Chapter Text
The heat bore down on Jesse. The sun hung domineeringly overhead. The dry air of the plains and dust kicked up by his horse on the worn path managed to work past the kerchief over his face that he’d wetted with the lingering contents of his canteen. The back of one of his colleagues swayed back and forth in front of him atop his own horse, as it had been doing for the past hours. Jesse didn’t have anything against a long, good ride. There was something calming in the quiet time they got compared to the action of the past couple months. But it didn’t compare to the pleasure of passing the first farm on their way into town.
They walked their horses forward into the center street, where Rob, in front, and Marty, who’d ridden behind Jesse, stopped in front of the saloon. The men sitting out on the porch eyed the trio and murmured to each other as the two roped their horses to the posts out front. The homecoming of Deadlock members was worthy gossip. Hitchville was a decent size as far as frontier towns went, but it didn’t lose the close-knit feel. When Rob and, soon after, Jesse, had started going off for months without explanation, it wasn’t hard to guess what they were up to. There had been mixed reactions. Gang members in town meant potential trouble in town. But it also meant potential protection. In the end, no one had the guts to confront them about it anyway. As long as they kept their business out of town, the situation balanced out.
But even as they came home, there weren’t many dirty looks flying around the street. Jesse was certainly a charmer, and in a small town, it was refreshing to see old faces come back down the street.
“Y’sure y’ain’t coming, Jesse?” Marty called back. He was only visiting with Rob to spend his time off here because he didn’t have a home. But knowing Hitchville residents, they wouldn’t give him trouble either.
“Yeah, nah. If my mama hears I spent a second longer away from ‘er than I could’ve, I’ll be in for it,” Jesse responded after bringing his kerchief down.
“Still a mama’s boy?” Rob looked up at him, squinting in the sun to do so.
“Always,” Jesse grinned, tipping his hat to them. He pulled his reins and started back down the street.
*********************************************
The McCree ranch was at the other end of town. It meant being closer to the biggest lake in the area and having better soil, but it meant that much farther to travel on one’s way back home.
At the gateway into the yard he hopped down and lead his horse toward the side to the stables. A shape appeared in the front door and an older woman stepped out onto the porch. She put her hands on her hips.
“Bought a new horse?” she asked. The tone didn’t give off much testiness, but Jesse knew better.
“Somethin’ like that,” he responded.
“Jesse James McCree, you do NOT bring stolen animals to this home. I outta make you sleep outside with it. You probably smell bad anyway, all that running around with your thief friends.”
“Aw, Mama, you wouldn’t make me do that. I clean up real nice.”
She didn’t respond and turned on her heel back into the house. It wasn’t an ideal homecoming reaction, but he knew she’d warm up as always once it sank in that he was back. Jesse led his horse into the stables behind the house. As he hung up the saddle and blanket, smaller feet raced across the backyard grass.
“Jesse!” Nina cried. He reacted just quick enough to catch her as she ran right into him with open arms.
“Hey, been a bit. How’s it going on the ranch?”
“Good! Am I taller?”
“Ehh, I don’t think so. It’s only been a couple months,” he measured the top of her head and held it steady to his chest. That wasn’t the answer she wanted.
“I’m gonna be taller than you when I’m older,” she said, determined.
“You can try,” he said, turning back to the reins to hang them up.
“What’s this one’s name?” Nina asked, attention now on the new horse.
“Quickspit.”
“That’s a bad name! You can’t name a horse something like that!”
“Why not?”
“Name it Buttercup.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s pretty.”
“M’already used to calling it Quickspit.”
“No!”
“You know what Mama’s makin’ for dinner?”
“I helped make dough for biscuits.”
“Nice.”
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Jesse and Nina walked down the dirt road toward their neighbors’ house. The late evening air was cooler on Jesse’s face. He picked his hat off his head to give his damp hair a shake. He’d cooled down at home over a bath and dinner, but the difference of the outside air from what it had been like earlier was still welcome.
