AN.: Sorry that I kept you waiting. I hope this'll make up for it at least a little bit. Thank you for everyone who wrote a review.
St. Cyr: I'm so happy to know that you are enjoying this story :) I hope I didn't leave you hanging that long ;w; Sorry.
milliea: 'A veritable diamond of a tale'... honestly, that line was so beautiful and meant so much to me, I have to thank you! I hope you'll like this chapter.

WARNING: Contains mild mention of suicidal thoughts. But it will not go further than this, I promise.

Enjoy the read!

My fault

Little Joe coughed violently as a cloud of dust rose from beneath them as they had to stop in their tracks all of a sudden. He felt the prick of tears behind his eyelids and closed his eyes tightly, waiting for both the dust to settle and the cough to subside. When he opened them again, he saw Hoss staring down at the dusty ground with a tense expression on his face. Joe's eyes shifted to the floor immediately, looking for something to explain Hoss' worried expression. He maneuvered Cochise closer to the footprints on the floor, mindful of them to avoid accidentally stepping on them and was finally able to determine why Hoss was distressed. There were way too many footsteps in this spot; They had been following Adam's prints, but now they were joined by at least another pair of footprints. They were pretty similar regarding the size but one set of prints revealed a shoe-profile which was entirely different from Adam's set of prints. Besides that, Adam's marks were messy, following an unknown path. They told little Joe and Hoss about him stumbling, shuffling, trailing his feet as if he was simply a drunkard trying to find his way home. This new set of prints was different; It somehow looked dangerous. It had a dangerous feel to it. The prints were clear to spot and made by setting one's feet down with much force and determination. It had been following a straight path, having a specific target to reach. Joe swallowed heavily, peeling his eyes off of the footprints. "...Hoss." Joe addressed his older brother.

"I know, little Joe." Hoss answered without taking his eyes off the ground.

"Is there a chance that that unknown person simply wandered through here at a different time than Adam did?" Joe asked hopefully.

"I don't think so, Joe..." Hoss released a heavy breath before finally looking into Joe's face. "Do you see Adam's set of prints right there, where they are first joined by the unknown person?" Hoss pointed to one particular spot. "The prints are overlapping, with the stranger's prints being on top of Adam's, indicatin' that he walked through here after Adam did. But right here," Hoss pointed to a spot to his right and Joe's left side. "...here is one of Adam's messy footprints on top of the stranger's print, indicating that Adam walked through here after the stranger... or at least behind him." Hoss had a frown on his face. "It also looks like they were somehow interactin'... Or at least the stranger was interactin' with Adam."

Joe's heart sank into the pit of his stomach. "You mean someone stumbled over Adam and found him in his current condition?"

"Not exactly. Didn't tell you earlier 'cause I thought might not be relevant, but I spotted the stranger's footprints a while earlier. He'd been takin' the same path as Adam and you and I did."

"Why didn't you tell me!" Joe exclaimed, not quite knowing how to handle his anger.

"Calm down Joe. I thought I didn't need to worry you 'bout somethin' that might be nothin'." Hoss said, raising his hands to defuse the situation. Joe deflated like a pricked ballon. He knew that if Hoss had told him earlier it wouldn't have changed a thing. He knew Hoss' intention of trying to shield him from more emotional distress. He also knew that he couldn't stop the anger from bubbling up from his insides, with no way of venting it. On the contrary, he didn't know how to stop that endless voice in his head, repeating 'It's all my fault' over and over again. Shaking his head slightly while releasing a breath, Joe's eyes darted towards Hoss again. He opened his mouth to apologize, to say that he understood, to say something! But no words dared to leave his lips. It took one look into Joe's desperate eyes for Hoss to understand and gently waving Joe off, Hoss said: "I know Joe, don't worry 'bout it. We're gonna get 'im back."

"What should we do now? I don't know how you're feeling, but I have a very bad feeling about our stranger." Joe asked as he finally found his voice again.

"Me too. I don't think we can handle this on our own anymore. For all we know someone took Adam, while he was sleepwalking. I think we should inform the sheriff and get the help of a search posse before things turn from bad to worse." Hoss said and sighed.

"But what if Adam's secret comes to light?" Joe interjected. "We were supposed to keep it secret for him!" With a smaller voice, little Joe added: "I already failed him by falling asleep on watch. I can't disappoint him again."

"Joe, think 'bout it. It's already day time. Adam should be awake by now. If he woke up without being in trouble, what would prevent him from fallowin' his own tracks back to our camp? We would've already come across 'im if that would be the case. The chance is pretty high that he is in trouble right now." Hoss finished and already started to look for the footprints to fallow them again. "We've traveled far enough by now... Virginia City should be just ahead of us. We traveled directly south from Reno back to the Ponderosa. As far as I remember, the footprints headed south as well. Joe, you ride towards south-east, Virginia City should be close." Hoss took out a map and a little piece of coal from one of his saddle-bags. Pressing the map against Chub's saddle, he drew a line going from their roughly estimated position towards south-west. "Our stranger seems to follow a straight path while walkin'." Hoss marked a funnel-shaped area on the map, the line heading south-west sitting directly in the center. The funnel was small directly at their position and expanded going further south-west. "They were on foot and Adam's still messy footprints suggest that he was still sleepin'. They couldn't have gone that far." Hoss said while handing Joe the map. "I will continue to follow the tracks and try to locate 'em and you head as fast as you can to Virginia City and get a search posse ready. Come and look for us in the marked area on the map."

