[Mag 7 Fic] The Path Less Traveled- PG-13- 2/12
Title: The Path Less Traveled
Author: Jourdana Standish
Fandom: The Magnificent Seven- for the Mag7BigBang
Summary: A young man is desperate to uncover the mystery of his past, sometimes intruded by dreams that he thinks are memories and flashbacks, but none enough to fully remember. His quest to discover who he really is brings him to Four Corners after persuading a woman he has befriended to come with him. What he doesn’t know is that his presence, along with hers, is going to flip the lives of the Seven upside down and nothing will ever be the same again.
Author’s Note: The events in this story take place about six years after the episode “Lady Killers”. There is also a minor link to a previous story I wrote, “Lies Become Unraveled” but you do not need to read that story to read or understand this one. They are separate entities.
I’d like to think my beta reader, masteralida for her services and encouragement while I wrote this. Also thank you so much to my artist, nomooreroo, not only for the great artwork, but for showing so much enthusiasm over the story that it helped motivate me even further to make sure I got it done. It meant a lot to me.
~~
Despite all of what Kate said, she found herself a short while later making her way over to where Adam was finishing up one of the fences he’d been repairing. She held a glass of lemonade in her hand. Adam glanced at her, not pausing until she got to the fence. He ran the back of his hand over his sweaty brow.
“Here,” Kate said, handing the glass over. “Not sure how good it is. Not exactly a stellar cook or anything.”
“Thanks,” Adam said, taking the glass. He sipped, grimacing only slightly. A bit more tart than he was used to, but otherwise not bad. “Tarter than I’ve had, but not bad.”
Kate smiled a little, but she was focused out on the horizon, her arms resting along the top of the fence. Adam could tell something was on her mind, but figured if she wanted to say something, she would. He was about to finish off the glass and get back to work when she finally did.
“I had a sister,” she said. “Maddie. Our Ma died a couple years after havin’ her. She got sick when givin’ birth, but she made it through. She just never really recovered. I don’t remember much about her and my Pa before that, but I suspect most of his meanness was taken out on Ma. With her gone, he turned it on me and Maddie.”
Adam was rather surprised she was talking about her past, but wasn’t going to interrupt. He did say when she would start talking, he would do the same. He suspected his story was a lot shorter than hers.
“Once I was old enough, I took off. Wanted away from my Pa. Met up with a man named Del Spivak. Figured he wasn’t anything like my Pa. I was wrong,” Kate said. “But I figured I was in love, so I convinced him to come back so I could get Maddie. Didn’t want to leave her to deal with Pa.”
He could see the struggle she was having, which only led him to realize just how hard of a life this woman had had throughout the years. He actually wondered if she was younger than he initially thought because of it.
“I didn’t want to see it, but Maddie had gotten pretty mean herself. Once I finally escaped Del and his gang, we became bounty hunters. Decided to start huntin’ Del’s gang, especially after a particular robbery. Maddie wanted her money, I admit I did too, but I mostly wanted Del dead.” She paused, her throat working as she remembered everything she had been pushing aside for so long.
“What happened?” Adam asked gently.
“We finally got a lead,” Kate said. “Man named Carver was tried and gonna be hanged in a town called Four Corners, about a day’s ride from here. Del and his gang arranged an ambush to rescue him. Almost all went well, but we got the drop on Kirkland, Del’s powder man.”
Adam was shocked to see tears fill Kate’s eyes before they spilled out of her eyes and splashed onto her cheeks. He suspected she hadn’t dealt with whatever demons she’d been running from until now.
“Everything just snowballed,” she said. “The gunmen in the town that were the hired law... they were going after Del with us. Didn’t trust us, ‘specially Larabee. Turns out he was right, he shouldn’t have. We just wanted the money from Del; I wanted Del dead. It wasn’t ‘til Maddie shot one of them point blank that I realized how bad it was, but she was my sister.”
