(no subject)
Author: rochvelleth
Title: Voyage of the Empty Heart
Prompt: The Heart
Length: Very short story
Rating: PG
Notes: This is set after the finale of season 2, when the gang are on their way home. Just an insight into the things Much has to worry about now.
Competition: Yes
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The ship that took them homewards from the Holy Land was a creaky old affair, and in the turbulent Mediterranean it lurched one way and another ceaselessly. Storms plagued their passage, tossing them here and there, soaking them through, making them sick.
And yet all Robin could do was stare into space. He had no tears - he had done all his crying before they left Acre. In their place was only emptiness. Emptiness, and the distant promise of revenge.
To make things worse, John and Allan would not stop arguing.
“It’s not natural, man floating on water,” John would say, and he could eat very little and failed to keep down what he did. Allan would just laugh at him and help himself to his rations, since John did not want them. When he recovered, John would retort, calling Allan a greedy traitor. But there was a real hostility beneath their ostensibly playful banter - John would take a long time to forgive Allan for his betrayal.
All Much could do was watch everything and understand what was happening - but he could not do anything to help. There were too few of them now, with Marian gone and Will and Djaq left behind. The four who remained simply could not seem to get on with each other, whether through ignoring the others or taunting them in some way.
After a whole day and night of storm-churned seas and being tossed to and fro, Much decided he at least had to try to do something for Robin. And so he went and sat next to him, in his little corner in the hull. Robin did not look up at him, his eyes remaining fixed on a pile of rope heaped on the floor. The way it curled reminded him of Marian’s hair. The hair he would never see, never touch again.
With a suddenness that made Much jump, Robin drove his fist into a wooden plank by his side. Blood welled up, glinting in the dim light of a lamp that swung wildly, so that everything was dark one moment and then lit the next. But Robin’s eyes showed no sign that he realised he was wounded.
Looking down at his master’s hands, Much saw that they bore other scars. But he knew - he had learned - not to fuss, in case Robin snapped at him and pushed him away completely. Instead, very firmly, he pulled Robin towards him into an awkward embrace.
Robin said nothing, just meekly accepted the embrace. It made a difference to feel something, where before he had felt nothing.
Much knew there would be no thanks now, for Robin’s heart was empty, denied the person it longed for most. But one day - maybe a long way in the future, but one day - Robin’s heart would fill with love again. And maybe then some of it would be for Much.
Title: Voyage of the Empty Heart
Prompt: The Heart
Length: Very short story
Rating: PG
Notes: This is set after the finale of season 2, when the gang are on their way home. Just an insight into the things Much has to worry about now.
Competition: Yes
---
The ship that took them homewards from the Holy Land was a creaky old affair, and in the turbulent Mediterranean it lurched one way and another ceaselessly. Storms plagued their passage, tossing them here and there, soaking them through, making them sick.
And yet all Robin could do was stare into space. He had no tears - he had done all his crying before they left Acre. In their place was only emptiness. Emptiness, and the distant promise of revenge.
To make things worse, John and Allan would not stop arguing.
“It’s not natural, man floating on water,” John would say, and he could eat very little and failed to keep down what he did. Allan would just laugh at him and help himself to his rations, since John did not want them. When he recovered, John would retort, calling Allan a greedy traitor. But there was a real hostility beneath their ostensibly playful banter - John would take a long time to forgive Allan for his betrayal.
All Much could do was watch everything and understand what was happening - but he could not do anything to help. There were too few of them now, with Marian gone and Will and Djaq left behind. The four who remained simply could not seem to get on with each other, whether through ignoring the others or taunting them in some way.
After a whole day and night of storm-churned seas and being tossed to and fro, Much decided he at least had to try to do something for Robin. And so he went and sat next to him, in his little corner in the hull. Robin did not look up at him, his eyes remaining fixed on a pile of rope heaped on the floor. The way it curled reminded him of Marian’s hair. The hair he would never see, never touch again.
With a suddenness that made Much jump, Robin drove his fist into a wooden plank by his side. Blood welled up, glinting in the dim light of a lamp that swung wildly, so that everything was dark one moment and then lit the next. But Robin’s eyes showed no sign that he realised he was wounded.
Looking down at his master’s hands, Much saw that they bore other scars. But he knew - he had learned - not to fuss, in case Robin snapped at him and pushed him away completely. Instead, very firmly, he pulled Robin towards him into an awkward embrace.
Robin said nothing, just meekly accepted the embrace. It made a difference to feel something, where before he had felt nothing.
Much knew there would be no thanks now, for Robin’s heart was empty, denied the person it longed for most. But one day - maybe a long way in the future, but one day - Robin’s heart would fill with love again. And maybe then some of it would be for Much.