A quick disclaimer: I will be staying mostly true to rdr 2 but I will be changing stuff as well. For example I will be changing the ending because I'm a sucker for happy endings, as well as saying that Arthur does not have Tuberculosis for the sake of keeping him alive.
1st. POV:
I woke up with a similar feeling every morning: discontent. Today however, was different than most, today was a day of mourning.
As usual my, dear husband, Alexander, was not in bed. He was likely eating breakfast or sorting out affairs with business investors.
When I was 22, my father, a wealthy coal mine owner, decided it was high time I did my part in maintaining the family wealth. He arranged my marriage with another rich and equaly pompous family: they owned a prominent oil operation in Texas and their eldest son, Alexander Coterra, was to be my husband when he was 26. The Coterra family was well known for their oil wells and their harsh labor conditions. As unhappy as I was being married to the man who ran those operations, I was far happier I didn't have to work for him. Wealthy men tend to be corrupt and Alexander was by no means an exception. I played dumb of course but I knew full well what happened behind those closed, lavish doors.
Upon dressing and doing my makeup, I decided to wear my mother's necklace as well. Today was the anniversary of her death and as tradition, I wore her favorite pendant in her memory. My father used to be a kind man until she passed, then he flung himself into his work and focused only on how to increase his wealth, widening the gap between us. I miss her dearly.
Walking down the ornate staircase of the manor, I made my way to the dinning room. There, a maid was already setting out breakfast for Alexander and me. He was already reading the days news paper,"Did you hear, dear?" He asked, not even looking up from his papers,"It seems there's been sightings of some nasty yankees in town," he tutted. "Are they in the newspaper?" I prompted, surely the press hasn't become so bored they'd write about merely seeing cowboys. "No, Mr. Bronte told me yesterday night. They attended the Mayors' Gala," he said in a matter of fact way. He must have truly believed Bronte liked him, the first time I met him was at a small party a few years ago. The moment Alexander was out of our sights, Bronte began flirting with me; saying plenty of terrible things about Alexander in the process. It was for this reason I skipped yesterday's Gala, and the one before that. He was truly a snake...
"Cowboys at the Mayors' gala?" I acted appalled, it was fun to act extra. The most amusement I usually got was seeing Alexander buy my ridiculous facades. A maid set down a cup of tea for me plus a plate of biscuits and jam. "Indeed, what is this world coming too?...," the same servant came over, placed down a cup of tea and some biscuits, and began whispering in Alexander's ear before he could continue.
He cleared his throat,"I see your wearing your mother's pendant today, that time again?" He asked trying to sound genuine. It seemed every year he forgot, only the maid was kind enough to remember, but for the sake of staying friendly he at least tried to come off as if he cared about my woes. I nodded and sipped my tea. "Fraid so," I sighed. "Yes, well...forgive me dearest, I do have important issues to attend to outside of the house today, I may not be home tonight," he said hastily. He quickly sipped down the rest of his tea and took his paper into the main room. 'Not being home tonight' usually meant working a little in the day and then going out for poker, drinks, and whores right after. I didn't usually mind though, it meant I got to have peace and do as I pleased.
The day went by smoothly, I helped one of the maids with the laundry and dinner was served not long after, a letter came in from my cousin, Beatrice, too. She was writing to tell me she was sorry about my mother's loss and to hold strong on her anniversary, she did this every year. I wasn't sure if it was genuine, we hadn't seen each other I at least ten years, but I appreciated it nonetheless.
Eventually, night fell. On nights when Alexander was gone I was able to take a book or two from his study and read them. He didn't approve much of a female education but I'd be damned if I didn't read at least a few of the many books he owned but never touched. I settled into bed, having put my mother's necklace back into my jewelry box on my vanity across the room.
It was peaceful. In my sleep-wear, wrapped under the soft blankets of my bed, reading a book by candle light. These were the moments I relished, as they didn't come too often. My eye-lids grew heavy, and my fingers tired of flipping pages, as sleep took me blissfully into a deep, dark, peaceful dreamland.
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It seemed, however, as soon as I closed my eyes I opened them again, the candle on my night stand had burned out, and the only light provided was that of the moonlight peaking through the red curtained windows, which appeared black in the dark lighting. I had awoken to a strange blunt sound, as if a hard object had been hit against another. As I slowly sat up, looking around the dark room, I noticed something off.
The glass doors to the balcony were open, letting in the moonlight. They weren't open when I went to bed...something or someone was inside. I gasped and in a fit of sudden panic, sprang from my bed and rushed to the door. But before I could reach it, I felt a pair of arms grab me and tackle me down, their gloved hand covering my mouth before I could scream, while the other held me in place. I struggled and looked up to see my attacker. He had wild brunette hair under his cowboy hat and a black bandana covering the lower half of his face.
