A hooded figure took cover in the darkness of the trees. Nightfall always made a good companion for the cloaked man. He stared at the building before him reading the layout of the castle; just two guards carrying torches making their rounds. A light flickered on within the tower closest to him. The man threaded his head through his bow and looked carefully at the guards. Timing and patience. Always take those extra seconds, he thought to himself. The camouflaged man waited patiently for the guards to pass. They were too involved in the noise of their own conversation to notice a hooded man dart behind them. He dashed into the clearing and made his way to the tower. He inconspicuously crept up the building, using exposed brick and stone to propel him up. He focused carefully on one limb at a time, placing a hand or a foot meticulously on each rock. His steady breathing helped keep him calm and collected, warily looking and feeling for any unstable stone.

He reached the top in a matter of minutes and approached the window's opening cautiously. The skillful wall-climber glanced into the dimly lit room and scanned for any unintended guests. Seeing that the coast was clear, he lifted himself into the room and immediately began searching the drawers for something precious. Empty.

"I told you, Robin," said a beautiful maiden just beyond the veil, she entered the room and bravely stepped toward the hooded stranger, "eventually there would be nothing else left for you to steal in this room."

Robin Hood removed his hood, smirked and replied, "Ah, but you see my dear Maid Marian, I've one last treasure to steal…" he stepped slickly toward Maid Marian who was grinning playfully back at him. He smoothly wrapped his arms around her and their willing lips met for a kiss, "…I've come to steal your heart. Come with me Marian, tonight."

"I've told you Robin! That dirty rat for a Sheriff has me hostage. As long as he thinks he has me, he'll let the people in my village live in peace," Marian groaned out of disgust for the Sheriff. "The worst part is, he's been stealing money, manipulating and torturing my people to display whatever power he thinks he has to look good in front of our tyrant king."

"Well, I don't live by any king, and it sounds like the Sheriff is getting the better end of that deal you made with him. Why not expose him for the belligerent fool that he is?"

"What do you propose?"

"You see, I know a thing or two about these authoritative royalty types. What they don't understand is that in order to have power, one must gain the respect of its people. It's through the masses that a leader can have the power to usurp even a king. I've seen it done! You have that power Marian, because you have the respect of your village," Marian was listening, but still had a perplexed and doubtful look on her face. Robin continued, "So… in order to take away the Sheriff's power, take away the people he supposedly has power over. Your people, Marian. Convince your village to evacuate to Sherwood Forest tonight. There'll be such a quick unanticipated vacuum of power that the Sheriff will be on his arse faster than you can say 'diamond'."

"A whole village?" Marian said hopelessly, separating herself from him. "Robin, we were barely surviving as it was. I was ransacking the royal kitchens and giving them to Friar Tuck to disperse, but even still that wasn't enough."

Robin Hood puffed up his chest and confidently smiled at her, "There's a saying, amongst us Forest Folk, 'Be grateful for what you've got and make the most of what you have.' And it's true, it's a good motto. But I'm not gonna lie, we've seen some dark times and we've been pushed, but that has only forced us to become… well, let's just say, creative."

"You mean steal."

"No more than what you've been doing down in the Royal kitchens." Robin walked over to the window and straddled the ledge. He threw out his hand to her, gesturing for her to take it, "Come with me Marian! Let's escape your ghastly prison and save your people."

… …

Present Day…

Robin sat in the back of the church and turned to look over at Regina. From where he sat, all he could see was the back of her head. Disappointed that he wasn't able to get a good look at her face, he turned back around and faced forward again. He saw Marian, who was talking and bonding with their son and for the first time in his life felt emotionally conflicted. He turned looking over his shoulder again at Regina. It broke his heart to see the two loves of his life in the same room. His conflicted feelings tore at his soul. He sat there and pondered. What did he see in Regina? What did she see in him? Redemption was what he told her and to himself. Redemption is the atonement for guilt, but guilt for what? What was he guilty of? Perhaps the feeling of guilt was their common ground. They both had a mutual need for redemption, but was it possible not feeling worthy of it?

It was Regina who mentioned two interesting facts: that it was Fairy Dust that directed her to her soul mate and that Fairy Dust is never wrong. That same Fairy Dust led her to him. They were soul mates. What did that mean exactly? What is a soul mate? Robin thought deeply. He supposed it was like a best friend, but more. They were never exactly friends in the Enchanted Forest, but he wondered, could they have been? Would it have even been possible? In that missing year, they certainly understood each other. Perhaps, if given enough time, they could have been friends too.

