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queenkatyastar) wrote2020-04-13 04:51 pm
queenkatyastar) wrote2020-04-13 04:51 pm
Entry tags:
The Gates Are Closing
Title: Preparing for the Gates
Author: Katya Starling
Fandom: The Magnificent Seven
Characters/Pairing: Josiah, Chris, Vin, Ensemble
Rating: PG-13/T
Challenge/Prompt: Short Fics 64: The Gates Are Closing
Word Count: 1,910
Date Written: 12 April 2020
Warnings: Christian
Summary: Josiah tries to prepare his team, and family, for the gates to close.
Disclaimer: All characters within belong to their rightful owners, not the author, and are used without permission.
"The gates are going to close one day," Josiah's deep, booming voice echoed in their heads as each man tried, seemingly in vain, to relax in the saloon. His sermon that morning had been spot on, making many of the congregation question their lives and sending goose bumps racing along their arms and spines.
Chris tried again to shake off the Preacher's voice and the disturbing thoughts that had been plaguing him ever since. He slung back another shot and set the glass hard back down onto the counter. "Damn it," he muttered, wiping the back of his hand with his mouth.
"Problem, pard?" Vin asked with a cocked eyebrow.
"Yeah. I need to stop going to church."
Josiah, who had walked up behind both without their knowledge, laughed. "That was hardly my point, brother, but I clearly must have struck a chord."
"You're damn right you did!" Chris exclaimed, signaling for another drink.
"You did bother a lot o' folks today, Josiah," Vin commented, turning around and leaning back on his stool. "Gave us a lot to think about it," he admitted, nodding. He sipped his drink, then twirled the shot glass around in his nimble fingers. "You know," he said, trying to find the words that the rest of their friends lacked, "we all try to be good men. We've saved this town more times than I care to remember, been shot at, even hanged for doin' good deeds. But we ain't perfect."
Josiah's blue eyes glistened as he, too, signaled the barkeep. "Brother," he said, sliding on up to the bar, "none of us are. I've never pretended to be. We all know I like turning to the wrong kind of spirits, but if I'm gonna bring the Lord's word, I've gotta bring it the way He gives it to me, no matter how many folks it rattles, myself included."
He uncorked his whiskey bottle and threw his head back. He took several long, burning slugs before continuing, "You really think I think I'm going to Heaven? Come on, friend. You know me better'n that. I've done way too much wrong in my time." He cocked his head to one side as he considered his own dark past.
"Excuse me, gentlemen, but if Ah may offer mah opinion on th' mattah at hand?" Ezra drawled, coming forward in a rare moment between poker games.
"What the Hell do you know about bein' saved, Ezra?" Chris demanded angrily.
"Not a great deal," the Southerner replied honestly, "but Ah have learned a thing or two ovah mah own trials, includin' mah time spent as a man o' th' cloth."
"Come on, Ez," Vin drawled. "We all know you were in it for th' Preacher's daughter."
Ezra smiled; his gold tooth and bright eyes sparkled in the dim lighting of the saloon. "Be that as it may, Ah've still gleamed a nugget or two of genuine knowledge o' God's Word. You men can't give up yet; it is still possible you could be saved."
Chris snorted and downed another drink and then immediately another one after that.
Vin chuckled. "Yeah, for th' right price." He tossed another shot back as well.
"Actually, he's right," Josiah ventured. "We have our whole lives to get right an' get saved. Problem is we never know when those Pearly Gates are closing for us."
"My Mother always said it didn't matter what you did," JD spoke up, "as long as you did the very best you could to follow God and believe in Jesus."
"That's the key," Nathan said, inclining his glass toward the Kid. "Believing. How's it go, Josiah? Whosoever believeth in me may not perish but have eternal life?"
"Depends actually," Josiah answered, angling his whiskey bottle. "I think you're aiming for John 3:16. In which case, it's 'That whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have eternal life.' But there's also John 11:26, where Jesus is talking and says to a woman, 'Whoever believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die.' Bunch o' other ones, too, that go along with it." He slung back another swallow of alcohol.
"But that's jest th' thing, ain't it?" Vin remarked. "How're we supposed to live right when we gotta protect folks? Sometimes, too often, that means havin' to kill people."
"Hmph," Larabee commented. "There's not a commandment I haven't broken, and not always in protecting others."
"What about that whole 'eye for an eye' thing?" Ezra asked.
Josiah shook his gray head. "Everybody always wants to forget the true Word, or at least bend it to their own means. That's something that's said a lot, that eye for an eye bullshit. Truth is, somewhere in Matthew 5, Jesus Himself says, 'Ye have heard that it hath been said, 'An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth', but I say unto you, That ye resist not evil, but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.'"
