Isabella

After the explosion and Nottingham castle crumbled around us, I stood up with Vaisey and everyone else. And looked around. We were clearly dead. I noticed something. Standing on one of the crumbled walls was a young woman in a beautiful blue dress, complete with a hood. Her hair was as dark as mine and just as curly and her blue eyes watched us suspiciously, Vaisey and myself especially. Vaisey followed my gaze.

'Oo!' he exclaimed. 'This is a pleasant surprise!'

'I am quite sure,' the woman said bitterly, clearly she knew and detested Vaisey.

'You know her?' I asked Vaisey. 'Who is she?'

'This is Lady Marian,' Vaisey told me. 'Hood's wife.'

'This is the woman Hood and my brother loved so much?' I demanded as my eyes widened in disbelief. 'What's so good about her?'

Lady Marian stepped down gracefully and came to stand in front of me.

'Robin and I grew up together and fell in love,' she told me. 'Originally, your brother only wanted me because I was the only noblewoman in the area. He never meant to kill me. You, on the other hand, purposely handed my husband death.'

I had seen that anger before. That same anger that crossed Robin's face when Prince John tried to illegally acquire the crown. It was the same anger I saw when he saw what kind of a man my husband was.

'Allow me to show you one of the things Robin loves about me,' she told me.

I never saw the punch coming, I just suddenly found myself on the ground with pain shooting through my face. This woman could defend herself. She turned her attention to Vaisey.

'Sheriff, didn't you find it strange that the Nightwatchman completely vanished in synchronisation with my death?' she asked in interest.

The Sheriff's grin fell as he seemed to realise something.

'You're the Nightwatchman?' he demanded. 'But you're a woman! Wait…' He seemed to realise the flaw in that thought pattern. Then he grinned at her. 'Your smarter than I gave you credit for, Lady Marian. And Hood knew the whole time, didn't he?' The Sheriff laughed. 'Oh. Did you know? When Gisborne was beating him, to find out who you were, he said he didn't know but he'd kiss you if he saw you for stealing from Gisborne.' The Sheriff laughed again. 'He knew! He would have kissed you anyway! Oh, I do admire irony.'

I realised, as I rose, the Sheriff was just laughing because this was ironic.

'And he'll be kissing me again very soon,' she said.

The Sheriff stopped laughing. Marian smirked.

'However, you won't see him again,' she announced. 'As a reward for our services, Robin and I get to stay on the March as ghosts and look after the people. Heaven would get a little bit too mundane for us but we are allowed Loxley Manor back. The living cannot perceive us. We also are allowed to decide whom goes to Heaven and whom goes to Hell. Give my loathing to the Devil.'

Then we were in a fire pit and looking up at a man dressed in red and black.

'Heroes,' he said in exasperation. 'Why must they give me so much work at once?'