The sun had nearly set by the time they left the village of Chuparosa. They managed to sell all twenty coconuts for a dollar each; far more than Jack was usually able to harvest and carry alone. To celebrate, Jack led Riku into the local saloon and ordered him his first sip of hard liquor. Riku was nervous, he had heard it didn't taste very good and that it messed with your head. Jack only smiled as he slapped two coins down on the bar.

"Hell, tequila is a safer bet than most of the water in these parts! A young man in this world ain't gonna make it through life if he don't have the stomach for a single drink!" The barkeep quickly poured two shots of tequila, for which Jack nodded and huffed "gracius," before holding up his shot. "To a hard day's work and the fruits of our labor!" he cheered.

Riku smiled awkwardly as he hesitantly lifted the shot glass and gently tapped it against Jack's. He watched in amazement as Jack instantly downed the liquid and slammed it down on bar. Riku thought it best to follow his example, quickly gulping down the clear fluid. His hand and the glass struck the bar so hard he worried the glass might have shattered. It felt like he'd swallowed liquid fire as a hammer came down on his head!

The sombrero nearly fell off his head as he grappled the bar for balance. The dizziness and dazedness soon lessened and Riku felt a wave of relaxation and calm spread over him as Jack's laughing fit quieted down. "You like?" he asked. Riku felt his face burning with blush as he nodded, barely keeping his balance. "In that case, UNO MOS, for the road!"

The barkeep obediently poured two more shots after accepting two more coins. This time Jack and Riku both raised their glasses in unison. "To new friendships, employment, and the profession of agriculture; the backbone of civilization! Amen!" the glasses tapped and the drinks were downed.

Riku's world began to spin. Unable to keep his balance, he tumbled backwards. His world snapped back into focus as he crashed face first into the prettiest face in all the worlds. His dazed eyes widened as they locked with the blue eyes of the woman he loved. Her crimson hair radiated a light of its' own.

"Kairi!" he gasped. She giggled sweetly in a language he couldn't understand. Their lips inched closer. A pair of strong hands dug into his shoulders, flipped him upwards and tossed him down flat on his back. Riku shook his head and his vision was suddenly clearer.

"Dummer Amerikaner!" a vicious voice snapped. Riku looked up into the sneering face of a man with blonde hair and blue eyes, though his lacked the kindness and sweetness of Kairi's. He wore a grey military uniform of some kind. His lighter complexion and accent told Riku he wasn't a native.

A pretty face with slightly reddish hair and brown eyes emerged from the floor and looked down at Riku with concern. He knew in an instant what had happened; he mistook her for Kairi. The soldier in grey hissed again and raised his booted foot to bring it down on Riku's face.

The leather sole struck the floorboards with a mighty thud, Riku narrowly evaded the stomp. In a swift upward motion he brought his fist up hard between the soldier's legs, sending him to his knees as Riku shot up into a combat stance. Several guttural shouts went up and at least a dozen more grey soldiers leapt from their bar stools and tables. Some reached for weapons, other fixed Riku with deathly glares.

"Achtung!" one of them shouted and they all stiffened to attention, though their faces didn't soften. One stood up and dawned a spiked helmet. His uniform was decorated with many colorful ribbons and shiny metal pins. He had a very thick and well waxed mustache, which twitched as his face contorted in anger with every step toward Riku.

The soldier who'd attacked Riku painfully climbed to his feet and sneered like a vexed tiger. Jack stepped calmly between them and Riku. The officer tried to look down his nose upon Jack, but wasn't tall enough for it to work out well.

"Your friend struck one of my men!" the officer snapped. "Such is punishable by death!"

"He started it," Jack said smoothly. "All, the kid did was bump into the girl. It was an accident." The officer's glare didn't soften. Jack's gaze didn't waver. Riku saw Jack's hand settle softly on his belt beside his gun holster. Riku let his hands drop closer to the revolver tucked in his belt.

After several seconds of silent stares the officer turned to his soldier, still seething with rage. He whispered something into the soldiers' ear, to which he stiffened to attention and snapped "Jawohl!"

