Title: To Live Another Day
Author: Kate's Master, aka Emma
Summery: Obligatory response to the end of series two. Will be followed by some form of angsty oneshot, no doubt. Ten ways she lived. Many crossovers, verrry odd. Read at your peril. Spoilers galore.
Disclaimer: If I owned Robin Hood, the next series would be starting in January and Marian would still be in it. Since neither is happening, I obviously don't.
Authors Notes: I AM ALIVE! It's been hectic. But I'm here, alive and pretty well and updating for your reading pleasure. Merry Christmas, one and all!
Ten Ways That She Lives
9. IT WAS ALL A DREAM! The Sheriff has captured Robin, and fed him some mind-altering drug, which made him dream the whole thing. And he'll wake up in the first episode of the next series, and kiss lots of people and make Djaq and Will kiss each other, and all will be well.
Hot…the heat, so very, very hot…dry sand in his toes, even Much beyond moaning now…thirst, like he's never been thirsty before…the ropes round his wrist, cutting into his skin, and they're going to die here, they all are, and it's all his fault…Marian, and failure, because she would die too, and that was a failure beyond anything else…blood on the sword, blood on the sand, anger like he's never known before, and her body, falling, falling…failing, failing…
Robin woke with a jerk, panting heavily and covered in sweat. The morning was cool, and all in the hideout the gang still slept, save Will, who was on watch. On watch. Not in the Holy Land. Not a thousand miles away from the trees he knew and loved. Slowly, the dream began to drain away, to be replaced with a euphoria that made him giddy. Around him, the others were beginning to wake, Much snuffling to himself, Little John stretching and relaxing as he returned to consciousness once more, Djaq already sitting up and rubbing her eyes…Djaq…
Taken with his sudden burst of energy, Robin leapt out of bed and threw his arms around the Saracen.
"Robin! What was that for?!" she cried, slightly surprised at her abrupt awakening.
"You're here, I'm here, everybody's here…" Robin laughed, launching himself at Much, who backed away in fear. "It's a new day, there're poor to be fed and Sheriffs to be taunted…Allan!"
"What?" blinked Little John, eyeing his leader warily.
"I need to go and see Allan. Where's Marian?"
Her absence pulled him up short, and the terror of the dream began to leak back.
"She's at the castle, Master." said Much slowly, as if speaking to a particularly slow child. "Are you alright? You should eat something…"
"Don't nag, Much, I'm entirely fine. More than fine. I'm going to see Allan. And Marian. Marian first, I think."
He was off, tearing out the camp like there was no tomorrow. He passed Will along the way, and shouted a greeting to him, before jogging back and embracing the carpenter tightly for several moments. And then he was off again, leaving one very bemused young man standing on the forest path and rubbing his nose in confusion.
Sometimes, Will Scarlet could not understand his leader one jot.
In the end, he didn't need to go as far as the castle. The market was already crowded when he reached the city, but a tuneless whistle he would have recognised anywhere caught Robin's attention. Ducking between stalls and lines of cloth, he followed the sound, and ground to a halt on the edge of a small square.
Directly opposite him, Marian was bent over a stall covered in cloth, talking to the stall owner, Allan standing sullenly nearby, scuffing one foot miserably in circles. It took a great deal of self-restraint for him not to stride across and carry her off with him there and then, consequences be dammed. But common sense, and a good idea of what her reaction would be if he did such a thing, held him back, and so Robin had to be content with hiding in the shadows, drinking in the sight of her, the sound of her voice. Even Allen's whistle, the source of so much annoyance in the past, was a wonderful sound this morning.
So he watched and cherished, and, later, as she and Allen headed back to the castle, waylaid them, stealing a kiss and clasping the ex-gang member briefly on the shoulder. Not forgiveness, not exactly. Not yet. More, the beginning of it. Because everybody lived, and even though the light of day dispelled the last of the dream from his mind, the dark, hollow feeling would never quite fade from memory.
They were his, every one of them, alive and well and together, and he would do everything in his power to keep it that way. This funny, miss-matched little group of people who meant the world to him, who would die for him, and he for them. Dreams and nightmares faded in the end, but this, his cold harsh reality of hunger and fear and the slow hope that tomorrow might be better, was ever present. And so long as he had his odd excuse for a family, in all their inept, ever-moaning, annoying glory, he could live with it.
His, and his alone, and he would protect them until his final breath from the terrors of the fates that stalked his dreams.
'Til death us do part.
Not so happy with the ending, just couldn't tweak it to the point where I was happy with it. Only one more to go, and since it's reached this point, it seems fitting that the final update should be the one year anniversary of the final episode. So I shall see you all then!
And if you feel the need to spread Christmas joy, press the button below and drop us a quick review!
Happy Christmas!
