Two Dragons
is a Cowboy Bebop fanfic by SolidSocialistShiba. Divided into five "acts," the story takes place in an Alternate Universe in which Spike found himself unable to leave the Red Dragon syndicate. As Spike's blood brother Vicious enacts his ultimate scheme, Spike is trapped in a web of deception and death.
You're gonna carry those tropes:
- Adaptation Expansion: The story goes into more on the Red Dragon's business practices, Lin and Shin's characterizations, and Spike and Julia's romance.
- Alternate Universe: The premise of the fic is that Spike didn't leave the syndicate at all, much less join the Bebop crew. The story deals with the ramifications of that choice.
- Ambition Is Evil: Expected of a story focusing on The Syndicate, Vicious being the power-hungry psychopath he is causes much of the turmoil with his obsessive need to keep fighting and climbing up in the underworld.
- Ascended Extra: Mao Yenrai has an increased role in the story, at least before Vicious kills him.
- The Bad Guy Wins: Vicious claims power over the Red Dragon, drives the slums of Tharsis to constant violence, and kills everyone around him before finally dying, but only after mortally wounding Spike in their final clash. It's not a happy ending, to say the least.
- Blood Knight: As per usual, Vicious is on the prowl for a greater challenge in combat, sating himself by killing scores of enemies of the Red Dragon while harboring a scheme to make his best friend/rival Spike face him in one final outing of carnage.
- Combat Breakdown: The final fight between Spike and Vicious starts with both parties landing a clean shot with their respective weapon of choice. Then, despite being injured, they engage in a martial arts brawl, using elaborate feints and tactics. This is followed by them fighting down a set of stairs, which gets increasingly brutal as they start falling down them. By the end, the two are barely clinging to life, each one using any dirty trick and any measure to try and just plain kill the other, not even caring about their own safety.
- Dirty Coward: The Van are referred to as such at multiple points. Sitting safely in their headquarters while ordering their minions to kill and conquer on their behalf. Vicious is utterly disgusted with them what with his darwinistic beliefs.
- Domestic Abuse: Averted with the heartless Vicious, while he makes it clear he doesn't care about his girlfriend, he's more aloof and cold to her, never hitting or verbally putting her down. He's pragmatic and she's a tool. He might be a complete bastard but he won't beat his partner in a show of rage.
- Downer Ending: While Vicious's reign of terror ends when Spike kills him, Vicious arranges Julia and Annie's deaths, mortally wounds Spike in a climactic battle, and the Red Dragon falls while Tharsis's slums have fallen into war. The only consolation is that Spike gets to see his last Mars sunrise, one of the few things that can make him truly happy.
- Evil vs. Evil: The first half of the story deals with the conflict between Vicious and the Van, the former an ambitious Sociopathic Soldier and the latter a group of mob boss Smug Snakes. Vicious throws a successful coup in the third part, becoming Big Bad proper in doing so.
- Eye Scream: In the final clash, Spike slashes Vicious's eyes out.
- Frontline General: Vicious is mentioned to personally lead his men on raids when he takes over the Red Dragon, noted for his great tactical skill and quickly claiming more territory in the slums for his faction.
- Killed Offscreen:
- Technically Mao dies this way, lured into a trap by Vicious and later dying in a hospital bed while the staff are unable to save him. One of the doctors informs the heroes afterwards.
- Vicious merely thinks to himself he should having Annie killed. Spike and the audience know it's a deed he's had done but we never see it happen..
- Mook Horror Show: Twice over, both at the hands of Vicious.
- During the attack on the Swimming Bird nightclub, Vicious wipes out the entire enemy force singlehandedly, hunting down the sole straggler and drawing out the pursuit before finally slashing his throat.
- When the White Tigers attack Mao's funeral, they freeze in terror at the discovery that Vicious is waiting for them, and are unceremoniously killed at Vicious's hand.
- Mood Whiplash:
- Act IV seems to be going lighter with Spike and Julia finally having sex and agreeing to leave the syndicate, complete with them comically insulting Vicious beforehand. Then? Vicious finds out about this, and is not pleased. What ensues is Vicious proving just how terrifying he can be.
- After Spike and Julia are assigned one last mission before they leave, they spend the ride there talking about how stupid their previous actions were and once again making fun of Vicious, joking about how moody he is and how elaborate his plans are. Then, they discover that he intends to make them murder one another. Then the tone becomes hopeful when they resolve not to kill each other... only for a group of Red Dragon soldiers to show up and gun down Julia.
- Mythology Gag:
- It's mentioned that a cop arrested the "Mad Pierrot," the villain of an episode of Cowboy Bebop.
- Julia's last words to Spike are "you're gonna carry that weight," a set of symbolic Arc Words from the original anime.
- The nightclub Mao and Vicious hold a meeting in is the "Swimming Bird" club, "Swimming Bird" being a recurring title of Spike's in the original show.
- When Spike slashes Vicious's eyes, the narration describes him as crying "tears of scarlet," a reference to the one-liner provided when Vicious killed The Van in canon.
- A reference to the otherwise unmentioned 2021 show appears when the character of "Santiago" is mentioned as having been killed. Santiago is a minion of the Red Dragon whose main claim to fame was eating a man's testicles.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Vicious is still named Vicious of course and remaining a terrifying, bloodthirsty swordsman, it's one he's earned.
- The Unfettered: Vicious doesn't feel an ounce of guilt for all the murder he's responsible for and even pondering killing his best friend or having his girlfriend killed equate to nothing but stepping stones for him.
- Warrior Poet: Vicious is equal parts killing machine and philosopher, at one point he even delivers a Hemmingway quote to a fleeing mook he's cutting down.
