Arthur Morgan did not intend to survive when he gave his hat to John Marston and stayed behind to gain his redemption. As he crawled towards his final resting place, he never intended to wake up again.
But he does wake up. Thanks to time travelers F...
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Arthur was nose-deep in Mary-Beth's book when there was a knock on his door. Who could it be? If the blinds were open like they were now, usually the nurses just came in. Charles and Francis weren't fond of knocking either, although Arthur hadn't seen either of them since his fit of anger a few days ago. He'd discussed it with his doctors, and one of them suggested a medication to help with feelings of anxiety and depression. He had a sneaking suspicion that Charles had also told his doctors about Arthur expressing a desire to die, because the hospital staff seemed to be keeping a closer eye on him than usual lately.
"Who's there?" He rasped, closing the book.
"It's, um... It's Victoria Linton?" Answered a muffled female voice.
Arthur froze. He hadn't expected the Linton siblings to arrive so soon. "Come in," he called in a scratchy, raw voice. The door opened, and Arthur got his first look at the Lintons. They were both present, and Jackson followed his sister through the door cautiously. Neither one of them looked comfortable. Obviously they had no idea what to expect from Arthur.
Arthur, too, seemed to be a little bit shocked. Looking at the Lintons was like looking through a window into the past, for both good and bad reasons. It pained Arthur the more he observed them, because although they both had Mary's dark hair and kind eyes, Micah was also very present in their features. The horrible man's traits were there in the curve of a cheek and both siblings' heavy eyebrows. Although Victoria had the dark brown doe's eyes of her great-great grandmother, Jackson had Micah's steel-grey ones and the same substantial gut. He looked more like the rat than his sister, yet it was very disconcerting because of how pleasant and peaceful he appeared. Both Lintons seemed very kind. Despite his earlier apprehensions, Arthur began to calm down as Jackson settled himself into the armchair and Victoria chose to remain standing near the bed.
"Please call me Tori," she instructed Arthur, extending her hand. Arthur took it. Her skin was soft and pale like Mary's, and she had a similar light pattern of freckles on her cheeks. Really, the only thing she was missing was Mary's birthmark on her right cheek.
"It was you!" Arthur realized. "You read to me when I was in and out of consciousness at the beginning of my treatment." It all made sense. He thought it was Mary because she and Tori looked so similar.
"Yes," Tori replied, placing a hand gently on Arthur's forearm. "Dr. Sinclair came to us last year and explained about you. We didn't believe him at first, but then he took us forward in time by about an hour."
"I was thrilled," said Jackson from his seat. "Time travel? Are you kidding? I'd never lose money on beef cattle futures again. Then Dr. Sinclair told us about you, and we were both even more intrigued."
Arthur smiled at the man. "About me? I've been told you two kind of already knew who I was, so I ain't surprised."
"Are you kidding?" Tori laughed. "You're his idol. When he was researching that silly book of his, he spent by far the most time on your part of the story. We even wondered if maybe our great-great grandmother was wrong about who our great grandfather's father was. Mary talked about you often in her diary, so we thought it might have been you."
