Robin blinked the sleep from his eyes, not comprehending where he was.
Pain rushed over him, splitting his head and burning his shoulder, tearing him apart. He could taste blood, mixed with cool, damp, stale air, making him recall stormy nights in the forest when he and his men had taken shelter in the cave. Through his pain, he could almost hear Much complaining.
"I hate the cave."
The cave! That's exactly where he was now, he realized, though he had no idea how he'd come to be here.
Months of treacherous travel over snow-covered Alps, with Much complaining some more.
"You know how I hate climbing! Mountains! Snow! Winter! Who in their right minds travel in such...in such horrible conditions, I'd like to know? Unbelievable!"
"Not bein' funny, but I gotta agree with him."
"Robin, this we do not like!"
Robin ignored them, not even wanting them near. He couldn't stop. Every step was a step nearer to Gisbourne, and revenge.
And then, Much took a wrong step. The ground beneath the snow crumbled under his feet, and he slipped right off the side of the mountain. It happened so fast, neither Allan nor Little John had a chance to move. But Robin sprang into action, dropping to his chest and grabbing Much, pulling him to safety, then flinging him like a sack of grain over his body, far from the mountain's edge.
Terror stricken, Much could only lie on his back, sucking in great gulps of air.
Robin didn't move. Not Much, too. He couldn't lose another person he loved, like he'd lost... At last, he leaped to his feet, his face set and angry at the tears which threatened to gather in his eyes.
"Let's go," he grimly ordered his men, through clenched teeth.
The cave. Why was he here?
He remembered further travel, less and less hazardous, barely noticing the arrival of spring. And finally, within miles of Locksley, he started running.
Revenge drove him onward, while his men shouted for him to stop, guessing his purpose. He recalled asking Little John for his staff, then striking him with it. Hateful words, meant to hurt, both to Allan and to Much, "Traitor" and "Leech," then punching Much and drawing his sword on Allan. Anything so they wouldn't follow him! Yet try as he might, he couldn't totally bury his former self. Looking Much in the eye, he felt compelled to explain.
Tears welled up again. "Robin Hood is finished, alright?" he pled with his best and most loyal friend. "He died in the Holy Land, with Marian. Now all I have left is revenge."
And then, hatred and determination returned. "Don't hold me back. Gisbourne dies today."
But had he? Robin couldn't remember.
He knew there'd been a battle. He remembered shooting an arrow through his bedroom window, then seeing Gisbourne stagger toward him, reeking of drink. Drink had not robbed his enemy of his strength, nor his ability to wield a sword, however.
Neither had it robbed him of his brutality. The coward, probably feeling himself beaten even while Robin fought off Gisbourne's men, had actually seized little Mary and run away with her, then threatened to hurl her over the cliff.
The man inside Robin, the one he believed dead, resurfaced again at the child's danger. Revenge wasn't as important as saving her life. Throwing down his weapons, he invited Gisbourne to do the same.
He'd have his revenge after all. He'd kill him with his bare hands.
"Now is the time to pay for what you did."
"No! It was you! You forced me to kill her!" Gisbourne still wouldn't be a man, and own up to what he'd done. Despicably, pathetically, he looked to pass the blame onto Robin.
"You couldn't have her. She didn't love you."
"She should have been MINE!"
"She was my WIFE!"
And then...Robin couldn't remember anything.
He had no idea that he'd fallen and hit his head on a rock, had his outlaw tag ripped away by Gisbourne, then been heaved over his enemy's shoulder and thrown from the cliff.
He also did not know that Much had charged Gisbourne, wanting revenge for Robin's death just as Robin had sought Marian's. He had no knowledge that Much was now in the sheriff's dungeon, along with Allan and Little John, who had been captured in their attempt to rescue him.
Robin did not know that he'd dislocated his shoulder, but had otherwise miraculously survived the fall, and had dragged himself to the cave, his subconscious mind seeking the place where Marian had first "died."
He'd always believed they would grow old and die together, after enjoying a life of love, giving, sacrifice, beauty, and happiness. And so he'd crawled here, delirious and injured, seeking to die in the presence of the woman he loved.
(Note: I realize that in the tv episode, Little John and Allan rescued Much, but I am not including Tuck, and so I changed the plot.)
