The Magnificent Seven fic - 'Trust' - 5/5
Apr. 26th, 2009 12:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
azombiewritesTitle: Trust
First story in 'The Continuing Ezra Standish Saga'
Rating: PG
Warnings: Bad writing ahead!
Fandom: The Magnificent Seven
Genre: Hurt/Comfort
Summary: Marshal Hanley arrives in Four Corners, a man from Ezra's past but is he friend or foe.
Main Characters: Ezra Standish and the rest of the seven
Disclaimers: The guys are owned by CBS, MGM, Trilogy Entertainment Group, and The Mirisch Corp.
Beta: Not betaed – written in the early days when I didn’t know what the words grammar and edit meant. *shamed*
Notes: First story in the ‘Continuing Ezra Standish Saga’.
Spoilers: None.
Word Count: 15,416
Part Five
When Chris and Vin went back inside Ezra had fallen asleep again. Nathan had also woken up and he was checking on Ezra to make sure he was still improving. JD was sitting in the chair that Chris had been occupying. Buck and Josiah soon joined them in Nathan's room, which was now getting crowded. Nathan knew if he asked them to leave that they would just ignore him. They had spent most of the day searching for Hanley and they now wanted to spend some time with Ezra.
"How is he doing Nathan?" Buck enquired.
He is sleeping a lot. But it is a peaceful sleep, which is a good sign. His fever has not returned and the leakage from his wound is clear. It's just going to take time for him to heal and get his strength back. But I don't know how he is going to be emotionally. That part may take a lot longer to heal. We don't know what Hanley did to him in that jail and Ezra may never tell us. We’re just going to have to be there for him.
"Like you were before?" JD reminded them.
"JD." warned Josiah. He was worried that this time Chris would not allow him to speak as he did before.
"It's alright Josiah. JD is right. We weren't there for Ezra when he needed us. We let him down." Chris was looking at
JD when he said this. "We can't change what we did JD but we can change what we are going to do. And that is look after Ezra while he is recovering. Two of us will be with him all the time. We can't take the chance that Hanley won't come back. When it's all over, we will help Ezra the best we can even if he won't accept our offer of help. Especially mine.
JD seemed to accept what Chris had said and nodded his agreement.
"Now that has been decided I think we should decide who the first two will be to stay with Ezra because it is too crowded in here and the noise will only wake him up. Now I know you want to stay but at the moment you all need your rest as much as Ezra does." Nathan told the group.
Buck was about to protest when they heard two gunshots from outside.
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Hanley had waited for nearly an hour for Mary to come out of the General Store; he was beginning to think that she had left by a back exit. He was waiting in an alley between the store and the place where they were keeping Ezra knowing that was where she was going to go when she did finally leave the store. He waited until she had walked past him and he crept up behind her throwing one arm around her waist and the other over her mouth to stop her screaming. He then dragged her back into the alley.
"Now I am going to take my hand away from your mouth and if you scream I will kill you. I won't hesitate to do it either as I have killed a woman before. Understand?"
Mary nodded. Hanley then looked towards the building that the seven gunmen were in. He removed his hand from her mouth and then pulled his gun out. He pointed it into the air and fired off two shots. He watched as four of the hired men ran from the building, separating into two groups to search for the person who fired the shots. He dragged Mary into the darkness as Josiah and JD ran passed them not realising that Hanley was so close. Hanley then moved towards the stairs thinking that he was not going to have any trouble with the two that stayed with Ezra.
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Chris and Buck stayed with Ezra while the others went to investigate the shots.
"Do you think it's Hanley?" Buck asked Chris.
"Of course it was." they both turned to see Ezra returning their stare. "You did not think that he would give up so easily do you?"
As Ezra said this, he was quietly thanking JD for giving him one of his guns, which he now gripped in his left hand, as he knew that he would not be able to use his right arm to lift and fire a gun. Buck and Chris turned as one when they heard the door crash opened. They saw Hanley coming through the door using Mary as his cover. He knew that they would shoot him on sight that's why he grabbed himself some protection before he went after Ezra.
