Chapter Text
1858.
The sun sets the scene, the three nomads making their way to a dusty town beneath its merciless rays.
They stride with purpose, yet with no ride and no supplies. All they’ve got to their name is rags and each other. In this day and age though, where can you go wrong with a couple of mates by your side? Nevertheless, the trio reach their destination without even a stutter in their step, tracing the town with their eyes.
…Well, except for one unfortunate soul amongst them, who’s only got his ears to rely on. Ahem.
The horned devil of the trio eventually points toward a seemingly famed point in the town: the sheriffs office, the quietest and tallest of the wooded facilities in town as it seemed. The white-eyed one slowly turns their head to him.
“You’re being serious… ?” He asks his comrade, who responds with a carefree and firm nod. The third of them, lacking the sight to see, is forced to listen along with no context as the only one with reason so far sighs. “Fine then… But one reckless move, and I’m shooting you in the head along with that damned sheriff.” The devil only grins at her and makes a start on the way to the makeshift gallows, leading the blinded by the arm along with them.
Ignored by the townsfolk who stay cooped inside the saloon and such, the three are free to bust the door to the sheriff’s office down without difficulty or protest, and just their luck — there’s no authority figure in sight. The trio explore the place separately, searching through various drawers and corners for any valuables. Even the caged rooms inside were worth searching.
Feeling around yet another wooden drawer, the winged man tenses up as he feels something familiar. Grabbing a handful of whatever he had stumbled upon, the glory of the items in his hand practically shine in the dim office — a wad of cash is tightly secured in his hand.
Figuring out just what they’d grabbed, they gasp, causing the other two to turn back and look at him. Once their eyes land on the money, they can’t take their eyes off it. Lips rising into a victorious smirk, the devil wraps their arm around his winged comrades shoulders with a laugh. “Woah-hoh, good find, Juno! This is the most we’ve found in—…” She pauses to tap their shoulder in thought. They look awkward. “…three weeks, right?” ‘Juno’ finishes her sentence for her. She nods fervently. “Yeah, something like that. I don’t keep track of the days anymore.”
“Hm. Truly a steal, yes,” the white-eyed man comments and takes a step forward, prompting the other two to turn to him as the floorboard creaks under him. They raise a hand up in offering. “I should be keeping it safe for us then. We can’t let it all slip out of this one’s clumsy fingers, now can we?” He suggests, taking a shameless jab at the one who found the money in the first place.
“I can keep it all perfectly safe on my own,” the winged one responds with her brows furrowed — a fair response. Her comrade obviously wants to pick a needless fight here. Said comrade narrows her eyes at them. “You say that, but what happened to the precious pearl necklace you snagged two months back, hm?”
‘Juno’ grumbles and backs away from both the rest of his trifecta, keeping the cash safe with him.
The devil is left in the middle of the pair, as per usual. He sighs jadedly and steps between them in the centre of the room. “We don’t have to talk about the pearls, do we? That was ages ago now, Apollo,” he reasons, looking over at who seems to be ‘Apollo’, who grimaces back at them. “Still. We could’ve sold them and made a fortune, if we still had it. But no, Heart just had to—“
“Ugh!” Heart stamps her foot into the floor frustratedly. “It wasn’t my fault, alright?! We already went over this when I lost it!”
This ‘Apollo’ is truly the only person who could rile them up over something small such as this. They seem to relish the fact, only continuing with the verbal offence. “Oh, come on, don’t play dumb with me. You know damn well you let go of it in the wind on a whim — an idiotic move. What, did the speed of your horse overwhelm you? Cry me a river.” He huffs and turns his head dismissively. The devil between them can’t help but wonder: who hurt him??
Justifiably frustrated, the blind man looks just about ready to pounce at their so-called mate — but a thud sounds out. The trio all turn to face the door to the sheriff’s office.
The sheriff herself stands outside of it, looking admittedly shocked.. and admittedly furious. The recently caught bandit she’d collected sits on the floor next to her (having been dropped onto the porch a moment earlier out of surprise), watching the scene unravel. “Just who do you three think you are? Bursting into my office like you own the damn place,” she addresses them sharply, hand already reaching for the revolver slung on her waist.
Shit. Now what?
First off, the devil is DEFINITELY getting shot by ‘Apollo’. Second off, he’s definitely not letting that seriously happen.
“Heh,” he smirks, bringing a hand to his own gun. “Maybe we do own the place. We sure as hell do now, anyway.”
With that, she swiftly whips it out of its holster and points it toward the sheriff, taking a couple of shots at her. Neither of his allies seemed to expect that move, though he is known for his insane decisions. They shrug it off and make a run for it toward the window across the room, Heart stuffing the cash he’d taken into his jacket’s leather pocket along the way.
Both shots miss the sheriff — on purpose, to be fair — but the audacity of it all enrages her anyhow. The bandit she’d just caught also dashes off while they have the chance, leaving the triple-horned nomad and the copper on their own to have a duel.
Instead though, the man follows his fellow thirds to the window they spotted. No way they’re leaving her behind, after all.
Shots are fired from behind the three with several PANG! sounds, all of which miss them and even end up hitting the window next to ‘Apollo’s’ head. His eyes open wide. That was disturbingly close. Now that the glass is shattered somewhat though, they take the chance to kick it in and catapult themselves through it, the escape being followed by the other two as they, too, leap out the window.
None of them land perfectly other than the devil, landing on all-fours and filled with adrenaline. The life of a bandit is definitely one he enjoys.
Looking around for a way to escape more efficiently rather than wasting their energy by running off, he spots the perfect getaway vehicle — a lone horse.
“Oi, you two!” She yells out, gaining the attention of the rest of her trifecta. They point to the horse and run off toward it, expecting them to follow. The white-eyed man helps Heart up — who had face-planted onto the ground a moment earlier — and leads him by the arm toward the animal, not bothered to explain where they’re going just yet to him. There’s no time for that, obviously.
The sheriff runs toward the window and points her revolver at the 3 from there, taking even more shots then, but they’re moving too much to land anything. Each one misses, and one almost hits the horse, the poor thing. She curses in frustration and reloads the cylinder while the three nomads haul themselves onto the horse, somehow managing to fit them all rather comfortably atop it though the horse doesn’t seem as comfortable.
“Right!” The triple-horned man takes a moment to remember how in the world to get a horse moving, before kicking the spur of his boot into its side. With a shriek from the horse — and also from Heart, who hadn’t expected to set off so quickly — the three ride off into the blaring sun’s direction, the leader of their trio laughing triumphantly. They didn’t take much, but anything’s good when you’re living off nothing.
By the time the sheriff had run outside to pursue them, the three of them were already far on their way with that horse. That was her horse too, damn it!
Thinking of just what to do, she pauses where she is. Now that she’s able to think more clearly for a second… she swore she recognised those faces from somewhere. With a huff, she stomps back to her residence to figure some damned things out.
The floorboards creak as obnoxiously as ever while she storms through her office, opening a drawer to take out a stack of wanted posters that were to be pasted on the walls of the facilities in town. Flipping through them, she finally realises where she recognised those three faces.
Curse them. Curse the damned trio that broke into her office. Curse those three freaks of nature:
The Heart, the Mind and that damned Soul!