Research was the key to making any good deal work. While his gift from the Seer gave him an overwhelming advantage in doing research, he made it his business not to trust anyone, whether they were in his own head or not. That was how he found himself donning his old red cloak, which perfectly hid his face from view, and wandering around the market square of Locksley inquiring about someone who might be able to help him get compensation for his marred face. Peasants were so stupid they believed anything, one quick flash of flesh and they gasped and told him nearly everything he needed to know about Robin of Locksley. He was a thief and a talented one at that. While most boys had grown up training to be apprentices, he'd been learning how to pick locks and practicing his archery with his band of Merry Men in the woods.

"Odd name for a group of men."

"Aye, but not if you knew them, always together, always laughing and going on…they were the jolliest batch of criminals you'd ever seen in your life. Calling them anything but 'merry' would have been a disservice," one man explained.

They were happy together. They lived out in the woods, taking whatever they needed and whatever they wanted...at least until she happened.

Maid Marian, the most beautiful woman in all of Sherwood Forest, or so the story went. Most beautiful woman in Sherwood Forest or not her family had been farms, and poor ones at that. One day, while out and about with his Merry Men, Robin spied the steed of Marian's father. A proud and noble creature, it easily was worth more than their entire land. And strong enough to transport food they grew to and from town to be sold. Robin admired the creature and stole it. Everyone was a bit sparse on the details of what followed, but rumor had it that Maid Marian herself had shown up to his camp that night, armed. Some said she was armed with bow and arrow, others a knife, some said her wits and pretty face. All explained that she'd left with the horse. The next day, Robin went to her family and gave them two of his three horses and from that moment on he'd changed. He and his men lived a minimal lifestyle, taking only what they needed, not what they wanted. They stole from the rich and gave to the poor in an effort to even the playing field. Marian fell in love with him, ran off and joined the Merry Men.

They were wonderful together, absolutely unstoppable, save for the one force determined to stop them and take Marian for himself. In a way, Robin had been safe when he was stealing indiscriminately. He'd stolen occasionally from the rich but most of the time he'd taken from poor and middle-class families. He knew from his experience before he was the Dark One that those sort of problems were of no concern to law enforcement. But make a habit out of robbing the rich and noble, suddenly he had a name and a reputation that was not conducive to having a family. Now the Sheriff was hunting Robin Hood, or perhaps "making his life miserable" was a more accurate description.

No one could prove anything about who was stealing the money. Robin Hood was good enough that he didn't leave any evidence behind that he was the one who was robbing the rich. And those who benefitted from his generosity weren't willing to divulge the truth about how they'd come into their own luck. And because Robin himself never kept anything he stole there was no way to trace him to the crimes, no way to arrest him, no way to hang him for his crimes. But that didn't mean that the Sheriff was going to sit back and live with that. He dogged Robin, followed him from place to place, hoping to catch him in the act. He never did.

"Can't be easy, being under the Sheriff's thumb like that..."

"Well that's why they've left, innit?!" someone shouted at him. "You won't find them here in Locksley! Last I heard Robin retired and the pair opened a bar in Sherwood Forest, just South of here! Not entirely out of the Sheriff's reach but far enough away they don't spend their nights with one eye open. They say he hasn't pinched a penny since, trying to make a decent living and start a family now, but I imagine he's still got the talent. He'd just have to have a good reason to put it to good use. Perhaps a face like that would give him the right motivation."