There was something about her that he found magnetic. Her looks were striking, but the way she carried herself was something to behold. Her confidence, cunning and ambition were the most extraordinary features he found attractive about her. They weren't typical qualities of women he had ever encountered. But then again, what did he know about women of royalty? They were people from two different dichotomies, two different classes, different statures –two different worlds. Women from her world might have typically behaved that way. Perhaps it was the timing of the curse and the nature of the curse itself that made their pairing even possible. Storybrooke, although the result of a curse, brought everyone on the same level of social status; no King, Queen, Prince, Princess, wizard, fairy, dwarf or peasant was above him or below him. They all worked together and they were all equals here.

Did he really believe in that? In social class? He personally didn't believe in being ruled by a king so technically, he didn't believe in status either. He viewed each person as they were and how they contributed to the collective group. From his perspective, Regina contributed and sacrificed on more than one occasion. Despite the prickly exterior she would put up, he had witnessed her contribute her valuable thoughts, experience and knowledge to her family all while sacrificing everything she had to get back to her son, Henry. He believed that it was in these titles of grandeur that people became consumed by their label losing themselves in the process. He appreciated her for who she was as he knew her right now. Strip away the ranking and Regina was an independent and ambitious woman, who had a soft spot for children and would sacrifice anything to be happy with her loved ones. Wouldn't anyone? He understood that and could even relate to her in that way. Surely that would qualify him as a best friend. And as her, possibly, only best friend, he would be the one person in the world who would know her better than anyone else. Could it also be possible that she would be the only person in the world to know him better? Know him even better than himself?

Throughout his romantic affair with Regina, prior to Marian's return, he felt like a new man. A better and more refined definition of himself and he liked it. She made him a better person. Actually, she didn't make him she inspired him to be a better person. And that feeling of finally discovering the best version of yourself was a feeling that he would carry with him forever.

Stealing, cunning, stealth, and taking to survive had been what he knew best. She left him wanting nothing but the happiness she'd constantly leave him feeling. He never had a person give him anything and she gave him that. She gave him a reason to love again, a purpose to live on and hope to never have to resort to steal again. There was more to life than stealing. There was more to him than that and that's what she taught him. Usually he had been so distracted and consumed with the next heist that he never stopped to wonder if he was truly living. Regina helped him stop to wonder. He had caught himself surprised over the revelation.

Regina's incredible potential for good was what he saw in her. He once saw that same potential in Marian when no one else would and he found it exceptionally attractive and exciting. Like some shrouded secret only he was able to know. However, he felt selfish in that knowledge. He wanted everyone to see that same great potential in Regina as he did. He believed in her. Even if nobody else did, he knew her and accepted her for what she was; a woman who had seen too many horrors and experienced too much heart break. He was certain that although her actions were unjustifiable, if his sanity was pushed to the extreme and he had nothing else to lose, his heart and path would have surely gone dark too.

He had to admit to himself, his heart did beat just a little bit harder whenever he saw her. It was in that moment that he realized that he loved her. And that not only did he love her, he would always love her and nothing would ever change that. She was still human, just like him. They were people of blemished history and sordid reputations, but deep beneath the personas was a kindred spirit—his soul mate. He knew about Daniel which spawned her enacting the first curse. He knew about her crossing realms to Neverland, to the Enchanted Forest and then back to Storybrooke again to be with her son, Henry. He knew that however flawed her approach to love was, her love ran deep. He taught her a new definition of how to love and he loved her for it.

"Robin!" Marian whispered harshly. Their group had been talking amongst themselves at the convent deciding what to do about their homes. Robin tore his gaze away from Regina and returned his focus on Marian. "Robin, we were just thinking of returning to our homes in the woods once the snow lets up."

"That's good. Let's do that," he replied briefly. Marian stared him down and bitterly glimpsed over at Regina. She surveyed Robin's enamored demeanor and caught on to it. She was suspicious of his thoughts and was disgusted if not insulted by his previous infatuation. The anger brewed within her. Of all women, why her? She thought furiously. She decided to nip these feelings in the bud by getting what was in her heart out and off her chest. She frowned and blurted, "Do you have feelings for Regina?"

"What?" he retorted. His mind was caught off-guard by her blunt question.

