Alternate Shades
Part One
Word Count: 640
Rating: T/PG-13, will vary, with possible discussions of/implied torture, prostitution, and some... worse things
Disclaimer: Normally I'm wittier, but... I got nothing. I would say I own nothing, but that's not true. I have a bit of original fiction I should be working on instead.
Summary: Additional scenes that could have been in the movie, in A Study in Scarlett, or alternate universes.
Author's Note: I wasn't quite ready to embark wholly on the path of a sequel to A Study in Scarlett. It's a commitment that scares me, as I'm afraid I wouldn't finish it. I had all these ideas for the alternate world where Robin's father married Will's mother and they were raised as brothers, and I thought about doing that story, too, but I am worried about it, too.
I chose this instead, a series of not necessarily connected AU or missing scenes, and I thought if people wanted to see a specific moment/scene, they could ask for it in comments, too, along with whatever little pieces I did come up with.
A Bit of Revenge
Will peered down from his tree, knowing that if he timed this just right, he'd get not one but two nobles, and that would be perfect, making all the time he'd spent waiting here worth it. This had been a long time coming, and he was not going to do it wrong.
Robin and Peter's horses neared the tree, and he let the apples go. Robin must have heard something and looked up, just in time for the apple to hit him in the forehead. Will laughed as both of them yelled and swore, Peter almost falling off his horse after the apple hit him.
"You little brat!" Peter called, rubbing his head. "I'll get you for this!"
"Peace, Peter. We knew he'd get us for stealing his pie, and what more fitting revenge can a ten year old have?"
Will folded his arms over his chest. "A five year old could have done this because you ride the same place every day. And even though I have dropped leaves and spiders and everything else on your head as you come along, you never learn."
Robin smiled. "Perhaps I have been wanting to see what you'll try next."
"Perhaps you are a fool."
"That I am, brother, but I remain impressed by you," Robin said, smiling up at him. "Somehow you manage to hide every time we pass by, even though I know you must be lying in wait for us again."
"You knew he was there and said nothing?" Peter demanded. "Robin, you—"
"Better that than what he did to your sister," Will said, "And if I liked Marian more, you'd really have to worry because she asked me to get you back for burning her hair."
"Then perhaps I am glad you don't," Robin said. "I'd hate to see what you might do then."
Will didn't mention he was thinking of using manure next time, and that he might just do it for Marian if she had something worth trading for—like that golden dagger her father had given her. Will liked daggers, and that one was special.
"Peace, then, young one," Peter said, and Will glared at him, still hating being called young one by Robin's friend. He wasn't that young or that small, though they liked to say he was. "We were to ride and hunt today. Will you join us?"
"No." Will didn't mind the hunting part, but the rest of it—letting the blood out, skinning it, cutting the meat—he didn't like that, and they always made him do that part if he came along, and Peter would tease him about his scarlet hands.
Will didn't like Peter much, but Robin was his brother, so he tolerated Peter for Robin's sake like Peter pretended to like Will for the same reason.
"Would you have come had we not stolen your pie last night?"
Will snorted. "This wasn't for last night's pie. This was for last week's. You won't like when I get you for last night's."
"Is there anything we could say or do to prevent such a dangerous revenge?"
"No."
"Very well, then, brother. I won't tell them to make a pie just for you."
"You'd just eat it anyway."
Robin smirked, but Will knew he would not be smirking on his way home.
"Manure. How the hell did he get manure up into the tree?"
"I do not know," Robin admitted, though his younger brother was far more resourceful than he'd believed. God, he stank, and he was glad they'd had a lousy hunt or their meat would have been covered in the same stench and rot as they were. "But I do think I'll be eating a lot less pie from now on, same as you."
Peter nodded, wiping more manure off his face while Will laughed above their heads.