Hi, so here is another chapter, this takes place entirely in Erin's point of view and does deal with trigger warnings. It was very emotional to write this chapter and to write about this turning point in Erin's life and therefore I hope you all enjoy it.

Disclaimer-Nothing here is mine just the character of Erin.

As i said in the first chapter there is a sequel to this story in the works, perhaps two.

There are some Trigger Warnings in this chapter so please keep that in mind and stop reading if that effects you.

Please Read and Review and let me know what you think.

Faith Based Initiative

Chapter 6-Go It Alone.

A chapter that takes place entirely in the cave. Erin contemplates what has been asked of her and if she has the strength to do the impossible. Some Trigger Warnings for discussions about rape.

For a moment she stared at Marian as if she had a second head. Nothing in the world had sounded as insane as that idea that was in front of her. Nothing in the world had sounded so mad as that suggestion but as she waited for the joke to drop she was hyper aware that neither Marian nor Djaq were laughing, they were not joking or changing their minds. They were battered and bruised and yet both of them were looking at her with an expression that told Erin they were deadly serious and that was just utterly laughable.

"You want me to do what?" she asked finally. It could be she rationalised that she was hearing things. After all it had been a long time since she had been free, of fear, of chains of these men. There was a very good chance that she was never going to be free and she had reconciled herself to that. Actually the company in front of her was the only change and now they were asking her to do something that was physically impossible for her to do. Even thinking about it was something that sent shivers down her spine.

"Escape" Marion said her hands scrabbling on the dirt of the bottom of the cave. Erin looked at them and saw bruises forming on the knuckles and knew that soon she would be dragged out to fight again if not worse. She was looking at Erin as if she was the last hope to a dying woman and Erin had never been looked at like that before and never wanted to be looked at like that again.

"I cannot" she said finally. She shook her head and felt the lank dark blonde hair shift a little with the movement. "I do not know how…I wouldn't—even if I could where would I go?"

"Robin Hood" Djaq said softly and Erin looked at both of them and knew that they had collectively both lost their minds.

"You cannot be serious" she said flatly. "You seriously—I cannot escape this place. You…you can try but I cannot…" she shook her head and sat back against the wall of the cave.

Marian shifted forwards her whole body aching when she saw what was in front of her. There was something pleading in her expression and Erin saw it but the thought of doing what was being asked of her terrified her and therefore she tried to feel nothing—even pity.

"Erin you have to, you're the only one who can fit through that hole" Djaq said pointing at the hole in the cave. "You can climb over the top of it and escape. We are in Sherwood Forest and Robin leaves traps all over the place. He'll find you and then you can lead him back to us"

She was not really endearing this Robin fellow to her Erin thought wryly. Being held hostage by one and being encouraged to fall into the trap of another was not very encouraging.

"Why don't you do it?" she asked. Cowardly though it might be she wanted to know why the risk was all being put on her. She wanted to know why Marian and Djaq both of whom claimed they knew the men in this gang could not escape.

"Because" said Djaq who had a look on her face that told Erin she knew all of what she was thinking and more. "Because Marian and I will not fit through that hole and because we can give you time. We can fight and we can keep fighting, they need us. Whatever reason we are here it is personal and you…forgive me Erin but I do not think it is the same for you"

Erin conceded she was probably right. She did not know why she was here, she had never known why she was here but she did know that the reasons for her capture and Marian and Djaq's was not the same. She felt her hands shake and clasped them together.

"Your putting a lot in this Robin's ability to get to you in time" she said evenly. Marian coughed a little and spat out blood but her smile was real and soft and Erin knew that she believed and would believe until her dying day that Robin Hood would come for her when she needed him.

"I know we are asking a lot of you—"

"Do you?" she asked sharply. "This…" she gestured to the cave and the chains and the walls and all the pain she had been through—the beatings, the starvation, the rape and all of it. "This is my whole world. Has been for years and…and it's not like it is for me, I don't have a Robin Hood waiting for me. I don't have a family out there hiding praying and wishing for me to come back. I know that much. The Black Knights killed everyone and what village would want me? What man in this year, in this century would want a woman who has been treated such as me? I am—"

"An outlaw" Marian said simply. Erin looked at her and felt the anger and the energy drain from her body. "You're an outlaw. Like Djaq, like me. And Robin will protect you, when the King returns and he gets his pardon I will personally ensure that you are taken care of. Erin if I have to stake my honour and my life on it I will, I will personally ensure that you are not put in danger or placed back here"

It was a pretty picture that she was painting and Erin would be a fool if she did not admit that she was considering it. But she had long ago gave up hope. It was unsettling to think of a world where she had it.

"Your putting a big amount of trust in me" she said finally. "I could just leave you here"

"You won't" Marian said simply. Her cheek was bruised and her left eye swollen but her expression was perfectly clear. "Erin you've shared your water with us and your food even though you were clearly starving, you've held our hands and let us cry on your shoulder. After everything you have been through you are still you. A good person. A kind person."

Erin looked away. To her utter embarrassment she felt tears come into her eyes. First hope, and now emotion. God what was wrong with her?

