God's Posse
Mar. 3rd, 2020 06:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
queenkatyastarTitle: God's Posse
Author: Katya Starling
Fandom: The Magnificent Seven
Characters/Pairing: Josiah, Nathan, JD
Rating: G/K
Challenge/Prompt: Short Fics 58: I do without an answer. and my own Christian Pens
Word Count: 1,685
Date Written: 2 March 2020
Warnings: None
Summary: Josiah went without an answer for so long but knows he's finally beginning to understand God's intentions.
Disclaimer: All characters within belong to their rightful owners, not the author, and are used without permission.
He was six drinks in after their return to town before it dawned on him. "Well, I'll be damned," Josiah grumbled, slamming his emptied shot glass down harder than he'd intended. The barmaid winced but quickly poured him another before moving silently away.
Nathan looked to him with instant concern and urgency. His eyebrows rose as he asked, "What's wrong? Your leg hurting worse?"
"Hell, forget the leg. A little physical pain ain't much other than a reminder I'm still alive, pard." He took a sip that downed half his glass. "That's the funny thing," he remarked, still not looking at the only man who he truly considered a friend.
"Funny? Funny how?"
"What's funny?" JD asked, popping up between the two older men.
"I tell you what's funny, Kid," Nathan commented, eyeing Josiah. "This damn, ornery, old man who don't wanna take no for an answer."
"What am I taking no for an answer for, Nathan?" Josiah questioned, turning to look at the healer.
"In doing what you're supposed to do." Nathan snorted. "Like always."
Josiah rolled his massive shoulders in a shrug. "I do what I'm supposed to do. I helped y'all out, didn't I?"
"Yeah, and we're real appreciative of that, Josiah, but you know that ain't what I'm talking about."
JD's big, dark eyes darted back and forth between the two men.
"Enlighten me," Josiah directed, throwing back the rest of his shot and signaling for another as he set the glass down again. "What are you talking about then?"
"Hell, man, you almost died back there! Take it easy! Get off your damn leg and rest some while you can still use it!"
"Hmph. That's the thing, though, isn't it, brother?"
"What's the thing?" Nathan demanded, growing exasperated.
"I'm still alive," Josiah muttered and grasped the whiskey bottle out of the barkeep's hand. He threw back several slugs, then waved the brown bottle through the air. "That's just it. After all this crap, after all the damnation and death, after even a whole flock of death birds, I'm still alive."
"Yeah, but if you keep this up, you ain't gonna be much longer."
"Something tells me I am," Josiah said, twirling around on his chair and almost slipping off the seat. He gulped down some more of the burning alcohol. "He ain't done with either of us yet, brother."
"I know that, Josiah. I've been telling you that for years."
"But I never could figure it out," Josiah said, scratching at his gray stubble. "All that time in the desert, I couldn't figure out why He wouldn't let me die."
JD quietly slipped onto a barstool on the Preacher's other side. The older men had clearly forgotten his presence, and he took the opportunity to listen in on their meaningful conversation. Josiah's words had already piqued his interest, not that he wasn't already interested about these two unusual and brave men. All six of the men whom he'd just fought beside to save dozens of lives for a little bit of gold were interesting, brave men, each with their own stories that had been their true motivation for helping the natives. It wasn't the gold for which they'd risked their lives. It had been the right thing to do, and they'd each had their own reasons for wanting to do the right thing.
Even he, JD admitted to himself, had wanted to do more than just make a name for himself and start his Western adventure. He'd wanted to do what was right in honor of his mother, not that he'd told anyone else that truth. He wondered what truths Josiah and Nathan were hiding and listened intently and silently, not even voicing his dismay when a glass of milk instead of a shot was set before him.
"All those damn rocks I was building, and I didn't even know why -- "
"You never told me what you were building, pard," Nathan commented softly.
"I told you I would when I knew. I still ain't figured it out myself."
"Then why the Hell do you keep doing it?"
"You know why. Little peace and quiet with just me and the Maker. Keeps my hands busy and gives my mind time to think."
"But you didn't get anywhere, did you?" Nathan gently asked. "You never figured it out?"
"Nope." Josiah shook his grizzled head.
"All that time out in the sun couldn't have done your brain well."
