(A/N: Hello everyone! Happy OutlawQueen Week! :D So, today's prompt, for OQ week, is an OutlawBandit fic. Which, I'm excited about because I LOOOOOOVED the Heroes & Villains universe, all of the characters were fan-freaking-tastic, so I hope to see many a fanfic today for this prompt.
But, firstly, onto my own. I had this idea for an OutlawBandit multichapter fic for awhile, shout out to my AMAZING friend Taylor for encouraging it, so I decided, kill two birds with one stone and post the first chapter of this fic today for OQ week. So, I cheated. LOL.
I hope y'all find this intriguing cause I would actually love to continue it and see all the ideas swirling in my head through to the end. So, tell me your thoughts, if you can, please. :)
Disclaimer: I do not own 'Once Upon A Time', nor any of it's characters (if I did, Robin would have a helluva lot more screentime!), this is written purely for fun.)
Robin Hood has never thought of himself as arrogant, he's just always known how skilled he happens to be; whether it be wielding a bow, never missing his mark, or robbing a carriage or castle like a phantom figure, leaving undetected, unharmed.
Until today, that is.
Perhaps he had been a tad too cocky and that's how everything went so wrong, how everything he once boasted about himself had failed and led him here, on his knees, his head bowed.
In front of a Queen.
Not just any Queen, not a simple royal, irate at his thieving ways, missing their precious trinkets and the small perchantage of wealth he managed to pinch from them. No, this is Snow White, Snow Black as she is known across realms - "the darkest of hearts one could ever encounter", Robin remembers hearing - and, instead of indignant bemoans and angry scowls, she is smirking, amused, calm.
Too calm for a powerful sorceress who had had her carriage hijacked by Robin and his men not even an hour ago.
She had, inexplicably, allowed his Merry Men to flee with their lives, her eyes had just been focused on their leader and, before Robin understood what was happening, her companion, one of her Black Knights, had used the shaft of sword to club him on the back of the neck, knocking him into a blackness.
Now, conscious, but with a sore neck and a throbbing head, Robin kneels before a different kind of blackness.
"Oh, Robin Hood," The Queen speaks, her voice soft, almost innocent sounding, yet it still sends chills down his spine, "You certainly have made much commotion, haven't you?"
Robin remains silent.
"Speak," Snow commands, enuniciating the word slowly, threateningly.
Robin lifts his head, finally meeting the Queen's icy gaze, feeling his lips twist into his own malicious grin. His own stupidity, his overestimation of his abilities, his haughtiness, may be the reason he is here, but he damn sure won't let this witch have him cowering like some meek servant. "I see my reputation has proceded me. I'm flattered, Your Majesty."
Snow hums, her smirk stretching futher across her lips, "You have quite a mouth when you choose to open it, don't you?"
"And, let me guess, you'll want to rip out, what? My lips? My tongue? Perhaps dispose of my head entirely?"
She laughs, cold and detached, barely any noise escaping her, "I see you've been brushing up on my work. Seems we're mutual fans of one another, Outlaw."
Robin cringes at her words, his eyes narrowing as he spats, "I am no fan of yours."
"Oh dear," The Queen murmurs, the quiet timbre of her voice still echoing throughout the large throneroom that they appear to be in, "And here I thought I wouldn't have any fun today."
There is a pause, a brief moment where the two are doing nothing but staring one another down until Robin groans, irritation and an anxious sensation washing over him, "Just do it, already! Come on, have your pet here," He motions towards the Black Knight behind him, holding him in his position, "slice through my neck and go about your pathetic existence as the evil, despicable creature you are."
Snow is smiling, still, not at all off-put by Robin's words, it seems. If anything, she appears to revel in a sick pleasure from them.
She takes two small strides towards him, her hand reaching out and grasping his chin. Robin struggles to escape her grip, but she is firm and he fails in his efforts as she squeezes his jaw tighter. "A leader of that brigade of forest dwellers for so long that you don't know how to stop giving orders. We shall change that."
"You will not be dying, Outlaw," She continues, roughly pushing at his head as she lets go of him, turning away and going to sit on her black, oranate throne a few feet in front of him, "Yet."
He wants to interject, to make some snappy remark about what his punishment will be then, but it occurs to him that if he is to be locked up, there's a good chance he can escape, so he keeps his mouth shut as she speaks again.
"No, death is too easy and you have so many other talents to offer me."
Bile rises in his throat that he barely manages to swallow down as he croaks, "Do your virile Knights not pleasure you enough, Your Majesty?"
The one behind him jerks Robin's body and his neck wants him to cry out in pain at the harsh jostle, but the Queen surprises him, by reprimanding the Knight with a teasing "Stick to the black, Charming, green isn't quite your color."
She then focuses her attention back to Robin, "I do want your body, Outlaw, but not for myelf."
She waves her hand and suddenly an images floats in the air. It's a moving picture, it's subject a young woman with braided, ebony hair and warm, dark eyes. Her lips, plump and soft pink in hue, are pressed into a thin line, then she bites down on the bottom one. She is concentrating, he notes. The image expands, shows that she has a bow in her hand, an arrow knocked, then she releases it up into the air and, not a moment later, a squirrel falls from a tree. She had perfectly pierced her target.