I kicked as much as I could, trying to scream, though to no avail. He tryed to quiet me down. "Would you pipe down lady!" He whispered,"I ain't here to hurt you!" We heard a knock at at my door. He looked at me, tightening his grip on my wrists.
"Ma'am? Are you alright in there? I thought I heard a commotion?" I heard one of the servants call through the door. The man looked down at me debating his next move,"Tell em your fine," he commanded. I looked at him angrily, this random man had the gaul to break into my house and then tell me what to do to cover his hide? I bit one his fingers covering my mouth. I watched him do his best not to give himself away, however, before I could call out again he regained his composure and put his whole hand on my mouth to silence me. It seems his gloves gave him more protection than I had hoped. He pushed my head down against the floor boards,"You tell them!" He whispered angrily, this time he pulled out a pistol and pointing it at my head. I felt true fear this time, surly he wouldn't shoot me would he? It would give him away...!
He slowly lifted his hand off my mouth, keeping the gun to my temple, "Ma'am?" Came another call from behind the door. "I-I'm fine, just...just dropped one of the lamps. You may go," I called back. The sound of receding footsteps was the last I heard before feeling the man slowly pull away. On instinct I kicked my foot up and managed to hit the bastard square in the jaw, "Son of a-," He yelped for a second, almost instinctively pointing his gun back at me. I gasped and quickly sprawled into a corner still not feeling strong enough to stand. He grunted a bit before holstering his gun and beginning to search around my room. "What do you think you're doing?" I spat. "Robbin ya, what does it look like?" He said nonchalantly, his voice was low and gravely with a southern twang to it. I scoffed, most of the stuff in this room was Alexander's anyway...damn Yankee...
That's when I noticed him approach my jewelry box. "Stop...!" I whisper yelled, quickly finding the strength to stand. I tried to yank the necklace from his grasp but he pushed me back and stuffed the jewels into his satchel, including my mother's pendant. It seemed he didn't want to hurt me but I wasn't going to let him leave with that necklace! I felt tears tingle in the brim of my eye, I couldn't be this helpless. To so easily lose the last thing I have of my mother?
"You can't take that necklace, anything else here, but not that!" I said determined, standing firmly. I would die before he took that necklace from me. "Anything?" He prompted walking towards me, his presence seemed to tower over me, my sudden bravery faltered slighted as I struggled to keep my composure.
"There's a safe," I told him,"one with enough money to buy you at least ten of those necklaces." "Is that so?" He said looking at the door,"and how exactly am I to get to it?"
"I'll take you there, I know the code, you can take the cash and leave out the window in that room," I continued,"its a good plan." He scoffed,"boy if I had a nickle...," I tilted my head in confusion,"alright, deal," he reached into his satchel and pulled out a necklace, a ruby one.
"Not that one, that's one I received as a wedding gift," I said impatiently as he rolled his eyes. I pulled on his satchel and dug through it, "Do you mind?" He grunted. "Oh, please." I spat back, pulling out my mother's necklace. "Whys it got to be that one? They all look the same to me," he said taking his satchel back under his arm.
Rolling my eyes I peered out the door. Down the hall was my husband's study, and in there was the safe. There didn't seem to be any servants around so I carefully led him to Alexander's study and closed the door behind us. Behind his desk was a large oil painting of himself, narcissistic asshole. "Who's that?" The man questioned, pointing at the painting. "My husband...," I replied dully. "Well aint he the catch," I smiled slightly at the mans snide remark at Alexander,"least you're a rich woman, life can't be too hard when you got all that money", he said. "No, I'm a woman married to a rich man as far as anyone is concerned, heaven forbid I own any of 'that money'," I scoffed before walking behind the desk and opening the painting to reveal a safe.
"Huh," He's walk over to me,"smart girl," He praised as I unlocked the safe. Once it was open I allowed him to take the several hundred dollars in the safe. Once he was done, I closed it all back up. "It should take him some time to look in there, probably won't even realize its missing," I said watching him count up the bills.
"I trust you won't be a problem here anymore?" I prompted. "Not at all Ma'am," He said with a tip of his hat. I scoffed before opening the window up for him to climb out.
Once he was on the ground again he gave me one last tip of his hat before leaving. I shut the window and left the room, returning to bed. I smiled and felt a strange infatuation with the new excitement that just took place. Though as fleeting as I knew the excitement of the night would be, I was still happy to have met this stranger. The man who, though I didn't know it yet, would change my life forever.
Word Count: 2130
I hope you all enjoyed this first chapter! I know RDR 2 came out a few years ago but I only recently played it and absolutely fell in love with the game as well as Arthur, so I decided to write this fan-fic.
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Stay tuned!