I'll be getting back to the main story in this series soon, but for now here's something for Day 7 of OQ Prompt Party. I made it through a whole week!

100. Roland loses Robin's bow

15. "you can't just run around and threaten to kill everyone." "Oh, but you never told me that so how would I know?"

Dark!OQ verse

Lost and Found

They're woken to a knocking at the bedroom door: hard, rapid pounding and a frantic yell of her name. Regina is out of bed in seconds, magic swirling around and dressing her; she's ready for battle before she reaches the door. It's Tuck, arm still raised to pound the wood that's been yanked away. "Roland's gone," the older man tells her. She nods, follows him numbly through the halls and doesn't hear Robin calling after her. She's left him alone as much as possible. Her sweet little night who never asked to be pulled into all this chaos. It was hard enough explaining to him that the man that wore his father's face wasn't his father without trying to untangle the fact that she wasn't the Regina that he had started calling mom (but she was, is, has all the memories and emotions that the sound of that little world gave her) that she thought it best to keep her distance whenever possible. They shared the castle with the Merry Men in the colder months, but both Robin and Regina were mindful of their interactions with the child.

She'd told Robin that he was the other Robin's son, nothing more. She'd never asked him to be his father, never expected him to, never told him that she had desperately wanted to be his mother. That's why he doesn't understand, that's why he's still calling after her, running to catch up as she mounts a horse and heads east towards the village.

"Where do you think he's gone?" Robin grabs the reins of his own beast, cutting off John as the Men begin to scatter in all directions. "I don't know. We've searched every inch of the castle, he's not here. He wouldn't just wander off. If anything happens to that boy—"

"We'll find him," Robin claps his hand over John's broad shoulders. Of all the Men he'd been the last to warm to him; in fact he's still rather cold. Regina told him it's most likely because he and John were the closest, brothers, that John took his death the hardest. "You should go with her," he juts his chin in the direction Regina took off to. "No telling what she'll do with that boy in danger." Robin nods although he doesn't fully understand. John takes off due north, leaving Robin to head east. He scans the tree line as the horse gallops down the path; there's no sign of his alter's boy. He's about a mile yet from the village when he smells it: smoke. John's words echo in his mind as he pushes the horses even faster. He knows what his realm's version of her was capable of, has heard the murmurings of the citizens of this realm when they'd first arrived. But over a child that wasn't her own? Robin realizes there's more to the story than he's been told.

She's using her magic to pull people out of their homes when he gets to the village square. Her eyes are wild, purple smoke curling out of one hand, fire raging in the other. "Someone has seen him! Which way did he go? I will burn this pathetic village to the ground if I find out any one has hurt my son!"

Robin stops in his tracks, steps behind her. Her son? He doesn't have time to fully process what he's heard because she's bring her hand back to launch a fireball at the tavern. He moves on instinct, grabbing her wrist and twisting her arm behind her back. "Stop!" he yells into her face when she bends around to see who would dare to hold her down. "You can't just go around threatening to kill everyone!"

"Like hell I can't!" she spits back, wrenching her arm from his grasp. "It's worked wonders for me in the past," she moves forward again toward the villagers who seem to be everything from terrified to indignant at her display of power. Robin goes to grab for her again when a woman steps forward, pulling a boy about Roland's age along with her.

"He was with my Austin yesterday. They went down by the creek. I caught them shooting arrows at squirrels and sent Roland home. Maybe he went back there," she points to Regina's left, to a well warn path that disappears into the woods. "And I'd have told you all of that without all of this," the woman adds, sweeping her hands to encompass the destruction around her.

Regina's breathing hard, staring the woman down, rage still bubbling at the surface. Except it's not rage, its fear that she doesn't want to show; pure terror that she's lost someone else she loves. She wants nothing more to collapse into the dirt and cry, but screaming is so much easier, destroying keeps her from feeling. Robin's hands are on her arms again, sliding down to quell the magic ready to burst from her hands. "Thank you," he's telling the woman that Regina still can't speak to, assuring her that "all of this will be set right as soon as we find the boy," as he's pulling Regina toward the path. "I'm sure he's fine," he says into her ear, meaning to soothe as the stream comes into view. There's an arrow on the ground, a pair of small boots, but no sign of their owner.