"Ah'll be damned," Ezra muttered and actually pouted, much to Josiah's surprise. He set his emptied cup on the counter and waited for it to be filled while subtly declining to meet anyone's gaze.
Josiah nodded. "That's why I'm always saying I've got trouble turning the other cheek myself," he admitted, "but the thing is, we're lucky. God wants to forgive us. We just gotta ask and mean it. No matter how hard we try to walk with Him and in His light, we're gonna stumble sometimes. We're gonna fall a lot, brothers, every one of us. But we gotta get back up, just like if we get thrown from a horse and keep trying."
"Think about it," he continued, looking to each in turn, "the Ghosts that brought us together, Wickes an' his men, that family th' other week . . . Every one of 'em didn't wanna stop, but we couldn't let them keep goin'. We couldn't let ourselves stop in tryin' to take 'em down, an' we can't let ourselves stop in tryin' to pull ourselves, or each other, up. We gotta keep tryin'."
"But they've got a point, pard," Buck said, his mustache bristling, "and you do too right there. We killed those bastards. We'd all do it again if we had to, too, to protect people. How do we live for God when we're living in sin?" Yet his mother had managed, he remembered fondly. She'd been a working girl his entire life, but she'd also been one of the most faithful Christians he'd ever met.
"We keep tryin'," Josiah tried again to explain, "an' we keep livin' for the Lord as best we can. But most of all, it doesn't matter what we do or how many times we fail long as we see we're falling, acknowledge we've fallen, and ask for His help and His forgiveness. Anything can be forgiven except one thing."
"What's that?" JD asked, leaning forward on his stool.
Buck's eyes and mustache were moist as he remembered his sweet mother's preachings as well as Josiah's. "Turning from God," he said, "and staying turned."
"You're right, brother," Josiah agreed, clasping Buck's shoulder. "You're right." He patted his back, knowing he was hurting. We don't heal from all pains, he remembered telling him the other night, but we will one day. You'll see her again one day, Buck, long as you keep to the Lord's hand. Just as he would also see his own mother and sister again one day and Chris could yet see his wife and child.
He squeezed his shoulder as he continued talking, "That's what I meant by the gates closing, brother. We all gotta work hard; we gotta strive an' keep striving not just to protect these people but to make things right between us an' the Lord. He doesn't care how much we mess up. He knows sometimes we've felt like we haven't had much choice in killing folks. It's kill or be killed out here, an' it's one thing, I think, when you're killin' to protect your own worthless hide an' another when you're killin' to protect an innocent. Some o' th' things we've gunned down, some o' th' people, haven't been people at all but Demons in mortal form."
"But th' thing is, we each got a gate. Those gates're gonna close at different times for every one o' us. We aren't gonna ride out together, or into Heaven together, no matter how much we might like to. An' how we go through 'em or don't go through 'em in th' end, just like our lives, is up to each one of us. We can keep doin' what we're doin' -- tryin' to live right, failin' when we fail, killin' when we need to to protect others -- long as we remember to ask for th' Lord's forgiveness an' mean it when we mess up an' we don't turn our backs to Him again."
"That's the ultimate mess up, th' one sin He can't forgive. We have to be right with Him when our gates close. We have to have accepted Him into our hearts an' souls an' be trying to live right for Him when our time comes, or nothing else is gonna matter." He shook his head. "Long as we do that, though, long as we stay as close to Him as we can, long as we accept him as our Lord and Savior, we'll be fine."
He emptied his whiskey bottle and walked away. "I've gotta prepare for Wednesday night's now," he murmured as he left, and several men shook their heads behind him.
"How does he do it?" JD asked in amazement.
"Because he loves the Lord," Nathan spoke quietly. He watched as Ezra wandered back to his table for a new game, Buck slipped away with tears still in his eyes, and Chris downed another drink.
"He's got a point, though. Protecting the innocent like we do -- that is the Lord's work." Calmly, he sipped his drink, but his sky blue eyes watched the others over his glass' rim.
Nathan nodded. "We just gotta make sure we hold to that hand, brother. We hold to that hand, and everything'll be fine."
Vin nodded. He knew it would. He'd never questioned the fact that there was one great Maker in the world. He'd seen His work far too many times to question Him, but he also knew that they had to keep fighting the good fight. If they didn't protect the innocents in this area, the women and children especially and the men who could no longer fight for themselves, no one else would. He also knew Demons existed; he'd seen that far too many times over the years as well. He shivered with memories.
Chris slid him a drink, and he accepted it. "You going back next Sunday?" he asked quietly when the others had all left.
Chris' eyes watched Vin's in the mirror. "Wednesday night," he admitted. "You?"
The tracker nodded. "Sounds good," he said, smiling as the thought that, despite everything they'd been through, they remained determined to do all they could to do right. They'd be there Wednesday night unless service was canceled because they were busy saving lives. He just hoped, he thought, swallowing down another shot of whiskey, that when their gates did close, they were ready and right with the Lord.
