Red Dead Redemption 2 One-Shots

↬A.M.↭UNTITLED (5)↫

I left early in the morning to find where I'd steal my getaway money. There were many options but I decided to hit a stagecoach with wealthy occupants, who unfortunately chose to flatter themselves with talk of their richness within earshot of me. And it went as well as I could've hoped. I stole all of it and got out with my head on my shoulders. A quick calculation told me I'd have enough to ride to the other side of the world and start over. I could barely contain my excitement.

But then things turned sour when I spotted O'Driscolls following me. I could tell they knew who I was, and since there was no losing them in the trees, I pretended not to notice. I should've gone somewhere else, anywhere else, but I in my panicked state thought I should go home because two of us against all of them were better odds than me against all of them.

"Arthur!" I shouted as I jumped off Honey to race inside. He smiled in greeting, but when I threw his rifle at him, it dropped. "O'Driscolls." He was instantly on his feet and looking out the windows.

"How many?"

"I don't know. 10? 20?" Our odds were not looking very bright.

"Hey, we've got this." He said it like he already knew the outcome.

"If I get shot, you take Honey and get out of here. You are not dying for me." He looked like he wanted to argue but said nothing. "Now let's kill these bastards."

The one advantage we had was cover, whereas our attackers were out in the open. Some tried to use their horses as shields but that didn't stop me from popping their heads when they peeked over the horse's flank. Slowly but surely their numbers dropped, and as each one fell, my hope grew. We were actually going to survive this.

Then I got shot. I let out a scream and fell back below cover, grasping my shoulder tightly with my hand. Warm blood seeped through my fingers--my hand was doing nothing. If I was going to die, it was going to be shooting one of them right between the eyes. Gritting my teeth, I stood and ran out the front door. The last few O'Driscolls were taken by surprise, giving me and Arthur the opportunity to kill all of them before they fired off a single shot. That actually worked. If I was honest with myself, I didn't expect that at all.

Arthur appeared beside me, trying to block the blood flowing freely down my arm. "It's no use. I'm losing too much."

"No no, you are not dying!" He was desperately trying to stop it but it was useless.

"Arthur, it's fine-"

"No it's not!" Maybe it was because my vision was getting wonky because of the blood loss, but I thought I saw a tear fall down his cheek. So with my last breath, I whispered 3 words I never thought I'd be capable of:

"I love you."

~~~

"I thought I specifically told you to let me die." Despite my best efforts, I was still alive. And in the Van der Linde gang camp, no less. A stressed--albeit relieved--Arthur sat next to me, holding my hand and smiling.

"I couldn't do that after you saved my life."

"So it was just to repay a debt?" I rose a brow.

"Yep."

"Oh. For a second there I thought we were having a moment." He laughed.

"You told me you loved me. I couldn't let you die after that."

"Unfortunately I was lying."

"Is that so?" He leaned closer, brushing his nose against mine.

"Yep." My eyes fluttered closed.

"Hopefully I'm not interrupting anything," a teasing voice broke in and we both pulled away quickly. An older gentleman stood outside the tent with a grin playing on his lips. "I figured I should introduce you to the rest of the gang, then you can go back to...whatever it is you were doing." I stood, nodding.

"Good idea."

"You're staying?" Arthur sat up excitedly. I turned back to look at him, a hand on my hip and a smile playing at the corner of my lips.

"At least until my shoulder heals." He knew that was as close to a yes as he'd get so he wrapped his arms around me tightly. I felt safe in his embrace, and for the first time in forever, I knew someone cared about me.

"Welcome to the gang, (Y/N)."