A/N: Hello reader! This is a Jily AU story based (very very loosely) on the story of Robin Hood. I want to just put that disclaimer out there because if anyone who reads this is a die-hard Robin Hood fan they're going to be a bit disappointed. By the way, the title comes from a quote from the movie Robin Hood (2010). Below is a brief background about Robin Hood. Feel free to skip it if you'd like, I know the feels of a long A/N. No judgment here ;)
Just a bit of background for people who might not know: There really isn't much that is known for sure about Robin Hood's background besides what is provided in ballads from the time period in which he lived. He is said to have lived in England during the Crusades while King Richard the Lion Hearted (who he was loyal to) was fighting in the Middle East. Some say he came from the peasant class and some say he came from nobility, so it's pretty much up to interpretation at this point. According to legend, though, he and his group of Merry Men traveled around England stealing from the nobility (many of whom were loyal to the dastardly King John) and sparking senseless violence with a lot of people.
Sorry this A/N was so long, just thought I'd put the info out there. I'll put more of the historical background in the next chapters author's note (skip it if you don't want to read it, I don't mind!). Feel free to ask me questions or correct me if I am wrong about the background!
Lily
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Two pedestrians strolled down a long dirt road with a lush wall of trees on either side. It was a quiet afternoon, with only the chatter of birds and the occasional swishing of branches and leaves to disrupt the silence of the tranquil forest.
The two walkers were a strange pair at first glance: a pale and sallow nobleman wearing fine but dark, conservative robes alongside a strikingly beautiful peasant girl in a light cotton dress, a burlap satchel in her hand. The only thing they seemed to have in common was their age; both appeared to be in their late teens.
The nobleman seemed agitated, always glancing over his shoulder through the dark brush and down the empty road. His companion, however, seemed very much at ease. She hummed as she walked and kicked small pebbles with the toe of her boot. However, after catching her friend looking over his shoulder for the tenth time, a look of annoyance darted across her formerly placid visage.
"Severus, please. I walk this road every day and I've never been accosted. What are you looking for, some great forest monster to come barreling out of the woods?" the auburn-haired peasant girl teased her fellow pedestrian.
"These woods are known to be frequented by very hostile robbers, Lily. I – we'd – be easy targets here in the open. I don't know how I let you talk me into this. We should have just taken my carriage!" he contended, even more agitated than before. Lily stopped, crossed her arms, and narrowed her eyes. Sighing and briefly turning his eyes up to the heavens, Severus circled around to face her.
"What?" he asked irritably.
She continued to glare for a moment until he let out an exasperated huff.
"So your discomfort has absolutely nothing to do with the possibility of being seen by your high and mighty noble friends?" She questioned him. He reddened.
"Oh for Heaven's sake, no. I've been over this with you, Lily. I don't care if anyone sees us together," he argued, but did not meet her stare. She cocked her brow, and a spark of mischief glittered in her eyes as a sneaky ruse to test his claims came to mind.
"Is that so?" She feigned an air of cheerfulness and stood on her toes, pretending to see something behind him further down the road. "Well that is wonderful to hear. Maybe the owner of that fine carriage would like to hear it as well. Let's flag him down, yeah?" She'd barely finished speaking before her dark-haired companion dove out of view and into a thistle. His actions might have been comical had he not just proven his own dishonesty.
Lily's scowl deepened as she waited for her companion to realize her trick. When Severus did not immediately emerge from his hiding spot, she turned on her heel and continued down the road, fists clenched at her sides.
"Hey – ouch – Lily, wait!" Severus yelled as he tried to extract himself. He attempted to brush the burrs off of his robes, but they were so profuse that he hadn't a hope in the world to remove them before Lily disappeared around the bend. He ran forward, calling her name twice more. When he got close, Lily abruptly turned and gave him a fierce glare.
"I don't understand why you even bother with the lies anymore, Severus. I'm not an idiot; I know you're ashamed to be seen with a lowly peasant girl like myself in front of your pompous, arrogant, holier-than-thou friends! They don't care much for the likes of me, do they? They think us lowly peasants are worthless cretins, undeserving of even the most basic courtesies! And as long as they have their fine clothes and riches, they don't give a damn who they're oppressing!" She erupted into a tirade. Severus flinched at her words at first, but this argument was not unfamiliar to him. He pursed his lips and crossed his arms as well.
"You don't give them a chance, Lily! They are wonderful company if you get to know them!" He argued.
