Although Robin drew a line at killing, torturing and hurting children, that did not mean that he was in any way fond of them. The first few hours had been a complete bore, the pair would complain constantly about being hungry and Robin could do very little about that, he ended up giving away his water skin to the annoying pair so they would shut up for a half a minute.

Robin sat on the ground with his back against a tree trunk when he heard another body sit beside him, the boy, Hansel – the girl's name was Gretel, they had given him their names at least – looked at him curiously, he seemed much less scared since the Queen had left them.

"What?" Robin found the boy's scrutinizing rather made him uncomfortable.

"Are you a knight?" the boy asked in all earnest.

"No," Robin scoffed, looking ahead.

"I thought so," he told him, "You don't look like a knight," there was something oddly simple about the way the boy spoke, he was clearly afraid of the Queen, but apparently not of Robin.

"And what do I look like?" Robin asked, curious to know the answer the puppy-eyed boy would give him.

"My papa," he said simply and Robin could not hold back his shock.

"How come?" Robin found his voice, and tried to ignore the odd feeling on his chest at the memory of a time when he thought he was to be a father.

"My papa's clothes look like yours," the boy studied him before continuing, "He keeps his dagger on his belt too," he crooked his head to the side a little and completed simply, "And he gets those wrinkly things beside his eyes when he smiles."

"Whenever did you see me smile?" Robin asked, perplexed, it was odd to speak to a child like this; they were so different from the people he had been amongst for the past year.

"When you were talking to the Queen," the boy gave him, his tone was so simple, so absurdly pure that Robin was slightly taken aback, he continued, "She smiled at you too." He was looking at Robin with those big eyes, so pure and uncorrupted, "She looked pretty when she smiled at you." He commented and turned his head to the side a little as if thinking, "She didn't look pretty when she smiled at me and Gretel, she looked scary."

"Are you scared of her?" Robin asked.

"Yes," his answer was a mere whisper, as if, were he to confess his fear, the Queen would materialize in front of him to scare him even further.

"The Queen is not as bad as she looks," Robin gave him, feeling the odd need to comfort this small boy somehow, maybe it was due to the fact that the young thing would be entering the home of one who might very well have him for dinner if he and his sister were not careful, or maybe, it was that haunting ache he felt inside his chest ever since the boy had said that Robin looked like his father, "I know for a fact that she would never hurt neither you or your sister."

"How do you know?" he asked.

"I wouldn't be here if she didn't care about your safety," Robin explained and the boy gave him an understanding nod.

"You're here to protect us then?"

"Yes."

Silence reigned between the two of them for a few minutes, they both looked ahead, contemplating the odd candy house whilst the young girl looked intently at a compass she had tied on a string around her neck.

"Are you really the Queen's boyfriend?" The boy's voice rang again and Robin was faintly startled by the subject of the question and answered without even thinking.

"No, I am not." Their relationship status was far too complicated for the head of a seven year old.

"But you like her," the boy commented and this time Robin turned to face him with a frown upon his forehead and absolutely no answer on his lips - that hung slightly open.

"I-" he found his voice but still no answer, he was caught completely off guard, the boy's eyes seemed to pierce through his skin, and look right into his soul. Children were truly something different; he could hardly believe those big, innocent eyes would, in some years' time, belong to a man that might very well turn out like Robin himself. "I do," he confessed, his voice was soft and low, only meant to be heard by the boy.

"Why?" the boy inquired in a slightly high-pitched voice.

"She's, hmm-" now Robin had really lost his words. He started feeling rather uncomfortable about the questions being asked by the little one, but chose not to snap at him, alien sympathy for the child flowing in his chest, "We're very much alike."

Before either of them could say anything else on the subject, the girl Gretel came to stand in front of them and spoke.

"The Sun is setting, it's time."

…

The children were in, and Robin's blood was running cold and fast inside his veins, he could not help but be nervous over this whole situation. The girl Gretel had just opened the window from the inside, so Robin was able to see the interior of the candy house, which was also entirely made out of sweets and chocolate. There were several tables around, but Robin could barely see any of the furniture for they were all filled with sweets, cakes, pies, lollipops, puddings and so much more. The house was indeed a temptation to children.

His attention was quickly diverged to the sleeping figure sitting beside the fire, Robin studied her for a moment before he aimed his arrow right at her throat. She was deadly pale, the only contrast to the whiteness of her features were the scars, it was as if she had been scratched in the vertical direction from her eyebrows until the bottom of her cheeks, as if something had tried to scratch her eyes off. The marks must have cut deep when they were given to her – or had she inflicted them upon herself? - but now they were healed, and had turned into angry pink scars that marred her once beautiful face. Her hair was tangled, it was up and messy, and Robin could see from where he stood knot after knot on the blonde mane.

Robin could see she had a decent enough body, she appeared to be young, but the thing with witches was that you never knew truly how old they were; she could indeed be young, like he believed the Queen to be, or she could be a hundred years old. Her dress seemed to be a compilation of fabrics sewn together, a mess really, nothing that could even be compared to anything the witch who haunted his thoughts possessed.

Everything was going according to plan, he had his arrow pointed at the crazy witch and could see from the corner of his eye, the girl reach out for a black satchel that hung just beside the fireplace, just as the Queen had told them.

