Chapter XVI

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"Mr. Dempsey and my father finally came to agreement to work together on making the gun he planned with the design based off of a converted Colt Navy. Father worked on gun itself while Mr. Dempsey got materials to make it, and since it was designed for one specific purpose, it had to made out of more than just steel and wood." The young Schnee adjacent to me interjected, "What does this have to do with you becoming what you are now?" Her team and the others looked at her with a irritated expression on their faces as she asked, "What!?" I calmed everyone's anger saying, "This gun has never been tried before Miss Schnee. Ever. When the two started to make it, word started to spread around that someone was making a wonder weapon and that little gossip brought some travelers from someplace coming to look for it."

Gunfighter's Past:

(Y/N)'s POV:

"Dad?" I asked looking at him as he gets into the wagon heading into town. "Stay here (Y/N)." Was all he answered before getting into the wagon leaving me back at the house. I turned around to see mother standing there calling my name before I looked back at dad down the road with dust kicking up behind him. I waltz back to the house and kept asking myself what was going on. He finished the revolver him and Vanessa's dad were working together on, yet he hasn't been seen for three days which more than concerning for my dad. Before I walked back into the house I looked at the horizon to see the sun setting until mother called once again for me to help her in the kitchen. Night blanketed the sky before dad came riding back and put the wagon and horses away for the night before coming in for dinner. I was sleeping until I heard the front door close and sneaked my way back down stairs to hear what was going on around this valley. "Is everything alright dear?" I saw pops walking next to mother washing the dishes while answering her question. "As much I wish is was. Something's off around here." "What do you mean." Mom replied. She put the dish back into the sink and took a seat at the dinner table with father already sitting down now. "No one has heard from the Dempseys at all in the past four days. The same damn fool kept trying to make some offer for his gun, but I kept telling him it wasn't anything special. Just a BBQ gun we were working together on for some buyer." "And?" "He still kept trying, only this time he said if I don't sell him the gun I'll regret it later." She took his hand to calm him and said, "Maybe we should ride out to their place to see what's going on. Maybe we'll find some answers." He sighed and responded, "I hope so. I don't know what this damn thing can do, but I feel like it's absolutely important. Important? I started to tip toe back upstairs into my room and closed the door quietly as possible before going back to bed. As I started to drift into a deep sleep I started to think why that man wanted the revolver Vanessa's and my dad have been working on in the past month. When the next day arrived and I went downstairs only to find a note sitting on the table. "Son, your mother and I went out early to the Dempsey's place to find some answers. Don't leave the house, and lock the doors until we both come home." I ran around the house closing the windows, locking the doors, then grabbed the shotgun off the top of the fireplace and sat in the kitchen, waiting for my parents to get home. The sun's position said it was noon before I heard a pair of horses coming riding in from a long run and instantly I jumped from my chair and ran to the front door with my dad's gun in hand to see who it was. "Mom! Dad! What's wrong?" I said unlocking, then opening the door to meet my mom. "(Y/N) go upstairs and pack whatever can and make it fast!" I was about to ask why until dad yelled, "Catherine HURRY! We don't have much time!" Mom wasted no time rushing past me and yelling what she said before giving me the motivation to get my ass moving. I put the shotgun back on the table before running upstairs and started to pack what clothes i could and grabbed a watch Vanessa made me a month before all this started to happen. As I got downstairs I heard my dad yell, "CATHERINE! GRAB (Y/N) AND STAY INSIDE!" Before slamming the door shut and locking it. I ran downstairs to my dad handing mom the rifle I showed Vanessa how to use while he grabbed the shotgun off the table. "What's going on!?" I asked starting to panic. Dad shoved one of his revolvers in my hand and said stay up stairs and doesn't come down unless you have to." I was gonna protest, but several horses strode into our farm and dismounted. "I gave you an offer of a lifetime and you didn't take it." I never heard that voice before, but something told me it was someone my dad ran into. "Dad where's Vanessa?" I asked trying not to lose my nerve. "Son go!" He growled at me trying not yell. I ran back upstairs and hid in my closet hearing them yell back at each other until I heard someone say what I didn't want to hear. "Be wise Mr. (L/N). You wouldn't want to end up like the Dempseys would you?" End up like the Dempseys!? What did he do to them!? I was about to get out of hiding to go run downstairs, but the sound of gunshots filling the air kept me in my place. Gunshot after Gunshot hit our house, but I knew my mom and dad weren't dead yet. I heard dad fire his shotgun while mom started to shoot back, but I froze in my closet when I heard someone break through my window. One man holding a gun came through as silently as he could before looking around for something...or someone! I shifted just a small bit while my parents kept fighting them off downstairs and as I slid back a small bit, the man heard me and started to come near me. As he got closer I silently stood up and back into the corner as much as I could before he opened the door. "How's it goin kid?" He asked smirking holding the door open. I wanted to run, but hearing more shots being fired off I raised my dad's gun in hand and pointed it at the man menacingly standing before me and said, "Go away!" His smirk turned into a scowl as he said, "You pointin that gun at me boy!?" He was starting to raise his revolver in my direction so I cocked the hammer and pulled the trigger. I fell flat on my ass back onto the closet floor as the intruder fell to the ground dead with a hole in his forehead. I felt my face twitch in pain as I held it with my hand. I guess the recoil from the gun slammed the barrel right into my face after I fired it which got my dad's attention since he yelled, "(Y/N)!" I let go off my face and grabbed the gun off the floor stepping over the dead man and made my way to the stairs leading back down. As I got to the stairs I heard a loud explosion and the front door flew off its hinges knocking my dad and mom to the floor. I ran downstairs to see a woman with what looked to be a wall of wind and dust, almost like a human tornado marching before looking at me. I was gonna turn away to run, but I felt something push me down the stairs and onto the floor as she raised her hand at me. Once I came in contact with the floor I saw a man with several other standing beside him as he looked down at us saying, "Bring them outside." My father, mother and I were all on our knees while the man with circular shaded glasses stood before us with a gun in his hand(above) waiting for them to find the revolver my dad was helping Mr. Dempsey make. "It's not here!' The man looked away from us in shock asking, "What do you mean it's not here!?" "I'm telling you it isn't here. We ripped out ever board, door, and cabinet where it could've been stowed away." I heard the man starting to yell in anger, but stopped as he turned back to us. He stood in front of my dad and asked, "Where did you put the gun Mr. (L/N)?" He looked at him with a scowl and said nothing. The man turned his head to a woman with the strange powers and nodded which caught my attention as the woman touched my mother causing her to scream as electricity started to cover her whole body. "MOM!" "CATHERINE!" MY dad and I yelled at the same time as the woman retracted her hand, letting my mom fall to the ground. "I'll ask you one more time. Where is the gun you helped make for Mr. Dempsey?" My dad kept looking at mother before turning to him and spitting in his face. The man jerked back as the spit landed on his face, but my dad was beaten by one of the men accompanying this bastard who whipped him in the head with the butt of his repeater rifle. The man wearing the glasses pulled his revolver out and aimed it at him, but didn't pull the trigger after he cocked the hammer. He instead pointed it at my mom and fired, causing her to look at him in shock before sleeping over with blood pouring out of her wound and mouth. I managed to get out of my captor's grasp to charge at the man as my dad was leaning over screaming no and cry before I felt something hit the back of my head causing me to black out. Before I passed out, the last thing I heard was, "Throw her body in the house and torch it."

