Rogue spit out the iron pill that had left a bitter taste in her mouth and kept on riding. She was galloping at full speed. Lucky that the full moon lit the way just enough to keep the poor horse from breaking a leg.

Once reached the camp she jumped down from the horse. Her mother and Victor were eating dinner by the fire. Mystique got up and put her arms around her.

She let herself be carried away by the familiarity of the embrace. Trying to keep her composure.

"Rogue, my dear. It took you a while," She said cupping her face with one hand.

"I'm fine, Mom, thanks for worrying," Rogue grudgingly ruminated.

"No time for sentimentality, little one, we're running late," Mystique said pulling away from her.

"Maybe if you hadn't sent me to steal from some bastard who had nothing but chickens, we wouldn't be so late," she mumbled grumpily.

"Creed said he was a good target," Mystique replied.

"Creed has issues with him," she replied looking at the man who hadn't moved from the spot.

" Did you kill him off?" asked Victor.

Rogue glared at Creed with contempt. She had always known he was a horrible man. But never had figured to what extent. Yet she still works with him. What did that turn her into?

"No, he's just a harmless cowboy, it wasn't necessary," she said sitting down by the fire.

"Are you an idiot or what's wrong with you, he's a dangerous bounty hunter," he yelled whirling against her in a rage. "I gave you the fucking poison to kill him. The harmless cowboy has caught more bandits than half the bounty hunters in Louisiana."

"You picked him because you wanted to screw him. You should have killed him yourself, or are you afraid?"

"I didn't know you were such an idiot to be fooled by a pretty face."

"Shut up Creed What did you do to those girls?" she shouted angrily giving him a hard shove.

"Girls? They were just dirty squaws" Victor retorted with a devious grin. "A tasty little morsel,"

" Swine " Rogue said lifting him by the collar of his shirt and standing up. "Why don't you try a real woman?"

"I'd love to hump you while I pull your guts out girl," he whispered tossing the breath in her face.

"Whose guts are you going to rip out, Victor?" hissed Mystique holding a knife to his throat. "Let go of my daughter."

"No one, Leni," he snarled moodily shoving Rogue away. "But here your little girl has spent a month fucking the Frenchman and she's had a morale attack."

Mystique looked at her with disappointment. Rogue felt the rage boil up inside her.

"Re...The cowboy is harmless. I don't know what he may have done in the past. But there's three of us, we can steal his cattle and money easily enough," she explained stepping away from them. "In a couple of days he's going to move the cattle, it'll be the best time to attack."

"The girl has a plan," Victor teased moving closer to her, smiled and made a mock attempt to bite her. "I'm going to pee."

"You should have followed the plan, Rogue," Mystique said when Victor was far enough away. "That you'd change it for a man disappoints me."

"It's not what you think. He's the first target who isn't a bastard who makes me sleep with a knife under my pillow. Or who gropes me while I'm working ... "

" I've taught you how to handle that, " her mother interrupted her in a bad mood. "You should be smarter and do your job in spite of everything."

"What happened, happened," she said at last turning her back on her.

"That's for sure."

Rogue pitched her tent in silence, she was tired of crowding and tired of her mother and Victor.

She rolled herself in a threadbare blanket trying to fall asleep. She didn't even want to think. The pressure in her chest was exhausting. She was a good daughter. Yet always ended up disappointing her mother. But she only wanted to act for herself, to think for herself. She wasn't a dog who obeyed without thinking. But sometimes she thought that was all Mystique wanted from her.

Hiding behind the hill, they watched how Remy led the horses through the meadow. His horse was at a walk and he seemed to enjoy the ride. He was crooning, quietly, enjoying the scenery.

He was right he was good at taming wild beasts, in just two weeks Remy had gotten that herd to walk where he wanted them to. Even the red mare he had tied to his own horse.

"When he gets to the river, we attack," said Mystique at her sideloading the shotgun.

"Perfect," Victor said getting on his horse. "You go get the horses, I'll go get the Frenchman."

"No way," replied Mystique. "Rogue you watch our backs."

She nodded covering her face with a handkerchief. Her heart was pounding against her chest. She had done this a dozen times. But it always made her nervous.

Mystique screamed before breaking into a gallop, followed by Victor. Her mother shot into the air several times and the herd of horses spooked. Scattering across the meadow. Remy reacted quickly by firing in the direction of his attackers. Creed ran to herd the horses, while Mystique galloped in Remy's direction.

Something inside her made her react. She jumped on her horse and ran towards them. The herd of horses was out of control, the animals were crossing each other, raising a cloud of dusty dirt that barely let them see. Remy's horse reared up and although he managed to stay on top for a few minutes, the horse ended up knocking him to the ground. Remy rolled on the ground, curling into a ball to avoid being stepped on by the horses. Mystique was still shooting into the air.

"Victor, the horses," she shouted angrily watching how Creed galloped towards Remy.

But he didn't hear Mystique, Rogue pulled out her gun and shot the guy as he was about to run over Remy with the horse.