“And last week Maria had her lamb!” Nina said before pausing her walking. Jesse caught up to where she was on the trail before she looked over at him with a satisfied smile, “That’s it. That’s everything that happened while you were gone.”
“Sounds like y’all were right busy.”
“Yeah,” she stated, holding up the shovel that she’d been carrying, apparently finished with the turn to carry it that she had asked for. He took it and rested it over a shoulder. They headed up the smaller trail that branched off from the road to get to the Schaufel’s house. A knock on the door got a quick response from the old man.
“Good evenin’,” Jesse started.
“Is indeed. When’d you get back?”
“Just today.”
“Mrs. McCree already puttin’ you to work delivering goods?”
“Some’n like that. Thanks for the borrow,” he smiled, handing the shovel over.
“Oh, be a lad’n stick that in the side shed for me. And you, young miss, can help Milly pack up some cookies if you’d be so kind. You know how she is with makin’ too many.”
“Yes!” Nina exclaimed, skipping inside to see Mrs. Schaufel. Walking around the other side of the house, Jesse could hear the happy yelling that was typical from Mrs. Schaufel. He set the shovel against the wall of the shed and shut the door up tight. Turning around, just a couple of fences away was the Wellson’s farm. The Schaufel property seemed pretty small compared to the McCree ranch and Wellson farm that it rested between. The Wellson’s had probably the largest farm in the area. They’d had good fortune when they first settled in town a few generations back and kept it up. The moon was beginning to rise up and send light flowing over the fields of plants and…something.
Jesse leaned forward as if to improve his look at it. It had a pale blue glow about it, and seemed about the size of a person. In fact, the way it moved suggested that it was one. But Hitchville wasn’t exactly known for anything outside of the ordinary, so there wasn’t any answer for the glow. He rounded back around the corner of the house and leaned through the door frame. Nina had a small basket of cookies ready to go, but she was chatting happily with her older friend.
“Hey Mr. Schaufel,” Jesse said to get his attention from one of his own cookies. He walked back over to the door, “There’s something strange outside.”
“Strange?”
“Yeah, in the field,” Jesse backed out to give him space, “Just over—”
It was gone.
“Where?”
“It…it ain’t there anymore.”
“Not a coyote, was it?”
“Nah, it was blue. Like, misty glowin’ blue,” Jesse tried to describe.
The look that Mr. Schaufel gave him was not one of joking.
“Don’t pull my leg, Jesse,” he warned in a tone that suggested he didn’t necessarily think Jesse was.
“I’m serious, I saw somethin’ movin’!”
“Hey Milly, let’s get the kids out the door, it’s late,” he called back into the house. Nina obediently headed back out the front door. But Jesse wasn’t going to leave the situation hanging. He leaned an arm up against the doorframe.
“What was it?”
“Can’t say for sure. Haven’t seen anything myself.”
“…but? Someone has?”
“Last week Lars rode in from Posto. Had a story about some lady in that town seein’ some kinda giant blue snake or lizard or some’n. ‘Pparently she’s claimed seeing peculiar stuff before though, so people weren’t sure what to think.”
“I didn’t see an animal, looked like a person.”
Mr. Schaufel didn’t seem to find the thought very comforting.
“Go on,” he pushed Jesse, “you kids run on home where it’s safe. No more of this creature nonsense.”
Jesse relented. He tipped his hat before following Nina down the steps. Mr. Schaufel locked the front door up behind them.
“What was that about?” Nina asked when they reached the road.
“Don’t worry ‘bout it,” he said, sending a quick glance behind at Wellson property. There was nothing unusual still.
Even so, he started regretting leaving Peacekeeper back home.
*********************************************
It was sometime in the early morning when Jesse woke up. He found his room lit up from outside. By the amount of light that the half-made moon sent inside, it was still a while longer before the sunlight would peak over the horizon. Which meant he didn’t wake up naturally. A hand slipped under his pillow to feel the comforting metal of Peacekeeper. Six bullets in their places, ready to bring justice on whatever the culprit was.