Present POV:

Gunfighter's POV:

What happened after that?" Coco asked. I stood up and felt my legs start to crack and replied, "Mind if we take a breather first and stretch out legs?" She saw everyone else all came to some sort of agreement as they all got up and started to stretch their legs along with several new listeners. "Is there anything I should be aware of. I'm kinda confused." Professor Port stated cracking his hands and arms. I didn't bother reply since Ruby and her friends started right away so we didn't have to deal with any interruptions. I cracked my neck as I came back to my spot from putting my tray away and took a seat once more as I picked up where I left off. "I came to around several hours give or take after that monster killed my mother." This time Blake asked, "How did you know how long you've been unconscious?" "Well where they took my father and was a small road that lead into the valley we're living at. An archway made of stone was a marker at the end of the road where the desert and grass met in Vacuo several hours from where we lived by horseback."

Gunfighter's Past:

(Y/N)'s POV:

As I woke up I felt the hot ground heating my face up, making me sweat with the sun looming over me with my hands tied behind my back. I turned to look up and saw my father sitting on one of our horses with a rope around his neck as the man with the glasses on kept asking him about the gun, but to no avail. "Very well then. This could've all been avoided if you would have just taken my offer." I tried to act like I was still unconscious, but the man with a large mustache who hit my dad with the rifle picked me up saying, "Guess who just woke up?" I wanted to scream, but I couldn't muster the courage to do so. I stared at the monster standing before me before I looked at my father. He was beaten, bruised, scared, but what hit me the most was his eyes. Nothing, no fighting spirit, no joy, no care left in him as he sat there with his hands tied behind his back and a noose around his neck. The man then asked me, "You and your father can walk away from this if you tell me where the revolver is boy." I gave him a hateful glare and didn't say anything. He pinched the bridge of his nose and said, "Replace him with the horse." I didn't know what he meant until I saw them pull the rope to make my father stand up on the horse's back before putting his feet on my shoulders and letting the horse walk away from us. Before the all walked away, the man pulled a harmonica from one of his body guard's pockets and put it into my mouth as I started to cry knowing my father's life was standing on my shoulders with a rope around his neck in front of the sea of sand with no one to help. That man killed my mother, the Dempseys, and now left me with my father under this damn archway to die for something we had knowledge of, or that I knew of. As the man got onto his horse along with those who survived our resistance back at the farm house, where all staring at us before turning away. Every breath I took played an eerie tune from this stupid harmonica in my mouth as I tried to cry for help, but no words came out. Just another tune from my mouth. As they started to disappear over the horizon I felt my dad shift and kick me out from under him. As I hit the ground I lost the harmonica and tried to scream at him, but no words came out. No sobs, nothing came from my mouth as he slowly lost his life to the rope tightening around his neck under the blistering sun in front of an open desert with no one to help. Not even me. I felt like I was gonna die after laying there before my now dead father until I get a sharp rock cut me from under my back. I shifted around trying to get a grip on it and finally prevailed after what felt like an hour had passed. Once I finally got free I sat there against the broken stone of a wall to look at my father before my eyes fell on our cart with some tools still in the back. I took the rest of day to cut him down and give him a burial after wrapping him in a canvas in the back of the wagon. During the night I stayed in the wagon until dawn came before I could go anywhere. I knew where i was, but it wasn't gonna be a pretty journey. Dehydrated, starving, and filled with pain from my parents death were gonna haunt me all the way back and I knew nothing of what lied out there waiting for me.

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