"But I want to look for Adam as well! What if you need my help?" Joe exclaimed desperately, not wanting to leave either of his brothers behind.

"Joe, we might not have a different choice here. We don't know how many enemies are awaiting us. Actin' recklessly might cost Adam's life. And let's face it: You are way faster and more skillful ridin' a horse. If anyone manages to reach Virginia City fast as lightning, it'd be you." Hoss tone left no room to bargain so Joe might as well stop wasting their time.

"What am I gonna say to Roy to get him to assemble a search posse?" Joe asked.

"Tell him the truth. Tell him someone took Adam and we need help to get him back." Joe nodded at Hoss. Clicking his tongue as a signal for Cochise, Joe turned away from Hoss and made his way towards Virginia City as fast as his beautiful Horse could manage.

This is all my fault, Joe thought and rubbed the tears from his eyes which kept welling up because of the stinging wind. He hoped for this mess to be over soon. And when that time finally came, he hoped that Adam could forgive him.

This is all my fault, Adam thought while letting the tears flow down his dirty cheeks. I should've told little Joe and Hoss about Wright and about what I've done when I still had the chance. He sniffed. I should've trusted them enough to believe that they would not abandon me when I tell them the truth. He coughed wetly. Now they are gone and it's my fault. I should've told Pa about the nightmares and the sleepwalking. Oh god Pa... He sobbed quietly. How am I going to explain everything to Pa? How will I even face him after what I've done. How can I come face to face with him when I'm the reason two of his sons are dead? Adam thought about the times his father had grieved after losing another loved person. The loss of Adam's, Hoss' and Joe's mother had already been enough for Ben to take. Adam remembered the painful months in which his father was nothing but an empty shell. Only the presence of his sons had managed to pull Ben back to reality from that dark, dark place. He won't be able to deal with Joe's and Hoss' death, Adam realized, making him sob more violently, shaking his whole frame and inducing bone crushing pain every time his ribs pressed against his slaughtered lungs. He stopped struggling against the rope tying his wrists together behind his back once again, having not even realized that he'd been doing it. Why do I keep on struggling? Why do I keep on trying. Adam's sobs had subsided and his tears had stopped flowing down his cheeks, leaving wet trails in the dirt on the dark skin and his eyes were red and puffy. Why don't I just... stop?

Suddenly, images flashed before his eyes, of Hoss and little Joe looking up to him when they were little, them smiling at him. Then, there was his Pa, smiling at him as well, putting a big hand on his slender shoulder. They turned to look at Joe and Hoss playing in the nature as Ben's voice echoed through Adam's mind. Look out for them, Adam. For them and for yourself.

He had failed to protect his brothers, but he felt like that he at least owned them and Pa to try to survive this. He owned Pa the truth. He couldn't leave without telling his father the truth. So, Adam decided to stay strong. For them.

Footsteps alerted Adam about someone arriving and he painstakingly lifted his heavy head off the ground to be able to lay eyes on the new arrival. A few drawn out seconds later and Wright strolled into the mine, humming a tune. He saw Adam and stopped in his tracks as his eyes fixed on Adam's face.

"Aw, have you been crying, Adam Cartwright?" Wright cooed as he slowly came closer to Adam while fumbling something out of his pocket. It was a dirty neckerchief. Wright kneeled next to Adam and snaked one hand behind Adam's head, attempting to raise it as Adam tried to struggle against the contact and wiggle out of Wright's grip. But the strong man held him tight.

"Uh-uh-uh... Don't make this difficult for me Adam. I am the puppet-master here and when I want to lift your head, that is exactly what is going to happen." He smiled down at Adam, his tone as if he was talking to a child rather than a full-grown man. With Adam's energy reserves being empty rather quickly, he could do nothing but stay still, his lips tightly pressed together and his eyes desperately averted from Wright's gaze, as said man oh-so slowly wiped Adam's face clean again.

"There you go." Wright lowered Adam's head to the ground and stared at his face a few seconds longer to regard his handy work.

"Now, let's have a little talk."

AN.: There it is. I hope you like this one as well.
Reviews are always appreciated. They helped me a lot to continue writing this story with as much motivation as I'm having right now.
On a side note: This story is already 41 pages long in my word document... Gee I never imagined this story to become this long. I rarely read stories having more than 30.000 words and now I'm almost there myself with my own, first fanfiction. There are a few chapters left to write for this story to tie up all possible loose ends but I won't drag this on and on until it's too much to take anymore. (Don't worry, I'm not intending to hurry the ending ^^)

Thank you so much for reading :)