Sherwood Forest. They'd moved. To escape the sheriff, to make a life for themselves, to outrun his reputation, there were many reasons why. But the long and short of it was that he was looking for the right person in the wrong place. Sherwood Forest was once a happy place, or so he was told. It was one of King Leopold's favorite places to take his daughter on outings. But since he'd died, Regina had raised the taxes in this little village making life nearly unbearable, and no one had any idea why. He suspected it was simply because it was a place Leopold and Snow had bonded, but he wasn't about to share that information with anyone. Regina was doing a good enough job of scaring the people all on her own what with the raids she was hosting in town to find her step-daughter and bring her to justice. It had been a while since he'd seen Regina, he always forgot to tell her that she was hiding much closer to home, not in a town, but on a little isolated farm with a couple of Werewolves. How clumsy of him…

It seemed to take an eternity for darkness to fall over Sherwood Forest that night; things always seemed to take longer when one was waiting for something to happen. Earlier in the day, he had found the dreaded Sheriff Nottingham, the one from his vision who had been tormenting the couple, and followed him until he came to a pub. He never went inside, merely positioned himself high up in a tree and watched as he and his own band went in, someone appeared and hammered the tax notice on the door, and then the band left in relative peace. It was interesting to watch. As far as he could remember, he'd never actually been there as a third party observer when any of his visions had come to pass. He wasn't inside watching it, but waiting outside and watching the tax notice go up gave him a small chill. It was good to have that kind of power, to know without a doubt that the stage was set and all he had to do was sit and wait for what he knew would come. It was the moment the sunset and he watched throughout the evening as ladies and gentlemen staggered out of the pub one after the other until finally, he saw the olive-skinned girl. The lovely maid Marian, who he was sure was no maid anymore, departed for what he assumed was their home. The candles inside the establishment began to dim after that, and once it had been long enough, he allowed himself to stand back on the ground and enter the pub to meet his candidate.

The bar smelled like peasants; the musty smell of barley mixed with vomit, body odor, and stale water. He didn't know why he'd expected anything more from the establishment of Robin of Locksley. Perhaps it was because he was down on his hands and knees right now, scrubbing the floor of the empty bar vigorously. A place the sheriff had stepped, perhaps? Some things, like the smell of desperation and the rot of a black heart, were things not easily scrubbed away. It would be easier to take the smell out of this place, and he knew that was an impossible task.

"Great to see the sheriff didn't scare everyone off," Robin mentioned as he walked past him. "What can I get for you?"

"Oh, I didn't come here for the ale," he answered, mimicking the accent of the sheriff and all in this pathetic little place. "Nor, clearly, for the ambiance. I came...to make a deal," he stated, turning toward him and throwing his hood up over his head. "I've asked around for the best thief in the land, dearie," he smiled, allowing the false accent to go away as he advanced on the poor boy. Was it his reputation that had frightened him? Or was he just surprised to look upon a face as hideous as his own? Difficult to tell, but then he didn't really care which had stunned him into silence, he just cared that he got the job done. "And everyone's pointed me to you."

"Yes, well…uh, I'm not in that line of business anymore," Robin informed him.

"And soon, it seems, you won't be in the tavern business, either. Is that a tax notice on the door?" he inquired knowingly. It was. It was the very notice from his vision. He did love this power the Seer had given him…if only he could learn to better bend it too his will as she had. Still…he had to be thankful for what he had, and what he had included an answer for Robin as well as his heart.

"Get to the point," Robin urged.

"I can solve all your problems!" he answered, turning back and revealing a bundle of freshly spun golden straw. Thread would have been easier, of course, but he didn't like to leave the world with too many answers. One town said he spun gold, another thread, another yarn…that was how rumor and fear were spread, and that was how he ran his businesses and dealings; rumor and fear.

"I need you to go to a...a faraway land. A land that's ruled by an old compatriot who would not be, um, happy to see my pretty face again. I need you to break into the vault and steal the Elixir of the Wounded Heart," he explained, offering the bundle of straw to him.

"That's a ridiculously self-explanatory name."

He shrugged. He didn't make the names, but it was an unfortunate truth that he agreed with young Robin of Locksley.

"And also probably a fool's errand!"

"Oh, it's far from that, dearie, far from that! It does exactly what it says. It cures wounded hearts...physically, emotionally…it's powerful stuff." Powerful enough to cure him in a future that was far, far away. And worth the cost of golden straw that it would take to spare this tavern from the King's tax. Afterall, what good would it do him if he succeeded in getting to the Realm Without Magic if he died once he was there? The fact that he wanted it made it valuable. The fact the he needed it made it nearly priceless. "So, how would you like to take a little trip?"

