This story was based on (and inspired by) one of my regular forays into the unreleased tracks of The Killers (my favourite band in the world) Of course, the song this story is based on, Four Winds, was originally by Bright Eyes, but I much prefer The Killers version, and it is this version I was inspired by. I always think the Killers lyrics fit so perfectly with Guy, in many different situations, so I thought I'd treat myself and write a fanfic/songfic about Guy and Marian. I'm really tempted to either continue this story, or write another, based on Killers lyrics (Mr Brightside in particular springs to mind), so tell me what you think, whether you think I should continue this story, or if its better as is.
This is my very first fanfic, EVER, so please don't be too harsh. In fact, if you're reviewing just to criticise, then you can kindly bugger off home. This was partly inspired also by the fact that I've read about a bajillion GuyMaz fanfics over the last day or two, so if you see anything that's yours, please don't be offended-it'll just have slipped into my head after reading them all. Also, I hated the end of S2 as well, but I have an inability to accept anything else as the truth (however much I want to) once I've seen it on TV. So yeah,that's it basically, please R&R, these are the lyrics I've been inspired by. I've included most of them in the story in some way, so if it seems a bit disjointed, it's 'cause I'm trying to fit the lyrics in, and I haven't read it through to try and improve it. Hannah xx
Four Winds Lyrics
Your class, your caste, your country, sect, your name or your tribe
There's people always dying trying to keep them alive
There are bodies decomposing in containers tonight
In an abandoned building where
A squatter's made a mural of a Mexican girl
With fifteen cans of spray paint in a chemical swirl
She's standing in the ashes at the end of the world
Four winds blowing through her hair
But when great Satan's gone, the whore of Babylon
She just can't sustain the pressure where it's placed
She caves
The Bible's blind, the Torah's deaf, the Qur'an is mute
If you burned them all together you'd be close to the truth still
They're poring over Sanskrit under Ivy League moons
While shadows lengthen in the sun
Cast on a school of meditation built to soften the times
And hold us at the center while the spiral unwinds
It's knocking over fences, crossing property lines
Four winds cry until it comes
And it's the sum of man
Slouching towards Bethlehem
A heart just can't contain all of that empty space
It breaks, it breaks, it breaks
Well, I went back to my rented Cadillac and company jet
Like a newly orphaned refugee, retracing my steps
All the way to Cassadaga to commune with the dead
They said, "You'd better look alive"
And I was off to old Dakota where a genocide sleeps
In the black hills, the bad lands, the calloused east
I buried my ballast, I made my peace
Heard four winds leveling the pines
But when great Satan's gone, the whore of Babylon
She just can't remain with all that outer space
She breaks, she breaks, she caves, she caves
Four Winds
Your class, your caste, your country, sect, your name or your tribe - we are always fighting for something. Once that's gone, we may as well give up and die. It's something, or someone, you'd lay down your life for. More than that, you'd open your heart, cut it out, put it bleeding into the other person' chest, just to keep them breathing. That's how Guy felt about Marian. Yet there's people always dying, and trying to keep them alive was something he hadn't often had to think about, since his parent's death. Until Marian. He would have done anything for her. Anything. He stood in the midst of the desert, over her sandy grave. There are bodies decomposing in containers tonight. That one thought, said in his head like another voice, played on his mind, haunted him. He couldn't bear to thing of her beautiful, flawless body, her skin and face and hair, melting away under the sand. All down to him. He was the rotten apple, and now that rot had spread to her. He held his head in his hands, his fingers ripping through his hair in anguish, in fire and pain. He wished he was the one lying beneath the tonnes and tonnes of sand. He certainly deserved it. But that would have been far too easy. This was his punishment then. To remain alive with the guilt that he had put the woman he loved in the place that should have been his.
Fire and ashes. Sand and burning. This is what his life has become. He imagines.
She's standing in the ashes at the end of the world
Four winds blowing through her hair
A powerful image. What hell have I condemned her to? He agonized. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. What was it all for, anyway? If someone so pure, good and lovely as Marian could be sent to a sandy hell so early, without achieving anything she wanted to achieve…his mind recoiled at the thought of exactly what she had wanted to achieve…marriage to Robin Hood, his arch enemy? His fist clenched in anger at the thought of him, at the thought of both of them, together…how could she have been so cruel to him, so treacherous? His anger consumed him for a moment, and he let it. Where was the use in trying to stop it now, he had already done the worst, and it was down to that momentary submission to his temper. But then he closed his eyes, hard, and cleared his mind. It wasn't her fault-how could it be? She had just done what she thought was right. Maybe it was. Maybe he deserved all her lying and her deception, all the mocking and the despising, because he was the opposite to her; he had always done what he thought, no, what he knew was wrong, to gain money, power, position. He certainly deserved how he was feeling now. But that didn't make it any easier to bear. If anything, it made it harder.
