Chapter 5:

Rumors were running wild around the forest, reports of a winged beast flying, they didn't know what it was but it was threatening the safety of their camp. They set out into the forest, Little John, Will, Alan, and Robin, all set forth to bring truth to these rumors. Such creature couldn't exist, at least not in their minds, but their job was to protect the forest that gave them protection, the forest they called home, not to mention the people that dwelled in and around it. They had a duty they had to hold.

They had been scouting the area, few miles away from their camp, when they stumbled upon a rather large group of people. They stayed afar, watching trying to figure out who they were, since the Evil Queen had set cast the curse there were very few people who remained in Sherwood and The Enchanted Forest, so to see this amount of people was unnerving.

That is until they caught glimpse of person who was held accountable for said curse. They spotted her straying away from the figures leading the group, slowing extricating herself farther into the forest. What they didn't expect was for her to be walking away from the one woman who she vowed revenge against. He seemed to recognize the face only because once they were side by side on the wanted posters placed in and around the Enchanted Forest, it was the face of Snow White, and her Prince Charming. They had been cursed , what are they doing back here, and with her of all people?

The group of four men were at a complete loss, this woman who spend years on the run from the Evil Queen had the greatest look of concern and sympathy for the woman who moved away from them, the Merry Men and their leader were confused beyond words. She was the Evil Queen, responsible for countless deaths, but all Robin was able to see from from where he stood was a face full pain and heartbreak. He had no words to explain the sudden urge to go to her, and speak with her, she was the Evil Queen, and he was chased by her guards, so why did he feel the need to comfort her?

He wasn't able to ponder the thought much longer when Will signaled to the creature they were after, lurking up in the trees, when he pointed in the direction it was in, but Robin was already moving. He had lived in the forest long enough to know when a creature had marked its prey.

They all followed, tying to get a glimpse of what it was, because what Will described was simply too absurd to be true. As the men kept their eyes to the trees, Robin himself was searching to find the so called Evil Queen, until he spotted her and froze, all five of them stopped looking at the trees, and stared ahead. They simply couldn't believe their eyes, it had to have been a dream, for the Queen as Evil as the stories portray her, couldn't possibly have a heart, let alone know the meaning of tears. Yet there they stood, silently watching her shoulders shake, and hearing her muffled sobs.

Robin again felt his heart go out for the woman, for no matter how terrible a person was, they all deserve a second chance, no one knew that better than him, and his Merry Men.. The Evil moniker failed to suit her name, evil castors they don't shed tears, they shed blood the moment someone upsets them, yet there she was, crying her eyes away.

For those crucial seconds while they stared in shock to the woman ahead, they too failed to notice the winged beast make its mark, and it took all of one second for panic to rile up within the Prince of Thieves. He wasn't about to let anything happen to this woman,, evil or not.

Thank whatever mighty god was there, because she managed to dodge the attack, she jumped from where she stood, and avoided the beast, the now confirmed flying monkey.

As the beast went to make its second dive, the men were already releasing their arrows, flying through the air. The beast flapped its wings, and managed to avoid some of the arrows, but much to the men's horror it reached the Queen once more, this time it made its mark., and when it did she let out a scream that went straight to their bones. Careful not to hit the woman, they sent their arrows fiercely into the beast's wings and back, there was no way in hell this thing was leaving here with that woman, not untill they ran their quiver dry. The next thing they knew, the creature let her go, flapped its wings, but failed and made its crash to the ground a few feet away from the Queen.

Immediately Robin rushed to the women's side, he was silently hoping that she would fight him off, but he looked into her eyes, they only thing he saw was before they shut was the look of defeat.

/

The group stood silent as they heard a scream pierce through the air. Immediately Snow and David ordered everyone into the barrier of the forest and take cover. If what the royals had said before was true, they weren't going to let their people out in the open up for grabs, they didn't know what happened, but what they knew for sure was that it was Regina's scream. As the people took cover Snow searched for Granny only to see the woman was headed straight into the direction the Queens scream came from.

The idiotic stubborn girl, it's like she has a god damned death wish! What the hell was she thinking running away into this god forsaken forest! She's a dam Queen, not a woodsman! Granny was furious. She had been keeping eye on the Queen, but she knew better than anyone that the girl needed some time to herself, she hadn't slept the entire night before, that she was sure of, but this was outright absurd.

She then noticed Snow, David and Neal running to her side, it seemed them two women joined the Lets keep the Queen from Killing Alive cause, for the fear of anything happening to her was something they couldn't bear thinking about.

