Blackwater had been a goddamn mess. The gang was left scattered, a few members unaccounted for. Amongst those numbers was you. Thought dead in the crossfire, Arthur had silently grieved you. He tried not to linger on the loss for too long. Blood and death were part of the outlaw life, but your absence felt like a gaping hole in his chest.

You had been found by chance, damn near beaten and frozen to death. Colm O'Driscoll had gotten his dirty hands on you in the aftermath of the massacre in Blackwater. Dragged around like a prisoner, you had been holed up in the O'Driscolls’ encampment in the Grizzlies. Turning you in once the blizzards cleared had been their intention, but they certainly had their fun with tormenting you in the meantime.

Arthur had tried to get you to open up after your rescue, but your lips remained sealed. Whatever happened to you left a deep and fresh wound, far more painful than any of the bruises or cuts that littered your body. You were like a shell of the person he knew, beaten down and hollow. Though you refused to utter a word, your eyes spoke volumes. He noticed the way they shined with tears that you refused to let fall, the way that they held a sadness that he'd never seen before. Something in you had been broken, and Arthur would be damned if he couldn't fix it. You were alive, but you were not the same.

It was quiet, even for the serenity that Colter brought. The frigid winds against the side of the cabin seemed softer than they had been since the Van Der Linde gang found residence in the forgotten town, but the tension within the rotten walls was strong. Sitting upon the edge of Arthur's bed, your trembling fingers clutched onto the woolen blanket he had wrapped around your form.

“You ain't gonna tell me what happened,” Arthur's quiet murmur was a resigned statement rather than a question, tinged with an underlying disappointment. With a sigh, he moved to stand before you, and he didn't miss the way your body grew rigid underneath the layers that protected you from the cold. “Will y’ at least let me take a look at your injuries?”