Disclaimer: I do not own Once Upon a Time or any of the characters. I'm new to this particular fandom – CuriousArcher, MadArcher, whatever you want to call it. I mean, how hard was it to not love Robin and Alice? They're totally adorable! Thanks, OUaT!

Chapter 3

Robin tossed and turned restlessly on the sleeping pallet where she slept. She knew that she was dreaming, but no matter what she did, no matter how she fought, she couldn't get away, couldn't wake up.

"Robin, where are you?" Alice calls to her through a mist and fog so dense, Robin can barely see her own hand in front of her face.

"Alice? Alice?!" Robin yells, but her voice is muffled and doesn't carry. All around her, Alice calls her name and it echoes, reverberates in her ears.

"Robin! Find me! Robin!"

She starts to run, but realises that the ground she's standing on has turned to heavy mud and she can barely put one foot in front of her. "Alice! I'm coming! I swear, I'll find you!" She cries.

"Oh, I don't think you will." To one side of her a man walks. It's her father. He's smiling at her and holding out his hand. "Come, Margot. Stay with us. You can be happy here." He's on solid ground and Robin longs to be there, too. She reaches for his hand...

"Robin!" Alice's voice comes again, but it's fading.

A burst of green light appears between Robin and her father. It's a woman dressed in black, blue eyes, and fiery red hair. "Don't listen to him, sweetheart. It's the spell. Remember what we told you."

"Mom?" Robin blinks and when she opens her eyes, her father is still there, still smiling, hand held out to her.

"Mom?!" She yells, looking around her in a panic. "Mom, come back!"

Instead of her mother, though, she hears the sound of crying and it makes her whirl towards the sound. The fog swirls and parts and there is suddenly a clear path before her. Far, far away in the distance, she sees a figure. Somehow, she knows it's Alice. Her beautiful, wonderful Alice.

But she's crying as if her heart were breaking.

Robin's need to go to her love, to do whatever she can to make it better, to stop the tears, goads her forward. She doesn't care about the mud. She doesn't care that she's left her father behind her. All that she knows, sees, cares about is in front of her. She has to keep going. For Alice.

The fog swirls again, blocking Alice from sight, but this time Robin doesn't need it. She follows her heart.

"Margot!" The sound of a familiar name dragged Robin from her dream. Finally. She blinked open her eyes slowly, and found unfamiliar brown eyes looking into her own.

"Oh, thank goodness!" A woman's voice exclaimed quietly. "Margot, are you alright?"

Who was Margot? She was Robin.

"Margot?" This time it was a male voice and somehow familiar. A face that she knew nearly as well as she knew her own appeared in Robin's vision.

It all came rushing back to her, then. She was in the Curse realm. She'd ended up in the camp of Robin Hood after saving them both from a creature that had been stolen from its own home and placed there when the Dark One had created the realm. She'd freed the Gmork and sent it home.

She hoped.

Now, she was on a sleeping pallet in what was going to be a nursery. Her blanket was tangled around her feet. She felt as though she'd been running a marathon - hot, sweaty, and breathing harder than someone asleep should be. Hovering above her, concern etched into their faces were Robin Hood and his wife, Marian.

As they approached what was obviously a perimeter of some kind, Robin felt magic ripple around her. As it did, Hood relaxed. There was a sharp whistle, then three in quick succession. Robin raised his head and responded with two quick and then three long warbles of his own.

Moments later, people materialised from the thick trees in front of them. A heavily pregnant woman called out "Robin!" in a voice that was joyous and exasperated, and rushed as fast as she could over to where they stood. She threw her arms around his neck and buried her face in his shoulder.

Robin's entire body softened as both arms wrapped around her. He dropped his face to her dark, curling hair, and he smiled. It was an intimate moment, but Robin couldn't look away. Did she look like this with Alice?

When they pulled away, Hood put his hand to Marian's face. "Darling, you should be in bed."

"And you should have been home before it got dark," she replied tartly.

Robin cleared her voice and they both turned to look at her. "That was my fault." She said, trying to sound apologetic.

"And who is this?" Marian asked, all ire suddenly gone. She looked at Robin keenly.

"My Love, this is Margot West. She's a traveller. And she's a hero." He said and smiled at Robin.

That got everyone's attention. People turned to stare at her and Robin had to fight not to wilt. She'd always wanted to be considered a hero - but she hadn't expected it to go like this. She hadn't sent Gmork home to be a hero. She'd done it because it was the best thing to do.

"That's right!" Hood was saying, "Margot West saved my life tonight. And the lives of everyone who reside in this Forest."

The murmuring began before a voice that she recognised from her childhood called out, "Do you mean she slew the beast?"

"The beast is gone," Hood confirmed. Robin noticed that he didn't confirm that it was dead, just that it was no longer in the Forest.

A cheer went up all around them. Marian approached Robin and held out her hands. "We are all in your debt, Lady Margot. I, especially, for your saving the life of my husband. Please, come and be welcome in our home this night."

Robin sat up slowly, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. The others backed up and gave her room as she stretched and yawned.

"Is everything alright?" Marian asked her. "You were… you seemed to be having a nightmare."

"Oh." Robin looked at both of them. It was the first nightmare she'd had since Alice had been pulled into this nightmare realm. Her mother had seen to that. Except that so far, it hadn't been all that bad, had it? She blushed a little. "It happens, sometimes. Sorry, I should have warned you last night."