With a hard swallow, Kate continued to speak. “We were caught trying to escape. I couldn’t let anything happen to my sister. But we were caught. I was let go, but Maddie... she was sentenced to hang. She was the one who murdered a friend of the judge’s during the stage coach robbery that Del’s man was bein’ tried for. I didn’t... I...”
Adam had come to realize that Kate didn’t like being touched, but he felt she needed some comfort. He carefully reached over and curled his fingers around her arm. He felt her tense but then she relaxed, her body shifting to lower her head and rest her chin on her clasped hands on top of the fence.
“I couldn’t just let her hang. I begged with Wilmington, one of the men, but he brought up his friend fighting for his life. Said he thought women were everything good, ‘til he met me and Maddie. There was no help, so I decided to break her out myself. At the time, I’d rather have lived a life on the run with my sister then live life without her.”
“What happened to her?” Adam asked gently. He ignored how the two names, Wilmington and Larabee, seemed to whisper to him as if he should know those names. He re-focused on Kate and her story.
“Del showed up. Not sure of all the details, but guessing he came lookin’ for the money Maddie had stolen from him when he was knocked out. He...” Her voice caught and she had to quell the sob that was rising. “He shot Maddie.”
“Did those lawmen do anything?” Adam asked.
“They must’ve heard his shot. All I remember is Wilmington... he came in with Sanchez and shot Del. I think Del was trying to shoot me,” Kate said. “Maddie never stood a chance. She died in my arms.”
“I’m so sorry, Kate,” Adam said.
“I was free,” Kate said. “I was free, so I left that town. I wasn’t wanted there, not after what Maddie did. So I came back here. Not right away, but it’s all I had.”
Adam was at a complete loss, especially when Kate let the tears fall more. He swallowed the sudden lump in his throat. He cleared his throat before he started to speak.
“I told you I don’t remember who I am,” he said. “When I came here. Just a first name, but beyond that I don’t remember much before ending up in that orphanage. The nightmares... I keep wondering if my mind is trying to remember. Nothing is ever clear though.”
Kate lifted her chin, turning her head to him before reaching to brush tears off her cheek. “Nothing?” she asked.
Adam shook his head. “They’ve been getting worse. I’m not sure why.”
“What do you remember of them?” Kate asked.
“Screaming for my Ma. Heat, I have a few burn scars on my legs so I wonder if a fire is what killed my parents,” Adam said. “I think I hear a gunshot in the dream, but it’s never the same so I don’t know if that’s a part of it or not.”
“And you have no idea where you are originally from?” Kate asked. “I mean, even the area?”
“I was in an orphanage in Red Fork,” Adam said. “That’s about all I can say, I think.”
A frown formed more on Kate’s face as she thought for a moment. She shook her head. “That really could mean anywhere,” she said. “Just this area alone there’s here, Red Fork itself, Four Corners and Eagle Bend.”
“I can’t guess what answers I can find, though,” Adam admitted. “I keep thinkin’ I should look, just to know, but how am I ever gonna find out? Not like my parents can tell me.”
“But what if both your parents weren’t killed?” Kate blinked. She honestly had no idea why she even mentioned that, and she had to admit that she regretted it when she saw the look on Adam’s face.
“If one of my parents survived, why didn’t they keep me from endin’ up in an orphanage?” he said roughly.
“Adam, don’t...”
“Why, Kate? I was just a kid!”
Kate reached up and put her hand on Adam’s shoulder. He had grown some since he came to work for her a few weeks ago. She figured he was going to be a tall one. Again, Larabee’s form came to mind. So did Wilmington’s, but she knew that the two had been friends even before Larabee’s marriage. Why the hell was she thinking about them so much of late? Even with telling her story, she had been thinking of them more and more.
“Adam, I don’t mean you were abandoned,” she said softly. “Maybe... if one of your folks did survive, they were too hurt to know or thought you had been killed too.”
“That doesn’t make any sense, how could that be?” he asked.
Kate’s eyes unfocused, a memory slipping in as she remembered reading about Larabee’s tragedy. It just seemed too convenient and too impossible at the same time. But what if it wasn’t?
