A/N: Written for Day 25 of my 25 Days of Westallen Fanfiction event.

*Many thanks to sendtherain for beta'ing.

*I own nothing. No copyright infringement intended.

Epilogue -

Two days journey from Collin Woods, Barry began to fear he may have gotten lost.

He tried to follow the map Cisco had given him, but he was surrounded entirely by trees, and all of them looked the same. He'd been lucky enough not to come upon poor weather, but his food was running low and his mouth was dry for lack of water. He was weakening and growing more tired by the hour. It made him wonder if his family and friends had helped him escape one death only for him to be thrust into another.

But he would not give up. He would be strong. He had sworn to Iris he would come back to her, that he would figure a way out of this mess he'd fallen into. He couldn't do that if he died less than three days after he'd left. She'd spend the rest of her life thinking he'd abandon her. He couldn't allow that to happen. He wouldn't. This endless forest would not destroy the hope they both still had for a promising figure.

Iris was what kept him going, what made him take one step in front of another, and another after that. But by daybreak on Day 3, he was really starting to hope for some divine intervention.

Some hours later, around what he assumed was noon due to the heat, finally Barry saw some of the landscape start to change. There were some hilly ground, grass, and a very small pond off to the right. The trees weren't so thick as they had been, and as unexpected as ever, a small robin flew right up to him and perched on his shoulder, tweeting away as if he were a tree that just happened to be moving.

Barry expected the bird to fly away within a few minutes, but it didn't happen. The bird flew around him or beside him, but often he rested on his shoulder. Sometimes there were long period when it thankfully remained silent, but Barry found he enjoyed the company. It helped take his mind off his hunger pains and his life pains really. In fact, he became so focused on the bird and the pleasantly changing landscape, that he stumbled right over an elevated dirt mound and tumbled into a long sloping tunnel that ended in a large square room he could only imagine existed some several feet below the surface.

And sitting there across from him was who he could only guess was the man of legend. His fair hair was matted, and his scraggly beard grew past his chin. His shirt was sleeveless, though there were several other articles of clothing in the far corner, and his shoes looked large and solid and necessary for the type of life he was leading – Barry decided.

"Are you…" Barry tried. "Are you the-"

"Wild man?" the man finished huskily. "The one of legend?"

Barry's jaw dropped, his eyes wide open.

"I suppose I am." He reached for a tin cup and brought it to his lips that were barely visible through the hair. "Though I can tell you right now that I have never torn a bear in half." He chuckled.

Barry's lips twitched. "Yeah, I, um…never believed that part of the legend anyway."

The man raised an eyebrow.

"Not that I don't think you could do it!" he insisted, to which the man slowly smiled.

"What's your name, lad?"

"I, well, I-"

"No, don't tell me. It's better if I don't know. Especially if you've come to me for help."

"I have," he said. "I need to start a new life far away from here, but…I don't know how."

"So you're on the run." The man picked up a pipe, lit it, and inhaled, blowing smoke out shortly after. Barry tried not to cough. "I suspected as much." He contemplated the youth before him. "How old are you, son?"

"Fif-" He coughed. "Fifteen, Sir."

"No 'Sir,'" he corrected. "That's too formal. We have to be at ease with one another or you'll never trust me and I may never help you. In time you will know my name."

Barry frowned, troubled.

"But you don't want to know my name."

"Your given name. I think I can help you just fine without it. You can stay with me for a few days, and then I can show you how to get on without me."

"Okay, so what-"

A familiar tweeting interrupted him, and before Barry new it, his new friend had settled on his shoulder again.

The man's eyes narrowed.

"I see you've let this scum get attached to you," he growled.

Barry's brows furrowed. "It was nice to have company."

"Hmm. You don't like being alone, you say."

"Well, not for days at a time," he admitted. "And not without food in my stomach."

The man chuckled. "I don't doubt it. Looks like I won't be alone while you're here either. You'll be as much of a pain as that bird is to you."

"But the bird isn't a pain."

The man smiled through his matted beard. "Indeed."

He dug around through some things sitting beside him and eventually held up an overcoat. It looked light and yet somehow warm, and it had a hood Barry knew would come in handy when it was raining.

"Here. Try this on."

Barry did as he was told, the bird briefly taking flight until the coat was on and buttoned in front. He pulled the hood up over his head and delighted in the thickness and warmth of it in the cool underground where he was now contained. He glanced over at the little bird and smiled, oblivious to the way the man was analyzing him in the moment.

"I like it," he said, and the man nodded.

"It suits you, Robin."

Barry looked over at him. "I'm…sorry? That's not my-"

"Don't tell me your given name. It will do you no good," he scolded. Barry closed his mouth. "Here you are Robin." He smiled slowly. "Robin Hood."

A/N: I hope you enjoyed! Please let me know your thoughts!