Part 8: A Future

The next morning

Guy entered the tent, where Vaisey sat behind his desk, reviewing his documents that were scattered all over the table. He looked up and grinned, showing his teeth, which had one empty space between them.

"Gisbourne! Thank you for coming on such short notice." He removed a tooth from a skull next to him and placed it in his mouth. Guy grimaced. That man had absolutely no sense of decency. Yet he didn't move from his spot. To tell the truth, he was exhausted. The sun hadn't even risen. He yawned but didn't show any other sign of his exhaustion. He always had to wake up before dawn to perform his duties back in Nottingham, so it wasn't anything new. That, and nightmares always violently aroused him from any slumber.

"I've seen more spirit on cheese, Gisbourne," Vaisey muttered under his breath, as he returned to the papers on the desk, like Guy wasn't in the tent.

"What is it that you want to talk about?" Guy spoke up. "And don't waste my time," he added bitterly. "I don't even know I agreed to coming here."

"Of course you do," Vaisey corrected him, looking up. "You want to regain power, which is something anyone would do, even if that meant being here. Anyway, I don't want to babbled, so I'll be short, sweet, and to the point. I want to besiege Nottingham, take back what's rightfully mine, and maybe reconsider you as my right-hand man."

"First of all," Guy objected, "Prince John doesn't hold a very high opinion of you anymore. And of me, for that matter."

"Well, I'll prove myself to him, if it means that I will regain power. Power!" he reiterated, like that word brought him great joy. "He won't mind."

"So why am I involved in your devious plan?"

"Devious? I wouldn't say 'devious.' That's too harsh a word. I'd say 'clever.' Don't you want to have power again? Gee, one'd think that you would do anything to have power again. You don't want to be among scum, do you, like when you were in France?"

"No," Guy retorted. Inwardly, he wanted to kill the man for bringing up his travels as a vagabond on France. He had to force himself to remain calm and not take a violent course of action. Why did that man have to exist? If only he were a ghost or, better yet, a dream, so he could wake up and find himself free from his poison and perhaps next to Meg.

Meg! Why had he suddenly about her in this situation?! He blushed and felt himself grow warm. It was true that he was attracted to her, but why did he have to think about her at that moment?

"So what? What's it gonna be?" Vaisey snapped, waking Guy from his thoughts.

"Fine, I'll join." But how do I tell Meg this?

In the tent

Meg sat by the desk, preparing her pencil and paper. She stared at the pencil intently, like it was a bright gem. She'd seen one, when her father took it away from her. Finally, she could learn. From Guy, as well. She considered him a decent teacher. Well, she wouldn't know, since no one else ever taught her. The only other person who taught her something was her mother, but she disappeared when Meg was four years old, so she had little memory of her. Since her disappearance, no one ever found out where the woman went, or even if she is still alive.

The sound of a tent flap opening aroused Meg from her thoughts. She turned to her head to see Guy enter the tent with a platter of food and two cups. He placed them on the table and sat down close to Meg. When he seated himself, his hand inadvertently slid down hers for a second. It was a short moment, but long enough to send this warm feeling to Guy.

"They say it's hard to learn on an empty stomach," he commented, pushing that warmth away.

"Why?"

"Because you will have no energy, and without energy there is little motivation and concentration."

"Those words are very long."

"What? 'Motivation' and 'concentration'?"

"Yeah. They also…what's the word, when two words sound the same?"

"They rhyme?"

"Exactly! I would like to write some poetry."

Guy chuckled. "That's for another time. I promise you. Now you have to review."

"What does 'review' mean?"

"It means to repeat."

Meg nodded, looked at her paper, and started writing down the alphabet, while eating some of the food, which consisted of some meat, cheese, bread, and grapes. Unfortunately, she had a hard time remembering things. Once she learned something, it was often the case that she forgot about it quickly. Therefore, Guy decided to do some repetition exercises.

"Write down the first three letters of the alphabet, Meg." Why was he feeling so different all of a sudden? When he said her name, it sounded like an endearment, like she was his…wife.

