HUNTRESS.
026. | ❛ good different. ❜

"Hey. Bridge is, uh, that way." Sara said as her and Crystal trailed behind Kendra who was heading a different way.

"Yeah, I'm not going to the bridge. I'm, uh... Where am I going, Gideon?"

"The valley you described is consistent with Albano Gulch."

"Yeah, there."

"Okay, wait. Why?" Crystal asked as Kendra came to a full stop, turning around to face them.

"Back at the saloon, I ran into a woman, and she caused me to have more memory flashes, so... I think I might have known her in one of my past lives. And if so, she might be able to help me find Carter."

"Wait. So you're just gonna run out there and try and find her?"

"Actually, I was planning on flying."

"You want some partners in crime?"

"Okay, fine."

"But you're definitely not carrying me."

"Me either."

"How do you propose we get there?" Kendra asked. Sara pulled out her hat, placing it on top of her head with a big smirk.
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Crystal was headed out, before she was cornered by Leonard, "Where are you heading to?"

He placed her against a wall, leaving a small trail of kisses down her collarbone. Crystal enjoyed the chemistry that they shared, and the fun times that came with it.

"We don't have enough time for this," Crystal groaned, trying to resist in engaging in this sexual activity.

"Anything I can say to convince you to stay?" He placed his thumb over her cheeks, pushing her hair out of the way.

"Well," Crystal got closer to his lips before pulling back, "I'm afraid not," she teased him.

"But when I come back, maybe we can get rowdy ourselves." She whispered before taking his hat off his head, and placing it on hers before leaving the enticed Leonard in the hallway.
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Kendra, Sara, and Crystal rode their horses in the field at a slow pace.

"You know, there's something weird going on with your face." Crystal pointed out with Sara replying with a weird face.

"What?"

"You're smiling." Crystal said, making the three erupt in laughter.

"I didn't know you could do that." Kendra said.

"Well, don't tell anyone my secret. It's just all of this... it's so pure, so simple. I'd say I miss simple, but I guess you have to experience something first to miss it." Sara looked at the two.

"Trust me, I know what you mean. Every day in New Orleans was street music, and loudness. But here it's so quiet. Something I haven't experienced in a long time." Crystal said leading her horse.

"I know what you mean. I've been having more and more memory flashes lately, and I'm not entirely sure why."

"Well, if this woman was a friend of yours in a past life, hopefully she'll have another piece for your puzzle."

"I feel like I'm being drawn to this place."

"Which way?"

"There." Kendra pointed to the right, kicking the horse making it gallop faster down the road, with the other two right behind her.
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"I wonder why she lives alone all the way out here." Kendra said, the lady watching where they were going.

"Because... I value my privacy!" The lady shouted at them with a gun pointed stapler towards them.

"Wait, wait, wait. Don't you remember me... from the saloon back in Salvation?"

"I remembered you, you wigged-out little girl. If I'd wanted to talk to you then, I would have talked to you then. I ain't fixing to talk to you now. Now, get off of my land!"

"Listen, we're not trying to start any trouble." Crystal held her hands up.

"Do you want that pretty little mouth of yours filled with lead?"

"Your friend has a colorful personality." Sara sassed at Kendra

"I ain't got friends. I keep to myself." The lady continued to shout.

"She's right. She wasn't my friend. I was her."

The sun had set, the ladies now gathered around a fire in the woods.

"We sat for that picture at the county fair, 1830. He looked like such a gentleman." The older Kendra, said giving a drawing to present day Kendra, while serving Sara and Crystal drinks.

"What was his name?"

"Hannibal. Hannibal Hawkes."

"And what happened? Was it Savage?" Sara asked

"What is this? It looks familiar." Kendra pointed to a bracelet in the picture.

"That was ours in our first life."

"I remember." Kendra said, looking into the distance.

"We crossed with Savage in Jefferson City. He had it with him. We escaped with it and our lives."

"Do you still have it?"

"We lost it to bandits about a year later. We heard that the Pinkertons were after the same bandits, but we just..."

"Hey. What is it?" Crystal asked

"Objects present at the moment of my... our first death can be used to kill Savage. So, if I can get my hands on that bracelet, then..."

"You're going to try to kill Savage with a bracelet? You need to stop." The lady told Kendra clear with a affirmative tone.

"Stop what?"

"Fighting our destiny. Ain't destiny what brought you here?"

"What part of destiny is she fighting?" Sara asked.

"All of it. We get reborn. We find Hannibal... Carter... then Savage finds us, and then we die. That's... that's the way it is. It's the way it's always gonna be."

