Forged in Brotherhood | Arthur x John

Chapter 1: Colter Part 3

Summary:

John wakes up disoriented and "trapped" in a cabin. Arthur and Dutch visit, discuss a train robbery, and Dutch denies John's request to join them, much to John's dismay.

Notes:

I always find it challenging to match the original characters' personalities, so bear with me as I learn. This process helps me better understand the characters and their personalities.

In this section, I decided to diverge a bit from the original canon. While my plan is to keep the Colter chapter as true to the game as possible, I found the hunting scene with Arthur and Charles to be somewhat unexciting upon re-reading. I felt it didn't add much to the story, so I decided to change things up by writing this part from John Marston's point of view. This takes place during the time when Arthur and Charles are out hunting. 

Enjoy!

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Chapter 1: Colter Part 3

Pain and numbness. That's all he can feel. He can't open his eyes, can't move his body. He knows he's lying down; it's cold, but there's something draped over him, keeping him somewhat warm. There's a strange sensation on one of his eyes, and his left hand feels heavy—someone is holding it. He starts to hear sounds, but he can't open his eyes yet. He's not in control of his body.

He hears a woman, a voice he can recognize. Abigail. She's talking to him, more in a whisper, as if she doesn't want him to hear her words yet wants him to know she's by his side. That damn woman. He's shown her, warned her so many times that he ain't the right partner, yet here she is, still by his side, even after he left her with Jack for a whole goddamn year.

Why didn't Abigail understand him? He doesn't want anything to do with the little boy. The boy isn't even his yet she still insist it's his, it's not.

He clasps his eyes tightly together, feeling like he can slowly move his body. Something hurts, a deep ache running down his body. His face starts tingling, and he feels something pulling on it. He lets out a little groan of pain and discomfort. He hears Abigail gasp and immediately cling to his face, yet not letting go of his hand. He feels her touching him with her delicate fingers.

John?

John?

When he opens his eyes slowly, he's blinded. By what? Darkness? It's not that light here, yet it's too bright. After a few blinks, he finally can sort of see his surroundings, though it's still a little blurry. As he moves his head a little to the left, he sees Abigail, her face. It's the first thing he sees. Yet, something in him feels disappointed, but for what?

He moves his lips, and he hears words tumble out—his words—but he doesn't understand what he says until he says it. "What happened? Where am I?"

John sees worry, relief, concentration, guilt, and so many other emotions in Abigail's eyes. They are a whole rollercoaster. He looks away from her, taking in his surroundings as the blurriness fades. He's in a wooden cabin. There is a small fireplace lit, but it's still cold, considering Abigail is quite warmly dressed.

Right.

They're in the snowy mountains.

He starts to remember. He remembers being attacked by wolves. His horse died; he remembers that too. Poor horse. He remembers hearing gunshots. He was happy to hear them yet scared, hoping it wasn't O'Driscolls, but then he saw Arthur. Arthur was inspecting his face until their eyes met. Arthur picked him up; it hurt. He remembers Javier. He remembers seeing wolves again while on Arthur's shoulder, but he heard three gunshots, and the wolves were dead. Arthur had always been strong. Then it felt bumpy; he was on the back of Javier's horse. He thought he was going to die. He felt weak and sick. He lost so much blood, and the cold wasn't really helping.