"Drop your guns." Hanley looked at Chris and Buck annoyed that they hadn't done what he had just asked of them. "I'll kill her if you don't."
They still did not drop their guns. They were not going to let this man get the drop on them because if they did they all might end up dead.
"Ezra, why don't you tell them that I mean business? That I will kill her if they don't drop their guns." he looked at Ezra expecting him to tell them to do as they were told. But all he saw was Ezra's cold stare. He knew that look and he swallowed the fear that he suddenly felt. The tables were turning. He decided to try something else. "Did you tell them what I did to Charlotte?" thinking that this may stop the determination that he saw in Ezra's face.
"No he didn't." Hanley looked at Chris. "Why don't you tell us? We would like to hear it from the horse's mouth.
Hanley was starting to think that maybe he had it all wrong and that he should have kept going. The look in this man’s eyes was enough to kill him. But he shook himself out it; after all, he was the one with the hostage.
"I killed her but not before I had made her suffer. She was mine and no one else’s. Ezra was not going to have her so I killed her. Went through a lot of pain she did." he smiled at this.
Chris could not believe he had actually believed this man over Ezra. He held his anger down for the moment. The anger that he felt at himself.
"And what about Ezra?" he asked.
"What about Ezra?" he looked confused.
"We want to know what you did to Ezra in that jail cell before we kill you." Chris was determined to find out because he knew that Ezra would not tell them and he needed to know what Ezra went through.
Hanley looked at Chris and then Buck. He was beginning to become worried again. He moved more towards Chris and away from Buck and Ezra. Chris had noticed out of the corner of his eye that Ezra was beginning to remove his left arm from under the blanket. He saw a glint of metal. He instantly knew what Ezra was going to do. Knew that they would now probably never know what happened in that jail cell but he also knew that he was going to give him the distraction that he needed. Mary recognised the look in Chris's eyes and knew that something was about to happen. She knew not to do anything as what she might do could be the wrong thing and it would get herself killed. Buck had followed every move and knew what was happening.
Ezra looked at Chris and finally saw the trust in his eyes. Ezra nodded slightly. Chris moved to the side to distract Hanley from Ezra. Hanley also moved his gun towards Chris's direction but before he could pull the trigger, Ezra lifted his left arm clear of the blanket and without aiming, pulled the trigger. Hanley was killed instantly as Ezra's bullet entered his skull. He dropped to the floor letting go of Mary as he fell. Mary ran into Chris's arms. Buck moved towards Ezra and gently took the gun from the gambler's hand.
"It's over Buck," whispered Ezra. He had not taken his eyes off Hanley. The man who had killed Charlotte was finally dead.
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It had been three weeks since Ezra had suffered at the hands of Hanley. It had been one week before he could even get out of bed. His wound was healing but his heart was not. Then after another week, he'd had enough. He left Nathan's room for his own. Nathan's protests had been ignored. At night as he slept the others looked in on him on occasions to make sure that he was okay because he had suffered from nightmares while he was still in Nathan's room. During the day, he spent most of his time alone in the saloon. He did not seek company with the others. They had tried to talk to him but they could never get him into a conversation. It wasn't that he was ignoring them. He was always lost in his own thoughts - remembering what he had been through, what had happened to Charlotte and how the others had reacted to the situation. At the moment, that was what he had the most difficulty dealing with. Of course they had all apologised to him, tried to make up for what had happened but it did not help him. He knew it would take time. He did not yet know if he would forgive them for what happened and if he did, he knew that he would never forget.
The others had kept a close eye on him. It was hard for them to watch Ezra going through it. He had refused their help again. But this time they would not let that stop them. They rarely left him alone. They took turns with him knowing that they could not get him to talk but just hoping it was enough for them to just be there with him.
Chris had been watching Ezra from across the saloon. Now Vin was sitting with Ezra. They were just sitting at the table quietly. Ezra did not even have his cards with him; they had stayed in his room all week. He did not have the enthusiasm to play poker. Usually it was a healing thing for him to do so but it will take more than a game of poker to heal him this time.
