Ficlings!: Robin Hood
Title: Sent Forth A Raven
Characters: Will Scarlet, Luke Scarlet, Allan a' Dale
Rating: Eh...PG13ish perhaps because of violent imagery and jail?
Summary: Will and Allan meet in the dungeons and have an...interesting conversation. Obviously set during "Will You Tolerate This?" and has assorted spoilers for that episode.
Notes: 1. For some reason, Benedict doesn't appear in this story. He's mentioned briefly but yeah...I'm assuming he's in another cell or being tortured or something...Make up whatever story you like.
2. My first attempt at my Allan. W00t?
"I'm sorry, Luke." Will told his sleeping brother, stroking his hair a little, drawing his own cloak tighter around the boy. There was a lot to say about injustice having put them here in the freezing cold cells of Nottingham and Will would be fool to deny it now, but it was his idea too that had gotten them and Benedict sent here, and in the morning to their deaths. Luke whimpered a little in his sleep and Will ached for something he could do, a way to make the thing that happened right. Luke may pretend at being older than his years, like Will, but when it came to times like now, Will understood how young he was, how much he had to lose, and hated that he'd brought them both to this. "I'm sorry." he repeated softly, trying himself to remain calm. "I never meant for this."
"You know that you aren't bloody sorry, mate." The man from Rochdale they had been brought in with snorted, crossed what space there was between them in the cell and fumbled with something at his neck. "If it weren't for the lad here, there's no way you'd have a regret. Me, I'm not as brave as you by far." He paused, Will felt him move again, get to his knees and inch closer to Luke.
"Don't." he hissed in a sharp whisper, scooting closer himself, to wrap his arms around his brother, keep the man at bay. Luke had been through bloody well enough lately. He wouldn't have the stranger waking him and make it worse. Not when he had finally gone to sleep and found some peace tonight.
"I wasn't planning to disturb him, mind." Will's neighbor leaned in close beside the two of them, draped his own cloak over Luke's prone form, and nodded a bit at Will as he tugged it into place. "It's bloody cold in here, but that might do him some good at least. I'm not being funny, but I won't exactly need much extra warmth where I'll be going." Shivering a little now that the cloak was gone, the man turned back to Will and gave him a grimace Will supposed was meant to be a grin. "I've got a little brother of my own, might as well do some good by someone else's, eh?"
Will wasn't sure what to think of that, so he nodded and tried to smile as Luke moved a little in his sleep, then stopped shivering quite so much. "Thank you." he said, and thought it would suffice. Words escaped him at the best of times and now, as each second passed him by, Will regretted it as he never had. But what was there to say when nothing truly mattered anymore.
"You're Will." The man from Rochdale pressed on, and Will wanted to tell him to shut up, but after he'd been kind to Luke, he could not dare. Even if he lost nothing by saying it, he still didn't want to take the chance. "I listened when they brought us in. I'm Allan." he added, when Will said nothing to fill the silence.
"Of Rochdale." Will answered,with a little nod when he didn't feel he had another choice. The man, Allan, had made that clear enough before, though what it mattered now, he wasn't sure. "It doesn't matter. The sheriff's men don't care."
"I had to at least try though, didn't I, mate?" Allan now leaned in close to Will again, and he was warm enough that Will didn't pull away as he'd first thought he might. "It's a lot more like you, you see, both trying to survive a little when the world's against us, aren't we? Shame we're going to swing tomorrow with so much in common isn't it?"
Will shrugged this one off for now. He saw no real need to reply. What did it matter now besides when the damage was done? "It's enough." he finally answered, shortly, when it seemed that Allan, damn him, was just waiting for some answer. What else did the madman want from him just now?
"There you go again, proving me right." This time Allan's words were smug and Will thought that he might have hit him, but he wouldn't bother with wasting the strength. What he'd just proved, he didn't know, but he was sure that he would hear about it soon as the silence got to be too much for his companion to bear. "Anyone who cared for his own life would have agreed with me. You don't see any worth in yours?"
