Mix: Home is Just a Word

[potentiality_26]

Fandom: Robin Hood (BBC)
Subject: Guy of Gisborne/Maid Marian (Post-S2 Fix)
Title: Home is Just a Word
Warnings/Notes: I was totally going to write a little fic to go with this, but it got away from me and it isn't done, so this is just the mix; spoilers for the end of S2; warnings for bad language in one song and me being an apologist; made for waywardmixes challenge #25 (Fix-It).

The BBC take on Robin Hood had three seasons with 13 episodes in each season, so the writers had to pit the hero and his merry men (and woman) against the Sheriff of Nottingham and Guy of Gisborne for the long term. In order to make this fun to watch, the Sheriff and Guy had to be relatively likeable in their badness. And indeed, the show in general is very entertaining, and the Sheriff is hilarious and despicable at once. The downside, however, is that Guy is a) a reasonably good- um- guy trying to make the best of a bad situation, and who genuinely loves Maid Marian, and b) if you’re me, you sort of want him to get the girl.

At the end of season 2, Guy finds out that Marian chose Robin over him and stabs her. Everything goes downhill in the Marian-less season 3 (I mean, Guy and Robin work together for a couple of episodes and kind-of-sort-of become buddies and Tuck is cool, but that’s basically it), so even if it wasn’t criminal that she went like that, I'd still want to go back and fix that crap.

Marian’s death was pointless and stupid and so out of character for everyone involved that I- and several of my friends and their families- literally thought that it hadn’t really happened at first. That Guy or Robin or maybe both of them together had staged her death to protect her- and I wanted to believe that all the way up to the end. A part of me still sort of does.

Guy stages Marian’s death not just for the sheriff’s benefit but for Robin’s as well, and takes her somewhere where she will be safe until King Richard comes back to England. For now, her life as she knows it is over.

1. The Beginning After the End- Stars

(Instrumental)

2. Things We Lost in the Fire- Bastille

I was the match and you were the rock
Maybe we started this fire
We sat apart and watched
All we had burned on the pyre

(You said) we were born with nothing
And we sure as hell have nothing now
(You said) we were born with nothing
And we sure as hell have nothing now

3. Blinding- Florence + the Machine

And I could hear the thunder and see the lightning crack
All around the world was waking, I never could go back

Guy comes to see her frequently, and he’s still moody and unpredictable, but maybe it was that castle that blinded her, because- from outside of it- it’s easier to appreciate all he’s been through, losing his home and working for a man he hates. And yes, all he seems to care about is power, but it’s been all he’s been taught means anything- and yet he puts everything on the line for her over and over.    

4. Dust Bowl Dance- Mumford & Sons

I've been kicked off my land at the age of sixteen
And I have no idea where else my heart could have been
I placed all my trust at the foot of this hill
And now I am sure my heart can never be still

5. Four Seasons in One Day- Crowded House

Smiling as the shit comes down
You can tell a man from what he has to say
Everything gets turned around
And I will risk my neck again, again

You can take me where you will
Up the creek and through the mill
Like all the things you can't explain
Four seasons in one day

Marian’s father is dead and the man she loves thinks she is. She’s angry at Guy for uprooting her like he did, but she also has the opportunity to be with herself and to figure out who she is now, alone. Reflecting on the last few years and some of the choices she made, she doesn’t always like what she sees.

6. Fear and Loathing- Marina & the Diamonds

I've lived a lot of different lives
Been different people many times
I live my life in bitterness
And fill my heart with emptiness

And now I see, I see it for the first time
There is no crime in being kind
Not everyone is out to screw you over
Maybe, oh just maybe they just wanna get to know you

7. Start Again- Gabrielle Aplin

When the night before has left you
And the smoke has filled your lungs
When you don't know what you've come here for
Or the person you've become

Marian finds out that Guy has no expectation of avoiding the same punishment as the Sheriff when Richard returns. She’s been having a hard time telling right from wrong lately, but- right or wrong- it’s relatively easy to choose to do the same thing Guy did for her and help stage his death, too. Maybe they both deserve a new beginning.   

8. Finding North- The Civil Wars

It's not the sky I'm asking for
I'm just having trouble finding north
I've gone as far as I can go
Trying to find something that feels like home

Who's gonna take my hand, show me the way?
How long will I have to wait for someday?

They become closer, and it’s slow and stuttering and awkward. After everything, Guy’s finally figured out that he can’t move too fast with Marian. She needs a friend before anything else while she rebuilds her life. And Marian is beginning to think that he is the one she needs most for that.  

9. Cuckoo Song- A Silent Film

I won't be your cuckoo my love
Nor a thief on the wing
A shameful regret
Or a promise on a string
And I will follow your heart
Until you let me in
I'll never be your cuckoo my love
I won't be a lesson learned in spring

10. Breathe Me- Sia

Ouch I have lost myself again
Lost myself and I am nowhere to be found
Yeah I think that I might break
I've lost myself again and I feel unsafe

Be my friend
Hold me, wrap me up
Unfold me
I am small and needy
Warm me up
And breathe me

It’s Guy who presses her to go back home after the Sheriff is gone, even though he will miss her. Robin is back in Locksley and everything is as it should be- but she doesn’t feel like it’s where she belongs anymore.

11. Lovesong- The Cure

Whenever I'm alone with you
You make me feel like I am home again
Whenever I'm alone with you
You make me feel like I am whole again

Whenever I'm alone with you
You make me feel like I am young again
Whenever I'm alone with you
You make me feel like I am fun again

12. Hercules- Sara Bersailles

I've lost a grip on where I started from
I wish I'd thought ahead and left a few crumbs
I'm on the hunt for who I've not yet become
But I'd settle for a little equilibrium
There is a war inside my heart gone silent
Both sides dissatisfied and somewhat violent
The issue I have now begun to see
I am the only lonely casualty

This is not the end though...

She and Guy are much more alike than she ever realized. They’ve both made mistakes and they both have to find a way to start fresh. Maybe they can build a new life- and a new home- together.  

13. Blue Dahlia- The Gaslight Anthem

You gotta stay inside and wait for the night
And then come on over and see me
There's a poetry about these streets
It just slips from your skin and goes right underneath
And mama always knew I'd meet a girl like you
But me, I never believed

‘Cos I've been so lonely I can't imagine that kind of sympathy
‘Cos I've been so lonely I can't imagine that kind of sympathy

14. Afterlife- Ingrid Michaelson

You and me
We got this
You and me
We're beautiful, beautiful

We are, we are, we’re gonna be all right
We got, we got, we always got the fight in us
We are, we are, we’re gonna live tonight
Like there's no tomorrow
'Cause we’re the afterlife

15. Home- The Piano Guys

(Instrumental)