Romance Fan Fiction ❯ Prayers Surpass Time ❯ The Chapter in Which I Find Something to Hope for Again ( Chapter 8 )

CHAPTER 8: The Chapter in Which I Find Something to Hope for Again

When I woke, it was twilight. The sun was descending to the horizon, setting the clouds I could see past the tree line ablaze with magnificent purples and oranges and pinks. I guess I had fallen asleep. Why did my cheeks feel all wet, and my eyes dry and…tired? I lifted a hand to my cheek, and felt it. Tears still made their way across them, despite the fact that I was laying horizontally on my back. Why was I crying? And then I remembered.

“Robin,” I groaned in pain. The wave of agony and loss and despair crashed down over me once again. “Robin, why?” I sat up, hugging my legs to my chest, and buried my face in my knees, soaking the fabric of the dress I wore. The sobs echoed through the still, quiet forest, punctuated by the occasional saying of his name.

I loved Robin. That was all there was to it. He didn't love me back. But for some reason, he'd died for me. I couldn't figure it out. I replayed the moment in my head.

“Robin! Robin! I won't leave without you! I won't leave you here to be killed!” I yelled over the noise of clashing swords and shouting voices.

“Vaylie, for heaven's sake, go!”

“Robin, I won't leave you! I-” I took in a deep breath, “Robin, I love you.” He looked at me, studying my face, and then said;

“Vaylie,” I drew in a breath, his expression seemed pained. “I don't- I don't love you back, Vaylie.” His voice was tight; strained. “Now go!” he shouted. “Get out of my sight before you get killed!”

New tears welled in my eyes.

“Robin!” I yelled to the trees. Why had his voice sounded so strained? Why had his eyes seemed so tortured? Was it because he didn't want to hurt me? Was he just feeling guilty because he had let me believe he returned my feelings? Why? Why, why, why? Hot tears flooded down my cheeks with astounding speed and quantity as I realized I would never get to ask him. Never get to talk to him. Never get to hear his perfect voice. Never get to see that crooked smile of his. Ever again. Never ever again would I see the famous, legendary Robin Hood. I cried long and hard in those woods, replaying moments, snippets of memories, flashes of smiles, eyes alight with moonlight reflected of glittering waters. It grew dark out, but I still did not move. I was vaguely aware that I was hungry. I didn't care though. Robin was dead. What else in the world mattered?

“Do not despair, fair lady, for I am here.” A voice declared from overhead. I looked up…cheeks streaked with tears. And there, the last bits of the sun setting his hair ablaze, standing on a branch high up in the tree…was Robin Hood.

“Robin!” I shouted, a heavy weight lifting off my chest. In a single elegant, graceful motion he jumped down from the high branch and landed smoothly, with almost no sound right in front of me.

The same feeling of confusion overcame me as when I had seen him at the gallows. I wanted to run to him and, I wanted to slap him, I wanted to apologize to him, and I wanted to turn and leave and never come back.

“Robin you're…you're not…you're alive! I'm not dreaming am I? You're really alive, you're alive!” I finally exclaimed. My hand rose of its own accord to touch his face, but when my mind caught up, it hung awkwardly in the air between us for a moment before I dropped it back to my side. He smiled a crooked smile and made a “tsk”ing sound, waving his index finger.

“Now, now, you shouldn't have so little faith in me. Has being captured and led to the gallows ever stopped me before?” His expression was playful on the surface, but there was something beneath it…something I couldn't quite place. Then suddenly he walked forward, pulling me to him in a tight hug. I buried my face in his shoulder, almost crying with relief.

“Oh, Robin, I thought I'd lost you.” I said as he stroked my hair and I put my arms around him. He pulled back to look me in the eye.

“There was a moment when I did too.” He looked away. “Vaylie…about what I said last night…” Now it was my turn to look away.

“I understand.” I said in a cold voice, all of my happy relief evaporating.

“No, you don't.” His voice sounded…I don't quite know how to put it. “Vaylie,” he said sternly. “Vaylie, look at me.” I looked up into his face, and there was regret in it. “In…in the castle last night, I needed to get you out of there. You safety was all that mattered to me. I knew you weren't going to leave me. I didn't want to do it, but I thought that if I could convince you that I didn't love you, you would leave me and only concern yourself with your own safety. I- I didn't want to hurt you, I felt like it would kill me to, but I thought if you thought I didn't love you, then you wouldn't care about me anymore. Because if you were dead, nothing would matter.” I stared up at him.

“Robin…”

“No, let me finish. But, it was so…excruciatingly painful…your eyes,” he struggled for words. “I could see it in your eyes that you sincerely believed me. Vaylie…it was…how could you believe me? After everything we've been through together, how could you let five words destroy your faith in me?” I was silent. I could feel another round of tears coming on.

“It's just-” I said, fighting back the tears. “I always knew you were too good for me. We're not meant to be together, it just happened that way. It would make sense for you not to love me. It never did.”

“Not meant to…Vaylie, what are you talking about?” I sighed. I had made up my mind. I was going to tell him.

“Robin…in my world…um, well.” I looked away. This was going to be difficult. “The reason I knew so much about you when we first met, is that in my time, there is a book titled The Adventures of Robin Hood. It's all about your adventures escaping the Sheriff of Nottingham and Prince John, and stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. You're a household name in my time. Everyone knows who Robin Hood was. In the book though,” I faltered for a moment. He looked surprised. “In the book, you end up falling in love with Lady Marion. You two get married and live happily ever after.”

“Lady…” I looked up to find a surprised but amused expression on his face. “Lady Marion…I married…I married Lady Marion?” To my surprise he was laughing. Shaking with laughter. “Oh that is a good one.” I just stood there, looking at him with a bewildered expression. He was laughing harder than I had ever seen him laugh. “I- I'm sorry,” he said, moving his hand from in front of his face. “It's just…Lady Marion and I. That's just so odd.”

“Not to people in my time. Everyone thought you were a lovely couple.” I muttered. He laughed harder, wiping tears out of his eyes.

“Oh, Vaylie, Vaylie, Vaylie.” He placed his hands on my shoulders, and looked my in the eyes, his face still bright with laughter. “Rest assured, I have no feelings for Lady Marion. I admire her, and I do find she has a fascinatingly wonderful personality, but I do not feel that way about her.”

“You…so…even if…even if I had never come, you and Lady Marion…” I trailed off too bewildered to complete my sentences.

“Oh, no. Lady Marion and I are only very good friends. There would have never been a romance between us. I say, whoever wrote that book should have done their homework.”

“So…” I looked down at my hands in amazement. “So…I didn't change the plot line? I didn't ruin the story?”

“No! No, Vaylie, not at all!” He laughed again, and pulled me into another embrace. “Vaylie,” he breathed into my ear. “Vaylie, the only one I could ever be with…it's you. Vaylie… Vaylie, I love you. Never forget that. I always have and I always will. Though…” his face fell a bit and he pulled back, “If you can't forgive me for hurting you and lying to you like that, I can't blame you in the least. I deserve it. It was an incredibly selfish thing to do. I-” I just looked at him astounded.

“You really don't understand things, do you?” I said, shaking my head.

“So…wait, what?”

“Ask me whatever question that's in your head and get it over with.” I said. He closed his eyes, and sighed, then opened them and asked:

“Do you forgive me? Can you find it in you heart to still love me?” He looked at me seriously, his eyes looking into mine.

“Robin…the way I feel about you will never change. I love you, Robin, and that is the undeniable truth.”

“Oh…” he sighed, hugging me tightly, “Thank you,” he tilted his head back and whispered to the heavens above; to whatever forces that may have brought me here.

 

“Thank you for her…”

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