"Shut up." But he said the words with a smile before shaking his head. "All that time out there, all that time fighting the Devil and the Ghosts of the Confederacy, all that time in the village -- " He shook his head again. "Never did figure it out til just now."
"You gonna tell me or keep me wondering, pard?"
"There's a reason we're alive." Josiah's bright, blue eyes lifted to the mirror behind the bar, and he watched Vin and Chris drinking together at a table, Buck laughing as though he didn't have a care -- which they all knew was a lie -- while surrounded by working women, and Ezra deftly dealing cards in the far, smoky corner. "Every one of us," he said, not looking at the Kid, who he knew full and well was right beside him. "There's a reason we've all made it this far."
"You gonna tell us?" Nathan asked, and JD almost spit out his milk in surprise. He'd thought he'd been quiet. He'd thought the older men didn't realize or, at least, had forgotten that he was there. He clearly had been wrong. Unlike Chris and Buck, they were including him in their deep, grave conversation. They were allowing him to listen to their secrets and friendship. They were . . . trusting him, and treating him as a friend and fellow man. He turned in his seat, no longer pretending not to notice and let his avid interest shine in his big, brown eyes.
"It's simple, really. All this time, I thought I didn't have an answer. I was fighting for my life, fighting for their lives, fighting for your lives, all while doing without an answer. I was slaving away in that hot sun, and making every day without an answer, but I had my answer the same day the crows showed up."
"Not those damn birds again -- " Nathan started, but Josiah cut him off.
"That was the same day you showed up to ask for my help with the village. The same day I met the rest of our gang."
"A gang?" Nathan asked, his and JD's eyebrows raising in surprised questioning.
Josiah shrugged. "Why not? We're a group of deadly, dangerous men, all gun toters, most of us," he said, indicating with his eyes that JD was the one exclusion, "not exactly the type a girl'd bring home to momma."
"The bad element," Nathan mused, "as Chris calls himself."
Josiah chuckled. "Yes, brother, precisely."
"So what are you saying, Josiah? That we were all alive to defeat the Ghosts?"
"No. We were all alive to meet each other, to do right together, to do the Lord's work with a little extra ass kicking."
Nathan couldn't suppress the chuckle that escaped him. "You think God brought us together to kick the Confederacy's asses?" JD once again almost snorted his milk.
"Yes, and no. It's more than that," Josiah spoke thoughtfully. "Consider it for a moment, Nathan. Every single one of us have all been through so much. We have had painful events, often far too many of them, to shape us and to make us into the men we are, men who are not willing to turn a blind eye to hatred, pain, and sorrow, warriors who are not willing to let the Devil continue to have His way. This may be the Wild West, brother, but it's still God's country. God's going to take it back," he saluted with his almost-empty whiskey bottle, "and He's going to start with us, that village, and this town. Mark my words: We're far from done. We're only just beginning. God's put us together just as He did the disciples, and like the disciples before us, we have our work cut out for us. But like them, too, we'll make it, long as we listen to God and not the Devil."
Josiah pushed away from the bar, stumbled a little, and slung the rest of the whiskey down his throat. He looked once more at the reflections of his friends, then at JD first, and finally Nathan. "I'll be seeing you, brothers," he said with confidence and sauntered out of the saloon.
"Sooner than you think," Nathan called after him. "I've gotta redress that leg, Josiah!" He downed his drink, slammed his money down on the counter, and hurried after the Preacher.
JD watched them go, puzzled but smiling. He certainly hadn't expected to hear Josiah's thoughts of why they had all lived not just through the attacks on the village but through everything they had each suffered to come together in this little, one-horse town. He turned around, his milk in his hands, and watched the other four men. He could very easily agree that Josiah was onto something. God had to have brought them all through everything they had endured for a reason, but was it the reason the Preacher thought?
He finished his milk, set the cup behind him, and felt movement. He turned, and his eyes widened in surprise as an actual whiskey shot was set down before him. He caught a flicker of movement in the mirror as he lifted the glass. Vin Tanner was smiling at him. The tracker tipped his hat to the Kid, and JD grinned. He didn't know if Josiah was right; only time would prove that probably. He could certainly understand the Preacher's idea, however, and it seemed to him very neat indeed that God had brought them all through everything they'd suffered to bring them together not just as a team, or a gang, but as the family they'd all been missing. JD smiled and sipped his whiskey, a grown man at last.
