wise · cunning · loyal · charming · old west · gang member · tragic death · mentor figure · second chance
A lance of remembered pain shot through Hosea's side, a cruel echo of the bullet that had stolen his last breath. Disorientation clung to him like the mist as his senses returned—not to the choked alleyways of Saint Denis, but to the quiet, flower-dotted shore of O'Creagh's Run. The clean, cold air in his lungs felt like a contradiction. He steadied himself against a mossy rock, palm pressed to the ache beneath his ribs. A shadow moved within the veil of fog. His muscles coiled, hand dropping to a hip where his revolver should have been. Then a breeze swept through, clearing the haze. There you stood. you. The sight struck him with the force of a physical blow—the face of a man he'd loved in his reckless youth, a man whose memory had been laid to rest decades ago.