They say everything goes right until it goes wrong. It was a split second, a mere moment of diverged attention, for Robin's eyes were steered from the sleeping witch as soon as Gretel's scream invaded his ears, his eyes shot to the place the girl stood. She stood beside her brother, who had what looked to be a small cake in his grasp; smudges of icing on his face told Robin what he feared the most.

Foolish boy.

When his eyes went back to the sleeping figure he was supposed to be watching like a hawk, he found she was no longer sitting, and no longer sleeping, but very much awake and on her feet. He could not see her eyes for she was on her side, her blind stare apparently fixated on the two children she planned on having for dinner.

Robin tried to aim for the woman's head again but the window he was looking through suddenly closed by itself with a loud bang. Next thing he knew the door also banged closed and Robin felt panic start to spread throughout his entire body, for he could still hear the children running inside as well as their screams.

He knew it was foolish even to try, but at that precise moment, Robin was too worried about other things to concern himself in doing what was logical. He dropped his bow and the arrow and ran for the door with his dagger in hand, the lock was indeed made of candy cane and he was able to break it with ease. He tried to kick the door open but a strange force prevented him from doing so.

"Robin!" he heard the young boy's voice screech from inside, and his chest tightened with despair, this was all his fault, the children were going to be cooked alive, and he had only himself to blame.

"I'm coming!" he screamed in reply, but it all seemed so hopeless, he tried to kick the door again, but to no avail, the magical force prevented him from knocking the door down.

Robin felt a tear slip from his eye from knowing he had failed the children, yet another child he was incapable of saving, first his own, and now these two who had just lost their father. Anger, frustration and anguish took over as he threw a punch at the house wall with all the force he had, channeling all the fury and defeat he felt into the hit.

It was indeed quite a powerful blow, for it actually managed to break through the chocolate.

No, it could not be that easy? Certainly, the witch was not stupid enough to only enchant the doors and windows.

She apparently was as dumb as she was crazy and soon, after several kicks and punches, Robin was able to open a hole on the wall big enough for him to enter the sweet house.

He thankfully got in just in time to see the witch cornering Greta in the kitchen, a kitchen that contained the largest oven he had ever laid his eyes on, only the sight of it made his stomach twist. He planned on surprising the witch from behind, since she had not noticed he had kicked a hole on the wall and gotten in, but Hansel's gleeful yelp of 'Robin!' completely blew his chances of surprising the witch.

She turned around to face him and Robin had to hold himself together to not gasp at the sight of her eyes, they were milky white, the whole eye was consumed by white, they were wide and wild, and it felt as if she could see Robin all too well. He was frozen on his spot, and tried desperately to think up of something to do as she took a large intake of breath, seeming to be sniffing for something.

"Who else is there?" Her voice was unfortunately quite lovely, rather musical, she took in another long breath and sniffed again, taking two steps in Robin's direction.

He was not sure if she knew where he was exactly, if maybe she could see outlines but not in detail, it seemed as if she could sense him but not really see, so he dared not to move. She looked slightly out of sorts, the girl Gretel, who she had been cornering, was now completely forgotten as the witch sniffed and took another step towards Robin.

"It can't be-" the witch's musical voice sounded again and Robin's attention was brought back to her, he dared to mouth to Gretel for her to set her brother free – Robin could see the boy was inside some type of cage in another corner of this hell's kitchen.

The witch was getting closer and closer, and Robin clutched his dagger firmly in his grasp remembering the Queen had told him to bring the crazy enchantress alive to her, he pondered upon his options. She lifted her arms so slowly, as if afraid of him, but absolutely enthralled by the possibility of touching, her mouth was hanging slightly open and the closer she got, the redder the scars on her face seemed to become.

When she was a few feet away, her outstretched fingertips almost touched the leather on Robin's vest, her voice came out as a whisper, "Eugene?"

Eugene? Who the hell was Eugene?

A small moment of distraction upon her calling out this alien name was all it took for her to close both her fists around his vest, and pull Robin towards her with a force that told him she shoved entire young bodies inside that oven.

He was completely shocked and could do nothing but stare wide-eyed as the blind woman took a big sniff that began at the base of his neck and finished just beside his ear, and sighed a now confirming 'Eugene'. He felt absolutely disgusted, and closed his eyes feeling his bile rise as the most off putting breath he had ever smelled reached his nostrils. Unfortunately it had paralyzed him for a moment, or had she paralyzed him? Robin did not know if she was capable of doing magic or not anymore, all he knew was that the smell and her sweet voice did not fit with each other at all.

When her fists became her full palms on his chest and the words, "My love, I thought you were gone, I thought you fell-" reached his ear, Robin opened his eyes to find her face much closer to his. His limbs worked again and with his free hand he grabbed a fistful of hair with force and yanked the front of her body from his, forcing her to turn around so her back hit his front and his blade was quickly placed upon her neck.

He wanted to keep that woman as far away from him as possible, he wanted to keep her away from the whole wide world, and wanted to end her damned existence right then. But the Queen's orders not to kill her had been quite clear, plus he could not let go of her at that precise moment because of the young ones she wished to devour.

Robin pressed the blade further into her neck when he heard her protest, and he spoke to her in between gritted teeth, absolutely enraged by everything that woman stood for and everything she had done, "I do not want to hear a word more of this nonsense!"

She whined again, pleading words Robin chose to shut down as he threatened her again, "If you value your life, I would advise you to shut it!"

