The days passed and the blonde was driving herself to insanity being forced to not move from her location by her Marshall companion. Setsuna had arrived a day after taking her trail into a plain region before trading off horses with Jak. When she had found Haruka, she made sure the blonde didn't jump the gun and dive down to go and retrieve Michiru right off the bat. They had been patiently waiting for three days observing from afar with how the camp ran itself.
"I can't do this for one more day, Setsuna." growled Haruka furiously as she tried to busy herself with loading her pistol and rifle.
"You have to sit and wait. Don't worry, she's strong herself and no doubt will survive even longer. After all, it seems they purposely took her to drive you to use your emotions and not your head." chided the law woman as she laid against a rock watching the enemy.
"It worked but damnit they took the one woman I'd die for. I want to get even with those bastards and get her back before I go and turn myself in."
"I know, Haruka. Right now you have to stay focused for her and for the plan to work. I'm not sure where Jak is but I'm sure she's working on helping us."
"Right, like she alone could do much damage to their numbers."
Setsuna sent a sharp glare toward Haruka before climbing back off the rock ridge and into the trees and small little space where they had set up a camp. The glare caught the blonde off guard and she quickly felt a slap strike her across the face from the Marshal. It sent her to drop her gun staring up at the red eyed woman in shock.
"What the fuck was that for?" she hissed.
"For doubting your mentor, rider. That woman has seen more trouble and has killed more men than you could fathom. She also has been through a rough life and you dare to say she can't do much? Do you even know anything of her background?" snapped Setsuna.
The blonde fell silent and shook her head slowly side to side rubbing her face.
"Jak has been through hell and back time and time again for those she cares about. Whether you like it or not, she sees you as a kid sister and is risking her life to help you get the one you love back. She never thinks of herself when she gets into this mode of hers and it's what sent her to prison for four years of her life. You keep that in mind next time you start to doubt her intentions, Tenoh."
Haruka fell silent and looked away in shame from how she had acted. She could sense the anger in Setsuna's voice and from that could determine the woman herself had tight bonds with her mentor. It made her realize she wasn't on her own in the mission of getting Michiru back and it also woke her up. There were people she could trust and they were willing to lay their life on the line to help her. It never occurred to her that anyone existed like that since she moved to the west. Sure, Jak had helped her learn new things but it never sunk in just how much the woman cared about the blonde until Setsuna explained it to her.
"I'm sorry, Setsuna. I never realized Hawkins saw me that way. I have to refocus my efforts in waiting for her to come to us before doing anything. I shouldn't doubt her as I have. I'm just frustrated that I can't get to Michiru." she sighed sadly.
The Marshall turned glancing to her blonde companion and nodded lightly. "I know. Don't worry about it but I had to wake you up to realize what you got. Leave it to Jak for now, she'll come through for you. Lord knows she did for me."
Haruka glanced up watching Setsuna return to observing Marshton's gang from the rocks. She couldn't help but begin to wonder what the woman meant with her last comment. So Jak had a history with the woman? She shrugged it off before finishing her task of cleaning her guns. It was the only thing helping her to keep her emotions in check for the time being as she waited. It was never easy to sit and wait when she had something she wanted to do but she wasn't about to anger Setsuna again. After all, the woman had a hard hand and Haruka valued her ability to chew hard food.
The gang of men that decided to trail the black horse's tracks continued to follow them out into the plains before they stopped looking around in the open. The tracks moved off into well known Indian territory heading right to a native camp. The trackers refused to go any further and so the group remained where they were looking all around having a bad feeling of what was to come. Two of the lead riders spotted movement off in the distance and quickly bolted toward it seeing the familiar shape of a horse and rider in black which they assumed was Tenoh but they didn't realize it was Deadeye Hawkins. They ran hard and quick with their animals drawing out their rifles only to fire off two shots. The sound echoed around and Jak merely smirked before glancing down on the opposite side of the ridge line she was standing upon with Dart. Below was a large band of Lakota warriors who were more than ready to go after the attackers. Shifting in her saddle, Hawkins spurred her horse up and he reared giving the signal to the lead warrior of the band.
