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Disclaimer: I do not own GMW otherwise Maya would be kicking asses for real.

Lucas couldn't breathe. Everything was so dark, and he couldn't see, and he couldn't breathe. His eyes were filled with water and stinging with salt and debris. Every time he tried to take a gasp of air, water flowed into and out of his nostrils and throat. He stuck his father's pistol deep into his pants and placed one foot on the rim of the barrel, waving both arms wildly.

"H-help!" he tried to shout, his voice garbled, "Somebody help me!"

He tried to stand on it with both legs, holding onto the barrel as it cascaded violently through the choppy waters, throwing him to and fro. He struggled to stay afloat, fighting not to tip over because he knew if he fell, he would die. He tried to wave his arm in the air, but a crashing wave smashed into the side of the barrel, knocking him off balance and throwing him into the bottom of the barrel. He sputtered and coughed when water crawled into his nose and felt himself getting more and more tired, the harder he fought to stay awake.

The barrel suddenly jolted roughly into a rock, crashing and breaking into several pieces. Crying out, Lucas flew out of the barrel and landed into the raging river, his head barely above the surface. He splashed and thrashed around, trying to reach the top and get one breath. Just one breath. But water very quickly climbed into his throat and nose, squeezing the life out of his chest.

It hurt.

It hurt too much, and he couldn't breathe anymore. No air was reaching his lungs. No one was there to save him. No one was there to hear him scream his last strangled, hoarse breath. Tired, lost, alone, and terrified, Lucas gave up trying to swim out and closed his eyes, succumbing to the fatigue that had been plaguing him. The water was sucking him in. Pulling him down to rest and try as he might to fight it, it was futile. He was being yanked under.

What was the point of fighting anyway? Mama and Papa were gone. He had no one.

With a choked gasp, as bubbles cascaded out of his mouth, Lucas looked up blearily through the water. The rapids were going faster. He knew he was approaching a water fall. He was going to fall to his death. If not fall to his death, drown to his death. He closed his eyes.

He would see Mama and Papa soon enough…

…

And then a hand reached down and took firm hold of the back of his shirt. It yanked hard and Lucas felt himself being hauled slowly out of the water.

When Lucas felt dry earth, the hand finally let him go.

"Grandpapa! Grandpapa! I found dinner!" It sounded like a little boy.

"What'd you find?" A gruff voice replied. Lucas heard the sound of footsteps approaching and braced himself for some kind of death when he felt the shadow of the people covering him. "Boy, are you crazy?! That's not no dinner! He's a little boy. Stop thinking everything is food!"

"But Grandpapa!" the high pitched voice whined, "I want some meat! I'm tired of eating all those vegetables!"

"We are not no cannibals. If you're so hungry for meat, why don't you chase down one of those coyotes and catch it for dinner, huh?"

The high pitched voice gasped in fright, "N-nevermind!"

Lucas looked up through blurry eyes, trying to focus his vision on the voices in front of him. A dark skinned old man and little boy who looked about his age were crouched in front of him, concerned looks on their faces. Well, on the old man's face. The little boy looked curious, and Lucas was pretty sure he was licking his lips.

"Little boy? You alright?" the old man asked, moving his wet hair out of his face. "It's okay… You're gonna live."

Lucas tried to answer, but he felt sick to his stomach. He let out a few choked moans, his mouth opening and closing like a fish, but no words came out. Before he could say anything, water cascaded out of Lucas' nose and mouth, and he sputtered and coughed, his body weak and barely conscious. With a heaving, ragged breath, darkness slithered into his gaze, and his head hit the ground.

~.~.~

Lucas leaned back against the wall of the alley, taking a sip of his beer and watching the night shrewdly for signs of the two idiots. He had on his long slacks, some boots and his night shirt that he had gotten from the Minkus ranch. Thankfully, they had gotten back to town, and he and Billy had grabbed some clothes to put on and a couple weapons since theirs had been confiscated.

While he and Billy had found some clothes to put on, Maya had scampered into town to try to catch a lead on where Willy and Slim might be. She had found them at the saloon (big surprise) anchored to a couple of the women. After telling Billy and Lucas about their whereabouts, she had rode off into the night after they had made plans to sit at a far table in Bull's Sleaze to discuss their plans. Under normal circumstances, meeting there would be a bad idea, but apparently, the mayor was hosting a town meeting and most of his men wouldn't be in that evening. In addition, it was particularly late and most everyone would be too hammered or wasted to recognize two fugitives and one potential fugitive.

So there he and Billy were, standing in the shadows of the alleyway, waiting for the two men to finish up their drinking and head outside. They wouldn't even know what hit them.

"Lucas, it's been almost an hour. I say we bombard Bull's Sleaze, shoot 'em in there and then leave."

"Too many people are inside. If we do that, we'll start another bar fight."

Billy shifted uncomfortably, "Well I get that. But I want to say goodnight to my woman before she calls it a night."

Lucas rolled his eyes, "Why don't you just go now…"

He tapered off. Two men had come out of the saloon and were walking by, laughing raucously, and kicking up a bunch of dirt. Lucas peeked out the corner of the alley and immediately his eyes zoned in on his precious black hat, perched on the slimy head of Slim.