The End
Author: Katya Starling
Fandom: The Magnificent Seven
Characters/Pairing: Josiah, Chris, Vin, Ensemble
Rating: PG-13/T
Challenge/Prompt: Short Fics 64: The Gates Are Closing
Word Count: 1,910
Date Written: 12 April 2020
Warnings: Christian
Summary: Josiah tries to prepare his team, and family, for the gates to close.
Disclaimer: All characters within belong to their rightful owners, not the author, and are used without permission.
"The gates are going to close one day," Josiah's deep, booming voice echoed in their heads as each man tried, seemingly in vain, to relax in the saloon. His sermon that morning had been spot on, making many of the congregation question their lives and sending goose bumps racing along their arms and spines.
Chris tried again to shake off the Preacher's voice and the disturbing thoughts that had been plaguing him ever since. He slung back another shot and set the glass hard back down onto the counter. "Damn it," he muttered, wiping the back of his hand with his mouth.
"Problem, pard?" Vin asked with a cocked eyebrow.
"Yeah. I need to stop going to church."
Josiah, who had walked up behind both without their knowledge, laughed. "That was hardly my point, brother, but I clearly must have struck a chord."
"You're damn right you did!" Chris exclaimed, signaling for another drink.
"You did bother a lot o' folks today, Josiah," Vin commented, turning around and leaning back on his stool. "Gave us a lot to think about it," he admitted, nodding. He sipped his drink, then twirled the shot glass around in his nimble fingers. "You know," he said, trying to find the words that the rest of their friends lacked, "we all try to be good men. We've saved this town more times than I care to remember, been shot at, even hanged for doin' good deeds. But we ain't perfect."
Josiah's blue eyes glistened as he, too, signaled the barkeep. "Brother," he said, sliding on up to the bar, "none of us are. I've never pretended to be. We all know I like turning to the wrong kind of spirits, but if I'm gonna bring the Lord's word, I've gotta bring it the way He gives it to me, no matter how many folks it rattles, myself included."
He uncorked his whiskey bottle and threw his head back. He took several long, burning slugs before continuing, "You really think I think I'm going to Heaven? Come on, friend. You know me better'n that. I've done way too much wrong in my time." He cocked his head to one side as he considered his own dark past.
"Excuse me, gentlemen, but if Ah may offer mah opinion on th' mattah at hand?" Ezra drawled, coming forward in a rare moment between poker games.
"What the Hell do you know about bein' saved, Ezra?" Chris demanded angrily.
"Not a great deal," the Southerner replied honestly, "but Ah have learned a thing or two ovah mah own trials, includin' mah time spent as a man o' th' cloth."
"Come on, Ez," Vin drawled. "We all know you were in it for th' Preacher's daughter."
Ezra smiled; his gold tooth and bright eyes sparkled in the dim lighting of the saloon. "Be that as it may, Ah've still gleamed a nugget or two of genuine knowledge o' God's Word. You men can't give up yet; it is still possible you could be saved."
Chris snorted and downed another drink and then immediately another one after that.
Vin chuckled. "Yeah, for th' right price." He tossed another shot back as well.
"Actually, he's right," Josiah ventured. "We have our whole lives to get right an' get saved. Problem is we never know when those Pearly Gates are closing for us."
"My Mother always said it didn't matter what you did," JD spoke up, "as long as you did the very best you could to follow God and believe in Jesus."
"That's the key," Nathan said, inclining his glass toward the Kid. "Believing. How's it go, Josiah? Whosoever believeth in me may not perish but have eternal life?"
"Depends actually," Josiah answered, angling his whiskey bottle. "I think you're aiming for John 3:16. In which case, it's 'That whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have eternal life.' But there's also John 11:26, where Jesus is talking and says to a woman, 'Whoever believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die.' Bunch o' other ones, too, that go along with it." He slung back another swallow of alcohol.
"But that's jest th' thing, ain't it?" Vin remarked. "How're we supposed to live right when we gotta protect folks? Sometimes, too often, that means havin' to kill people."
"Hmph," Larabee commented. "There's not a commandment I haven't broken, and not always in protecting others."
"What about that whole 'eye for an eye' thing?" Ezra asked.
Josiah shook his gray head. "Everybody always wants to forget the true Word, or at least bend it to their own means. That's something that's said a lot, that eye for an eye bullshit. Truth is, somewhere in Matthew 5, Jesus Himself says, 'Ye have heard that it hath been said, 'An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth', but I say unto you, That ye resist not evil, but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.'"
"Ah'll be damned," Ezra muttered and actually pouted, much to Josiah's surprise. He set his emptied cup on the counter and waited for it to be filled while subtly declining to meet anyone's gaze.
