Our Time Has Passed
"We gotta stop meetin' like this."
"Sure."
Dutch Van Der Linde stood between a drop that would ensure his death and the barrel of a gun that promised the same fate.
And his student. His product. The man who he had raised and moulded. John Marston was nothing but a beady eyed, seventeen year old when Dutch had found him. With no true comprehension of the world around him or the actual meaning of redemption. Dutch showed him the way. He taught him how to read and write, hunt and shoot. He taught him everything he knew and made him into the man he was. And now, he was aiming a gun at him, his eyes no longer naive and young. He glared at Dutch with such loathe and disgust.
"I got a plan, John."
"You always got a plan, Dutch!" John's voice was angry and his tone, harsh. How could John do this to his mentor? Hold a gun to his head with no mercy and have his finger ready at the trigger. His love for Dutch smothered by hate and his admiration for his teacher, who was more than a parent than a companion, vanished. Dutch was branded as the enemy. Those government men must have done something to John, to have him mistake a father's love for hate.
Dutch slowly backed away from John and closer to the edge of the cliff. In surrender, he tossed his pistol to the ground. "This is a good one."
He didn't want to fight John. The last thing he wanted to do was to growl at each other like bears and fire at each other like sworn enemies. Despite his actions that seemed to contradict it, Dutch loved John. He was like a son to him. He couldn't kill his own son, destroy the man he had created, no matter what he was faced with. Dutch had killed his fair share of men, but killing John Marston was one thing he could not bring himself to do.
Slightly shocked, John lowered his gun. He had expected for there to be more of a fight than this. After all the trouble he had gone through to find Dutch, was this how it really ended? He had Dutch cornered and there was nothing inside of him that even thought of Dutch giving up easy. But that's what he appeared to be doing - giving up.
"I don't doubt it," John replied nervously, unsure whether Dutch's plan was for the better or the worse. But he found himself trusting him, like he always had. Love and admiration wasn't something you could just turn off like a switch. Dutch's actions and the government's words may have clouded most of John's admiration for him, yet a small part of it still showed through.
"We can't always fight nature, John. We cant fight change. We cant fight gravity. We cant fight nothin'. My whole life…all I ever did was fight."
"Then give up, Dutch!" John had heard it all before. Was Dutch looking for new recruits or just babbling to save his life? John couldn't tell. But he also seemed to not be able to raise his gun again. This was Dutch, not just some outlaw he was sent to hunt like he treated it. This was Dutch.
So, the two stood there, on the edge of the snow covered cliff, exchanging words which would be their last, dragging on their last conversation, with the knowledge that it would, in fact be their last. But not wanting to accept it.
Dutch looked up into John's eyes, wishing they were still the same as when he had found him. He wished they could return to the bottom of that mountain together, father and son. Mentor and student. But too much time had passed - such a thing would be beyond wishful thinking and Dutch knew there was nothing that could convince John other wise. They could talk for as long as his patience permitted, but returning alive was out of the question.
"When I'm gone, they'll just find another monster," Dutch said slowly, edging further away from John and closer to his fall to the end of his existence. "They have to. Because they have to justify their wages." Dutch knew that his preaching was the last thing John wanted to hear. But it was something. Anything that extended their last visit a little longer.
"That's their business!" John replied, feeling his patience drain. What was this so called 'plan' of Dutch's? Couldn't he just give up? That would make it so much easier for John to do what he was sent for. To take the life of his teacher in exchange for the survival of his family.
But Dutch continued to approach the edge of the cliff. His face showed no sign of deceit and his hand rested calmly at his side, showing no itch to reach for his gun. Dutch could feel the ground beneath his feet begin to curve, letting him know that the end was near.
John watched as Dutch slowly began to lean back onto nothing as he put his trust in the wind. Was this it? Was this the plan? It couldn't be. Dutch Van Der Linde was always one that it was known he would go out with a fight. But Dutch was surrendering to him and he gave him one last glance as he fell to his fate.
"Our time has passed, John."