"Why?" Guy was glad she asked that, because he didn't want to think about what he was feeling at the moment.

"You'll see," he replied quickly. He hoped Meg didn't notice anything.

Meg scribbled on her paper a, b, and c. Guy noticed that her hand shook as she wrote the letters down.

"Does it look fine?" she asked nervously, as this was indeed her first time writing something down.

Guy nodded. "You need to learn how to always remember the letters. So we will make some words. You can also say that we can formulate them."

"But I'm terrible with the sounds, and I can't spell!"

"That's why I said we. We'll do this together. And we'll start slow. We'll start with the first letters, then we'll go further. Please, don't be nervous."

Meg smiled and placed her hand over his. "All right. But what words have these letters?"

Her warm touched almost caused him to jump, and this desire to be nearer Meg nearly overwhelmed him. But Guy restrained himself and pondered for a moment over Meg's question. Then, "Aha! A sheep makes a baa sound. Write it down: b-a-a."

Meg placed her other hand on the paper and stared at it intently as she wrote down b. However, when she started writing the first a, her hand trembled, thus making her a's look nothing like it's supposed to be. If anyone saw her a's, they looked like squiggly lines. Meg sighed, slammed her pencil down, and buried her face in her hand.

"Hey, Meg, look," Guy said, trying to be consoling, picking up the pencil and placing it on her hand. Then he wrapped his arm over her arm, his hand over her hand, so he could guide her hand to write the remaining letters. Meg shivered at his warm touch, and she wondered what Guy must be feeling, since their faces were so close to each other. If she turned her head to him, she would have kissed him, but she was glad that her face was directed towards the paper and Guy's hand.

Guy didn't know what possessed him to do that. He tried convincing himself that he wanted to help her write down the remaining letters, but something in the back of his mind told him that it was not so. This closeness surprised Guy, but he enjoyed it. He couldn't describe what he was feeling. It was as if he liked this closeness. Normally if someone was close to someone else, they'd feel a lack of personal space. In this case, Guy felt whatever distress and anger he bottled up all during his life reduce to sheer nothingness.

What surprised Guy even more was that Meg shifted herself that she moved closer to Guy, to the point where her cheek touched his. She even rested her head on his and watched his hand guide hers to write down the two a's. Her hand still shook, and the a's turned out to look uneven, but they were a's, nonetheless.

"There," Guy finished, slowly releasing his arm from Meg. "Now, write the next letters: d, e, and f."

They went on, until they reached the letter l. During those times, Guy didn't wrap his arm around hers, which felt different, like there was something lacking. Meg, however, did a decent job of writing down the letters and some words, which had to be short for the time being, because she had start small. Every now and then, Guy had to correct her spelling and writing. When they stopped with the letters, Guy quizzed her on them, testing her by making her re-write the letters and words she learned over and over again. Then, he quizzed her by making her recite the letters and spell the words without looking at the paper. Finally, he made her read them. True, most of the sentences were incoherent and unfinished, but at least Meg was improving by being able to read them.

Guy noticed a change in Meg. She was brighter and, although she was extremely nervous and embarrassed about showing her work, he constantly reassured her. It could be said that he was impatient on certain occasions, but he could lash out on her. In fact, teaching her taught him to be patient.

What had gotten over him that he was starting to fall for Meg?

That night

When Meg tucked herself in and covered herself with a blanket, she placed her papers in one pile and kept them close to her. She even brought one out and said the words repeatedly to herself, so they could forever stay embedded in her brain.

Suddenly, Guy entered the tent. He had just met up with Vaisey, talking more about his plan to take over Nottingham. Instead of going to his sleeping place, he first went to Meg and knelt before her.

He took a deep breath before saying: "Meg, there's something I have to tell you."

Meg placed her paper down, worried that he might tell her about his feelings for her, which she wouldn't mind, but she felt like she wasn't ready. "What is it?"

