•Tombstone• Brothers Under The Sun

Chapter 21

𝓗𝓮 𝔀𝓪𝓷𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓽𝓸 𝓴𝓷𝓸𝔀 𝓱𝓮𝓻. 𝓝𝓸𝓽 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓿𝓮𝓻𝓼𝓲𝓸𝓷 𝓼𝓱𝓮 𝓼𝓱𝓸𝔀𝓮𝓭 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝔀𝓸𝓻𝓵𝓭, 𝓫𝓾𝓽 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓸𝓷𝓮 𝓼𝓱𝓮 𝓱𝓲𝓭 𝓯𝓻𝓸𝓶 𝓮𝓿𝓮𝓻𝔂𝓸𝓷𝓮. 𝓣𝓱𝓮𝓻𝓮 𝔀𝓪𝓼 𝓶𝓸𝓻𝓮 𝓽𝓸 𝓱𝓮𝓻 𝓽𝓱𝓪𝓷 𝔀𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝓼𝓱𝓮 𝓼𝓱𝓸𝔀𝓮𝓭.

The group tracked down cowboys from the East and stormed towns and villages. Finding the red sashes and shooting them dead. Surprisingly, no one within the Earp ride was ever hurt, a few cuts and bruises from physical fights, but never anything life threatening.

Wyatt fought and killed these men like his life depended on it. He felt the power of everyone the cowboys had done wrong, surge through him every time he killed one. It seemed wrong to feel this way about killing another man, but he would remember Morgan and know he was doing this for him, for Tombstone.

The group agreed to not go back to Tombstone, Behan would have their head, so would Judge Spicer. Going back to Tombstone was a soft subject to the group. Doc, Wyatt and Elle had all lost Morgan there. Doc Holliday had also left Kate behind, not in a gentleman fashion, which came to light one late evening of riding.

"She wanted me to stay." He told Wyatt as Elle rode behind the two, McMaster's, Turkey and Texas tailing close behind.

"So did Mattie." Wyatt said softly.

"She begged, saying that she was always good for me." Doc scuffed.

"She wasn't good for you." Elle spoke from behind, the two men turned their heads.

"And how would you know that Miss Raycroft?" Doc asked in annoyance.

"She only loved you for your gambling ability Doc, she loved you for the money."

"And what do you know of love Ellanora? Hm?" His eyes turned to fire as he spoke.

"Honestly," she chuckled, "I don't, but I've travelled around enough to see women hanging off men like you because your an easy cash grab."

"Alright." Wyatt said before Doc could fire back. "I don't need you two fightin' like an old married couple. We've got bigger problems at hand."

Suddenly the sound of horses came rolling over the valley as the group saw four cowboys race their way, guns drawn. Everyone pulled out their pistols and raced towards them.

Just like it was second nature, everyone started firing at each other. Elle went after one cowboy who looked older then her, his eyes hallow in his skull. His bullets brushed past Elle as they raced towards each other. Once closer, the horses circled around each other and the pair watched with carful eyes. The cowboy reached for his shotgun and shot it in the air. Ash got spooked by the close bang of the shotgun that Elle got thrown off as he raised himself on his two back legs. Falling to the dust in a thud, Elle raised her pistol and shot the cowboy in the shoulder, causing him the fall off his horse, who ran away once the shot was fired. Scrambling to her feet, she turned the cowboy over as he groaned in pain. His blood was painting the ground below him. He then reached up and pulled Elle down underneath him so he was ontop, sitting on her chest. She struggled under his weight, as he was twice the size of her.

"He's gonna find you." He mumbled as the blood dropped down onto Elle's clothes. "You're never safe, he will kill you, like he did Henry."

Elle felt her face drain of colour when he spoke his name. Feeling anger build in her, she grabbed the knife that was on the cowboys hip and plunged it into side, twisting it further in, just for spite. Gasping for air, the cowboy looked down at the knife in his ribs and looked back up at Elle with wide eyes.

"You-u b-bitch..." before another word could come out, he fell to the side and Elle pushed his legs off, pushing herself away from him. 

Taking a moment to breathe and collect herself, she saw Ash walk towards her, bowing his head down to nudge Elle out of her thoughts. Looking at the horse, she saw that the other cowboys were dead on the sand, their horses running off from the scene. Slowly, Ellanora stood up and looked down at the cowboy she had killed and wondered how he knew that name.

The name which she always chose to forget because it was too painful to speak, let alone remember. His soft smile flashed in her mind before being followed by his lifeless eyes. Blinking, she tried to get the image to go away, but it stuck. Stuck like the blood that covered parts of her jacket and hands. Looking down at her jacket and hands, she began to shake at the sight of blood. So many things were going through her head, too many things. She felt like she was losing her mind when she heard gunshots that were echos from three years prior. The fire warmed her skin, but it was only the sun. In the moment it was the sun, but back then, it was the fire. She heard him speak her name, softly, tenderly. In a world where he was alive. Where they would be happy together.

"Miss Raycroft." Texas Jack spoke from his horse.

Elle didn't hear him speak her voice, and was still spiralling down into a mist of her past. Texas called over Wyatt and he tried to call her name. Hearing her name with no response for the attention of Doc Holliday who was looting what he could from a nearby Cowboy. Standing up, he looked over and saw Elle shaking while looking at the blood on her hands. Doc felt his heartbeat faster when he pulled his horse with him, to see what Elle was doing.

Her face had turned as pale as his, her hands dotted with blood and shaking like a tree in the wind.

"What's wrong with her?" Doc asked.

"I'm not sure, I saw her fighting a cowboy, one minute she's pointin' her gun at him, the next she's shaking." Texas Jack said in concern.

None of the men had seen this from Elle, normally she was fine with all this, but never had they seen her become so concerned over a death. Wyatt jumped off his horse and approached Elle. Saying her name, Elle looked up at the Earp and blinked a few times.

"Are you alright?" He asked putting his hand on her shoulder.

"Y-yeah." Her voice cracked. She cleared her throat and put her shaking hands down. "I'm, I'm fine." She turned away from the group, feeling nothing but fear and anxiety. She reached up and climbed onto Ash, nodding her head and walking away.

The three men looked at each other, they didn't know what to say about the situation. They were concerned for their fellow brother, she was hiding something from them, there was more to what happened between her and that cowboy.

"Best to leave it boys." Wyatt said riding up after her.

Doc got on his horse and trailed behind Elle. He watched her from behind as she kept her head forward to the horizon. He felt like he wanted to say something, but nothing formed on his tongue. Something had bothered her and Doc noticed. Some nights he would wake up to Elle crying while she was sleeping. He would lay there and hear Ellanora's soft weeping. Doc would battle himself, wondering if he should wake her up or leave her to whatever nightmare she was in. But he never woke her up. Doc would turn over and ignore her cries.

Although Doc didn't fully know her motive, he knew it was bad enough to make Elle want to kill them. He suspected it wasn't much to do with Marshall Fred White's death, and possibly not Morgan Earp's either. Doc knew she wasn't a quick to trust type, yes she cared for Morgan and Fred but there was more. There was someone else.

Now seeing her at some sort of breaking point, he regretted not waking her up, not asking about her nightmares. The cowboys had done something to Ellanora. So he felt sorry for the girl, although she annoyed her, and she was hard to crack. Doc Holliday knew there was way more to Elle then what she was showing. Doc found himself wanting to know that side, wanting to see her open up.