Hello everyone! I'm back now, but with a fanfiction on the TV show Once Upon a Time. Let's just say that it is a Missing Year fanfic, but it may continue in Storybrooke later on.
Pairing: Outlaw Queen (Regina Mills / Robin Hood)
Main genres: Romance / Adventure / Drama
Rated: T (if there are any M-rated chapters, I'll put a warning at the beginning of the chapter)
Warning: English is not my native language, so I'm sorry for any mistakes you may find here, because this is unbetaed (is that even a word?) for now.
Disclaimer: The characters and the settings are not mine, and I don't make any money out of this story.
Chapter 1: You're Hurt
Regina was kneeling on the earth, in the Enchanted Forest. She gazed up at the sky, tears glistening in her eyes. How could she have done that? She had let her son go away from her. He could have been happy here, with her, and she was very aware of it, but she also knew better. He wasn't made for this world. In a sense, she was happy he got to be with his other mother, but… She felt as if her heart would be broken, forever.
She pressed her hand against her chest and took a deep breath. Control. She wished she had that right now. But she didn't. So she let her tears fall like little drops on the forest ground. No one was going to find her here anyways.
"M'lady?" a voice suddenly asked, making her jump on her feet.
"Who the hell are you?" she asked with disdain after regaining her composure.
She fought back her tears and looked at the stranger who had just spoken to her. It was a man, with brown hair and blue eyes. He had a bow in his hands, and she instantly adopted a defensive stance.
"Robin of Locksley, m'lady," he introduced himself, apparently not caring about her defensive attitude.
Ah, the thief… she thought with contempt. He didn't look like he wanted to hurt her though, but she knew very well that that didn't mean he wasn't going to. She didn't let her guard down and stood with her head held high.
"And you are…?" he asked with a smirk.
She let her disdain show in her voice when she answered, "I am your queen, and you should –"
"The queen, really? The Evil Queen?"
His shoulders were now very tense, she noticed. She frowned a little and nodded briefly. His hand gripped his weapon tighter and he scowled.
"What are you doing in these woods?" he asked, not as kindly as he had before.
She laughed bitterly and looked at him dead in the eye, and she chose to answer him with some honesty. "I needed to be alone, and I think you just saw that when –"
"When I interrupted your crying? Yes, I saw that. Why were you crying?"
"It is none of your business, thief!"
He looked straight at her and when she expected anger to show in his eyes, it was something akin to pity that appeared in them.
"Were you traveling with the people on the main road?" he asked her again.
She was quite grateful that he had changed the subject, and so she told him the truth. She told him she was traveling with them because they had to reach her castle, and when she saw his frown, she stopped her talking and raised her eyebrows, silently asking him what had happened to it. He lowered his eyes and took a deep breath, before approaching her with small, delicate steps. She didn't walk away from him, but the way he approached her disturbed her greatly.
"The castle is already inhabited, your majesty," he explained.
"You're lying," she exclaimed. She was sure of that. She had cast a spell on the castle to prevent anyone from entering, and no one but her could break it.
She stared at the man and she quickly understood that he wasn't. All she could see in him was honesty… which was quite surprising, because he was supposed to be a thief.
"But… how could it be? No one was supposed to be able to break the spell…"
Everything was going down around her. Her world was crumbling to pieces and she couldn't do anything to stop it.
"I'm really sorry," he apologized, and she didn't even know why.
She nodded stiffly towards him, regaining her countenance, and then she turned on her heels and decided to head back towards the main road. She couldn't stay there to grieve, she wouldn't be at peace anymore, now that the thief knew she had come here to cry.
"Wait!" he almost shouted.
She stopped but didn't turn to look at him.
"I don't really think you can head back to the castle now… Do you?" he continued, and she could easily hear that he was smirking again.
She sniggered.
"Do you really think I will let that person, whoever it is, get away with invading my castle?" Her tone was so cold when she said it, and became even colder when she went on, "No, I don't think so. Even if I have to rip their heart out, I will –"
"Your majesty," he cut her off, again. "What I wanted to say was…" He waited until she had calmed down and then went on, "I have a camp in the woods, and I think there is enough room for every single one of you."
"And why would you do this, thief?"
He huffed with exasperation and answered, "Because it's the right thing to do, m'lady." And his voice held such strength that, in a way, it appeased her.
"Alright," she finally agreed. "Lead on."
"To my camp?"
She looked at him straight in the eye and wondered if he truly meant this.
"No, to the nearest river," she said in a dead serious tone. When she saw him frowning, she shook her head and almost smiled, "Yes, to your camp."
He grinned and nodded. And just like that, he was gone. Regina swore quietly and had to focus on her footsteps, so that she didn't trip over her own feet. She had forgotten how hard it was to walk and run in that long, dark dress she used to love. And now she was following a thief in the woods, and he led her to a camp she didn't know anything about. Had she gone completely crazy?
