Spoilers for season 2!
Couldn't resist one more teeny oneshot based on "Ducking and Diving" from season 2. :D This scene is at the end when Robin finally discovers that Allan is the spy, and the two of them have their epic fight where they're both yelling at each other and Robin takes away Allan's necklace. The story is focused on Robin's thoughts as Marian's words from so long ago sink in for the first time: Everything is a choice.
"Everything is a choice!"
For the first time Robin truly understood those words. Marian had always pounded them into his head. They came naturally to his lips. He'd used the sharp reminder before on the gang, but now its meaning chilled him to the bone.
Because now he knew. Knew with absolute certainty that in the end, there were no excuses. You could say whatever you liked, but what you did because of your choices was what mattered.
Allan had made it clear whose side he was on. Whatever words he used, it didn't make him innocent. His actions were irreversible, his fate chosen. He couldn't be trusted. Fury, once bottled up tight in Robin's stomach, ignited with a sour taste.
Everything
Everything
Everything
is a choice.
Our choice. Your choice. My choice. We decide. We choose.
"Harmless lies…innocent betrayals…they don't exist!"
He was out of breath and charged with energy at the same time. Allan stood there idiotically, looking at him as if he were insane. Robin felt a building wave of fierce regret enveloping him––any association with Allan was permanently over.
Forever. That was his choice, and he was fully aware of the consequences. He and his gang would be vulnerable if he refused to give Allan a second chance. But wasn't it just more risky to let Allan stay in the gang? Who was to say he wouldn't just stab them in the back a second time?
His heart hardened. Allan had done the unthinkable by siding with Guy and the Sheriff. Surely, he didn't even want to be welcomed back to the gang. And Robin wouldn't offer him that chance anyway.
The next few minutes blurred together in slow motion, then seemed to flash by, full of whines and protests and shouts and cries, two men facing each other off, each sure that they were in the right. Robin wasn't sure his head stayed clear during any of it. He couldn't even tell what his heart wanted him to do. Snatches of sentences spun around, the only thoughts in his head.
Everything is a choice. There is no harmless lie, there is no innocent betrayal, every move and every little decision is made for a reason. There is a motive behind it, even if it is unknown. Sides are being chosen, people moving back and forth, unable to decide what they're fighting for.
He also knew that the past was behind, the future in front, but you still had to live with the consequences of your choices. No going back.
No second chances, Allan. Not today. For a sliver of a second he felt sad. Then he tried to imagine Allan coming back into the gang. Would they ever really trust him after knowing what he did? Would things be as easygoing, as friendly?
Not at all. Not yet. If Allan were to be welcomed back into the gang, then he had better give them a good reason to trust him.
The anger rose again. Words flew out of Robin's mouth, words that he had no control of. All he knew was that while the raging part of him meant those words, another part of him was mourning the loss of a friend.
Robin had never held back in his close friendship with the gang. It was them against the Sheriff, and each member of the gang counted. To know that he'd stretched out an arm, open and welcoming, and then been used and lied to… The gang was important to him, he felt it fiercely in his heart. After having been betrayed, how could he ever trust again?
No going back. All he knew was that he had to keep going forward. Only time would let him trust again.
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