Cowboy Bebop Fan Fiction / Trigun Fan Fiction ❯ Cowboy Bebop Meets Trigun ❯ Ballad of Fallen Angels ( Chapter 9 )

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

Disclaimer: None of the CB/Trigun characters belong to me. I am merely playing with them. Be not of the suing me, please!

A/N: Hurray for Chapter 9! I think it is almost as long as Chapter 8. If it annoys you that the chapters are getting so long, please tell me. I will stop and divide them. Also, for those of you familiar with the world of CB anime (which is most of you, I think), I have borrowed the title of Episode #5. I just really thought it fit. Also, I am well aware that Ed does not appear until Episode #9 so the time is a little out of order. If you don't like it, deal with it!

Chapter 9: Ballad of Fallen Angels

Spike yawned and stretched. He was currently lying on the yellow couch in the main room of the Bebop. He had been sleeping there for a few days, ever since Vash and Wolfwood had been staying with them. Vash and Wolfwood were sharing his room, but Jet, Faye, and Ed still had their own rooms. Not that Spike minded. He liked sleeping on the couch. Spike looked around lazily and saw Jet hunched over his computer, deep in thought.

“What are you doing, Jet?”

Jet leaned back in his chair. “I'm doing a little research.”

“On what, pray tell?”

“Vash the Stampede.”

Spike looked at the older man, somewhat surprised. Vash had been around for a few days now, and Jet had never mentioned anything about this before. Spike smiled. The goofy gunman certainly was good at entertaining Ed and Ein. Of course, he was still very difficult to understand. His friend Wolfwood was also pretty complex. Spike often caught him glancing at Vash with a very serious expression on his face. Spike was sure Wolfwood knew more about Vash than even Vash thought he knew. He was also a paradox. Considering his self-proclaimed occupation as a priest, he sure didn't act like it. However, he did get along very well with Ed, Jet, and himself. Faye was the only one whom he couldn't stand. (They shared that in common.) However, that still didn't explain Jet's sudden urge to research the guy.

“What brought this on, Jet?”

“Tell me something, Spike. Did Vash tell you how old he is?”

Spike scratched his head. “Well, he said he was 27.”

“So?” Jet said expectantly.

“So what?”

Jet sighed. “Doesn't that seem strange to you? If you think about it, the incident at July took place 23 years ago. He's the one responsible. If he's really 27, he would have been 4 at the time of the incident. That's just not possible. Besides, rumors have been floating around about the guy for years on Gunsmoke way before July. Even more to the point, how did humans end up on a backwater place like Gunsmoke, anyway? Not only that, but how could humans have gotten to Gunsmoke, anyway? If what they call the `Great Fall' really took place 130 years ago, that would mean that it had occurred in the 1940's during World War II because this is the year 2071. If my memory of history serves me right, the technological know-how to travel in space was virtually non-existent at the time. Plus, did you see Vash's reaction when we told him we came from the Milky Way?”

Spike stared at Jet. Jet was right. Vash the Stampede appeared to be in his late-twenties, but that didn't make any sense, considering his background. Also, now that Jet had brought it up, Spike was curious to know how and why humans were living on Gunsmoke. Vash's reaction to the news that they were heading for the Milky Way galaxy had been strange, too.

“So, where we headed?” Vash asked.

“The Milky Way galaxy,” Jet said.

Vash's face became deathly pale.

“What's the matter, Vash-person?” Ed asked, tugging on his shirt.

“Oh. It's nothing, Ed.” Vash smiled tightly. “It's just that, Earth is where all the people on Gunsmoke came from.”

“WHAT? Are you serious?” Faye exclaimed.

“Yeah. After the Great Fall 130 years ago, we've been struggling to survive there,” Wolfwood said.

“You choseto live there?” Spike asked, incredulously.

“No. We crashed there. Hence the name `Great Fall',” Wolfwood said wryly.

Throughout the exchange, Vash had been standing stiffly, and his eyes were distant.

Vash had been acting rather strange ever since. Spike sometimes saw Vash wandering around the ship alone and staring outside into outer space. He always had a sad expression on his face when he did. Spike didn't know why, but he hadn't asked, respecting the other's privacy.

Spike ended his reveries and said, “Jet, it's great that you're so interested in this, but what good will it do to go digging into the past?”

Jet smirked. “You'd be surprised, Spike.”

Spike was about to say something when Jet's computer began beeping.

