Devastation

*(*

He kissed me, and I kissed back…what is going to happen now? Does this icicle actually have feelings for me, or does he just want to get in my pants? My lips are still warm from the unique sensation that tingled through my body when we kissed. I don't know; I really don't know how I feel about him either. Do I love him? Am I just lonely in need of company? Is it because…he…reminds me of Spike a small bit? I bite my lip, only to wince slightly from the bruise on my jaw from Bruce. I help Vicious' beaten body to its feet and he manages to stand.

All I know is that I am worried, whether I like it or not.

"We have to go now." I hear Vicious speak lowly, although above a whisper, his voice is fading fast. I feel my head throb, I have a bad concussion no doubt, but I came out pretty good compared to Vicious. I feel his blood spurt onto me as he turns his body to pick up, and sheathe his katana. I don't know where my gun is, but it doesn't matter. I look at Vicious' profile as we walk from the room side by side; I am trying to support some of his weight by looping my arm around him.

"We are going to need a distraction, I have an idea." I grin slightly; I am not out of tricks yet. His gray eyes turn towards mine and I try hastily to hide my slight anxiety; his eyes widen a marginal millimeter and glance back towards the long hallway ahead of us. Although I am trying to ignore it, the pain in my head is making me feel very sleepy. I shake myself awake and realize if we are to have the slimmest chance of survival, both of us need to be walking.

"Faye?! Vicious!" I whip around to the reassuring sound of Shin's voice. I brighten slightly as I realize that he is ok. I feel Vicious tense up, He obviously does not like the fact that Shin is still breathing.

"Shin! Listen, I am going to need your help to make a distraction." Shin's teal eyes widen as he comes towards me and hugs me. I am taken aback, I wasn't expecting this. I shove him off of me and I see his eyes register hurt, but right now I could careless I just want to get out of here in one piece.

"I don't need Shin's or your goddamn help; I didn't want you to come here in the first place. Leave me alone wench." Vicious' cold voice cuts through Shin and I like a cold knife. I roll my eyes and throw up my hands as I free myself from Vicious' weary hold. I glare back at him and sneer.

"If you don't want our fucking help then fine! Unless you want to die here, then just wait here and Shin and I will distract some guys so you can fucking escape!" I narrow my eyes as I turn on a heel away from the silver-haired jackass and yank Shin behind me like a puppy. I have almost forgotten about my headache as thoughts of strangling Vicious bare-handedly fly through my mind.

He thinks he is so high and mighty; he doesn't need help from me. Fine, I knew I shouldn't have come here in the first place! To think he kissed me too! I hear Shin's footsteps behind me thump on the carpet and I am reminded of my head-ache. I reluctantly slow down to a walk. I notice that Shin comes beside me and puts a friendly hand on my shoulder.

"Don't let the bastard get to you…he isn't worth it. Tell me your plan." I really try not to roll me eyes again and bite his head off at how Vicious couldn't have gotten to me in the first place, but I decided against it. It's just not the right time to be bitching right now. I run a frustrated hand through my tangled locks and look at his teal eyes. I realize now that he is holding his hand in his jacket.

"Shin did you get shot?" He frowns and stiffens to hide it more but now I notice the large red stain beneath his jacket. I gasp faintly and he chuckles lightly.

"It's nothing, I had a run-in with Daemon, Bruce's younger, more insane brother, but he ran off somewhere. Now tell me why are we going to the west end of the building?" Shin grumbles as we hike over some rubble that wasn't cleared out all the way. I sigh as I dismiss Daemon from my thoughts and began to wonder if Vicious had really stayed put or ran off.

"I need you to shoot a hole those gas pipes at the West end to make an explosion. Just wait when I yell 'Now' and shoot like hell." I notice the exit way is still being guarded by that guy. Luckily, Shin is with me so we exited without as much as a confused look. I immediately notice that the number of Syndicate troops have not gone down, but risen. The outside area, dimly lit parking lots, weaponry shacks and grass lots with security cameras, are being patrolled and teams of people flooding into the doorways behind us equipped with large metal boxes and wire. 'What in the hell is going on; people are running around like idiots!'

We try to avoid most of the traffic by traveling away from the parking lots littered with zip crafts, cars, and units of Syndicate members trying to get their next orders. 'Why are they all outside?' I ponder as Shin and I walk very quickly to the gas pipes that surface above ground.

