Mud and Gold [Arthur Morgan] [RDR2]

➵ chapter xviii

Find him, stay with him; take care of him as you took care of me until my last breath.

It is time for me to go, and time for you to move on.

Thank you, my dear—for everything.

Good luck, (y/n) Matthews...

Odin Victoriano"

A sudden feeling of epiphany hit him; for Arthur, now it all made sense.

Fast like a lightning bolt, a shiver ran up his spine; made him shudder as he read the last few written words on the old paper.

"I found the letter in her bag," Hosea spoke softly, that sad smile still lingered on his lips. "I was right, after all—Odin did pass away..."

"'n he wrote (y/n) a letter, tellin' her to find you." Arthur murmured, nodding his head slightly.

Silence fell between both outlaws as reality settled in, though it didn't last too long. Hosea was quick to clear his throat, and take the letter from Arthur as soon as he offered it back.

"You should know: I'm takin' (y/n) to Saint Denis." The old man started softly, gently squeezing Arthur's shoulder as the younger outlaw sent him a wide-eyed, shocked look. "Josiah's found a safer place for us, where I know she'll be better and safer than here at camp while she recovers." He explained, pausing to let out a sigh. "I wanna keep 'er safe, Arthur. I jus' got her back—"

"I know, Hosea."

Arthur understood.

Hosea had just gotten his daughter back, and almost lost her forever, all on the same day. Keeping her safe was his number one priority, especially now, and Arthur couldn't deny him that.

Of course, the idea of having (y/n) being so far away from him didn't sound too appealing; but Hosea's desperate look convinced Arthur it was the only way to ensure (y/n) recovered from her injury safely. Knowing the O'Driscolls were still out there, looking forward to capturing her again now that they knew she was with the Van der Lindes; added the Pinkertons still hot on their trail, drawing closer to their location day after day, Arthur felt better knowing she wouldn't be any closer to them if Hosea took her with him to Saint Denis.

Besides, he knew this would not last forever.

"Come with us, Arthur," Hosea pulled him out of his train of thought with his quiet plea. "I know she'll feel even better once she wakes up and sees you there, with her."

Arthur felt his heart swell at the older man's statement—how obvious could his feelings for this woman be that her father picked up on them without even blinking once?

However, as tempting as Hosea's offer sounded, Arthur found himself shaking his head and not accepting his request. As much as he would love to help keep his dear (y/n) safe, without Hosea the camp needed all the help it could get. Dutch would surely need the help.

"'m afraid am needed here, Hosea." He stated, patting the man in the back softly. "But I feel better knowin' her father'll be there to keep 'er safe 'til she's back on 'er feet."

Hosea smiled at his words, pride clearly written all over his wrinkled visage. "We'll be back in no time." He promised.

And Arthur believed him.

- ━━━━━━ ↼♔⇀ ━━━━━━ -

The first week after Hosea's and (y/n)'s departure went by quickly.

And the camp's routine had definitely changed after knowing they now had the chance to finally make their dream of moving on to a new, better life come true. Every day, the members of the gang kept themselves busy with their usual chores, though their elation resulted quite evident, even more so as days passed and progress was made.

Arthur had busied himself with hunting for Pearson, and gathering medicinal herbs for Charles. He even went out shopping for little Jack, got him new books and toys to keep him entertained with.

Dutch, after knowing the gold was officially theirs to do with as they pleased, was already planning on how to use it to help him and his dear gang finally move on. His plan of taking his family to a better place, to live a better life slowly but surely took form, and it was obvious the leader seemed quite happy with the results judging by the constant grin that illuminated his face, every day.

The girls at camp continued on washing the men's clothes, stitching them; but their chatter made it all different, being all about their potential new life arriving within the next month or two. Even Miss Grimshaw let down her usual harsh façade and shared with the girls her own plans once they made it out of the Heartlands.

Kieran still chose to keep to the horses, but couldn't have felt better after knowing he would be finally leaving this dangerous life behind, leaving Colm and his boys behind as well. The gang changed their attitude towards him, too, and now more than ever he felt like he truly belonged to the Van der Lindes. Arthur felt happy for him.

Javier, Bill, Sean and Lenny grew quite excited to know they were all so close to finally having their dream coming true—the three of them teamed up with John and Sadie, and began working on possible routes to take once it would be time to move. They took turns scouting the nearby areas, marking potential paths to follow; judging by their elated faces, Arthur could tell they were having fun.

Josiah, after helping Hosea find that place in Saint Denis, kept on moving from one place to another in record time, not much did he change his routine. He did admit he was planning on reuniting with his family, finally; he subtly stated he wished to settle down, and expressed his gaiety when told by Dutch that the gang was finally able to move on to a better life. He promised to keep in touch.

Reverend Swanson, upon noticing the more than welcome changes, sobered up and began to function better. He helped around the camp, and even aided Dutch with his planning; although the leader liked to do this alone, he gladly accepted the Reverend's offer to help him with the gang's future plans. The two could be often found in Dutch's tent, with Molly dropping a useful tip or two from time to time, while they studied what to do next.

Charles continued to do what he did best: hunt for Pearson. The more food they had for the journey, the better, and Pearson couldn't have been any happier at the amount of game he got from Mr. Smith. He made sure to praise the man's hard work every time he came by his food wagon.

Even Micah seemed to have changed quite a bit after hearing the good news—it surprised Arthur to see him respecting everyone at camp, not once lashing out at anybody. He even helped Charles with his hunting, when said man needed a hand bringing in more food, or stayed up far longer than the others while on guard duty.

As for Uncle, he seemed happier—but his lumbago didn't change much.

On the seventh day, as the sun began to disappear and left room for the night to take over, Arthur sat on his cot, letting this past week's events run through his head one more time. He smiled as he gazed around camp, and observed his family finally dropping their work for the night; one by one, they began to gather around the campfire, each with a bowl of warm stew in their hands.

Soon, happy chatter filled the ambience; cheers, laughs, and then the girls' singing took over, it all made Arthur's heart flutter.

For a moment, he couldn't believe this was happening. He had never seen his gang, his family so close, and so happy together. It felt like he hadn't woken up yet from a perfect dream, but he quickly dismissed that thought once he pinched himself in the arm, chuckling quietly to himself after the fact.

For once in a long time, everything seemed to be in the right place. It felt good.

And it was then, when he first felt a longing he'd not realized until now that had taken over him—the same longing he felt when (y/n) had left him at that cabin that night, alone with his thoughts.

He missed her.

He couldn't wait for her and Hosea to be finally back where they belonged.