Chris got up and walked over to the table. Vin looked up at him.
"Vin I want to talk to Ezra."
Vin went and joined the others. They all sat and watched wondering what it was that Chris was going to do. Whatever it was they hoped that he was going to say something that would help Ezra. They hated seeing him like this. They hated it even more knowing that five of them were partly the cause of what he went through and was going through.
Ezra did not look up when Chris sat down. He was not aware of the fact that he was even there. He was in his own painful world of thoughts and memories.
"Ezra." Chris said quietly.
Ezra still did not look up. He had not heard him in his world. Chris leaned over and touched his arm.
"Ezra look at me."
Ezra finally looked up. Chris was saddened by the haunted expression in his eyes. He knew that look. He had carried it himself for a long time after his wife and son was murdered.
"You loved her didn't you?" he asked.
Ezra looked away. It took him a moment but his eyes returned to Chris's. "Yes I did and it is my fault that Hanley killed her. She told me that he had threatened her. But she was worried that he would kill me so she convinced me to leave town for a couple of days. I have never forgiven myself for leaving her for when I returned she was dead." there were tears in Ezra's eyes but he would not let them fall. "It seems we have something in common Chris. The woman that we each truly loved was killed for something that we had done."
Chris then knew that by the use of his first name that Ezra's anger towards him was calming. He hoped that he did not lose that anger completely as he felt that he did not deserve Ezra's forgiveness. He was ashamed of what he had done and he would never forgive himself for it.
"We can't blame ourselves Ezra. We didn't make these men kill them. Even if you stayed in town, there is nothing to say that she would still be alive. You could not have been with her all the time. He would have waited for another opportunity. I know that it is easy to say now but it is something you will need to accept at some point or it will eat away at your soul."
"As it is eating at yours. You seem to have a lot of advice that you do not follow yourself."
Chris smiled at this. From across the room the others also saw the smile. They knew that the conversation was not going to end with the use of fists.
"I have also been thinking about what happened here with Hanley. Do you want to talk about it?" when he did not answer Chris, continued knowing it was best not to force him. He will try again another time. "Ezra you know that we are sorry for what happened. I know that it is not helping you now. I'm sure that you felt betrayed by us. If it were not for JD you would not have survived." He saw Ezra grimace but he did not know if it was from his use of the word betrayal or from the fact that he might have died. "I'm sorry that I did not trust you. I realised that a lot of it had to do with the Semolian Village incident. I still thought the worst of you even though you have proven me wrong plenty of times since. But it took this to make me realise I was wrong. I would trust you with my life now Ezra"
Chris had not taken his eyes off Ezra's face throughout the entire conversation. He did not fail to notice the poker face that Ezra had put on when he used the word trust. "He has put his wall up around himself," thought Chris but he could not blame him. He continued though knowing that he had to get it off his chest.
"We are all worried about you Ezra. We want to help you but you won't let us in. We were not there for you from the start but we are now."
Ezra had been looking at the table; he could not look at Chris. He thought that he would never admit the real reason he had for not trusting him and that he would never admit to being wrong. He was now beginning to feel true friendship and did not know what to do with the feeling so he had done what he was most comfortable with. He had put up his wall and put on his best poker face. He looked up at Chris.
"Thank you but I will be fine, I just need time."
Chris sighed. He knew it would be difficult to get Ezra to open up, as it was something the gambler was taught not do by his mother. He wished Maude were here now so he could tell her a thing or two. Ezra needed to talk about it more than what he just had or he would not completely heal. It would always be there scaring his heart and his mind.
"You need to talk about it Ezra."
"Maybe another time. But not right now."
Chris decided again not to push him, as the wall would only become harder to break down.
"You know we’re here for you when you need us." Chris got up and went back to the table. Vin got up to go back and sit with Ezra.
"No Vin. We need to leave him alone for a while. We need to give him some space. He has a lot to sort out and deal with at the moment."
For the first time since Hanley, rode into town Ezra slept a peaceful sleep without any nightmares. And while he slept, Chris sat in the corner watching him knowing that his first night without these nightmares was his first step to healing.
