"He wants to see you…"
Marian glanced up when she heard Roland's voice. He was leaning against the kitchen wall, looking lost in thought as he did so. "Did he give you a reason?" She asked. She had assumed she would be one of the last people he'd want to see.
Roland shrugged. "No, but I assume it's to ask the same questions he did me," he pushed off the wall and squinted, crossing his arms. "He's quite familiar with self-loathing, isn't he?"
"You have no idea," Marian deadpanned, getting up and heading for Guy's room.
"If you need help knocking some sense into him, call for me. No promises I won't make that knocking literal, though," Roland offered.
"Oh, believe me, I'll keep that in mind," Marian replied, then finished the walk to his room and stepped inside. "You wanted to see me?" She offered.
Guy turned away from the vase he had pretended to be interested by and frowned at her. "Marian, tell me this isn't part of some plan of Hood's…"
"What?!"
"I've come to terms with the fact that my being used or harmed takes precedence in quite a few of his plans- whether this part of it was planned or not, be honest with me- was any of this part of his plan?"
Marian clenched her fist. That alone made her want to slap him more than she had the night before. "For your information, his plan stopped when I saved your life! I had no part of it to begin with! Do you really think I would ever be in league with the Sheriff? To hurt you no less- what reason would I have to hurt you?!" That comment earned half an eyeroll and an arched eyebrow from the man. "Then you know I wouldn't put my faith into the Sheriff to do it- or not make it fatal, anyway."
Guy was silent for a while, trying to work wording for a response after that. "Then why leave now? You've made it clear you want nothing to do with me. You brought me here to safety. You're hardly obligated to stay with me. Why not go back to Hood and leave me? You always have."
"We've already had this discussion, Guy…" Marian offered.
"And I can tell when you're trying to avoid telling me something. You've put me on the receiving end of that too many times," Guy replied, refusing to meet her eyes. "Go. I've given up trying- hoping. I thought I was clear about that earlier."
"Is your life really that worthless to you? You'd push away the two- maybe even only two people who even care about you so you can continue to wallow in your own self-pity?"
"Why shouldn't I? I don't have much reason not to- and you just listed one of the reasons," Guy replied.
Marian stepped closer, ready to give him a piece of her mind when she noticed a red splotch on the bandage over his chest. "You're bleeding," She pointed out, relieved at the slight distraction.
"It's just left over from last night. It's dried- it's fine."
"It is most certainly not fine." Marian replied. She walked over to the supplies Roland had left out and pulled up a chair. She took the bloody bandages off of his wound, offering an apologetic look when he hissed as the fabric right above the wound peeled off. She set it aside and went about cleaning the wound again and setting a new bandage on it. "There. Hopefully that will stay."
Guy was silent for a while, and then managed to swallow what pride he had left. "Thank you…"
Marian looked back at him. "Well that's a start…"
Guy flinched. "… … Marian, I'm sorry. Truly, I am. I should not be taking this out on you. This is between the Sheriff and I alone."
"That's a better start," Marian corrected. When he looked away again, she stood to leave, then much like Roland had, turned back at the last minute. "Oh- and by the way- if you'd like to get an even better start- I'm not the only one you owe an apology to."
Guy huffed and settled back in, hoping to get sleep again. It was going to be a long road to recovery.
Edward tried to relax under the scrutiny of the Sheriff. If he was going to sell seeing his 'dying friend' one last time, he was going to have to try quite hard- suddenly being considered Vasey's prisoner over Marian's defiance would not help any.
"And how do I know you're not going to scurry off to see your precious little daughter, hm?" Vasey asked. "You can't possibly take me for that much of a fool to really think you're going to see a sickly friend," He made a face. "Besides, shouldn't all of your friends be dead anyway, between old age and Gisborne's blade?"
Edward tried to keep the hateful scowl off his place. "My daughter has not bothered to contact me, Sir, I assure you."
Vasey rolled his eyes and flicked his hands to shoo him away. "Where's… Oh, whatever his name is. New Gisborne. Get him out of here." He looked away. "New Gisborne? NEW GISBORNE- Oh, he's not even in the room right now. Well, he'll pay for that one." He pointed at one of the guards by the door into the main hallway. "You! Escort him back to his cell!" The guard nodded and took Edward by the arm. "You'll have to try harder than that next time, Old Man."
Edward gaped at him and went to respond, but the guard gave his arm a hard tug and took him back down the hallway. He let the man drag him down the halls, then all the way back to the jail. He frowned in confusion when the guard did not shove him back in his cell like the others had, but just gave him a gentle push inside, more like guiding him than anything. He turned to the guard. "Robin?"
"Not exactly…"
Edward frowned when the guard removed his helmet, but recognition dawned on him when he saw the bright blue-green eyes and mop of blonde hair. "Adam-"
"Allan," Robin's fellow outlaw- well, former fellow outlaw, corrected. He stepped closer, locking the cell. "Is your friend really dying?"
Edward frowned at him.
Allan shook his head. "Look, I swear I won't go telling the Sheriff. With Gisborne gone, I know my days are numbered here. I need to get out, and if doing this to get to you- to help you, would help me get back in with Robin, then I have to try it."
Edward leaned forward. "I doubt Robin will be all that forgiving, Boy."
"It's worth a shot," Allan replied. "Please… let me help you. You can trust me. I know you don't believe me, but you can. Please,"
Edward sighed. What more harm could they do? He was just as dead as the young man. He was starting to come to terms with that. "No, he's not dying, but right now he's housing Marian and Guy for their own safety."
Allan made a face. "Gisborne's with her and she hasn't left?"
Edward shrugged. "The Sheriff stabbed him for Marian's disloyalty without a second thought. I doubt he's going to be the loyal dog any longer after that."
Allan sighed. "How do you get there?"
"Follow the path and the clear areas after you leave the west gate."
Allan made the directions a mental note, then leaned on the bars. "I'll check on her- don't worry, I won't harm her. I like her. I'll get word back as soon as I can."
"Truly?" Edward asked.
Allan shrugged. "Might as well get some redeeming factors in before I'm sent to Hell."
Edward touched his cheek. "Then thank you, my boy. Thank you. Now go when you still can."
Allan nodded, then locked the cell door, offering an apologetic smile as he did so. When Edward shook his head dismissively, he hurried off, putting the helmet back on as he did so. Now the trick was getting out of there.
To his own surprise, Allan made it out relatively easily by keeping his head down and staying silent, just offering half-hearted waves at the other guards so he could pass. He failed to notice that someone was tailing him as he did so.
After a few minutes of tracking the guard going down the path, Robin poked his head out from behind a tree a few feet away from his target. When he first spotted the guard leaving the castle, he had ben near furious. Marian was missing- so was Gisborne, but he didn't mind that much- and now Edward was imprisoned for Marian messing Vasey's plan up. He wanted answers. He figured now was his chance to get it, being that the guard had stopped at a fork in the road and was debating which way to go .
The guard had taken his helmet off, so that meant there was greater range for a distraction, or at least something to spook him.
Robin started to ready an arrow just as the guard turned. His hand stilled and he ducked down as he recognized him. "Allan?!" He muttered. He ducked back behind the tree. Now what was going on? Maybe it wasn't an odd way of executing the man. Allan wouldn't let it happen, whether he was on the Sheriff's side or theirs- would he? If not, where were they going? "Damn it," he got up and continued shadowing them. There was only one way to find out what was going on, and he was already doing it.