The End
Author: Katya Starling
Fandom: The Magnificent Seven
Characters/Pairing: Josiah, Nathan, JD
Rating: G/K
Challenge/Prompt: Short Fics 58: I do without an answer. and my own Christian Pens
Word Count: 1,685
Date Written: 2 March 2020
Warnings: None
Summary: Josiah went without an answer for so long but knows he's finally beginning to understand God's intentions.
Disclaimer: All characters within belong to their rightful owners, not the author, and are used without permission.
He was six drinks in after their return to town before it dawned on him. "Well, I'll be damned," Josiah grumbled, slamming his emptied shot glass down harder than he'd intended. The barmaid winced but quickly poured him another before moving silently away.
Nathan looked to him with instant concern and urgency. His eyebrows rose as he asked, "What's wrong? Your leg hurting worse?"
"Hell, forget the leg. A little physical pain ain't much other than a reminder I'm still alive, pard." He took a sip that downed half his glass. "That's the funny thing," he remarked, still not looking at the only man who he truly considered a friend.
"Funny? Funny how?"
"What's funny?" JD asked, popping up between the two older men.
"I tell you what's funny, Kid," Nathan commented, eyeing Josiah. "This damn, ornery, old man who don't wanna take no for an answer."
"What am I taking no for an answer for, Nathan?" Josiah questioned, turning to look at the healer.
"In doing what you're supposed to do." Nathan snorted. "Like always."
Josiah rolled his massive shoulders in a shrug. "I do what I'm supposed to do. I helped y'all out, didn't I?"
"Yeah, and we're real appreciative of that, Josiah, but you know that ain't what I'm talking about."
JD's big, dark eyes darted back and forth between the two men.
"Enlighten me," Josiah directed, throwing back the rest of his shot and signaling for another as he set the glass down again. "What are you talking about then?"
"Hell, man, you almost died back there! Take it easy! Get off your damn leg and rest some while you can still use it!"
"Hmph. That's the thing, though, isn't it, brother?"
"What's the thing?" Nathan demanded, growing exasperated.
"I'm still alive," Josiah muttered and grasped the whiskey bottle out of the barkeep's hand. He threw back several slugs, then waved the brown bottle through the air. "That's just it. After all this crap, after all the damnation and death, after even a whole flock of death birds, I'm still alive."
"Yeah, but if you keep this up, you ain't gonna be much longer."
"Something tells me I am," Josiah said, twirling around on his chair and almost slipping off the seat. He gulped down some more of the burning alcohol. "He ain't done with either of us yet, brother."
"I know that, Josiah. I've been telling you that for years."
"But I never could figure it out," Josiah said, scratching at his gray stubble. "All that time in the desert, I couldn't figure out why He wouldn't let me die."
JD quietly slipped onto a barstool on the Preacher's other side. The older men had clearly forgotten his presence, and he took the opportunity to listen in on their meaningful conversation. Josiah's words had already piqued his interest, not that he wasn't already interested about these two unusual and brave men. All six of the men whom he'd just fought beside to save dozens of lives for a little bit of gold were interesting, brave men, each with their own stories that had been their true motivation for helping the natives. It wasn't the gold for which they'd risked their lives. It had been the right thing to do, and they'd each had their own reasons for wanting to do the right thing.
Even he, JD admitted to himself, had wanted to do more than just make a name for himself and start his Western adventure. He'd wanted to do what was right in honor of his mother, not that he'd told anyone else that truth. He wondered what truths Josiah and Nathan were hiding and listened intently and silently, not even voicing his dismay when a glass of milk instead of a shot was set before him.
"All those damn rocks I was building, and I didn't even know why -- "
"You never told me what you were building, pard," Nathan commented softly.
"I told you I would when I knew. I still ain't figured it out myself."
"Then why the Hell do you keep doing it?"
"You know why. Little peace and quiet with just me and the Maker. Keeps my hands busy and gives my mind time to think."
"But you didn't get anywhere, did you?" Nathan gently asked. "You never figured it out?"
"Nope." Josiah shook his grizzled head.
"All that time out in the sun couldn't have done your brain well."
"Shut up." But he said the words with a smile before shaking his head. "All that time out there, all that time fighting the Devil and the Ghosts of the Confederacy, all that time in the village -- " He shook his head again. "Never did figure it out til just now."
