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Bad Things Happen to Cowboys Who Meddle with Time

Summary:

How would you tell Arthur that you’re from the future and you played him in a thing called ‘video game’?

How would you tell him that you’re here to save him from what you saw ?

How would you deal with the consequences of messing with history?

Notes:

(See the end of the work for notes.)

Chapter 1: Killing Downes: Terminator Style

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Chapter 1

“P-please mister...you don’t have to do this. I’ll get the money I swear!” Thomas Downes sputtered in the mud, frantically trying to scoot away from his masked assailant. Letting out a choked gasp as he felt the wooden fence against his back; There was nowhere left to run.

“Get on your knees and turn around!” Aiden Bennett yelled, sounding just as terrified as his hostage. The weight of Arthur’s revolver felt like the heaviest weight in the world in his hand.

“Please...no…” Downes breaks down in a fit of wheezing coughs. “....I have a family... please have mercy mister…”

“I said right now!!” His heart pounded in his ears, eyes wild with panic and on the verge of crying, pupils dilated. “Do it now!” Aiden motioned for Thomas to turn around with his trembling hand wielding the gun.

“Okay…Okay....” Thomas Downes scrambled to turn around in the mud, still gripped by his hacking cough. “… mister…. please… please don’t kill me” he whimpers as he slips and catches himself with his arm. His patched straw hat had fallen off and his striped shirt now caked in filth.

The edges of the young man’s vision were pulsing in time with his racing heart. The black bandana covering his face clung to his skin from sweat. Aiden quickly wiped at his forehead to get the damp hair out of his eyes. The newbie outlaw had never killed a man before, not a real one anyway. He has tagged along in a few small robberies since he joined the gang but never had to shoot his gun. Aiden knew that taking a life would be wildly different in reality than in video games. But this...this is so much more than he could have ever imagined. Now that he has this innocent man at gunpoint he feels fear and guilt like he never had before.

“Turn your head around, stop looking at me!” Aiden yelled at the farmer, who currently knelt in the mud with his back turned on his assailant, his half-raised arms shaking like twigs in a storm.

Fighting back the bile in his throat, the slender would-be assassin tried shakily to cock the Cattleman with his thumb. But the hammer doesn’t budge, and he had to use both thumbs to pull it back finally.

CLICK. The revolver announced coldly, now primed to kill. “Please...please...no no no…” Downes breaks down in quiet sobs.

“Thomas? Thomas!” “Papa!” Two voices shrieked in the direction of the small farmhouse. Aiden stumbles back in confusion, whipping the gun around to point at the two newcomers. “S-stop right there!” he stammered, shifting his aim between Downes and his wife, who is shielding her son with her body.

“My husband isn’t well! ”Edith Downes cried with equal parts anger and distress “if we could just have more….”

“SHUT THE FUCK UP!” Aiden’s voice breaks, clenching his jaw with all his might to avoid throwing up, his nostrils flared under the bandana as he fought to breathe through his nose. Now, not only was he going to execute an innocent man, he would have to do it in front of his wife and son. Shaking his head quickly and focusing on Thomas once again, Aiden pushed the barrel against the back of the farmers head. Squeezing his eyes shut, he began to pull the trigger.

Suddenly, the ground reverberated with the rhythm of pounding hooves, the wind carrying the deep roar of a familiar voice. “Aiden!”

The young man knows exactly who it is and why he came. The thumping of the racing horse was closing in rapidly. He turned his head toward the direction of the slope as Arthur rose up from the horizon, His brown Tennessee walker galloping furiously. In seconds the outlaw was already outside the little garden, swinging off the saddle before the horse had come to a full stop.

“Easy now kid...easy,” Arthur slowly opened the wooden gate to let himself in, careful not to make any sudden moves. He raises both hands in front of his chest as he would calming a spooked horse.

Snapping out of his trance, the young outlaw pushed the barrel forcefully against Downes’ head once more as Arthur took a slow, small step toward the two. “Stay back Arthur!” he finally choked out. “I have to do this” The sight of Aiden’s distress washed over Arthur in a wave of heartbreak and confusion.

“Kid listen to me, whatever is wrong you ain’t gotta kill no one, trust me.” Arthur lowers his voice so that only Aiden can hear him. “ Now you tell me wha’s wrong an’ I promise we’ll figure this out, you an’ me.”

“You... you don’t understand Arthur… I’m just trying to...protect, if I don’t….end up killing you..” He struggles to remain coherent as his body is wracked with an onslaught of sobs.

“Shhhhh….hush now, ’s okay, take it easy.” Arthur tentatively takes another step toward him.

“He’ll…..he’ll….he’ll kill you,” Aiden repeated, trying to control his breathing.

“Come on now, this fool? Killin’ me? Nah” Arthur forces a faint smile as he tries to ease the situation. “If a weaselly feller like him can kill me I might as well hang up my hat now, hm? I mean look at ‘im,” The big outlaw nodded toward the cowering farmer “I can put his ass in the dirt with my ‘lil pinky. He ain’t nothin’ to worry about angel.”

Seeing that he had slowly lowered the revolver a little, Arthur took another step forward to stand right behind the shaking young man. He gently wrapped one arm around the heaving thin frame to pull him into his chest as his other arm slowly pushes Aiden’s arm down “Shhhh biscuit it’s alright, I’m right here an’ I ain’t going nowhere.” Arthur whispered in his ear, the deep rumble of his voice soothing and warm. His big calloused hand glides over Aiden’s, gently tugging the weapon away and setting it back in his holster.

Aiden suddenly broke free of Arthur’s embrace and fell on his knees, heaving as he emptied his stomach onto the mud, coughing from the sickening taste of bile in his mouth. “Shhhh you’re alright, you’re gonna be just fine, just let it all out.” Arthur sighed as he knelt beside his companion and stroked his back slowly as he waited for the retching to stop.

Arthur looked up at the farmer, still kneeling with his head turned to stare bewildered at the turn of events. “Well, what you waiting for? Get the hell outta here, or I might just shoot you myself.” He bellowed with his usual harsh gunslinger voice, sending Downes’ scrambling to pick himself up from the mud and scurries away with his family.

When the coughing finally subsided, Arthur untied his neckerchief and used it to wipe away the filth from his lover’s lips gingerly and discards it. “There, feelin’ a bit better?” Aiden nods wordlessly, and Arthur scooped him up like a princess. He vaguely remembers being pulled up onto the Walker. His eyes flickered as a tide of exhaustion overtook him, leaning his head against Arthur’s warmth.

Notes:

Leave a comment if you like the story so far! It’s a huge encouragement for me :))

Finally coming around to write my first ever fic, it involves a time-traveling male OC named Aiden, who has to hide the fact that he is from the future and knows everything that is going to happen to the gang while secretly trying to help the gang evade trouble using his knowledge.

But the consequences of Aidens interference may soon emerge.

Ps: I’m also updating another story about an alternative ending for this fic, where Aiden realizes that he is actually in Westworld and the entire gang are all robotic hosts stuck in their little story loop. Give that one a try too :)