1 year later
THE TOWN of Spitbucket was busy and crowded with foot traffic. Townspeople bustled in and out of shops and the street. The town's sheriff wandered away from the mess and into the "Good Place To Start" saloon, where he frequented. Whether it was for the booze or just the mere company inside, he found comfort in it.
The man on the opposite side of the counter waved the sheriff over. As he approached the counter, the bartender became clearer to see.
His work clothes were a deep red in color, an apron tied at his waist to partially protect them. His signature horned hair peeked out from under his hat subtly, but at least he had a matching mustache to conceal his identity better now.
"What'll it be today, Sheriff?" Tord smiled slyly. Tom mimicked the same one as he replied with, "Oh, if you just could top me off, that'd be great." He held out his flask. Tord nodded, taking out the bottle of Tom's own alcoholic recipe. It's actually the recipe that made people come back to the saloon in the first place. It was a specialty and there was no denying it.
"So, what's the news?" Tord inquired. Tom took a sip from his flask before his response. "Still trying to convince people to nail down the nails. Bandits will take em if we aren't too careful." Tord hummed, amused. "Sounds like a handful." Tom laughed, "it's always a handful, but that's what makes it so perfect."
"Ah, so you say. Just wait until they take all the whiskey." Tom let out a heartily laugh. "Fat chance!"
The sound of the batwing doors swinging open caught the attention of both Tord and Tom. They watched as a newcomer approached, obviously not local to this town. The man had attire fit for the area, but they could still tell he was foreign simply because of the way he'd carried himself. "What'll it be?" Tord asked as the man walked up to the counter, as much of a patron as any other. "I'll have a beer, please."
Tord served it up in a flash. He thought that was the end of their interaction, but of course this traveler had to introduce himself. Said he was a detective, looking for a missing prince from the British Royal Family. Exotic, was all Tord could think.
"Was he nailed to the floor?" Tom asked the detective, much to the surprise of Tord. Edward, the detective in question, seemed puzzled by the question. "Um...no?"
"Then he was taken by bandits." Tom concluded. Edward himself asked a followup question, "How do you know?" Tom explained that anything that wasn't nailed down was bound to be taken by bandits.
"Oh, have you told the sheriff?" This kid and his questions. Tom flicked his hat up so that the detective could look at him better. "I am the sheriff." Edward lit up at this information, "Ah, Sheriff Thompson! I was told you'd be willing to help me." However Tom's further denial to help was the exact opposite. "This town's got enough problems as it is, I ain't got time to deal with yours."
"Wait, what if I helped you clean up this town?" Edward proposed, only to immediately be turned down. "I don't need your help!"
Just as Tom had gotten the sentence out, one of the locals came rushing into the saloon shouting, "Sheriff! Sheriff! The bandits stole all the nails!" The sheriff mumbled angrily to himself before looking back to the detective. He caved on Edward's deal.
The sheriff took the detective around town to help stop crimes and the criminals committing them. From jumping around banks, to train tracks, and to even just the heart of town, the detective failed miserably at attempting to take on the many bandits of Spitbucket.
Defeated, the two returned to the saloon with a smothered spirit. At least, Edward had.
Tom apologized to the lad, both for not being to best of help at comforting him and for the trouble Edward had endured. He requested Tord get him a whiskey, but he was not ready to handle the bad news Tord would give him. "Sorry Sheriff, Bandits took all the whiskey." Tord announced, cleaning a beer glass. The news sent the sheriff into a prompted shock and depression.
Tord couldn't even be entertained by this, only a little sad at his lovers despair. "But we've got this new stuff that just came in. They're calling it Co-La," he set the cold beverage on the countertop, "Sounds fancy."
The young detective picked up the beverage, inspecting it closely.
"Is it alcoholic?" Tom called out from the corner of the room in which he'd retreated to. "No." Tord answered simply. "I hate it." The bartender did snicker at that.
He watched the detective open to bottle and drink from it's contents. Edward seemed to melt into its flavor, catching the eye of Sheriff Thompson. "How is it?" He sounded almost concerned. Tom would not get a reply, as the detective had sped off without time for even a word to get out.
"What was that about?" Tom stayed staring at the swinging doors of the saloon. Tord shrugged, "Must be an English thing." The bartender's mind wandered. "I wouldn't mind going to England. Be a nice change in scenery." He then thought back to the whereabouts of the rouge detective. "You should probably go after him. Make sure he hasn't prematurely crash landed." Tom smiled with the same amount of concern as Tord. "Yeah, I agree." He was ready to take off himself, though Tord stopped him one last time.
"Bring this too."
-
When Tom had found the detective, he had already crumbled onto the desert ground. By then, he'd found out that Edward had actually managed to clean up this town and its filthy thieves. He was pleasantly surprised, yet also slightly intimidated now...
But, like Tom had promised, the two went on to find Edward's missing prince.
They tracked down the three bandits that had the prince held hostage. Unfortunately, they opened fire the first chance they got.
Edward was almost deflated at this, but Tom wasn't giving up that easily. (Especially since they already had gotten the prince back in the crossfire.) "Drink!" He threw the spare bottle of cola that Tord had supplied him a second time. When Edward caught it, he yelled back, "This is a horrible plan!"
"Everybody needs a little something!" Tom added, repeated the same phrase he'd told the lad earlier. That seemed to be enough to convince him.
Mere seconds after Edward had downed the drink, the bandits were neutralized. "AH, my knee! MY SECOND. FAVORITE. KNEE!" One of the bandits shrieked before they were all apprehended and locked up.
-
Tom walked into the saloon that afternoon. Tord was waiting for him while cleaning the countertop of the bar. Not another soul was in sight and it was comfortably quiet in the saloon.
Tom walked over to the other man, his steps slowed in tiredness. Tord waited til' the sheriff had sat down and gotten himself settled there, did he speak up. "Sooooo, how'd it go?" Tord tossed his cleaning cloth aside, devoting all of his unwavering focus on the man in front of him. "Well, we found the prince, not before the detective actually managed to tame this god forsaken town, that is." Tord looked just as surprised as Tom was just a few hours prior. "I'll be dammed." He exclaimed with shock. Tom chuckled lightly, "Yeah, no kidding. Only downside now is we're in the limelight."
"After a year? I doubt it." Tord assured, opening his arms up to the sheriff. Tom sighed, slumping onto the counter and resting against Tord's embrace. "Maybe . . . Um, how do you feel about moving to England?"
Tord's laughter erupted through the silence in the air. "You know I would love to. Do we have enough money saved?" Tom smiled with appreciative relief. "No need. That detective, Edward offered to escort us there." Tord's sly smile returned. "I'm fond of that Edd already. Just hope he doesn't figure us out." He wiggled his eyebrows playfully, earning an honest chuckle from the other.
Tord looked deep into Tom's eye, earning a puzzled expression from the sheriff. "What?"
"Nothing, Love."
"You think we should stay?"
"No," Tord stated, leaning closer into Tom. "We deserve a real second chance together."
FIN.
----
Thank you all so much for reading! Saloonatics is my favorite Eddsworld episode and I really wanted to make something out of it. I loved how this turned out! This was a huge passion project for me and I genuinely hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it for you!
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Evenin' Sheriff
Fanfiction"You know what, you remind me of an old friend of mine." Tord smiled almost subconsciously and replied, "oh really? care to tell me how, Mister I-had-friends?" Thomas rolled his eye jokingly sipping more whiskey from his shot glass, "I don't know wh...