"You little whore," he yelled, turning to chase after the herd.

"Get on!" Rogue yelled holding out her hand to him.

"Anna?" Remy asked in disbelief. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Get the fuck up!" She nervously urged him. Remy grabbed her hand and with an incredibly agile movement climbed onto the horse behind her. Rogue heard her mother scream angrily, followed by shooting at them. So she herded the reins to make the poor horse run more than it was already doing.

Remy slipped an arm around her waist and held on tight so he could turn and shoot at their pursuers. He mumbled something in French that from his tone was inferred to be curses.

"We've lost them," Remy said releasing his grip and relaxing his arms. "Stop the damn horse, Anna."

She didn't bother to answer him, the farther away from her mother and Victor they were the better.

"Stop the fucking horse," he yelled pulling on the reins so hard it nearly knocked them off the horse.

The beast stopped dead in its tracks and Remy jumped off the horse in a fury.

She got off too. Remy whirled around like a caged lion. He was swearing and walked over to the horse, his horse, and ran a hand fondly over the horse's back.

"Shit they shot the horse," he said looking at his palm full of blood.

"It wasn't the horse," Rogue muttered ripping a piece of cloth from her pants.

Blood covered her thigh. She had felt a sharp pain during the gallop, but thought it was a pulled muscle.

"Shit," she mumbled and suddenly felt all the pain hit her all at once. Her knees overcame and she dropped to the ground. Luckily the bullet was preventing her from bleeding out. Remy looked down at her from above, his gaze loaded with despise. And that made her feel terrible.

"What endearing friends you have, my darling," he growled grabbing her arm. She jerked and snorted in pain." Have you been shot?"

"They're not friends, it's my mother and her stupid partner," she replied ripping off a piece of shirt to make a tourniquet.

"Or that's much better," he growled sarcastically squatting down in front of her. "Let me see the wound."

"It's nothing than a graze," she lied. "We have to go, Mystique isn't going to let things go," she said pulling his hands away. Remy gave her a disappointed look.

"I don't plan on going anywhere with you," he replied getting to his feet.

"Do you plan on spending the night outdoors?" Rogue asked rising to her feet as well. A lash of pain shot through her leg, and she tried to disguise it.

"Who says I'm the one staying here?" retorted Remy. "That's my horse."

It hadn't even crossed her mind that Remy might leave her. She reached for her gun, but he was quicker. He threw her gun to the ground with a flick of his wrist. She didn't know if it was because she was dizzy from blood loss or because he was better. But in mere seconds he had her pinned with her hands behind her back.

"Don't take me for a good boy, chère," Remy whispered in her ear. "You've been teasing me for too long already." He flipped her over easily and pulling a rope from his pocket tied her wrists tightly together. "Let's go to the sheriff's office. I hope your pretty head is worth more than the horses I've lost."

Remy moved her around like a rag doll and she was no longer in the mood for a fight. He pulled her onto the horse and after placing himself behind her he gripped the horse's reins tightly.

"Have you been lying to me all this time?" Remy said as he put the beast to a trot.

"Yes," she replied, it wasn't worth lying. Nor was it worth hiding. She would be condemned to the noose. Maybe it was for the best

"I can't believe you work with Creed," he mumbled with scorn.

"It's not like I can decide about that. And I didn't know about the girls," she replied in barely a whisper. Remy said nothing. Her leg was hurting by the minute. And the horse's gait wasn't helping.

Neither of them said anything again for a long time. It was getting dark and she was very cold.

"So what a plan, seduce the fool and steal his cattle," Remy remarked, his tone of voice sounding softer than before.

"I wasn't trying to seduce you," Rogue replied in disbelief, she turned to look at him. But Remy had his eyes on the horizon and didn't notice.

"Bad job then," he replied like it was nothing.

"Maybe it's just that you're easily seduced," she said outraged. The horse's wagging made her dizzy. She felt worse and worse.

"Don't make this my fault,"

She wanted to retort something else, but no words came to her throat and she felt how her legs no longer supported her on the horse. And before she fell off the horse everything melted to black.

Rogue woke up inside a teepee, pulled aside the blanket that covered her and saw that she wasn't wearing pants. They had washed and sealed her wound. It was good to be unconscious for the whole process. A little girl with long black hair came into the tent. She carried a bowl with her. Then she sat down on her knees beside her. And said something she didn't understand.

"I'm sorry, Sugah. I don't understand you," Rogue said rising from the floor.

The girl smiled and pointed to the bowl in which there was some kind of brown paste. Then she waved her hand over her arm, like she was caressing herself. After that, she pointed to her wound and showed her the bowl again. Rogue nodded, but the little girl did nothing, just looked at her expectantly. She sighed and repeated the gesture over her wound and pointed to her.

The young Atapaka cleaned her wound, applied the paste to the wound, and bandaged it.

"Thank you," she said when the girl finished.

She smiled and put a finger to her chest.

"Niāl," she said with a huge grin on her face and pointed at her.

