Until Death - Red Dead Redemption II

Act XXIX: I'll Find Them

Jack and Arthur were out for once. They'd rode out to find some sage. Sean was actually cooking for once and needed some.
"There," Jack said, tapping Arthur on the back so he stopped the horse. The two walked over to the plants and picked several of them. Stuffing them into their bags.

On their way home, however, Arthur stopped once more, sitting down with Jack on the top of a cliff. A beautiful view of the mountains and lakes. Everything. All of the country they inhabit.
"What do we do now?" Arthur asked, looking over at his husband curiously.
"Whatchu mean?" He asked,
"You wanna move somewhere? What do ya wanna do for the rest of our lives?" Arthur asked, throwing a pebble off the cliff.
"I don't know. Move somewhere far away. Live off the land." Jack thought out loud, "How 'bout you?"
"Don't know either, I kinda like where we are now. Feels good." Arthur smiled, "But I need you to promise me something."
"What?"
"Never try and take yourself out ever again. No matter what." Arthur begged,
"I can't promise that." Jack sighed.
"I don't care if I leave or something other. Don't ever try and kill yourself. Please." Arthur asked, pleading.
"Arthur I couldn't live without you. I don't want to live without you. I've got nothin' else in this word. If I hadn't met 'chu I might have ended it long ago. Life terrifies me, Arthur. It's so cold, so bleak. It's all so draining," Jack sniffled, "Sometimes it's all just too much, life I mean. But you make it bearable. Yer all I got. You were like a light at the end of a tunnel. I spent so long alone. So much time sufferin' and you were my ticket to somethin' better than that. Sounds so pathetic when I say it out loud. Sounds like I'm guilting you into stayin' with me. But it's the truth. Wish it wasn't but it is. You don't know how hard it was. How much pain I have inside of me. How much sadness. But when I'm with you it all fades away. I cannot do without you, Arthur. You're my world. And to not have you in it is the end of my world."

Arthur didn't know what to say. He'd just given him so much to process, and all he could think was just how much he wanted to stay with him until his final breath. This is the man he chose. Chose to live with. Chose to fight with. Arthur knows though. He knows that if Jack left... he might do the same thing. Jack was the only thing keeping him alive after the fight. Arthur wanted to lie in a hole alongside Hosea and the others.

But Jack made him realize he had things to fight for. Things in this world are still there for him. Things that make it better.
"I don't know what to say, only thing I can think of is I love you," Arthur mumbled, Jack wiping a tear from his cheek.
"I love you so much." Jack cried, holding Arthur close.

As they did, however,
"Look at these queers!" Someone shouted, coming out of nowhere. Jack and Arthur turned around to see four men all looking down at them with pistols.
"What'd you just say?" Jack asked, taking out his knife and holding it by his side silently.
"You heard me. Both of you's." One of the men laughed.
"You threatening' me? Us?" Arthur asked, the men scoffing at his question.
"Why? What'r ya gonna do about it? Cry on us?" The man smirked.

Out of nowhere seemingly, Jack jumped at the men. Taking down the closest one before he could even fire his gun, stabbing him in the head. The knife broke through his skull. The others gasped and Arthur shot one of them through their eye, the other one being shot enough times to send him to the floor.

The last man began to run, if that's what you wanna call it as he was easily caught by Arthur.
"C'mon, I'm just a queer. Look who's cry in' now huh?" Arthur mumbled, carrying the man over to the edge of the cliff, and holding him over it.
"Please! Please I don't do it again have mercy!" The man begged, snot running down his face as he cried.
"What is that you called us?" Jack asked, kneeling down in front of the man.
"Q-Queer..." the man stuttered.
"Stick a finger in yerself," Jack demanded, Arthur's eyes widening,
"W-what?" The man asked.
"Take yer fingers and put one in your ass," Jack said. A blank stare came across his face.
"Are... you serious?" The man asked,
"Arthur pull him up," Jack said, Arthur obliged but only out of morbid curiosity.

As the man was pulled to the ground Arthur kept his gun trained on him.
"Strip," Jack said. Standing by, looking at the man without remorse.
"Bu-t I c-"
"If you don't take off yer clothes right now I'll rip your head right off yer goddamn neck I swear to god," Jack shouted.

The man began to undo his suspenders, he was an ugly man. In every sense of the word. Jack didn't want to see him naked, nobody did. But maybe this'll make him feel just as they do. Or something else. Revenge is fun. Turning the tables always feels good.

The man took off his garments, standing in his union suit. "Everything you bastard," Arthur said, joining in. The man then did as he was asked, standing nude in the middle of the forest. This wasn't a particularly off-the-road path. It's well utilized and many people come around here.

Jack then balled up the man's clothes, and without another word, he tossed them off the cliff.
"No!" The man yelled,
"We ain't done yet. Put a finger in yerself." Jack demanded, with nothing else to do besides oblige the man took his pointer finger and pushed it inside whatever mess he's got going on back there. He didn't wash himself well. You can smell his dick from several feet away. Not to mention his ass.

With that Jack and Arthur left. Leaving the man alone, nude, and violated by his own hand. Maybe he'll think again before hollering at someone. Not to mention Jack made sure to shoot a few rounds around the man's horse. So now the horse ran off. He's now stranded too.
"Was that too much?" Jack asked, them galloping away.
"Eh. Who cares." Arthur hummed,
"I just realized somethin'."
"What?"
"We haven't found the camp base," Jack said.

The two had actually completely forgotten about the camp, and their plan to take it down. Between the marriage and the fight, they spaced it.
"Oh shit, that's right," Arthur said, looking at the sky.
"How the hell do we find them?" Jack asked.
"Leave that to me." Arthur exclaimed, "c'mon let's go home."