But as the atmosphere seemed to pause, waiting for another sound to alert Jesse to the perpetrator’s presence, nothing came. The room around him, small and full of memories of a wild childhood, held no suggestion of an unwelcome guest. The McCree house had old flooring, and the stairs leading up to the bedrooms were no exception to the woods tendency to creak. Jesse knew that well from past attempts to sneak out. He lifted his blankets away and gingerly lifted the pair of pants for tomorrow off his bedside table. He settled Peacekeeper into its holster and tucked his nightshirt in where his gun was to ensure no fumbles in a quick draw. He padded silently to the door and into the hall.
The stairs were less of a challenge now. He was much heavier, but now experienced in methods of staying undetected for survival. The kitchen and living room still held no answers about his wake up. He crept over to a window that lay on the same side of the house as his bedroom. Peeling the curtain slightly aside, he monitored the fenced in areas ahead of him. Nothing was there that shouldn’t have been. No sheep or cattle or horses loose.
Behind one of the apple trees, something shifted. The branches weren’t moving, helping Jesse to notice the subtle shift in the moon’s light behind them. His sight was a natural talent for picking up minute movements. It kept him alive when things got rough with Deadlock’s exploits, and now it helped him spot the being walking around from behind the tree. They had been tricky to spot, since the calming blue that made them up matched well with the moonlight bathing the Earth. They headed with a graceful stride toward the stable.
Jesse padded to the front door. Dealing with an unknown threat on the property would be good reason to warrant waking up everyone else. But when Jesse brought up the earlier sighting with his mother, she didn’t have much of a mind to listen. If there was something unnatural around, she’d said, then he could at least not go around talking about it and upsetting it. She then told him to pray hard if he was so worried and hurry to bed. But true to her usual stern talk and mindful heart routine, Jesse noticed her double-checking the doors were locked before heading up the stairs for bed herself.
But in any case, he wanted to get to this thing as soon as he could. It had a funny way of being somewhere one moment and gone the next. He unlocked the front door and headed out onto the lawn without his boots, planning to sneak up on the poltergeist if possible.
He slipped inside the door, and there the person was at the other end of the stable. Quickspit and Sunshine slept soundly in their stalls, unperturbed.
“Hey,” Jesse called out in a low voice, trying to sound unthreatening.
The spirit, already translucent, wavered where it stood, nearly melting away to nothing. Once it recomposed, it turned sharply around to face him.
Before Jesse stood what appeared to be a young man. He had Asian features and clothing to match. Jesse guessed Japanese to himself, but he was no expert on foreign lands and wasn’t certain. The wispy blue person had long hair tied back, with strands that floated easily with the turn of his head. Jesse had been daring—or stupid—enough to walk closer to the figure as it had reformed, and they stood a couple meters apart.
His eyes were piercing. They held Jesse’s attention and he found himself blanked out on what to say.
“Well…uh. Nice to meet ya. Mind…uh, mind givin’ me an idea of what you’ve been doing wandering around these parts?”
“You are no one to be commanding answers from me,” he breathed. It came out in a quiet voice, as if muffled, or distant.
“Well, yeah, I’ll agree with you there. I don’t mean trouble or nothin’. Just curious. Not exactly normal to see, you know,” he motioned at the young man, “around here.”
He continued to stare Jesse down for a good few seconds before relaxing his stance.
“…I am looking for my brother.”
“Yer…brother?”
This was an odd situation. Jesse didn’t really know what to make of it, but the whoever in front of him didn’t seem sinister.
“I dunno that Hitchville’s got who yer looking for. Small town and I don’t know any Asians living here.”
The geist turned aside. His features softened in a way that still wasn’t relaxed. It was a downtrodden expression.
“No…I have not found him here,” he agreed.
Before Jesse could come up with something else to say, the man turned back around. His presence wavered as it had before, but this time the wispiness of his appearance floated apart and he faded away completely.
Jesse watched for a short while, and stalked around the ranch, but the blue ghost didn’t return.