Disclaimer: Robin Hood is not mine. It belongs to the BBC and Tiger Aspect.
This was written during my rewatch of Will You Tolerate This? a few months ago. It's a bit AU, but it's partially meant to justify how Marian could get away with saving Robin during the hairpin sequence. Obviously the guards aren't nearly that dense. I would love to hear what people think, so don't forget to leave a review!
It was only an instant. It was a split-second decision. She reached into her hair and pulled out one of the decorative pins and threw it.
It was only an instant. But it was his life. It was Robin's life, hanging by this one crucial decision. She could have allowed the guard to shoot him. She could have. But she could not have.
That instant passed, but Marian could not forget the thoughts that had run through her mind. She had missed him. She hated what he had done in breaking their engagement, but she had missed him more than that. She would not stand for the flirtatious way he acted, but it still made her heart jump.
He was right when he said that she could still see into his soul. She could see all of the things he wanted to tell her but could not. She pushed those thoughts away. It was impossible. He had hurt her beyond anything she had ever thought possible.
Yet here she was, saving his life. She could not let him die. She simply could not. Even if she could not forgive him, she still cared. Once upon a time, they had been everything to each other. They had been in love. That time was five years gone, but that did not mean that she did not care.
Their eyes met. Her heart threatened to flutter, but she ignored it. She could see the shock, the openness in his expression. The 'you saved me?' passed wordlessly between them. If she could have spoken, she would have only asked him if he expected anything less. But she could not.
Then it was over. He bolted away from the castle and into the woods. When she went looking for the hairpin later – quietly and without even saying what she was looking for – she found that it had disappeared. The guard she had injured with it told her that Robin had grabbed 'whatever had hit him' before running.
So, Robin had her hairpin. It was better than the alternative. Marian shook her head and walked away, knowing that she would see him again.
Robin was nothing if not stubborn. But so was she. They could never be together, least of all now. Even if he survived the ordeal she knew was coming when he was caught, he was a dead man.
She would not be able to save him again. But she wished she could. That treacherous part of her heart that still loved him wanted so much to be with him. It still hurt what he had done. If they had time, she might have considered forgiving him, but they did not.
Their time was over. It had been when he had left.
In that instant, Marian wished he had never gone to the Holy Land. It was only an instant, gone in the blinking of an eye. She wanted what they could have had. Then she put the thoughts in their place.
That instant haunted her when she let her guard down, when Guy visited, and even when Robin tried his hand at winning her over again.
She had to be strong. It was done. The time they had had could never be taken back. Nor could the instant she saved him again.