Her response was on the very least haunting, "I don't value anything-" she nearly whimpered, "All I want is my young one back-"

"SHUT IT!" he screamed at her and suddenly dead silence filled the room. Robin was certain he would have emptied the contents of his stomach right then if he had eaten at all that day. That woman stunk of death, her mouth reeked of dead flesh, and he knew the reason why.

The children were standing a few feet away from him looking at the scene before their eyes with a comprehensive amount of fear. Gretel had the blasted satchel in her grasp, thankfully. When Robin felt the witch was taking a longer breath so she could speak again, he removed his dagger from her throat and knocked her with its hilt over the head, making her pass out at the spot. He did not bother to ease off her tumble, on the contrary, he stepped back so she could hit the floor hard whilst she fell, the three of them looked down at the witch with disgust, and for a few moments, no one spoke.

"She said she was going to eat us," Hansel's small voice sounded, he was clearly still very much in shock.

"Did you know about that?" Gretel spat at him accusingly.

"I wasn't going to let her eat either of you," he stated still looking down at the witch.

"So you knew!" the girl's voice rose.

"Yes I knew!" Robin brought his eyes to meet her fierce set, "And the sole reason why I was brought here was to make sure she wouldn't eat the pair of you," he was suddenly rather nervous about the girl's accusations, "Now shut up about that, otherwise I'll knock you over the head as well, and have your brother carry you."

…

Both children zipped their sorry holes after Robin's threat, and the three of them, plus a very passed out witch that Robin had to carry over his shoulder, exited the sweet, child trap in blissful silence. The walk to the well was a quiet one as well; the children did not even dare to speak amongst each other. He followed the marks he had made on the trees, they were like his discreet breadcrumb trail, so he could find his way about this foreign forest.

The girl still held on to the satchel, Robin let her since the deal was struck between her and the Queen, it was the girl's duty to deliver, not his. His duty was to deliver them, which he would now that he had burdened his horse with their two small frames, plus he had bound the passed out witch to the back of the beast, who did not look too pleased with all that weight.

Robin made sure to tie a sturdy rope to the reins of the horse so he could lead the beast without any chance of it bolting or the children being smart about the whole arrangement. When Robin was able to see the castle from afar - it was the nearest thing he could refer to as home - he sighed in relief, this whole business was almost over, he would hand in the children and the witch, and then finally get some food.

Upon their arrival, the horse was hastily ushered away by a stable hand whilst under Robin's orders, one of the palace guards picked up the bound witch, with an understandable amount of hesitation, for her face, even whilst asleep, was not very inviting. He quickly made his way through the maze of corridors that spread about the castle, and was soon before the large wooden doors of the throne room, where the Queen awaited for them.

Before he could so much as touch the wooden surface, an invisible force opened the doors, and although the children were slightly taken aback, Robin simply stepped inside the grand hall, not taking long to spot the Queen. She was lounging on the King's throne, with her legs crossed, her arms relaxed on the armrests of the massive throne, her expression, rather bored, but her choice of outfit finally on point. Robin was not going to lie, the tight, black leather pants, combined with equally sharp black, knee high, high heeled boots, a dark corseted cape fastened firmly about her frame that possessed a cleavage that left nearly nothing to the imagination, made Robin forget momentarily about the whole affair and simply want to bury his face in between her breasts. It was really a shame that she had around her neck some manner of necklace so ridiculously looking that Robin felt tired only by looking at it.

"It took you long enough," her voice rang about the hall, she did not move from her position whilst the group walked towards her.

When they were standing just on the foot of the steps that led towards the throne area, Robin saw the helpless soldier try his best at bowing to her whilst he carried an adult body.

Robin simply nodded towards her, she lifted an unimpressed brow, but before he could reply to anything she said, the girl Gretel was storming past him, climbing the few steps and standing right in front of the Queen, "Here's your satchel." She outstretched her arm, offering the Queen the damn bag they had been through so much trouble to retrieve.

The Queen simply hummed and straightened her posture, for a moment simply studying the girl. Her hand was fast, so fast that Gretel gasped in surprise, the Queen did not have to use any magic to snatch the satchel from the girl's grasp, giving her a reprimanding look that made the young thing take a few steps back.

Nevertheless the young one found her voice, "Now help us find our father," she demanded but was now hesitant, having lost the satchel.

"I will," the Queen's words were filled with spite, "But first-" she turned her gaze towards the guard, "- I'd like to have a word with your extra luggage," she paused for a moment. "Put her down!" she commanded the guard, who did not need to be told twice before he placed the body on the floor, her back to the cold stone.

All eyes were on the strange looking witch who bore angry pink scars on her face as if she had wanted to gouge out her own eyes. The Queen waved her hand in the air, and Robin saw a pair of milky, white eyes that he had wished never to see again.

Before she could locate herself – which was bound to be pretty hard anyway since she was blind after all - or speak, the Queen waved her hand again and the Blind witch's body moved in an unnatural way until she was on her feet.

The Queen stood then, and descended the steps so she could be face to face with the blind sorceress, who kept taking in air through her nose, as if it was through smell that she could tell people and places apart. She certainly knew the smell of children quite well.

The Queen had an odd look upon her features as she studied the blind woman, she scrutinized her from head to toe, her eyes lingering on the angry scars on her face.