Hood and Marian exchanged looks that said they only marginally believed her. That was fine. She wasn't staying here. She couldn't stay. That was what the dream had been about. It was what her mother had been warning her against. The previous night, after a little too much beer and some really good food, Hood had let 'Margot' know that due to her brave deed with the monster, she was welcome to stay with him and Marian for as long as she needed. He also let her know that he'd be happy to help her find someone to travel with.

Robin hadn't accepted, not really. She hadn't said no, though, either. It must've been weighing on her mind, in spite of how good she'd felt when she wrapped up in her blanket for the night and had gone to sleep. Now, though, fresh from that dream, Robin knew that no matter what, that night had to be the only night she stayed here. She would be leaving today.

Marian and Hood gave Robin privacy that she was grateful for. A wash bin of cold water, a fresh cloth, and soap had been provided for her, so she made sure to use them. You could never be sure when next you'd get to bathe in places like the Enchanted Forest. Running water and indoor plumbing were something that Robin was definitely going to miss. She had, however, remembered to ask her mother to whip up some deodorant before she left and made use of it. Then she unbraided her hair and brushed it out. She put on her clothes, but decided to leave her hair down for a little while.

When she joined the other two in the kitchen/living area of their home, she was surprised to find another person at the table, dipping honeyed bread into a saucer of what looked like milk. Robin's stomach grumbled and the wooden floor squeaked under her boots, making them all look up at her. The young man with the dark brown hair and pale skin looked up at her and smiled. Robin did her best to hide her surprise. She would know Roland, her half-brother, anywhere. Marian gestured to the chair beside her and Robin started to sit, until she saw Hood's face.

"Is something wrong?" She asked him.

It took him a moment to process her question. He blinked rapidly at her several times. "I… No, not wrong. You look… you look like the spitting image of my mother in her younger years." He managed to say.

Robin's heart picked up speed. "I - I do?"

"Right down to the green of your eyes." He confirmed. "Astounding! How did I not see it last night?"

Robin felt absurdly pleased at this discovery. Even her mother hadn't been able to figure out where she'd gotten her green eyes. Regina had always said that she had her father's eyes, but she hadn't meant colour - she'd meant the shape of Robin's eyes. Now, though, a piece of a puzzle that the young woman hadn't really known was missing from her life settled into place inside of her.

Marian reached over and put her hand on her husband's hand. "Love, it's not polite to stare."

Hood blinked. Blinked again and then seemed to shake himself. "Forgive me, Margot. Your resemblance is simply uncanny. I apologise for my lack of manners."

"Th-That's okay. People tell me I look like my father. I never met him. He died when I was a baby." Robin told them and wished that she could take it back. "I was named after my mother's mother." She added, hurriedly. That part wasn't a lie. Kelly West's mother had been named Margot.

"Oh, dear." Hood replied. He looked at his wife as though looking for help from her. She simply smiled at the table and waited. Finally, Hood cleared his throat, embarrassed. "I know it's early, my lady, but have you given any thought to my offer last night?"

Robin gave him a wistful smile. "I have. It's a generous offer, but I'm afraid I can't stay."

Marian frowned at her. "Why ever not?"

Robin took a deep breath. "I wasn't completely honest with Robin, last night. I am a traveller." She hurried, when three sets of eyes narrowed at her. "But I'm also searching for someone. She was kidnapped, stolen from our realm. The last clues I have say she's here, somewhere. The trouble is… she's cursed. She doesn't remember where her home is… or me."

"Last night you said you were looking for another traveller like yourself. This woman… would she be known for such things here in this realm?" Roland asked her. He had finished eating and was wiping his hands on a napkin, staring at her intensely.

Robin held up her hands. "I'm not sure. In our realm, she was a great adventurer. We've been to many places together. Here? I can't be sure what kind of life the Dark One gave her."

"Dark One?" Marian asked.

"An evil sorcerer. He believes that love is wrong and his goal was to shut all of us - my family and I - into our own personal nightmares." Robin explained. "The rest of us got away, but she… didn't. She sacrificed herself to save her father."

"Honourable." Roland said into the silence that followed. "I would do the same for my father, if it ever came to it. Or my mother, of course." He added hurriedly when Marian speared him with her gaze.

"And this woman," Hood said slowly, "who is she to you that you would come searching for her? Your sister, perhaps?"

"No." Robin replied softly. "She's not my sister."

"Then who - oh!" Marian got it before the other two did. "Oh." Her smile towards Robin was at once gentle and knowing. She placed a hand over Hood's on the table and sighed at his and her son's continued looks of confusion.

"You said this Dark One hates love." Marian decided to fill in the blanks for the clueless men. "That's who she is to you, isn't it? Your True Love."

"Yes."

Author's Note: Shout out to everyone who is staying with me, who continues to read this! As always, you guys are awesome. And a big welcome to angela22zuni! Well, at least Robin is strong enough to ignore the temptation to stay with the Merry Men, no matter how much she wants to get to know her father. Well, not her father, but a doppelganger who isn't semi-bad. I decided to make him as close to the actual Robin as possible. Evil-ish Robin Hood was never my cup of tea. Anywho, thanks for coming along for this ride. Cheers!