Chapter Text
It had been over three months since Frank had been abducted that fateful night.
He had been so proud of the small bounty that had been set on his capture, even if the authorities wanted him alive in exchange for just 30$. That was a lot for a small criminal like he was, his friends not even having one. For him, it was more than that though, it meant that he had finally pissed the world off enough to make them see him. And god did he want them to see them, see what this shitty world made him. After all, if everyone already assumed the worst from him wherever he went, why try and prove them otherwise?
What he didn’t think was that 30 lousy bucks was enough to send an infamous bounty hunter on his track within the same week the posters were hung up.
But for whatever reason, the bounty hunter hadn’t turned him in. Maybe it was because he was looking for a specific town or city to do it in, seeing as he himself was an outlaw, so he was probably not welcome in a lot of places.
So why go after a minor criminal who won’t even get him nearly as much money as he could make with literally any other job? Surely not out of the good of his heart.
Frank assumed the man was in debt somewhere. Hell knows people gambled like no tomorrow in these parts, but somehow he wasn’t convinced. The man had gone through way too much trouble for him at this point.
—15 Weeks Earlier—
“Here it is!” Frank held up the poster, his chest puffed out with pride as he demanded the attention of his three best friends. “I got a damn bounty on my head, finally!”
Joey’s eyes widened, rushing over to see the paper. “Let me see!”
The other two came over as well, Julie’s face falling in disappointment when she took a look at the number at the bottom while Susie peeked over his shoulder with worry in her eyes.
“Aren’t you concerned that people are going to go after you now?” She asked, brows furrowed as she looked at their leader.
He wanted to tell her again that this was the reason they had to leave town, but the blonde girl was faster than him, only shaking her head. “You really think someone is going to come after him for 30$, Suz? They don’t even want him dead, probably thinking he’s not worth the bullet.”
Frank rolled his eyes and huffed. Of course she would play down his success. He ripped the poster from his friend's gazes, folding it and putting it in a pocket inside his vest.
“At least I have a bounty on my head,” He defended with a smug grin. “30 bucks is a good start, I’ll climb from there and soon I’ll be wanted around the whole west.”
“At least you’re staying optimistic,” She shot back, going back to tending to her horse as he pulled a frowning face. Joey however was staying by his side, patting him on the shoulder and looking at his leader with admiration in his eyes.
“This is so cool, we should plan another thing, something big to celebrate. Maybe something that’ll get us a bounty too?” Joey suggested, nudging Susie with his elbow who scrunched her nose at the idea of getting herself on a ‘Wanted’ poster.
“What’s so great about a bounty anyways? Just means people will try to arrest you for money. If you ask me, you can be glad they want you alive,” She crossed her arms, making Frank glare and huff again. Nobody except Joey appreciated his hard efforts, did they? It had been a lot of work to get a price on himself. Finally, people saw him. He never wanted to obey the laws anyway, he had a thing against authority.
“It means that I’m above the law, it means they can’t control me anymore.”
Getting annoyed now, Frank simply took his bag and made his way to the horses. His was a brown and white spotted mustang, the brown coat close in color to his own hair. ‘Cigs’ he had named him after stealing him from a farmer. The old man didn’t know what to do with a wild and free spirited animal like Cigs anyway, trying to keep him contained in a small paddock.
Susie hummed, skeptical of his world view. “What if someone does come after you?”
The leader rolled his eyes, turning to face her. “Then we kill ‘em.”
God, that sounded pretty harsh. They had never done that before, at the very least two of them hadn’t even considered that as an option yet. He could see how he scared Susie with that one for a second, so he backtracked. “Or at the very least scare them off. Who wants to pick a fight with four people anyway?”
“And for just 30$ no less,” Julie threw in, the smirk audible in her voice as she stood by her horse. As much as he hated her ‘helping’, she did have a point. Nobody would pick a fight with four people just to get a relatively small reward. It wasn’t worth the hassle.
“If you say so…” The brunette girl grabbed her bag off the ground as well and went to saddle up, Julie already on her horse.
After their last little heist - if one could call it that, they had only started a few fights in the local saloon and then proceeded to cause mayhem in the streets - Frank had found out about the bounty and urged them to pack up so they could leave town as soon as possible to not get himself caught immediately. He preferred to stay out of any cells, he had been in plenty already when he was younger.