"Who taught you magic?" the Queen spoke suddenly and the witch's head snapped in her direction.

"Mother-" her hauntingly beautiful voice sounded.

"The Blue Witch?" the Queen inquired.

"My mother whispers spells-" the blind witch replied, tilting her head to the side, her white orbs now fixated on the Queen.

"You're lying," the Queen spoke with certainty, "The Blue Witch died not long after she blinded and outcast you!"

Robin understood the Queen was probably trying to get to the bottom of this story, trying to understand why one would do as this Blind Witch had, and most importantly, who implemented such an unspeakable idea inside her head, but he feared this interrogation would get nowhere since the woman was truly and genuinely crazy.

"Mother said-" the Blind Witch shook her head to the side and completed, "-magic or baby," she tilted her head to the side and continued in a quiet tone, her sweet voice sounded almost like a lullaby, "I said baby." Her face lit up, "Mother gave me magic instead-" she placed her hands on her stomach, "I lost it, I lost my little one, my hands were buzzing with sparkles but I felt the warmth of my little one leave me forever-"

At this point, all the occupants of the room simply stared completely shocked at the blind woman retelling her story, how absolutely disturbed she was, how so irreparably crazy, all apparently had been the workings of a cruel mother. Robin looked at the Queen then, who had the strangest expression upon her features, astonishment mingled with pity, it mirrored what Robin felt on the inside as he held on to his stern expression.

"Your mother died a long time ago Rapunzel-" the Queen's voice sounded so different, one could even say she was trying to help the witch – Rapunzel was apparently her name – grasp reality.

"Mother-" she said quietly, "Mother was there-'' she nodded to herself, "I was alone in the swamp-'' she stopped mid sentence and shook her head then, "No! I had my little one inside, but saw only black until mother appeared-" she widened her eyes, "Then-" she outstretched her hand as if to touch an invisible something ahead of her, "- a light of blue danced in the air. As if she had wings, as if she flew before me-" her arm dropped and she finished, "Mother"

The blind witch looked as if she were in a trance for a moment, not saying a word with her mouth slightly agape, she then spoke again, "I wanted the little one back-" she whined, nearly crying like a child, "Mother said-" she straightened up her posture as if imitating the motherly figure, "The only way to do that-" she had changed her voice almost completely for the imitation, "-is to put the baby back into your belly." She gestured with her hand, pointing her forefinger ahead of her in a gentle gesture, "The children you eat will little by little-" she squealed then and Robin felt sick, "-little by little-" she repeated with a childish singing voice, "-become your little one."

The Queen pursed her lips with an utter look of disgust on her face, "No-" her voice was pure ire, low and dangerous, "That was not your mother," she looked down at the pitiful witch in front of her, "But I think I know who."

With that, the Queen pivoted on her heels still clutching the satchel, she walked towards the nearest window and started out into the night.

She turned her face to the side and ordered, "Williams, take her to the upper cells,"

But no sooner had the guard approached the witch, she immediately turned his way, taking in deep intakes of breath, and closing the distance between them with certain and almost alarming strides. All occupants inside the room watched yet again perplexed as the insane woman did with soldier Williams – a strongly built young man that neared Robin's age and height – just as she had done with Robin inside the candy house. She grabbed the stunned soldier's lapels, and started smelling him, the young man had 'horror' painted on his face, but just like Robin, was petrified on the spot.

Her melodically sweet voice sounded again, calling out the strange name 'Eugene' again. But this time the witch fell to her knees, sliding her hands down the soldier's front until she was able to hug his legs whilst murmuring things Robin's ears yet again did not want to understand. Sweet words of love he had not heard being uttered ever since Marian-

The Queen had left her post by the window and approached the Witch once more, "What is the meaning of this?" her face was twisted with confusion and disgust.

"My love you live-" Robin was able to make out, for the witch had buried her face on the soldier's legs, she sniffed him again and again. And it was then that it finally hit him.

"She thinks he's the father to her child, her lover-" he said it to himself but somehow the words spilled out of his mouth.

"What?" the Queen's eyes turned to him.

"She did the same to me," Robin tried to explain.

"You let her sniff you?" the Queen's eyes were suddenly wide with shock and jealousy.

"She grabbed me, and paralyzed me somehow back in that sticky house," he retold, "I was quickly able to break free but not before she also called me by that name." The Queen nodded, silently telling him to continue, "She's blind your majesty! Don't you see? Her smelling sense must have been heightened somehow, she can tell types of people apart only by smelling them." It was absolutely insane and yet, made so much sense when put together with the story of the crazy woman currently on her knees sobbing on Williams' trousers, "She attributes the male scent to her lost lover, children's scent to her lost baby."

The Queen's mouth was hanging slightly open, and Robin took a bit too much pride in making her look as she did at that moment. She swallowed, and told Robin gravely, "Rid Williams of her."

Robin did not need to be told twice before he grabbed the weeping woman by the back of the neck and pulled her back, freeing Williams, who was pretty much in shock, "You're dismissed Williams," Robin told him, and it took the young man a while to recuperate his movements and finally leave.

As soon as the manly scent of Williams left the smelling perimeter of the witch's nose, she started crying out for him to come back, words of lost love and death on her lips that Robin did not want to hear. Her musical voice lamented a loss, but at the same time babbled nonsense about children and sweets. Robin tried to hold her back as she tried to follow the young man, but soon the Queen's magic worked on her body again, making it tame and unmoving.