“What is it, Jet?”

“Looks like information on a new bounty.”

“Good.” Spike got up and stretched again. “Since we didn't get any reward for Vash the Stampede, we need some money.”

“Hmmm, this one's worth 28 million.”

Spike walked over to look at the picture of the bounty. His eyes widened when he saw who it was.

Mao? What the hell is going on?

Vash couldn't decide how he felt. He was feeling happier than he had felt in a long time. He was always busy with Ed and her small dog Ein. He smiled. Ed's innocence was refreshing after all the suffering he had endured on Gunsmoke. Yet, ever since Jet had told him that the Milky Way galaxy was their destination, he had been feeling broody. After all, that was where Rem had used to live…on the planet called Earth. Of course, Vash had never seen Earth. That was before his time.

But…

It brought back painful memories. Rem had left Earth to create a world like it. A place where there would be no wars, nor stealing. However, things hadn't turned out that way. Vash's twin brother Knives had seen to that. 130 years ago, Knives had programmed the ships carrying humans to crash on Gunsmoke, claiming that they were “pathogenic organisms” that needed to be eradicated. Rem had thwarted his attempt to destroy humanity at the cost of her own life.

But now, learning that there were other humans in the universe that were still living in the Earth's solar system, it almost seemed to take away from her sacrifice. Yet, Rem had always said that no one had the right to take the life of another so Vash supposed that she would have done the same thing even if she had known there were other humans out there. It still hurt, though.

Vash sighed. He was walking by the door to the main room of the Bebop when Spike strode out of the room, almost smacking right into Vash. Something was wrong.

Vash walked into the room to find Jet saying into his communicator, “Spike, I'm not going to back you up on this one.”

“Your call,” came Spike's voice from the receiver.

“Damnit,” Jet muttered.

“What's going on?” Vash asked.

“Nothing! Spike's just decided to an asshole today!” Jet grunted.

“What are you talking about, Jet?” Faye said. She was sitting in front of Jet's computer. “He's an asshole everyday.” She glared at Vash. “Much like your friend, the so-called priest.”

Vash cleared his throat nervously. “So, um, what's the problem?” he asked.

“New hit,” Faye explained. “Mao Yenrai. A 28 billion reward for murdering a crime boss. He's a head of a syndicate.”

“I don't care! He can do whatever the hell he wants!” Jet said, angrily, as he marched out of the room.

“God, men are such babies,” Faye scoffed. She turned and looked at Vash with a strange glint in her eye.

Uh, oh…

“So, you want to come with me?”

“Wha-?”

“Oh, come on,” Faye wheedled, batting her eyes at him. “You're not really going to let a poor, defenseless woman go up against a crime boss all alone, now, are you?”

Defenseless isn't the word I would use. I've seen her aim that gun. But still, did she have to say it like that

“Oh, alright.”

“Good.” Faye was all business. “First of all, you better shave and do something with your hair. At least stick it up the way you used to, or I'll do it for you.”

“What did you have in mind?” Vash inquired, his voice low and smooth.

Faye glared at him and shouted, “Just go and clean yourself up, damnit!” She stomped out of the room and muttered “pervert” under her breath.

Heh, works every time…

Jet was sitting in front of his computer again. He was till researching Vash the Stampede and the planet Gunsmoke in general. The fact that Gunsmoke even existed hadn't become common knowledge until recently, and that in itself was interesting. Jet had been combing through the ISSP database for a while now (with occasional hacker assistance from Ed), and he really hadn't found much of anything. He still only knew as much as he had before: Humans had crashed on Gunsmoke 130 years ago, and Vash the Stampede was the Humanoid Typhoon. Not very helpful.

Jet leaned back in his chair. His cop instincts were telling him that there was something odd about this whole thing. He had already looked into Mao Yenrai and found out it was a trap. Yet this was different. There seemed to be no information anywhere about how humans had come to live on Gunsmoke. Yet, that just made Jet even more determined to find out the truth.

“Jet-person, look!”

Ed had jumped onto Jet's lap and was pointing at something on the computer screen.

“What, Ed?”

“Looky!”

Jet followed her finger to a file labeled “Project SEEDS”.

“`Project SEEDS'? What the hell is that?”

“Jet-person, clicky, clicky, clicky it!”

“Alright, alright.” Jet clicked on it.

“Please enter your password,” said the screen.

“Ed, will you do the honors?”