He turned away. He would go back to the Sheriff, of course he would. Because he, and the pursuit of money, position and power, were all he had now. He had fought for them for so long, but they meant nothing to him now-they were just a means to an end. But he would go back to him, back to the Sheriff, back to his own personal Satan, because that was all he had left. And because he always did the wrong thing. But when great Satan's gone, the whore of Babylon…what would he do then? If? Would he continue to behave in the way that made Marian laugh with derision? He snorted at himself. Probably. It was all he knew, now, now that she was gone. She was all he needed, he realised that now, but he had realised too late. "GONE." He screamed, raising his head to the moon and howling like a ravaged wolf. He realises now, or at least he thinks he does, that he doesn't care if she loves Robin Hood, doesn't even care if she marries him-just as long as she's alive. But she's not. It's too late, he can't go back, and there is nothing to be done. She is destroyed, and he with her.
He wishes he could dig up her grave and get in the coffin with her.
A flashback. A town destroyed by Crusaders, surrounded by desert. Fighting and flighting down alleys and streets. A square. The King, an arrow in his shoulder, fallen off his horse. Vulnerable. Defenceless. Helpless. A cry of victory, strangled as a woman in white runs out, in front of the King. Protecting him. Shielding him. Guy pulls out his sword, and advance towards her. She runs towards him.
"Stop! It's over Guy." It's over, it's over, all over…those words taunting him…
"Get out the way." He tries to keep his voice emotionless, but there is fear, real fear in it. What is she doing?
"All this time I've been fighting for England. You think I'm going to let you kill England?" No…but of course it was true. These were her politics. This was why she had begged him to kill the Sheriff. But she couldn't be willing to let him kill her, surely? Bile rises in his throat, along with cold, cold fear. There is something determined, more than that, something insanely reckless in her eyes, that he had never seen before.
"Marian, GET OUT OF THE WAY!" Desperation cries, swinging his sword at her. She backs away a little, her arms spread wide, but stays her ground. No. This can't be happening.
"You'll have to kill me first." Proof, first proof, that she was willing to die defying him: worse, she was willing to be killed by his hand. No…it came out as words.
"No. We will get out of this. I'm gonna do this thing, then I will have power beyond measure, and we will be together." He still believes this, but even as he says it, he realises the two of them may not survive this unharmed. The thought of it makes him feel sick.
He is still advancing towards her, she is still backing away. But she manages convey her disdain for what he has just said, with a smirk and a breathy almost-laugh.
"I would rather die than be with you, Guy of Gisborne."
"No." She is all he has fought for, everything…the killing of the King, and the power that came along with it had become meaningless somewhere along the way. She was the one thing that made it all worthwhile. The one constant he thought he could depend on for being…well, for being reckless, defiant, infuriating, but amazing, and for, well, for just being Marian, really. Yet now…she would not have him. She had never said that to him directly before, and it broke something inside him.
"I'm going to marry Robin Hood." He looks at her, confused and dismayed, sure he must be hearing things, or that she is lying to protect the King, or just…something, other than it is. But at the same time, he knows-it is true. She is telling him the complete truth for the first time-and he hates it.
"I love Robin Hood." Almost unsure, as if she doesn't know what she's saying. But then she bites her lip and smiles, her eyes not focussed on Guy anymore, but on a point somewhere in the distance, and she says it again, looking at Guy, with such truth and love in her eyes "I love Robin Hood."
Love and truth that is not for him. The red mist descends. He plunges his sword deep into the soft flesh of her stomach. It stays. But only for a moment; she just can't sustain the pressure where it's placed. She caves.
She caves. Falling backwards. Guy is leaning forwards, agony in his face as he holds her in his arms, for the last time. They look at each other, before she falls. So much is said in that look, and the emotions are mirrored in both pairs of eyes. Betrayal, accusation, surprise. Pain. This is the closest they've ever been, emotionally and physically-Guy's sword is almost part of him, and it is inside her. She realises then, just how similar they are. Both liars, both traitors…both in love…and it frightens her. Guy frightens her. He is too close for comfort-they may have chosen different sides, but they are the same, really. She falls and hits the ground with a thud. Guy stands, looking down in horror at what he has done. He is sobbing now, as Hood and his gang run to her side. And still, in the back of his mind, through all the pain and horror and anger, as Hood bent down next to her: that should be him. He draws back, in intense pain. The Sheriff calls "Gisborne!", and he goes, numbly, leaving Marian to the man she loves instead of him…perhaps with good reason.
