Author's note: Most of the story is based off of Disney's 1973 Robin Hood movie and follows a similar storyline with a few added scenes.
Chapter 1: Hero of the Poor
Once upon a time, the good King Shūji* had to leave his land and his people for the crusade. He decided that his relative Vilius shall take the crown and the responsibility during his absence. What he did not know was that Vilius wanted to use the crown only for his own selfish interests. He did not care for the people, who were suffering under his reign. People would have lost all their hope if there wasn't one who helped those in need – Ceylan Hood. And this is his story.
One sunny day, Ceylan Hood and his friend Little Beni were walking through Benham forest. As they were walking and chatting they came across a river and as soon as Ceylan saw the river he jumped with all his clothes on right into it.
SPLASH!
"Hey watch it! Why did you jump in just like that? You're not a child anymore!" The pink haired young woman complained, soaking wet from the splash.
"Why not? Everyone needs some refreshment once in a while, especially hot-headed people like you!" The blue haired young man replied with a smirk.
"Now jump in."
First Beni pouted at his words but jumped in anyways.
"Hey watch it!" Ceylan complained as the water was splashing everywhere from Beni's jump.
"You did the same to me earlier!" Beni returned and began splashing some more water towards Ceylan.
"And you said I was a child. Take that!" Ceylan returned his friend's attack.
While they were laughing and splashing around they did not notice that the two Sheriffs of Benham, Granox and Slyger, and their men were hiding in the bushes, watching them from there.
"Finally! Now that they aren't paying attention we will easily capture them! King Vilius will be delighted!" Slyger chuckled.
"Yeah! No more annoying kids stealing stuff around here!" Granox, the broader of the two, cheered.
"Alright! You know what to do, soldiers! At my command: 3, 2, 1…"
"Wait! Who said you were the one commanding here? I'm the one giving the signal!" Granox interrupted.
"No way someone dumb like you could do something that important!"
"Who are you calling dumb! You, you…!" Granox returned as he hit Slyger on the head.
"Ow, you idiot! Just you wait..!" Slyger hissed.
They started a fight that was even noticed by the swimming and splashing friends who immediately jumped out of the river and started running.
"Oh no, not again! They are getting away! After them!" Slyger shouted.
The soldiers immediately chased after the two, but lost trail of them soon, as they already disappeared in the woods.
"Phew! We escaped once again. Those Bucketheads will never catch us if they keep running that lousy, you know! We should have waited for them, to be fair for once." Ceylan joked.
"And if you keep joking like that they WILL catch you one day." Beni replied.
"Hah! They couldn't catch me even if they ran as good as me. Anyways, I need a day off. And I'll start right away." The blue haired lad said as he laid down on the grass and leaned against a tree.
Later that day, as the two were still relaxing they could suddenly hear a trumpet fanfare from afar.
"Did you hear that?" Beni asked.
"Hear what?" Ceylan mumbled, half awake.
"That noise. Sounds like a parade or something." Beni repeated.
As he was fully awake, Ceylan climbed up a tree to look around.
"Wow! Beni, you won't believe this!"
"What is it?"
"It's a coach! And it seems to belong to King Vilius himself! You know what that means. Lots of gold!" Ceylan cheered as he climbed down the tree in a second.
"I thought you were having your day off." Beni smirked. "And how are you going to rob a coach with that many guards anyways?"
"I guess duty comes first." Ceylan replied. "We'll disguise ourselves, so they won't notice it's us."
"Wait, don't say we're going to disguise ourselves as fortune tellers again." Beni complained.
"Yep, we are!"
"Fine, but you're doing the fortune telling part this time! My turn was last time." Beni added.
"Okay, I'll do it. Now let's get going before we lose them!" Ceylan said as they started following the noise.
As they put on their disguises, they jumped out from the bushes onto the road.
"Fortune forecasts! We bring fortune and good luck!" They shouted as the coach was approaching.
They could see that it was King Vilius indeed, as he took a look outside.
"Fortune tellers? And they bring good luck? Stop the carriage and let them in!" Vilius commanded.
The two entered the coach as it stopped and took a seat.
"Alright Sire, we'll start now, shall we?" Ceylan began as he took out a crystal ball.
"Your forecasts better be worth my time!" Vilius grumbled.
"Of course, Sire. Now put your hands on the crystal ball and close your eyes…"
Vilius did so, then Ceylan continued. Meanwhile Beni reached unnoticed for the bags with gold in the coach.
As she was finished she gave Ceylan a sign.
"Oh, I'm afraid time's up, Sire! We must go now." Ceylan said as he got the sign.
"What? That's it? How dare you to…" Before Vilius could finish his sentence the two were already gone. He looked outside the coach and saw the two running away with his gold and his clothes.
"What is this?! I have been robbed! I should have known it was Ceylan Hood and that accomplice of his! After them, guards!" Vilius raged.