If his research was right, then Robin of Locksley had been honest when he told him that he didn't steal anymore. But there was a difference between "anymore" and "not lately" and that difference was desperation. In truth, he'd suspected it would take a lot more convincing to get dear Robin to a place where he would agree to do this for him. The fact that he was silent told him that he was a lot easier to convince than he'd thought, which meant he was a lot more desperate than he let on. A hundred years later, and this was why the making of deals continued to thrill him.

"Where would I be going?" Robin inquired.

"Another realm! A land called Oz," he beamed, talking quickly so that he wouldn't laugh excitedly at such an easy deal. Robin wasn't like the ordinary idiot peasant. He would sense distrust and might back out because of it. He had to keep this short and sweet. "Would you do that for me?"

Robin of Locksley opened his mouth once, then closed it again before finally letting out a sigh of surrender.

"I've heard of this Oz, of its riches and wonders, of its Wizard-"

"Former!" he inserted. "I think you'll find the place under new management should you decided to take the deal."

Something winked, crafty and clever in his eyes as a smirk bloomed over his face. "And it's that new management that you don't wish to encounter again," he assumed. "Very well. If I should agree to this, how would I get there? I don't have the ability to cross realms."

"Ah, I was hoping you'd ask about that little detail…" from within the depths of his cloak, he pulled forth the small vial of clear liquid that Jefferson had given him. He'd removed the tag a week earlier, unwilling to give his accomplice too much information, but it didn't matter since he'd memorized it. "Very rare, very valuable, only use when absolutely necessary as it's the last of its kind and won't last long."

Robin Hood picked it up but seemed unimpressed. "What's it do?"

"When poured into a puddle of water it becomes a portal to the room of doors. It is a ticket that can get he who possesses it into any realm through that hall and back again so long as they remember where the door is."

Robin listened as he painted him a picture, a detailed one of what he was to do. Once he was in the room of doors, he was to look for the green one marked Oz. He wasn't sure where the portal would take him, but he was to go to the Emerald City, to the former palace of the Wizard where he would find a Wicked Witch, he'd know her at once for her skin matched the city. Somewhere in her stores, the Wizard's former collection, he would find a container, probably a goblet of some kind that would be marked Cor Aut Mors, at least it would be if the research he'd done was correct. Stealing the goblet on its own could prove to be difficult-

"I've stolen bigger in my time!" Robin suddenly interjected, sounding almost insulted at the idea. He resisted a smile. That was good. He was getting to him.

"Oh, I've no doubt you could, but keep in mind for this incident I need only a small amount, a single dose. Of course, should you manage more…I might be able to manage more golden straw!" With a wave of his hand he produced several small glass vials that would do just fine for transporting the potion. "Retrieve my potion and you shall receive this as payment," he explained pulling the straw from his grasp. "It is enough and more to cover your tax debt, keep this…establishment running, and dear Marian out of the hands of a certain Sheriff for good. So…do we have a deal?" he asked as he extended his hand.

Robin hesitated, he thought about it, a sure sign that he knew he was working with a devil, but then after a quick glance at the potion on the table, the vials in his hand and the golden straw he still clung too he gave a small nod, accepting temptation. He extended his hand to shake his own and looked him in the eyes as he said "deal."


Alright, straightforward, saw it in the show. Rumple finds Robin, they make a deal, Robin accepts it. Questions? Oh good, because it's the next chapter that needed fixing.

Thank you Alarda and Grace5231973 for your reviews on the last chapter! I'm always happy to hear you have faith in where we're going and the research I've done. I just hope you'll be okay with what I've done for the next chapter. And hey, if you're not, the chapter after the next one should make up for it a bit! Peace and Happy Reading!