With a sudden echo of warrior cries, the group of fifteen renegades quickly tried to turn tail and run while some fired at the flooding of Indian warriors. Arrows and bullets flew through the air as well as the sound of yells and screams. Jak rode with the native people firing off shots and killing a few men before watching as riders started falling off their animals to lay for the vultures to pick at. The renegades barely escaped with enough riders but a small group of native scouts and hunters chased after them intending to make sure none of the white riders survived. She sighed softly riding up to the leader of the warrior extending out her hand to him in thanks. He took the offered hand and smiled speaking in English to her.
"We have helped you in response to our bond, Hawkins. We will continue to help til your battle is over." remarked the man calmly.
Jak smiled softly. "I thank you for your help, Graywolf. I will need your warriors to help my family survive this war."
"You are family, Hawkins. We shall help."
With the words spoken, the warriors retreated to circle around Marshton's camp from behind after a span of five days. Warriors silently moved in through the mountain range keeping covered in the darkness of the trees and boulders. They truly were the ones belonging to earth the way every little bit of cover seemed to make them invisible to even the best trained eyes. Jak had a great respect for Graywolf and his tribe and owed them quite a bit herself. She had lived with them for three years of her life after her first bounty hunt went sour. She had been left for dead in the plains and Graywolf stumbled upon her with a few of his warriors. They returned her to their camp where they nursed her back to health and eventually Graywolf became a blood brother to her. She had hunted with his people and gave them everything she could to repay them before moving on to find her own path. The warrior who was now chief of his tribe, was not afraid to help his blood sister when she came to seek for his aid leaving her friends to their own devices.
All the while with the warriors moving into place, Marshton grew anxious and sent five riders out to find the group of fifteen that were supposed to have returned to camp two days earlier. He was pacing back and forth and actually allowed Michiru outside to watch the men work on their horses and prepare for a fight to capture their prey.
"You aren't going to catch her, Marshton. She's smarter than you could ever be." growled the woman firmly as she sat with a man watching her from behind armed with a shotgun. It seemed Caleb wasn't about ot let her have free reign and wanted to make sure his bait would stay where he needed her to remain.
"Oh, I'll catch my meal ticket, sweetheart. After I do, I'll take her head back to Dodge and hand you over to your daddy all safe and sound. He'll give me even more money for that." he cackled loudly.
"You are just a sick bastard. Haruka will kill you before you even get a chance to touch her."
"Keep dreaming, sweety. The blonde is gonna die."
A rider rode in quickly after checking out the group of fifteen and was frantic as he skidded to a stop upon his horse. Looking around for Caleb, he dismounted and ran for the cabin's porch where he found him.
"They are all dead, boss. Every last one of em are dead." stuttered the rider.
"Who are?"
"Larry's group. Every last one of em are dead. Arrows through their backs and three of em had gun shots to the head. The Indians know we're here, boss."
"Calm down, Jameson. I highly doubt those red skins will come and bother us with the fire power we got to back us all up. Tell the boys to start mounting up and to ride the border around here. If they see the blonde tell em to bring her in to me but if you find anyone else, kill em on sight."
"Yessir."
The men did as ordered and slowly moved to patrol the border. When they moved in close behind the cabin a few miles off, they made the mistake of filtering in through the trees and the brush. The riders were quickly taken out by native warriors who caught them off guard and silenced them with a knife blade to the throat. However, the warriors made certain to grab the horses and remove all tack from them before letting them go. The animals wandered back into camp one by one from all ends causing the remaining men to get nervous and jumpy. Michiru merely smirked knowing somehow Haruka had to be out there playing mind games on Caleb's men. She laughed as Caleb started to grow weary. It only worsened as a rider came back in being dragged by his lariat rope behind his horse. The man was dead by a gunshot through the chest showing whoever was around was being serious.