"Oh, because they would love to get to know me," she drawled, her words dripping with sarcasm, "Honestly, Sev! Are you blind? Their prejudices are so deeply ingrained, they would sooner have me thrown to a pack of wolves than befriend me!"
"Don't be so dramatic. They have more sense of propriety than you give them credit for. Much more than a certain band of self-righteous robbers that've made several raids here during the past few weeks. You must have heard of the-"
"What on earth do they have to do with this?" Lily cut him off, looking positively bewildered. "Of course I've heard of them! They like to make sure the whole bloody forest knows when they've committed one of their acts of 'redistribution,' but why in the world are you bringing them up? Are you really afraid of a few petty thieves, in broad daylight?"
Severus smirked at her negativity towards the notorious criminals but his eyes flashed with anger at her final question. "I am most certainly not afraid of those arrogant fools!" He spoke through his teeth. "I just don't want you thinking what they do is right! I know you don't have much affection for my friends but you can't think those buffoons admirable for stealing from them! I won't have it!"
Lily's bright green eyes blazed with fury and Severus shrunk back a bit in response.
"You really ought to know this by now, Severus, but I like to think for myself," she looked him in the eye, her voice dangerously calm. "In my opinion, stealing of any kind is criminal and reprehensible. But at least those robbers aren't stealing under such a foolish pretense as those ridiculous taxes! They might be criminals, but they don't strut around pretending they're not. Your power-hungry, poppycock friends have that down to an art form."
Severus looked undeniably affronted.
"You dare defend them? Do you know what they did to me last week? They stole every single spoon in my entire house! Even the ones with absolutely no value! They are disgraceful crooks that should be apprehended as soon as humanly possible. How could you think my esteemed friends as bad as them?" He fumed, madly waving his arms about.
"I don't think the nobles are as bad as those robbers," Lily spoke with resolute conviction, "I think they're worse."
She glared at Severus for a moment longer, and then continued to walk. He sputtered in anger, but knew in his heart there would be no changing her mind.
Lily walked a bit further until she noticed Severus' mutterings behind her abruptly cease. She sighed and turned around.
"Look Sev, we are never going to agree on – what the devil is going on here?!"
Several paces behind her, Severus, bound and gagged, stood held at arms length by a tall, spectacle-clad rogue with highly untamed hair and a bow and arrows strapped to his back. He and his two comrades began to laugh at Lily's expression and Severus' pathetic strugglings. Out of the corner of her eye, Lily saw a fourth rogue leaning against a tree, shadowed by its branches. At closer inspection, she recognized him as an old friend, Remus Lupin.
At least if it comes to a fight, she thought to herself, I won't have to worry about fighting him. I reckon he knows better.
Three of the four Marauders – as it could only be the infamous thieves in her midst – continued to guffaw and prod Severus as Lily walked forward. She marched right up to the man with the unruly dark hair, threw her shoulders back, and gave him the most fearsome glare she could muster. He stopped laughing and raised an eyebrow at her sardonically.
"I demand you release my friend at once," she declared to him. He shot a skeptical look at one of his friends, the singularly handsome one with long black hair, then looked back at her with a smirk prominently etched on his face.
"Do you now? Well I'm sorry, but we all have to deal with disappointment at one point or another. Besides, this one is horrible company. You'd be better off spending your time with . . . I don't know . . . what do you think, Padfoot? A devilishly handsome outlaw?" His black haired friend sniggered and rolled his eyes. The rogue holding Severus winked at her and gave her a cheeky smile. "I'd make it worth your while."
Lily snorted with disgust and glared harder.
"Maybe when Hell freezes over," she shot back at him. "For the time being, I think I'll take my friend here instead. I'm warning you, this is not a request. If you don't unhand him now, I shall have to take him by force."
In response, all three boys burst into laughter. The more rotund one even fell to the ground and began to roll about. Lily smiled. She loved when people underestimated her; that meant she could prove them wrong.
Before the robbers even had time to give some cavalier retort, she punched the rogue holding Severus straight in the jaw and tripped him, causing him to fall back and entangle himself in the bushes. She brandished her knife and tried to cut some of Severus' bonds until the initial shock of her actions wore off and the two remaining Marauders took action.
The one inexplicably called Padfoot recovered first, brandishing his sword. Lily dodged his first swings and caught the third with her knife. With a swift, forceful knee to the crotch and all the strength she could muster, she pushed him backwards and kicked the sword out of his grasp. It sailed into the forest and landed far off with a muffled thump.