Regina, he realizes. A bandit, his competition, actually. They had never met, but she had managed to sabotage several of the Merry Men's missions, bagging off with a pretty sum before they even had a chance to try for themselves. He knew she was good, skilled, even rivaling himself, but he never expected her to look, to be so...
Beautiful.
It's the only word his brain can conjure as his eyes flit over her body, bending to retrieve her, what he can only assume as someone who also lives off the land, dinner. She has firm, toned legs, he can tell by her skin-tight trousers. Her upper body is more concealed, she wears a long sleeved shirt, layered with a fur-collared vest.
She's short. Judging by the height of the trees, where the top of her head reaches them, she's a small in statue, he knows. But, damn, does it not make him have more respect for her. For this woman who is tiny and, as far as he knows, all alone with a lack of supplies, a striking beauty who could have been royality in her own right, to have beaten he and his hoard of well-stocked men on many occasions is humbling, admirable.
"Do you know who this is?" The Queen interrupts Robin's thoughts and he forces himself to tear his eyes away from Regina, to face the cruel woman in front of him.
"Would it matter if I did, Your Majesty?" He bites back, "I'm sure you'll tell me, anyway."
"I knew there was a brain hidden in that flea covered skull of yours," She exclaims and Robin hears the Knight snort behind him, causing the thief to roll his eyes. She begins to talk again, as she waves her hand, the image of Regina disappearing with it and he can't help but feel a pang of regret for not memorizing her further, "This, she, is a problem that needs to be eradicated.
Ah.
"I may very well be a thief, Your Majesty, but a killer, I am not."
"You are willing to defy your Queen?" She's not angry. Irritated, maybe, but her question is asked in the same eery coolness that her other ones have been, "Do you have a death wish, Outlaw?"
"I will not sacrifice the life of another for my own, no." He refuses to kill, to murder, this beautiful, resilient woman in exchange for his own hide. If Snow White wants Regina dead, he can do nothing to halt that, but it sure as hell will not be done by his hand.
"No?" The Queen questions, then waves her hand, another moving picture popping into sight. He expected it to be his Merry Men, for the murderess monarch to threaten their lives, but he knows that they would respond in kind, so he was prepared with another rejection to spill from his mouth.
But it is not his men. No, it's his family home. In Sherwood Forest. Of course, his parents are long dead, it's no longer a house with tenants he knows, but he sees children playing in the field not far from it, a mother and father embracing, leaning against the side of the quaint cottage as they watch their offspring, two boys and a girl, frollick about.
"How about now?" Snow inquires, waving her hand, displaying a new scene, a pub in Sherwood that his father would frequent back in the day, many patrons gathered there now, drinking and laughing.
Robin's stomach flips, his throat tightens, his palms sweat.
The Queen makes the images vanish once more and addresses him, "You see, Outlaw, if you do not follow my commands, it won't just be your life at risk. I will burn down that entire village, I will annhilate the lives of everyone in your homeland. You may not be willing to save one life over another's, but what about a whole community's?"
Robin swallows hard, a lump forming at the back of his throat, his eyes stinging with unshed, stubborn tears, and he can do nothing but whisper his words, "So you want me to kill her? That girl?"
"Of course not," Snow flippantly responds, crossing one leg over the other as she adjusts to better perch on her throne, "No one is to kill her but me."
"Then what the hell is it that you want with me?"
The Queen smiles again, a sneer of pure malice, "I won't bore you with the details, Outlaw, but this pest once took something quite precious from me," Her mask falters a bit, a look of pain crossing her face, but she quickly replaces it once more, "I want to do the same to her before I end her life."
"So you want me to steal something from her?"
"In a matter of speaking," The Queen answers, drumming her fingers on her gown covered knee, "I wish for you to steal her heart."
Robin's eyes widen and he is about to ask how that's possible. He has no magic, for him to retrieve the organ from Regina's body, he'd be forced to cut it out, which would kill her instantly, contradicting Snow White's previous blood-thirsty statements, but she continues, answering his silent inquiry for him.
"Actually, you can't steal something that's been given to you, correct? And that's what I want, Outlaw. I want Regina to give you her heart, I want you to make her fall head over heels, birds chirping in your beloved forest, all-consuming, love with you."
She wants him to seduce Regina. To falsify feelings for the woman, to enact real ones within her. Robin feels an undeniable wave nauseam roll over him and he wants to immediately object, would rather feel the sharp blade of a sword take his life than trick Regina, or any human being, like this.
But then he remembers Sherwood, remembers the hundreds of innocent men, women, and children who would all lose their lives because of his inability to set his honor aside and romance a woman he is, clearly, already attracted to - even if it is spurred by the instructions of the Queen.
His head pounds, pounds, aches with the weight of this decision, with balancing innocent life vs. innocent life and all he can do is mutter a single word.
"Why?"
The Queen stands abruptly, gliding across the short distance and putting her face a mere few inches away from his own. "Because I want Regina's heart utterly and completely broken before I crush it."
Robin closes his eyes and bows his head. He's never felt this kind of angst within himself. Even when he once stole for selfish reasons, the guilt of those thefts were nothing compared to this, nothing compared to this agonizing, breathtaking pain that is lancing his mind and soul.
His control breaks and his body betrays him, allowing one tear to slide down his cheek, as he lifts his head, meeting the Queen's penetrating stare.
"I'll do it. Where do I find Regina?"