The sun started to go down casting off shadows all around the camp. The renegades were all on high alert as they stayed up with their guns waiting and watching for any movement in the distance. What they had not noticed however, was the native sneaking closer and closer in a circle all around the camp staying in wait. Some even found Setsuna and Haruka only to be explained by Jak as she arrived in the small camp of theirs. She remained at ease speaking in Lakota to the warriors who were by the marshall and blonde. The men nodded and moved silently back through the trees vanishing from sight.
"Since when do you speak native?" murmured Haruka obviously a bit unnerved having thought she was dead.
"You'll find the answer out to that shortly. However, right now our focus is to move down into that camp. They are jump as hell right now after I toyed with them a little. I suggest Blondy, that you come in from the right to get into the back of that cabin while I draw Marshton and his men out front by challenging him. Suna, I want you to lay low and take aim from a distance with my rifle. You've always been a better sharpshooter distance wise than i ever have been. I want you to cover me from behind if anyone gets too close."
Setsuna nodded calmly moving to take the long rifle out of the leather case on Dart. She sighed softly taking a moment to look to Jak as they stood together. Jak's blue eyes seemed soft but they also showed a bit of fear for the first time in a long time. Without a word spoken after a minute, the two parted ways and Haruka quickly saddled up her horse working her way down through an old deer trail to get behind the cabin slowly. She was ready when Jak made her move to slowly sneak in with the opening to get Michiru and get out and away before the blood would run everywhere. Her body felt nervous and she felt herself growing a bit sick at the prospect of not making it in time to get her lover out of harms way. Forcing herself to let it go, she kept a steady walk passing many warriors without noticing it until she was in place.
Setsuna made her way onto the ridge line within the boulders finding a spot where she could see everyone in the distance clearly. She had to make sure she could see every single movement of the men as Jak's life very well depended on her if someone tried to shoot her in the back. The Marshall wasn't going to let her die if she could do something about it. After all, they had promised that neither of them would leave the other behind again, ever.
With everyone in their places, Jak took one final moment to glance up toward the sky. The sun was casting a shadow even in her direction and in the distance she heard a few hawks screech out in the air. Looking toward Dart, she stroked his neck before mounting up and turning him around with the reigns. It all came down to how she handled the men in the camp below. Everything was riding on her shoulders to make the first move and if she screwed up, she knew innocent people could very well die in a crossfire. The regulator rode on down the mountain pathway and moved onto the dirt trail leading to the cabin location and camp. Instantly she noticed Marshton's men take aim toward her but they stopped at the order of letting her through. She moved in carefully keeping her eyes alert and her ears open before stopping Dart in the middle of the encampment of renegades. The men slowly surrounded her watching as Marshton got off the porch to approach her.
"Well, well, well. If it ain't Deadeye. To what do I owe this pleasure of seeing you again?" smirked Marshton.
Jak remained relaxed in her saddle. "I came for Michiru and to make sure you and your men don't walk out of these grounds alive, Caleb."
"Oh really now? Well, I suppose you haven't realized the fact that you are surrounded by thirty men here. You aren't getting out of here alive, woman. I'll kill you personally for what you did to me."
"Then let's get it over with, Marshton. I haven't got all day to play your games. I took out your border patrol men one by one. I was the one that made that corpse warning your men witnessed. You should be afraid with crossing my path a second time. I haven't forgotten what you did to my horse after all, you son of a bitch."
The woman calmly dismounted off of her horse letting him move away toward the barn. One of Caleb's men took a hold of his reigns keeping a hold of the large animal. He wasn't going to risk the woman taking off injured on the animal to escape the grounds which would be her resting place. At least that's what Marshton kept telling himself as he walked forward showing off his gun waiting for Hawkins to do the same. The old bounty hunter kicked back her duster sides revealing her twin pistols before moving to get ready to draw on the man in front of her. Michiru watched from the porch and took the time to notice that the shotgun man had moved to pay attention to the spectacle about to unfold in front of the cabin. Moving very slowly and carefully, she slipped off from the porch without much noise and ran toward the woods behind the cabin. Spotting her running, Haruka ran out on her horse to pick her up only causing a lot of noise as her horse let out a loud nicker. It caught the attention of Marshton's men and they quickly turned to fire toward Haruka only to have bullets fly into their sides and chest as Hawkins started firing off her pistols as quickly as she could trying to cover for her friend.