The Blind Witch was still on her knees, Robin was behind her gripping her neck for good measure as the Queen approached them, she looked down at the crazy woman with many emotions dancing about her dark eyes, the dominating one, however, was pity, Robin could feel it just as much as he felt it himself.

The Queen looked up, and met his eyes with an understanding gaze that spoke of everything she would tell him before she even uttered a word, he nodded. He understood what she meant, what she wanted, until the words finally tumbled from her lips, "End her misery."

Robin made sure to be swift and fast, taking his dagger skillfully from his belt, pulling the Witch's hair in order to tilt her head and slitting her throat fatally with only a single slash of his blade. The witch made a dying noise, as if she was drowning in her own blood, but the next moment made no sound at all.

Robin knew how to kill, he knew that particular kind of slash was instantaneous. No doubt was left about it when he released the woman's hair and she fell lifeless on her head upon the stone floor.

It was then that a high-pitched scream reached his senses and Robin just then realized that this whole exchange had transpired in the presence of two children, two children now marred by his violence, a violence Robin and the Queen saw as mercy, but how could the children understand?

The Queen took a deep breath and closed her eyes, seeming to also have forgotten about the children's presence altogether. "Have someone take that away Locksley-" a set of fingers were on her temple and her eyes still closed, "-after that you are dismissed," she opened her eyes then and completed, "I need to attend to this unfinished business," she motioned towards the two children with her hands and before Robin could say anything, she was gone along with the children in a cloud of smoke.

…

After he had seen to it that soldiers took the witch's corpse away and maids cleaned away the very memory of her foul blood on the stone floor, Robin had made a very deserved trip to the kitchens, where he took no reservations in eating until his stomach screeched. He went to his chambers dreaming only of lying down on his bed and sleeping for days after this awful, perturbing day. And yet, when his head hit the pillow, Robin was not able to drift away into sleep. Memories of this tempestuous day seemed to play over and over inside his head, making his chest ache and his mind swirl with a million thoughts.

He remembered how he had almost strangled the Queen, and how she had not been so surprised, how she had not fought back, and how she had treated the subject as if it was trivial, mundane, her voice still rang clear, 'I've had worse encounters thief'.

He was still in awe of how she had cared enough to send him along with the children, just so he could protect them, make sure no harm came to them. Although Robin himself would have done the exact same thing; there was something about children that made him unable to hate them as he did adults, a blissful kind of ignorance he inwardly envied, but ultimately wanted to protect.

The mere thought of that Witch made Robin's stomach turn, it was now filled to the brim with food, so it was not as safe as before to linger in such thoughts. He had rather admired the Queen's attitude in ridding the world of that foul creature, or could he dare and think that the Blind Witch was but a victim of some higher force? The Queen seemed to believe so, and also knew exactly who said higher force was.

After laying awake for about one hour, thoughts haunting his mind and a strange ache starting to build up on his left side, Robin twisted and turned on his bed only to have sleep not take him. He then decided that maybe he needed to walk it off, maybe take a dip into the river in order to cleanse away all the foulness of that day.

Although Robin had planned to get out of the stuffy castle, his feet were taking step after step of their own accord, all he knew was that they were most certainly not leading him towards the castle grounds. They made their path on their own, trailing without a clear objective in mind, Robin just kept striding. He still felt an odd ache in his chest, the scar there seemed to burn, an anguish dominated the spot. Now it was empty, and yet, even though at the beginning he had been blessed with the feeling of numbness, as of lately, he seemed to feel almost as if he had it back in. Not completely, and not all of the time, but still, on occasion feelings would spread and rush about his body and then vanish.

He remembered how he had only been able to feel when he was in her presence; her blood red vibrations had hit him like killer arrows. But now, all of a sudden, feelings would burst out of nowhere only to disappear almost immediately after, his experience at the candy house serving to show him that he still felt a lot now, even in her absence.

This whole thing was going to drive him insane.

Even more insane

For Robin was pretty sure he had already lost his mind the moment when he had agreed to let her rip his heart out, and keep it in a box as leverage for his failure. At the time, the numbness seemed worth anything, even the loss of a vital organ.

Cold, grey, stone walls were all he could see as he made each turn certain and yet completely oblivious as to where his feet were leading him. The pain in his chest increased with every stride and suddenly Robin heard a sob, he stopped.

He had halted in front of a large, dark, oak door. Robin studied it for a minute before the sound of crashing glass filled his ears. He did not think twice before he pushed the door open and barged into the room.

The place was dark, hauntingly so, only dimly lit by moon light that shone through the drapes of the half opened curtains. It appeared to be a sleeping chamber, Robin could make out a four-poster bed to his right, it was unmade and since the light of the moon hit it mostly, he could distinctively make out there was a white, furred cover amongst the scattered pillows. His eyes travelled by the opened window - the thin, light colored drapes fluttered in the wind - and came to rest upon a full-length mirror to the left that sat alone on a corner of the room facing the bed. It had been smashed. Robin approached the shattered pieces, and drew his fingers about the cracks that had most certainly been created by a fist, one nice punch A few, small shards of glass were scattered on the floor by the mirror.

Robin frowned and looked up at the mirror only to be startled to see a dark figure standing behind him in the broken reflection of the reflective surface, and could not help but let out a, "Fucking hell" in surprise at the figure that had not been there a moment ago.

