Champions
A New Choice
Author's Note: This is my first Robin Hood fic, based on the season/series finale (thus, if you have not yet seen it, there will be spoilers). Champions is a series I've been writing in the Lord of the Rings fandom, in which a demi-goddess using the name 'Pelagia' brings Boromir of Gondor to modern-day North Carolina as protector of three young women, two cops and a pre-med student. It had occurred to me, more than once, after I learned about Guy of Gisborne's fate, that he would make a fantastic Champion. However, viewing Something Worth Fighting For sealed the deal for me. This is, for now, a one-shot, but I have been thinking about where (and when) the rookie Champion will put Guy if I get further inspiration.
Disclaimer: Guy of Gisborne, Isabella of Gisborne, the Sheriff, and Robin Hood do not belong to me. However, Pelagia, Boadicca, and their un-named rookie sister do. I don't mind if you borrow them. . .please just ask first and return them to me intact.
"I'm finally free."
The raven-haired man lying in the tunnel softly breathed his last, and she watched in silence as his sandy-haired companion gently closed his eyes. The dying man placed the former enemy who might have been his brother on the earthen floor. . .his own work was not yet done. The watcher blinked tears back. Her older sisters and brothers warned her that this would be hard. It was her first assignment as a Champion of Champions, so her older sister Boadicca transported her here. That wasn't her true name, of course, but it was her chosen name. After this assignment, she would choose her own name as well, by which her Champions would know her.
And this man was to be the first of her Champions. She hadn't much time in which to act, no more than ten mortal minutes. But once everyone was in place, she could take him to safety. So she watched in silence as events unfolded. She saw the young woman, Isabella, stare at her brother's limp body with something that almost looked like regret, and heard the old man chasten her with the reminder that now wasn't the time for sentimentality. She heeded his words and followed him from the tunnel.
Once they were gone, the watcher stepped forward and knelt beside the dark-haired man. She carefully lifted him into her arms, sensing his spirit nearby. His head lolled against her shoulder, reminding her briefly of a sleeping child. But he hadn't been a child for a long time. . .hadn't been innocent for decades. That, she was told, was often the reason a particular Champion was chosen. . .that was the case with this man, with her sister Pelagia's most recent Champion, Boromir of Gondor, and Boadicca's other Champion, Commodore James Norrington. Sometimes, a Champion was selected because they still had much to give, and their time was cut short. . .such as the Viking warrior Karsten.
The young Crusader, Robin of Locksley, would not be a Champion. Instead, he would reunite with his wife and spend eternity with her. The watcher wondered briefly if she was doing the right thing. If perhaps the man she was even now preparing to take into the Place In-between. . .was this what he wanted? She hesitated. But it was only for a moment. He could make the choice, once he was well enough to make a choice. He had said he was now free, but he could have chosen to die at any time. He could still be free in the future. Each of their Champions served in different ways. While Boromir was the Champion and protector of his current guardians (as well as their small town of Campbell, North Carolina), James Norrington served alone on the sea.
Decision made, she closed her eyes and chose to go home. That was all it took, Boadicca said. Simply. . .ask to go home. When she opened her eyes again, she was home. Pelagia, called home by her own arrival, knelt beside her and said, "Well done, my little sister. Our first order of business is to save him. . . and then, we give him a bath. I had forgotten the standards of cleanliness in the thirteenth century." She barely bit back a smile, but could hardly argue with her older sister. Between the two, they lifted Guy of Gisborne and carried him to a comfortable bed where the process to reunite body and fea would begin.
Would he choose to serve others? Perhaps, perhaps not. But there were many ways to be a Champion, and at his heart, whether he understood it or not, Guy of Gisborne was a protector. He might reject the mantle of Champion, and yet, still carry out the work of one. In the end, it was his choice.