They saw the rustled skirts of the Queens dress, but failed to take into account the beast that lay ahead of the men. They didn't care, all they saw were men hovering over a clearly unresponsive Queen, and they charged forward.

They didn't know who they were, but they weren't in Storybook, and the Enchanted Forest wasn't the same one they left 30 some years ago, this was an un-ruled land, with god knows what kind of people still lurking, and a potential witch they had yet to see.

"GET YOUR HANDS OFF HER, NOW!'" Was all Snow said, as she pushed through the men not caring who they were, she just needed them away from her. Granny, David and Neal followed, immediately drawing their swords, ready to defend against these strangers.

It took a second for Snow to see past her rage, this man wasn't threatening, no he was cradling Regina's body, screaming at her to wake. Granny on the other hand recognized the man the moment she went down to her knees.

"Robin! What happened!?"

Robin didn't register the woman talking, he still held the Queens form when he spoke to her.

"We need to get her to wake, there's a stream not far from here. Her wounds need to be cleaned, whatever that thing is, its claws marked her skin."

Granny finally noticed the weak breathing coming from the Queen, the blood drenching the dark fabric of her sleeves that were ripped.

"Move, we need to hurry" was all she said.

/

They reached the stream, Robin holding onto this woman the whole way, when they finally reached the stream. Granny and Snow shooed him and the others away, they ripped open the queens cloak, tore at her sleeves, and started to clean her wounds. They only hoped that whatever that winged beast was, didn't have any dark magic in its claws.

"I don't know who this Witch is, but she's clearly left her message loud and clear. This one's already got a death wish, and whoever this person is, is just going to make it easier for Regina to fulfill it." Snow was quick to point out the obvious. Something that Granny was fully aware of.

Regina started to shift, and slowly joined the land of the living. It took her a moment to see where she was, but more importantly the two women who were currently taking care of her.

Granny had seen too much of her past, she knew Regina as a broken child, one who was scared and weak. She would never tell the woman how she always looked up to her as a mother, as a protector years ago, so when she cast the curse she made sure to give her somewhat of a stable life, the Diner she thought would be the right fit. But she could never look into her eyes without knowing that this old woman had been one of the only constant reminders of her time as a married woman, and that was simply too much for her.

And Snow, she didn't understand for the life of her why the two women who should hate her the most, were now becoming the ones determined to care for her. She wasn't ready for that, nor did she need them. She knew it would end soon, so she decided to remove herself from the current situation.

Opening her eyes, and once her head stopped spinning, she sat up, and refusing the hands that were offered to her. Big mistake.

Her shoulder was in complete agony, and healing magic was not something Rumple had ever bothered with. He practiced it on her whenever she got any bruising or cuts during their lessons, but never once did he teach her. But she wasn't a powerful sorceress for nothing, what they lacked in teaching her, she simply learned on her own, and that's what should would do.

She ignored the concerned tone of the woman around her, she moved her hand to rest on her forearm, the bleeding had apparently been much, but she concentrated on her magic, zeroing in on healing the gash on her arm, slowly moving up towards her shoulder. She repeated the same actions on her other arm, and in the matter of minutes she deemed herself good as new.

Rising to her feet, she looked at the two women currently kneeling on the floor, clearly not impressed by her actions, but she didn't care.

"What happened and how did I get here?" sounding as regal as ever, once again masking behind the voice of the Queen they should fear.

"You tell me, your majesty, do you have a dam death wish. What the hell were you thinking going out there on your own?" Granny never gave into Regina's methods, she saw past her in Storybook, she practically saw her become the mask she holds up now, but she was still angry.

And That's when the others joined.

Robin couldn't explain he relief he felt when he saw her standing, didn't know how, but after all she was a sorceress with magic, so he figured she just healed everything up herself.

"Ahem, your majesty," the sarcasm ran through Will's mouth, he was never one to respect any titles though, "But mind telling us what your merry band of misfits are doing in our forest?"

"Your forest? Who the hell do you think you and your rag tag team think you are!"

"Fear not your majesty, for we are then men who just so happened to save your evil ass." Will was enjoying this way too much, and he had no plans to stop. That is until, he was suddenly being lifted from the ground, and a sudden constriction around his neck.

"Speak to me again and I'll have your head," she hissed.

"ALRIGHT ENOUGH. Regina let him down, please, carefully." Snow wasn't up for another of Regina's show, she was tired, and keeping her step mother alive was turning out to be a full time job.

