[fic] : robin hood (bbc) - white magic, part one
Title: White Magic [ Part Two | Part Three]
Rating: G
Word count: 665 words
Characters: Guy/Marian
Summary: Post 2x13, AU. Guy has travelled to the Holy Land to bring Marian back from the dead. Somewhat inspired by dollsome, except that her idea put a vastly more hilarious spin on the thing. I believe there may have been a magical goat.
Disclaimer: Robin Hood is copyright to Tiger Aspect and the BBC. All Rights Reserved. No copyright infringement is intended, and no money is being made.
---
"There was a place, a light beyond the dark," she said. "But I was trapped halfway, caught in a never-fading dusk. A voice, a faint but insistent whisper of a voice told me I must wait. So wait I did, for such a time. Such a long time..."
Marian shifted her head, nestling closer. He kissed her forehead.
"What was it like?" he asked.
"Like...nothing. Half nothing and half something. A murmur of sound that I couldn't make out and shapes against light at the end of a corridor that I couldn't move down. A threatening pause in the dusk."
"And then I opened my eyes. And saw you," she added.
"Thought you were in heaven?"
"Hardly."
---
Guy'd had a vision of lifting her from the grave. Her face would be peaceful, her white dress still unblemished, no scar or darkening mark. He would hold her in his arms, tip the potion into her ready lips, and she would awake. And smile to see him.
It was not quite like that. In the Holy Land it is hot and dry and the heat dries bodies as they lie packed in sand, far better than in dank English soil.
Guy pushed away the last clumps of sand, and moved his hand slowly, slowly, to peel back the gravecloth. Her face was drawn, almost tense at the lips. Older. The skin had wrinkled into the hollow of her cheekbones. Guy felt suddenly shaky, even a little ill. He let the grave clothes fall from his hand. The woman, that woman who had reluctantly sold him the potion had warned him. She had. And he hadn't listened. How long would Marian look like this? How long - no. He steeled himself.
He must do this, or not. And having come so far, could he bury her again? He shoved the questions from his mind. Before they could begin to whisper again, he took her up, held the small glass bottle to her lips, and with an awkward clutch of an embrace, tipped it into her mouth.
He waited.
"Marian?" he said, his voice a mere scratch in a throat dry from heat and waterless walking. He'd been in too much of a hurry to stop for more than a mouthful of water. He put his head to her chest. He thought - he was almost sure - he could hear the faintest thrum-thump. As he listened it grew stronger, minutely so. Achingly, incrementally, slowly. But there was no mistaking it. Marian would live again.
---
He stayed there for several minutes, his hand at her throat, feeling the slow pulse beneath his fingers. There was even (perhaps) a slight lessening of her face's pallor. The sun was rising higher in the sky, strengthening. In a few hours it would be overhead and scorchingly hot. He would have to move her.
It was the jolting that woke her, the unsteady rocking of being lifted and carried the distance from grave to town, the nearby cluster of buildings. Her eyes opened almost hesitantly.
"Guy? Guy - where am I? You -" her face, her eyes - they were not yet the Marian he knew. But the voice was. Perhaps the potion worked from inside out.
Marian looked dazed. Her eyes were sunken, tired, still distant. But they moved across his face, and her expression changed - a faint mixture of fear and dislike. He could guess the memory occupying her thoughts.
"Guy...I died. I remember. You -" She struggled weakly in his arms as he carried her. Once, twice she shifted herself, trying to free herself, and Guy almost lost his grip. But the effort had exhausted her. She lay still and closed her eyes, though whether in tiredness or frustration, Guy couldn't tell. "You killed me," she said, her quiet voice tinged with accusation.
"I remember. And now you have brought me back? Guy. Guy. What have you done...? It is...it is an abomination."
"No. No - it is - it will be perfect. The most perfect." He kept his eyes straight ahead, focused on moving step by step towards the squat town buildings in the distance. His words sounded as weak as Marian's attempts to free herself. But it would be. He would make it so.