When she finally stumbled out of the woods, she lifted her eyes up and had to contain a gasp. So this was the camp Robin had talked about…
Before her laid a vast clearing, with a few tents scattered in the middle of it. The grass here was green, when everywhere else she had seen some, it had been nothing but weeds. And it was open, so everyone could gaze up at the stars at night.
"Do you like it enough, your majesty?"
Robin's voice interrupted her trail of thoughts and when she looked at him, she truly smiled this time.
"This is more than wonderful," she declared warmly. "I think everyone will be happy here, while I track down the one that invaded the castle."
She hadn't said that it was her castle, Robin noticed. And yet, he asked her, "Must you always be so serious, your majesty?"
Her smile vanished instantly, and when he saw her open her mouth, he didn't let her intervene and continued, "If you could just open your eyes, you'd see you could be happy with everyone here, and not in this castle you're always talking about!"
She averted her gaze and stared ahead of her, at the tents in the center of the clearing.
I can't, I can't, I can't, she thought, over and over, until Robin's voice cut her thoughts off once again. He said, "I'm sorry, your majesty, it wasn't my place to –"
"It's fine. I'll just head back to the main road and lead them here… if it's still alright."
He nodded and offered to walk with her, but she shook her head and told him, "I need to be alone for now."
She left without another word, walking briskly among the trees. She didn't want to use her magic. She needed time and for once, this instant travel spell she used so much wasn't what she needed the most.
This time, not a single tear fell from her eyes and she wondered if she should be worried. It might not have been voluntary, but he had just turned her world upside down, even more than it already was. She didn't need his advice and still… The words he had said were opposed to every single thing she believed in – revenge, darkness and power. And then she realized that she didn't believe in those things anymore. As little as it was, it still comforted her.
She was still walking among the trees, lost in her thoughts, when a noise brusquely woke her up. She frowned and looked at the canopy, wondering what it was. Maybe it was just a bird… She swore if it was that thief again, she was going to curse him until the end of his days.
When she heard nothing more after a few minutes of silence, she shrugged and started walking again. Before she could even realize it, she found herself face down on the ground, with her ribs aching so much she couldn't breathe for a few seconds.
She forced herself to turn around, and she saw the horrible creature flying again towards her. She raised one hand, and a ball of fire appeared in her palm. Unfortunately, she didn't have time to throw it at the… flying monkey, or whatever it was, before it grabbed her by the collar of her dress and lifted her up in the air.
She gasped when the breath was knocked out of her, and she chose this moment to finally burn the creature. It let her go, and she fell onto the ground, bruising her ribs even more. She closed her eyes and tried to take a deep breath, but the pain cut her breath away. And when she opened her eyes again, she saw the creature charging her one more time. Why couldn't it just let her be? she asked herself. She tried to fight it off more quickly this time, but failed, probably because of the pain which clouded her mind.
At the precise moment when she thought she could do nothing and the creature would kill her, she heard a swoosh near her ear and the flying monkey backed away with an inhuman scream. She turned her head as best as she could to see who had saved her and scowled. Him again!
"I told you not to follow me, thief!" she seethed.
"You didn't let me finish what I had to say," he answered calmly. "I could have warned you about them, but you didn't listen to me, you just left. And now you're hurt," he stated with concern.
"I'm fine."
She tried to get up and hissed in pain. He raised an eyebrow and stared at her. She glared at him and informed him that it would heal pretty fast, because of her powers. Or so I hope, she thought while she sat down in the mud.
Suddenly, a hand appeared in front of her eyes and she stared at it, and then at its owner.
"Why are you offering me your hand?" she asked, trying to hide her gratitude.
"Because you're hurt, and you need help if you want to be more comfortable to use your magic," he stated like it was obvious.
She briefly thought about it, and then let him help her up. She leaned onto him and he helped her walk towards a nearby, large tree. She sat down, and even though it wasn't the most comfortable place she had ever known, she was able to focus more and let her magic soothe her aching bones. When she opened her eyes again, she saw him looking at her with a frown and she rose to her feet.
"Thank you, but I'm better now. You can go back to your camp, and I'll –"
"No. After what happened, I'm not letting you go into the woods alone again. Besides, your people must be far ahead of us now. You'll probably need help catching up with them."
"I have magic, I can –"
"Your majesty. I am coming with you, and you can't convince me otherwise."
She looked at him and sighed, before leading the way among the trees. She wondered why he was helping her. When he had first learned she was the Evil Queen, he had acted so… aggressively, and now he was willing to help her alongside with all the others. She asked herself if she had done anything to convince him she had changed, and decided that she would ask him later.
And there you go! That was the first chapter (probably a little short, sorry), I hope you liked it. Once again, I'm sorry for the mistakes that you probably found in there!
I hope the characters are still In Character for you, and that you will like this idea as a plot, even if it was used very often before!
Thank you for reading!
P.S.: I will probably be able to post a new chapter each Monday evening. :)