"And you are still you" Djaq said simply. There was something in the Saracen woman's tone that made Erin look her in the eye. "You are still you. You are still Erin. They have taken your body and your dignity and your pride perhaps, they have beaten you and starved you and hurt you but they have not damaged you inside. You are still good and kind and they have not broken your soul or spirit. But you know they will. You know that they will keep taking pieces of you until there is nothing left."

Erin sat there and stared at her hands. And then unbidden the tears came for the first time in more years than she cared to count. She had been sixteen or so when she had been taken, her village raised to the ground, she'd had no family or friends to defend her and it had been years. She would place herself somewhere around Marian's age of twenty years now and she was tired. In the name of the good Lord she was tired.

She cried until she did not think there were any tears left and then she heaved out great hacking sobs. Marian came over her own hand broken, her other one chained to the wall and gently wrapped tugged at her until she was sobbing into the other woman's neck and Djaq managed to shift herself so that she was close enough to grip her hand and she sobbed the last four years out into Marian's hair matted with blood and grime.

Finally when she was done she pulled back wiping her eyes. "Apologies" she said once she had control over her voice.

"You do not have to apologise for how you feel" Marian said quietly. "You never have to apologise for how you feel. You do not have to apologise for losing hope. But Erin we can get you that hope back. A life free of fear, where you look at the sun through the trees and not through a tiny hole in the rock. We can stop this madness of the Sherriff, we can save the King, save England perhaps. We can do all of this but we just have to get out of this cave"

Her words made sense but Erin was not sure if she simply had the courage to do it anymore. She was tired. She was so beyond tired, she was ready to die and here was Marian and Djaq women that until two days ago she did not know telling her that there was a reason to live. A reason that she had not comprehended before because it had always seemed impossible. Perhaps all it had needed was someone else to say it.

"And what do you do?" she asked. "If they find out I am gone the easiest thing to do is to kill you both. You assume this Robin Hood is looking—have you considered the possibility that he is not?"

"I know he is" Marian said and Erin looked at her at the love that was shining in her face. "And I know he won't hurt you Robin doesn't make war on women, never could. And even if he did John would kill him where he stood. Believe me Erin he is a man of honour he will take care of you. And if…and if we do not make it he will make sure you do but we will, we will survive Djaq and me until you bring back help. We survive."

There was something in her plea, in her impassioned voice that made Erin look at her. She looked like some kind of holy icon that was posing for a stained glass window in an abbey. She loved him she realised. Marian loved this Robin man, she was heart and soul his and she found herself believing that he would come after her. That he would protect her from everything and anything.

And she found that she wanted to believe her. That she was brave enough to do this. That she had courage and strength enough to do it.

There was the tramping of boots then and Erin with the habitual heartbeat of pure terror flattened herself back against the wall.

It was the same guard. She knew him and his brother intimately and his brother had a tattoo on his forehead, a mark in bright orange that made him look half mad. This guard had, had his eye cut out before Erin had known him therefore she could not claim to have done it herself though there had been a time where she could have done it and worse.

He looked around at them and Erin knew the look of a pleased man. It had not all been about the degrading abuse, sometimes the knowledge that he her captured had been just as great for him as the beatings she took. There was a pause where she curled up and watched.

"We are to go to Nottingham" he said dropping some water which splashed at their feet and what looked like the remnants of the dinner they had, had.

"When we will be back we will know what to do with you. So enjoy the peace ladies your going to need it"

He laughed and Erin found somewhere deep down within her the courage Marian and Djaq thought that she had and she lunged for his belt.

She caught him by surprise but as her hands fumbled she got what she wanted. The surprise helped. It had been a long time since she had put up anything that might be considered a fight and it took him by surprise.

The blow hit her in the face. He had backhanded her and she curled her fists around her face as her nose began to bleed. She was aware of shouting and she felt something in her break a little at the two women who had known her for such a short amount of time and yet where shouting and protesting at her beatings.

She felt a kick to her ribs and then he left her alone. It was mercifully short and she would have once felt grateful for that but not anymore. There was something growing and burning inside of her that had nothing to do with the ache in her ribs and the blood coming out of her nose.

"And you" he said looking down at her. "You are going to damn well remember your place…whore"

And then he was gone.

There was a shivering second of silence and then Erin pushed herself to her shoulder and then leaned her back against the wall her hands still clasped into fists at her chest. She was aware that she was bleeding, aching, filthy, dried blood crusting her face and legs. She was in a dirty shirt and she was shivering but she was tired. Live or die there was one way out of this and she had gripped her courage and had grasped onto it with all that sustained her. After all. It was not just about her anymore, it was about Marian and Djaq and while Erin personally thought that there was no coming back for her these woman had given her company through the dark days.

"Why did you do that?" Djaq whispered. There were tears in her eyes but despite the blood coating her lips, despite the ache in her ribs Erin grinned.

"Because it worked" she said finally. "Because…I don't think I will survive this, because I cannot promise a miracle but I can try. I think I can do that."

And with that she held up the key to the chains in her hand.

"Because I'm going to do my best to get us out of here"

And there you are, I hope you all enjoy this chapter and I will do my best to bring you the next one sooner rather than later.

Next Chapter-Erin escapes from her prison and her own private hell. Marian and Djaq have a conversation about faith, trust and the men that they love and the Outlaws finally catch a break.