Disclaimer: I don't own the following characters: Luke, Elijah, Neda, Lilith, Angela, Amy, Edge, or the Teacher. Nor do I own the various characters from the television series, 'The Magnificent Seven' (not that I would want to own Will Richmond). However, the Patterson siblings are mine. This story was inspired by the movie 'Dust,' starring David Wenham & Joseph Fiennes, and by my question after watching, 'what if Edge was wrong about Luke's fate?'
I will apologize in advance for any misspellings. . .my spell check isn't currently working. This has been beta'ed, but mistakes slip past even two people at times.
The story title is taken from the October Project song, 'Return to Me.'
Calling the Wind
Prologue: The Rest of the Story
They flew in silence for some time, a companionable silence, once Edge finished his story. Amy welcomed the silence. She needed time to think over what she would say. The story was most impressive, considering the last bit was made up solely from Edge's imagination. Angela was never the sort to confide in her diary, at least not according to her mother. On the other hand, Mama would hardly be surprised that Angela wanted to tell the story of the man who shaped her and her early life. Amy supposed she couldn't blame Angela for that. Her entire family was shaped by Luke and the changes he underwent in Macedonia.
Should she tell him the truth? The story which Edge told, the ending had a romantic mystique. . .a mercenary gunman finding his heart at last and sacrificing himself for atonement. The truth could be strange, but it could be mundane. And didn't she owe it to Luke to finish what Angela started? At last, Amy could no longer hold it in. She began to suspect when Edge began telling her the story of the two brothers in turn of the century America. Her suspicions were confirmed when he showed the picture of Luke and Elijah to her. She asked, because he expected her to. But she already knew.
"That was pretty good, for fitting the pieces of the story together without Angela's help," Amy said at last, and Edge looked at her in surprise. She smiled at him and continued, "Would you like to hear how the story really ended? I can promise you, you had it almost perfect. Except for one small, minor detail." Minor, she thought, except in my family. I wouldn't exist if his version was true.
"Uh-huh. And just how do you know this?" Edge asked. Amy smiled and looked down at the picture of Luke and Elijah once more. Legendary names in her family, for these last ninety-plus years. With the tip of her finger, she gently traced the features of first one brother, then the other. Family. It meant everything to Amy and those who raised her. After a moment, she looked up at him and smiled.
"Because, you could say, I'm related to Angela. Her. . .grand-niece, if you will. My family name is Hurst, and we can trace our ancestry back nearly a hundred years, in the panhandle of Texas," Amy began. She traced Luke's face once more, continuing, "But it really began in Macedonia, where my great-grandparents met. You see, Edge, Luke wasn't the first expatriate American whom Neda nursed back to health. . ."