Worth? Will blinked at Allan, what he could see of Allan in the darkness, and wondered if the man was as mad as he sounded just then. Worth in Will's own life? What sort of game did he think they were playing at? The last time Will had noticed any worth in anything he did was...well, too long ago to count. There was his father, there was Luke, but there was nothing else, and he couldn't manage caring for those properly even, could he?
"Worth." Will laughed a little in the darkness, glancing over at Luke to make sure he was still asleep, that he could guard him for a while yet, until they came to seize them with the light. It should be some time, still, he thought. It didn't seem too long ago that Lord Robin had been to meet them, that he'd learned he would be dancing on a rope come morning, and had found that for himself, he really didn't care. "Because I mean so much to you, do I?"
"It's a small mercy I won't go alone." Allan told him quietly, and before Will could protest it, the stranger's arm was wrapped around his shoulder. "Sorry for you of course, your brother and the other lad, but makes the night go faster, talking, doesn't it?"
"You want this to go faster?" The man was most certainly cracked, Will decided, though he said nothing further as he stared out through the bars. At least where they were now he could stay near Luke a little, be there if he woke up, tell him everything would be all right. It wouldn't but he didn't have to know that, did he?
"It's the silences I can't take mostly." Allan pressed, and Will wondered if he was meant to respond again, but nothing to say came to mind, so he held off. It wasn't going to help him any now, was it? "Makes you go all funny in the head when you think too hard about anything and between you and me, there's not a lot to do other than thinking here. If you're like me at least." he pressed, tightening his hold on Will who tried his best to pull away, but couldn't make himself completely. "Which you aren't, are you Will? You've had a lot of the silence before from looking at you both, and probably you're used to that and being brave. But you don't have to do it here. It isn't natural, how you're so bloody calm. There's no one to prove a thing for now, with him asleep."
"I'm not trying to be brave." At least Will didn't think he was. There simply was nothing else for it, was there? Some things you accepted as inevitable, even though you hated them. Some things you never quite accepted and you tried to do what you could to change them, but as far as he saw it, there was no way out of here. "It's what it is, can't you accept that?"
"It's not fair, you saying that when you don't accept it either, not for him." Allan jerked a finger toward Luke. "Not that I'm saying there's any way out of here that's occurring to me right now, but still." He grinned and Will was left wondering what he saw in any of this to make him do that. "Either you accept it for everyone or none of us at all. You've got to keep up hope you know. Maybe your lord will do us a good turn tomorrow, you can't know for sure."
"I can, I do. I'm tired of talking." Will said shortly, not wanting to give Allan's words all that much thought. Lord Robin had already failed them, long before he'd walked back into Nottingham. King Richard's stupid crusade had been much more important to Lord Robin than the people he'd left behind, and never mind how they had starved, how many had died, how no one had prevented the wrongs that came to Nottingham. Will didn't want to think about Lord Robin now when he'd killed every hope some time ago. He didn't want to think of anything, or talk to anyone, but there was no way to escape, so he just stood, and crossed to a far corner of the cell to sit it out until the morning. If Luke woke, he would be there but otherwise he wanted nothing anymore. He'd got used to having nothing long ago, so why should it change just because he was about to lose one other thing?
"It's of no consequence." he muttered, reaching down to stroke Luke's hair again. It may be matted up with sweat, but Will wanted to stay with him as long as possible, and if he was being honest, well it wasn't all for his brother's sake.
"If it's not, then you won't mind if I do, yeah?" Allan pressed on, and Will just shrugged. He wanted to tell the man to shut his trap, to leave them be, but the words just wouldn't come. Sometimes he couldn't force them out when he was nervous, when things changed too much. He didn't know why, but it was happening again in here, so...may as well let Allan prattle. This time tommorow none of it would matter anyway. Allan flashed him a quick grin and Will supposed this meant he'd met with his approval. Well then. What came next?
"You remind me of a raven, if you'd talk a little more." Allan went on, his voice seeming thoughtful now. "You'll know all about what that can mean, won't you?
Not especially, but what Will did know a little. And none of it was good.
