Prologue - Rain
"I walk in the rain…
Is it right… or is it wrong?
Is it here that I belong?"
Spike Spiegel's P.O.V -
Somewhere it was raining. Whether it was Earth, Mars, or somewhere
on one of Jupiter's moons, I don't know, but I'm sure it doesn't matter.
If space had what it needed to rain, it would be raining there, too. Not
just those light drizzles, or intermittent showers, but all-out monsoon-type
rain.
Granted, I've heard that some people like the rain; they find it soothing.
Other people don't care whether it rains or not. But all in all, most people
don't like it. It's gloomy; it ruins moods and people's plans. But, since it's
an act of nature, there really isn't much you can do about it. Sucks,
doesn't it?
But, then again, that's life. For some people, there are some times where
life isn't fair, and for others life is never fair. They never catch a break.
Things always seem to go wrong.
There are times where a person reaches a point in their life where they
lose everything that they deem important to them. When that happens,
nothing really seems to matter anymore. They go about their life in
purgatory; they try not to focus on the past, ignore the present, and deny
themselves the hope of a better future. Take my life, for instance.
You must be asking yourself, 'who can live like that'? I can tell you now,
it's not really that hard if you put a little effort into it. I spent three years
this way, in this invisible limbo. Keep in mind, I didn't just find a little
isolated spot and begin to waste away, I went about life normally (well, as
normal as the life of a bounty hunter can get), but it was more like a
dream than anything else.
The funny thing about it was that even though I was completely aware
of the fact that it was a dream - an okay one at that (it did have its ups
and downs every now and then) - I kept waiting for the day I would wake
up. What was even more hilarious than that was the thought that if I did
wake up, what would happen if I wanted to go back to sleep?
Now, let me tell you, a lot of things happened before I decided to wake
up. Sadly enough, not many of them were all that good. Still, if I think
about it, I can remember just about everything that day. Even though it's
been three years, I can remember everything that happened on the Bebop
that day with crystal clarity - the day I went to find out whether or not I
was alive.
=====
"Where are you going? Why are you going?"
You'd think that with someone pointing a gun at my head, I'd be a little
bit more concerned for my life. I wasn't the least bit concerned actually;
Faye was a good shot and probably not one to be reckoned with, but I
knew she wouldn't shoot me.
Looking back now, I knew I was right, especially after I told her about
my eye. The look in her eyes was clear - she wouldn't try to stop me;
she only wanted to know why. Why would I, someone who seemed as
though they didn't have a care in the world, want to give my life - or
rather, commit suicide - for something that seemed, for lack of a better
word, pointless?
Unfortunately, at that time, I really couldn't give her an answer, at least
not one she'd want or understand. I don't think I could even now. The
fact was that I knew I had to say something. It wouldn't have been fair
to her otherwise. At that point, even though I was staring right at her, I
wasn't really looking at her. The pleading eyes I saw before me weren't
emerald green, but blue, and the hair I saw framing her face wasn't
purple, but blonde. In my mind, I was not staring down Faye Valentine,
the notorious Poker Alice; I was looking at an angel - my Julia.
My Julia… I'd laugh if it didn't hurt so damned much to think about.
After all, this whole mess started because she wasn't mine. Despite the
fact that I had known that from the very beginning, I chose to ignore it. I
was living in a dream world - a dream world in which pain hurt as much -
if not more - than the real thing. One can say that in this dream world I
managed to learn a few things.
For starters, Julia was a dream within a dream. An unreachable idol; she
was like trying to reach for a star up in the sky. I'd like to say that I didn't
realize that when I fell in love with her, but I did; I knew all along. The
fact of that matter is, I didn't care. It seems unfair that after all my
reaching she would fade away in my arms. I guess all that crap about
'fools falling in love' does apply… I guess. Still, despite what some may
think, in some aspects, I'm past all of that. Julia's no more than a memory
now, a memory that will live on in me for as long as I live.
Damn, that sounded lame.
Still, now that she's finally been laid to rest, I can finally start to get on
with my life. With that said, I find myself back on Mars facing the closed
door of apartment 284. It's not mine; in fact, it took me a long time to find
this place. Actually, that's a lie - it only took me a couple weeks, the rest
of the time was spent deciding whether or not I should come all this way
to see her. After all, we didn't exactly part on good terms.
Oh well, c'est la vie. I find that I've been accustomed to saying that a lot
as I knock on the door. I take a deep breath, waiting for the door to be
opened. My efforts are rewarded, for not long after I finish knocking the
door opens to reveal hers truly eyes wide in disbelief. She pales, almost
like she's seeing a ghost. I expected all of this.
I give her a playful smirk. "Hey there, Faye."
Her door slams shut right in my face.
