Wild West, Bounty Hunting and Arthur Morgan.

To Be Alone.

A/N: Hey guys, I'm back. Don't worry I haven't given up on this or any other of my stories, but with the Christmas period being a time to be with family I wanted some time away from writing to enjoy the holiday and working at the same time made it too stressful to fit everything in. But I'm back now and got so many ideas for this story!

The ride back to camp was a blurry one for Elizabeth, she cried most of the way back as Epona took control of the ride and knew her way back to camp. The damp mud was an unwelcoming feeling and knowing she is somewhere she shouldn't be. She did not belong with this gang and her blindness of lust for Arthur made her blind to see the truth.

"Ah... Elizabeth welcomes back," Dutch says in his chipper voice, but she ignores him and goes straight to her room. Packing what little things she owned.

She cried as she packed her last bag, Abigail heard and peeked her head through the door. "Elizabeth?" she calls as she sees the woman hunched over the old, dusty dressing table.

"I'm leaving, don't tell anyone," Elizabeth says in her cold, broken voice. Abigail fully walks in at the moment and puts her hand on her shoulder. "Please," she warns as she brushes her hand off and turns around, showing her bloodshot eyes and deep tear marks down her cheeks.

"What happened? Did Arthur do something stupid?" Elizabeth nodded as she grabbed her hat and jacket, wanting to remain hidden as she left camp.

They both walked downstairs and around the back where no one usually went by, she whistled Epona over. "Just give him this," she says, passing Abigail a note. "Mary got what she wanted, she has him wrapped around her little finger and even I can't pull him away."

Abigail looked at the letter, it had rough writing of Arthur across the folded side. "Please give him a chance, Elizabeth. You'll break his heart if you leave."

She stopped hooking the last bag onto the saddle as she sighs and looks at the ground. "That didn't stop him from taking her side when she accused me of not being good enough for Arthur. I'm not cut out of this life anymore, I'm better off alone."

She climbed on the saddle, wiping the tears away as she looked down at her friend. "Be safe, all of you. If you need me, write to the Valentine sheriff office and keep it simple. I doubt he'd read it, but you never know."

"What do I say in Dutch? He will be so angry." Elizabeth nearly shrugged, she didn't care. Where she was going, no one would find her anyway.

"Just say the sheriff found me and I made a deal I'd leave if I was not to return to the gang anymore. You'll think of something." She looks out on the muddy swamp in front of her, "goodbye, Abigail," she mutters as she kicks Epona into a canter and rides off into the smog.

"Shit," Abigail mutters.

---

After getting Mary home and calming her down, Arthur finally laid all his cards on the table and told Mary to never contact him again. She needed to stay in the past from now on. He'd returned to camp, he was somewhat worried when he couldn't see Epona at her post. Elizabeth's threat of leaving didn't worry him at the time, but he was now panicking. Would she really leave him?

"Arthur!" Dutch roars as he storms over, Micah right behind him. "Where is that woman of yours?!" Arthur got down from his horse and shrugged his shoulders.

"I ain't sure, I've been busy and only saw her this morning." He knew he was lying, but Dutch didn't need to know that.

"She's gone, took all her things and that horse of hers and left!" Arthur's eyes opened wide, he pushed past them all and went up to their room.

Dutch was right, everything that wasn't Arthur's was gone, she even took their small collection of herbs they'd collected together on some hunting trips. "Shit, Abigail?" Arthur runs around the hall and barges into John's room. Abigail was sitting with Jack as he read her his book. She saw his pure panic and got up to pass him the letter that had been sitting on her nightstand for the last four hours.

"She left a few hours ago, didn't say where. But left you this," she whispers as she offers him an empathic smile and passes him the letter. Arthur snatched it from her and left the room, going back to his own and slumping down on his bed.

The tears were already falling before he even opened the letter, but as he started to read, his heart broke even more.

Arthur,

I'm sorry for leaving you like this, but I can't do this anymore. I thought your way of life was just murdering and hurting the poor. I was very wrong, you opened my eyes to a whole new world, but even that isn't enough for me to stay.

When I watched you with Mary, I had all my memories of Jackson cheating on me came back. He would see women behind my back and in public, I know you'd never do what he did, but you did not defend me when I needed you most.

Mary told me I was not good enough for you and you let it slide, I am yours. You should take my side.

I won't be back, I have enjoyed the time we spent together, but nothing is forever. Please keep safe and don't die.

Yours, Elizabeth.

Note- Please tell Dutch not to worry, I won't take any bounties against him or the gang, no matter what someone may pay me.

Arthur reread the letter four times before throwing it on the floor and dropping his face into his hands. What had he done? He had to find her, somehow. He packed his things to leave. Never in a million years would he ever think that he'd leave his gang and family, but Elizabeth was too important to him. He had to find her and bring her home.

Packing what he needed he went to speak to Hosea, not wanting to tell Dutch when the man was already going stir crazy as it was.

"Son, you alright?" Hosea asked as he looked at the depressed and tired face of Arthur. The younger man shook his head and passed the letter to Hosea.

"She's gone. She and Mary had an argument in Saint-Denis and I was the fool who took Mary's side." Hosea waited to finish reading before replying, he sighed and passed him the letter back.

"Oh, Arthur. It's the trouble of love, you do foolish things. I have many times with Bessie." Arthur lit a cigarette, letting the smoke burn the back of his throat as it calmed his nerves. "What are you going to do?"

"Find her," he simply says. "Dutch ain't going to know, tell him I've gone off again as I used to." Hosea stood up, patted Arthur's shoulder in sympathy.

"Do what you need to son, we will be here when you get back." Arthur threw the last of his cigarette into the mud and stood up, patting Hosea's shoulder before sneaking around the side of the camp to leave with his horse.

The first place to try was Rhodes, the chances of Elizabeth going there first were higher than Saint-Denis, she'd always hated big and loud towns. Arthur rode with a tightness to his body, he could only pray he'd find her before she was gone for good.

A/N: There we go, back on track! This one is definitely short, but I wanted to give you all something just so I can get the story back to the usual updating I did before. Until next time!