He turned around quickly to face the obscure silhouette, his hand going to his belt only to find he was only clad in his sleeping pants and consequently unarmed. The imminent threat of an encounter with a stranger was quickly discarded, for although he could only see a dark outline, Robin could somehow feel who it was even before it spoke.

"What the hell do you think you are doing here?" asked the Queen, who else could it be, but the Queen? Robin should have known it was her the moment he heard the noise from outside, for any maniac behavior in this castle was either prominent of himself or that fucking Queen.

Her voice was raspy though, and not the kind he was accustomed to, not the rasp of having screamed of too much ecstasy, but of- crying? Robin did not think it possible for a person such as her to actually cry. Although he had to remind himself that he had seen her eyes moist with tears on more than one occasion, but this time it was somehow different.

As Robin's eyes started to get accustomed to the darkness of the room, he was actually able to see her vibrant eyes shimmer and widen at his lack of response. He had to admit she looked rather frightening like this - which might have sounded ridiculous to Robin in recollection, but at that moment she looked raw and dangerous - her eyes shone whilst the rest of her body remained a black silhouette.

"Well?" she was most certainly mad at him, and yet but sounded broken, tired.

Something was off.

"I heard a crash that's all," Robin spoke, trying to sound conversational, somehow not wanting to meet her at her level of coarseness.

Her only response was an annoyed huff, she then turned towards the drapes and disappeared into the balcony. Upon further study of the room itself, Robin began to wonder if he had ever been inside this particular chamber; it looked somewhat familiar for some strange reason, but he could not recollect having entered it during his time serving the Queen.

He was pretty sure the huff had been dismissive, and yet, Robin could not bring himself to leave her, could not bear the thought of her inside this lone, pastel colored chamber whilst she wore such a strange expression on her features.

The pang in his chest had become rather painful by this point, and his scar still burned, it was as if it was hurting, like it was crying, like it was angry.

His feet moved on their own accord, and he came into a halt in front of the windows that led to the balcony, only thin, translucent drapes separated him from the Queen now. She had her back to him and was leaning on the fence. Her hands gripped it with force, her knuckles turning white, head tilted back and Robin could see her eyes were closed. A flash of memory swiped through his eyes, as he remembered climbing that very same fence, long ago, years and years ago, before Marian, before disgrace, when it was just him and Will-

"I don't understand," she whispered, bringing him back to the here and now, making the memory of the vast amount of thievery he had made in that room so long ago vanish. The Queen had spoken so softly that Robin was not sure if she was aware that he was still there, this moment suddenly turned intimate in the oddest of ways, and Robin felt as if he was overstepping the boundaries of whatever they had together.

"What don't you understand?" Robin tried regardless of his head telling him to back off.

What the hell am I doing?

"The children," her voice was small and yet he could hear her words perfectly, she straightened her head, still facing away from him and gripping at the balcony fence.

"Hansel and his sister?" Robin found it odd he had addressed to the boy by his given name, something that betrayed he had maybe warmed up a little to the stupid young boy, "What about them? Didn't they get the satchel you wanted?" Robin was trying to understand, why would she be upset over two brats? Had they tricked the pair of them somehow? Robin found that to be rather impossible, for she would be fuming and not crying if they had. Robin actually could not still wrap his head around the fact that she had been crying at all.

He drew the curtains away so he could see her better, bathed in the moonlight, he then noticed she was barefoot, and only wore her usual pair of leather pants and a tight dark corset, her hair half pinned up.

"Yes-" she breathed out, her head turned to the side then, her grip still holding on to the ledge, the smallest of smiles grew on her lips, "-yes, they did-"

A strange sense of joy suddenly started coursing through Robin's veins, it was a dark and evil sort of joy, born out of revenge and hatred, but still, it felt good, like a drug one knew to be fatal but could not give up on.

It was absolute madness, why in all the realms was he feeling that alien sentiment? It was not right, he was absolutely sure he was not the one feeling those things, had no reason to have been feeling heartache two minutes ago and now to be so overwhelmed with this poisonous joy.

The feeling sank again, just as fast as it came, the joy disappeared to give place to the same heartache that had taken residence in his chest a while ago.

"I-" she started, she had turned to face the moonlight again, away from him, "I asked them-" her voice was so small, so distant, "-I told them they could live here in the castle, never want for anything ever again."

That Robin most certainly did see coming, he frowned at the very thought of it, and was only able to produce a question, "Oh?"

There was a moment of silence which was only disturbed when the enigmatic woman before him took a deep breath. She then finally turned around to face him, leaning her lower back against the fence, her hands holding onto it loosely now. Robin could not make out her expression very well; since the shining moon was right behind her, she was once again a dark silhouette.

"They did not want to stay." Her tone was low and flat at this statement, as if she was trying to detach any kind of feeling from her words.

"But why does that even bother you?" Robin tried to understand, finding this moment and her attitude altogether odd.

She regarded him for a beat in silence, and then turned her gaze down whilst her voice sounded again, small and wounded, "She said that they would never want to-" she suddenly stopped mid sentence, and her eyes shot up to meet his as she continued speaking, now in a different tone of incredulity, "Why wouldn't they want to stay here?"

