Ruri Iro No Chikyuu Chapter 1, a robin hood bbc fanfic

Disclaimer: I don't own Robin Hood BBC, if I did things would have been different!

Yuki No Hana: Hayley Westenra

Together hand in hand we walked through evening gloom
Long shadows on the pavement, cast from the sunset sky
If only this would last until the end of time
And if this is forever I swear that I could cry

The northern wind starts to blow
And the smell of winter's in the air
As we take each step upon the ground
The season of love grows near

With you by my side, to catch me when I fall
I can cast my fears aside; feel twice as tall
If only this would last, this smile upon my face
And if this is forever, you're my saving grace

The nights were so cold without you
And the days were always short on light
Now a fire's warming me through
And suddenly this upturned world is feeling right

If there comes a time when you have lost your way
I'll turn myself into a star to guide you through
If ever you find tears upon your face
I will be there, always be for you

We could share the very first snowflowers of the year
In your arms where I belong
Watch as the city turns from grey to white
The day turns into night
Love that floats like wayward clouds, that's not what we're about
Sure and strong is my love for you
The city turns from grey to white
The day turns into night
We could share the very first snowflowers of the year
In your arms where I belong
Cold winds from the North blow
The sky casts its last glow
But you and I are standing strong

Chapter 1

Hayley hated how she had become a thief, but at this point, she had no choice, it was either steal or die and as it was, she could barely steal enough to survive. There were days where she was able to steal enough coin to buy food but more and more recently the nobles had stopped coming into town thus making it harder to survive.

Robin was gone in the holy land for who knew how long, and Prince John kept raising the taxes claiming it was for funding King Richards crusades; Hayley had reason to believe otherwise. 'If Prince John truly wanted to raise more money, he would encourage trade to help put some money back into the economy, because without jobs people can't make money and if they have no income people can't pay taxes. Soon you have no villagers left to tax because they all are in prison for not being able to pay said taxes.' Hayley thought as she shivered from the cold winter wind that kept blowing, pulling her thread bare and tattered cape closer to her body. Hayley was waiting for her prey to come into sight, she knew this was a main route through the village and had heard that Vaisey and other nobles were attending a banquet this evening, and she planned on making their pockets a little lighter before the end of the evening.

Hayley had sold almost everything of value to survive, she took jobs that no one else would just to try and earn a few coins. When there was no work to be found she had no choice but to become a pickpocket. She wasn't nearly as good as her old friend Allan-A-Dale was, he had initially taught her, back when everything was different. Back when everyone was still friendly with each other, but when Robin had found out Allan had become a traitor to him and The King, everything changed.

Hayley and Robin had been friends, but she had never been as close to him as others had been. He had always been kind to her and had always encouraged her to come to him should she need anything. However, now when she needed him, ironically, he was gone. She had become close friends with Allan when she had lived with Robin's gang and had told him secrets that she hadn't felt comfortable telling anyone else. She had planned on going with Robin to the holy land, but due to a wound that had taken longer than normal to heal it had been decided she stay behind to finish recovering.

Hayley shook her head, she needed to concentrate on the job at hand. If she didn't secure any coin soon, she wasn't sure how much longer she could survive, because it had already been two months since she had a decent meal. The local church was low on supplies and already full of people who had no homes, thanks to Prince John's decrees to keep increasing taxes. Hayley felt she had no choice but to sleep on the streets or wherever was dry, a dangerous choice she knew, but what else could she do? Sir. Guy and she used to be good friends despite their differences in class, and she had pondered if she could go to him for help when things had started to get rough. Everyone knew Guy was employed to Vaisey, but she didn't know if their former friendship would keep him from turning her in if she admitted she couldn't pay her taxes. So here she was stealing to survive.

Hayley had picked out her prey and was just about to approach the oncoming carriage when she heard the sheriff's guard announcing there was a new decree, taxes would be increased starting today and payment was due immediately. The guards started dragging people out of their houses so they could more efficiently collect taxes. Hayley swore under her breath, leave it to the sheriff to ruin her only chance at survival. She looked around trying to find an escape route as she only had a small amount of coin that was not nearly enough to pay the previous amount owed, let alone the current amount. She knew if she was caught without enough to pay it would mean imprisonment at the very least for her, and she would likely never come out alive given the conditions of the dungeons. Hayley had been so focused on finding an escape route that she had failed to notice a guard sneaking up on her until he grabbed her from behind. "Gotcha, another one trying to escape! Thought you could evade paying your taxes, did you? You do know that is a felony?" He asked the rhetorical question.