Josiah nodded. "That's why I'm always saying I've got trouble turning the other cheek myself," he admitted, "but the thing is, we're lucky. God wants to forgive us. We just gotta ask and mean it. No matter how hard we try to walk with Him and in His light, we're gonna stumble sometimes. We're gonna fall a lot, brothers, every one of us. But we gotta get back up, just like if we get thrown from a horse and keep trying."
"Think about it," he continued, looking to each in turn, "the Ghosts that brought us together, Wickes an' his men, that family th' other week . . . Every one of 'em didn't wanna stop, but we couldn't let them keep goin'. We couldn't let ourselves stop in tryin' to take 'em down, an' we can't let ourselves stop in tryin' to pull ourselves, or each other, up. We gotta keep tryin'."
"But they've got a point, pard," Buck said, his mustache bristling, "and you do too right there. We killed those bastards. We'd all do it again if we had to, too, to protect people. How do we live for God when we're living in sin?" Yet his mother had managed, he remembered fondly. She'd been a working girl his entire life, but she'd also been one of the most faithful Christians he'd ever met.
"We keep tryin'," Josiah tried again to explain, "an' we keep livin' for the Lord as best we can. But most of all, it doesn't matter what we do or how many times we fail long as we see we're falling, acknowledge we've fallen, and ask for His help and His forgiveness. Anything can be forgiven except one thing."
"What's that?" JD asked, leaning forward on his stool.
Buck's eyes and mustache were moist as he remembered his sweet mother's preachings as well as Josiah's. "Turning from God," he said, "and staying turned."
"You're right, brother," Josiah agreed, clasping Buck's shoulder. "You're right." He patted his back, knowing he was hurting. We don't heal from all pains, he remembered telling him the other night, but we will one day. You'll see her again one day, Buck, long as you keep to the Lord's hand. Just as he would also see his own mother and sister again one day and Chris could yet see his wife and child.
He squeezed his shoulder as he continued talking, "That's what I meant by the gates closing, brother. We all gotta work hard; we gotta strive an' keep striving not just to protect these people but to make things right between us an' the Lord. He doesn't care how much we mess up. He knows sometimes we've felt like we haven't had much choice in killing folks. It's kill or be killed out here, an' it's one thing, I think, when you're killin' to protect your own worthless hide an' another when you're killin' to protect an innocent. Some o' th' things we've gunned down, some o' th' people, haven't been people at all but Demons in mortal form."
"But th' thing is, we each got a gate. Those gates're gonna close at different times for every one o' us. We aren't gonna ride out together, or into Heaven together, no matter how much we might like to. An' how we go through 'em or don't go through 'em in th' end, just like our lives, is up to each one of us. We can keep doin' what we're doin' -- tryin' to live right, failin' when we fail, killin' when we need to to protect others -- long as we remember to ask for th' Lord's forgiveness an' mean it when we mess up an' we don't turn our backs to Him again."
"That's the ultimate mess up, th' one sin He can't forgive. We have to be right with Him when our gates close. We have to have accepted Him into our hearts an' souls an' be trying to live right for Him when our time comes, or nothing else is gonna matter." He shook his head. "Long as we do that, though, long as we stay as close to Him as we can, long as we accept him as our Lord and Savior, we'll be fine."
He emptied his whiskey bottle and walked away. "I've gotta prepare for Wednesday night's now," he murmured as he left, and several men shook their heads behind him.
"How does he do it?" JD asked in amazement.
"Because he loves the Lord," Nathan spoke quietly. He watched as Ezra wandered back to his table for a new game, Buck slipped away with tears still in his eyes, and Chris downed another drink.
"He's got a point, though. Protecting the innocent like we do -- that is the Lord's work." Calmly, he sipped his drink, but his sky blue eyes watched the others over his glass' rim.
Nathan nodded. "We just gotta make sure we hold to that hand, brother. We hold to that hand, and everything'll be fine."
Vin nodded. He knew it would. He'd never questioned the fact that there was one great Maker in the world. He'd seen His work far too many times to question Him, but he also knew that they had to keep fighting the good fight. If they didn't protect the innocents in this area, the women and children especially and the men who could no longer fight for themselves, no one else would. He also knew Demons existed; he'd seen that far too many times over the years as well. He shivered with memories.
Chris slid him a drink, and he accepted it. "You going back next Sunday?" he asked quietly when the others had all left.
Chris' eyes watched Vin's in the mirror. "Wednesday night," he admitted. "You?"
The tracker nodded. "Sounds good," he said, smiling as the thought that, despite everything they'd been through, they remained determined to do all they could to do right. They'd be there Wednesday night unless service was canceled because they were busy saving lives. He just hoped, he thought, swallowing down another shot of whiskey, that when their gates did close, they were ready and right with the Lord.
The End