They had done what he had asked and met up outside of town like the loyal followers they were, but still they wanted evidence. So Frank had gone back into town to take one of the many posters that were hanging around the town since this morning.
Now that they had their evidence, they were all ready to leave. This had been a small pitstop on their travels anyway, so they would have left sooner or later regardless.
The sun had just fully come up when they finally left, on their way to wherever the roads took them next. Who knew travelling around the west on horseback with your best friends would be so much fun? Whenever they needed money in the past, Frank would plot and lead them into a minor robbery and it solved their problems for a good while. But he had a feeling that this time, they’d be on the road a little longer. Maybe a carriage or two would show up for them to rob if they needed it.
— 14 Weeks Earlier —
Days passed as they rode by daylight, camping out by night. They did skip a few towns on the way after the first one they entered had Frank’s face plastered at the front of the sheriff's office on a wanted poster, making them turn around immediately again. He did enjoy having a bounty on his head, but he didn’t want to get caught only two days into having it. Word spread very fast about him apparently, so camping out was the safest option for them until they would come somewhere where they could cause more problems.
It was the sixth evening on the road now, they had made camp near a river, a pot with a stew brewing over the fire as Joey added a few last ingredients.
“Alright, this needs to simmer for about 30 minutes. Any ideas for what to do in the meantime?” The man asked the group, fishing an old pocket watch from one of his pockets. A family heirloom, he always said, left to him by his father.
Frank stood up from where he had been sitting, just watching the stew with a growing appetite. “There’s a river not far from here, I think I’ll go and clean myself up a bit.” He stretched his arms over his head and started walking towards the river, Julie jumping up to join as well, extending a hand to help Susie up. Cleaning up sounded like a good idea after they had been out on the road for so long.
“Hey, what if a bear or something shows up? We can’t just leave the stew,” Susie protested but took Julie’s hand to stand up.
“If a bear shows up, I’d much rather it eats the stew than us. If it’s all the same to you,” Joey commented, following Frank who wasn’t waiting up.
The brunette girl mumbled some small complaints, some about potential bear attacks and some about her legs hurting, but didn’t resist as Julie dragged her along after the boys. “Come on, your legs will feel better once you’ve gotten into the water.”
It didn’t take long for them to reach the river, the camp out of sight from the shore. All four of their horses were down by the river with them as well, grazing and drinking and in some cases, cooling off in the shallow water. Buck, Joey’s horse, loved the water just about as much as his rider did, perking up and shaking out his dark mane when they approached.
The current wasn’t strong here, so there was no danger of any of them getting swept away no matter how far into the river they went. Joey was the first one to jump in, only after stripping down to his drawers of course. Nobody liked swimming in soaked clothes.
“Cannonball!!” He screamed, landing in the deep part of the water with a massive splash. Where he heard that word in that context was beyond Frank.
He came back up, wiping the water out of his eyes and waving at the other three to join him in the deep water. They got rid of the majority of their clothes and joined him, except Frank who remained near the shore, only going so far to where the water reached up to the middle of his thighs. His friends didn’t mind, they knew Frank couldn’t swim and would rather not drown.
“Joey! I’m trying to wash my hair here!” Susie shrieked with a smile when the man splashed her, shielding herself with her arms.
“Wash your hair later, get splashed now-”
Joey aimed for another splash but was tackled and dragged under by Julie with a pathetic yelp of surprise. There was some wild movement under the water until they both came back up again, Julie showing off her muscles by posing in victory over her friend.
“AGH!!” Joey let out a noise, trying to find his balance again. “I’ve been bested!”
“My hero, I’ve been saved from the horrible fate that is getting splashed!” Susie grinned and swam over to hug Julie who gave her a smile.
“My fair maiden has been saved, now kneel before the guardian of the river!” Julie demanded, looking at Joey who had finally managed to find his balance again.
“I ain’t gonna kneel in front of anyone, especially not in the water.” He let himself float carefree for a moment, then looked over at Frank who had been awfully quiet.
