A/N and Disclaimer: I got the idea for this oneshot from a music video on youtube created by Veritas724 titled - obviously - Marian's Nightmare (make sure you check it out either before or after reading this!), based on BBC's not-quite-so-new series about Robin Hood. The basic premise is that Marian has a nightmare about Guy and having to marry him, and though Robin tries to save her, he is unsuccessful. I added a little more to this (well, maybe more than a little): I presented my own version of generally what has happened between them; while it doesn't delineate too much from the show, there are a few incongruities (i.e. at one point, Guy tells her that he's in love with her, and the next day kisses her; when Marian gives him back the silver necklace, he doesn't propose to her...). Since I started writing this just before I actually sat down and watched the series, you can see why it's so :) Also, though I didn't follow the standard format of a songfic, I did incorporate/tweak some lines from the song "Monster" (which is the song Veritas724 used in her vid) in this fic; see if you can find them ;) Oh, and I used the more traditional forms of spelling Locksley (Lockslea) and Gisborne (Gisbourne), so - well, no flames in general, but especially no flames about that...

(This version of) Robin Hood belongs to the BBC, and "Monster" is property of Meg and Dia.

Marian's Nightmare

Early on that spring morning, as the cold fog drifted like the sea to herald the eventual arrival of the sun, Marian lay in the tight bonds of a nightmare. As the chill air blew through the window she had left ajar, her teeth chattered and her frame shuddered while she slept.

Partly from the brisk wind, partly from terror.

But it was not the normal terror one usually felt, for it was not a normal nightmare that plagued her mind. As elusive, cloaked shadows rustled through her dream, she felt a magnificent sort of dread, a dread that filled her entire body while she peered fruitlessly into the shadows with her dream-eyes, searching desperately for anything besides what had been her only relief to the darkness: the face of the one whom she dreaded most –

Sir Guy of Gisbourne.

Ironically, she could still remember the first time she had laid eyes on him, how he had struck her with his imposing height, his intense blue eyes under a mass of dark hair – barely darker than her own – and much finer features than what usually graced that part of England. Of course, when he had first appeared at court, many maidens – and otherwise – almost immediately began to hunt him down, doing everything they could to garner all his attention upon themselves. Though she had watched the pursuit with sarcastic eyes, Marian could understand why they did so; she could still remember – now, not without a degree of shame – how she had initially thought that this man was certainly much more handsome than Robin…

However, when Marian had heard her father's reports of unsavory rumors circulating throughout Nottingham on Sir Guy's…disposition, all comparisons between him and Robin had ceased in Marian's mind. She hastily resolved to take whatever measures she could to escape his notice, if it would save her from being exposed to whatever it was that caused the people of Nottingham to speak so unfavorably of him. However, this resolution had been made just too late. Despite her uncharacteristic silence and (what she believed to be) her unremarkable appearance, she saw how Guy's piercing eyes were often laid on her, how they followed her as she moved across the room. It was with a slow and yet sickening alarm that she noticed how he began to seek her out, preferring her thoughts, her opinions – her company – to others, even the Sheriff! Try as she might, she could not shake him off, gently or otherwise. His persistence unnerved her; she would almost define it as the persistence of a predator, had it not been for the glances she often intercepted, when his eyes – in a way she had learned to recognize – would whisper: "Love me, love me."

At one point, she had tried. She struggled to put her fears and hasty assumptions aside, and tried to see the man behind all outward appearances. He wasn't Robin (no one could be like Robin), but he certainly preferred her more than anyone else – which, she thought at the time, was more than she could say for the scruffy lost Lord of Lockslea – and took pains to give her any sort of service she was in need of. But, the closer she approached to his heart, the more she saw of the indifference – no, the ruthlessness with which he ruled Robin's lands and the serfs who lived upon it, a ruthlessness that could not often be reversed, even by the Night Watchman. Repelled by what she saw, Marian avoided his company when possible: a comparatively easy feat, considering that he was much more – what, involved? – in the affairs of Nottingham, being the new right-hand man of the Sheriff, while she was only the daughter of the old Sheriff.

Then, Robin returned.