Hayley didn't even think about what she was doing, her body moving of its own accord. She automatically kicked out at the guard, trying to land a blow anywhere to cause pain and hopefully enough of a distraction to escape. The guard loosened his grip for a moment when her foot connected with his leg; however, it wasn't long enough for her to wriggle out of his grasp.

"You're not going anywhere, sheriff's orders everyone is to pay their taxes today." The guard laughed as he started to drag Hayley towards the rest of the villagers, she continued to struggle as much as her weak body would allow, but it made no difference.

The guards came up to each villager demanding they pay their taxes, but when the villagers stated they had no money they would be roughed up; men, women, young or old, it made no difference. Orders had been to take anything of value from the villagers if they had no coin to give, the sheriffs men searched the houses, destroying everything they touched. The villager's pleas to stop fell on deaf ears as the guards continued to smash objects and abuse the villagers. Finally, Hayley couldn't stand it anymore, someone had to stand up to these bullies!

"Leave them alone you savages! Can't you see we don't have anything else to give? Why do you torment us so, is this your sick idea of a good time?" She shouted. Hayley was rewarded for her outburst with a soldier backhanding her and laughing with his comrades.

"Well look at what we got here boys, a peasant who thinks she's Robin Hood! A lowly woman no less, who doesn't seem to remember that she should be seen and not heard."

Hayley spat the blood from her mouth at the guard who had backhanded her. She wouldn't back down, she had to try to save these people, she felt it was the least she could do since she was technically still a part of Robin's gang. The guard grabbed her arm roughly and drug her to the center of the gathering, while the villagers stood there, watching and unmoving; they were too scared of the sheriff's men to do anything at this point.

"It seems someone needs a lesson in authority and obedience. If we don't have order, we have anarchy, which results in things… getting out of hand and people getting hurt. Our gracious sheriff strives hard each day to ensure this does not happen, but when you have people like this" he gestured at Hayley, "it makes it rather difficult to keep the peace." The guard finished as he threw Hayley to the snow-covered ground, giving her a kick in her side for good measure. He knelt in front of her and grabbed her dirty and matted brown hair, thus forcing her head back so she was looking up at him. "Now little lady, what's your name?" he asked her.

Hayley spat in his face, "Go to hell!" she yelled at him. The guard wiped his face off with his free hand, pretending to care that she wasn't cooperating. Hayley was surprised that he didn't strike her, but simply asked her another question "That can easily cost you two day's in the stocks. Taxes are due today, where is your contribution?"

"I have none, no one does! How many times must we tell you this before your small brain can comprehend it?" She answered back, struggling to get out of the guards' grasp.

The guard was quickly losing interest in this game and decided to make an example out of her. The guard released Hayley's hair only to grab the front of her dress and tear it open, eliciting gasps from the crowd, the noise seeming to encourage him as he gave her an evil smile.

Hayley immediately tried to back away from the guard fearing what might be coming next, only to feel two hands grab her arms and pin them down to her side, "Not so fast little lady, the fun has just started." Someone behind her laughed as he picked her up and shoved her into another guards' arms. The man easily caught her and turned her around, so she was facing the circle of guards who had gathered to watch the scene play out. One came towards her with a grin on his face, he reached out and took hold of her already torn dress in his hands and ripped it further down, leaving Hayley clothed only in her shift. "Hold her tight George, I want to see what she's got hidden under there, and then maybe we can work out some kind of deal to keep you out of the dungeons." He stated as he licked the side of Hayley's face. Causing her to shudder in disgust. She attempted to pull away, as he grabbed one of her breasts, squeezing it so hard that she whimpered in pain. "Oh, so you like it rough, do you? Well, that's fine by me, I like it when there's a fight, it's more fun that way." The guard shared with Hayley as he laughed, forcing a kiss on her while grabbing a handful of her dress and raising it. "As we all do Alex, don't we boys?" George stated to the guard who had just kissed Hayley.