"Faye these aren't natural gas pipes, they are gasoline pipes for refueling the zip crafts and cars, but it will work either way. Just what are you planning? This explosion on its own won't hold the syndicate's attention for too long." I grin as I tug on my gold bracelet and activate the autopilot on the Red tail. I see the RedTail, spiral upwards in the air a good thirty yards and come zooming towards me. The Syndicate members turn towards the oncoming zip craft and lock on their guns.

"Shin, shoot the gas line on my mark." I sprint a few yards away from Shin and the gas lines towards the Northern end of the building. The Syndicate men begin to shoot the RedTail full of holes until it catches a small fire in the right engine. I inwardly wince; I really do like my RedTail. The fire on the zip craft grows and it looses altitude rapidly near the gas lines. Shin clicks the safety on his pistol.

"Now!" I yell, from a safe distance from the gas line and the syndicate members. He shoots the gas line and it catches fire and explodes followed by another immediate super explosion caused by the Redtail. Tongues of torched metal and flame lash out and begin to burn all the grass, and cars around it. No Syndicate members are focusing on it though…they are all staring at the compound. Shin turns and his eyes widen as I see a lanky, ebony pony-tailed man with razor eyes smirk. He presses a button on a remote and my heart stops beating.

The entire compound begins to erupt as all the units and Shin and I sprint away from the collapsing structure. Confusion is everywhere I hear men Shouting "Where is our Leader Blade?", "Why didn't Blade trigger the C-4?", "Wasn't Vicious, the old leader in there?" and, "Isn't Bruce second in command?" As dust, powder, crumbled concrete and glass soar through the once crisp night air; I begin to go numb.

"Vicious was in there, I left him in there. I told him to wait there. It's all my fucking fault, I didn't know that they would bomb their own building!" Tears slip like forgotten music notes as I collapse to the grassy ground which is covered in gray ash, glass and charred metal. I shard of glass rips through the air and slices my upper left arm as other debris flies from the explosion. I look behind me as I see the building is now a mass of twisted rubble. Halos of men are ringed dead on the ground because shards of glass impaled them as the building exploded. The blood trickles but I don't feel the pain.

I feel as if someone just turned out all the lights, as if someone tore out my heart and put it into a deep freezer. I want to scream and pull out all my hair; I want to take Shin's gun and shoot that bastard who did this. Vicious' portrait flashes though my mind like a despairing slide show, each time I realize that I will never hear his cold, fluid voice again. I'll never look into his gray eyes searching for an answer I thought he'd have. I'll never be able to feel his lips upon mine again; even if the kiss was short lived it was one of the best I have received. I felt warm and…alive when he kissed me, even more so than before Spike died. I pound my fist in the burnt grass; I feel so empty. I feel as if nothing matters anymore. Was this what Spike felt? No…this can't be this hurts too much. I hurt so much that I am numb. My stomach flips and I feel myself getting dizzy.

I see Shin run towards me, but I don't even bother recognizing his presence.

"Faye…I had no Idea Daemon was going to blow up the compound or I would have told Vi-" I cut him off.

"Shin…just don't. Don't ever speak his name." I choke out a sob as Shin kneels down bedside me and put an arm around my cold shoulders. I look up at him and his teal eyes are softened, I don't know whether Shin liked Vicious or not, or perhaps he just hates seeing girls cry. Does it really matter either way? I mean, I…I just helped in killing the one person who made me feel whole, before I got to tell him how much he meant to me.

"Faye we need to get out of here. What Daemon has just done is not anything we want to be apart of." I feel him half-pick me up, my feet just move in rhythmic patterns, unaware of where we are headed or what we are doing. Shin's body radiates warmth, but I am too numb to feel it. We walk off the grass to the asphalt and Shin moves his way over to his zip craft. The metal on the side of the door is scorched a bit and there are dings and dents in the metal everywhere.

"Shin…take me to Bebop. I need just a small rest." With that Shin smiled sadly, his slanted teal eyes showed welcome empathy, as lifted me unsteadily into the back seat of his three passenger zip craft.

Because of my concussion, I begin to fall asleep as soon as he gets in the drivers seat. The last thing I remember is some of Vicious' last sets of words 'Why do you care?' and I respond in a slurred whisper, "Because I love you."

