Cowboy Bebop Fan Fiction ❯ The Sunset Risin' in Your Eyes ❯ The Darkest Hour ( Prologue )

The Sunset Risin' in Your Eyes

Uhm….yeah…my first Cowboy Bebop fic…..be nice. ^.^

Faye slumped on the scratched bar table as she gulped the shot of vodka down that had been placed in front of her. It was a horribly seedy bar but she knew the bartender. She shook as she by accident rested her biggest bruise on the table top and a lance of pain shot through her face. She was very injured, she wasn't sure she would make it home tonight. It didn't matter, she was just coasting on, not really living; she hadn't been living on the inside since the day Spike died. She used the amazing amount of alcohol she had downed tonight to dull the pain. But she was strong, she'd make it another day, unfortunately.

"Jesus Faye! What happened to your face?" Jack, the bartender's voice cut through her alcohol induced haze remarkably well. She cringed; she really didn't want to remember what had happened today. One of her regulars had gotten way to rough; she had barely made it out of his apartment. She had at least one broken rib, a sprained wrist, a collar of bruises, some thing wrong with her ankle and numerous other cuts and bruises. Normally she had to put up with a nominal amount of abuse, but this was too far. The left side of her face only had a shiner, but the right side..... well, you could barely see her features through the veneer of bruises and crusted blood.

"Leave me 'lone." She grabbed her purse and stumbled back to the crappy apartment she was about to be evicted from. She didn't really care. She was alone, she snorted bitterly, Spike had died, Bebop had disbanded, and she had been alone, again. She fumbled with her purse until she finally found her keys amid the pills and other things.

She opened the door and before turning the lights on she locked the door, or attempted to; she was very drunk and her normally fast reflexes were basically shot. After fumbling with that for awhile, she gave up; she didn't even turn on the light, she collapsed on the sofa.

"Hey Faye." She jumped and looked at the familiar face.

"Spike?" She stared for a second, she must have been more drunk then she thought.

"Return to the alcohol induced haze whence you came." She shifted on the couch, until she was facing the hallucination fully.

"Shit Faye! What happened to your face?" She couldn't figure out why he was so concerned. She frowned at him.

"It happens in my line of work."

"You're still bounty hunting?" He sounded surprised, she wondered about, he seemed so real, but he was dead! Besides, the real Spike wouldn't care about her. But if it was just a hallucination, wouldn't it know about her life? She crinkled her brow then decided to just answer his question, she wasn't going anywhere anyway. She snorted and gave a bitter bark of laughter. She spread her hands.

"No. Meet Faye Valentine, cheap slut in more then just name now." He looked slightly shocked. She turned over curled in to the couch, inhaling the sickly sweet smell of dried alcohol and the smoky fragrance of cigarettes; he'd be gone in the morning. All of her alcohol hallucinations disappeared with the morning light. She fell into a pit of nightmares; and relinquished her tenuous hold on reality.

~@~@~@~@~@~@~

Pain, a throbbing pain that screamed at her head. She moaned and rolled over, thereby rolling of her sofa and on to the hard floor.

"Uuuh...." She moaned as she rolled over again, opening old aches and more recent wounds.

"Drink this." She took the glass offered from the anonymous person and drank the small glass in one gulp. She rubbed her eyes, and knew she must look like crap. Her hair was matted all over her head, her makeup smeared, her body covered in wounds of all sizes, her eyes bloodshot and her oily and stringy.

"You really fucked yourself over Faye." She nodded in agreement at the person who possessed a familiar voice which she just couldn't place. She stared up and he swore.

"Shit Faye your face is worse in direct light!" She snorted.

"You mean you can just see my cuts better." The pain had started to ebb from her head after drinking the spicy concoction and now it was down to a dull throb. And it was only throbbing with rest of her body as background noise, so she could stand it.

She rubbed the bridge of her nose and tried to remember what had happened last night. She remembered stumbling into her apartment then she blanked, maybe she had passed out? She wondered. Then she remembered, someone was in her apartment! She looked up at the person who had offered her the drink, and froze.

"SPIKE!?!"

Uhm yeah….*looks slightly embarrassed* that was just the prologue so please, bear with me.