Hayley started to panic at this point and did the only thing she could think of, she bit down on Alex's lip, as he kissed her a second time, and tasted blood, feeling satisfied when he let out a howl of pain. "Why you bitch, you'll pay for that!" He stated as he punched her in the stomach, causing her to double over gasping for air. "Let her go, George, I plan on teaching her a lesson she'll not soon forget!" Alex command. George, let go of Hayley, allowing her to fall to the ground while she continued to gasp for air. Just as she saw her tormentors' boots in front of her there came a familiar voice from above them "What is the meaning of this?" Hayley knew that voice, it was Sir Guy! Hayley didn't want her former friend to see her in such a state and tried to slink away; however, her escape was thwarted by Alex, who grabbed her arm and pulled her up onto her feet. "Not so fast" He hissed in her ear.

"Sir Guy, would you believe us when we told you that we were simply collecting taxes, on sheriff Vaisey's orders, when this woman" he shoved Hayley forward towards Guy, "attacked us for no reason. We were simply trying to defend ourselves before you arrived." The guard lied to Guy.

Hayley tried to get out of the man's grasp, but his grip on her was as strong as iron and she had no more strength left to struggle for more than a moment. She looked at Guy, feeling the heat rise in her cheeks from embarrassment. She thought she saw a flash of fear and surprise in his eyes before it was gone and replaced with a mask of cold indifference.

It was Allan, who had pulled his horse up next to Guy's that spoke first "Hayley! What happened-" the anger of seeing his friend in such a state evident in his speech; however, before he could finish his sentence Guy cut him off with a wave of his hand.

"You will release her at once!" Guy yelled to the guards that were standing in the circle, Alex, who had been holding Hayley, started to argue with Guy "But Sir she made-"

"I said RELEASE her! She is my betrothed and I will deal with her." Guy barked at the guards, causing them to all but trip over themselves in their haste to appease Sir Guy. The guard holding Hayley released her, causing her to fall to her knees on the ice-cold ground, unable to support herself.

'Betrothed?' Hayley thought to herself, had she missed something here? She didn't recall ever being asked if she wanted to marry Guy, to say she was confused was an understatement. Hayley watched as Guy dismounted his horse, and walked towards her, removing his cloak and wrapping it around her shoulders providing much-needed warmth and coverage. He then held out his hand to her, waiting for her to respond to his gesture. When Hayley only looked up at him in confusion Guy decided to take matters into his own hands. He reached down and grabbed her by her wrist, pulling her up so that she was standing in front of him. "I told you before woman, your actions reflect upon me. How dare you cause such a scene, have you no respect for your soon to be husband?" He raised his voice at her, mentally wincing when he saw the flash of fear and sorrow in her eyes.

"I'm sorry, I just…I just thought. I'm sorry" Hayley replied, hanging her head in shame. She was indeed sorry for causing him to feel embarrassed by her and her actions, but she wasn't sorry for standing up to the guards.

Guy seemed to realize the state that Hayley was in; her pale dirt-stained face, and her matted hair. Her once bright green eyes were now dull and sunken into her hunger pained face. He knew that look all too well, she was starving to death. It was the same look he and his sister had when they had been homeless, a time he'd rather not dwell on. Guy quickly shut down those thoughts as he had enough nightmares without reopening old wounds. He had questions for Hayley, but he knew now was not the time for them; she needed medical attention, 'among other things', he thought to himself, grimacing as he caught a whiff of her. Realizing that he had probably spent too much time just standing there and pondering, Guy picked up Hayley. He was surprised at just how little she weighed, and he became even more concerned that she put up no fight as he carried her to his horse, placing her in the saddle. "Allan, hold her steady I don't need her falling off and injuring herself." Allan simply nodded his head and moved his horse next to his masters, placing a gentle grasp on Hayley. Allan watched as Guy climbed up into the saddle behind Hayley and wrapping his arms around her. Guy addressed the guards as he turned his horse around "I trust there will be no more issues in collecting the taxes?"

"No, Sir" came the mumbled replies of the guards.

Authors Notes:

1. Huge shout out to Patti who was my beta on this story

2. As always, if the formatting is messed up it's fanfictions fault

3. Let me know what you think