Slim guffawed, "He wants us to go back and throw dead bodies in the canyon? He can kiss my dirty ass."

Willy laughed as well, clutching his stomach, "Yeah! We're not gravediggers. He can do that shit himself."

"Our job was to hang 'em. And we did. Wanna hit the jail, Willy? Take a whizz near the window so old Holstein has to suffer?"

"Yeah! Let's go take a whizz near the window!"

Their guards were completely down and they were intoxicated out of their minds.

Bingo.

Lucas' eyes hardened, and he chucked his beer behind his back. It shattered against the wall and the many pieces landed innocuously on the floor. He gestured to Billy with their usual two finger salute signifying the commencement of an operation. Billy nodded and crouched, waiting as Lucas pulled out his gun, cocking it as he stepped into the open, facing the two men. The streets were deserted save for the three.

"Hello again."

The two men stopped clinging to each other in laughter and slightly sobered up, looking at Lucas with confusion and fear in their features.

"What the hell…?" Slim slid his hand towards his right hip, "How the hell did you get out of the ropes?"

Lucas smiled then, a vicious, half feral smile that made the green in his eyes gleam menacingly.

"I think you have something that belongs to me."

Slim's eyes widened, and he moved quickly to pull out his gun, but Lucas' superiour skills and the fact that he was inebriated made him too slow. In a split second, Willy watched in fear as Slim fell backwards, eyes glazed over and blood running down his temple. He turned to Lucas in fright.

"W-wait! Don't kill me! I didn't want to tie you guys up!"

Lucas glared coldly at him without a word, his eyes a flat, dangerous green.

Willy picked up on his lack of remorse and spun around, "I'm gettin' the fuck outta here! I'm not paid enough for this shit!"

"Wouldn't do that if I were you…" Lucas muttered under his breath.

A high pitched noise pierced through the night, and then Willy fell down, crying out and gripping his leg. There was a knife through his left knee, jutting out of the front. He whimpered and scampered backwards as Lucas steadily approached him, footsteps light and airy despite the density and heaviness that night air had seemed to pick up. His expression didn't match the weight of his steps and it only frightened Willy even more.

"Where's my pistol?" Lucas asked flatly.

"Wh-wh-wh-wh-what p-pistol?"

"The black Colt pistol. The one you took from me." he said softly, the harsh, unforgiving glint in his eyes betraying the calm in his tone.

"Th-th-the mayor has it." Willy said shakily, feigning strength even though he looked like he was about to shit his pants. He probably had too. "We gave it to the mayor."

Without reacting, Lucas passed a look towards the alley, then stood up and turned away from Willy. He walked over to Slim's lifeless body, pulling the hat off of his head and placing it on his own. Then he took back his jacket and put that back on too.

Willy's eyes darted to Lucas' back and then to Slim's pistol hanging off of his lifeless fingers. He scrambled over to it quickly and lifted it up, pointing it at Lucas's back with shaking fingers on the trigger.

"Ha! You should never turn your back on an oppo–"

He let out a strangled, choked sound and fell face first into the ground, the tip of a bayonet visible through the back of his throat.

Lucas looked over his shoulder with a raised eyebrow. "Your aim's getting worse Billy. You missed the jugular by a fraction of an inch."

Billy left the alleyway with a dry look at Lucas, falling into step beside him as they walked back to Willy. He was still wheezing and puffing, trying to catch his breath. There was no way he was going to live much longer.

"You try throwing from an angle and hitting your target spot on."

They stood over Willy, while Billy patted his sides for his special knives. He found them tucked in Willy's gun holster and procured them triumphantly. They were one of a kind, made of pure silver, passed down to Billy from his grandfather. Their distinction was the whistling sound they made as they cut through the air.

"So what do we do about them?"

"Leave them. It'll be a warning to the mayor not to fuck with us."

Lucas glared coldly down at Willy without a word. Billy stared at Lucas in worry. Billy had seen Lucas get this way before when he was absolutely pissed, but no matter how many times he saw "Dark Lucas", it never ceased to scare the shit out of him. He was so glad he and Lucas were allies. Because having to fight against him must have been the most frightening experience. So on that front, he had to give Maya more props for holding her ground against Lucas. He was really intimidating when he wanted to be. Which was all the more amazing for Billy to watch because Lucas could be incredibly gentle when he wanted to be.

"Maya should be coming over soon. Let's get inside." Billy called out, spinning on his heel. "And I'm not saying this just because I want to see my girl."

Lucas uncocked his gun and slipped it in his holster, turning around and walking towards Bull's Sleaze with Billy. He had a look of irritation on his face. Though they had gotten their stuff back, there was a problem.

The mayor had Lucas' pistol. Or rather, his father's old pistol.

No doubt he would recognize it and know immediately that Lucas was back. Which meant that the element of surprise was gone. He wouldn't be able to just shoot Jed because Jed would be extra cautious now. Especially once he found out about Willy and Slim. He wouldn't be going out as frequently, that was for sure. And Lucas was sure the mayor would up the number of men protecting him from harm. If he and Billy wanted even the slightest chance of succeeding in their revenge, they would have to revise their strategy.

"Dammit…" he muttered under his breath.

Why was shit getting so complicated?