After learning that they needed light magic to combat the wicked witch, they had hurried back to the castle to gather the council. Alright, council might be a bit of stretch; people of questionable birth who had somehow found their way to the round table was more accurate. For the life of her, she couldn't comprehend how a maid, an old lady, a grumpy dwarf and arrogant thief had managed to have a vote. Nevertheless, Snow wanted their opinions and Regina couldn't blame her for that, because so far, their only plan constituted scarifying David. A plan she, no matter her past animosity with Charming, really didn't want to execute.

"Can you do light magic?" Robin asked looking at her, reminding her that while the thief knew of (and hated) magic, he was rather unversed in it.

"Hah!" Leroy huffed. "Her? Light magic? She will never be able to use light magic. For light magic, you need to be good, and there is no good bone in her body. She is probably not even thinking about an alternative plan, because she has been wanting to hurt Snow for decades. She has killed countless of people, whipped out entire villages, ruined the lives of..."

Purple flames sprang to life in her hand, dancing between her fingers in an intimate caress. "And you do well to remember that, imp. I'm going to destroy my sister, light magic or not, but in the mean time I might need a practice target," she purred with a feral glint in her eyes.

"Regina!" Snow interrupted. "Not now, please. We still have to come up with a plan." She looked sharply at David, when he dared to open his mouth to repeat his suggestion. "A better plan than casting the dark curse."

.

.

.

"No."

"Your Majesty…"

"Go away."

"You are clearly upset. I cannot, in good conscience, leave you."

"Try."

Robin chuckled as he sat down next to her on the bench and followed her gaze upon the beautiful apple tree in the middle of garden. She knew she had left the meeting in a hurry, but she didn't think anybody had noticed. Though she had tried to appear cold and unfazed at the dwarf's accusations, it was endlessly frustrating to be blamed for everything going wrong while at the same time being expected to fix everything. Especially since the stupid imp had a point.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"What's there to talk about?"

"Leroy's words. They understandably affected you, but remember, he is lashing out because he is worried and overwrought. We all are."

"How can you be so cavalier about his accusations? They are not without merit, you know."

"You made mistakes and know you are trying to make up for them. Clearly the dwarf has had unfortunate run-ins with you in the past, but I haven't. It is obvious that you care about these people and that you don't want to rip out David's heart."

"I don't care," she said forcefully, "I just want to destroy me sister. As I told you the first time we entered this castle, nobody here would miss me, and I certainly wouldn't miss them. It's cute you think I feel bad about Charming, but I assure you I don't."

He had the audacity to scoff. "You feel things deeply, milady. Probably far more than you want to. Casting a curse out of vengeance? Sacrificing your beloved father? You must have truly resented Snow and everything she represented to you. And now you are fighting to keep her alive. Her, David and their unborn child. That is not the action of a woman who doesn't feel. You care."

She shrugged, not bothering to correct his assumptions.

"Are you sure you cannot do light magic?" He inquired after a few seconds in companionable silence.

She laughed humorlessly, "yes, I'm sure. I can only do dark magic. I have a natural affinity for it. Maybe some people are inherently evil." A purple fire sprang to life in her palm, dancing around for a moment before being quelled by a flick of her fingers. "Light magic is fueled by love and hope of which I have neither."

"You love your son."

"Who is lost to me forever."

"I believe there is good in you."

"You don't even know me."

"I heard what you did for Henry – giving him happy memories from a live unlived. A life where his birth mother kept him and you never adopted him." She looked at him in shock. Few knew that story, and even fewer would share it with Robin. "Baelfire told me."

"That was one good deed. I cannot do it again."

His abrupt laughter shocked her.

"My misery makes you laugh?" She asked indignantly.

"Apologies milady, but I refuse to believe that. You are the most stubborn person I have ever met. There is nothing you cannot do, if you set your mind to it."

"And what makes you think, you know me so well?"

"I don't have to know you. I only have to see how you behave. You are nothing if not persistent. That's why there was a curse in the first place."

"You are lucky I'm saving my energy for the wicked witch, otherwise that comment could have cost you your neck."