"I see you constantly looking at her," she said angrily nodding in the direction of Regina, "You're distant from the rest of the group, including me. I've heard whispers amongst your men of your interactions with her prior to my arrival here. Are the rumors true? Do you have feelings for her?" Her eyes pierced into his as she saw the answer within the depth of his soul. When he didn't reply right away, she exclaimed, "You do?!" She raised her eyebrows out of shock and disbelief. Robin could see her heart breaking before him.

"Marian…" he started softly, failing miserably at trying to comfort her, his face expressing a mixture of emotions. She shirked away his consoling advances.

"No!" she tried cutting him off. She couldn't bear to believe what she was hearing. She turned her face away from him burying her head in her hands.

"Marian!" he cried out, reaching for her shoulder to look at her face.

"How could you?!" she exclaimed, tears falling from her eyes. All feelings of hurt and rejection were pouring through every tear that fell. Her voice steadily getting louder and louder, "She has hurt or killed people… Our neighbors? Our friends? She was going to kill me. How do you explain that?"

He looked away for an instant, struggling to find the right words. He took his fingers and quickly traced his lips with them as if that would moisten his now dry mouth. He looked back at Marian and did the only thing he could think of. He needed to be honest with her. She deserved to know and she deserved his honesty, it was the least he could do. "There's no easy way to explain it. But you deserve the truth from me," he paused searching for the right words to explain his complicated feelings, "... I have feelings for her. I'm not expecting you to understand, except that things have happened and that... people do change."

"Obviously," she replied indignantly.

Anna and Kristoff walked past Robin's group of people and walked directly toward Emma and Snow. They reached the pew of the mother and daughter and Kristoff said, "Snow, we're going to go find Elsa."

"What?!" exclaimed Emma, "We're buried in like ten feet of snow! How do you even know where to begin?"

"I know my sister…"

"Elsa's your sister?" asked Emma in disbelief. Snow patted her daughter's knee to steady her. Snow leaned into her daughter and whispered into her ear, "It's a long story. I'll explain it to you later."

"…Yes. Well, I have a feeling that she will have wanted to retrace her steps and cling to the last thing she remembered… and that was to rebuild her ice castle near a mountain and isolate herself. And if what the Blue Fairy says is true, then I would rather be with my family when the curse takes over."

"Well, let us come with you and support you!" suggested Mary-Margret.

"I'm afraid that's probably not the best idea. You see, my sister is actually quite the recluse. I never understood why until recently… well, long ago… well… Let's just say that strangers make her nervous. We," she said looking at Kristoff, "learned that the hard way."

"There's got to be something that you know that could help us defrost Storybrooke," Emma stated concernedly.

"Let them go Swan," inserted Hook, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder, "if there's anything we've learned from our last bout with sisters, we should probably let them try to settle things on their own first."

Just then, Little John walked up behind Kristoff and Anna, trying to get Emma's attention. "Hey, uh, the snow's let up. The rest of us," he said using his thumb to point back to the rest of his party, "are going to go home to salvage what's left of it." He looked over at Mother Superior and waved at her, "Thank you Mother! And tell Friar Tuck he's welcome back at our camp anytime."

The Blue Fairy nodded from across the church, acknowledging Little John's gratitude. Within minutes the convent doors opened again and a chilled gust made its way toward the front of the church. Men and women from Robin Hood's camp were filing back out the doors with Anna and Kristoff following immediately after. The convent doors closed leaving the half empty chamber silent.


Not gonna lie, this was one of the most awkwardly written chapters I've written. Not that the content, or what was happening in the story with the characters was awkward. The content is still good, but when I went to polish and edit not only did it take me freakin' forever, but I wasn't sure how to express Robin's thoughts in the tense I was using before. I've ruined the reading rhythm by changing the style of writing and I deeply apologize. My bad. Anyways, it's out there. Phew! Not to mention that it took me a couple days to justify and make Outlaw Queen work. Rumbelle I get, obviously, OutlawQueen... that took some additional research. So... this is what I got and what made sense to me. If there are any OutlawQueen shippers out there reading this... help me out. Review your thoughts/opinions/feelings/reasons on how I did on that relationship and/or tell me what I'm missing.

And thanks to BreathingintheSun, Montreat11 and Grace5231973 for your comments. You guys are champs for reading this nifty literature experiment of mine. :)