---
Part Two
Rating: G
Word count: 665 words
Characters: Guy/Marian
Summary: Post 2x13, AU. Guy has travelled to the Holy Land to bring Marian back from the dead. Somewhat inspired by dollsome, except that her idea put a vastly more hilarious spin on the thing. I believe there may have been a magical goat.
Disclaimer: Robin Hood is copyright to Tiger Aspect and the BBC. All Rights Reserved. No copyright infringement is intended, and no money is being made.
---
"There was a place, a light beyond the dark," she said. "But I was trapped halfway, caught in a never-fading dusk. A voice, a faint but insistent whisper of a voice told me I must wait. So wait I did, for such a time. Such a long time..."
Marian shifted her head, nestling closer. He kissed her forehead.
"What was it like?" he asked.
"Like...nothing. Half nothing and half something. A murmur of sound that I couldn't make out and shapes against light at the end of a corridor that I couldn't move down. A threatening pause in the dusk."
"And then I opened my eyes. And saw you," she added.
"Thought you were in heaven?"
"Hardly."
---
Guy'd had a vision of lifting her from the grave. Her face would be peaceful, her white dress still unblemished, no scar or darkening mark. He would hold her in his arms, tip the potion into her ready lips, and she would awake. And smile to see him.
It was not quite like that. In the Holy Land it is hot and dry and the heat dries bodies as they lie packed in sand, far better than in dank English soil.
Guy pushed away the last clumps of sand, and moved his hand slowly, slowly, to peel back the gravecloth. Her face was drawn, almost tense at the lips. Older. The skin had wrinkled into the hollow of her cheekbones. Guy felt suddenly shaky, even a little ill. He let the grave clothes fall from his hand. The woman, that woman who had reluctantly sold him the potion had warned him. She had. And he hadn't listened. How long would Marian look like this? How long - no. He steeled himself.
He must do this, or not. And having come so far, could he bury her again? He shoved the questions from his mind. Before they could begin to whisper again, he took her up, held the small glass bottle to her lips, and with an awkward clutch of an embrace, tipped it into her mouth.
He waited.
"Marian?" he said, his voice a mere scratch in a throat dry from heat and waterless walking. He'd been in too much of a hurry to stop for more than a mouthful of water. He put his head to her chest. He thought - he was almost sure - he could hear the faintest thrum-thump. As he listened it grew stronger, minutely so. Achingly, incrementally, slowly. But there was no mistaking it. Marian would live again.
---
He stayed there for several minutes, his hand at her throat, feeling the slow pulse beneath his fingers. There was even (perhaps) a slight lessening of her face's pallor. The sun was rising higher in the sky, strengthening. In a few hours it would be overhead and scorchingly hot. He would have to move her.
It was the jolting that woke her, the unsteady rocking of being lifted and carried the distance from grave to town, the nearby cluster of buildings. Her eyes opened almost hesitantly.
"Guy? Guy - where am I? You -" her face, her eyes - they were not yet the Marian he knew. But the voice was. Perhaps the potion worked from inside out.
Marian looked dazed. Her eyes were sunken, tired, still distant. But they moved across his face, and her expression changed - a faint mixture of fear and dislike. He could guess the memory occupying her thoughts.
"Guy...I died. I remember. You -" She struggled weakly in his arms as he carried her. Once, twice she shifted herself, trying to free herself, and Guy almost lost his grip. But the effort had exhausted her. She lay still and closed her eyes, though whether in tiredness or frustration, Guy couldn't tell. "You killed me," she said, her quiet voice tinged with accusation.
"I remember. And now you have brought me back? Guy. Guy. What have you done...? It is...it is an abomination."
"No. No - it is - it will be perfect. The most perfect." He kept his eyes straight ahead, focused on moving step by step towards the squat town buildings in the distance. His words sounded as weak as Marian's attempts to free herself. But it would be. He would make it so.
---
Part Two