The speed of her words increased, listing off thoughts that had obviously been whirring around her mind; "They were poor and their father had abandoned them, they had nothing and I offered everything. And yet-" she swallowed and finished, "And yet they chose to hold on to a broken promise when I could have given them everything their hearts desired."

Silence reigned for a few seconds as Robin took in all that new information that still baffled him. He could not understand why she would even want those brats living there, it made no sense.

"Did you?" Robin asked in impulse, what the hell was he getting at?

"Did I what?" he could see her shining eyes narrow.

"Did you want to live here?" he explained, his tone strangely soft, truly quizzical, not at all biting, he continued when she only frowned in response, "Did you want to be Queen? Has that always been your ambition?"

Robin did not know what he was doing, what exactly was driving him to ask those questions. Questions about her, the mysteries of her that he now realized he had always wanted to know.

Where was the shy girl who loved horses? Somehow, the image painted by the old captain all those months ago did not seem to fit in at all with the woman he had worked for over the past months. Had that always been an act? The sweet, mellow and kind Queen? Or was the evil and unforgiving Queen her real mask? Had she always been like this?

"No," she breathed, barely a whisper. She pushed her weight from the fence, stalked away from the high edge, passing him by without so much as a glance, and entering the room again. He turned on his heel and saw that she once again had her back to him, and hugged her figure. Whilst she continued to speak her tone was bitter, "-it was never my ambition to be anything other than myself," she turned her head in order to look at him over her shoulder, "-let alone Queen." The title spilled from her lips as if it was the foulest thing in the world.

"Why did you then?" Robin had to know, her latest revelation having made him feel even bolder.

"I did not have a say in the matter of my marriage," She spoke while taking a few steps towards the large, four-poster bed. She then placed her hand on one of the posts and regarded the bedsheets.

An arranged marriage, of course, it was pretty obvious, Kings and Queens most certainly did not marry for love, that was common knowledge. And yet, having her confirm the obvious was oddly painful to him, he felt his chest tighten with sympathy towards her, the image of her as a young, innocent woman of barely eighteen becoming more and more possible.

"I'm sorry," he told her truthfully.

He truly was sorry for her; he could not imagine how it must be like to have your destiny in the hands of others. To not be in control of your own life, but to merely belong to another, as if your humanity was taken away from you, and your sole purpose in life became to serve a nation. That, after all, was what royalty was about, and why Robin despised it so. Plus, arranged marriages hit a hard chord for him, after all he had saved Marian from one.

Wonder if I had saved her instead of Marian-

"I don't need your pity-" she snapped him out of his haze; she was facing him now, staring at him with eyes fierce with anger but moist with tears and tiredness.

"You do not have my pity, your majesty," That statement was untrue and Robin knew it all too well how much he felt for her, but he had grown angry at her sudden change in mood. Must she always be so unbearable? "No one does, I have not felt anything ever since you took my heart away," unless when I'm with you, or near you, or think of you, but Robin would never dare to complete that sentence. He continued, trying to go back to the previous subject, "Maybe the children did not want to stay for the same reason you didn't want to linger when you first came here."

She huffed in response to his words, and went to sit on the bed. Her manner was completely different; her hips did not dance as she moved, her arms hung at her sides and her gaze was turned downward. She descended her heavenly derrière on the mattress and sighed.

"You stayed," she said, not really looking at him.

"You took my heart," he said without really thinking, but he knew that was not the reason why he had lingered; he could not be away from her, that he was starting to get to terms with. His words were quickly followed by a strong pang of pain in his chest, disappointment, hurt and hopelessness.

"You offered it to me," she still did not look at him, she faced ahead as if talking to a voice inside her head for her own was weak; it lacked that bite he had grown accustomed to retort to with an odd pleasure. She sounded wounded.

"Indeed I did," he said with a deep sigh, the strong sensations on his chest started to subside.

"Why?" her head turned upwards then and she met his eyes with her inquiry, "Why did you stay?" She questioned, her voice had risen a little, "It's not as if I forced you to stay-" she stopped and tilted her head only a little to the side, like a curious bird, she asked with a small frown, "Did I?"

"No you didn't-" he responded to her almost immediately, wanting to reassure her somehow, for all the fucks in the world, he was doomed, "-I remember quite clearly that I was the one who asked you to take my heart away,"

Robin was rather stunned at the outcome of this conversation, it was probably one of the most honest conversations they had ever had, and yet, he could hardly even see her face.

"Why did you not want it?" she asked simply.

"Because it burdened me with guilt," he replied with a bitter taste in his mouth.

"Because of your wife?" she asked again and he then realized he was not looking at her anymore but over her head, not wanting her to see the hurt inside his eyes whilst he spoke of this.

"Because of my wife and my child," he said simply with a final tone.

The Queen nodded at his response letting out the softest "Ah" in acknowledgement of his statement. Deadly silence filled the room once again after that, the Queen still sat on the bed and Robin still stood, a few feet away, facing her. He could see her eyes shine with what seemed to be liters of unshed tears, his vision had by then completely adjusted to the darkness of the room. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes causing the tears to roll down her cheeks, but did not move otherwise, only the rise and fall of her chest was in motion, her skin under the moonlight was so pale it almost looked as if she was a ghost.

Aside from his own troubling feelings, Robin still felt the alien pain inside his chest, it was so strong then that if he had not known that his heart laid elsewhere, he would have thought he was having a heart attack.

