angriestman | (no subject)

At the sound of Raylan's voice, she turns, crossbow by her side but ready to go if she needs it. Something has happened to the island and she's been on guard since leaving her hut this morning, waiting for something bad to appear that's all hers, but so far there are no roamers. Men with guns, one with a bow and arrow that she had to shoot and kill, but nothing that seems aimed at her.

"Hey," she says, then frowns. "You're hurt. What happened?"

"Harlan came calling," he says, closing the gap between them quickly, his gun still held in his hand. He glances down at himself, seemingly noticing the wounds for the first time.

"It's nothing. Arlo's here. Mags Bennet too. They're armed and pretty fuckin' dangerous. And there's..." His jaw tightens. "Me. There's me. And he already got to Rachel."

"What? Is Rachel okay?" If she wasn't, Andrea thinks Raylan would be with her right now, with her and Jess, but she needs to be sure of that first. Before the two of them do anything else, because if he's come to find her, she thinks she knows what he wants to do. She's a hunter and he knows that better than most of the other people in her life.

She's grateful that she has the crossbow with her now.

"Rachel's safe," he says, and he knows that that's not the same as 'okay' but it's what he's got, for now.

"And i need you to help me finish this. To..make sure they stay down."

Andrea hefts the crossbow to show him she's on his side. Whatever he needs, she'll be there to do it even if she doesn't completely understand why this is happening. "Have you been tracking them?" she asks. "Any idea where they are?"

The fact that he's told her he's here, too, hasn't escaped her notice. She's just not sure what to do with it yet.

"Last time i saw them, they weren't far from the house," he says, grimly. He starts back that way, trusting her to fall into step. "just...be careful. They're more dangerous...." He pauses. "They won't wait,"

There's already a bolt loaded in the crossbow and she has more on her back, so Andrea falls in line with Raylan, looking carefully around the area. "Neither will I," she assures him, which will be true enough. She's shot her sister, she's shot Dale, she can take care of Raylan if she has to, but she wonders if that's not something he'll need to do himself.

"This is what you haven't been talking about," she says as they walk.

He believes it. On the island, there's probably nobody he'd trust by his side right now. He'd trust her with his lie. More importantly, he'd trust her with Jess'.

"Yeah," he says. "It is."

"You could have told me," Andrea says, her gaze still sweeping back and forth. It's not quite like hunting roamers -- people can be quiet, for one, they can move with intent -- and so she's trying not to let anything else distract her. But with everything they've seen together, she hopes he knows that he could have told her. That she would have believed him.

"I could have told a lot of people," he says, keeping his head low. "But I didn't tell anyone and I'm paying for it now. Mags looks like she's around your age. A little older. I was in love with her when I was a kid and I guess it's playing with that. You'll...I guess you'll recognise Arlo when you see him."

He isn't looking at her, so Andrea hefts her crossbow to her shoulder briefly, then reaches over for Raylan's hand. She holds onto him only for a moment, just long enough to squeeze gently.

"And you," she says, adjusting the crossbow again. "I'll recognize you."

Her hand in his is welcome and he squeezes back before he lets it go.

"Yeah," he says, grimly. "You'll recognise me. It's...I guess it's like if I'd never got out of Harlan. What I'd have turned into. If I'd stayed."

Andrea doesn't know exactly what that might mean, but the way he says it makes it sound like it's nothing to be excited about. "Then I'm glad that you did get out," she says, looking through the trees, half-expecting to see Raylan burst through them and straight into their path. She's ready, she thinks, but she also doesn't quite know what she'll do if that happens.

He's about to tell her that he fought his way out before the coal got into his lungs and his veins and every part of him but then he catches movement in the trees.

His hand on her arm, he brings them both to a halt.

"Hello, Raylan," says a familiar voice, low and rich and warm as apple pie. "Your Momma would have been so, so sorry to see how you've turned out."

Raylan sighs.

"You come on out here and let us see you, Mags."

Andrea stops when Raylan does, but she hefts the crossbow, keeping it trained on where she's seen the movement ahead of them. She doesn't know how dangerous these people are, but she's not about to take any chances. Not with Raylan's life, not with her own.

"Yeah, I'm really eager for an introduction," she says.

There's this moment when it feels like everything's standing still and then she steps into the clearing, shotgun and combat boots and a long, floral skirt. Her dark hair blows across her face.

"Here we are again, Raylan," she says, flashing a crooked smile. "Who's your friend?"

"I'm the woman who'll have no problem putting an arrow through your eye if you get too close or make a fucking move with that gun that I don't like," Andrea answers and she has the crossbow trained exactly where it needs to be. She's still waiting for Raylan to take the lead and let her know what to do, but she can't look at him. Not now that she has a potential target.

"That's a nice threat, girlie," says Mags, shifting her weight. "Why don't you tell her what it's like in Harlan, Raylan? Why don't you tell her what happens to little girls who make threats and don't mind their betters."

Raylan ignores her, scanning the treeline, his gun still up.

"Where Arlo, Mags?"

"Not a threat. Just a fact," Andrea says calmly, keeping her crossbow trained exactly where it is, only moving it when Mags does, following the target of her left eye. So far she doesn't see anyone else, but that doesn't mean they're not there.