"I don't believe that."

"Well, I have a few more years on you. You can't break the cycle. That's why I live out here, alone."

"For the rest of your life?"

"Well, I guess I had to figure that out the hard way. I was still a young woman when Savage left me a widow. Instead of waiting for him to find me and kill me so that I could love my Hannibal in the next life, I tried to find love in this one. Talk about a curse."

"What happened?"

"He was a good man, but he wasn't a soul mate. It was like fate was trying to break us apart. Eventually, fate broke both our hearts. So I made a promise to myself that I wasn't gonna do that to a person again."

"I'm... I'm sorry to hear that."

"No, I'm who's sorry... to have to be the one to let you know that you're never going to be able to love anyone else, ever. How much do you know about our previous lives? I reckon not a lot because you didn't recognize me, so let me tell you that we did love other men... loved them real and pure, but it never ended well, not ever. Tragedy or heartbreak... that's how it always ends if the man's not Carter."
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"You want to talk about it?" Crystal said pulling her hat off her head.

"Not really."

"You don't have to listen to her, you know?"

"Is this you not talking about it?"

"No. This is me ignoring you saying you don't want to talk about it." Crystal said being the rebel self she was.

"Look, I get it. Things may have gone very wrong for Old West you and whoever she loved who wasn't Carter."

"But?"

"But Old West you didn't know Ray Palmer. She didn't love Ray Palmer. You do. And you have to live your life. She already lived hers. "

"What about you?"

"What about me?" Crystal said.

"Did you ever love anybody before Leonard?"

"Love is a strong word. I've been with other people besides Leonard but I didn't love them."

"Is it different with Leonard?"

"It's different but good different. This time I see this going somewhere," Crystal smiled.

"Trust me, nobody ever believes this but you do fall in love more than once." Crystal said before turning around and heading to her room.
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*lets pretend I wrote where Rip and the other cowboy have a showdown*

"I don't think we're done her yet." Crystal said taking a set forwards looking at the shadows in ten distance.

"They found us."

Guns started to fire as everybody got ready to fight. Crystal got the gun at that she was equipped to try and fight the Time Masters. The gun soon ran out of bullets, as the figure was getting closer to her, she quickly scurried backwards until the figure was shot down by Leonard.

"Thanks babe,"
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Crystal was in the armory, returning her bow to her case, tracing the arrow in her hand. Leonard stood in the doorway, just admiring her, the willingness to fight, her hair, the scent that was so compelling.

"Whatcha doing?" Leonard finally spat out, startling Crystal making her jump up a bit.

"Just returning my weapons, doing some thinking,"

"Thinking about what?"

"The bow is my weapon so I think I should make a sliver arrowhead."

"That's no such a bad idea." Leonard said, keeping Crystal quiet before speaking come again, "The team is waiting for us,"

Crystal nodded as Leonard got a head start, before she said something that caught him off guard, "I love you,"

"And I know many times in your life that you didn't feel loved, or ever heard that phrase uttered to you but... it's true I love you. Maybe you don't need to hear it, but I need to know I said it."

Crystal stood there, with Leonard's back still turned to her. Crystal feared that she had messed up what they had but she knew that she loved him, possibly the only thing she knew for sure.

Leonard quickly turned as he ran to her, lifting her up off her feet, erupting in giggling. When he finally set her down, he cupped her cheeks, kissing her firm lips with his.

"I love you, too"
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Walking hand in hand, they heard Stein talking with Rip,

"So how are you feeling, given your concerns about becoming addicted to this era once again?" Stein asked Rip

"The last time I left, Martin, I did it to be with those closest to me. I'm doing the same again."

"So where to now?"

"Or, more specifically, when?" Crystal looking up at Leonard, who wrapped his arms around her.

"Is there another Fragmentation we can hide out in?" Kendra asked.

"Unfortunately, matters are not quite so simple."

"How'd I know you were gonna say something like that?"

"Rip's buddies."

"And yours."

"The Time Masters have issued Omega Protocols on all of us."

"That sounds pretty terrible."

"The worst kind of order they can issue... they've sent the Pilgrim after us."

"Who's the Pilgrim?"

"The Pilgrim is the Time Masters' most deadly assassin, and she will stop at nothing until each and every one of you are dead."

"Ooh, scary. Pretty sure we can handle ourselves" Leonard said, not really terrified of what she could do.

"Indeed... which is why she won't be going after the present-day versions of you."

"She's hunting our younger selves. And she won't stop until each and every one of us has been erased from the timeline."