“Hurray!” Ed immediately began typing. Her fingers literally flew across the keyboard as she entered possibility after possibility.

“All done!” she announced happily.

“Hmmm, you're slowing down, Ed. It took you a minute longer than usual.”

“Jet-person!” she protested.

“I'm just kidding. Now let me see what you've found.”

Jet gently lifted her off his lap and set her down.

“Why don't you go see what Wolfwood's up to?”

“Ok!” Ed raced off to find him.

Jet shook his head. He never would understand her.

He turned back to the computer screen and began to read.

“Approximately in the year 1900, a meteor fell to Earth. Where it came from is a mystery to this day. It landed about 100 miles off of the eastern coast of the United States in the Atlantic Ocean. However, it was not confiscated by a government of any nation. Instead, it was taken by a certain cult that called itself `Genesis Evolution' (abbreviated GENE), which was composed of members from every nation under the sun.

GENE took the meteor and began to experiment. They soon discovered that it was no meteor. Rather, it was a sophisticated ship powered by creatures that came to be known as `plants'. These creatures lived in bulbs and were described by many as `angels' when their true forms were revealed. They seemed capable of anything and provided a limitless supply of all necessities, such as water, heat, and oxygen. Also, because of the fact that they never seemed to age, they were also called the “Ones Who Live Outside of Time”.

GENE developed their own civilization under the ocean and called it `Atlantis' after the paradise of myth and folklore that supposedly sank beneath the sea after it was struck by some cataclysmic event. Atlantis was a haven of peace and prosperity as man and plant lived in harmony together. It was a refuge for those in the world who wished to escape and live a new life. But it was not to last.”

Jet paused from his reading and leaned back in his chair again. He needed a little time to absorb this. Meteors? Secret cults? Plants? Atlantis? It was mind-boggling. How could no one have known about this for so long? And how did anyone find out in the first place? Jet sighed, rubbed his eyes, and continued to read.

“With the outbreak of World War I, the Atlanteans began to fear for their safety so the select members of GENE formulated a plan to leave Earth and immigrate to a place where there would be no more threat of such a conflict. The name of that plan was `Project SEEDS'.

All the inhabitants of Atlantis were evacuated to ships that GENE had designed in the hopes of finding a new planet to settle on. However, very few GENE members joined the expedition, although the exact reasons for that decision are unknown. A group called the `Old Men' went in order to advise the five-person crew (also GENE members) when a new planet was discovered. Perhaps the most significant of the crewmembers was a woman named Rem Saverem, whose husband Alex Saverem had been the leader of the organization until his untimely death right before Project SEEDS was drafted.

A year or so after the beginning of World War I, Project SEEDS launched into the atmosphere, leaving the rest of humanity behind. Those GENE members who remained maintained frequent correspondence with the crew, who, a few years later, entered into the cold sleep, a method of preserving so one does not age.

Then, in the late 1930's, the crew reestablished contact with the GENE members who remained on Earth. Both sides had startling news. While GENE informed the crew of the end of World War I, the Great Depression, and the possibility of yet another world war, Rem Saverem and her crew told GENE that something astonishing had occurred.”

Are they trying to say that blasting off into space way back then wasn't astonishing? Jet thought, incredulously, before he resumed reading.

“One of the plants had inexplicably produced two children.”

“What?” Jet shouted.

“What is it, Jet-person?” Ed ran into the room.

“Oh, it's nothing, Ed. Go back to whatever it was you were doing.”

“Ok, Jet-person! Ed goes back to play chess with Wolfy-wood now!”

“I feel sorry for him,” Jet chuckled, before he once again turned back to the narrative in front of him.

“One of the plants had inexplicably produced two children. They were male twins yet they had slightly different features. One had golden blond hair with green eyes while the other had pale blond hair and sky-blue eyes. Rem named the former Vash and the later Knives.”

Jet sucked in his breath. Could this Vash really be the same man who had been staying with them these last few weeks? That would make him over 130 years old!

“The GENE member left on Earth were intrigued by this new development. (“No shit,” Jet muttered.) They insisted upon receiving constant updates on this strange new phenomenon. The boys grew rapidly, achieving a physical maturity of about 8 years in one year. Their mental capacity, on the other hand, far exceeded that of an ordinary human being. It was clear that these two boys were plants, yet in human form.

