A/N: Taken a while to update, sorry.
I don't own Robin Hood.
Enjoy….
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
For the few minutes (and it was only a few minutes) they were involved in ambushing the three merchants that were fool enough to travel on the North Road, they were a gang again. To all intents and purposes anyway. There was a sticky moment just as Robin began his spiel about the poor, that they realized as they were a man down they weren't actually covering them fully. The situation was swiftly rectified by Ava and Will moving round slightly and changing the angle of their arrows, hopefully before their victims noticed. The damage had been done however, and gloom had settled on them once more.
After releasing their prisoners and returning to the camp they could barely stir themselves to count what they had stolen. Robin didn't even try, seeming to prefer to sit brooding and staring at the fire, and Ava retreated to the kitchen to loose herself in cooking.
Spending a long time making something needlessly complicated, Ava ruined the impression, for herself at least, by putting out one too many bowls and serving one too many portions. The only one who would have noticed there were seven bowls instead of six was Will, when he came to take servings to the others, and if he did he didn't say anything. Once she realized what she had done Ava hastily piled Allan's serving into John's bowl and took it out to him, hoping no one would comment.
Her hope proved unfounded however, Much took one look at John's bowl and turned into a petulant child.
"How come John's got so much?"
Will tried to gloss over the situation by saying,
"Got to keep his strength up,"
Though this conjured smiles from Robin and Djaq and a look of bewilderment from the man himself, Much wasn't to be so easily placated. He opened his mouth to protest further but Ava stood abruptly and shoved her portion into his bowl.
"Here, lost my appetite," she murmured and left the camp. It was true, as soon as she'd been jolted by the realization that Allan had really gone, memories had flooded over her leaving no room for any other thought.
Ava strode on through the gathering dusk, her highly wrought emotional state causing her not to register the foolishness of being a wanted outlaw, unarmed and alone, moving further and further away from the protection of the camp.
She was jerked back to awareness by the sound of voices and she stopped suddenly, crouching low to try and see into the valley at her feet. There were two men, one dark and tall and the other small and pitiful. The tall man turned, as if hearing a noise, and Ava lay flat to the ground, breathing coming in short bursts as she recognized him. It was Gisborne. She'd caught the instantly recognizable glitter in his eyes.
As she lay trying to calm herself and still see what was going on, Gisborne handed over a purse of money and left. Daring to creep a little closer, she tried to see who the man still remaining was.
With a loud and sudden crack the branch she was leaning on gave way and she tumbled head over heels down the slope and into the clearing.
Dazed by the fall, she thought she was imagining things when she looked up into that eminently familiar face. He smiled slightly and reached out a hand to help her to her feet and suddenly it was when she'd first met the outlaws and she has just fallen from her horse after a wild gallop. So powerful was the memory that she was about to utter a guilty apology. But as she stood, the events that had taken place since that time came back with a rushing clarity and she snatched her hand away.
Though his blue eyes were normally clear, generally with a twinkle of mischief, looking up into them now there was no saying what he was thinking. She turned, took a few steps away, and then turned towards him again, as if suddenly deciding how to react to the situation. Her hands were balled into tight fists and she was magnificent in her rage.
"How many times, Allan? How many times did you betray us? We were your friends, your family – and you're still taking money from Gisborne!"
She took a couple of strides forward and knocked the purse of money easily from his unresisting hand.
"Ava, you don't understand. He was torturing me." He was desperate to explain and make her realize.
"Is that meant to be an excuse?" she spat out the words, echoing their leader so exactly without realizing. Her voice was low and venomous now, "You should have let him. You should have let him torture you as any of us would have done for you! You're a coward Allan A Dale, nothing more."
Then, as a tear fell down his cheek and almost as if to stop herself from comforting him, her fist came up in the sudden and punishing blow that worked so well on castle guards distracted by her womanly curves.
He fell to the ground under the force of the hit but didn't attempt to do anything more than sit up enough to be able to see her.
She wanted to say something hurtful and spiteful, that she hated him, but she couldn't bring herself to. Looking down on him he was her dear friend. The one who laughed and joked with her, who she worried about when he went off for hours by himself and who she coaxed out of his sullen humors – though she now understood completely what these last two were caused by. He was the one she was scared for when she suspected him, and who she was still scared for now. Really, she thought she should take the money from him and leave, but he had to survive and she couldn't take his means of doing so away from him.
She was shaking now, pent up anger and frustration coursing through her. She didn't know what to do, just stared down on him. Something in his gaze changed, and he was looking over her shoulder.
Ava turned to see Will Scarlett – tall, strong and true. His dark, deep eyes were boreing in to Allan's and she was scared he would do something. She half reached out a hand to check him but he had a tight reign on his emotions and spoke quietly,
"Go, Allan,"
And after a second's pause, Allan did.
Will didn't bother to watch him go, his gaze had turned to Ava and smoldering anger had changed to warm compassion. He took her in his arms and she rested her hand on his shoulder, still trembling but enjoying the feeling of rightness and taking comfort in his height and the strength of his arms as he held her.
She tried to make her mind blank and just revel in their closeness but had to squash a tiny, hurtful thought. That she was glad it was Will here, that Robin banishing him had just been an act. The idea that it could have been Will she'd been shouting at, that she'd been saying goodbye to, that there would be no one here to comfort her now was terrible. She briefly admitted itself that if it had been Will who had been the traitor she would be feeling worse now and then felt like she had betrayed Allan and buried her head further into Will's chest, trying to forget.
Allan, turning back at the top of the slope at the head of the valley, saw them standing below him, small but as one and felt regret threaten to engulf him.
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
A/N: Rather angsty that. Please review…