This is a Will Scarlett fic inspired by the new Robin Hood on BBC 1 on a Saturday. Its 350 words. I had to send it back to the beta about three times before I got it right. Hope you like.
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The colour of dreams.
He never used to dream; he used his energy on work and chores at home. But now he was in the forest, the dreams came more often.
They start in black and white, colour leaks into them only slowly.
He dreams of life five years ago, life before the new taxes and Sheriff. He dreams of playing with his brother, his father's lessons, his mother's laughter. The only colour is the purple of the flowers in the spring.
He watches his mother get thinner and thinner until she fades away completely. The shine of her hair dulling, even as the orange colour bleeds into his vision.
He dreams of the day his father lost his hand. Remembers his scream of pain, intermingling with the muffled sobs from Luke, head buried in Will's shoulder. Watches the drops spill from the blade onto the forest floor, their red colour emerging from the grey of the dream as they hit the ground.
He dreams of the night in the cell, waiting to die. Holding his brother as he cried himself to sleep, whispering comforting nothings to Benedict, sitting pale-faced and shaking next to him. Trying to avoid the piercing green gaze of the stranger sitting opposite him.
He dreams of walking up to the scaffold. The cries of his father muffled as a noose and hood are slipped over his head, yet the voice reading out his crimes perfectly clear. The only thing he sees as he his eyes close is the grey weave of the hood slowly turning to brown.
He dreams of what would have happened if Robin hadn't decided to save them. He sees Luke, pale and cold to the touch, bruises marring his neck in a dark circle. He falls to his knees and weeps as his brother's skin is coloured in blue.
And when he wakes, he is shaking, and Allan, who sleeps nearby, is looking at him worriedly, saying he called his brother's name in his sleep.
He just shakes his head, squeezing his eyes closed against the cool light of morning and the colour it brings.
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