"Death." he answered shortly, since it seemed he couldn't get away from talking. What this had to do with anything beyond that, he could only guess. He'd never been one to have the time to pay attention to the stories told by Nottingham's old women. There'd been work to do, and practicalities besides. Why would he bother with that sort of thing when there was bread to earn and chairs to build? Why was a man he'd only just managed to meet, the man who didn't seem as if he liked to think of death talking about this anyway? He was insane, Will decided, though part of him wished that he'd had time for more insanities. "I'm your omen of death then?"
"Death, or just a messenger who's trying to tell me something, Mate." Allan allowed the first part of Will's answer, and shrugged at the question of it. "Ravens are a sign of more than death, maybe you're here to teach me something. Maybe if you've got nothing to teach me now, it means we've got hope for the morning."
Will just laughed and shook his head. If he had anything to teach, he couldn't find a single word to tell him and what then? "Or maybe you're just half mad." he concluded, though he smiled, or he tried to, as he said it. Hope. Will would have liked it, but some things were just impossible.
"Well, think it over." Allan tried, though Will just shrugged again and tried to smile. There was nothing to think over, was there? They were only just waiting for the end to show up now, and though Will didn't want it, well at least it would be something.
Things to teach... Will snorted at the thought. The last lesson he'd tried to teach had put three people here, and now he'd never have the chance to try another. Since he couldn't live with that, then he might as well die with it.
The dungeon doors flew open just a minute or two later, and Will steeled his resolve. If anything, he would die well, do what he could for Luke. But then, but then everything changed.
When the dust of their flight faded and Lord Robin was chatting with his manservant, Allan turned to Will again, and this time the smile was more confident than nervous. It scared him, a little, but Will thought he'd have to live with it a while, so he actually returned it. "You were wrong, you know." the man from Dale said smugly, eying him. "And it so happens that I've got a lot to learn. Let's find out what you'll teach me, Will."
If Will had anything to teach, then he had just as much to learn, but there was Allan then to teach him that, to maybe make him human, help him see the lighter side as Will exchanged those lessons when he told his friend the truths of the world. Each was an adept student, so the arrangement worked, for them. And bits of lies for bits of silence, things were about even in the end.
Characters: Will Scarlet, Luke Scarlet, Allan a' Dale
Rating: Eh...PG13ish perhaps because of violent imagery and jail?
Summary: Will and Allan meet in the dungeons and have an...interesting conversation. Obviously set during "Will You Tolerate This?" and has assorted spoilers for that episode.
Notes: 1. For some reason, Benedict doesn't appear in this story. He's mentioned briefly but yeah...I'm assuming he's in another cell or being tortured or something...Make up whatever story you like.
2. My first attempt at my Allan. W00t?
"I'm sorry, Luke." Will told his sleeping brother, stroking his hair a little, drawing his own cloak tighter around the boy. There was a lot to say about injustice having put them here in the freezing cold cells of Nottingham and Will would be fool to deny it now, but it was his idea too that had gotten them and Benedict sent here, and in the morning to their deaths. Luke whimpered a little in his sleep and Will ached for something he could do, a way to make the thing that happened right. Luke may pretend at being older than his years, like Will, but when it came to times like now, Will understood how young he was, how much he had to lose, and hated that he'd brought them both to this. "I'm sorry." he repeated softly, trying himself to remain calm. "I never meant for this."
"You know that you aren't bloody sorry, mate." The man from Rochdale they had been brought in with snorted, crossed what space there was between them in the cell and fumbled with something at his neck. "If it weren't for the lad here, there's no way you'd have a regret. Me, I'm not as brave as you by far." He paused, Will felt him move again, get to his knees and inch closer to Luke.
"Don't." he hissed in a sharp whisper, scooting closer himself, to wrap his arms around his brother, keep the man at bay. Luke had been through bloody well enough lately. He wouldn't have the stranger waking him and make it worse. Not when he had finally gone to sleep and found some peace tonight.