“I think I know where we can get started.”
Author: Jourdana Standish
Fandom: The Magnificent Seven- for the Mag7BigBang
Summary: A young man is desperate to uncover the mystery of his past, sometimes intruded by dreams that he thinks are memories and flashbacks, but none enough to fully remember. His quest to discover who he really is brings him to Four Corners after persuading a woman he has befriended to come with him. What he doesn’t know is that his presence, along with hers, is going to flip the lives of the Seven upside down and nothing will ever be the same again.
Author’s Note: The events in this story take place about six years after the episode “Lady Killers”. There is also a minor link to a previous story I wrote, “Lies Become Unraveled” but you do not need to read that story to read or understand this one. They are separate entities.
I’d like to think my beta reader, masteralida for her services and encouragement while I wrote this. Also thank you so much to my artist, nomooreroo, not only for the great artwork, but for showing so much enthusiasm over the story that it helped motivate me even further to make sure I got it done. It meant a lot to me.
~~
Despite all of what Kate said, she found herself a short while later making her way over to where Adam was finishing up one of the fences he’d been repairing. She held a glass of lemonade in her hand. Adam glanced at her, not pausing until she got to the fence. He ran the back of his hand over his sweaty brow.
“Here,” Kate said, handing the glass over. “Not sure how good it is. Not exactly a stellar cook or anything.”
“Thanks,” Adam said, taking the glass. He sipped, grimacing only slightly. A bit more tart than he was used to, but otherwise not bad. “Tarter than I’ve had, but not bad.”
Kate smiled a little, but she was focused out on the horizon, her arms resting along the top of the fence. Adam could tell something was on her mind, but figured if she wanted to say something, she would. He was about to finish off the glass and get back to work when she finally did.
“I had a sister,” she said. “Maddie. Our Ma died a couple years after havin’ her. She got sick when givin’ birth, but she made it through. She just never really recovered. I don’t remember much about her and my Pa before that, but I suspect most of his meanness was taken out on Ma. With her gone, he turned it on me and Maddie.”
Adam was rather surprised she was talking about her past, but wasn’t going to interrupt. He did say when she would start talking, he would do the same. He suspected his story was a lot shorter than hers.
“Once I was old enough, I took off. Wanted away from my Pa. Met up with a man named Del Spivak. Figured he wasn’t anything like my Pa. I was wrong,” Kate said. “But I figured I was in love, so I convinced him to come back so I could get Maddie. Didn’t want to leave her to deal with Pa.”
He could see the struggle she was having, which only led him to realize just how hard of a life this woman had had throughout the years. He actually wondered if she was younger than he initially thought because of it.
“I didn’t want to see it, but Maddie had gotten pretty mean herself. Once I finally escaped Del and his gang, we became bounty hunters. Decided to start huntin’ Del’s gang, especially after a particular robbery. Maddie wanted her money, I admit I did too, but I mostly wanted Del dead.” She paused, her throat working as she remembered everything she had been pushing aside for so long.
“What happened?” Adam asked gently.
“We finally got a lead,” Kate said. “Man named Carver was tried and gonna be hanged in a town called Four Corners, about a day’s ride from here. Del and his gang arranged an ambush to rescue him. Almost all went well, but we got the drop on Kirkland, Del’s powder man.”
Adam was shocked to see tears fill Kate’s eyes before they spilled out of her eyes and splashed onto her cheeks. He suspected she hadn’t dealt with whatever demons she’d been running from until now.
“Everything just snowballed,” she said. “The gunmen in the town that were the hired law... they were going after Del with us. Didn’t trust us, ‘specially Larabee. Turns out he was right, he shouldn’t have. We just wanted the money from Del; I wanted Del dead. It wasn’t ‘til Maddie shot one of them point blank that I realized how bad it was, but she was my sister.”
With a hard swallow, Kate continued to speak. “We were caught trying to escape. I couldn’t let anything happen to my sister. But we were caught. I was let go, but Maddie... she was sentenced to hang. She was the one who murdered a friend of the judge’s during the stage coach robbery that Del’s man was bein’ tried for. I didn’t... I...”