"You say the word, Raylan," she murmurs. "That's all."

"I wouldn't do that if I was you," says a voice behind them and Raylan hears the unmistakable sound of a shot-gun snapping shut behind him. He half turns.

"Hello, Arlo," he says. "You look like shit."

Andrea doesn't turn, though a part of her wants to. Instead, she takes a few careful steps back until she can see who Raylan's talking to out of the corner of her eye and she doesn't have to move her crossbow much to do it. She doesn't like this much, but she's not about to cut and run, though she also isn't sure what her next move should be.

In that moment, she really misses her gun.

"So how long should we expect this reunion to last?"

"Just about as long as it takes Raylan to understand. Get it through his thick skull."

Raylan sighs, glancing at Andrea before he turns his attention back to Arlo.

"Jesus, Arlo," he says, shaking his head. "When are you going to realise that there's nothing here to understand."

He takes a deep breath in. And then he fires.

She squeezes the trigger when Raylan fires, letting the arrow loose without a second thought, watching it fly through the air and find its mark. She turns as soon as she's shot, toward Raylan and Arlo, yanking another arrow out of the quiver on her back at the same time. Just in case.

Arlo's down with a bullet in the belly, clasping at himself with slippery red hands. Raylan's aim was off and he hopes that he didn't do it on purpose, hopes that his hand slipped. Suddenly, something he read a long, long time comes back to him.

Babies, you've got to be kind.

He brings up his gun and he ends up. There are then before Arlo can say whatever he's got his mouth open to say.

In an instant, Andrea has the crossbow loaded, but it turns out her second arrow isn't needed and she lowers it, watching Raylan. The two of them are down, but that doesn't mean it's over. She's well aware of that given what he's told her.

"Are you okay?" she asks.

"Yeah," says Raylan, but he's not sure, he really isn't. Mostly, what he feels is cold and dull.

"Be careful," he says, voice low. "It's not over yet."

"I know," she says, glad for the weight of the crossbow in her hand. She doesn't even look back at Mags, just another casualty of what Andrea's been doing for years now. Maybe she shouldn't be so comfortable with killing, but there's not much to be done about it and there's no way to take it back.

"Do you think he's coming after you?" she asks. "Do we just have to wait?"

"I don't know," he says and, for the first time in years, he actually feels sort of lost. Dimly, he misses Tim Gutterson - having a shot like that at this back wouldn't hurt right now.

"Rachel and Jess are safe, so he won't go after them."

"Who else is important to you?" Andrea asks. There's Danny, but she suspects he's safe, too, still in the clinic as far as she knows, still under the watch of doctors and, hopefully, Steve. "If he went after Rachel, that's what he wants. To go after the people who matter."

Maybe she's reaching, maybe she doesn't completely understand what's happening, but it makes sense to her this way.

"Danny's in the clinic and Steve can look after himself," says Raylan, grimly. "And you're right here." Something moves in the tree-line.

Raylan closes his eyes and waits.

At the movement, Andrea turns, crossbow raised, trying to track where it's coming from. It could be an animal for all she knows, but she isn't sure and she doesn't want to let her guard down, not even for a second.

She still doesn't know what she'll do if something wearing Raylan's face comes through those trees.

There's a part of Raylan that knows how it would have turned out if he'd never made it out of Harlan; if he'd stayed down the mines until his nails were so black that he'd never get them clean. Until he breathed coal dust.

And it would look a lot like what steps out of the trees. It's him, but worn thinner, worn harder, shot through with steel not silver, gun in one hand, pick-axe in the other.

"Well, hello, darlin'," he says, eyes only for Andrea.

"Hiya, sweetheart," she answers, following him with the crossbow as he comes out of the trees. Her voice is steady, but seeing Raylan steps out toward them is unsettling in ways she doesn't know she'll ever be able to explain. He looks different, but not enough and she knows she's supposed to just shoot him, but she doesn't now if he can.

Briefly, she glances at Raylan -- her Raylan -- looking for some kind of idea as to what she's supposed to do.

It was one thing to shoot Arlo, another to watch Mags Bennet die but quite another to be faced with himself, long-legged and vicious, full to the brim with malice. He watches him, glances at Andrea and doesn't have the first idea what to say.

"Don't," he says, looking himself in the eye. "Don't you dare."

Andrea steps back, closer to Raylan, making sure to keep him near. She still has the crossbow up, but she doesn't know if she can bring herself to pull the trigger. What she wants is some kind of permission. It doesn't matter which of them it comes from, she thinks. An aggressive move toward either of them will be permission enough.

But she wants Raylan to tell her it's okay.

"What do you want me to do?" she asks.

Raylan's got his gun up and he ignores the fact that his hand is shaking. He doesn't take his eyes off his own face and he can't help picturing what happened to Rachel, how scared she must have been and how much she must hate him now.

He doesn't look at Andrea.

"Do it."

It seems like enough permission for the both of them. The Raylan across the clearing takes a step toward them, but that's as far as he gets. Andrea's gaze shifts back to him and she squeezes the trigger on her crossbow and she wonders, somewhere, if Zhuge disapproves of what she's using his beautiful weapon for, but it can't matter now.

The bolt hits him in the throat before he has the chance to take another step.