"ROLAND!" she cries out, birds scattering as her voice echoes all around.

"We'll find him," Robin tries again to calm the frantic woman at his side. "He probably took his boots off to go into the stream. It's not deep here, Regina, we'll find him."

"You don't know that!" she shoves his chest, a burst of magic sending him flying back. She needs to hurt something and he wouldn't let her burn the village. "You don't know him! You don't know that he thinks he has to be braver than everyone, better than everyone because his Papa is Robin Hood and he doesn't want to let him down. You don't know that he's afraid of heights but he climbed the tower every night so I could read him a bedtime story! You don't know that when I came back here the first time I was going to put myself in a sleeping curse, but that little boy gave me something to live for!" Regina gathers up her skirts and stomps into the stream. The current is pushing against the back of her legs, its's not strong, but to a child… He went up stream. She doesn't know how she knows, but she does, turns in the water and begins trudging against it, her boots slipping on the rocks.

"You never told me any of that so how was I supposed to know!" Robin splashes in beside her, his boots are on the bank next to Roland's. The sight of them side by side claws menacingly at Regina's heart. "I thought he was just some kid, Regina, I had no idea," his voice is calmer, steadier as he grabs her elbow to keep her from toppling over. This is definitely something they need to discuss further, but now is not the time. Now there is a little boy in danger and whomever he is to her or him is irrelevant. "We'll find him." She can do no more than nod with tears streaming down her face and sobs stuck in her throat.

They're about a quarter mile upstream when Regina spots him stretched out across a log, reaching down for something in the water. Her knees buckle in relief and she'd have been face down in the water if his arm hadn't caught her waist. "Roland," she cries out somewhere between a laugh and a sob. The boy shoots up, startled for a moment before his lips begin to tremble and heavy tears fall from his eyes. Regina poofs herself to his side, pulling him from the log and into arms. The water is up to her shoulders here, but she doesn't even notice. Roland is clinging to her neck, crying loud, hiccupped sobs into her hair. "I lost it!" she makes out between cries, but can't bring herself to care what 'it' is. He's safe and that's all that matters as she shushes him gently, rocks them back and forth letting the water splash around them.

Robin stays where she left him, watching what is clearly mother and child cling to each other. He's never pictured her like this, knew it was in her from the way her eyes would soften every time she saw the boy who wasn't her son. He'd pulled her out of harm's way more than enough times to know that she'd never hurt now King Henry even if he was hell bent on her death. But this is different, this is a child that knows her, loves her, and Robin suddenly feels like an intruder.

He begins making his way to the shore, they'll all hopefully be trekking back to the village courtesy of Regina's magic, but for now he'll take the opportunity to be out of the water. Roland still has his arms wrapped around Regina's neck, but she seems to have succeeded in calming him down. He's talking quietly, something Robin can't make out over the steady rush of water, but it has Regina nodding every few seconds and pointing to spot Roland had been perched above. "Robin?" she calls his name when he's nearly to the shore and her red-rimmed eyes have him turning instantly and trudging back in until he's next to her a hand warm on the small of her back underneath the cool water.

"I lost my Papa's bow," Roland says before Regina can get the words out. It's the most he's ever said to Robin since they've arrived in this realm. "I shouldn't have taken it, it's too big, but I wanted to show Austin that I could shoot it like my Papa but I dropped it in the water and it floated away and I couldn't get it cause the water was too big." He's crying again, burying his face in Regina's neck. His queen is crying as well, a silent steady flow of heartbreak that mixes with the waters surround them.

He'll have none of this, crying children and heartbroken queens, not when this is something he can easily fix, something she's silently begging him to fix. "Alright then I guess we better find it, yeah?" he puts a tentative hand on Roland's back and the child raises his head slowly, nodding with those big brown eyes. No wonder Regina had been so in love with this kid. How could you not be? "You were over here?" Robin asks Roland as he pulls himself up onto the log.