~*~

I step outside into the still humid Martian air and look into the distance and see a zip craft being shot at by the syndicate, a blue zip craft…Shit…it's Faye's. She is capable pilot though; I am sure she can escape, pick up Shin, and have a great life together. I frown at the mere thought of his name…She was so friendly towards him; she wanted me to stay behind so she could go with Shin. After all, he was the one who saved her from Bruce the first time, her knight in rusted chivalrous armor. I shake my head and my hair interrupts the air around me as I blink. Her zip craft is headed straight towards the fueling pipes. I watch in hapless horror as the slow motion of the fuel pipes combusting from under the damaged zip craft creates a large explosion.

I can't believe it; that was Faye's zip craft that just got shot down. My gray eyes widen as I see the explosion made by the small blue zip craft; there was no way she could have survived that. My blood begins to boil and my eyes sharpen into slits, they killed her, and she was in fact distracting them for me. Time has once again frozen, but this time there will be no thawing. My chest clenches in an awkward way as I experience an emotion that I have not felt in so long, regret. I turn from the southern entrance that I came out of a few moments ago and begin to walk back, katana drawn, shining ominously in the pale moon-glow.

They will pay with their blood.

I'll make sure they'll regret the day

They shot down my fiery Faye.

Right as I was about to lop off the first guy's head I saw, not caring if a million others came and shot me down, I deafening explosion shook the ground and I witnessed the Red Dragon Syndicate compound shouting in pain and combusting its smoldering innards across the parking lots and grass. I cover my face with my arm incase any glass was to imbed itself in my face before I had the time to kill someone. A feel a piece of debris wiz by my head speedily. My grip on the katana tightens as my knuckles crack with rage, all the people around me were killed by the glass shards.

This is my doing. I never should have gotten involved with her; I should have learned from Julia that emotions are the things that kill you softly. Faye was not like Julia, though; the feeling I get when I picture Faye's smiling face in my head, is stronger. I make a deep, shallow smile. I feel as if when I look at her that nothing else is existing; just us. My lips are even still warm from the slightest kiss. Yet, my body was cold when I laid with Julia.

I notice out of the corner of my eye, throughout all the confusion, Daemon. He is walking slowly, yet confidently, to a new zip craft, smirking all the way. He was the one who blew up the syndicate compound, who else would have the drastic reason to do that? Daemon is no fool, he knows exactly what he is doing…he is starting a mass upheaval in the syndicates; he is completing what Blade could not. He is feeding off of the frustration of the failed assassination attempts to make his own tyranny, and he started by blowing up any remnants of the old, and creating a new. I look about the genocide around me, people are wounded, people are dying, Faye is dead. I grit my teeth, this idiot…the consequences for his radical 'cleansing' revolution as cost me something. Perhaps the only thing I had in this world.

My stomach twists into heavy knots as I limp away from the compound and out the gate towards where I parked my sip craft. I don't feel numb; I don't feel like I should. I feel as if something inside of me has been torn open and buzzards feed upon my flesh while I am still living. I turn my lips into a tight frown as my vision grows ever blurry. I don't like this feeling, regret, loss, despair...I am not supposed to have them. I just wanted to die, to end the cycle of being caught in shadows, only being blinded by light and burned by Julia's fire when I exited the shadows.

The cycle changed, all because of Faye. She is the bounty hunter who didn't know when to not interfere on Callisto, who didn't know which buttons not to press, who didn't know that betraying me was a grave mistake. Yet, she died for me. And it shouldn't have been this way. I should have been strong enough not to need her distraction. My gray eyes narrow as I try to focus on my zip craft, my legs not being able to support my weight any longer. I collapse next to it, my katana clatters to the asphalt clumsily as I am barely aware of emergency vehicles speeding towards the compound. All I can see are her shimmering emerald eyes, and knowing that I will never see the same two ever again. I feel what is left of my blood heat up and swim in an emotion that the syndicate has taught me not to have…sorrow.

"There is nothing worth believing in this world…now." I close my eyes, what do I do now? I accomplished my vengeance on my family, now what do I do? My honor and integrity are screaming at me through screens of guilt…Sacrifices are not meant to be in vain, no matter who or what the terms were. My lips curl slightly upwards in realization, I will keep on living, maybe just for a few more months. I'll keep surviving, I will live. Not for my honor, integrity or my quest for power, but for the one person who taught me something. Faye taught me what it is like to be cared about without personal gain or treachery.

I can't frown upon that, no matter how much cold syndicate training I've had.

