Scarlet Rose
The Beginning of an Explanation
Chapter 3
They sat there for a few minutes not really saying anything. The only thing that was happening was Rose taking fabric and wrapping it around Will's waist to cover his bleeding side. The work itself was quiet and simple, but still nothing escaped Rose's lips. That all changed once she was finished though, leaving both John and Will to stare at her expectantly.
"Now, would you mind telling me why that man was after you?" Will asked, watching as she laid down on the bed of hay, curling up a bit.
"I…" she stopped for a moment, taking in another breath. "You wondered why…I responded to the two of you the way that I did when we first met… It's…it's because I was once a slave," she whispered sadly, keeping her head down.
"You mean servant, right?" Will asked, his brows slightly scrunched up in confusion.
"No, Will, I mean slave…not servant. When your own parents sell you as a child that makes you lower then a servant, for you have no freedom. Believe me, I wish I could have had the blessing of being considered a servant instead," she told him, covering her face with her hand.
Just thinking about it sent a deep sadness through her soul, unshed tears dropping to the ground.
"That's why you called us Master then? It was merely outta habit, slip of the tongue," John said, rubbing the back of his neck for a moment.
"Then that man…was he…?" Will spoke, not really being able to finish.
"No," Rose said, shaking her head. "That was not my…my Master," she whispered.
"Then that means… Wait, he was going to take you back to that?" Will asked, slight anger showing through his voice.
"Yes," Rose nodded, answering his question. "Now you know the truth," she said, her face becoming covered by her other hand as well then.
For a moment Will looked over at John for an answer, but John shrugged his shoulders, unsure of what to do. He had comforted his wife before, but this was a whole other issue entirely. After several minutes though, John left, the calling of his eldest son Wulf catching his attention.
"Rose?" Will whispered, getting off the stool and coming to sit beside her on the bed of hay.
She didn't say anything to him though as he sat there, hesitantly placing a hand on her shoulder. This was something that he wasn't used to. Comforting someone? Had he ever truly done that before? Other than his mother, no. Although, keeping that thought in mind, he began rubbing her back softly. Granted, the act was slightly awkward, but it was better than nothing in his opinion.
After a while of doing this though, he noticed that her crying had stopped, her breath evening out considerably. When he moved a bit of hair away from her slender face, he found her to be asleep, her mind finally at peace. This made his lips twitch into a small smile. He was glad that she was able to fall asleep with his help. It also made him feel good inside knowing that he had actually been able to help her.
"Sleep well my lady," he whispered into her ear before standing up and walking out of the hut.
T
When she woke up the next morning she found Will absent as usual, but she did find something in his place laying next to her head. In his place was a beautiful red rose, nestled in a deep blue scarf. Much like she had done for Will, sewing his name on a small piece of cloth, he had done the same.
"Will…" she whispered, a small smile forming on her lips.
After picking up the flower, she sat it in her lap, before taking the scarf into her hands. She stared down at it for a few moments, running her fingers over it. Granted, it was patch work and slightly sloppy on some spots, it was still beautiful in her mind. Not to mention, it was a rather warm scarf as well.
When she stepped out of the hut, scarf wrapped loosely around her neck a few times, she found that it was well into the afternoon.
"Great, I overslept," she muttered with distaste, looking around her for the others.
She was surprised though when she found herself alone in the camp, not a soul in sight save for a rabbit nibbling on a blade of grass. It was definitely an oddity in her mind, for as long as she'd been there, never once had the camp been completely empty.
A few hours later though, she found herself surrounded by her friends, Will included. The other thing she noticed was the three strangers that accompanied them. One in particular was a dark skinned foreigner. She'd never seen a man such as him before and it intrigued her to no end.
"Will," Rose called, running up to him. "Who are those people?" she asked curiously.
"Nobody," he said curtly before walking away from her.
She was confused as he walked away, leaving her standing there dumbfounded.
"That's rude you know?" she called after him, but it did her no good.
Sighing, she ran a hand through her hair, brushing it out of the way in frustration. Will had never really acted that way before and she was wondering the reason for it. Thinking this over for a moment she went to John to ask the problem, hoping to get an answer from him hopefully.
"John?" she called, running up to him.
"What is it little lady?" he asked, a smile on his face.
She was about to ask him about Will, but that's when she noticed he was a bit wet.
"What happened to you?" she questioned, looking him up and down for a moment.
"Well, you see, that would be from our guest, Robin of Locksley," he told her.
"Robin of Locksley? Who is that?" she asked, her voice soft as usual.
"You should have been there m'lady," Much said.
"Yes, you should have," Bull chimed in happily with a light chuckle. "John got tricked by him he did," Bull said, gesturing to the guest that had an interesting looking gold medallion hanging around his neck.
"I gave him a good walloping though I did," John told her.
"John, what's wrong with Will?" she asked curiously as she got back on track.
"Heck if I know. He's been like that since the fight at the river," John said honestly.
She nodded her head before turning around. A moment later, she turned toward Much.
"Much, would you mind accompanying me to get some food to eat?" she asked, gesturing toward the forest.
"Of course m'lady," he said happily, jogging forward to meet her steps.
Before heading out to the river for food, she stopped by the hut, grabbing a cloth net that she had made to help catch fish. After that, they made their way to the river together, scrounging up as much as they could. After a hour or two of this, they decided to call it a quits, since it was getting late and hard to see. This left them in a slight rut as they made their way back to the camp in the dark, finding a nice fire waiting for them upon arrive. Rose was thankful for this as she shivered from the cold, keeping one of her hands wound around her scarf.