Adam had come to realize that Kate didn’t like being touched, but he felt she needed some comfort. He carefully reached over and curled his fingers around her arm. He felt her tense but then she relaxed, her body shifting to lower her head and rest her chin on her clasped hands on top of the fence.
“I couldn’t just let her hang. I begged with Wilmington, one of the men, but he brought up his friend fighting for his life. Said he thought women were everything good, ‘til he met me and Maddie. There was no help, so I decided to break her out myself. At the time, I’d rather have lived a life on the run with my sister then live life without her.”
“What happened to her?” Adam asked gently. He ignored how the two names, Wilmington and Larabee, seemed to whisper to him as if he should know those names. He re-focused on Kate and her story.
“Del showed up. Not sure of all the details, but guessing he came lookin’ for the money Maddie had stolen from him when he was knocked out. He...” Her voice caught and she had to quell the sob that was rising. “He shot Maddie.”
“Did those lawmen do anything?” Adam asked.
“They must’ve heard his shot. All I remember is Wilmington... he came in with Sanchez and shot Del. I think Del was trying to shoot me,” Kate said. “Maddie never stood a chance. She died in my arms.”
“I’m so sorry, Kate,” Adam said.
“I was free,” Kate said. “I was free, so I left that town. I wasn’t wanted there, not after what Maddie did. So I came back here. Not right away, but it’s all I had.”
Adam was at a complete loss, especially when Kate let the tears fall more. He swallowed the sudden lump in his throat. He cleared his throat before he started to speak.
“I told you I don’t remember who I am,” he said. “When I came here. Just a first name, but beyond that I don’t remember much before ending up in that orphanage. The nightmares... I keep wondering if my mind is trying to remember. Nothing is ever clear though.”
Kate lifted her chin, turning her head to him before reaching to brush tears off her cheek. “Nothing?” she asked.
Adam shook his head. “They’ve been getting worse. I’m not sure why.”
“What do you remember of them?” Kate asked.
“Screaming for my Ma. Heat, I have a few burn scars on my legs so I wonder if a fire is what killed my parents,” Adam said. “I think I hear a gunshot in the dream, but it’s never the same so I don’t know if that’s a part of it or not.”
“And you have no idea where you are originally from?” Kate asked. “I mean, even the area?”
“I was in an orphanage in Red Fork,” Adam said. “That’s about all I can say, I think.”
A frown formed more on Kate’s face as she thought for a moment. She shook her head. “That really could mean anywhere,” she said. “Just this area alone there’s here, Red Fork itself, Four Corners and Eagle Bend.”
“I can’t guess what answers I can find, though,” Adam admitted. “I keep thinkin’ I should look, just to know, but how am I ever gonna find out? Not like my parents can tell me.”
“But what if both your parents weren’t killed?” Kate blinked. She honestly had no idea why she even mentioned that, and she had to admit that she regretted it when she saw the look on Adam’s face.
“If one of my parents survived, why didn’t they keep me from endin’ up in an orphanage?” he said roughly.
“Adam, don’t...”
“Why, Kate? I was just a kid!”
Kate reached up and put her hand on Adam’s shoulder. He had grown some since he came to work for her a few weeks ago. She figured he was going to be a tall one. Again, Larabee’s form came to mind. So did Wilmington’s, but she knew that the two had been friends even before Larabee’s marriage. Why the hell was she thinking about them so much of late? Even with telling her story, she had been thinking of them more and more.
“Adam, I don’t mean you were abandoned,” she said softly. “Maybe... if one of your folks did survive, they were too hurt to know or thought you had been killed too.”
“That doesn’t make any sense, how could that be?” he asked.
Kate’s eyes unfocused, a memory slipping in as she remembered reading about Larabee’s tragedy. It just seemed too convenient and too impossible at the same time. But what if it wasn’t?
“I think I know where we can get started.”