"I think we lost them," Charles glanced back in the direction which they had hastily fled as did everyone else just to ensure no one was missing anything.
"Do you think that was a set up?" John asked, looking at Arthur, "The law sure did turn up fast."
Arthur was quiet for a moment, secretly looking to Celina, silently asking if she knew that something may have been compromised concerning their heist. She kept eye contact and shook her head ever so slightly. Arthur sighed and leaned back slightly, "I don't think so... could be. I'm kinda nervous but it was probably just locals who saw what was going down. I hope at least."
"So what do we do now?" John still seemed nervous about the possibility of having been set up.
"We split up, no one heads back to camp just yet. Can't risk leading them back. When we finally get back to camp, we disperse our takes and see if Dutch is ready to get out of here. They're too close..
They're just too close."
...
After splitting off from the guys, Celina had decided to ride into Valentine and pay the stables a visit. Not only had she swiped two gold bars on the train, but a good sized sack of money. Hitching Arthur's old horse to the closest hitching post, she dismounted and dug through her saddle bag to the money which was now hers through theft. She truly hadn't thought she'd ever steal anything up until a little over a month ago. But now, there she was.
With a deep sigh, she made her way into the barn, being quickly greeted by either the stable hand or the barn manager, "You here to buy, miss? We've got several excellent horses available."
Celina nodded, looking around at the horses in the stable, hearing familiar voices outside, she peered out the barn door to see Arthur and John talking with someone, she figured that it had to do with the sheep that if she remembered correctly, they had probably just rustled.
She looked back over to the man who had been attempting to sell her a horse, "I'll come back a bit later, I've got to join my friends." At that, she left the barn, stashing her sack of money back into her saddle bag.
"What are you doing here?"
She laughed at the way Arthur had chosen to greet her, "I was going to look into buying a new horse. It seems that you and John have gotten into something yourselves?"
Arthur nodded, "Sheep rustling."
She burt out laughing at that thinking it to sound odd coming from his mouth, "Oh, you criminal."
John smiled at the two of them, "You guys want to go and get a drink?"
Celina raised a brow at Arthur with a smile in remembrance of the night he, she and Lenny had all gotten way too drunk for their own good. She pointed to herself in disbelief, "Me, drink? No- never." Her mind swarmed back to the night she had finally punched Molly.
Apparently, that which was on her mind was obvious, as John chuckled slightly as well, "So are you saying that you nearly killed Molly while sober?"
She smirked misceviously, "The world may never know."
The trio made their way to the bar together, all surprised to see that Dutch's horse was outside as well as Strauss's. Celina took a step back, suddenly realizing what she had walked into. She had forgotten about what would happen here.
Arthur looked at her in concern as they went up the steps, "Is everything ok?"
She shook her head and leaned into him, having him lower his head so she could whisper in his ear, "All of us, including Strauss need to stay in this bar... I just remembered, if John and Strauss leave, Leviticus Cornwall is going to capture them and use them as leverage to start a gunfight with you and Dutch." She pulled Arthur off to the side of the porch to let locals by, John keeping his distance to let them have privacy although he was looking at them funny, "Just trust me, we should make it out alive, but a lot of people will die."
Arthur nodded sharply and stood back up straight before entering the bar behind Celina, John taking up the rear. The woman smiled as soon as her gaze fell on the leader of the Van Der Linde gang, "Dutch,"
He returned the smile, his dark eyes sparkling in interest, "Miss Knoll."
She rolled her eyes and made her way over to him, "It's Celina, dummy."
She thought that she heard John laugh, her suspicion confirmed when Dutch's gaze focused just behind her, a stern but amused look in her eyes. Dutch greeted the men, "Arthur, John, and Celina... what a surprise, what're the three of you up to?"
"Well," Celina didn't give either of them a chance to answer, "Arthur and John are waiting to be paid for... sheep. I was over here trying to find a horse to buy but I got distracted. Didn't expect to see these two."
Dutch nodded and then glanced over to Strauss who was listening to their conversation quietly, "Leopald, why don't you and John go and make sure there isn't any more funny business."
Arthur butted in, "Actually, Dutch, I think we should all stay here and low for a few minutes. Celina saw something she didn't like going on out there... could be quite a bit of trouble if any of us are spotted."
