So, I took my time with this. Now, I gotta say something – usually, I don't like to say my intentions with writing because people think that's canon and the fact is that your interpretation are equally as valid as mine. Trust me, I wrote an essay on this and got an A.

That being said, I really feel like I need to flex my 'authorial canon muscles' here, because everyone's being arguing about Rune being crazy… motordog leapt to give us some context… but here's the thing – Rune is not crazy. He's not insane, he's not mental… true, he has some PTSD, but that's just a fraction of his decision-making and is not why he's done what he's done. So, just know now… Rune is not crazy.

There is a reason as to why Rune does what he does, and I won't say it just yet (we've got about 2 more phases before I really get into that stuff…), but I'll give you a clue – the gang's at fault as much as Rune.

That being said, onwards.

Scarlett Meadows, LE

12th July, 1902

The sun had risen over Scarlett Meadows – a land that just wasn't the same anymore. Elijah knew that… when everyone returned, they'd not spoken a word. Rune hadn't come out of his tent since. And Near wasn't his usual smiling self. The most recently acquired stray, Samuel, was a young gawk.

"Do you have any people?" Elijah asked him. Sam replied with a shrug. "Family or…?" Sam shook his head. "Brother? Sister?"

Sam paused. Did he still have a sister? She'd been taken in by a good family before he came across Mercer. They hadn't seen each other in years… He finally gave a shrug. "Dunno…"

Elijah cleared his throat and removed the silver crucifix from around his neck. "I had no folk in West Elizabeth," he mumbled, "but the priest in this town… he told me that God is always there for folk who don't have no-one else…" He offered the crucifix to Sam, who just looked at it blankly.

"I don't believe…" Sam murmured.

"No-one does until they do," Elijah replied with a smile, offering the crucifix once again.

Ellie didn't know what had happened. She didn't know who shot first, but she… well, she'd lowered her gun. She just didn't have it in her to shoot folk like that. She was sat at the camp table, resting her face in her hand as she turned over the lump of rabbit in her bowl of stew with faint sploshes.

Thudding footsteps against the crisp, dry grass. She looked up to see Lana there, marching towards her with fervent purpose. She sat down and glared at Ellie in the eye. "What was that?"

"What was wha-"

Lana tossed Ellie's bowl of stew off the table. "Listen to me, perra," She growled, "the next time people shoot at us, you shoot back at them!" Lana stood up and glanced over to Lil' Sam. "You listen too, Niño. Learn how we do things around here…"

Sam slowly walked over to the old Spanish lady that chopped meat, careful not to look at the young Spanish lady who'd just called over to him. The camp was strange and Sam just wanted to go home. But at least he had Rune there for him. He was nice – a real kind fella.

He walked over to Rune's burgundy tent where he saw the bully, Aiden, arguing with the leader, Rune.

"…We have liberated this place from the tyrannical grasp of Davenports-" Rune tried to explain.

"Do you even remember what happened?" Aiden growled. "Women, innocent people, all of them – butchered!"

"They were our enemies, brother," Rune cocked an eyebrow as he rose to his feet.

"How is an eighteen-year-old girl our enemy?" Aiden crossed his arms. "That weren't killing, Rune, that was murder-"

"You murdered folk first, Aiden," Rune pointed out. "Herridge? I didn't make you kill him…"

"You put a gun in my hand and told-"

"It was necessary," Rune said firmly. "We ain't gonna roll over for these folk just 'cos they have money!" He placed a hand on Aiden's shoulder. "I'm eternally grateful for your loyalty, Aiden. You're my brother, my son, but most of all, you are the one I can always count on. You see these…" Rune shook his head as he looked out across to the rest of the gang. "Good things don't just happen. You and me, we do the bad things so they don't have to. Killing Ava, the Davenports… Herridge…" Rune slapped Aiden on the shoulder. "Just remember, we're getting closer to what we want."