"Let me intro- SNOW!"

"Robin? Oh my god! "

"Tell me Princess, what the gods heavens are you doing here with her?" exclaimed Little John.

"Her!? It's Your Majesty to you, learn some manners, you idiot." Regina was not having it from any of them, but reluctantly she let go of Will in the midst of introductions, and glared at them all.

"I haven't seen you in years, what are you doing here?" Snow simply ignored Regina.

"Well, me and my merry men were on the search for the creature that attacked the Queen over there, when the thing attacked her, we started shooting it until it brought, you" looking at Regina, "down. You're lucky it didn't fly away, people have been disappearing from the forest left and right without retuning, we had reason to believe it was the Witches doing, but we were only able to lay eyes on this winged beast today." Robin turned to face the Queen again and continued.

"That creature sought you out, the moment you left our group, Will here, who've you've had the pleasure meeting, spotted the beast, and when we finally reached you it was too late and it had already struck, we made our move, and now here we are."

She didn't know how to respond, from the little she remembered she thought they would hurt her, instead they saved her. For a second she got lost in his honest blue eyes, something about him felt familiar, comforting even, but she shoved those thoughts aside. This man for whatever reason had saved her, and suddenly she felt the need to thank him. After all these men did save her. So for the first time in a long time, Regina did something that would leave them shocked. After a brief pause, she conjured the courage to speak the words she felt in her head were needed.

Looking straight into the pool of blue eyes she spoke, "… th.. Thank you for helping me. I'm sure if were someone else I wouldn't have been so lucky…" Looking to Will and Little John she continued, "And I'm sorry for my behavior before, and for choking you." With that she turned to face the rest of her group, "We've had enough commotion for the day, we need to set camp, and I need to place a protection around us unless we want to be whisked away by those winged freaks."

As she turned to leave, the man with the blue eyes reached out for her. The moment they came into contact with her hand she shivered, when she looked up at his eyes it was as if the whole world stopped, and it was just the two of them standing in a forest. At this very moment she could have sworn this moment had happened before, and if the look in his eyes was anything to go by, he felt the same way. Staring into her eyes, he broke the silence.

"My camp is not far from here, it's about 2 miles to the north, you and your group are welcome to come back with us. We have tents and blankets, fire and food.I don't know where you're headed to, but you can stay with us until you make your move."

She could barely register his words, she hand to end the hold he still had on her hand, dropping her hand she looked to the un-Charming's, with a nod of agreement, Snow agreed to Robins request.

Regina turned on her heel, and walked away from the group. She needed to be alone for a minute, not that she didn't notice how granny lurked behind her like the wolf she was, but she didn't mind, she knew Granny's methods, and Granny understood Regina like only the old woman could.

She eventually slowed her walking, and Granny caught up to her, walking side by side, silently leading her back to the group they left behind. Just before they reached them, Granny grabbed the Queen's Hand and turned her.

"You pull something like that again, and I'll bring you back from the dead just to kill you myself you got that. We've all lost enough, I know this is the last place you want to be, and those walls you put up don't fool me, you know that, so knock it off. You're in pain, I get it, but you don't have to go chasing death, or walking straight to it. I taught you better than that."

With that, she turned and left the Queen without a chance to respond.

/

By sunset they found themselves at Robin's camp, the rest of his men in shock, some men angry with the thought of housing the Evil Queen.

She was quick to shut them up, when she raised her palm, closed her eyes, and waves of purple mist began radiating from her hands. Arrows were drawn to her chest and head ready to be fired by the men who were quick to exclaim their disgust towards her, she simply ignored them, and then the surrounding area was shimmering, in its wake, newly cast barrier. Faintly she heard the man with the blue eyes telling his men to stand down, that she meant no harm.

She was too tired to deal with these people, all this magic she's used between the last two days was draining her dry of any energy. She walked to the barriers edge, conjured herself a tent, a small bed, pillows and blankets inside. Before she went in, she waved her hand, and conjured up several more blankets, along with several tents far, far away from hers. She walked into her tent, stripped herself of that felt like a million pounds worth of constricting dress material for a simple nightgown and gave into her exhaustion. She closed her eyes, and slept like the dead.

Tomorrow would be another day, tomorrow would be the day she would reach her castle no matter what. Only there did she know she could find the answer to the peace and rest she sought, eternally.

A:N/

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WE FINALLY GET SOME OUTLAW QUEEN THIS SUNDAY.

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