JESSE (Mcree X Fem Reader) | Completed

Chapter Nineteen: Gabriel

Gore Warning thanks to our favorite guy Martin.
(Not super graphic) Torture ahead. I'll let you know when to keep reading.

"I'll ask you one more time."
Tears fall from your eyes as you sob, "I don't know, I swear! I got there a month ago!"

"I find it difficult to believe that, princess." You feel a sharp pain in your back, the sobs shaking your body. "Where do we find the security room?"

"I don't know..." you whisper, your voice raw. Martin almost says something but you're interrupted by a knock at the door. A guy walks in, about to says something, looks confused and a bit concerned then says, "Ummm. Didn't know you were into-"

"Do you have something important to tell me, Hendricks?"

"Sir, there's been a breach at the gate. The bulls."
He swears loudly. "Take care of this mess." He turns to you as he walks out the door. "We'll finish later, princess. Get her bandaged up and back in her cell- we don't want her dying just yet." He walks out the door, and you let you a quiet scream sob. The guy looks at you with no emotion, and unties you. He bandages your back up.

"Miss, you're going to have to stay still so I can get this over with." You quiet, calming your breath. The pain is almost unbearable. Martin cut hundreds of small incisions in your back, effectively carving the deadlock symbol into your back. You were branded. Essentially property. The man bandages you rather roughly, but tightly. He then ties your hands together with rope, and starts to walk you out the door.

End of Gore

The walk feels like an eternity. Your face is scarred, bloody, and bruised. Martin gave you two identical cuts on the cheek to commemorate you calling him a two-faced, scummy s**t. (Apologies for the swear)

He returns you to your cell, and closes the door. Your eyes seem to glaze over as you find yourself in a daze. Silent tears leak from your eyes. The pain doesn't lessen, and neither does the blood dripping from your back and face, not to mention the bullet wound in your arm, and the one from earlier in your shoulder. You sit in silence, unmoving, staring blankly.

Don't show them how much it hurts. Don't scream. You start to tap the ground to take your mind off of how unbearable it it.

Tap-tap tap-tap-tap.

You jump out of your dazed stupor.

Gabriel.

Perhaps the only semblance of a friend you have in the hellhole that is the Deadlock Gang. You tap the code over and over on the wall for a few minutes. You then hear a bang in return.

"Shut up!" You quickly stop. You hope it was enough to get Gabriel's attention. You hear his voice from down the hall. You hear remnants of a conversation, interrupted by the familiar taps that he returns.
He soon appears at the bars of your cell.

"Hello sunshine. Holy s-" He looks at you sweetly at first, sweetly enough to make you sick, than sees the blood dripping from your arm, face, and the puddle slowly forming behind you, and looks sick himself. "I-I told them I had additional questions for you." He let's himself in, and sits down in the cell.

"You shouldn't have ran..." He looks at the floor. You don't say anything. "One day, I'll get you out of here. You don't deserve any of this. You just want to try to do what's right..."

"Since when do you care about doing what's right? You're in the illegal weapons trade." Your voice is a harsh whisper from the screaming.

"It's not like I love my job. It pays the bills. Hopefully I can get enough money to get out of here and actually start a family... though I'm scared they'd hunt me down."

"Well fear stops a lot of people from doing a lot of good things." You sigh and look out the cell, to see a gray wall. Everything was gray around you.

You look at Gabriel. He really is a handsome man. He's starting to grow a beard out, and though his wavy blonde hair is shaggy, it suits him. His hand brushes yours, and you can't help yourself. You rest your head on his shoulder. "This means nothing, Gabriel. I just need a friend." You whisper sadly, letting the tears fall down your checks. You cling to him like you've never cling to anyone before.

It numbs all the pain.

Except for the hole in your heart that Jesse left.

You doubt it'll ever be filled.

___________________________________

Gabriel visits you often, and soon the pain in your back starts to fade. Your conversations go from small talk to actually getting to know each other.

His favorite food is tacos. It's what they eat all the time. His favorite drink is water, he's not the alcohol kinda guy. He wants to get married and have kids. If he had a girl, he'd name her Elizabeth or Jane, and if he had a son he'd name him Carson or James. He grew up a single child to an abusive alcoholic father, and ran away when he was young. He and Martin ran into each other on the streets, and found their profit with Deadlock in their early twenties.

From your broken, rushed, and fragmented conversations, he really seems to mean no harm. But the distrust lingers in the bottom of your gut. You push it down; you need a friend.

He calls you trigger, you tend to go off on him out of stress. But he gets it. He starts to become less flirty and more kind and respectful. You know more about him than you do Jesse; you feel a real connection with him. You start to wonder if you ever really loved Jesse, or if it was just out of desperation and loneliness. You push these thoughts away, wanting to honor the Jesse you knew so little about, yet cared so much for.

One day, Martin enters your cell, along with a band of gang members, and Martin reopens the Deadlock brand. It bleeds profusely, worse than before. They say they have special friends coming over and they need information. It hurts more than ever. You find yourself breaking, giving away bits and pieces of what you know, which isn't much. But you break.

The guilt hurts more than anything. But once again you find your comfort in Gabriel. He tells you it's going to be okay. He holds you, and is just quiet, letting you cry. You just let yourself forget. The two of you are found out, but he's allowed to visit you more frequently. Martin evidently doesn't care that you have a friend. "It keeps your obnoxious noises away, I don't care."

It seems suspicious, but you don't care. Talk of their visitors rise as the weeks pass. No word from Jesse. No rescue attempt. You accept the facts that have been facing you for awhile now.

Jesse is dead.

You just hope you can get out of there.