In the chaos of rebellion and politics, Sir Guy and Marian had been thrown together much more often than usual. Meetings, visits, debates, fights – and she tried ever so hard to avoid those unearthly eyes as they pursued her during these new encounters. Though she would never admit – especially to herself – that she was afraid of him, Marian could feel that he set her on edge. She couldn't pinpoint exactly what it was about him that made her blood pump faster with danger: his unnatural persistence, his cold manner in dealing with those "beneath" him, how – despite that cold manner – he still had enough of a heart to love her (or could it be simply a desire for possession?), or maybe it was those uncanny eyes…

Whatever the reason, Marian was extremely frustrated with Guy and with herself: him, for daring to be the first man ever to unnerve her, and her, for allowing herself to become unnerved by him in the first place. She made manifest her tumultuous feelings by defying the Sheriff – defying Guy – in her words, in her actions, and in any other way that did not seem too desperate or melodramatic. Though her father was quick in his disapproval at this new change in his daughter's behavior, she was sure that, in the end, this change would reap satisfactory results; after all, the lofty Sir Guy of Gisbourne couldn't be the type to tolerate, much less appreciate, a lady-love as bold and outspoken as Marian was now wont to be!

To her utmost dismay, Marian was proved wrong. If anything, her new boldness, often deemed uncouth, attracted Guy more than had her silence. He seemed to enjoy their debates instead of trying to quiet her, and sometimes engaged her much longer than was necessary. Even when she came out the victor – which was often the case – there was still a smile in his eyes as he looked her over appreciatively and she tried to hold back her shudders of disgust. Was there no way to dissuade him? How could she tell him that she was not in any way interested in him or by him, and never wished to see him again? Even when, at one point, she had resolved to tell him point-blank, every time she attempted to start he would say something that would distract or infuriate her, and once she looked into those intense eyes, she knew she couldn't say it. What match was she against such a being? How could she expect to be victorious over such a man?

However, she didn't quite realize how much danger she was in…until that night, when he caged her and explained to her what it was that he felt for her.

How should I feel?! she wanted to yell at him. Are you going to tell me what I am and what I do, the way you do your subjects? Has what I ever felt, or ever will feel, even matter to you, as long as you get what you want because of the way you feel?

It was the closest that Marian – strong, untouchable Marian – had come to true panic. How could she be with him? How could anyone expect her to be happy, even content, with Guy of Gisbourne, a sadistic man with unquenchable eyes who was everywhere and nowhere? Even if it was true, the things he had said and the way he had described his love for her, there was no way she could ever reciprocate such a man's feelings! There was no way on the Lord's green earth that she could feel happiness with a man who tortured, stole, and killed without so much as batting an eyelash!

It would not be endured!

Marian shuddered again in her sleep as an image from their first kiss – half kiss – flashed across her mind. He had had her cornered that day, when she was still recovering from the shock of his declaration, and he knew she could not escape. She was not sure what she had been thinking (if, indeed, she had been at all) as he had slowly leaned in, closer and closer. It was almost as if he was trying not to frighten her, as if he was still offering her a choice…but, when she looked into those compelling ice-blue eyes, she knew he would never give her a choice. He had marked her as his.

Marian had pulled away scarcely before the kiss had really even started. Dread, uncurling in her stomach like a snake, made her pale as she realized that her lips had touched the lips of her enemy, an enemy bent on possessing her. Sir Guy of Gisbourne carried Death with him; it was Death she had tasted, however so slightly, on his lips, and she knew Death – at his hands – would soon come for her should she stay with him. But…how to push away a man who was everywhere around her?

No! Marian screamed in her head when yet another image of Guy's face was brought forth. Let these insubstantial shadows and memories be gone from me!

Amazingly, it happened. The shadows rolled back as a curtain to display, of all places, Sherwood Forest. Marian stepped forward in confusion as she gazed at her surroundings, wondering what she was doing in a place she rarely visited so as to not arouse suspicion – and without supplies or transportation at that. The forest was silent, strangely so –

That is, until she heard the sounds of battle up ahead.

Fear choking her, Marian ran forward until she reached the edge of a downward slope made by the conjoining of two small hills, between which lay –

She tried to avert her eyes, tried not to see the dead corpses of both outlaw and soldier alike, wounded and mangled as they were. As she instead focused in on the two surviving men, she was hard put not to cry out in horror.

