A Smile That Hides Pain (Karina x Male Reader)

Flashback: Redemption

Jeon POV

I put my hat back on as I walked up the hill. "I'm coming with you. I'm gonna get you out of this bullshit if it's the last goddamn thing I do!" I said as me and Jin started to run away from the Pinkertons who were closing in on us.

The mountain we climbed was steep at some turns, but nothing me and Jin couldn't handle. Well, Jin could handle it, but I couldn't. I could feel my body slowly but surely giving out ever since I got diagnosed. I already knew I wouldn't be getting out of here alive. But if I could save Jin, I could die knowing my brother got to live.

We made it to a small cliff edge, but my sickness had caught up with me and I started to cough frantically. "C'mon Jeon, we're right here!" Jin said. "You go..." I said before I coughed again. "Keep pushing Jeon." He said as he walked back over to me. "No... no, I think I've pushed all I can." I said as I wiped some blood off my lip.

"We ain't got time for this, not now." Jin pleaded. I smiled at him as I took my hat off. "We ain't both gonna make it." I said. "Go... now, I'll hold them off..." I said as I put my hat on his head. "It would mean a lot to me, please. There's no more time to waste, brother..." I said as I gave him my satchel and pulled out my Navy revolvers. "Jeon." Jin called out. "Go..." I said, hoping he'd just go. "Jeon!" He yelled.

"Get the hell out of here goddamn it!" I yelled back as I turned to face him. I saw that he had tears in his eyes, realizing this would be the last time we'd see each other. He quickly pulled me into a hug. "I love you, brother." He said, his voice breaking as he finished. "I love you too." I said as we pulled away, but before he left, I grabbed his arm.

"In my satchel, there's 10 gifts. 5 for Winter and 5 for Rose. Tell them I love them both and I never forgot about them." I said. He nodded as a tear escaped his eye before he ran away.

"Come and get me you shitheads!" I yelled as I climber to a higher point on the mountain and fired a few warning shots to divert their attention away from Jin.

A few of the agents had gotten up the mountain too, but their lives didn't last much longer. I already had naturally good aim since I was a kid, but my sickness was dragging me down.
Dutch teaching me how to use deadeye did level the playing field though.

As I finally put the last agent down, I felt someone tackle me from behind and my guns were knocked out of my hands.

"I got ya now black lung!" Micah said as he held my shirt collar. "You rat! You rat!" I spoke. "I'm a..." He stopped before punching me in the face. "Survivor black lung..." He stopped before he hit me again. "A survivor. That's all there is in life. Just living and dying." He finished as he tried to hit me again, but I caught his punch and tried to throw him off the cliff, but his tight grip dragged me down too and we landed on the same cliff edge that Jin had ran away from.

As we both slowly got up, he managed to collect his bearings before I could and tried to choke me, but I pushed his arm away and punched him in the face.

On equal footing, we both landed blows on each other. My karate training was basically useless, as my sickness slowed me down too much to able to do the flashy and effective moves sensei Psy taught me.

In minutes, we were both battered and bruised, but in an effort to end it all, he tackled me again. He tried to punch me, but I blocked it and punched him off of me. I turned around on my stomach, and saw one of his side-arms on the ground not too far from me. I crawled to it, but when I grabbed it, he grabbed me and slammed my head into a nearby wall. I immediately turned around and smacked him with the handle of the gun, knocking him to the ground, but I fell too, my sickness making me collapse.

The gun was even further now and I didn't have the strength to stand up so all I could do was crawl. I crawled like my life depended on it, because it did. With everything in me, I crawled, ignoring the pain I felt from pushing my body too far when it was in poor shape from my sickness.

"Oh, black lung. You ain't gonna reach that gun. You ain't. You lost, my sick friend." Micah said as he got up and started walking after me as I crawled.

"In the end Micah... despite my best efforts to the contrary... it turns out I've won." I managed to say as I crawled to the gun.

"Goddamn you!" I said as I put my hand on the gun, but just as I did so, I felt a boot step on my hand.

"It is over, now, Jeon... It's over." Dutch said as he stepped on my hand. "Oh, Dutch..." I said as I looked up at him. "He's a rat... You know it... and I know it." I said weakly, hoping Dutch would realize. Dutch seemed conflicted as if he didn't know who to believe.

"He's sick!" Micah suddenly chimed in. "He's dying, he's talking crazy." Micah said. "Up there, on the ridge!" Pinkertons suddenly yelled from below us. Dutch looked down at me, seeing my bloody, bruised and pale face and I mustered up the strength to say one more thing to him.

"I gave you all I had."

His eyes widened at my words. "My girlfriend... my sister... my parents... my best friends... my brothers..." I said as I thought of everyone I loved before I got on that damn boat. "I gave all of it up for this gang... You let him damn us all Dutch." I said. Dutch tried to speak, but couldn't find the words and took his boot off my hand. But at this point, I didn't have the strength to get the gun to kill Micah. I laid on my back and hopelessly tried to gasp for air as my sickness had almost completely killed me.

"Dutch, let's go buddy. We made it... we won." Micah said as he held his hand out for Dutch. "Jin made it... he's the only one. Rest of us..." I stopped as I thought of everyone who had died up to this point. "No... but I tried. In the end, I did." I said.

At that moment, Dutch realized that his loyalty to some rat who he met at a bar had doomed everything he worked so hard to build. It was why Arthur left the gang. It was why John left the gang. And it was why the gang fell apart.

At that moment, Dutch backed away. Despite Micah pleading with him to come back, Dutch kept walking, turning his back on both Jeon and Micah. Micah snarled before walking away too, knowing that Dutch wouldn't listen to him anymore.

I was left there, and used the little strength I had left to try to crawl. I didn't know where, but I had to do something. I tried, but my sickness made my legs give out, and I fell back on my back next to the edge of the cliff. I felt my life slowly slipping away. I looked to the east and watched the sun rise before I felt my eyelids get heavier and my eyes closed.