Title: "Safe From The Spirits"
Author: Pirate Turner
Rating: PG
Summary: They're safe from the spirits here.
Warnings: Slash
Challenge: For a Comment-fic LJ comm prompt
Word Count: 736
Disclaimer: Josiah Sanchez, Nathan Jackson, all other recognizable characters mentioned within, and The Magnificent Seven are ﾩ & TM CBS, The Mirisch Group, MGM, and Trilogy Entertainment, not the author, and are used without permission. Everything else is ﾩ & TM the author. The author makes absolutely no profit off of this work of fan fiction, and no copyright infringement is intended.
"They're horrible, you know," he said in a deep and grave voice. The expression in his glazed eyes suggested that any one should know that "they" were horrible for it was as obvious as the nose on their faces, but the tone in which he spoke made it sound as though he was revealing a great, dark secret bigger than the end of time itself.
"What's horrible?" Nathan asked patiently as he walked beside him. Josiah slumped, and he pulled his arm back along his own back and yanked the Preacher back up to his booted feet.
Josiah hiccupped. Nathan smiled. The tiny sound coming out of the big mountain of a man, his man, was almost cute. Then he let rip a long, loud, and putrid belch, and Nathan's smile vanished. His nose crinkled instead, but he still didn't call Josiah on his predicament as he kept him walking toward the church.
"The spirits. Those awful - hic -, awful spirits are the source - hic - of much of trouble in this world of - belch - ours. You are well - hic - aware of that, aren't you, - hic - Brother - belch - Nathan?"
Nathan's wide grin revealed his big, white teeth. "Sure am," he said, kicking the church doors open.
Josiah swooned. He grabbed him and tried to lift him up as the Preacher's eyes closed, but he wasn't strong enough to hold him. Josiah slumped against him. Nathan started tottering beneath him and was just about to fall off of the porch when the weight was lifted. Nathan smiled over at Vin and nodded his thanks.
The tracker was as quiet and sure footed as he was when hunting a criminal or freeing one of their own. Together, not bothering to waste words as the Preacher's loud snores rattled the windows, Vin and Nathan carried Josiah to his bed. They dumped him unceremoniously into it.
Yet, as Josiah hit the sheets, his eyes flew open. His strong hands reached up, grabbing both men by their necks and snatched them down to him. His red eyes pierced them; they seemed to have the power to see into their very souls. "Don't touch the spirits," he breathed.
"Th-That's fine," Nathan assured him. "We . . . We ain't gonna touch no spirits."
"What he said," Vin murmured, barely able to talk for the fist closing around his throat.
Josiah smiled, appeased at Nathan's words. His head started to move in a nod but then fell back. His eyes shut. He was snoring before his hands lost their grip on his friends.
Vin jumped away from the Preacher's bed as though he'd been burned. He fingered his collar and rubbed his throat gingerly. He looked to Nathan, wondering how on Earth he slept with a man like that but didn't ask him. Instead, he turned and left, keeping his thoughts to himself.
The healer had learned long ago to read white men expertly. Being able to understand white people's intentions, especially those thoughts that went unspoken, had helped him survive passage through many a prejudiced town. Vin wasn't prejudiced. He was just the opposite, in fact, believing that every person's worth was in their soul and heart and not the color of their skin or any other lesser important detail than those that really mattered.
Still, Nathan had seen the look in his eyes and understood his doubt and confusion as to how he could sleep with Josiah, who was so violent both when lost in his nightmares and his spirits. The others thought that Josiah's spirits were purely the alcohol storming through his bloodstream, but Nathan knew it was much more than that. Those weaker spirits helped him hide from the spirits that truly bothered him, but he wouldn't let either take him in the end.
He slipped into bed beside him, curled his body around his lover's, and wrapped him in the safe cocoon of his arms. Josiah murmured in his sleep, but Nathan's voice soothed him back to dreamland as he reassured him, "It's okay, baby. We ain't gonna touch any of those nasty spirits, neither kind. We're safe now. We're safe here."
And they were safe in this town and in this band of men who were more of a family than anything most of them had ever had. They were safe together. They were safe in love.
The End