"You gonna tell me or keep me wondering, pard?"
"There's a reason we're alive." Josiah's bright, blue eyes lifted to the mirror behind the bar, and he watched Vin and Chris drinking together at a table, Buck laughing as though he didn't have a care -- which they all knew was a lie -- while surrounded by working women, and Ezra deftly dealing cards in the far, smoky corner. "Every one of us," he said, not looking at the Kid, who he knew full and well was right beside him. "There's a reason we've all made it this far."
"You gonna tell us?" Nathan asked, and JD almost spit out his milk in surprise. He'd thought he'd been quiet. He'd thought the older men didn't realize or, at least, had forgotten that he was there. He clearly had been wrong. Unlike Chris and Buck, they were including him in their deep, grave conversation. They were allowing him to listen to their secrets and friendship. They were . . . trusting him, and treating him as a friend and fellow man. He turned in his seat, no longer pretending not to notice and let his avid interest shine in his big, brown eyes.
"It's simple, really. All this time, I thought I didn't have an answer. I was fighting for my life, fighting for their lives, fighting for your lives, all while doing without an answer. I was slaving away in that hot sun, and making every day without an answer, but I had my answer the same day the crows showed up."
"Not those damn birds again -- " Nathan started, but Josiah cut him off.
"That was the same day you showed up to ask for my help with the village. The same day I met the rest of our gang."
"A gang?" Nathan asked, his and JD's eyebrows raising in surprised questioning.
Josiah shrugged. "Why not? We're a group of deadly, dangerous men, all gun toters, most of us," he said, indicating with his eyes that JD was the one exclusion, "not exactly the type a girl'd bring home to momma."
"The bad element," Nathan mused, "as Chris calls himself."
Josiah chuckled. "Yes, brother, precisely."
"So what are you saying, Josiah? That we were all alive to defeat the Ghosts?"
"No. We were all alive to meet each other, to do right together, to do the Lord's work with a little extra ass kicking."
Nathan couldn't suppress the chuckle that escaped him. "You think God brought us together to kick the Confederacy's asses?" JD once again almost snorted his milk.
"Yes, and no. It's more than that," Josiah spoke thoughtfully. "Consider it for a moment, Nathan. Every single one of us have all been through so much. We have had painful events, often far too many of them, to shape us and to make us into the men we are, men who are not willing to turn a blind eye to hatred, pain, and sorrow, warriors who are not willing to let the Devil continue to have His way. This may be the Wild West, brother, but it's still God's country. God's going to take it back," he saluted with his almost-empty whiskey bottle, "and He's going to start with us, that village, and this town. Mark my words: We're far from done. We're only just beginning. God's put us together just as He did the disciples, and like the disciples before us, we have our work cut out for us. But like them, too, we'll make it, long as we listen to God and not the Devil."
Josiah pushed away from the bar, stumbled a little, and slung the rest of the whiskey down his throat. He looked once more at the reflections of his friends, then at JD first, and finally Nathan. "I'll be seeing you, brothers," he said with confidence and sauntered out of the saloon.
"Sooner than you think," Nathan called after him. "I've gotta redress that leg, Josiah!" He downed his drink, slammed his money down on the counter, and hurried after the Preacher.
JD watched them go, puzzled but smiling. He certainly hadn't expected to hear Josiah's thoughts of why they had all lived not just through the attacks on the village but through everything they had each suffered to come together in this little, one-horse town. He turned around, his milk in his hands, and watched the other four men. He could very easily agree that Josiah was onto something. God had to have brought them all through everything they had endured for a reason, but was it the reason the Preacher thought?
He finished his milk, set the cup behind him, and felt movement. He turned, and his eyes widened in surprise as an actual whiskey shot was set down before him. He caught a flicker of movement in the mirror as he lifted the glass. Vin Tanner was smiling at him. The tracker tipped his hat to the Kid, and JD grinned. He didn't know if Josiah was right; only time would prove that probably. He could certainly understand the Preacher's idea, however, and it seemed to him very neat indeed that God had brought them all through everything they'd suffered to bring them together not just as a team, or a gang, but as the family they'd all been missing. JD smiled and sipped his whiskey, a grown man at last.
The End