"So wie du warst," the officer announced as he turned and strode calmly back to his own table. The rest of the soldiers sat back down sullenly, resuming their drinking and conversations. The blonde soldier was still glaring at Riku, even as he roughly grabbed the red-head girl's wrist and jerked her down into a chair beside him.

"We're leaving," Jack grunted as he turned to lead the way out of the saloon. RIku grabbed his hat from the floor and followed with a sigh, feeling like he was being blamed for the whole thing. They made their way back to the wagon in silence and set off into the night.

Riku's eyes quickly adjusted to the darkness and saw they were following the same road that brought them there. "I didn't mean for that to happen," Riku said sullenly, feeling a father figure was frowning at him.

"I know, Riku," Jack sighed. "It's not your fault. Those Germans have been trouble since they got here."

"Germans?" Riku asked.

"Yeah, from Germany," Jack said, as if it should have been obvious. "They think they can just march all over everyone. And President Reyes seems content to let them. Word has it he's making a deal with them to help him keep his throne, or rather his office!" Jack grumbled. "They don't like us Americans much, they think we want in on their little war with France and England, you see."

Riku silently nodded, pretending to know what he was talking about. Something troubled him about what the officer had grumbled to the blonde soldier. He couldn't understand the language, but the icy coldness of his words sent chills down his spine.

"So who is Kairi?" Jack asked after an eternity of silence. Riku's eyes bulged and his face burned. "The girl you mistook the saloon girl for?"

"Just… A girl I grew up with…"

"Judging by how close your lips got to hers', I'd say she's a bit more than 'just a girl,'" Jack snickered.

"I… She… I don't think she feels that way about me," Riku sighed.

"She told you that?"

"No but… There's someone else." Riku's head slumped. He'd already said too much.

"I take it the other man is a friend of yours?" Jack asked, Riku nodded. "Well, don't give up! A lady is allowed to change her mind. Here's hoping Miranda changes her mind about what she's gonna do to me when we get home!" he finished with a laugh.

They rounded the bend and both stiffened as the house came into view. More soldiers, six of them. These were dressed in light khakis. The locals, Riku figured. But what were they doing here?

The six armed men turned defensively to the oncoming cart. Jack called out in their language and they seemed to relax a bit. Jack kept talking as he brought the horse to a stop at the roadside, Riku figured he was asking why there were here. The scream of a familiar voice interrupted the conversation.

"MIRANDA!" Jack roared, in the blink of an eye he'd drawn his pistol and shot all six soldiers. Riku's eyes widened at his speed. He reached for his own gun, then sighed as he realized all foes were down.

Jack leapt to the ground and charged for the cabin door. Riku, still shocked at how quickly things escalated, stumbled down from the cart and sprinted to catch up. Jack plowed through the door at top speed, splintering the flimsy wood off the hinges. Riku panted in after to see Jack leveling his pistol at a man in a flashy, ornate uniform. He had long black hair, a thick mustache, and an awkward smile as he stood up from the floor with his hands raised. Miranda struggled indignantly to her feet and slowly retreated behind her rescuers. Riku's eyes flared with realization and leveled his own gun at the villain.

"Hey, take it easy there, mi gringo amigo! I come in peace!"

"President Abraham Reyes!" Jack spat. "You have a strange way of coming to a man's house in peace!"

"Come on, amigo, can you really blame a man? Can you control yourself around such a prized flower? Besides she reminds me of her sister, Lupita!"

"LUISA!" Miranda hissed! "Who died believing she was your betrothed! And believing that you WOULDN'T become another tyrant!"

"Si, chica, I understand naiveté can be painful," Reyes soothed. "But we have more important business to discuss now! The future of Mexico! Senior Marston, you father was instrumental in helping me to conquer the tyranny of my predecessor and now I have come here to call upon you to follow in your father's footsteps in bringing about another glorious victory for the people of Mexico!"

