I wanted to write something that wasn't about Robin and Marian. And I'm not bein' funny, but Allan's story in series two has really got to me. So here's a little bit about that.
Allan had shambled and fibbed his way through life. Until Robin, until the gang. He was part of something bigger. But as the stakes got higher, their time as outlaws grew longer, and the rewards of it were no longer obvious, Allan slipped a little. Just enough to slip right into torture and betrayal. Gisborne gave him an offer, under duress, as was his way, and Allan slipped enough to take it. He gave up the gang, he gave up Robin, he gave up everything they had been dong all this time, and he felt like the money he got out of it was an excuse. Because, what could he say? It felt good to have money. And at first, working for the Sheriff, being Sir Guy's man, meant he could go in the castle and not have it be a risk to his life. It was a strange thrill, a sense of power. He could give up the gang's secrets as a way of saying: "You underestimated me."
But then Marian came up to him with that little hairpin dagger and he realized just what was hanging in the balance. He had said to Robin: "You were always in the sun." He had Marian, and he was Robin Hood himself, not just one of his men, and he was a noble, and he had everything. He made all the choices and at the end of the struggle, it was going to be his future that was secure. But then Marian challenged Allan and he remembered it wasn't all for Robin's happiness. It was for Marian's happiness, the gang's, England's. So he would never truly betray them. He couldn't. No matter what. But they didn't see that. All they saw was his new outfit and someone that had let them down. But Marian—Marian needed his help to survive in the castle. And he needed hers because she was the only one who wasn't so blinded by hurt as to give up on him entirely. She saved him from Robin. And though he never seemed to be the kind of person who cared about, let alone honored, debts—he knew he had to repay. And little by little he helped her stay out of trouble because he cared about her and because he knew full well what Marian meant to Robin, and to the others. And protecting her was proof positive that he could still be part of the gang. So that day when all of Nottingham might have disappeared, Marian sent him back to the camp, back to them, in the service of her and the town. She trusted him. They had to trust him, too.
Will didn't seem to think that there was any coming back for him. Allan was gone. But that day, so much was at stake. And Will was entrusted to ensure Marian's safety—Allan's job. So much distance between them, but Will and Allan were fighting for the same thing. Will couldn't understand the way Allan thought but here they were brothers at arms and he didn't doubt for a minute that he could trust him.
It was the first step.