He and Dutch held eye contact for an intense moment before Dutch's eyes flickered to Celina's in question. Hoping it would give him a good and clear answer, she held his gaze for a moment herself before giving a slight nod, "Could be more trouble than what we need right now."
Dutch nodded back in understanding, "Well, in that case," He looked back at Strauss, "Why don't you go have a few drinks at the bar with Arthur and John and let me and Celina talk a bit."
Strauss stood from his seat, "Of course." Without another word, he made his way to the bar with Arthur and John, all of them sitting on a stool.
Celina took a seat right next to Dutch, keeping her voice low to prevent anyone overhearing her, "Leviticus Cornwall and his men would have snatched up John and Strauss if they had stepped outside... to my knowledge at least. We would have ended up killing a lot of people, figured it could be avoided."
Dutch nodded again in approval, "Not only are you beautiful on the outside but on the inside too miss Knoll. How glad am I to have you on our side."
She smiled almost sheepishly, "I'm on your side most of all, Dutch."
He smirked, "So I'm taking it you won't be knocking me to Hell too?"
Her cheeks began to burn, an obvious sign that blush was creeping it's way onto them against her will. It was abundantly clear that he was referring to how thoroughly she had kicked Molly's ass. Still, she felt a strange surge of pride at the memory, "How is she doing?"
Dutch stared at her for a second, as if trying to read whether or not her question was sincere. Finally, he cracked a smile, "Do you truly care?"
"Maybe," she shrugged, "A bit."
"She's dying, you killed her."
"Dutch." His name slipped from her lips in an amused yet attempted firm tone, "How is she?"
It was his turn to shrug with a rather sheepish smile of his own, "I'm sure she will be fine, you beat her good enough but not terribly..
Honestly, I haven't really checked up on her."
She tucked her lips into her mouth at his words, trying not to smile like an idiot, "You haven't?"
"No." He sighed, and reached for her right hand, studying the tattoo that ran from her pointer finger to her wrist right below her thumb, it was an elegant design, really, that of a rose vine with thorns. He couldn't have said he had paid it a whole lot of attention before. He turned her hand over gently to study the tattoo on her wrist which spelled 'freedom' in cursive. His eyes then trailed to the tattoo of a gun on her inner forearm, his fingers following, leaving a trail of tingling nerves up her arm. Finally, his gaze met hers again, "Look, Celina... I'm sorry."
Her eyes widened at the words, "You're sorry?"
He nodded, "For all of that with Molly and you, for making you feel used. I didn't- that was never my intention. I- I- I care about you-"
"Van Der Linde! Get out here! Get out here now!"
Dutch took a deep breath, keeping his gaze on Celina as she inhaled deeply too, "You think that's him?"
Celina's hand immediately reached for her Cattleman Revolver which was secured in it's holster, it seemed that this day had yet to get uglier than just the screwed up train robbery, "I'm willing to bet on it."
Across the room at the bar, Strauss, John and Arthur looked at Dutch with worry evident on all their faces.
"Van Der Linde, you don't know me, but you keep robbing me. My name is Leviticus Cornwall and I am not a man to be messed with, expecially by someone such as yourself and your gang of parasites." When none of the gang dared to do anything, he continued, "I know you're in there Van Der Linde! I saw some of your own head into that bar you're holed up in. Come out now and nothing has to get any messier than it already is!"
Dutch made eye contact with each of his own, his gaze stopping on Arthur, he having made his way over by the table to stand against the wall by Dutch's table, "What do you think, Arthur? Should we open fire on them?"
Arthur rubbed at his short beard, shaking his head, "I don't know, Dutch. We can't just stay here, it's clear he's not going anywhere but maybe coming in... possibly."
Dutch nodded standing up slowly from his seat, Celina's heart felt as if it were climbing into her throat. What if this were it? By choosing to reveal some information, she had altered the outcome of the situation? What if someone got killed? Dutch? Arthur? John? The leader planted himself against the wall right beside the door so that he wasn't yet visable to anyone outside. His voice carried, shaking slightly as it was a characteristic of his to do so, "I'll come out," Arthur had taken cover at the other side of the door quickly, Celina taking the window on Dutch's side and John taking the one on Arthur's.