But once again, they were too fast for the guards, and escaped in the woods again.
"No! Argh, just you wait! One day I will get you, Ceylan Hood!" Vilius raged on.
Later, the two were greeted by their friends, Toxsa the Miller's son and Chooki Scarlet, as they brought their gold to their hideout.
"Look what we brought with us!" Ceylan and Beni said proudly as they put down all the bags of gold.
"Wow! Where did you guys get that much?" Chooki wondered.
"From King Vilius himself!" Ceylan replied.
"Don't tell me he gave all of this to you just like that." Toxsa joked.
"Of course not! We robbed him!" Beni answered.
"Well I don't think you two could have robbed him all by yourself. So, where did you really get it from?" The green haired young man was still sceptical.
"As we said, we stole it from King Vilius by disguising ourselves! He didn't even notice until we were gone!" Ceylan chuckled.
"But that must have been dangerous. I mean there are so many guards." Chooki worried.
"Oh, please, they could never catch us!" The pink haired girl replied with a smug face. "Anyways, what's for lunch today? I'm starving!"
"Well, we thought you guys would bring something to eat, remember?" The blonde replied.
"Aw, we totally forgot that. Then we'll be off again for some food! Come on, Beni!" Ceylan called as he took some gold. And so they left off again, going to the town.
As they walked around in town, they spotted the two sheriffs walking down the road and quickly jumped behind a corner.
"Look, it's them again." Beni whispered.
"Those good-for-nothings are collecting taxes again. Let's keep an eye on them!" Ceylan replied. They watched as the sheriffs entered a house and left again. As they were gone Ceylan and Beni entered that house. Inside lived a little girl and her mother who was crying as they arrived.
"What happened, Miss?" Ceylan asked as he saw the crying woman.
"Those awful sheriffs…they have taken every last penny we had. How are we going to survive without money?" The woman replied desperately.
"Don't worry, here." Ceylan replied as he handed her some of the gold he had with him. "Be careful the sheriffs don't take it from you again. And this is for you, little Miss!" Ceylan continued as he gave a coin to the girl.
"Thank you Mister Ceylan Hood, sir!" The little girl cheered.
"Oh, thank you so, so much, Ceylan Hood! God bless you!" The woman said thankfully as she was handed the gold. Then they continued throughout the town. Later they met the sheriffs again.
"And here they are again." Beni noted slightly annoyed as she saw them.
"Let's see if we can fool them!" Ceylan gathered some clothing to disguise himself again.
As he was finished he approached the sheriffs while Beni was waiting behind a corner.
"Hey, you! Wanna know where Ceylan Hood is hiding?" Ceylan yelled as he was approaching the sheriffs.
"Ceylan Hood? Tell us where he is!" They commanded.
"Okay, lean in closer." As they leant in to listen to what he had to say, Ceylan reached into their pockets and took their gold without the two of them noticing.
"He is…right there!" Ceylan pointed somewhere as he was finished. The sheriffs looked into that direction. But before they could notice anything, Ceylan and Beni were long gone. The heroes of the poor continued handing out gold to people and were celebrated and blessed by those. Later they left the town as they were finished.
Outside of town, they noticed that they had once again forgotten to take food with them.
"Oh rats...We forgot it again." Ceylan cursed. "We gave all our money to the poor people in town."
"Great…Ugh, I'm still starving!" Beni complained as she sat down and leaned against a tree. Then Ceylan suddenly had an Idea to lighten Beni's mood. He took out his bow and arrows and targeted an apple that was hanging on a branch right over Beni. As he pointed at the apple he shot an arrow exactly at it, resulting the apple falling right into Beni's hands. She was surprised and wondering where it came from as she saw Ceylan putting his bow away.
"So, you did that! Braggart." Beni huffed and bit into the apple.
"Don't complain, at least you got something to eat now." The blue haired archer said with a smirk.
"Whatever… Say." Beni continued. "Now that King Vilius is back in Benham, you-know-who must be here as well. Prince Guren."
"Him? Oh, w-well yeah, maybe he is…" Ceylan turned red all of a sudden as he heard that name.
"Teehee! Aren't you going to see him? I'm pretty sure you missed him." Beni giggled.
"It's been so many years since I last saw him. He must have forgotten all about me. And how is he still going to like me? I'm an outlaw now, not the one I used to be…" Ceylan made a sad face.
"I'm pretty sure he will understand if he still loves you."
"How do I know I if he still does?"
"Why don't you go and ask him?" Beni grinned.
"You're right!" Ceylan was determined again "I have to see him! Tonight."
Author's note: *The name I used here for Mr. Nash/The Good King (Shūji) is a headcanon name I borrowed from limettenparfait (Tumblr: blizzardtributon, Google+: Lime Parfait), who also gave me the idea for the "apple scene".