The third had gotten up off the ground and fumbled with his own sword, but after Lily knocked him over the head with the hilt of her knife, his body went limp and returned to its previous place on the dirt road. She grabbed his sword and turned just in time to parry the strike of the rogue with the rumpled hair and a new bruise blooming across his jaw.
She continuously defended his strikes, but she knew she had a limited amount of time. Soon enough, his friends would come to their senses. Severus was still struggling to rid himself of the ropes.
Her close proximity to him allowed Lily to study her cheeky opponent more closely. He was a good build, a bit lankier than most swordsmen she'd encountered, but no less capable. What he lacked in muscle he most definitely made up for in skill. His technique and moves were complex; obviously robbing the nobility had given him a significant amount of practice.
Her blood pumped vigorously through her veins as she met strike after strike with her own sword. She lunged forward, coming in close and catching him off guard. His footing slipped ever so slightly, but he regained his balance before she could exploit the weakness.
"Could use a little help over here, Sirius," her adversary prodded. The rogue previously called Padfoot groaned in response.
"Working on it, James," he grumbled and began to stand up. "So the brave and noble Sir Severus Snape needs a little peasant girl to protect him on empty roads. Not what I would expect of a loyal servant to Lord Voldemort. He must be going soft these days." He kicked Severus on his way to search for his sword.
Lily began to panic and fought with extra vigor. The element of surprise was fading fast and while she took pride in her abilities, she doubted she could take on two experienced swordsmen and come out on top. While her mind buzzed trying to come up with some sort of plan, her opposition gazed at her with a mixture of awe and frustration. He had never in his life met a girl who'd ever laid a finger on a sword, let alone wield one with such skill. However, as much as he'd like to, he couldn't say he was enjoying getting his ass royally kicked by a girl.
Finally, Lily used a sneaky trick her father taught her to release the sword from her attacker's grip. She brought the edge of her sword to his neck just as Severus threw off his gag.
"I do NOT need a filthy peasant wench to protect myself!" He exclaimed. All was silent.
A flash of pain broke through Lily's mask of determination, but she quickly regained composure. Looking up at the rogue who stood at her mercy, she noticed he was regarding Severus with as much contempt and disgust as his swelled face could produce. Her brow furrowed. Why should he care what Severus says? She wondered.
"How could you say that, you slimy, despicable - " He began.
"Don't move a muscle," Lily warned him, putting a bit more pressure on the sword. His eyes flashed back to hers, the warm hazel color marred by his look of absolute astonishment and stifled anger.
"I could kill you right now," she said carefully. Then, slowly removing her sword, "but I'm not going to. I don't care what you do to him, but I'm charging you with giving him the same honor." She backed away slowly, keeping the sword out in front of her until she was a safe enough distance away. She threw Severus a look of complete revulsion and picked up her knife.
"Lily, I – I didn't mean it, I'm - " Severus tried to speak.
"Spare me your pathetic excuses, Sir Snape. I've had enough."
The one named James stood frozen in the same position Lily had left him in, eyes wide and mouth slightly agape. Lily looked around for her satchel, only to find him standing on its strap. She pointedly coughed and indicatively darted her eyes at her bag, but he remained unresponsive.
"Last time I checked, I'm not swimming in riches, so stealing from me would rather contradict your general creed I believe," she impatiently noted. He shook himself out of his stupor and stepped back, running his fingers through his mess of black hair. Sirius silently shook his head from his position near the edge of the forest, looking as if someone had clobbered him with a mallet. His efforts to locate his weapon had clearly proven fruitless, as a large tree branch hung limply at his side. His third companion still lay unconscious on the ground.
The two dark haired rogues watched as Lily walked into the trees towards the final Marauder, who had remained in the shadows. She held out the sword she stole from his chubby friend.
"So nice to see what pleasant company you keep these days, Remus," She commented with mock-cordiality. He shook his head and gave her a wry smile.
"I could say the same to you, Miss Evans," he countered as he took the sword from her.
She gave a sad smile, patted him on the shoulder, and then disappeared into the forest.
For a moment, no one said anything; astonishment permeated over all but one of them. Then, rather unceremoniously, Sirius whacked Severus over the head with his branch. The hook-nosed nobleman collapsed into a heap on the ground.
"What the bloody hell just happened?" Sirius shouted.
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I hope you liked the story so far! I am having a lot of fun writing it! Reviews are literally cake and ice cream