"If you will take the bucket m'lady, then I shall fetch you a blanket," Much said, holding the bucket of fish out to her.
With a nod she accepted the bucket, slowly making her way over to the fire with it. Everyone turned toward her as she got closer, looking curiously at what she had in her hands.
"What you got there little lady?" John asked from his spot up in a tree.
"Fish," she said happily, earning a cheer from those around her.
"You're a mighty right angel, ya know that?" John chuckled.
"No I'm not…" she said, setting down the bucket by the fire. "We just got lucky this time. Besides, I nearly broke my net and as you can clearly see, I'm still wet," she told them.
"Stop being so modest lass," one of the men told her.
She just ignored it as she set some of the fish up on sticks to cook. She found it rather annoying as she continued to shiver, though savoring the bit of warmth that she received from the fire in front of her. She was thankful though when Much finally brought her a blanket, taking it and wrapping it around herself tightly. She sighed in relief at the warmth that it gave her. Soon after, John began introducing everyone to the new comers.
"Because you're short?" Robin asked.
"No, it's because I'm so long!" Bull laughed, making a gesture to his lower region, before attempting to unbuckle his pants and show the newcomer.
Rose's face blanched as he did this, a look of disgust on her face.
"Bull!" she yelled, catching his attention and stopping him. "Please…" she groaned out with a dreadful frown on her face.
"Sorry my lady," he said, bowing his head before sitting back down.
"That there is our leading lady, Miss Rose Lockwood," John said with a light chuckle. "Give the man some mead," he told the man beside Robin. "Now, I made that myself," he told him, watching as Robin took a drink.
"I knew your family as a boy," Robin said, turning to Rose.
Upon hearing his words, her whole body went rigid, leaving Will and John a bit on edge. They knew that she was uncomfortable talking about her family, but no one else did.
"That's none of my concern," she whispered softly, standing up and picking up one of the fish that she had placed on a stick.
"They were good people," he said, making her flinch, her hand curling up in anger.
"You know not of what you speak," she spat in anger, taking her fish and walking away toward Will, sitting down by his feet.
Everyone around her gave her a strange look, save for three people, Will, John, and the dark skinned stranger. From there on, she paid no attention to what was spoken as she nibbled away at her fish, before offering Will some of it. She did catch Robin mentioning something about English hospitality though.
"Later," he told her quietly, listening further to their conversation.
The mood changed when Will accused Robin's father of being a devil worshiper. They argued for a brief moment, before Robin said that he was now an outlaw like all of them.
"You are nothing like us!" Will said with distaste. "I'm going back to the hut," Will muttered quietly to Rose as he pushed off of the tree and strode off, walking far away from everyone.
"That there's Will Scarlet. Don't take no notice to him, he's full of piss and wind," John said.
"John!" Rose scolded, standing up her own self. "He's your friend," she said, looking around at everyone. "He's allowed to have his own opinion, just like me, just like you, and…just like him," she said grudgingly as she pointed to Robin, before turning and running after Will.
Once she had the hut in sight, she found Will standing outside waiting for her. She then ran up to him, fish in her hands.
"Are you alright?" she asked, looking up at him with curious eyes.
"Better yet, are you?" he asked, brushing off her question and watching as her facial expression changed.
"I'm fine," she whispered, stepping inside with him and going to sit down on the bed of hay.
"You don't look fine," he said, kneeling down in front of her.
She just sighed, placing her head down and running a hand through her hair. It was obvious that she couldn't hide how she truly felt from him.
"He has no right…" she began, her eyes slowly welling up. "He had no right saying what he did!" she shouted in anger. "He…he had no business in the matter!" she cried, dropping the fish onto the hay and crying. "No right…" she whimpered.
It hurt Will to see her like that, hurting on the inside because of someone's stupidity. That merely gave him another reason to resent Locksley. Locksley would pay for hurting such a precious flower.
"Rose, you're freezing," Will said as he placed a hand on her shoulder, the dampness of her shirt meeting his skin.
"I know that," she said with a sniffle, shaking off the rest of her sobs. "But as you can see, I've nothing else to wear," she said, gesturing around her for emphasis.
"But I do," Will told her, going over to a small trunk and pulling out an old pair of pants and a shirt. "This, this should work for a while," he said, going and handing them to her.
"Will?" she questioned curiously.
"Just use them, okay?" he asked, placing a small smile on his face.
So with a sigh she nodded, eyeing the clothes for a moment, before turning back to him for a moment.
"Um, turn around please?" she asked, her face going slightly red for a moment.
"Oh, right, sorry," he chuckled, turning his back to her.
From there, she began removing her damp clothes, letting them drop down to the bed of hay. Again, she glanced at him, making sure that he wasn't looking. Satisfied with the answer, she proceeded to put the clothes on that he had given her, first pulling the long pants on over her shaky legs. She was very happy that he had placed a belt with them, quickly putting it in place. Next, she looked down at the shirt, her back to him at this point. Quickly, she slid it on over her head, pulling at the sleeves to get them in place.
"Okay, you can turn around now," she said to him, a smile forming on her face to look at him.
"Much better," he said with a smile of his own.
I hope everyone liked this chapter? Please remember to REVIEW and MESSAGE. I'm also always open to ideas. Also, don't forget to check out my other stories that might interest you like stories for FINAL FANTASY 7, ESCAFLOWNE, FRUITS BASKET, X-MEN (GAMBIT), LABYRINTH and MORE! :)