With each shot, she left herself open from behind. Five men started in on aiming for her only to be shot in the back from a distance as Setsuna started moving her sights from one man to the next as quickly as she could attempting to protect Jak. In the midst of all the shooting going on, Jak ran toward her horse hollering at him to take off. Dart bolted stomping one of the renegades in his path and kept going straight sending the signal out to Graywolf's warriors who quickly started firing their arrows to take down more of Marshton's men buying time for Haruka to flee on horseback with Michiru clinging to her back. The blonde rode fast and hard up into the mountains where Setsuna was shooting barely able to keep the remaining men from shooting at Jak. While more people moved in, Setsuna found it hard to distinguish between which men were with who and quickly had to move to her horse to ride down to the fray.
The Lakota warriors kept fighting killing more of Marshton's men before chasing them down as more than half of them bolted on horseback to flee for their lives. Caleb remained and took notice of Jak's back being toward him as she fired off a shoot at a man attempting to shoot Graywolf in the back. A wicked smirk crossed the gloved man's face as he raised his pistol and pulled the hammer back. As Setsuna urged her horse to run even faster, she heard a gun shot and watched as the black figure fell to the ground in a heap. The sight panicked the Marshall and she spurred the horse on before firing off a shot at Marshton shooting him right between the eyes without hesitation.
"Jak! Jacklyn!" she screamed dismounting off her horse to run toward the woman on the ground.
She quickly moved onto her knees turning the woman over on her back to cradle her in her lap stroking her face. "Speak to me, Jak...Please don't die on me.."
Jak opened her eyes slowly feeling quite a lot of pain coursing through her body as she laid in the dirt. Her vision was blurred but she blinked a few times to refocus it glancing up to Setsuna. She slowly reached up with a gloved hand and offered a slight smirk.
"I guess I broke my promise to you...Suna..."she murmured slowly being careful how she breathed. The pain was excruciating but she was forcing herself to stay conscious.
"Don't speak like that, you'll be fine honey. You'll be just fine. I'll get you to a doctor and you'll pull through this.."
"Suna...the bastard got me good. I ain't gonna make it to a doctor..."
Setsuna started to tear up fighting back the urge to cry out as best as she could but she couldn't stop a few from trickling down and falling onto Jak's chest. Further down at her torso the Marshall noticed the exit wound bleeding out rather quickly, and knew internal organs had been shredded from the bullet. it didn't ease the pain she felt in her chest as she carefully removed the glove from Hawkin's left hand to tenderly interlock their fingers together.
"Jacklyn...you promised me you wouldn't leave me again. How am I suppose to go on without you?" she wept.
Grunting a bit, Jak locked eyes with the woman she had loved for a long time and gave a light smile. "If you get lonely look to the sky and listen closely. I will always be watching you, Suna. I never got to say it in the past but-" She winced coughing up a little blood trying to hang on just for a few moments longer. "...I love you..."
Setsuna closed her eyes bowing her head down letting her emotions loose as she started crying. " I love you too...Jak..."
As she closed her eyes tightly to weep, the warmth in her lover's hand faded away and her finger grew relaxed. Jak's body slowly shook before becoming eerily still allowing death to take over. Setsuna remained in the dirt holding onto the body crying for a long while as the natives returned from getting every one of the renegades. They stopped spotting the sight and slowly bowed their heads as Graywolf returned to witness the Marshall over the familiar black duster figure. He felt his throat tighten up as he dismounted off his horse to slowly walk forward toward the green haired woman. Reaching out, he laid a firm hand to her shoulder watching her weep.