"I'll come out," Dutch said again, "But I must warn you fellas, I ain't no Dutch Van Der Linde, whoever he may be. This is truly a case of very unfortunate mistaken identity."
Arthur fired the first shot, a headshot killing his target instantly. That was when the firing began for the second time that day, each of them doing their best to stay in cover to avoid the oncoming slew of bullets.
Celina fired, blocking out everything around her but allowing it to consume her all the same. She watched as her first victim of the fight fell to the ground, twitching uncontrollably upon her shooting him in the center of his stomach. Men dropped like flies as she, Dutch, Arthur and John shot them. Cornwall have of course gotten away, but that wasn't the most surprising of things.
What was surprising was when a fresh group of men appeared suddenly, dragging a struggling Strauss with them. Immediately, the firing ceased on both ends, the man speaking not being Cornwall but someone that none of them recognized, "That's it, Van Der Linde, you're done! I'm going to kill your man if you don't get out here now!"
There were five men surrounding Strauss, several more hidden behind barrels, wagons, and up on balconies that Celina could see. She took a deep breath, wondering if there was any way that they would be able to save the truly weird older man.
Arthur spoke, "What're we going to do, Dutch?"
"Just let me think, Arthur, this isn't good, son. This isn't good at all."
It was her fault, just as she had feared, she had revealed information and now it was biting her back. By trying to make a situation better and hoping that Cornwall wouldn't realize they were in Valentine, she had went and made it potentially much worse.
"Dutch." It was John who said his name then, looking for guidance.
"Ok, sons..." he looked over at Celina, "Miss Knoll, brace yourselves for a fight."
Following Dutch's lead, the three of them made their way outside to the porch as quickly as possible, firing the entire time while still taking cover immediately behind the old doors which were luckily propped up against the spindles of the porches railing.
Celina was once again right next to Dutch, close enough that she could just about feel the heat radiating in waves off his body. Then, as soon as someone got a window to do so, it happened... They were just so outnumbered there was really no possible way they could have kept it from happening. Still for, Dutch, Arthur and John, that didn't necessarily make it any easier to see Strauss shot dead before them.
With an angried cry, Dutch stood up and took cover behind a pole instead, as did Arthur, using the pole closest to himself. John and Celina remaining behind the bullet ridden doors, still relying on them for protection against the bullets.
"These doors aren't going to hold up much longer," it was Celina who spoke, fearing that it was just a matter of time before a bullet made it's way through a shattered part in the door and into her.
John shook his head, "No, they're not, we need to move."
Dutch picked up on the conversation, "We need to get out of here, Strauss is... gone. We need to leave before any more of us get taken out." They continued to fire, taking out their attackers until there only seemed to be a few left, "We grab the nearest horses and made a run for it- and not straight back to camp, either. We can't risk being followed."
The present gang members nodded and upon exchanging looks of understanding with one another, they each mentally crossed their fingers and took their chances of darting into the open, all of them immediately being responsible for their own safety in their mad dash to escape.
In the haste, Celina shot down a man who had fixed to fire at her, instead shooting him in the head herself. Without being able to take a moment to admire the beautiful paint horse she mounted, she gave it a good kick, sending it racing through the town and between buildings, quickly getting her out of sight and fire range of Valentine. Still she rode on at a canter, not willing to give anyone the chance to catch up to her.
Strauss was dead, and she couldn't shake the feeling that it was her fault.
...
A/N: And there's the next chapter! Sorry guys if any of you liked Strauss... (I didn't). I felt like someone should die in this chapter and there was no way I was going to kill off any of the other three guys. So... there Strauss went.
Celina has finally started shooting to kill. We'll go into any impact it has on her more possibly in the next chapter or so... too much action and instinct impulses, snap decisions for her to have a chance to sit down and let her actions truly catch up to her.
Also a little sweet Dutch x Celina moment! I love those lol.
As always, I love to hear and answer any questions/comments any of you may have and hope you enjoyed this chapter!
Disclaimer: I do not own Red Dead Redemption 1 or 2 or anything associated with it.