It was Guy and Robin, both fighting to the death.

Even from her far vantage point, Marian could see how far along the fight was, and who would most likely win. While Guy was still equipped with his long broadsword (and various unseen weapons that were kept on his person at all times), Robin had merely a dagger and a wooden shield stolen from a dead soldier. Guy was absolutely relentless; he struggled closer as he dealt blow after mighty blow against Robin, who would parry each strike, but only just. Marian saw how exhausted Robin was, how he shook at each attack as he fought to keep his enemy at bay. She wanted to run down there and help him – even if it would incur Guy's wrath upon herself – but she was literally frozen to her spot. She broke out in a panicked sweat as she tried to force movement out of her muscles, now rigid and taut with fear, but to no avail.

She had never felt so powerless in all her life…and she utterly hated it.

Transfixed with mute horror, Marian watched as Guy suddenly twisted the diminutive dagger out of Robin's grasp. In almost the same moment, Guy brought down his sword with such furious force that even Marian could hear the terrible crack and – even more terrible – the agonized scream that issued from Robin's lips as his arm broke, trapped inside the much-abused shield that was now as broken as the limb behind it. Robin fell to the ground clutching his arm, staring up at Guy in pain and horror as the dark Lord stalked slowly towards him.

No! You can't kill him! For my sake, stop!

Marian would've given anything to be able to scream those words, anything to make them cease this madness – but her mouth was just as incapable of motion as her limbs. Only her eyes could move, and they followed Guy as he, terrifying in his fell power, stood over Robin, contempt tangible in his unnatural eyes.

Then, in a voice as clear as if its speaker stood right next to her:

"It's over, Lockslea. Face it: I win. I have your lands, I have your people, I have the favor of your precious King – I even have Marian, the woman whom you say you love but can't even bother to protect. Your best friends are dead–"

"Stop it!" Robin yelled in sudden rage. "Why? Why did you kill them?"

Guy's face tensed. "I did not come here to kill them. If I had had my way, they would have gone free and this would've been just between you and me. Unfortunately, the Sheriff cannot be gainsaid once he sets his mind on something."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" Robin whispered raggedly. "Sir Guy of Gisbourne, ruthless assassin and traitor to the King, torturer of innocents–" a sharp intake of breath, "–the biggest thief of us all…has enough of a heart to feel mercy for the men of the vile Robin Hood?"

"Yes, I supposed it must be a shock to someone as full of prejudice as you," Guy retorted bitterly. "To find that your worst enemy is not a monster but human must be earth-shattering indeed!" He sighed heavily. "I had no real grudge against your men, only their general lawlessness which you had led them to. Why waste lives and time hunting them when I could go after you, their leader and my real enemy, and end it all there?"

Robin stared at Guy as if he did not recognize the man standing above him. "Why me?"

Guy's eyes lit afire with intense anger and jealousy. "You had it all! You had your lands, your glory, your woman, the love of your people–"

"Marian belongs to no one," Robin interjected weakly.

"You can keep saying that, but I am not the only person to know that you thought you were the one exception," Guy threw back as Robin glared at him, unsuccessfully. Not one to be distracted from what he needed to say, Guy continued: "When you first came here, I was sure I'd hear news of your death or arrest within a week at most. But you kept coming back. You kept stealing, attacking, breaking out of jail. Even in the wild, with no food and no natural resources at all, you still managed to make a successful life for yourself! In a place where no person lived, you still had people who loved you!"

Robin flinched as Guy, using Robin's signature sign of frustration, viciously drove the point of his sword into the ground right next to Robin's left ear. He swallowed hard as Guy then jerked it out, the end quivering slightly.

When Robin's heart finally began to slow and he felt he could trust his voice, he uttered one word, one fraught with meaning. "Marian?"

To the surprise of the two who watched him, Guy's fiery eyes softened. "I love her. I have loved her since first I saw her, and it grows with each day."

Bitterly: "Did it grow when you were threatening to turn her over for treason?"

Guy's voice was careful and controlled. "It was a blunder on my part, the worst I've made. However, I've made it right. I saved her from the Sheriff's wrath, and I won't let it happen again."

"I saved her!" Robin roared in his indignation, unable to control himself. "I gave her back the necklace while you were threatening her! I saved her life!"