"Do not cry for her, for she has only moved on in the circle. She would not want you weeping in sadness." he murmured lightly with his own vocals cracking. It was difficult for the man to see the body of his blood sister on the ground. "We will escort you and your friends out of our lands but the fate of Hawkins body is yours."
The woman wiped away her tears before slowly moving to lay Jacklyn's body on the ground not noticing the blood stain on her shirt and pants right away. Watching the body for a few minutes, Setsuna reached up and touched the tanned flesh of the Indian chief.
"She was part of your family and thus belongs on your lands, Graywolf. I just wish to be able to come here when I need to without any trouble." she finally spoke.
"It shall be done, Star rider." remarked the man. He turned and spoke in his native tongue having two warriors move forward to take a hold of the body only to drape it over Dart's back.
Setsuna moved silently picking up the gun belt off of the ground where Jak had left it in the gun fight and slowly touched the handles of the ebony pistols. Shaking away the feelings, she slipped the guns around her waist and mounted her own horse moving off to ride to retrieve Haruka and Michiru and inform them of the news. Haruka couldn't believe what she heard from her mouth and at first greatly denied the truth to herself. She shouted and took off alone onto the plains racing for miles upon miles away losing herself on the back of her horse. Michiru had made a motion to go after her but Setsuna stopped her quickly with a hand.
"This is something she must handle alone, now Michiru. She will come back." remarked the Marshall.
After a period of time, Setsuna and Michiru rode together with Graywolf's men to his tribe grounds where women and children came out to see their warriors return but also to see that a family member had fallen in battle. Dart walked slowly feeling the weight of his rider on his back but even he knew she was already gone from the way her body was tied to the saddle. He moved slowly being lead by Graywolf's hand before coming to a stop in the tribe grounds. Setsuna dismounted after Michiru and moved to take Dart from Graywolf trying to keep her composure. Together the two walk with the warriors behind them to bury Jak in the ground in the location of four other fallen warriors of great respect. Once the burial was finished, Setsuna walked back to sit down at the fire staring into the flames feeling her heart aching.
Michiru felt terrible as well having not known Jak all to well. She was more worried over Haruka and what she was doing. It scared her not knowing what her lover was off doing to herself and she only hoped she came back to her in one piece. After all, Haruka had been close to Jak for the last six months and she could relate to the pain having lost her mother who she was extremely close to in the past. Bowing her head down a bit, the teal haired woman let out a sigh before looking toward Setsuna. The woman had to be feeling rough and the violinist could only imagine the kind of pain she felt from losing the one she loved. It hurt to see the usually strong Marshall actually silently weeping by the tribe's fire.
Off in the distance, Haruka slowly made her way to the tribe grounds having tracked Dart's prints. The blonde had rode for a long period of time causing her horse to be foamed up from all the running she had to do alone on the plains. Coming within range, she walked the beast before dismounting and loosening the saddle on him letting him follow her in on foot to the main grounds finding Michiru and Setsuna by the fire not talking much at all. The blonde approached them both and stopped only to clear her throat causing the two women to raise their heads to look toward her direction. Her usually calm and vast green eyes were clouded and red from irritation and her face looked red and a bit puffy from shedding tears while riding. She was a wreck but she had stopped her tears on her return. Sighing softly, Haruka looked toward Setsuna seeing the woman still had wet cheeks.
"Marshall, I'm going to Dodge. Too much blood has been spilled, and I have had enough of watching people suffer.I want it to stop..." cracked Haruka. Her voice was hoarse and barely able to be heard but Michiru heard her words and soon rose to hold her lover close to her.
Haruka collapsed to her knees within Michiru's comforting arms weeping into her shoulders once again as the stars started to come out in the night sky. In the distance, wolves gave out sorrowful sounding howls until late into the night putting Michiru and Haruka to sleep. Setsuna remained awake staring up into the starry sky above only closing her eyes to listen to the howls and the crackling of the dying fire until deep into the evening.