Riku blinked at the braggart's long winded grandiose. After what he'd just been caught doing, what he lacked in honor he made up for with nerve! Jack sneered, no more convinced than Riku. "When you say, 'the people of Mexico' you really mean YOU, right?" Jack asked snidely.

Reyes gave a long chuckle. "Si, amigo! You are definitely your father's son! I have made some friends across the ocean, friends who can help me to reclaim what rightly belongs to Mexico! Steal back the land stolen from her people by the same venomous snakes who stole your father from you, amigo."

"Stop calling me that!" Jack snapped. "I'm not your amigo! And my father's death has been avenged. Your grievance with the federal government is no concern of mine."

Reyes blinked thoughtfully. "You really had enough, senior Marston?" he asked challengingly. "I heard about the death of Edgar Ross, on my sovereign soil, no less." Riku turned to Jack in question, his steely eyes gazed unblinking at Reyes. "Why stop with him though? The man was just a claw of the larger beast that you call the United States of America! Why should your father's killer die while the society which enabled him to do so for their own benefit goes unpunished?"

Jack's eyes darkened. "What I did, I didn't do for revenge. Otherwise I could have easily destroyed his home and family, like he did mine. I claimed the only justice I knew I would ever get for my father. And now it's done, and so am I, and you're getting your greasy ass out of my house before I count to," a mighty blow knocked Riku's world into darkness.

Miranda was screaming again as Riku's vision blurred back briefly. Jack was laying limp on the floor beside him. A figure in grey was dragging Miranda out the front door. "Gracius, amigo!" Reyes cheered. "You are just in time!"

"We had trouble with these ones back at the village," a familiar voice said. "My men and I allowed them a head start. When we heard the gunshots we galloped after them." Riku painfully turned his head to see the German army officer from the saloon standing over him. "I take it this was the man you wanted to recruit for our mission? I could have told you that wouldn't work, these two have a problem with authority," he frowned down at Jack and Riku.

"Well, what can you expect from gringos?" Reyes laughed. "No matter, they had their chance to join in the revolution, instead they choose to die like the rest. Your Kaiser shall have his new front, and Mexico will have her land back! Come, amigos! The night is cold and we have taken their only woman, build a nice fire to keep these chicos warm!" Reyes finished with a laugh, Riku didn't like the sound of that. He summoned the last of his strength to roll over, only to see a familiar pair of piercing blue eyes glaring down at him. Riku had no time to react as the blonde German's rifle butt struck his face.

Riku barely felt the crack of the wooden butt-stock against his nose. His world flashed in and out of darkness. Flames seemed to be dancing around him. A few blinks later and he saw that the walls were ablaze. Jack still laid motionless beside him.

"Riku! Get up!" a gruff voice echoed. "Riku! Your feet ain't nailed to the floor! Get up!" the voice seemed distant, but also very close. Riku blinked as the scarred man stood before him, barely visible through the thickening smoke. "Riku, you gotta save Jack! And you both gotta save Miranda and stop Reyes! Get outa there and get to Tesoro Azul!" the man vanished in the smoke, the choking bitterness assaulted Riku's nose as he sat up coughing violently.

He reached wildly for Jack in the blinding smoke. He felt the butt of his revolver and quickly looped it into his belt. Then his hand clenched Jacks coat. "JACK!" Riku coughed, barely understandably. No answer. He wasted no more breath, grappling the unconscious man and dragging him back in the direction he hoped the doorway was. Thankfully, he stumbled out of the smoke and into the night air. He silently thanked the forces of destiny that Jack had broken the door on the way in. The Germans probably didn't figure they'd wake up in time to save themselves. Riku almost hadn't!

Riku took a deep breath before stumbling back up and dragging Jack further away from the blazing inferno, stopping only once the heat stopped searing his flesh. Jack awoke in a spasm of coughs. He slowly grappled control of his breathing. Riku sighed with relief, without magic he had no way to heal him.

He looked up from his recovering friend to scan for foes. The bodies of the Mexican troops laid motionless where they fell, but the Germans and Reyes were long gone. Jack's cart stood horseless on the roadside, they must have stolen it to sell for money. Riku decided he didn't like this world very much.