"Rogue," she replied pointing to her chest.

Niāl smiled again and handed her a wooden cup she hadn't seen before and made like drinking from it before handing it to her. She was thirsty and drank without a second thought. The light came back into the teepee, Rogue raised her head and saw Remy standing in the doorway.

Niāl stood up, hugged him and shared a few words with him in her language, and left. Remy was smiling but when their gazes met his gesture turned serious.

He looked at her from the doorway, he was carrying her pants folded on his arm and a tray with some food on it.

"Get dressed, eat something. In half an hour we're leaving for town," he said setting the tray on the floor.

Without waiting for her reply he left the tepee. She shouldn't expect anything else. But she missed the kind and funny man she had known.

The Atapaka had patched the pants with a piece of red cloth. It was pretty and looked sturdy. Rogue ate in silence, she wasn't hungry. So after a couple of bites she put on her pants. And the rest of the clothes that were folded in a corner of the tent.

Outside Remy was brushing his horse while talking with a couple of men cheerfully. For a second the thought of running away crossed her mind. Stupid as it was, she didn't have a horse and trying to steal one wasn't the best of ideas. As if reading her mind, Remy turned to look at her. An exhausted sigh escaped his lips and he shook his head in a barely perceptible gesture. Then, walked over to her and grabbed her wrists.

"I'm not running away," Rogue said defiantly. He stared into her eyes and a shiver ran down her spine.

" Why should I trust you?" he said tying her wrists again. He didn't look at her anytime.

Remy put her back on the horse. Deep down she was grateful he wasn't carrying her tied to the horse's saddlebags like she was a sack of potatoes.

She grabbed hold of the beast's mane and Remy set off.

"Is Anna even your name?" he asked after a long silence.

"No."

"Damn, did you tell me any truth?" he retorted.

"Well, I don't know anything about French history," she replied honestly. The truth was that she had barely spoken about her own life. Remy broke into laughter. "You didn't tell me you were a bounty hunter, either."

"I had no bad intentions, besides you already knew," he replied giving her a little bump with his shoulder.

"I didn't know,"

Remy sighed and fell silent again. They had ahead of them, at least three hours of route until they reached the town. It was going to be a long ride.

It was a cool day even though the sun was shining high in a clear sky.

"So what's your real name, chère?" he asked dropping a hand from the tent to reach into his vest pocket for something.

"Rogue."

"That's not a real name," Remy replied with a chuckle.

"No one bothered to give me another one," Rogue retorted in annoyance.

" All right," he added sighing again. "Hold the reins."

"What?" she asked puzzled.

"Hold the reins," Remy repeated placing a pouch of tobacco in front of her eyes.

"I thought you didn't trust me," Rogue said doing what he had asked.

"The urge to smoke is stronger," Remy added and for the first time since they had met again, he offered her a smile. "Besides if you try to pull me off the horse I'll drag you down with me to the ground."

He rolled his cigarette with the dexterity of someone who had done it a thousand times.

Before realizing it, she spotted Remy's ranch in the distance. So he spurred the horse to go faster. When they arrived, the sight was appalling. Someone had burned the house. The crops and even the chicken pen. They lay scorched on the ground. Remy jumped off his horse with his hands on his head.

"Puce,!" he yelled at the top of his lungs. The poor puppy. She felt like bursting into tears. This had Creed's signature. "Puce petit, Allez !"

Maybe she wouldn't have to wait for the rope. This was all her fault. And no one knew what was the limit of a man's patience.

"Damn it," Remy grumbled kicking a piece of charred wood.

Rogue looked around, Remy had lost everything because of her. She had never thought about the consequences of her actions. For most of her life, had let herself go into automatic mode. It was the only way she found to survive. Doing what Mystique ordered her to do was the easy way.

Remy walked away from the horse and into what was left of the house.

It was her time to flee. She didn't want to face the gallows. She grabbed the reins and spurred the horse towards the exit.

Rogue overheard a bark in the distance. She jumped off her horse hoping she wasn't mistaken and ran across the farm in the direction of the sound. She heard Remy yelling something at her, but she didn't stop. Then listened to bark again, this time much closer, and saw something moving under a pile of burned-out junk. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw how Remy was running towards her with an angry expression.

She removed the rubble that was still hot and out of it came the puppy. Who lunged to lick her face.

"Oh, puppy, I'm so glad you are okay," she murmured petting its head. The dog had a few burns, but otherwise seemed fine. He seemed so happy to see her. "Good boy."

Rogue noticed Remy approaching in her direction and was glad she didn't understand half the things he was shouting at her in French. Puce perked its ears up at the sound of its master's voice and nearly knocked her over, to go to meet him. And then Remy looked completely defeated, just as if a bucket of ice water had been thrown over him.

He sat down on the ground and hugged the dog.

"It's okay buddy, I'm home now," he whispered to the puppy who was licking his face in excitement.

"Remy... I ...," she mumbled moving closer to him.

"Non. Shut up," he cut her off immediately." I don't want to hear a word out of you."