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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Two figures stood atop Mount Shann, peering down into the valley below, to the Double L. To the outside observer, it would have appeared that they would soon freeze to death, for neither was wearing clothes appropriate for the cold, but strangely, neither one so much as shivered. It was as though the cold did not affect them, as though they were something other than what they appeared.
The first figure, a man, wore a fine suit and tie, with a stovepipe top hat on his head. His suit was black, as was his bow tie. His hair was black as well, black as the night. His only facial hair, a well-groomed mustache, was black as well. Even his eyes glittered black, with a strange light that seemed evil at first but was more inquisitive and neutral the longer one stared at him.
He stood with his pale, white hands clasped thoughtfully behind his back, looking down at the ant-like forms of men in the valley below, breathing deeply and evenly as he did so. "Sister," he said to the second figure in an even, emotionless voice, as smooth as liquid silk. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"
The second figure took a step forward. This one was a woman. Although she was much shorter than the man, being downright petite in fact, she seemed even more imposing somehow.
She was dressed in the long, flowing robes of a nun, clothed entirely in black with only a belt of white rope around her waist. On her head, she wore a nun's bonnet that obscured her hair entirely, although wisps of a few coal-black strands peeked out and flapped in the icy wind like the wings of ravens. Like her companion, her eyes were such a dark brown hue they were nearly black, but unlike her companion, her skin was a dark, even shade of brown. Her face was wrinkled and ancient-looking, as though in her mind she held the wisdom of the ages.
"You know why I am here," the woman said, crossing her arms. "You know what must happen soon."
"I do," he replied, still refusing to look at her. "I've tried for decades to pretend it isn't coming, but one must reap what he sows eventually. Even me."
"We will be fine," she said soothingly, crossing her arms and smiling down into the valley. "They are all good people. I have made sure of that. We can trust them."
"Yes, I know," he replied. "I tested Arthur Morgan myself, remember?"
"Ah, yes," the woman laughed. "I seem to remember it being your fault Levi Cornwall got into his house the night Arthur Morgan shot him. None of them were able to figure out who left the window open for Mr. Cornwall to climb through."
"But they don't suspect my involvement," the man replied. "Everything went according to my plan. As I always do, I gave Arthur Morgan a choice. He made the one I honestly didn't expect him to make. It's always curious how humans react, don't you think?"
His sister shrugged and rested her hand on his back gently. "Maybe to you. But I know Mr. Morgan quite well. I knew he would make that choice. I told you there was no need to test him. I believe I scared him when I gave him the ultimatum about his life."
"Good," the man replied. "He should be scared. They all should be, and they would if they knew what's coming as you and I do. If they knew what will soon happen to my son."
"Your son is an inquisitive one," the woman complimented him, rubbing his back reassuringly. "He peers through time as though it is a telescope lens, observing as much as he can about the world he inhabits. He still has no idea you exist, but he has begun to correctly suspect as of late that he is not quite... human. Moving through time is too easy for him, much easier than it is on other humans. And he has become aware that he may have... abilities."
"God damn it," the man said under his breath. "Mixing between our kind and the humans has not happened before. If he did not inherit my abilities, time might have continued on normally. Now, I see we have no choice but to brace for the coming impact of what I did all those years ago, when my curiosity about human marriage got the better of me. I did not mean to create my son. I did not mean for his mother to have a child."
"But she did," the woman reminded him gently. "And there is no harm in admitting you loved her. She loved you, for what it is worth."
"I do not love," the man protested, his eyes narrowing. "I don't share your... optimism that we experience the same emotions as the humans. I've devoted my entire existence since becoming trapped here to observing their choices, and how they act, as well as judging the truly evil ones, like Herbert Moon, for their crimes."
"Herbert Moon," the woman scoffed angrily. She spat into the snow. "He deserved what he got."
"Exactly," the Strange Man replied. "But then, there are others, like John Marston, who I cannot seem to get a handle on no matter how much I try. In studying the humans, I have learned too much, and nothing at all. I expected John to make all the wrong decisions, based on what he'd done in the past, and he surprised me with his kindness at every turn."
The woman smiled. "Your son is a lot like you in that respect," she admitted. "He is inquisitive. He enjoys learning why people act the way they do. It was this curiosity that drew him to the study of psychology and medicine, after all. Dr. Francis Sinclair, they call him, and he has helped Arthur Morgan quite a lot with adjusting to everything that has happened to him."
"And his questioning will be all of our undoing," the Strange Man lamented, hanging his head. "When he inevitably tears a hole in reality, I... that shall be the day I learn to weep. Thank you for cleaning up my messes, Sister. I only hope they're all ready when the time comes for us to need them."
"Do not worry," Mother Superior Calderon said gently to her brother. "You are my family. If the humans have taught me anything, it is that family is one of the most important things there is. They will be ready when the time comes. I am sure of it."
"And my son?"
Her face fell. "He is ready also. There is nothing I can do to pull him from the terrible path he is on. He is addicted to traveling through time, just as we are, and nothing can dissuade him from that now. The dominos have already begun to fall."
"Then God help us all," The Strange Man said quietly.
Snow swirled around the two figures as though it were their own private blizzard. Two figures, not moving or blinking, as though they were frozen in time itself.