End of Prologue
"I walk in the rain…
Is it right… or is it wrong?
Is it here that I belong?"
Spike Spiegel's P.O.V -
Somewhere it was raining. Whether it was Earth, Mars, or somewhere
on one of Jupiter's moons, I don't know, but I'm sure it doesn't matter.
If space had what it needed to rain, it would be raining there, too. Not
just those light drizzles, or intermittent showers, but all-out monsoon-type
rain.
Granted, I've heard that some people like the rain; they find it soothing.
Other people don't care whether it rains or not. But all in all, most people
don't like it. It's gloomy; it ruins moods and people's plans. But, since it's
an act of nature, there really isn't much you can do about it. Sucks,
doesn't it?
But, then again, that's life. For some people, there are some times where
life isn't fair, and for others life is never fair. They never catch a break.
Things always seem to go wrong.
There are times where a person reaches a point in their life where they
lose everything that they deem important to them. When that happens,
nothing really seems to matter anymore. They go about their life in
purgatory; they try not to focus on the past, ignore the present, and deny
themselves the hope of a better future. Take my life, for instance.
You must be asking yourself, 'who can live like that'? I can tell you now,
it's not really that hard if you put a little effort into it. I spent three years
this way, in this invisible limbo. Keep in mind, I didn't just find a little
isolated spot and begin to waste away, I went about life normally (well, as
normal as the life of a bounty hunter can get), but it was more like a
dream than anything else.
The funny thing about it was that even though I was completely aware
of the fact that it was a dream - an okay one at that (it did have its ups
and downs every now and then) - I kept waiting for the day I would wake
up. What was even more hilarious than that was the thought that if I did
wake up, what would happen if I wanted to go back to sleep?
Now, let me tell you, a lot of things happened before I decided to wake
up. Sadly enough, not many of them were all that good. Still, if I think
about it, I can remember just about everything that day. Even though it's
been three years, I can remember everything that happened on the Bebop
that day with crystal clarity - the day I went to find out whether or not I
was alive.
=====
"Where are you going? Why are you going?"
You'd think that with someone pointing a gun at my head, I'd be a little
bit more concerned for my life. I wasn't the least bit concerned actually;
Faye was a good shot and probably not one to be reckoned with, but I
knew she wouldn't shoot me.
Looking back now, I knew I was right, especially after I told her about
my eye. The look in her eyes was clear - she wouldn't try to stop me;
she only wanted to know why. Why would I, someone who seemed as
though they didn't have a care in the world, want to give my life - or
rather, commit suicide - for something that seemed, for lack of a better
word, pointless?
Unfortunately, at that time, I really couldn't give her an answer, at least
not one she'd want or understand. I don't think I could even now. The
fact was that I knew I had to say something. It wouldn't have been fair
to her otherwise. At that point, even though I was staring right at her, I
wasn't really looking at her. The pleading eyes I saw before me weren't
emerald green, but blue, and the hair I saw framing her face wasn't
purple, but blonde. In my mind, I was not staring down Faye Valentine,
the notorious Poker Alice; I was looking at an angel - my Julia.
My Julia… I'd laugh if it didn't hurt so damned much to think about.
After all, this whole mess started because she wasn't mine. Despite the
fact that I had known that from the very beginning, I chose to ignore it. I
was living in a dream world - a dream world in which pain hurt as much -
if not more - than the real thing. One can say that in this dream world I
managed to learn a few things.
For starters, Julia was a dream within a dream. An unreachable idol; she
was like trying to reach for a star up in the sky. I'd like to say that I didn't
realize that when I fell in love with her, but I did; I knew all along. The
fact of that matter is, I didn't care. It seems unfair that after all my
reaching she would fade away in my arms. I guess all that crap about
'fools falling in love' does apply… I guess. Still, despite what some may
think, in some aspects, I'm past all of that. Julia's no more than a memory
now, a memory that will live on in me for as long as I live.
Damn, that sounded lame.
Still, now that she's finally been laid to rest, I can finally start to get on
with my life. With that said, I find myself back on Mars facing the closed
door of apartment 284. It's not mine; in fact, it took me a long time to find
this place. Actually, that's a lie - it only took me a couple weeks, the rest
of the time was spent deciding whether or not I should come all this way
to see her. After all, we didn't exactly part on good terms.
Oh well, c'est la vie. I find that I've been accustomed to saying that a lot
as I knock on the door. I take a deep breath, waiting for the door to be
opened. My efforts are rewarded, for not long after I finish knocking the
door opens to reveal hers truly eyes wide in disbelief. She pales, almost
like she's seeing a ghost. I expected all of this.
I give her a playful smirk. "Hey there, Faye."
Her door slams shut right in my face.
End of Prologue