There is no God. No religion. The Bible's blind, the Torah's deaf, the Qur'an is mute. If you burn them all together you'd be close to the truth still…how could a God condone this? Guy had opened his eyes, and found that he had sat down in the sand next to her grave. He would not venture back to the Sheriff next. He didn't think he could take his mocking and sarcasm. He would stay here, while shadows lengthened in the setting sun.
A desert wind was howling towards him. He picked up handfuls of sand, and cast all her school and meditation built to soften the times into the wind. "Lies. Lies, lies, lies!" The sand swirled around him and holds him at the centre while the spiral unwinds…it builds up to a tornado pitch, it's making it's way into the town, it's knocking over fences, crossing property lines…
Four winds cry until it comes. They cry with Guy. He is the wind. The howling, the wailing of the four winds, and of Guy. One and the same thing. He is in the elements, and an element in his own right. He is fire and wind, earth and water, and he roars with the power and pain and torment of all four.
But then again, he is just a man. And it's the sum of man, slouching towards Bethlehem…that's what he is. He is the sum of all his bad, and of all her good. And that sum ultimately added up to zero.
He had held nothing together until now, as if it were an object. But a heart just can't contain all of that empty space, where she had been, where she had taken herself away. His heart…it breaks…it breaks…it breaks. It moans, with the ache of breaking itself in two. Maybe it would be better if it just left his body altogether, and stayed with her. He leaves his heart behind.
He goes back, to the empty, silent, ruined town, like newly orphaned refugee retracing his steps. All the way back to the square, he stands on the very spot in which he committed the worst act of his life. He can almost see her…to commune with the dead, oh what a thing that would be…painful, yes, but exhilarating-he would have her back, if only for a few moments. Her face suddenly comes into sharp focus, in front of him. He is hallucinating now, he knows it, but he doesn't care, and he doesn't want it to stop. She begins to speak. He can not hear what she is saying-his ears are filled with a muffled buzzing. Then, just as abruptly as her face came into focus, so does her voice-like a fanfare of trumpets, it presses in on him. She says "You'd better look alive." As he hears this, he hears a swishing of a sword, missing his neck by inches as he ducks down to the ground just in time.
On the floor beside him is a bloodied sword. His bloodied sword. He picked up in wonder, and stood up quickly to parry the next blow from the anonymous fighter. His mind was racing. She had saved him. She was still with him now, he could feel her breath on her neck. It felt like heaven. He deflected the strikes with ease, his body lithe and nimble like a wolf's. Then the hooded stranger spoke, and realised that it wasn't a stranger at all.
"You will pay, Gisborne, for what you did to her," Robin said through gritted teeth, cold fury dripping from every syllable.
"HOOD!" Guy snarled.
They continued fighting with increased venom, now that each had recognised the other.
"You took her from me! You are the one to blame!" Even as he said it, he felt a twinge of guilt, heightened perhaps by the supposed presence of Marian behind him. This was a lie, and he knew it; however much he hated Hood, he knew that he was the one to blame, not Robin.
Said Robin snorted with disgust and disbelief. "You keep telling yourself that, Gisborne. Clearly it does not help you sleep at night."
"I could say the same to you," Guy growled.
Robin's face became more serious and sad. "No one with a conscience sleeps here, Gisborne. This is a land where a genocide sleeps-I know that now. You've shown it to me. In the blackened hills, the bad lands, the calloused East."
The words seemed to ring so true in Guy's ears, yet they were coming from the mouth of his enemy. His heart beat faster-he no longer knew what he was doing. Then her voice came from behind him, and he knew, knew, that he was no longer hallucinating…if he ever had been. "Drop the sword, Guy."
And he obeyed her, without question. He down his sword, and smiled. Robin, instead of taking the chance to rid the world of Gisborne once and for all, drew back, unnerved. What had made him give up the fight, denying himself the victory of defeating him? And what was with the smile?
"Given up already, Gisborne?" Robin asked, only half-jokingly, expecting Guy to pick up the sword and start fighting again.
But Guy turned his back to Hood, and began digging a hole for his sword, the weapon he had wreaked so much havoc with. He buried his ballast, and made his peace. "Goodbye, Marian," he said softly.
Robin sat down beside him. For a moment they were back in the forest, her four winds levelling the pines, as she rose up into the air. And as she rose up to the Heavens, a song was carried on her four winds.
"But when great Satan's gone, the whore of Babylon
She just can't remain with all that outer space
She breaks, she'd break, she caves, she caves
You'd better look alive"
El fin ;)