The End
Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four | Part Five
Master Fan Fiction List
First story in 'The Continuing Ezra Standish Saga'
Rating: PG
Warnings: Bad writing ahead!
Fandom: The Magnificent Seven
Genre: Hurt/Comfort
Summary: Marshal Hanley arrives in Four Corners, a man from Ezra's past but is he friend or foe.
Main Characters: Ezra Standish and the rest of the seven
Disclaimers: The guys are owned by CBS, MGM, Trilogy Entertainment Group, and The Mirisch Corp.
Beta: Not betaed – written in the early days when I didn’t know what the words grammar and edit meant. *shamed*
Notes: First story in the ‘Continuing Ezra Standish Saga’.
Spoilers: None.
Word Count: 15,416
Part Five
When Chris and Vin went back inside Ezra had fallen asleep again. Nathan had also woken up and he was checking on Ezra to make sure he was still improving. JD was sitting in the chair that Chris had been occupying. Buck and Josiah soon joined them in Nathan's room, which was now getting crowded. Nathan knew if he asked them to leave that they would just ignore him. They had spent most of the day searching for Hanley and they now wanted to spend some time with Ezra.
"How is he doing Nathan?" Buck enquired.
He is sleeping a lot. But it is a peaceful sleep, which is a good sign. His fever has not returned and the leakage from his wound is clear. It's just going to take time for him to heal and get his strength back. But I don't know how he is going to be emotionally. That part may take a lot longer to heal. We don't know what Hanley did to him in that jail and Ezra may never tell us. We’re just going to have to be there for him.
"Like you were before?" JD reminded them.
"JD." warned Josiah. He was worried that this time Chris would not allow him to speak as he did before.
"It's alright Josiah. JD is right. We weren't there for Ezra when he needed us. We let him down." Chris was looking at
JD when he said this. "We can't change what we did JD but we can change what we are going to do. And that is look after Ezra while he is recovering. Two of us will be with him all the time. We can't take the chance that Hanley won't come back. When it's all over, we will help Ezra the best we can even if he won't accept our offer of help. Especially mine.
JD seemed to accept what Chris had said and nodded his agreement.
"Now that has been decided I think we should decide who the first two will be to stay with Ezra because it is too crowded in here and the noise will only wake him up. Now I know you want to stay but at the moment you all need your rest as much as Ezra does." Nathan told the group.
Buck was about to protest when they heard two gunshots from outside.
Hanley had waited for nearly an hour for Mary to come out of the General Store; he was beginning to think that she had left by a back exit. He was waiting in an alley between the store and the place where they were keeping Ezra knowing that was where she was going to go when she did finally leave the store. He waited until she had walked past him and he crept up behind her throwing one arm around her waist and the other over her mouth to stop her screaming. He then dragged her back into the alley.
"Now I am going to take my hand away from your mouth and if you scream I will kill you. I won't hesitate to do it either as I have killed a woman before. Understand?"
Mary nodded. Hanley then looked towards the building that the seven gunmen were in. He removed his hand from her mouth and then pulled his gun out. He pointed it into the air and fired off two shots. He watched as four of the hired men ran from the building, separating into two groups to search for the person who fired the shots. He dragged Mary into the darkness as Josiah and JD ran passed them not realising that Hanley was so close. Hanley then moved towards the stairs thinking that he was not going to have any trouble with the two that stayed with Ezra.
Chris and Buck stayed with Ezra while the others went to investigate the shots.
"Do you think it's Hanley?" Buck asked Chris.
"Of course it was." they both turned to see Ezra returning their stare. "You did not think that he would give up so easily do you?"
As Ezra said this, he was quietly thanking JD for giving him one of his guns, which he now gripped in his left hand, as he knew that he would not be able to use his right arm to lift and fire a gun. Buck and Chris turned as one when they heard the door crash opened. They saw Hanley coming through the door using Mary as his cover. He knew that they would shoot him on sight that's why he grabbed himself some protection before he went after Ezra.
"Drop your guns." Hanley looked at Chris and Buck annoyed that they hadn't done what he had just asked of them. "I'll kill her if you don't."