He grinned disarmingly at her like threats of bodily harm was an everyday occurrence, which she supposed it was ever since they had engaged in this battle of wills. "If you didn't want company, you would have burned me to a crisp already."

"True," she conceded with a small smile.

Regina contemplated his assessment for moment, before she spoke up. "Even if you do good deeds, are they truly good if you hope to be rewarded for them?" She looked directly at him. "I chose to be this. I chose, well, evil. A fairy once showed me another way. A way filled with love and a soulmate. A man with a lion tattoo on his forearm… Wait, what was that look? That look right there. Do you know of anybody with a tattoo matching that description? Please say it's not Little John."

"Well that depends." Robin rolled up his sleeve. "Looks familiar?"

"You?!" She asked in disbelief, staring at the lion decorating his arm.

"Me. Apparently. Though I'm not entirely certain what this tattoo means to you," he said looking at Regina, who was still staring at his exposed skin transfixed by the lion.

She exhaled deeply, "well fate certainly has a sense of humor." She looked from his forearm to him. "It doesn't matter what it means. My encounter with the fairy happened a long time ago. My happiness will be to know that I destroyed my sister and that my son is happy and safe."

She had hoped her quick dismissal of their newfound knowledge would lessen his interest, but the thief kept staring intently at her without saying a word.

"Really, thief. Don't think about it. I haven't thought about the fairy's words in many years." Except that wasn't completely true. She had thought about it more times than she would like to count.

Robin eyes never left her.

"Stop looking at me like that," she finally said.

"Like what?"

"Like you're trying to figure me out."

"Believe me, I have been trying to figure you out, since the first time I laid eyes on you hanging from that flying monkey. Beautiful beyond measure, strong-willed and bold, an independent yet insecure woman with the mind of warrior and the heart of a mother. Quite an irresistible mix to a simple thief."

She was shocked at this bold appraisal, but tried to camouflage it with words, "flattery will get you nowhere."

He sent her that annoyingly disarming smile, "you are quite a contradictive woman, milady. You are insulting and biting, and yet, you have spent every waking moment researching your sister. I have seen you fortify the castle at least once a week, ever since we got here, and you continuously make sure that there is enough food and plenty of clean water for all of us. You know that none of your subjects feel any loyalty towards you, and yet, you still fight every day to keep them safe. How can I not respect that? How can I not admire that? Your tongue may be deadlier than a Viper's, but your actions speak a different language. You may not want to care, but you do. "

His eyes quickly darted to her red painted lips before capturing her gaze. He was so close she could count the crinkles around his eyes. "I have been drawn to you from the beginning, but soulmates, huh. I must admit I didn't expect that." He kept staring at her as he slowly leaned forward. A trance-like feeling settled over her, and she couldn't look away from his gaze even if she wanted to. It would be a lie if she said that she hadn't been drawn to him as well - mainly, because he challenged her at every turn. He had been too hard to ignore, and she had gone to bed many nights replaying their arguments in her head and berating herself for not having had wittier come-backs.

She held her breath as he stopped just a hair's breadth away from her. Why was he so outrageously close? And why was he staring so invitingly into her eyes, but not doing or saying anything? What was he waiting for? "Aren't you curious?" He finally asked in a low voice, barely above a whisper, "don't you want to know what it's like?"

"Like?" She repeated, scolding herself for sounding like an idiot.

"What it's like kissing your soulmate," he clarified, looking at her with those annoyingly blue eyes filled with mischief for putting her on the spot.

Of course, she was curious – who wouldn't be? But more than curious, she was scared. Robin Hood was her soulmate. The king of thieves. Her soulmate. In what realm did that make sense? Sure, he was handsome in a rugged, forested-sort of way. And no matter how hard she'd tried, she couldn't deny that he was intelligent. Still… she hardly knew the man, and they had been at each other's throats ever since they had first crossed paths. No matter how curious she was, she couldn't compromise her pride by giving in to fate's stupid matchmaking ways.

Regina put a finger to his lips, physically halting his seductive progression.