I faintly hear a zip craft fly high over me then the pounding of footsteps on the asphalt coming towards me. I groan slightly as I am flipped onto my back and checked for a pulse. I hear yelling of a woman and I open my hopeful eyes to see a middle-aged brown-haired nurse screaming for a stretcher and an emergency life support vehicle.

I frown, for an almost peaceful moment I thought I had woken up and realized it has all been a dream and Faye was still alive. I feel my body being hosted onto a padded surface and a breathing device on my mouth. My eyelids grow regretfully heavy and I sink into a dark, nightmare. I realize that nightmares are things I never want to have again, as I picture her in my head one last time.

I recall some of her last few words to me 'I don't like to see you get hurt' and I lowly reply, "Neither do I."

-there is only you to answer-

*(*

So, how did you like it? Was the ending ok? I sure hope so…it was a horrible thing to write, but I think it came out really well. I am thinking of posting an epilogue chapter but it will depend if you guys want one or not. So review or email me if you want an epilogue otherwise wait till the next part and it will be a prologue.

Also…in the next part I am fiddling with the idea of Shin having his own POV in the next part…if there are any Shin fans out there holla back….XD

I am sorry if the ending is too angst but there is a whole new part coming up, don't worry *^^* I will still be using the last bits of song lyrics for the endings of my chapters; it is a nice way to tie everything together.

Yes I am still grounded…stupid rents. Anyway if you have any suggestions for the next part email me or review it doesn't matter which.

I will be taking a break from writing the next part to make room for my Xover Inuyasha/tenchi muyo fic. I doubt anyone will read it but it is worth a try…right?

And also I would love your input as if this is a good Vicious/Faye fic or not. I have seen a few out there and by your stand point I just want to know if I did a good job or not. Writing in first person for Vicious is hard though…grrrr.

Anyway here are R2Rs like a promised! XD

*Holds sign that says 'welcome back Satan'* you reviewed for my last chapter and it made my day! Thank you everyone who has dutifully reviewed my Fic I love each review and I am glad I have such neat reviewers.

*rummages through black-hole purse* Aha! * pulls out lots of candy* yes the awards for reviewing are: being rained upon by starbursts and tagalong girl-scout cookies! *yum gets an umbrella* tagalong girl-scout cookies should have their own block in the food pyramid, I say 3-5 servings a day at least!! XP

Pimpin satan ~ im tired so this respond is going to be brief, *huggles* im so glad you came back to the world of the living! Thanx for reviewing and I hope you like the chapter!

DJ destiny~ thanx for the support, I am glas you liked that ending I didn't know where to end it so im glad you liked it

Tessa ~ thanx a bunch! Im glad you like the V/Fs

Moon whisper~ yeah they kissed I am glad I let them kiss in that chapter it was one of my better ideas

kajouka don't worry about me not writing cause I always will! And I never would have thought that vicious would be someone elses fav character too..he got bad air time...poor guy. Yeah sorry my grammar sux.

Azly-chanI decided to skip vicious POV and do a whole vicious POV that next chapter, I thought it would work out best that way. I don't know anything about guns so sorry if I disappointed you in the artillery category XD thanks for the reviews and I am sorry if I don't update that quick...its hard for me...anyway cant wait for your fic!

insomni maniac~ im glad you like my fighting scenes you have built up my self confidence totally and can I have some of your reisens? Man I love those things so much and fruit roll ups they are also really tasty. Thank you for calling me a goddess I would have never thought this story is a borderline obsession, It makes me feel so warm inside! Im sorry you had such a bad day at work with guys pinching your ass...im glad my update helped and of course I would never take *you write all treat you right* wrongly....XD your reviews are always making me laugh.

Bengali~ that wasnt a stupid encounter/rescue was it? I hope not...it better not. I hate writing cliche things so I tried to make this as non stupid as possible...hehehe. I am sorry about grammar and tenses, I need to work on those but I hope you like it anyway!

Samina~ I hope that battle scene was the one you were hoping for. I was hard to write without going over the rating. Im happy with it though! And I don't get bonzai either...they die on me...my mom named her bonzai ho chi mihn...shows how my family is messed up. And I know but Vicious had to teach Jet a lesson and how much better can you get by killing his bonzai?

Sorry if these respond reviews are horrible and I missed someone I am still grounded and its incredibly late. I am so glad you guys reviewed my story they all mean a whole bunch me cause my life is sucking right now.*showers everyone in more cupcakes*

Tell me what you think about the epilogue and Shin!

~your *chocolate loving* buddy L.O.H.