Jack staggered to his feet and twirled around in confusion. Riku blinked as he realized this was the first he'd seen of Jack without his hat. He'd lost his own hat when the Germans knocked him out. "MIRANDA!" Jack bellowed in desperation.

"They took her," Riku grunted in disgust. Jack turned to him in question. "Reyes and the Germans, they knocked us out and left us there to burn! I saw them take Miranda, they took the horse too." Jacks face contorted in agony as he fell to his knees, his hands clasping his face in frustration. His fingers soon tightened into fists as he roared at the sky with fury and despair.

"I know where they've gone," Riku said after a moment of silence. Jack stared up wide-eyed. "I… I heard someone mention a place called Tesoro Azul," Riku said tactfully. Jacks eyes now blazed with recognition and a new spark of more hopeful fury. Without another spoken word he darted off into the night, Riku followed swiftly.

Remembering the direction of the sunset, Riku knew they were heading west. The pair of them trampled up the dusty hills, lit only by the moon and the stars. Both keen pairs of eyes kept watchful to dodge and leap past boulders and cacti. The howls and barks of wild canines echoed through the hills as they ran, both young men ignored them. They stalked more vicious beasts, human ones.

They followed the main road from the nearby hillside, watching warily for riders. Eventually the road forked as a dusty path led to the entrance of small, walled village. A lone rectangular fortress in a desolate, hostile, wilderness. "Tesoro Azul," Jack grunted as he crouched atop a hill about a hundred yards south of the village. Riku squinted to make out two helmeted figures guarding the east entrance.

"Make your way down there as quick and quietly as you can," Jack ordered softly. "Don't let them see you. When you hear a gunshot from the west gate, start shooting. Kick in the gate and we'll catch them in a crossfire."

"But you don't have a gun!" Riku gasped, realizing he hadn't had time to grab Jacks pistol on the way out of the house.

"I'll get one," Jack growled as he drew a very large knife from his belt. His eyes glowed with a darkness the likes of which Riku had only seen before in Ansem. Riku shook the comparison from his mind as his friend set off silently for the west gate. He couldn't blame him for wanting revenge. Riku clenched his fists as he began stalking toward the east gate, what he wouldn't have given for his magic, or at least his keyblade!

He pictured the carnage and havoc he could wreak upon the German warmongers for what they did to Jack and what he prayed they hadn't done to Miranda. Riku crept quiet as a mouse through the dry brush. As he approached he could hear the German troops grumbling about something or other. He gently flattened himself to the dirt as he spotted a roving watchman round the corner of the wall and wave to the gate guardsmen. The rover approached his comrades and held up a cigarette, one of them obligingly produced a lighter for him.

Riku felt the fire burning inside him as the Germans chuckled casually. For all he knew they were talking about Miranda. His seething heart wished more than ever for his keyblade. Riku drew his revolver and started crawling, slinking slowly through grass like a viper, listening keenly for the signal to strike. He stopped barely ten yards away from the unsuspecting guards, the rover was still smoking with the other two, oblivious to the lethal fury lurking so near.

"You're a natural with my old gun, kid," the voice of the scarred man softly echoed in his mind. "But you're gonna need my help. Just do what comes natural when hell breaks loose, I'll do the rest. I'm a dead-aim, kid." Riku only nodded, he felt a power emanating from the gun. A power almost as strong as a keyblade, maybe more.

The crack of a gunshot snapped the three soldiers out of their conversation. They turned in shock to the closed wooden gate behind them, one seized the initiative and shoved the gate open. The crouching keyblade-wielder sprang from the grass, thumbed back the hammer and took aim. Time seemed to slow and a coat of crimson red splashed over Riku's vision. He took aim for their heads, all three in a neat row. Then in the blink of an eye the red vanished from his sight and he fired the revolver three times in rapid succession.