"I meant to tell you earlier, but I have agreed to join Vaisey's army to reclaim Nottingham."

"What? Why would he want the town?" Meg exclaimed.

"It used to be his. Since Isabella is its ruler, he wants it back."

"But why did you join him? Why do you insist on staying with that man? He's cruel and mean. Just today, he found out about my stupidity and made fun of me without end. From what I hear, he was cruel to you. Why? Why? Why? Why are you on his side?"

"Woman! You don't know me, so you can't possibly understand my reasons," Guy retorted, getting worked up.

"Well, then, I want to you. Please, Guy! What happened?" Concerned laced her voice. She knew for a fact that something tragic happened to him.

"I had absolutely nobody. I was poor and starving, and he agreed to hire me. The situations surrounding this, well…" It was at this moment that Guy, sitting down next to Meg, because he knew this would take long, slowly and cautiously recalled what happened when he was just a teenager. The descriptions of the fire-wheel, his almost hanging, his father's return, the fighting, the anger, the sadness, the fire, and many other things the happened next filled Meg with dread. She knew this was neither an exaggeration nor an extenuation. He told the story as he saw it. Now she knew why he hated Robin Hood.

What terrified her were his descriptions of his and Isabella's dangerous travels in a foreign corner of France, facing coldness, sickness, starvation, wolves, and near-death experiences. That prompted him to sell Isabella off to Thornton. The story ended with him, desperate, joining Vaisey's corrupt rule, though he didn't know at the time, because all he could think of at that moment was his own skin. Anything was better than a life as a homeless man.

But he stopped at that. Whatever else happened after that, he decided not to tell. It was enough for him to tell that much in one day. He tried so hard to conceal the emotion in his voice as he recalled those events.

Meg had so much to take in. She was the first person that Guy opened himself to. He had never, ever told anybody else what he felt or what happened. He was glad to have someone to tell these things to. He had only known Meg for such a short, but he could trust her with details surrounding his past life. He knew that somebody having knowledge about him can be dangerous, because they can use the information they had just received to their own personal gain, but Meg was not that somebody. She didn't utter a word until Guy finished, but not immediately. She waited for Guy to finished exhaling deeply. He could not believe that he shared information about his life to someone else.

He dropped his head, not wanting Meg to see the emotions on his face. He was forced to look at her when she placed her hands on his elbows, rubbing them gently.

"Hey, you're helping me, so I will help you," she said, smiling innocently. "Okay? Do you concur with my statement?"

Guy could not help but chuckle. She was learning fast. "Of course."

Then, suddenly, Meg wrapped her arms around his neck and embraced him, which caused Guy to wrap his arms around her waist. He felt his conscience screaming that they were so close to each other, but he ignored it.

"Everything is going to be all right," Meg whispered, resting her head against his. She looked down and noticed a small scar on the side of his neck. Probably one of the results of Vaisey's abuse. She gently outlined the mark with her finger and planted a small kiss on it. "I'm sorry for everything that happened to you, but I remember something that my mother once told me, which stuck to me: there is no saint without a past, no sinner without a future. Never lose hope, Guy. Never. As long as you are breathing, there is always hope. Even if, Heaven forbid, you are on the verge of death, there is still hope, because you are still breathing. But I pray you will not be in that situation. I understand now, why you are here in this camp, so don't explain any more. But Vaisey is still bad. Let's try and get rid of him. Together. I think we're stronger together, if you come to think about it."

Although this wasn't said face to face, but while in an embrace, Meg's words were honey to Guy's soul. He didn't reply to her statement. He just wanted to hug her all night, nothing more, because she was such a consolation to him. Something inside of him which had been ignored and shunned was awakening inside of him.

It was love.

To be honest, I was having the feels, especially when I was writing the end!

Also, the 'there is no saint without a past, no sinner without a future' quote, I think, comes from Saint Augustine, who was, himself, a great sinner, but repented and became out of the greatest saints of the Catholic Church. I thought it fit to use that quote here.