"You…what did…" Guy muttered in humiliated astonishment as the past presented to him a new interpretation. Robin felt a wicked satisfaction at tearing down his enemy's self-glorification; now, if only he could reach that mace…

But Guy's eyes, fueled with a new fire, met his again. "Why did you take the necklace from her in the first place? She loved it, I could tell; what scathing things did you say to make her part with it?"

His lips curved into a small smirk when Robin did not answer. "Ah…you were jealous. You couldn't bear to see the gift of a man who has both money and means at his disposal around the neck of the woman you love, you who have nothing; even more galling to see that she actually enjoyed it."

"A stolen gi-"

"But how could you," Guy continued, effectively steamrolling him, "presume to have the right to be jealous? You, who broke off your engagement to her so you could kill Saracens? You, who – instead of marrying you so-called lady-love – left her to follow your wonderful king into a battle that was not yours to fight? I wonder how you can even begin to think that you have the right to be jealous when you knowingly left her to her mean existence in order to selfishly pursue a life of glory! How I wish you could've seen her after you left; if you love her as you say you do, that would be revenge enough! But you had no thought for the woman you left behind, no thought for the countless tears you caused to pour from her beautiful eyes, no thought for the terrible pain you caused on her side and on those who were forced to watch! You weren't there when she could neither eat nor sleep for weeping! Her father and I had to watch over her and comfort her day and night to keep her from going into hysterics!"

Robin closed his eyes in silent pain as Guy's words tore open barely healed wounds and regrets, an action that Guy barely noticed as he shook his head in a gesture of incredulity. "And yet, for all that, she hardly said a word against you. Every day, she worried about you; she was always wondering where you were, what you had been doing, whether you'd been wounded. You had broken her heart, yet she still cared about you as if you were still hers. How can you think you can be jealous after what you did to her?"

"What I did to her? You nearly had her killed!"

"And you nearly drove her mad!" Guy thundered back.

Marian still could not move, not even to wipe away the tears that had begun to stream down her cheeks. No, Guy, she thought. Perhaps it's true that I nearly went mad with grief, but, now that he's back, there is only one person who is driving me mad, and that is you.

"You disgust me," Guy said, softly but dangerously, as he spat on Robin's face.

Robin did not even make the effort to wipe away the spittle that had landed on his chin as he glared back into Guy's unquenchable eyes, a glare that would have been more effective were it not for the considerable pain he was in. "You don't deserve her," he hissed.

Guy's eyes tightened as he answered slowly. "No, I supposed I don't. To tell – to tell the truth…I don't think anyone really deserves her. She is so far above every person I have ever met…but I can provide for her and make her comfortable and happy – which is more than I can say for you–"

"I can make her happy," Robin whispered hoarsely.

"You?" Guy asked contemptuously. "Out in the woods? What, are you so skilled that you can conjure up a furnished manor out of thin air? You forget your place, Lockslea. You are so caught up in your own selfish thoughts and feelings that you forget about Marian's needs. She is the daughter of the old Sheriff of Nottingham, and is as far above you in your current state as the King is above her. Could you really expect to be able to keep her happy – to keep her safe – out in this godforsaken place?"

The pain was starting to come in spasms and pounding aches, but Robin still managed to gasp out: "I can – keep her – happy! I may not – be rich – anymore – but I have – my love!"

"Your love? What has your love ever done for her, except to leave her feeling used and miserable?" Guy shook his head again, his eyes still aglow with the flame of pride and indignation. "I love her; what's more, I love her more than you, despite all your loudmouthed protestations to the contrary–"

"Which is why – you're going – to kill me – eh, Gisbourne?" Robin said, or attempted to say as he was hit with more spasms of pain.

"I've already told you why I came after you, Lockslea; I'm not going to go through the whole saga again." Guy took a step nearer as he began to lower his wickedly sharp sword…

"Not going to take – me back to – the Sheriff? No – fair trial nonsense – anymore? None of the–" hiss of pain, "–glory of being – the one – to capture Robin Hood?"

He gave Robin a mock look of skepticism. "So you can slip through my fingers again? No, I like this much better." He smirked sadistically as he drew closer. "I'd much rather have the satisfaction of destroying my rival myself. I'd rather have the satisfaction of knowing that the last words my enemy will ever hear are these:

"She is mine."

