Not a single particle in the air moved. Even sounds were frozen and dared not tread onto the fourth floor of Nottingham castle for here resided a void. Emotions had run so high the evening that had just passed that the walls clung to the screaming, desperation seeped into the grout, and regret chilled the atmosphere. A vacuum had been created that drained the spirits of those on this floor through to the wee hours of the morning. Ruby clung tight to the wadded mass of her comforter as her skeleton lay empty in bed. She pressed the sheets to her chest while in the fetal position, never letting her face glance away from the door. It wouldn't be much more of a wait before pink began to fray the horizon, she thought, but what then? It didn't matter whether the moon nor the sun, nor the arrival of dozen suns heralded over the skies. It did not and could not change the circumstances of her life. She sealed her eyes shut to block out the memory of the past few hours but did not have the courage to keep herself so vulnerable. Ruby tore her body from the cocoon of the sheets in a panic attack of claustrophobia. Her mind flew back to the events of last night despite her screeching attempts to restrain herself.
Ruby felt her breast heaving up and down in a nervous attempt to catch her breath. Sir Guy of Gisborne held the side of his nose to hers as his back slumped to accompany their difference in height, elbows supporting his weight on the wall behind her. His warm exhales pressed on her cheek. In this moment she saw a glaze on his retinas harden into steel that burrowed a hole for her to bury her affections in. He was scaring her.
"Are you going to be a good girl for me tonight and do as you're told?" Guy's face held no smile, his tone possessed by nothing more than a casual business interest, his menace veiled but perceptible.
"Sir Guy," she creakily said from her dry throat, "you – you are the one keeping me here? Why?" Gisborne placed his forearm on her chest and held his fingers in her honey tinted hair.
"Oh Ruby, my angel, you belong here. You belong with me. I know you see it but are too young to realize it," he cooed with fingers clasped tightly in her bun, "There is no sense in you wasting your time and devotion in any man or religion that is not here now." His God complex floored her.
"Sir Guy, please."
"I am going to show the world this wonderful, beautiful girl that I have and they will see, Ruby, they will see how happy we are." She watched as his pupils danced between each of her eyes in primal excitement.
"You can't 'have' me," she whispered, "I am a person, you cannot simply own me. A person can choose to give you their heart, but you can never have their freedom." Ruby watched something tear apart inside of him. In fact, she could pinpoint the exact moment his heart gave way to the bursting floodgates of feelings. Gisborne yanked his hips against hers and pressed every inch of their bodies together, his flesh searing with rage. One hand held her hair firmly still whilst the other pulled at the femur of her red dress to get them closer and closer.
"You accept my courtship and yet you now deny me? After all I did for you?" The whites of his eyes grew enflamed, "You will not leave me; I will have you one way or another." This vow prompted her to attempt a push past the man but his reflexes were trained from years of service to the Sherriff. As she ducked to his left she became caught on the forearm that pressed her back to the cold wall. The impact puffed a small whimper from Ruby just as his claws snatched back to her dress. Gisborne grabbed at gobs of the cloth as she tried to slide out another direction. The force of his toned body, however, was stronger than her petite power. He wrestled the hem up on her squirming body to provide the opening he needed as she pounded on his shoulders with white-knuckled fists. His knee went between her thighs and held her soft legs apart as she swiftly began shouting his name in repetition.
"Guy! Guy, please! Guy! Guy, no, please! Guy, stop!" As her screams tumbled into tears something awoke inside of Gisborne, giving his fingers a laxness that released the fabric of her clothing. Ruby's face was averting him and glossed with tears; she did not have the gall to open her eyes even though she no longer felt his presence on her. She heard his bare soles skimp back a few steps before he grabbed a vase and heaved it into the fireplace, glittering shards around the area and leaving feather quills splayed homeless on the ground. Ruby curled up her knees into her arms as he stormed out of his own chambers.