They still did not drop their guns. They were not going to let this man get the drop on them because if they did they all might end up dead.
"Ezra, why don't you tell them that I mean business? That I will kill her if they don't drop their guns." he looked at Ezra expecting him to tell them to do as they were told. But all he saw was Ezra's cold stare. He knew that look and he swallowed the fear that he suddenly felt. The tables were turning. He decided to try something else. "Did you tell them what I did to Charlotte?" thinking that this may stop the determination that he saw in Ezra's face.
"No he didn't." Hanley looked at Chris. "Why don't you tell us? We would like to hear it from the horse's mouth.
Hanley was starting to think that maybe he had it all wrong and that he should have kept going. The look in this man’s eyes was enough to kill him. But he shook himself out it; after all, he was the one with the hostage.
"I killed her but not before I had made her suffer. She was mine and no one else’s. Ezra was not going to have her so I killed her. Went through a lot of pain she did." he smiled at this.
Chris could not believe he had actually believed this man over Ezra. He held his anger down for the moment. The anger that he felt at himself.
"And what about Ezra?" he asked.
"What about Ezra?" he looked confused.
"We want to know what you did to Ezra in that jail cell before we kill you." Chris was determined to find out because he knew that Ezra would not tell them and he needed to know what Ezra went through.
Hanley looked at Chris and then Buck. He was beginning to become worried again. He moved more towards Chris and away from Buck and Ezra. Chris had noticed out of the corner of his eye that Ezra was beginning to remove his left arm from under the blanket. He saw a glint of metal. He instantly knew what Ezra was going to do. Knew that they would now probably never know what happened in that jail cell but he also knew that he was going to give him the distraction that he needed. Mary recognised the look in Chris's eyes and knew that something was about to happen. She knew not to do anything as what she might do could be the wrong thing and it would get herself killed. Buck had followed every move and knew what was happening.
Ezra looked at Chris and finally saw the trust in his eyes. Ezra nodded slightly. Chris moved to the side to distract Hanley from Ezra. Hanley also moved his gun towards Chris's direction but before he could pull the trigger, Ezra lifted his left arm clear of the blanket and without aiming, pulled the trigger. Hanley was killed instantly as Ezra's bullet entered his skull. He dropped to the floor letting go of Mary as he fell. Mary ran into Chris's arms. Buck moved towards Ezra and gently took the gun from the gambler's hand.
"It's over Buck," whispered Ezra. He had not taken his eyes off Hanley. The man who had killed Charlotte was finally dead.
It had been three weeks since Ezra had suffered at the hands of Hanley. It had been one week before he could even get out of bed. His wound was healing but his heart was not. Then after another week, he'd had enough. He left Nathan's room for his own. Nathan's protests had been ignored. At night as he slept the others looked in on him on occasions to make sure that he was okay because he had suffered from nightmares while he was still in Nathan's room. During the day, he spent most of his time alone in the saloon. He did not seek company with the others. They had tried to talk to him but they could never get him into a conversation. It wasn't that he was ignoring them. He was always lost in his own thoughts - remembering what he had been through, what had happened to Charlotte and how the others had reacted to the situation. At the moment, that was what he had the most difficulty dealing with. Of course they had all apologised to him, tried to make up for what had happened but it did not help him. He knew it would take time. He did not yet know if he would forgive them for what happened and if he did, he knew that he would never forget.
The others had kept a close eye on him. It was hard for them to watch Ezra going through it. He had refused their help again. But this time they would not let that stop them. They rarely left him alone. They took turns with him knowing that they could not get him to talk but just hoping it was enough for them to just be there with him.
Chris had been watching Ezra from across the saloon. Now Vin was sitting with Ezra. They were just sitting at the table quietly. Ezra did not even have his cards with him; they had stayed in his room all week. He did not have the enthusiasm to play poker. Usually it was a healing thing for him to do so but it will take more than a game of poker to heal him this time.
Chris got up and walked over to the table. Vin looked up at him.
"Vin I want to talk to Ezra."