Then, suddenly, GENE lost all contact with Project SEEDS in the year 1940. (“You've got to be kidding me! The year of the Great Fall!” Jet exclaimed.) Within a few years, they had lost all hope of ever hearing from their operatives again. After that, the organization disbanded and was scattered to the four winds.”

Jet stared at the computer screen, almost unable to comprehend what he had just learned. This was too much. He had known there was something odd about how Gunsmoke had become populated, but he had never expected anything like this! He had to tell Spike about this.

Suddenly, he heard a noise in the other room. He went to see who it was.

It was Spike. He was sitting on the couch with a bunch of grenades on the table. He was loading cartridges for his gun.

Jet stared for a moment before asking, “Alright, what are you planning to do with all the artillery?”

Spike didn't answer.

“Let me tell you something! You're not going to get any reward money for Mao. He's already dead, assassinated. Internal politics. It's a trap.”

“Yeah, I know. I know the whole sad story.”

“And your still going? Wait, does this have something to do with Mao?”

“Yeah, I have a debt to pay off.”

“I still don't understand why you're doing this.”

“I don't want to do this, Jet.”

“Then why are you?”

Spike smiled sadly. “Let's just say my past is finally catching up to me.”

The past? Those words sounded ridiculous coming out of Spike Spiegel's mouth. Wasn't he the one who had told Vash to “suck it up”?

Before Jet could say anything, Faye's face appeared on the screen. She laughed nervously before saying, “I kind of got myself caught.”

“You what?” Jet exclaimed.

“Yeah. They want you to come and pick me up. If you don't come to the place they specify, my life is over. Oh, the arrival time is-”

“Who asked you to go off on your own?” Jet demanded.

“Oh, come on, now. We're comrades, right?”

“You got yourself into this so deal with it yourself. We're busy!”

“No, wait Jet!”

Spike caught Jet's hand as he moved to cut off the transmission, saying in a low, calm voice, “Where are you?”

Faye blinked, surprised, before rejoicing, “You're really going to come for me?”

Spike smiled. “Well, it's possible. I've got my reasons so don't take it personally.”

“Spike! I have something I need to tell you, damnit! Besides, why are you going after that damned woman who got herself into this mess?”

Spike looked at him coolly. “Like I said, I have my reasons.”

Spike walked slowly up the hill towards the old, abandoned chapel. His trench coat flapped gently in the wind. He kept thinking about recent events. Vash the Stampede, Wolfwood, and now Vicious, after all this time, had reared his ugly head once again. It was maddening how he knew exactly how to draw Spike out. He had murdered Mao, knowing that Spike would find out and investigate.

Spike sighed. It hadn't always been this way. Yet, somehow, this was where Spike now found himself. It was hard to believe Vicious and he had been like brothers once. That was before Julia…

Spike shook his head. Now wasn't the time to think about it. As he walked slowly into the chapel, he looked around at the gothic architecture. It looked sinister in the twilight.

He stopped as he reached the pews. Spike could hear a man's footsteps at he walked down the aisle toward him. A man dressed all in black with blond hair that was so pale it seemed white stepped out from the shadows. Vicious.

A long, sinister black bird landed on his shoulder as he said, “When angels are forced out of heaven, they become devils. You agree, don't you, Spike?”

“I'm just watching a bad dream I never wake up from.”

“I'll wake you up right now.”

“What's your rush, Vicious? After all, it's been a long time.”

Vicious laughed. “Are you pleading for your life?”

“Hardly. Begging doesn't work on you, remember? Even if it's coming from the man who took you in and made you what you are.”

“Perhaps. But he was a beast who lost his fangs. That's why he had to die, Spike. And that's why you have to die.”

A feminine gasp alerted Spike to Faye's presence. He drew his gun in an instant and pointed it at the man who was holding his gun at Faye's head.

“Now, we'd like you to drop the gun.”

Spike aimed…

“What's wrong? If you don't comply…”

…and fired.

The battle for retribution had begun.

Wolfwood was sick and tired off playing chess with Ed. Of course, he did care about her a lot. Like Vash, her innocence was refreshing to him, as well as a painful reminder of his own sins. However, right now, she was neither refreshing, nor a painful reminder of past transgressions.

She was an unbeatable chess master.

Wolfwood had lost to her 10 times already today. He didn't feel like going for an eleventh time so he made up the excuse that he had to ask Jet about something to escape her. She pouted of course, but eventually let him go.