Marian, completely and utterly petrified by terror, watched with wide eyes as Guy, without further preamble, drove his sword into Robin's chest. If she lived for a thousand years, she knew she could never forget the awful choking sound that came from his throat, the ugly stain that spread where his heart should be, and the horror it evinced, a horror that filled her entire being. She could not tear her eyes away as Guy withdrew his bloodstained sword, sighed, then knelt, as if in prayer.

The revulsion she felt knew no bounds. How could he pray after so cruelly taking a man's life? A man who had only ever done good – especially since his return from the Holy Land – and Guy was praying after killing him in cold blood? Monster! Cruel wretch! A dark feeling of fear and hatred coursed through her veins as she stared down at his head, setting every nerve afire. Monster indeed, to speak of love and commit murder in the same instant! What kind of man was he, to think that he should be her first choice as a spouse when he was so violent and angry? How could he think he had the right to take her hand in holy matrimony after he had killed the man first in her heart?

For Marian knew – and knew too late – that it was Robin she loved, Robin she wanted to be with forever. She had been dishonest with him, critical, cold even, but she loved Robin, when all love was now in vain.

And Guy was the one to blame.

Time passed by in a kaleidoscope of colors and numb despair. Marian wasn't sure how it happened; all she knew was that she was suddenly walking down the aisle of Lockslea – Gisbourne – church. Peasants and serfs alike threw flower petals into the air and looked in through windows as she treaded slowly, her heavy skirt cumbersome and her lace veil making the altar nearly impossible to see…and Guy, in all his dark power, waited for her at the altar.

In her mind she cried out: Why? Why did you have to die, Robin? If you didn't, I wouldn't be here, forced into taking the hand that took your life! In fact, why did you even come back? Had you stayed in the Holy Land, Guy would have seen so much less of me – certainly would've lost interest – and I would never have realized how much in love with you I still am! Through her despair, she tried as hard as she could to keep the tears from coming…

…And the northern wind suddenly blew through the open door of the chapel, bringing with it the ghost of a realization: Robin's return made no difference, for Guy would have had you walking down this aisle ere long. Wherever you are, he is. In his own way, he is bound to you…

A terrible feeling of hopelessness engulfed her as she reached the altar and knelt next to Guy without really knowing how she got there. She stared blankly ahead as the Latin words that issued from the priest's mouth bounced off her ears. In her mind's eye, she saw a string of endless days where everything she did and said was ruled by the man next to her, one whom she feared for his anger and cruelty, a terrible combination. Marian knew, in her heart, that she would never regain her peace of mind – if not her very sanity – while married to him; every moment he would spend away, she would know were spent endorsing the Sheriff's heartless cause against the innocent peasants and anyone who dared defy him. She would know that her spouse was out forcefully taking money from people who couldn't possibly afford to lose it, arresting those who had nothing, and killing those who stood in his way. This was why she was so afraid of him, and why they could never be together...

For she had slowly seen that all her nightmares were his dreams.

Her still heart began to pound as Guy firmly pulled her to her feet. She could feel the walls closing in when he reached for her left hand; too quickly panicked, she could only comply, and thus was too late to retract when he put an ornate and heavily jeweled ring upon her ring finger. Marian looked up at him in shock and anxiety –

And was hit with a sudden wave of fury upon meeting his eyes.

For years, she had been confronted with those eyes right and left; they never left her, no matter how much she tried to escape! She had received no quarter, no relief! Those eyes were always there, following her, stealing her, bruising and breaking her, and she could never get away! Even on her wedding day, they were there, boring into her, demanding all of her!

Marian tore off her lace veil in a gesture of anger and defiance, then raised her hands and formed them into claws, a feral shriek tearing itself out of her throat as she lunged for those unquenchable eyes, those of the monster –

Marian violently threw herself forward as she turned the sheets down in her wake. Her eyes were wide with the horror that had passed, while echoes of her scream still rang in her ears. She could feel an explosion filling her body, and every muscle quivered to contain it as she sat still, the cold wind caressing her ominously. She had barely begun to regain her breath when the door suddenly burst open –

He was there!