I own no one but my own people
"So his… 'Merry Men'... choose to be thieves just to help the poor?"
Regina nodded as they made their way through the woods.
She was clutching his arm as they stepped over the roots and fallen trees and thick brush. They had gone back to the scene of the robbery and Robin had tracked the men easily through the forest.
"He inspired them to be just as honorable as him," Regina said. "Plus he was their leader, whatever he said went."
"Leader huh?" Robin smirked at that particular bit of information Regina had withheld. "I suppose I could get used to that title…"
"It's not like they're gonna just give you a crown the second they see you."
"I can be very charismatic when I want to be, Your Majesty," he told her as he helped her over a particularly thick bit of shrubbery.
Why the hell has she gone trekking through the woods wearing six inch heels looking as regal and evil as possible was truly mind boggling to the both of them.
"Oh please," she scoffed as she took hold of his arm again. "They'll see right through that. Look all I'm saying is these men might not be all that open to some stranger coming in and declaring himself Lord of the Manor."
"Oh trust me, Your Majesty, I can be very persuasive…"
Robin grinned at her before he hurried on up ahead with Regina trailing behind slightly. They walked a bit further up ahead before they heard tell tale sound of laughter and saw the glow of a warm fire not too far in the distance.
The two of them crouched down behind a tree at the edge of the camp, watching the group of men share from a jug of ale as they passed it from one to the other while they sat around a large fire. While they took the tents and sleeping bags with them from Storybrooke, they had gone back to their regular clothes, forgoing the jeans and unformed hoodies they had worn in the magical town in Maine.
All at once Regina was reminded of a time in another life when she would sit besides The Other Robin around a fire, laughing at their jokes, rolling her eyes at the crude comments that Robin would always pretend for her sake that he didn't find all that amusing and smirking at the whistles she and Robin would receive when one would take the others hand after they had a bit too much ale and led the other into his tent.
"You know," Robin breathed to the Queen and drawing her out of her memories. "...I bet they have hoards of jewels and gold…" She turned to him and raised a perfectly manicured brow. "I bet they think their camp is so well hidden that they don't even have a guard."
"We're not here to rob The Merry Men, we're here to ask them how we can help the poor."
"We could do a little of both." He had that glint in his eyes that told Regina that something possibly fun but definitely dangerous was being planned inside his head. "We rob them tonight, take the gold back to the castle then we come back tomorrow and start our charity work." He leaned over and kissed her neck, his scruff lightly scratching her skin. "I bet they have a superb necklace that would look amazing around that beautiful neck of yours," he breathed. He gently nibbled on her ear, making her groan softly. "Maybe a lovely pair of earrings…"
Regina bit her lip as she turned to look at him, that spark in his blue eyes lighting a fire inside of her.
"Well, Your Majesty?"
"...We take the jewelry and leave the gold alone… half the gold."
He gave her a wild grin and kissed her hard.
"This is why I love you."
"I thought it was because I'm flexible enough to put my legs behind my head and have no gag reflex."
"That's just icing on the cake. Now," he nodded towards the camp. "You know these men, where would they hide their plunder before they gave it away?"
"It's in one of their sleeping tents. Every night it'd go to a different man until they managed to give it away, they'd be responsible for guarding it.
"... He actually trusted these outlaws to not wander off with the gold themselves?"
"He had to. He wanted them to trust him so he had to believe they followed his code."
"There's a difference between trusting your friends and tempting them with a giant chest of gold."
"That's the thing these men aren't just his friends," she explained. "He was their hero, their leader, their Prince of Thieves."
"Yes well, he may have been the prince, but I'm a king," he said with a smirk. "Now, here's what we do-."
"What you're going to do is stand up, slowly, with your hands in the air," a voice growled at them from behind followed by an arrow pointed at Regina's back.
Both Robin and Regina did as they were instructed, standing slowly and their hands going into the air.
They were far enough from the light of the fire that their faces were dark and undistinguishable.
"How did you find us?" the voice demanded. It was deep and raspy but it didn't come natural to who it belonged too. The person holding the arrow was intentionally disguising their voice and Regina wracked her mind to place who it belonged to.
She glanced over at the group of unsuspecting men sitting around the fire and noted that there was one large presence missing.
Little John. He must have had guard duty tonight.
Regina swallowed hard as she opened her mouth to explain exactly who she was and what they were doing crouched at the edge of their camp. She knew he would lower his bow the moment he heard her voice.
What she didn't plan on was the second John shifted the arrow from Regina to Robin, the infamous thief would quickly twist around and hit the man as hard as he could, sending his arrow flying into the canopy of leaves above them and him to the ground with a loud yell that alerted the rest of the camp.
Robin grabbed Regina's hand and sprinted away as fast as he could pull her, forgetting not only that his girlfriend had magic that could poof them back home in an instant but also forgetting that she couldn't use that particular bit of magic while she was running incase her body moved faster than her magic and a bit of her was left behind.
She heard shouts and running footsteps behind them and the whistle of an arrow fly by her head. At that moment she was quite glad to have Robin on her side.
Her long regal cloak snagged on a fallen branch and she let out a cry as she tripped, falling to the hard forest floor.
Robin skidded to a stop and grabbed the dagger from his waistband. Regina gripped his arm as he worked to free her, cutting away the long flowing fabric.
He had finally got her free when there was another twang of a bowstring and whistle of an arrow. Robin yelled as he fell to the ground, an arrow sticking out of his chest.
"Robin!" Regina screamed as she raced over to him just as another arrow was loosed and landed in his side.
"Regina?" John's real voice called out followed by a loud, "hold your fire!"
Regina ignored the men who ran up to her, most holding bows but a few holding torches so they were able to light their way through the forest.
"Regina, what the hell are you-." He froze when the light of the torch fell upon the thief.
"... Robin," John breathed as he looked down at the face of his best friend.
All around them were shocked mutters and frightened gasps. Regina caught a few words the men spoke to one another, 'witchcraft' 'ghost' 'haunted' 'miracle'... But she ignored them as she waved her hand over the arrow, expecting it and the hole it made in his body to disappear but it stayed firmly inside him and Robin just groaned louder as his eyes fought to stay open.
"How…? Where- Regina, how did-?" John stammered but the Queen was far too concerned about her lover to answer the question that requires a far longer explanation then she had time for right now.
"Why can't my magic heal him?" she demanded, waving her hand over the arrow once again but resulting in the same failure.
"Is it really him?"
"Why can't my magic heal him?!"
John swallowed hard as he nodded towards the arrows. "They- they've been dipped in magic dampening potion," John explained. "No ones magic can."
Regina took a shuddering breath as she looked back down at her fast fading thief. She would not lose Robin again..
"Help me get him back to camp, he needs help," she begged the men who had been best friends with the man she had loved and lost.
Without so much as a blink of an eye Little John, Friar Tuck and several other of the Merry Men grabbed hold of the thief and hoisted him up onto their shoulders, quickly making their way back to their camp.
"Hold on, Robin," Regina whispered softly to the unresponsive man they carried. "Please hold on…"
It's always Regina that ends up getting shot with an arrow in these kind of stories so I thought I'd just switch it around a bit :-) Please Review.