|PRESENT DAY, HYPERION HEIGHTS|

It didn't make any sense. Why, out of all of the things she could've tried to jog her memory, did she feel the need to remind her of Robin? Sure, maybe it did work out in the end. Maybe Regina did get her memories back. But how was she supposed to cope being reminded of all of it over again?

He was dead , there was no way that still trying to deny the fact that he was would bring him back. She didn't care what that girl said or did, it wasn't possible. To her, to Regina, all the entire thing did was made her feel like shit.

But, even though there was no reason to feel hopeful, a part of her did. A part of her wondered if there was any way that what she said was true. Because even if it was utterly meaningless, she still knew deep down that she'd never stopped loving him. And despite trying to deny it, she'd do anything to see him again.

Although, there was no point in being hopeful. Not to her anyway. It all just seemed like a mess. And if it was true that this curse couldn't be broken, then everything was over.

'You were wrong, I can't get a happy ending'

"Roni, you've woken up."

It was Henry at the door. Seeing him after getting her memories back was extremely painful. After all, she could never tell him what was going on. She could never even speak to him as her son. But, as usual, she decided to hide her pain behind the same smile. The smile that she'd learnt to pull off so well.

|PRESENT DAY, ?|

"So, are you actually going to tell me what's going on?", Robin said as she followed this 'Michael' down a wet, muddy path.

"Basically, before you came here you must've been hit with something. Most likely some sort of black-hole resembling.. 'thing'."

She knew this obviously wasn't correct, seeing as she was the one who made the black hole in the first place. But she couldn't exactly disclose the fact that she somehow opened what looked like a portal of death to a stranger could she?

"Yeah, I guess you could say that."

"Okay, so, these types of things which are said to 'erase' us off the face of existence, they're actually not so uncommon. Believe it or not, all of the people here were once sucked up by one of those things. Some of them got into fights, some of them were generally unlucky in certain spells and some of them.. had more complicated situations.", he frowned.

"Okay then, so you're saying that all of these people got sucked in by these portal-thingys somehow and then got sent here? I'm sorry but, how many of you are there?"

"Well, this is where it gets a little bit difficult. According to our chief, we were all asleep for many years. Some of us, centuries. It all depends on when we got taken. But, ever since about a year ago, when someone screwed up the realm system, we've all been put here."

"Chief? What the hell is this, Lord of the Flies?" Despite not exactly buying what this guy was saying, she still listened in curiousity.

"No, basically our head. He knows almost everything about this place, makes sense of it all in some sense."

"And does this chief have a name?", she responded.

"That's one thing he hasn't made sense of. Nobody knows.", he shrugged. "Anyway, we're all from different realms.. or 'worlds' I guess you could say. We've just all been put in the same place due to certain circumstances."

"So, you're saying that at some point in your life you were blasted with some hole thing, you were asleep for god knows how long after and then you woke up here a year ago?"

"Yes. That's what he said."

"And you seriously believe everything that this guy says?", she scoffed.

"Well, what else is there to believe?", he sighed. It became obvious that she upset him, so she tried to back down from asking too many more questions about where she was. Anyway, all that mattered at that point in time was that she found Lucy and got out of this weird place.

"So, where are you taking me now?"

"The castle.", he said in a slightly more upbeat tone.

"Castle? What castle?"

"That castle.". He pointed in at the building in the distance.

"Holy shit.."

The castle, or possibly a palace, was extremely large. Robin stared in awe at the detail of the carved walls and the battlements at the peak of them. Even despite the ruined look of it, the arches and the shape of it was still perfect. It was just like something from a fairytale.

Speaking of which, haven't I seen this before?

A few people guided Lucy to a small room inside of the castle she found herself in, and they asked her to sit down at a tiny wooden table in the centre. There wasn't much else there apart from a few paintings, so it became apparent that they only used this room for certain occasions. But, she wasn't sure what this occasion really was yet.

A man walked in, the same one who said his name was Robin Hood earlier on that day. Lucy wasn't really sure what to think about it, considering the fact that she knew the actual Robin Hood had died in Henry's book. There was a huge chance in her mind that he was a fake, or at least not the Robin Hood from the story she knew. But, she still felt as if she knew him from somewhere. She still had the tiniest suspicion that he was actually who he said he was.

