Van Der Linde Savior (Red Dead Redemption 2)

More Than A Memory

Celina came to slowly, squinting at her surroundings to help them become more clear. Her head hurt, it hurt bad. She winced as she raised her hand to feel the back of it, causing a sharp hiss of pain to escape her lips. She withdrew her hand, staring at the red, sticky substance coating her fingers.

"You fell pretty hard," came Javier's voice as he approached her from the left, "Could very well have a concussion. Hit your head on a rock."

Celina looked over at Hosea who sat a bit away from her and looked back over at her with a small, tight smile. She looked at the rest of the gang, her head swimming. Several of them were talking in a group. They looked intense from their stances, Arthur's arms crossed across his chest, brow furrowed. They looked worried. They looked extremely worried.

Then it hit her, and everything made since. Dutch. Dutch. Dutch! She sat upright suddenly, the world spinning at the movement which almost caused her to fall from her sitting position. She would have fallen if it hadn't been for Javier catching her by her arm and steadying her, "Woah, be careful there. Take it easy."

Hosea stood up and approached, "Really, dear. You'd better take it easy. You truly took a terrible fall. Scared all of us."

"Dutch," was the first thing that came from her mouth, "Dutch." She shook her head at the thought of him and tried to stand to her feet, wobbling a bit but succeeding, "We have to get him. We need him. I need him. Hoagie needs him."

Javier kept his hand on her arm to make sure she wouldn't fall, "We're trying to work something out."

"Nothing's going to work." She sniffled and shook her head, "We're going to have to do something big. I... we... nothing's going to work. Don't you guys realize how hard they're going to crack down on security with Dutch being wherever he is? It's going to be impossible, they're going to be waiting for us and you all know that."

Hosea looked at the ground silently, shifting his weight from one foot to the other, "Dear, we will get him out. We're going out here in a couple hours to try and track him down, take a look at what we're dealing with."

Celina sniffled again, looking over to the rest of the gang who was looking in her direction at the commotion she was causing, "If we're seen, they will kill him. You know they will. He isn't anything to them, they just want him dead." She wiped at the fresh tears that ran down her face, "I would do anything to save him. Anything to get from back here to us, to Hoagie."

She shakily sat down again with the help of Javier. Memories of her time in New York came rushing back, hitting her in a wall of guilt that made her heartrate increase all the more. "I should have been here," she sneered her lip in disgust at herself, "I should have been here, I should have never left when Dutch got shot. I-"

Hosea gently interrupted, "You were only trying to help, dear. You thought you could draw the law away from us."

Celina shook her head, "That's how  it started but then I went and spent the days I was in New York with Trelawny getting high and partying and.... gosh!" She buried her face in her hands, "I should have come home right after Annesburg. I should have been there for all of you when you had to leave the house. Instead I was in New fucking York trying to forget about everything. What-" she choked on a sob, "I wasted time I could have spent with Dutch partying in New York shamelessly."

Javier looked taken back a bit, "You were getting high?"

Celina nodded, "Yes. I'm a piece of crap, doing that at a time like this."

Javier was quiet for a moment, "Do you... do you have any of it left?"

Celina looked confused, "What?"