"I wasn't planning to disturb him, mind." Will's neighbor leaned in close beside the two of them, draped his own cloak over Luke's prone form, and nodded a bit at Will as he tugged it into place. "It's bloody cold in here, but that might do him some good at least. I'm not being funny, but I won't exactly need much extra warmth where I'll be going." Shivering a little now that the cloak was gone, the man turned back to Will and gave him a grimace Will supposed was meant to be a grin. "I've got a little brother of my own, might as well do some good by someone else's, eh?"
Will wasn't sure what to think of that, so he nodded and tried to smile as Luke moved a little in his sleep, then stopped shivering quite so much. "Thank you." he said, and thought it would suffice. Words escaped him at the best of times and now, as each second passed him by, Will regretted it as he never had. But what was there to say when nothing truly mattered anymore.
"You're Will." The man from Rochdale pressed on, and Will wanted to tell him to shut up, but after he'd been kind to Luke, he could not dare. Even if he lost nothing by saying it, he still didn't want to take the chance. "I listened when they brought us in. I'm Allan." he added, when Will said nothing to fill the silence.
"Of Rochdale." Will answered,with a little nod when he didn't feel he had another choice. The man, Allan, had made that clear enough before, though what it mattered now, he wasn't sure. "It doesn't matter. The sheriff's men don't care."
"I had to at least try though, didn't I, mate?" Allan now leaned in close to Will again, and he was warm enough that Will didn't pull away as he'd first thought he might. "It's a lot more like you, you see, both trying to survive a little when the world's against us, aren't we? Shame we're going to swing tomorrow with so much in common isn't it?"
Will shrugged this one off for now. He saw no real need to reply. What did it matter now besides when the damage was done? "It's enough." he finally answered, shortly, when it seemed that Allan, damn him, was just waiting for some answer. What else did the madman want from him just now?
"There you go again, proving me right." This time Allan's words were smug and Will thought that he might have hit him, but he wouldn't bother with wasting the strength. What he'd just proved, he didn't know, but he was sure that he would hear about it soon as the silence got to be too much for his companion to bear. "Anyone who cared for his own life would have agreed with me. You don't see any worth in yours?"
Worth? Will blinked at Allan, what he could see of Allan in the darkness, and wondered if the man was as mad as he sounded just then. Worth in Will's own life? What sort of game did he think they were playing at? The last time Will had noticed any worth in anything he did was...well, too long ago to count. There was his father, there was Luke, but there was nothing else, and he couldn't manage caring for those properly even, could he?
"Worth." Will laughed a little in the darkness, glancing over at Luke to make sure he was still asleep, that he could guard him for a while yet, until they came to seize them with the light. It should be some time, still, he thought. It didn't seem too long ago that Lord Robin had been to meet them, that he'd learned he would be dancing on a rope come morning, and had found that for himself, he really didn't care. "Because I mean so much to you, do I?"
"It's a small mercy I won't go alone." Allan told him quietly, and before Will could protest it, the stranger's arm was wrapped around his shoulder. "Sorry for you of course, your brother and the other lad, but makes the night go faster, talking, doesn't it?"
"You want this to go faster?" The man was most certainly cracked, Will decided, though he said nothing further as he stared out through the bars. At least where they were now he could stay near Luke a little, be there if he woke up, tell him everything would be all right. It wouldn't but he didn't have to know that, did he?
"It's the silences I can't take mostly." Allan pressed, and Will wondered if he was meant to respond again, but nothing to say came to mind, so he held off. It wasn't going to help him any now, was it? "Makes you go all funny in the head when you think too hard about anything and between you and me, there's not a lot to do other than thinking here. If you're like me at least." he pressed, tightening his hold on Will who tried his best to pull away, but couldn't make himself completely. "Which you aren't, are you Will? You've had a lot of the silence before from looking at you both, and probably you're used to that and being brave. But you don't have to do it here. It isn't natural, how you're so bloody calm. There's no one to prove a thing for now, with him asleep."
"I'm not trying to be brave." At least Will didn't think he was. There simply was nothing else for it, was there? Some things you accepted as inevitable, even though you hated them. Some things you never quite accepted and you tried to do what you could to change them, but as far as he saw it, there was no way out of here. "It's what it is, can't you accept that?"