This scene would not leave her even as the time departed and left it further and further from the physical realm. As she lay motionless in bed Ruby noted the door to her room opening for the third time this evening, and for the third time there stood the man in all black. Upon his first visit, she was expecting an apology. On the second, she prepared her body for him to make another try to deflower her. But, just as the other times, he simply stood as a statue in the doorframe. In the dark mist of night she could not make out any features on him, but she could sense that it was, in fact, Gisborne, and that he was staring at her constantly. Two or three minutes of stillness left and then eventually so did he.
Guy clicked the thick gate shut and said nothing. He nabbed his worn satchel and let out a long breath during the decent on the turning staircase. His brain pumped in regret and sorrow that he could not shake loose as the images looped and burned his memory, leaving no room for any thought outside of his foolish actions. He approached the stable and extracted his faithful horse from his pen but, as he prepared the saddle, his sense of reality wandered back to the evening before.
There she was, the blonde obsession of his heart, standing in his quarters so close to him. He nuzzled his nose to hers and so dearly hoped she would respond to his plea.
"Are you going to be a good girl for me tonight as you're told?" his throat clenched in the mild worry that she would become as rambunctious and wild as Marian had been.
"Sir Guy," her pouty pink lips trembled, "You - you are the one keeping me here? Why?" He watched her precious mouth twitch with anxiety, leading him to put a relaxing hand in her hair to soothe her. How could he explain how he felt to her? She was so young, so fragile, and so sheltered from this new world of Nottingham.
"Oh Ruby, my angel, you belong here. You belong with me. I know you see it but are too young to realize it," Guy struggled to form the words that could express how he felt and the frustration invaded his fingers, "There is no sense in you wasting your time and devotion in any man or religion that is not here now."
"Sir Guy, please."
"I am going to show the world this wonderful, beautiful girl that I have and they will see, Ruby, they will see how happy we are." Pride combatted his desire for her tender companionship in the pit of his chest as he saw how little she respected what he had to say. It was as if she had become deaf; her attention was clearly on other parts of the room and not his emotions. This upset him.
"You can't 'have' me," she said matter-of-factly, "I am a person, you cannot simply own me. A person can choose to give you their heart, but you can never have their freedom." Was this it? Was this how she felt for him? After all of his favors and tokens of affection her mind played out to be that of another simple girl who didn't love him? She probably just wanted the status of being affiliated with someone so high up… but all their exchanges felt so electric. Gisborne plummeted into a state of confusion and lost control over his own self. He felt himself push into her hips in demand of that closeness he knew they had, if only she would open herself to the possibility, if only she gave him the chance.
"You accept my courtship and yet you now deny me? After all I did for you?" he poured various thoughts that were flooding at once into a sentence, "You will not leave me; I will have you one way or another."
In a flash she ducked to his side and tried to push past him, cut him off, and get away. His body reacted and caught her. Ruby gave a small cry while he witnessed his hands blockading another escape. As if an onlooker, Guy's blue gaze was hooked as he noticed his hands pulling at her dress. He felt the adrenaline and pleasure course through him as her pale knees was exposed to the air, but something in his mind convinced him that he didn't want to stop there. His leg pressed between hers as Ruby began to scream out his name. He perceived them as muffled whines but very soon the fog over his eyes cleared and he heard her begging in a sad transparency once he numbly realized what he was doing. Was he really going to…? Guy dropped her clothes and let them fall to their natural place on her frame as she cried quietly. He staggered backwards from the scene of the soon-to-be crime in shock and disappointment. How could he have even thought to do such a thing to her? She was his prized possession, or rather, was destined to be his treasure. But in this black out it had burnt away into nothing more than a dream. He cut his own chance with Ruby as he had with Marian, the only other woman he felt this way for, and for what? He did not know. There was no benefit, no reason to his action, no excuse. Why must he always torture himself in this vicious cycle? He absentmindedly reached for a vase and broke it to the sound of his heart falling into pieces. He could not look at Ruby again.
A cold wind flew into his face and awoke him from this reflection just in time to finish preparing his stallion. Without a moment of hesitation, Sir Guy of Gisborne strode off to his manor in Locksley to wait out the repercussions of his actions and delay the inevitable loneliness he would soon be reintroduced to.