This fic starts where the Winter Finale (6x10) left us - with Emma and Regina stuck in the Wish Realm, no more magic bean, and a WishRealm!Robin about to rob them. So excited for this story - I have so much planned!

"He looks so real."

"You said yourself, Regina, nothing in this realm is real!"

"I know, but…"

Nothing could distract Emma from the urgency of Robin's arrow pointing squarely at Regina's chest. Now that the green clouds of the portal had shrunk into the ground and left a gaping crater, there was nothing else to steal her attention. Regina, however, hadn't looked away from Robin since his arrival. Emma could see Regina's hands furling and unfurling at her sides, as if she wanted to reach for him. Emma hoped that she didn't; they both knew Robin's aim well enough to know they'd be dead in two heartbeats.

"Your purses, ladies, or I will have to take them from you forcibly."

Regina seemed to have lost all speech and could only stare. Emma couldn't imagine what feelings must be storming inside of Regina right now, but it meant that she had to figure a way out of this by herself. This Robin did not know them, had never fallen in love with Regina. He wouldn't think twice about shooting them, and then where would they be? Two bloodied foreigners on the shore of the Wish Realm. And, if they somehow didn't bleed out, they'd have no magic to get home anyway.

Wait. That was it.

Magic.

"Are the two of you deaf?" Robin said, his hand straining against the pull of his bowstring, his forearm tensed. "I'll give you to the count of 3, then I'll be shooting the two of you and taking everything you've got anyway. One-"

"Wait!" Emma said, putting up her hands in surrender. She delved one hand into the pocket of the white, fur-lined cape she wore. Her fingers clasped around a small purse. Withdrawing it, she walked forward cautiously, passing Regina, who stood trance-like, unmoving and silent.

"If we give you this," Emma said, walking towards Robin, "will you help us?"

"Help you?" Robin scoffed, "I'm here to rob you!"

"We're damsels in distress and you're a hero, isn't that kind of what you live for?"

Robin laughed harshly, his bow bobbing in his hand.

"From where I'm standing, I'm taking from the rich – that would be you, by the way, Princess – and giving to the poor. Whether you're distressed or not doesn't really come into it."

"Right. Princess." Emma groaned. She'd forgotten who she was here. "That would be me."

She stretched out her arm, giving herself plenty of berth between the gold she was offering and the tip of Robin's arrow. He slackened it, reaching forward to grab the purse, when Emma's other hand shot up, fingers outstretched and eyes concentrated. White smoke enveloped Robin's chest, drawing around the bow and arrow in his hand and the sheath on his back. As the swirling cloud disappeared, so too did Robin's weapon.

"Witch!" Robin snarled.

"You can have our money," Emma said, throwing the bag of coins towards him. He caught it with one hand, his fingers clenching around it. Emma was certain he must have other weapons, so she spoke quickly. "Now we need something in return."

He laughed again.

"Why should I help you two?"

"You can have your bow back when we're done."

"Is that so?" Robin mused. He looked inside the purse, confirmed the gold that clinked inside it, and then looked searchingly over the two women. Emma glanced back at Regina momentarily. She was still silent; Emma had never known her so dumbstruck.

"Is your friend a mute?" Robin asked. Emma wasn't sure if he was joking.

"No," she said, smiling. "Just stunned."

"What on earth for?"

Regina stepped forward, eyes still unwaveringly fixed on Robin.

"You don't-" she began, faltering. "You don't know who I am?"

Robin had one eyebrow arched questioningly.

"At first glance I believed you to be the Evil Queen, but she has not been seen for decades and she would never dress so… subtly," he answered.

"I am not the Evil Queen," Regina said, "but I was once, in another land. It has been a long time since then."

"Is that so?" Robin said, mockingly. "What inspired the transformation, your majesty?"

"Many things," Regina said. "I had – have – a son, whom I love dearly. He changed me so profoundly that I was barely recognisable. There was also a man, not so long ago, who proved to me that I was still capable of loving, despite all I had done to blacken my heart."

Robin's face was unchanged, no hint of the recognition that perhaps Regina was hoping for. Emma knew that he would not stick around long if they didn't get him on their side and so far, he had no reason to be.

"Listen," Emma said, stepping to stand beside Regina. Perhaps absolute truth was the answer. "We are not from this realm. We desperately need to get back home, and need some form of magic. We just lost our one portal out of here and we need another."

"You're royalty - what do you mean you're not from this realm? You own this realm!"

"This realm is an illusion, created to trap Emma," Regina said. "My evil twin managed to get hold of a genie and– it's a long story, but we swear it's the truth."

Robin's brows were furrowed, his eyes switching between the two of them. This obviously made no sense to him, and how could it? Emma reasoned to herself that they didn't exactly need his help – they both knew the Enchanted Forest well enough to get around. Instead, it seemed like Regina needed him. He may be an illusion, but whilst they were stuck here, there was no harm in keeping him close for her sake.

"We don't expect you to understand us or believe us right now," Emma said, "but we could use you on our side."

Robin didn't seem moved.

"You don't remember this," Regina said, gaining confidence, "but we know you. We – I – know you very well."

"Prove it."

Regina's intake of breath was clearly audible. She seemed to be steeling herself.

"You have a band of Merry Men," she began, "and they mean the world to you. You have a lion tattoo on your right arm that you got when you were in your late teens. You married Marian, you have a child-"

"Quiet!" Robin said, angrily. His eyes were furious for a moment, boring into Regina's, but he averted them. In an instant, sadness overtook his whole frame. "You clearly don't know everything. Marian is dead."

"What?"

"I'm not going to repeat myself!"

Emma tugged at Regina's arm, talking lowly at her side.

"Come on, Regina, this isn't working. We should go."

Regina's eye were brimming with tears as she looked at Robin, her feet planted. Robin didn't look up, and Emma tugged gently again. Regina began to back away, sand shuffling around her shoes and a tear spilling onto her cheek. Just as they turned, the silence was broken.

"Say I believe you – and I'm not saying I do," Robin said, his head rising to look at them, "why should I help you?"

Regina wiped away another stray tear and looked more determinedly at him.

"The Robin I know would never let anyone who needed hope seek it alone," Regina said.

They were looking one another squarely in the eyes, neither rising nor backing away. Emma felt that they were reaching an agreement.

"Plus we'll give you your bow back afterwards," Emma offered.

"I suppose that it's a deal then," Robin said, nodding reluctantly, "damsels." Beside Emma, Regina's chest fluttered, as if she'd suddenly found breath again. Emma smiled, but remained weary; Regina couldn't get too attached to this Robin of the Wish Realm, or she'd have another broken heart to deal with once they got back.

As they began walking up the beach towards the forest, she glanced at Regina, who was watching Robin intently from the corner of her eye.

Perhaps it was too late to worry about Regina's broken heart.

Thanks for reading! Chapter 2 is already up and 3 is written, ready for editing! Thanks and credit to my roomie, Bel, for being a fellow nerd and planning with me :)