"It's not fair, you saying that when you don't accept it either, not for him." Allan jerked a finger toward Luke. "Not that I'm saying there's any way out of here that's occurring to me right now, but still." He grinned and Will was left wondering what he saw in any of this to make him do that. "Either you accept it for everyone or none of us at all. You've got to keep up hope you know. Maybe your lord will do us a good turn tomorrow, you can't know for sure."
"I can, I do. I'm tired of talking." Will said shortly, not wanting to give Allan's words all that much thought. Lord Robin had already failed them, long before he'd walked back into Nottingham. King Richard's stupid crusade had been much more important to Lord Robin than the people he'd left behind, and never mind how they had starved, how many had died, how no one had prevented the wrongs that came to Nottingham. Will didn't want to think about Lord Robin now when he'd killed every hope some time ago. He didn't want to think of anything, or talk to anyone, but there was no way to escape, so he just stood, and crossed to a far corner of the cell to sit it out until the morning. If Luke woke, he would be there but otherwise he wanted nothing anymore. He'd got used to having nothing long ago, so why should it change just because he was about to lose one other thing?
"It's of no consequence." he muttered, reaching down to stroke Luke's hair again. It may be matted up with sweat, but Will wanted to stay with him as long as possible, and if he was being honest, well it wasn't all for his brother's sake.
"If it's not, then you won't mind if I do, yeah?" Allan pressed on, and Will just shrugged. He wanted to tell the man to shut his trap, to leave them be, but the words just wouldn't come. Sometimes he couldn't force them out when he was nervous, when things changed too much. He didn't know why, but it was happening again in here, so...may as well let Allan prattle. This time tommorow none of it would matter anyway. Allan flashed him a quick grin and Will supposed this meant he'd met with his approval. Well then. What came next?
"You remind me of a raven, if you'd talk a little more." Allan went on, his voice seeming thoughtful now. "You'll know all about what that can mean, won't you?
Not especially, but what Will did know a little. And none of it was good.
"Death." he answered shortly, since it seemed he couldn't get away from talking. What this had to do with anything beyond that, he could only guess. He'd never been one to have the time to pay attention to the stories told by Nottingham's old women. There'd been work to do, and practicalities besides. Why would he bother with that sort of thing when there was bread to earn and chairs to build? Why was a man he'd only just managed to meet, the man who didn't seem as if he liked to think of death talking about this anyway? He was insane, Will decided, though part of him wished that he'd had time for more insanities. "I'm your omen of death then?"
"Death, or just a messenger who's trying to tell me something, Mate." Allan allowed the first part of Will's answer, and shrugged at the question of it. "Ravens are a sign of more than death, maybe you're here to teach me something. Maybe if you've got nothing to teach me now, it means we've got hope for the morning."
Will just laughed and shook his head. If he had anything to teach, he couldn't find a single word to tell him and what then? "Or maybe you're just half mad." he concluded, though he smiled, or he tried to, as he said it. Hope. Will would have liked it, but some things were just impossible.
"Well, think it over." Allan tried, though Will just shrugged again and tried to smile. There was nothing to think over, was there? They were only just waiting for the end to show up now, and though Will didn't want it, well at least it would be something.
Things to teach... Will snorted at the thought. The last lesson he'd tried to teach had put three people here, and now he'd never have the chance to try another. Since he couldn't live with that, then he might as well die with it.
The dungeon doors flew open just a minute or two later, and Will steeled his resolve. If anything, he would die well, do what he could for Luke. But then, but then everything changed.
When the dust of their flight faded and Lord Robin was chatting with his manservant, Allan turned to Will again, and this time the smile was more confident than nervous. It scared him, a little, but Will thought he'd have to live with it a while, so he actually returned it. "You were wrong, you know." the man from Dale said smugly, eying him. "And it so happens that I've got a lot to learn. Let's find out what you'll teach me, Will."
If Will had anything to teach, then he had just as much to learn, but there was Allan then to teach him that, to maybe make him human, help him see the lighter side as Will exchanged those lessons when he told his friend the truths of the world. Each was an adept student, so the arrangement worked, for them. And bits of lies for bits of silence, things were about even in the end.