"You're Robin Hood?", she said as soon as he walked in.

"Well.. yes, I am.", he paused. "Anyway, I'm here to a-"

"The actual Robin Hood? Like, that's actually your name?", she said as she leaned further forwards as if interrogating him.

"Yes, I am Robin Hood."

Lucy leaned back into her chair again, deciding to keep her mouth shut until he stopped talking. After all, she may as well hear what he had to say.

"Well, I'm here to tell you the reason why you're here and why you might be a bit confused. So, I think you should listen carefully.", he said as he sat down in front of her. "You see, before you came here you were probably taken by something, something pretty dark. Then, that dark thing took you here, to the end. And now that you're here, you're going to have to understand that.." , he hesitated, "that you may not be able to go back.".

Lucy sat there, denying what he said. "No, you've got this wrong. My friend, she has magic. She opened that portal and now she just needs to get us back."

"I'm sorry.", Robin sighed. "We've tried. You're just going to have to stay here for the time being."

Lucy shuddered. She knew that grown-ups could lie about these types of things. She didn't have to listen to this man. She could just find Robin and then go home, and then everything would be okay, wouldn't it?

"You're.. you're lying..", she began to cry. But he just looked back in pity. After all, there wasn't anything he could do. He knew that there wasn't any way out. He knew that there was no way of getting back to his life in Storybrooke. And he knew that the only to tell this girl that there was no way out, was by making her cry.

"Stay here, I'm going to get some people who want to see you.", he said before quickly walking out. Lucy stared at the door in front of her, before looking down and continuing to cry.

Michael and Robin finally reached the gate, and Robin instantly noticed something.

"There's no river?"

Michael, confused, turned his head towards her. "No, why?"

"I just.. thought there'd be some sort of river or moat around this place. Don't ask.", she said.

"Well, there's no water here so that wouldn't be possible."

Robin originally considered asking why there wasn't, until she remembered how weird this place was to her and realising there wasn't much of a point.

The gate opened in front of them, and she noticed that two women had lowered it for them, like palace guards. Michael then led her to the centre of the bailey before quite a few people began approaching them.

"You must be new here", one of them said, "may I offer you some dinner?"

Another person spoke to her. "Could you tell us how you got here?"

A crowd started forming around the pair of them, before someone opened a pretty loud and obviously heavy door from the right of all of them. They suddenly went quiet.

"Everyone stay back.", he said whilst walking towards them. Michael ended up working forwards as if meaning to have a word with him.

"Michael, have you found them? Have you found the other one?"

"Yes, she's right here." he said as he turned and pointed to Robin.

"Good. Do you know where the Darlings are?"

"The who's?"

"You know, the couple who offered to be parents a while ago!", he annoyingly stated.

Michael groaned. "I'm sorry, that was ages ago. I'll catch up with them later."

Robin grew impatient. "Excuse me, can someone please tell me what the hell is going on here?"

They both became silent for a second. That was until they heard footsteps from behind them. It was Lucy.

"Lucy, there you are! Christ, I was worried about you!", Robin beamed happily. Finally, she knew she was safe. Lucy ran up and hugged her.

"I was worried too!"

Michael turned towards him again. "Look, I'm really sorry. I'll catch up with them as soon as possible."

"That won't be necessary.", Robin said after eavesdropping.

"What?", Michael simply asked after hearing her.

Robin sighed. "If you're looking for adoptive parents for Lucy then that won't be necessary. Her and I are actually going to be making our way back home soon so you don't need to worry." she said before nudging Lucy towards the exit. "Anyway, thanks for the help."

"Wait!" Lucy said. Robin turned to look at her.

"What?"

"I.. I don't think we can go home yet."

It was only at this point that Robin noticed her eyes were red. Had she been crying?

"Of course we can go home, what are you talking about? I'll just have to figure out how to use my magic."

"No.", Lucy said, as if about to start crying again. She didn't want to say it. She didn't want to say what the man, what this 'Robin Hood' said to her.

"Lucy, what happened? Why can't we go home yet?" she said in a softer tone than before.

That's when she decided to let it out. "Your magic won't work. We're stuck here."

[A/N: Well, this chapter was a lot longer than I planned for it to be, but I hope you enjoyed it! Will update soon! ]