Three metal helmets flew from their wearers heads. The flabbergasted soldiers spun around in wide-eyed shock to their attacker. Riku's eyes bulged too as he realized his mistake. With a gasped curse he rapidly fired thrice again, all three soldiers fell just as they shouldered their rifles with practiced uniformity. Riku stood over his victims in shocked awe, he thought they had him!

"Not bad for a city boy," the scarred man huffed in his head. "Next time aim for chest or neck." Riku rolled his eyes. Multiple gunshots split the air before he could reply the gunslinger ghost. At the other end of the village, Jack was firing two pistols, obviously stolen from the guards.

"YOU KNOW WHO I AM?" Jack roared. "I'M JACK MARSTON! JOHN MARSTON'S BOY!" he fired off several more shots as the Germans stumbled out of the adobe huts and wooden shacks of the village. Several poured out of a larger building in the middle, some kind of temple, Riku figured. Three or four Germans went down in a hail of bullets from screaming gunman. "I WAS RAISED BY THE WORST DAMN OUTLAWS IN THE WEST!"

"WE'LL KILL YOU AMERIKANIER SCHWINE!" a soldier barked firing his rifle at the adobe wall Jack had dodged behind. Several more bullets peppered the wall of the crumbling house. Then another burst of dual pistol shots downed a few more Germans as the rest dodged for cover. Jack had sprinted around the other side of the house, taking the soldiers bunched up near the temple by surprise.

"HUNS, THE PAPERS CALL YOU BOYS?" Jack laughed. "MORE LIKE NUNS!" Several guttural curses burst out with even more gunshots as the Germans returned fire. Jack dove for cover into another shack.

Riku quietly approached the small, waist high wall, bordering the temple from the road; where most of the Germans crouched for cover. He grinned darkly as he realized he might be able to get most of them at once. They kept firing at Jack, completely oblivious to him. Riku took aim and squeezed the trigger, then winced in disgust at the disappointing click of the empty weapon. "Another city slicker mistake!" John Marston laughed.

"You could have reminded me!" Riku snapped, to his instant regret. The Germans turned in surprise to fire frantically at the flanking foe. Riku tumbled backwards, certain he'd been shot again. He sighed with relief as the only pain he felt was his back against the rocky terrain.

Bullets whistled over Riku's head as he reloaded. Jack laid down covering fire from his shack, drawing their attention back to him. "WHAT THE HELL DID I SAY ABOUT RELOADING, RIKU?" Jacks snapped.

Riku rolled his eyes and sprang to his feet, summoning the strength he'd felt at the gate. Again red painted the world and time slowed to a crawl. At least half a dozen Germans were still lined up neatly against the wall, Riku aim right down the line, squeezed the trigger and began fanning the hammer with his free hand.

The red film snapped out of his eyes and time resumed as nine soldiers were riddled by six bullets, each passing through multiple men, guts and bones alike. Four more soldiers sprang from the temple, aiming at Riku. Jack sprang from his cover, firing wildly. All four fell in bloody heaps.

A sharp pain and a loud crack spun Riku around and toppled him to the dirt road before he could finish reloading. A young German officer stood in the doorway of the shack Riku had barely noticed on his left. Miranda squirmed helplessly in his grip, a pistol pressed against her skull. Riku ignored the fresh pain in his left arm took aim with his less painful right.

"Let her go!" Jack snapped, both pistols trained on the German's head.

"Would you risk killing, your woman?" he spat. "No matter, you won't stop us! The rest of the battalion is already preparing to embark. You're pathetic United States will fall! Germany will conquer," the soldier's grand speech was cut off by a pair of strong arms in black sleeves grappling his neck from behind.

Miranda dropped to her knees and quickly scampered over to Riku, Jack was at their side in an instant. The three of them watched in amazement as a man in a black suit strangled the flailing German. When the officer's strength faded, the man in the suit snapped his neck and dropped him in the dirt like a sack of potatoes.

The suited man lock eyes with Jack, he seemed to recognize him. "Jack Marston," he said. "I remember you."

"And I remember you, Agent Archer Fordham," Jack growled.