He felt deep loneliness he did not quite know what to make of, for there he was, in that dark room where a lifetime ago he had stolen so many jewels and laughed, and teased Will. Now there he stood, with her.

That woman that had slithered her way into his life like a poisonous snake, and yet, he would happily let her give him the fatal bite if it meant feeling her warm skin against his once more. That enigmatic Queen who seemed to have so many faces, so many layers, so many stories untold about her. She had discarded her royal air now, finally seemed to let her mask slip for more than a few moments.

His brain told him that he was not supposed to be there, that this was far too personal a time for the Queen, that the least she deserved was his consideration, and so he should leave her in peace. He should leave.

And yet, another voice told him to stay, She needs you, it whispered softly in his ear and Robin was startled to realize the voice was female and tender, he faintly recognized it, he knew that voice, it made him stay, did not allow his legs to move or his feet to take steps.

"Do you want me to leave?" he barely whispered, letting her decide what was best.

"No" she replied immediately, eyes still screwed shut, "Don't leave." It was such a hushed whisper, almost like a prayer, Robin did not know if she had indeed uttered those exact words or not.

He most certainly did not have a reply for that, he was rather stunned to see she had really let her walls down, every single cube of that gigantic ice fortress she had built around herself. He remained where he was, looking at her with a whole new set of questions in his head, wondering where the hell she had been hiding that personality all this time.

"I do not want to be alone tonight," she opened her eyes then, and looked at him with her dark orbs, and even though they were watery from her tears they still had the ability to pierce through his very soul, he could never deny her anything, he was doomed.

Robin was out of words, could not possibly find a single syllable to reply to her. Along with the feeling of loneliness in his chest there rose a sincere feeling of compassion, something he had not deemed himself capable of feeling anymore. And yet, as their eyes locked, her own so absolutely stripped of masks and disguises, as if he could finally see the woman behind the Queen, the feeling bloomed.

Before he knew it, instinct kicked in, and Robin chose to oblige to its decisions, his blood pumping fast in his ears as his legs took him to her on their own accord. They had led him to kneel on one knee at the foot of the bed in front of the Queen. The very first time he had done so out of his own free will.

She regarded him with big quizzical eyes, she did not look mad or irritated, but simply curious and maybe a little - no, it could not be - scared?

She had her hands on her lap, fingers entwined with each other, Robin could see her hands held on to one another with quite a little bit of force, he placed his own on top of them and said gently "You won't be then."

He could feel her hands relax under his touch, and the heartache he felt started to subside again. For a few moments they remained as they were, both sets of eyes fixated on their hands. Robin's thumb started to, ever so slowly, caress the back of one of her hands, the buzzing between their joined skin soothing and delicious. When he felt her hands relax completely, Robin took a leap of faith and took her right hand on his own. She did not fight back but gave him her hand, her eyes still fixed on them.

He gave her a soft, "Come," and tugged her hand ever so gently.

She looked up and met his eye, her own were still slightly reddened and moist, her normally impeccable black eye painting was smeared due to her tears, her cheeks had also taken a flushed tone of pink, and although her lips were completely deprived of artificial paint, they were also bore a light, natural, tone of red.

She looked raw and vulnerable, not at all put together like he was accustomed to, but in Robin's eyes, she had never looked more beautiful.

He tugged her hand again, gesturing for her to join him on the floor. With those dark orbs still fixed on him, piercing through him, she finally made a move to do as he had bid her. Robin gave her some space so she could kneel in front of him. He was grateful they were kneeling not on the cold stone floor, but on top of a fur rug, for she already looked so wounded, it was odd for Robin to realize he wanted her to feel comfortable, needed for her to feel well again, he could not bear for her to feel any more pain. His hand was still holding hers, even after she managed to settle herself on the rug.

They were face-to-face, although she rested on both knees and he still supported his body on one, it somehow made it easier for her to settle herself absurdly close to him, he could feel the heat of her body even though their torsos were not touching. Robin extracted his hand from holding hers and used his thumb to wipe one of the many tears she had shed from her cheek. The Queen closed her eyes and sighed at the delicate small touch he was providing her. When his thumb left her cheek, he asked her in a mere whisper.

"Tell me your name."

Her eyes opened ever so slowly, her thick dark lashes moistened by her tears. Her stare was deep and Robin could see his question had somehow surprised her.

If it had surprised her, it had hit him like with the force of a hundred ogres. Had he just come to realize he did not even know her name? She had never given it to him, that was certain, and since she was the Queen, all addressed to her as 'your majesty', none had ever uttered her actual name in his presence.

Robin was rather baffled that, after knowing her for several months, having fucked her, argued with her, defended her, suffered at her hand, lived under the very same roof as her, helped her, kissed her, longed for her, hated her, cursed her, yelled at her face and called her by all the names one can come up with and yet, he did not know her name. He had always addressed her as the queen, using her title - your majesty - with disdain for he despised royalty, always had.

And yet, he could not bring himself to leave this royal's side, somehow her allure had sucked him completely into her world, her resilience and strength had captured his infatuation, her biting challenging words enticed him, made him feel alive like never before. Her, this insane tormented woman who he did not even know what to call.

Robin felt as if he was holding his breath waiting for her response, it felt like hours but in reality, it only took her a few seconds to take in the question and part her lips to deliver her response.

"Regina; my name is Regina."