**DISCLAIMER **
I own none of the characters from the film, I have merely borrowed them for a time.
Will couldn't breathe. Everything he'd been holding together for the last 10 years was unraveling. He felt like the fabric of his very identity was being torn apart at the seams. He hated Robin. He HATED him. Didn't he? The spoilt rich bastard had ruined his life.
But all he could think was how much he needed his brother.
He so desperately needed someone to believe in him. Someone who loved him, who would help hold him together. Someone who was on his side. He felt like he couldn't take another step in this world. He had fought and fought and fought. He had fought the loneliness, the cold and the hunger. He had fought his enemies and his friends. He had fought the doubts inside himself and the searing ache that forced its way into his heart whenever his thoughts grazed the promises of what could have been. And the way his stomach dropped when he saw those around him with the family that he would never have.
And he had fought the hope that one day he would have someone that cared for him the way he saw his friends cared for.
It felt like he had fought for every breath for so long that he couldn't remember what it was like to breathe freely.
Robin didn't speak. He couldn't. What was he supposed to say? His heart was breaking. This boy, his little brother, had risked everything to get back to them. He had given the last fragment of himself to bring them the news that could save their friends and bare his secrets to the one person who had caused him more pain than anyone else on this earth.
Robin had robbed him of a life he could no longer even imagine. How had be been so blind? He never even considered that his egocentric adolescent actions could have had such profound and devastating consequences for himself or anyone else. He thought that being unable to reconcile with his father before his death would be the harshest truth he would have to confront on his return to a life he had scorned and abandoned. Yet, here he was faced with something infinitely more painful. A brother whose every hardship in life he had been the sole architect of.
But it was more than that. He needed Will.
Robin buried his face in his brother's hair as he silently admitted something to himself that he had never uttered out loud. He had felt so alone. He was surrounded by comrades and friends, he had won over the woman he loved and yet, he couldn't help but feel like there was no one that really knew him. The merry men all looked up to him and relied on him to lead them. Azeem, good friend though he was, followed Robin to repay a life debt. Marian knew only the boy that he had been and the hero that he had become.
There was no one he could bare his soul to. No one that would love him if they knew how broken he was inside. And yet here was the one person in the world that he had repeatedly rejected, scorned and damaged, clinging to him like a raft in a storm. He felt like Will Scarlett was the only person who really saw him.
From the day he had stumbled from the icy river into Sherwood Forest, his brother had known him. He had challenged his bad decisions, his pride. He had pushed him to be a better man than he knew how to be on his own. Unbeknownst to Robin, Will had opened his heart and slowly accepted that the Robin Hood of Sherwood Forest had grown from Robin of Locksley, the man he had loathed. He had watched and waited, and finally, he had gambled everything on the belief that his brother truly was the man he so desperately needed him to be.
Will had experienced a life of misery that he may never fully understand, all because of his thoughtlessness. And still, he had chosen to believe the best of him. Robin couldn't begin to imagine what that had cost him.
He looked deep into those eyes swimming in tears and pain that knew him. "I've missed you so much" he whispered. Robin closed his eyes as a fresh wave of tears coursed down his cheeks. He pressed his forehead gently to his brother's. "You are the piece of me that's been missing for so long. I didn't know what it was, but it was you, Will." He left out a shaky sigh and pressed his brother even closer to his heart. "It was you." His heart clenched almost unbearably as a thin arm snaked its way around his neck and clung to him desperately.
Behind him, he heard the crunch of leaves as Azeem stepped softly forward and crouched down by his side. "Christian, we must tend to his wounds. I do not know how much more blood young Scarlett can bear to lose."
"Will…?" Robin tried to ease Will away from him slightly, but the more he pushed him away, the tighter he clung. Robin shrugged helplessly at his friend. Azeem smiled sadly. "Do not worry, Young Christian", he murmured, resting a hand gently on the young man's head. "I do not mean to take you from your brother. I only mean to see you well."
He gestured silently and Robin moved to settle himself against the tree behind him, gently drawing Will with him. He slid his hand back up to cradle his little brother's head. His other hand moved to cover Will's fist that was forcibly knotted into the front of his shirt. Will's fingers spasmed reflexively, intertwining with Robin's. The elder Locksley gently whispered into his brother's hair, "I've got you, Will." Will twitched in his arms but relaxed ever so slightly.
Robin's eyes met Azeem's and the moor nodded, kneeling behind Will and carefully lifting his shirt. The grim look on his friend's face made Robin's breath catch. Azeem swallowed slowly. "My friend, you have endured much this day, but I fear I must subject you to further pain. These wounds are deep. They need to be cleaned and stitched or they will turn bad."
Robin closed his eyes briefly and gritted his teeth, before once more lifting his gaze to meet Azeem's. "Now? Can it wait?" He arms tightened instinctively around Will as his voice dropped to a pained whisper. "I'm not sure how much more he can take." His friend met his eyes unwaveringly, but before he could reply, Robin's attention snapped back to Will as he felt his brother brace himself. The younger man took a deep breath and pushed himself upright. "It's ok," he whispered. "Just…" his voice caught. His eyes flicked uncertainly to Robin's for a fraction of a second before squeezing shut. "Just don't let me go."