"You don't like me. If it wasn't for this," she said, removing her finger from his mouth to trace his tattoo, "you wouldn't even be interested."

He snorted. "Did you willfully not hear what I have just said? Believe me, my interest has little to do with a prophetic tattoo and everything to do with you."

She rose gracefully from the bench clinging to her poise as an amour for his advances. "I can't. Fate is a fickle thing, and I refuse to play by its rules."

"So, you want to deny yourself a chance of happiness out of spite?"

"Presumptuous to believe you are in any way tied to my happiness," she retorted as she turned around to walk away. He wasn't completely wrong though. She had managed to get where she was today without help from destiny, light magic or having faith - and it might be spiteful but she was too stubborn to submit to a magically-promoted fantasy just because a fairy once said that the man on the bench was her soulmate.

"Regina!" She turned around at his use of her given name. He looked at her with an open face and a resigned smile on his lips. "I don't believe I am your happy ending, you are much too independent for that, but maybe I could be a part of it."

"Like I said, Robin, you don't know me, and you don't even trust magic, so let's not make this into something it's not. I'm no longer a naïve young girl looking for love and you are no longer a drunk in a bar. The moment is gone… Let's not torment ourselves with fairytale endings."

.

.

.

She found him as soon as she had ensured Charming was alright.

"Your Majesty," he asked surprised. "Is everything okay? Is Charming…"

She was on him before he could finish his sentence. There was no time to be scared or spiteful. Not anymore. Her mother had once told Regina that she was the only thing standing in her way of happiness, and she hated when her mother was right. Screw her pride. The thief was her soulmate and if she was about to forget everything from the last year, at least she wanted to know the feeling of kissing him. Just for a short while.

However, as soon as their lips touched she never wanted to stop kissing him. She hadn't expected it to feel so right. For a fleeting moment she envisioned what her life could look like if there wasn't a dark curse approaching that would make them forget it all. She had planned for it to be short kiss, just enough to satisfy her curiosity, but when he grabbed her by the waist and pulled her even closer, she forgot everything else. Why hadn't she kissed him sooner? What a colossal waste of time. She truly was her own worst enemy.

Pulling back slightly, but without breaking their embrace, she said, "Charming is fine. I split Snow's heart into two pieces. They are both fine."

"Surely that is good news?" He asked a bit out of breath, too shocked to comment on the impromptu kiss.

Her eyes swallowed his face trying to take in every single detail. "Yes, but that is not why I'm here. My sister added her own potion to the curse. A forgetting potion. None of us will remember this year when we are back in Storybrooke. We will be strangers."

His bright blue eyes captured her gaze. "Strangers?"

She nodded.

A moment passed, heavy with tension, yet they were both unable to look away.

"I…"

"It's okay. I understand."

"No, you don't, Robin. I wish I could be the woman you deserve, but... I'm me. You may think you have a dark past, but it is nothing compared to mine. I just wish that…" she trailed off, not really knowing how to end the sentence.

He used his hand to tug a piece of her glossy black hair behind her ear. "I know." His fingers caressed her flushed cheek before he grabbed her neck and drew her closer until their foreheads were touching. "But you are the woman I want Regina. And it might be difficult, and it might be a battle, but it's a battle I'm prepared to fight – and win," he added trying, but failing, to keep a serious face.

It was impossible for her not to smile a tiny bit, when he looked at her like that. "Really? Win?"

"Yes," he nodded gravely before breaking into a teasing smile, "like you, I am nothing if not stubborn."

"I believe fool is a more appropriate word for you," she grinned. However, she soon turned serious. "Why? Why are you so willing to fight for this? You hardly know me – and the parts you know are not flattering."

"I believe in second chances… and you are quite a good kisser," he smirked. She scoffed at his stupidity, yet couldn't fight the slight curl of her lips that almost resembled a smile. "To be honest, I don't know," he said. "There is just something about you. You are pigheaded, uncompromising, arrogant, infuriating, you don't ask for help and…"

"your point?"

".. and you make me feel alive in ways I haven't felt since my wife died," he concluded. "I don't know what is going to happen now, but I know this isn't the end. This is just the beginning."