with this?,” Rosa asked. She was watching him now, with those clear brown eyes.



“I think I do. But what you’re saying can’t be true. I can’t believe it, and I don’t think I want to,” He said quietly. Rosa nodded, tears flooding her vision.



“I thought so. Mom always said you were stubborn, she always told me that you were so stubborn at times she thought you had no heart. She told me a lot about you, but there are only some things I remember. I remember she told me you were tall, and had two eyes with different shades of brown. She said I had your eyes, the same charming brown”.



“She told me you were a knuckle brain, and yet you were graceful. But what I remember most of all is how she told me you were always loyal, and believed in justice. I also know that most of what she told me, is true. But, you see, I don’t want to believe you don’t have a heart,” She said, her voice coming out in a whisper. She sighed again, and then got to her feet. She looked down at the man she had hoped would except her, and felt herself shutter when he didn’t acknowledge her.



“Spike. I know you loved her, and I know that she would of chased you till the end of time, because that’s how much she loved you. I had hoped that maybe you could of learned to love me as well. I’m sorry that I’ve put this burden on you, and I hope that you can forgive me”. And then she gave a small heart broken smile as she turned to head back to her shared room.




Spike just sat there, he could feel her gaze on him, and he wanted to turn and shout at her. He wanted to tell her that she was wrong, that Julia was dead and gone. He wanted her to know he couldn’t except this lie, that Julia wasn’t her mother. Julia was dead.











In the morning Faye found Rosa huddled in her covers still asleep. She smiled at the girl and nudged her awake with her hand. The girl blinked open her brown eyes, that appeared red from crying. Faye looked at her sadly.



“What’s up? Have you been crying?,” She asked the quiet girl. Rosa sighed shaking her head.



“No, I just didn’t get much sleep. I’m fine,” She said, giving a small smile. Faye nodded, and made her way into the hall. She turned back, and gave her a wink.



“I’m gonna go see if Jet has fixed my ship. I’ll be back and then we can head out for breakfast”. Rosa nodded, and then she laid back down, to stare at the ceiling for a while. She didn’t want to get up, she just wanted to stay there and rot. She hated the fact that Spike now despised her, and she also hated that she had to stay in the same vicinity as him.



With a haggard sigh she finally found strength to get up, and pulled on a clean fitted t-shirt Faye had given her. When she left the room she had every intention to avoid going to the living room, but as she passed she noticed the whole gang was inside. So she stood on the staircase overlooking them, and looked on sadly.



“Faye, I told you already we are short on cash. I’m not giving you any money to spend on anything but breakfast,” Jet was saying. Faye let out a dramatic sigh, and then turned to see Rosa.



“Sorry Rosa, I was trying to get Jet to lend me money so we could at least buy you one good outfit that fits you,” She told her. Rosa smiled and shook her head.



“I don’t need anything, really. It’s all right,” She told her. Jet looked up at her then, and took in the outfit she was adorned in. She wore one of Faye’s small t-shirts, with a pair of short cut jean shorts Faye had also given her. He sighed.



“Faye, she’s to young to dress like you,” He muttered. Faye shot him a look, and then grumbled something about old bald men.



“Well, if you lent me money I could go buy her something of her own,” She spat back. Rosa couldn’t help but smile at the exchange, and found herself trying to hide a laugh. But then her eyes sought out the other silent roommate and her smile fell. He was watching her with those different brown eyes, his face a blank slate. He didn’t look to happy to see her, or even seem to realize he was staring. Tears quickly overwhelmed her eyes and she looked away, closing them to stop the flood before it happened. She couldn’t, and wouldn’t let herself cry in front of him, she didn’t want him to see her weakness.



“Rosa?,” Faye’s voice came to her in concern, and she looked quickly putting on a smile. Faye didn’t buy it, but smiled back.



“Rosa, I’m giving you the money. You pick something for yourself, and don’t let Faye sway your interests,” Jet told her. Rosa was lost for a second, but then she caught on and nodded. Faye was quick to snatch the money from Jet and then jog up the stairs to hand it to Rosa.



“Thank you, very much,” Rosa told him. He nodded and then waved his hand at the pair, and Faye lead Rosa off. When the two woman disappeared, Jet turned to look at the silent man on the couch. He noticed his vacant stare, and was aware that the cigarette in the man’s hand was close to burning him. He was about to point it out, when Spike jumped, and tossed down the cigarette.



“Damn it,” Spike cursed, sucking on his torched finger. Jet couldn’t help but chuckle.



“I was gonna point it out to you, but your head was off in space,” He told him. Spike rolled his eyes, and leaned back into the couch.



“What is it you were thinking about? Care to share it with an old friend?,” Jet asked. Spike looked at him, and realized that Jet was possibly the only close friend he would have for a long time. He knew that he had no answers for himself, so maybe Jet would.



“This is something big. So take a seat old man,” Spike said. Jet nodded and sat down across form him. Spike leaned forward to grab his lighter off the table, and lit the cigarette he had pulled from his jacket.



“Julia was a beautiful woman, and for all those years I had searched for her, and found no trace,” He stopped, and took a drag from his cigarette, letting the smoke curl around his tongue before he continued. “But after she had found me, and then when I watched her die, it was almost like finding a small peace within myself. But then after I took out the syndicate, I had thought I’d finally put my past behind me”.



“But of course, I was wrong,” He looked up at Jet, and gave a sad smile. “I realized last night that Rosa… she looks a lot like Julia. Almost a younger version”.



“Spike, don’t get any ideas in your head, she’s still just a kid,” Jet said, somewhat agitated. Spike shook his head.



“You know I’m not like that,” Spike said. Jet laughed, and then settled back in the yellow couch, realizing he was right.



“Sorry, but I was a little worried for a second,” He chuckled. Spike nodded, his serious face, catching Jet off guard and his laughter quickly left him. “Where are you going with this?”.



“Rosa told me last night, the parents who died in the gate accident were foster parents,” He sighed.



“Spike, what does any of this have to do with that?”. Spike looked up at the ceiling and turned to look back at Jet, as he put out his cigarette.



“Julia was her mother,” He told him. “And Rosa told me last night that she thinks I’m her father”.



Jet sat there for a few moments, staring dumbfounded. This was news. Big news. And as he thought about it, he realized that it could be true, but he had never met Julia so he wouldn’t know if there was a similarity. But what he did know is that, she had brown eyes, brown eyes that could be the same as Spike‘s. Jet sighed, and looked over at his friend and comrade.



“Do you think her theory could have truth?,” He asked. Spike didn’t answer, instead he just sighed, and looked off at the stair well. They sat there in silence for a long while, and then Spike got to his feet.



“I told her that I couldn’t believe it. That I wouldn’t,” He said finally. “But in reality, I know it’s the truth”. Spike then turned and left, he knew that he had to admit it to himself, and that denying it was like running from his past all over again. He couldn’t do it, because then things could end up like last time, and he could lose another person in his life that he hadn’t even gotten to know yet.



“Spike,” Jet’s voice stopped him in his tracks, and he turned to face the man. “You know that this changes everything, right?,” He asked. Spike smiled, and ran a hand through his hair.



“Yeah, I do. But I think this change might be good, for once,” He said. Then he disappeared around the corner, and Jet had to smile. This certainly changed everything, but mainly he had to smile because it was Spike who was the Daddy. Some how life just kept on surprising him.