"It went down there, but then I couldn't see it anymore," Roland sniffs in defeat.

"It drops off about two inches from where I'm standing. I can feel the edge," Regina pushes her forward, holding Roland more tightly when the ground beneath it disappears. "I don't know how deep it is. If he had…"

Robin stops her before her thoughts can go to somewhere they can't return from. "Roland knew the water was deep, that's why he was up here, right my boy?" Another sniff and another nod and this kid looking at him with a mixture of hope and fear. "Well since Regina didn't know to take her shoes off and she's wearing that very heavy dress, I guess that means I have to go under the water and see what's there." Well played, Locksley. He takes a moment to appreciate the grin he gets from both Regina and Roland and shit, the kids got dimples too. "Be right back," he salutes Roland, winks at Regina and falls backwards off the log disappearing into the water.

Regina and Roland hold their breath with him. Her little knight squeezes her tighter and tighter each second that Robin stays hidden. She's missed him so much, missed holding him, missed the way his little fingers dig into her skin and his legs wrap tight around her waist. He's gotten so big since the last time she's held him like this and her heart breaks for the cruelty of time lost. She doesn't want to let him go again.

Regina's lungs begin to burn just as Robin's head pops out of the water. Roland sits up straighter in her hold, trying to see around the log between them. "I think there is a fish or two down there that wanted to take up archery. They didn't want to let this go," he places the bow on the log and Roland lets out an exuberant "You did it!" his little fists splashing down in the water. Robin smiles at Roland, returns the boys excited high-five, but he's looking at Regina. More aptly, he's looking at the way she looks at the bow. "You gave it to him didn't you?" he asks needlessly because now that he has the chance to look at it, it's clearly more than just a weapon. The carved grip fits his hand perfectly; the crest of his tattoo is engraved along the spine in exquisite detail.

"She did," Regina finally says after a moment spent lost in a memory not fully hers. She lifts Roland out of the water and onto the log so that he can fasten the bow back around him. It's as long as he is tall and the sight has them all chuckling. "Roland, do you have the bow that Regina gave you?" she sees Robin look at her when she asks, understanding instantly that there'd been a set, probably one for her Henry as well.

"It's too little," Roland pouts looking absolutely crushed for growing up.

"Then I think we should get you a new one," Robin pipes in and they both turn. "An archer of Sherwood Forest always needs a proper fitting bow. I'm sure your father would agree. If you'd like, I could show you how to make one so you can keep practicing until that one is the right size."

"You could?" Roland is still hesitant of this man who is not his father, be he helped him and Gina trusts him so maybe he's okay.

"It would be my honor," Robin extends his hand to the boy who shakes as firmly as he can.

"Gina, did you hear?" he's eyes are bright, dimples on full display.

"I did, Roland. That is very nice of Robin to do." She looks at her outlaw, tears falling anew for an entirely different reason. He shrugs off her mouthed 'thank you', whispering "It's the dimples," as he swims up beside her. She laughs in agreement, holding a hand out each to him and Roland. "Let's go let everyone know you're safe," she grips both tight and whisks them all back to the front of the castle.

John is running toward them as soon as the magic clears away. He tosses Roland up into the air then holds him tightly to his massive chest. "Thank you," he looks at Regina, than to the man he's still coming to terms with, "thank you both."

"There's something I need to take of; will you boys be alright on your own for a bit?" Regina looks between John and Robin, both men giving her and each other a solemn nod. Regina runs her fingers through Roland curls and down John's arm. The slight smile he sends her way gives her hope that he may just warm up to her. She misses his friendship almost as much as Roland's love.

"Do you want me to go with you?" Robin asks, knowing full well she's headed back to the village. "No. I should to do this alone. I need to apologize," she weaves their fingers, gives herself a moment to rest against his chest. "Thank you for today. For everything."

"I'll wait up," he pecks a kiss against her cheek, holds her a moment longer until she's reluctantly stepping away.

"See that you do," she winks before letting her magic take her away.