Vin went and joined the others. They all sat and watched wondering what it was that Chris was going to do. Whatever it was they hoped that he was going to say something that would help Ezra. They hated seeing him like this. They hated it even more knowing that five of them were partly the cause of what he went through and was going through.
Ezra did not look up when Chris sat down. He was not aware of the fact that he was even there. He was in his own painful world of thoughts and memories.
"Ezra." Chris said quietly.
Ezra still did not look up. He had not heard him in his world. Chris leaned over and touched his arm.
"Ezra look at me."
Ezra finally looked up. Chris was saddened by the haunted expression in his eyes. He knew that look. He had carried it himself for a long time after his wife and son was murdered.
"You loved her didn't you?" he asked.
Ezra looked away. It took him a moment but his eyes returned to Chris's. "Yes I did and it is my fault that Hanley killed her. She told me that he had threatened her. But she was worried that he would kill me so she convinced me to leave town for a couple of days. I have never forgiven myself for leaving her for when I returned she was dead." there were tears in Ezra's eyes but he would not let them fall. "It seems we have something in common Chris. The woman that we each truly loved was killed for something that we had done."
Chris then knew that by the use of his first name that Ezra's anger towards him was calming. He hoped that he did not lose that anger completely as he felt that he did not deserve Ezra's forgiveness. He was ashamed of what he had done and he would never forgive himself for it.
"We can't blame ourselves Ezra. We didn't make these men kill them. Even if you stayed in town, there is nothing to say that she would still be alive. You could not have been with her all the time. He would have waited for another opportunity. I know that it is easy to say now but it is something you will need to accept at some point or it will eat away at your soul."
"As it is eating at yours. You seem to have a lot of advice that you do not follow yourself."
Chris smiled at this. From across the room the others also saw the smile. They knew that the conversation was not going to end with the use of fists.
"I have also been thinking about what happened here with Hanley. Do you want to talk about it?" when he did not answer Chris, continued knowing it was best not to force him. He will try again another time. "Ezra you know that we are sorry for what happened. I know that it is not helping you now. I'm sure that you felt betrayed by us. If it were not for JD you would not have survived." He saw Ezra grimace but he did not know if it was from his use of the word betrayal or from the fact that he might have died. "I'm sorry that I did not trust you. I realised that a lot of it had to do with the Semolian Village incident. I still thought the worst of you even though you have proven me wrong plenty of times since. But it took this to make me realise I was wrong. I would trust you with my life now Ezra"
Chris had not taken his eyes off Ezra's face throughout the entire conversation. He did not fail to notice the poker face that Ezra had put on when he used the word trust. "He has put his wall up around himself," thought Chris but he could not blame him. He continued though knowing that he had to get it off his chest.
"We are all worried about you Ezra. We want to help you but you won't let us in. We were not there for you from the start but we are now."
Ezra had been looking at the table; he could not look at Chris. He thought that he would never admit the real reason he had for not trusting him and that he would never admit to being wrong. He was now beginning to feel true friendship and did not know what to do with the feeling so he had done what he was most comfortable with. He had put up his wall and put on his best poker face. He looked up at Chris.
"Thank you but I will be fine, I just need time."
Chris sighed. He knew it would be difficult to get Ezra to open up, as it was something the gambler was taught not do by his mother. He wished Maude were here now so he could tell her a thing or two. Ezra needed to talk about it more than what he just had or he would not completely heal. It would always be there scaring his heart and his mind.
"You need to talk about it Ezra."
"Maybe another time. But not right now."
Chris decided again not to push him, as the wall would only become harder to break down.
"You know we’re here for you when you need us." Chris got up and went back to the table. Vin got up to go back and sit with Ezra.
"No Vin. We need to leave him alone for a while. We need to give him some space. He has a lot to sort out and deal with at the moment."
For the first time since Hanley, rode into town Ezra slept a peaceful sleep without any nightmares. And while he slept, Chris sat in the corner watching him knowing that his first night without these nightmares was his first step to healing.
The End
Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four | Part Five
Master Fan Fiction List