He found Jet, still sitting in front of his computer, looking at something.

“What're you looking at?”

Jet started at that. He turned around to look at Wolfwood, who was gazing curiously at the computer screen. After all, he had never seen technology like it before.

“Oh, nothing,” Jet muttered.

Judging by the look on his face, it was considerably more than “nothing”. Wolfwood's eyes narrowed. Jet knew something he wasn't telling.

“Listen,” Jet began, “I want to ask you about something.”

Jet was interrupted by the sound of his communicator beeping. He answered it.

“Oh, God!” came Faye's frantic voice. “Jet! It's Spike! He-”

“TOUGH!” Jet shouted into the receiver before he hung up.

Wolfwood watched as the other man's face became stony. It sort of surprised him because Jet always seemed to be something like a housekeeper for the rest of the crew, considering the fact that he could cook and sew. But this was a different type of Jet.

“So, what're yougonna do?” Wolfwood asked him in a low voice.

Jet sat in the exact same spot for several seconds, rigid and unmoving. Finally, he got up and raced out of the ship shouting “Damnit!”, with Wolfwood following close behind.

Vash was running as fast as his legs could carry him. Somehow, he had lost track of Faye when she went into the opera building. He had been searching for her ever since, but he hadn't had any luck. He was getting worried, not only because Faye had disappeared but also because he himself was lost. Vash had almost lost all hope when he had spotted Spike in a crowd. He had lost sight of him several times, but now he was pretty sure he was on the right track. He could hear gunfire and explosions coming from the old church on the hill.

As Vash came up the slope, he smacked right into Faye, who immediately began to throttle him.

“Where-the-hell-were-you?” she hissed.

“Wha-” Vash managed to choke out.

“Where were you when I was kidnapped, dipshit?”

“I didn't know you were kidnapped!”

“Ugh! I asked you to protect me, and instead I got kidnapped!”

“It's not my fault you went off on your own!”

“Jackass!”

“What?”

“You heard me, you perverted SOB!”

The argument probably would have gone much further if the sound of breaking glass hadn't interrupted them both. Vash and Faye looked p at the cathedral. To their horror, Spike was falling out of the window!

They both rushed up in an attempt to save him, but as the top room where Spike had fallen from exploded, Spike landed with a sickening crunch. When they finally reached him, he convulsing violently, and there was a large shard of glass protruding from his chest. Each breath caused a spray of crimson.

Vash immediately knelt down beside Spike. He gently placed his warm, alive fingertips on Spike's forehead. He extended all his senses into Spike's body. The damage was horrible. Almost all his bones had been broken or crushed from the impact. He was bleeding internally in several locations, and the jagged shard of glass wasn't helping. Several of his rips had punctured his lung. It was a miracle he was still alive.

Vash knew what he had to do. He went beyond extending his senses now. He intertwined his senses with those of Spike's. Vash's body began to radiate a certain heat, and his body began to glow.

“What the hell are you doing?” Faye whispered.

Vash didn't answer. Everything he was had become devoted to the task at hand. Vash sent out warm, healing energy into Spike's ruined body. He gently coaxed the broken bones and torn tissues to mend. Spike's wounds began to knit together of their own accord, and the shard of glass was literally forced out of Spike's chest. His breathing became steady.

Vash lifted his hand away, drained, and the light faded. Spike was covered in his own blood, but other than that, he was fine. Vash looked up at Faye, who had a strange look on her face, a mix of awe, fear, and…relief?

He smiled weakly at her before the darkness lingering at the edges of his vision swallowed him whole.

A slight figure hung back in the shadows as the drama unfolded. The watcher smiled. The mission was a success.

The watcher contacted HQ.

“Were you successful?”

“Yes, Tatsujin (1). One of the two has been located. Shall I proceed?”

“No. Wait until the other has revealed himself.”

“Very well.”

The watcher closed the connection. A small smile twister her lips.

It looks like things are going to become interesting…Vash.

(1) Tatsujin means “master” in Japanese.

Whew! Yet another really long chapter. I hope it was worth the wait. I know everyone has bunches of questions now, like “Will Genesis Evolution become a major part of the story?” or “Who is the mysterious watcher (who is a woman, if you picked that up)? Or “How could you have possibly cut the chapter off right there?” Well, people, you'll just have to wait to find out, won't you?

Well, I have nothing more to say so I shall go now! Bye!

Love and Peace!