Mi rayo de sol (Javier Escuella x OC)

Chapter 2

It was a cold morning, Annie was sitting in the cabin with the others with Jack on her lap. "He ain't been seen in days" Abigail began. "The weather ain't let up" she continued. "He is strong and he is smart" Tilly tried to reassure her. "Strong at least" Abigail anwered her.
"Where's pa'?" Jack turned to face Annie. "Your pa' is just on a little trip, he'll be back soon, don't worry" Annie smiled at him and noticed Javier's glance at her, while he was cleaning his revolver. Javier shook his head as he smiled to himself. Annie smiled too.

Suddenly Arthur appeared in the doorway and threw wood into the fire. "Hello Arthur" Abigail stood up. "Abigail" Arthur answered her. "How are you doing?" Abigail continued. "Just fine Abigail.. and you?" Arthur asked her. "I need you to.." Abigail said and Arthur sighed. "I-I'm sorry to ask but.." Abigail didn't even finish the whole sentence. "It's little John. He's got himself caught into a scrape again" Arthur told her. "He ain't been seen in two days" Abigail told him. "Your John will be fine" Arthur said.
Annie looked at Jack who was watching the entire conversation.
"At least go take a look" Hosea said. "Annie? Javier?" Hosea looked at those two. "Yes?" they both said at the same time. "Please, will you two ride out with Arthur, to take a look for John?" Hosea asked them. "You three are the best fit people we've got" Hosea told them.
"Now?" Javier asked him. "She's.. we're all pretty worried about him" Hosea answered him. Annie slowly put Jack down. "Sure" Annie nodded her head. "I know if the situation were reversed, he'd look for me" Javier said. "Thank you!" Abigail told them. "Bye auntie Annie" Jack waved at her.

Arthur, Annie and Javier closed the door and walked towards their horses. "You're definitely his favorite auntie, that's for sure" Javier smiled at Annie. "Yeah, I always liked little Jackie" Annie answered him with soft laugh.
They mounted horses and drove off.

"This way, last I know, he headed up the river" Javier told them. "Okay, let's go" Annie said. It was really cold, Annie had frozen hands and snowflakes in her blonde hair. They continued driving and suddenly Annie saw a smoke in the distance. "Wait, I see some smoke" Annie pointed to the hill in front of them. "Alright, let's go take a look" Javier said. "Just hope it's not some O'driscoll boys" Arthur said.
They drove up that hill and stopped. "Wait" Javier said. "Seem somebody left.. recently" he continued. Annie looked at the burnt out fireplace. "That way" Javier pointed to the left.  "There are some tracks leading to the river" Javier said and mounted Boaz. They continued driving and reached the river. "Let's cross here" Annie said to them and crossed the cold water.

"Do you guys think it's John?" Athur asked after s while. "You tell me.. There are horse tracks but.. it could be anyone" Javier said. "We have to hope," Annie added.

"So, you two were on that boat, what really happened?" Arthur asked. "We had a money, it seemed fine, then suddenly they were everywhere" Javier answered him. Annie just nodded. "Bounty hunters?" Arthur asked. "Pinkertons" Annie answered. "Yeah, it was crazy. Raining bullets" Javier added.
"And Dutch killed a girl in a.. really bad way, but it was a bad situation" Javier said. "That ain't like him, though" Arthur said. "I was almost dead too if it wasn't for Ann" Javier said looking behind him at Annie and she smiled at him. "Really?" Arthur asked. "Yeah, some feller tried to strangle me on the way off that ship, Annie shot him" Javier answered him.
"Yeah, I was there with Davey, there was a lot of chaos, then I saw Javier on the ground" Annie added. "Damn, that must have been terrible" Arthur said. "It was, I didn't expect to get out of there alive" Annie said. "Exactly.. Davey got shot.. Mac and John, both shot too" Javier said. "And Sean.. we don't even know" Annie sighed and looked at the snowy view next to her.
"I am surprised we escaped at all" Javier said. "By the time you boys showed up from the other side of town, we were all just holding on" he continued. "Bad business alright" Arthur said.

They continued for a while and drove uphill. Nothing but snow everywhere. All that could be heard was the rustle of the wind. Annie could feel her horse struggling in the deep snow.
"Damn snow" Annie said. "We'll loose these tracks if we don't move fast" Javier said.

This time they sped up a bit, continued up. "Watch yourself, not very wide here" Javier told them.
"The horses are really struggling" Arthur said. "Yeah, a lot of fresh snow here" Javier answered him.
"We're almost there don't worry" Annie patted her horse's neck. "Well, I don't know about this Javier. W-we can't follow nothing" Arthur told him. "Let's push on a little bit, maybe we'll pick up the trail again" Javier answered. It was snowing so hard that Ann couldn't see anything in front of her, but she still believed it must be John. Who else would be doing here in this weather.

After a while, Annie saw something on the ground in front of her. They came closer and saw the dead horse. "Oh my god" Annie looked at the corpse and her eyes widened. "John was riding that horse when we left Blackwater, right?" Javier turned to Annie. "I think so" Annie answered him and went to take a closer look. "There's nothing else here, but he must have gone over there" Annie pointed to a small hill that was right behind them. "Okay, let's see if he can hear us" Javier said, pulling out his revolver and firing into the air. There was silence for a moment before a scream that was already nearby broke it. "Help! Help! Here!" it was John's voice.

"Come on, up there!" Javier said and drove up the hill. "Hello! Over here!" John's voice was getting closer and closer. "It's coming from up ahead somewhere" Javier said. "We'll have to walk from here" Javier dismounted from Boaz. "Okay" she replied. "It's slippery, be careful" Javier told them. Annie followed a short distance behind them. "Are you okay, chica?" Javier turned around. "Yeah, I'm fine, don't worry" Annie answered him.

"You sure about this?" Arthur asked him."Help!" the voice continued. "It's coming from this way" Javier said. "Mierda, we are high up here" Javier looked down from the cliff. "You tell me" Afthur answered him. "Shit I'm going to get frostbite from this stupid weather" Annie said. "We'll be there soon, don't worry" Javier said. "Help!" the voice spoke again.

"We need to climb here" Javier said and climbed up. "Do you need help, Annie?" Javier asked her nicely. "I don't, but thank you" Annie climbed right behind him. "We are coming John!" Annie screamed.
They continued and came to a gap between two rocks. "How are you doing?" Javier asked them. "I'm alive" Annie answered him tiredly. "I'm miserable" Arthur said with sigh. Javier pulled out some alcohol and took a sip.
After a while they continued on again.

They walked through the snow and suddenly Annie came to a small cliff and looked down. John was there. "He's here! I found him!" she called to them.