Truthfully, Frank wanted to join them, but he knew he couldn’t. He’d never been taught how to swim, his shit parents sure didn’t teach him. His father’s way of teaching him was by shoving him into a pond when he was just about six years old. A random stranger who happened to just pass by, having to jump in to pull him back out and keep him from drowning. He didn’t even remember that person's face, all he knew was that it was probably one of the only times anyone had ever done something nice for him.
So, Frank had just been staring at them as they messed around, occasionally reaching into the water to wash his arms and face.
“You good, Frank?”
Joey made Frank realize that he had just been staring at them, averting his eyes. “You better kneel before her before she makes you.” He felt himself smiling when he heard Joey’s over exaggerated dramatic gasp, the girls giggling.
“Blasphemy! Betrayed by my own best friend!” Before he could complain more, Julie shoved his head under the water again.
They spent the half hour that it took for their dinner to finish up messing around, eventually everyone washing themselves and getting dried off and dressed again. The sun was setting now, but the bit of warm sunbeams that were left over helped greatly with drying the undergarments they had gone swimming with.
When they arrived back at the camp, with their horses as well, Joey leaned down to take a whiff of the stew. Luckily it had been covered with a lid or else there might have actually been a bear to join them for dinner. Had Joey covered it up? Frank couldn’t remember, but he hadn’t paid much attention to it anyway, and neither had the others it seemed. Regardless, it smelled delicious, despite their limited ingredients. They were so lucky that Joey could cook really well.
“Alright, dinner is served.” The man rubbed his hands together excitedly, grabbing the ladle from his bag of cooking supplies along with the small metal bowls made for travel meals just like this. They looked more like cans for canned food than bowls to be honest, but they did the job.
The food was distributed and they ate in silence. It seemed that all of them were tired from their day of travelling and their little swim. It was a good thing that their sleeping bags were already set up, because none of them felt like setting anything up once they were done eating. All they did was use a bucket of water they had nearby to quickly wash out the little scraps and remains of the stew from the pot so as to not attract anything with the smell, their horses all being tied to a tree near them.
Usually they would stay up for longer and talk a little still, but tonight they were all eerily sleepy after eating. It didn’t take long for them to just lay down and call it a night, each of them falling asleep fast and easy. Frank would usually be plagued by nightmares or insomnia or both, but even he fell asleep incredibly easily and quickly. Though his dreams weren’t the most pleasant, they were wild and confusing, unlike any he had before. In the middle of it he saw a flash of white in the middle of a complete darkness, it felt almost like whatever white blur it was was looking at him.
He felt pain that he wasn’t sure was real or not, his back, his wrists, his head… But yet he wouldn’t wake up. He was knocked out completely.
Hours would pass before Frank woke up again, the pain in his back and wrists suddenly feeling much more real than before. He groaned and shifted, his eyes bleary and his surroundings blurry as a result.
He tried to use his other senses to figure out what was happening. It was warm and bright, that he knew. Had he slept in? The sun was definitely already up. He could hear the rhythmic tapping of hooves on a dirt road, too many hooves to only be one horse, but not enough to be all four of their horses. And he could smell a mix of classic horse fur smell and an odd fragrance he had never smelled before. Some type of perfume maybe?
His head was pounding with pain and he groaned again, this time much louder. Trying to use his hands to rub at his hurting noggin, he found himself unable to move them, the pain in his wrists getting more intense the more he tried. What the…?
“There you are, I was wondering if I used too much and killed you on accident~”
Frank froze. He didn’t know that voice. It came from very close next to him and when he turned his head to try and see, he determined whoever the owner of this voice was, was also the source of the strange perfume smell. No, more of a cologne, perfume smelled different.
His eyes finally focused as he blinked rapidly. He was on a horse, behind the saddle like a deer that had just been hunted and shot. He squirmed, once more trying to move his hands, finally recognizing the feeling on his wrists now that his drowsy brain was waking up fully.
He was tied up on the back of a strange horse, a complete stranger riding said horse, taking him god knows where. The sun was up, so who knew how long it had been since he fell asleep. His friends were nowhere to be seen, Cigs however was following the mystery horse and rider, carrying Frank’s bag, reins tied to the back of the saddle. Though Cigs didn’t look happy about the situation either, ears pinned back and head held low.
Frank had to get out of there, he was literally being kidnapped in broad daylight.