"And what is that again?" Aiden asked, eyes heavy on Rune, who looked genuinely puzzled.

"Well… freedom, brother," Rune scoffed, as if it was obvious. "A promised land free from… this." Rune sighed. "There's a war coming, son. I don't know when, but it's a-coming… mark me."

"If you say so…" Aiden grunted.

"I always taught you to speak if you've got something to say, my taciturn protégé…"

And there it was again. The man that had raised him, taught him, trained him, officially calling him a protégé. In spite of absolutely everything that had happened, there was still that part of him that was prepared to die for Rune.

"Well… well, I mean, ain't the war over Rune? I mean, hell, between the Natives and the Mexicans, there ain't no-one left to fight no more!" Rune laughed loudly in response. "Alright, I know I'm an idiot…"

"No, you are a… you are a realist, son. See, I ain't talking about a war against some Yankee president or Mexican dictator… civilization, boy. Civilization is coming- and it ain't gonna come quietly, you hear?"

Aiden shrugged. "Sounds a lot like philosophy, Rune. I ain't got a head for it – them's your words, not mine."

Rune chuckled. "Very true… y'know, Aiden, you're…" Rune's blue-grey eyes glinted at Aiden for a moment before he smiled. "Well, I'm glad you're with me."

Aiden shrugged. "With you to the end, Rune, it's just…" Aiden glanced out to the empty horizon. In that moment, he caught sight of Sam and turned back to Rune, speaking quietly. "This ain't how we do things, y'know?"

Charlotte approached the boy tentatively. He was a good couple of years older than her – he looked dirty and had a sharp face. He had scratches all over his face – like he'd been playing with a cat…

Charlotte wished she had a cat.

She walked up to the boy and tugged on his sleeve. "Are you new?"

"I… think so?" The boy frowned. Charlotte's eyes drifted onto the simple revolver that lay in his holster.

"Have you shot it at anyone?" The boy shrugged. "Can I shoot it?"

"I don't think you're allowed…"

"Oh, Rune says I can," Charlotte lied confidently.

A hand clasped on Charlotte's shoulder and Rune looked down at her. "No, he doesn't." He looked to Sam. "Lil' Sam, this young lady here is Charlotte. Charlie, Sam here will be staying with us for a while." He talked quietly into her ear. "Go show him around – make him feel at home, hmm?"

Charlie nodded and took Sam by the hand, showing him around the campsite as instructed.

Near sat at the campfire, brushing a thumb against his weathered, blistered palms. He hadn't seen that much bloodshed since escaping the mines with his father – some of the others didn't make it out. And a rebellious negro ain't a good worker. The easiest way to deal with that fire was to beat it, lash it (sometimes even fuck it) out of them. Eventually the slaves would think that they were wrong – that being dulled and docile is the right thing to do…

"Near," Aiden interrupted the old man's thoughts as he sat down by the fire, "I just wanted to say…" he lowered his voice, "I wanted to say thank you. For… letting her go, I mean."

Near gave a nod. He cared for Aiden – he was rough and ready and sullen and bold, but he was also good. The boy kept his word – that sort of thing mattered a lot to Near. He glanced into the fire and let out a miserable sigh. "What an absolute Goddamn mess…" He muttered. "All them folk dead and for what?" Near rubbed his chin and looked back over to Aiden. "Do you know why he killed them girls? Does he know?" Aiden shrugged. "Like, is it 'cos of the war? Is he… right in the head or…?"

"I can't explain that…" Aiden shrugged again. "Can't explain any of this but… at least it's over now. The Brotherhood, Davenports- it's finished."

"Oh, we're gonna hang up our hats now?" Near raised an eyebrow. "How many have you two killed together?"

"Huh?"

"Well, Herridge and his lawmen in New Austin," Near said, counting on his fingers, "there was that little old lady Rune almost killed in Big Valley-"

"Watson was an outlaw who threatened-"

"An old lady's threat. Then there were those dozen soldiers up North…"

"That was different, that wasn't meant to-"

"He strangled a man to death in front of his son…"

"To protect us!"

Near scoffed. How was that protecting them? He looked up at Aiden's hazel eyes, glinting in the flickering firelight. "He's always a got a good excuse, don't he?" Near rubbed his knee – still sore, even after a bottle of whiskey. "What excuse did he give ya for that massacre?"

"How many have you killed?" Aiden snapped, standing up. "What excuses can you give?"

"I know that I've killed a lotta folk for a whole bunch of different reasons that don't mean much anymore…" Near nodded. "But I don't think I ever wiped out families like that in a single day."

Aiden's mouth opened and closed again. "They- they killed Ava! They killed Matty- Parker! They wouldn't even let us bury Parker and…"

"And Rune butchered forty people. He felt sorrow and rage and made everyone else feel it too."

"You don't know nothing 'bout any of this! You ain't lost what he's lost, you ain't see half the shit we have! You ain't been with us nowhere near as long, known Matty or Parker or…"

"I ain't?"

"No!"

"And you have?"

Aiden paused. "Yeah!"

"Alright," Near rubbed his jaw and groaned as he pushed himself up onto his good leg. "So would you have done it?" Aiden frowned, his mouth agape. "You've lost just as much as him. Fought for the gang as much as him. If Lana had died- if Genevieve had died… what would you have done?" Aiden licked his lips. "Would you have murdered and butchered innocent-"

"Yes," Aiden replied firmly, his jaw clenching.

Near scoffed, shaking his head at the boy. "Y'know, Rune's a…" Near paced with his limp. "Y'all just follow him no matter what. Y'all just convince and lie to yourself, saying he's right and y'are wrong. Like he's infallible, like he's… like he's God." Near faced Aiden again. "Give most men that power, they'll go rotten."

"What're you sayin'?"

Near sighed, staring into Aiden's eyes. "You know you wouldn't have killed folk like that…"

Aiden's eyes dropped to the fire, glimmering as he spoke quietly. "I don't know what I'd do…" He sat down. Near nodded and moved around the fireplace to sit next to him, patting him on the shoulder.

"You're too loyal to say it. Or you're too scared… but you know what he did was wrong." Near glanced over to Rune's tent, watching him read a book. "I love him too…" Near rubbed his shorn scalp. "Maybe not… same as you, but I admired him. What he stood for, what he wanted…"

Aiden glanced up to the old man. "It's done now. It doesn't matter no more…"

Near leant forwards, a hand gently holding Aiden's neck as he spoke quietly. "Of course it matters. Matters the most right now."

Over his lifetime, Guido Martelli had studied Lemoyne. He'd deceived, killed and betrayed, all in the hope that he may someday tame it. That day had finally arrived.

Because at no time in the past three years of his reign had he met a man his equal – as capable as himself. A warrior as willing to fight for what was his to take, an equal to raise an army or a foe strong enough to break the will of his enemies. Daring enough to stare death in the face and openly defy its law.

Such a man did not exist. They could not. But, if Guido did meet such a foe, he knew just how to receive him.

So, that brings Phase/Season/Installment 3 to a close. Now, I know we said we're halfway through the series but for the sake of bringing in more characters and letting me use all my story ideas, here it is – There will now be an extra phase to the story, which will be the next one.

Some of you will have sent me characters already, so I'll quickly now reply to those of you saying which characters I will be using.

Also, I am currently planning my next project after this… let's call it The West series… that's nice and cliché. Or is it classic… anyway, hope you guys enjoyed this chapter – it just felt right to end it on a camp chapter.

So, I'll post the next one within a week or so (just gotta figure out how to make everything flow…).

R.

P.S. OH, I forgot – the next project I'm planning. I'm thinking about a Star Wars SYOC? I've not seen anyone finish one before so… let's see if I can do that! So, PM me if you're interested in that.