Regina focused all of her anger and all of her frustration until it grew into a ball of fire in her hand - it was a new spell Rumple had decided to teach her and she had picked it up easily. She concentrated on the glass bottle Rumple had sat on the table ten feet away and threw the fire ball at it. The ball connected, and the glass shattered. Rumple conjured another object, and she threw a fire ball at that too.

How could she have been so stupid? How could she have allowed herself to trust someone? Had she learned nothing?

Another fire ball grew hot in her hand.

A bandit! That stupid fairy had set her up with a bandit! How could she have allowed herself to have feelings for such a person? Didn't she know by now she couldn't trust anyone?

She threw the ball of flame, disintegrating a ticking clock.

Worst of all, she had allowed herself to hope, to believe that she could love again, that true love could cross her path a second time. How pathetic was that?

Regina placed her hands together, a large fireball growing between them. She released it, and it destroyed the table Rumple had been conjuring items upon.

She dropped to her knees, exhausted but still hurting. She'd been a fool, a complete and utter fool, and now she was paying the price. It was no less than she deserved.

Rumple crossed the threshold to where the table had been, surveying the scorch marks on the floor that was the only evidence of what used to be there.

Regina wanted to cry, but she wouldn't, not here, not in front of him.

"Progressive," said Rumple, turning to smile wickedly at her. "But not good enough."

"What?" she said, looking up at him. "I vaporized everything you put out there!"

Rumple pointed a long finger at her. "You still have that boy on your mind," he said. "Get him out."

"I don't understand," said Tink as she floated in the air before Regina.

"He was a bandit!" Regina told her. "Your stupid dust was wrong!"

"But that's just not right," said Tink, landing on the edge of the bedside table. "It doesn't make any sense."

"What am I supposed to do?" asked Regina, throwing up her hands. "You know, this is all your fault."

"My fault?" said Tinkerbell, alighting from her perch.

"Yes, your fault," said Regina. "You're the one who had to steal that dust! To insist that I could be happy again! Now look at me!" Regina brought a hand to her head. "I haven't been able to do anything for four whole days. I can't even take magic lessons." Rumple had refused to see her.

"Well," said Tink slowly. "You'll just have to see him again."

"What?" said Regina. "Are you out of your mind? I don't even know where he is!"

"You'll just have to find him," said Tink, confident now. "I don't know what happened, but there must be some explanation. You have to talk to him, learn the truth."

Regina didn't see that as being very likely. "Or I could just forget about him."

Tink cocked her head to one side and gave her a pitying look. "How well is that working for you?"

As much as she hated to admit it, she couldn't forget about Robin, no matter how hard she tried or how much she wanted to.

She demanded of a servant to see all the files relating to bandit activity in Sherwood Forest, and when the servant protested Regina put her foot down. Eventually, she was led to the King's study, where a large stack of papers were retrieved mostly consisting of correspondence from the Sheriff of Nottingham.

The various reports and letters Regina poured over identified a man named Robin Hood as being the leader of a bandit gang operating primarily out of Sherwood Forest. From the physical description given, Regina knew this "Hood" was her Robin. A bounty had been placed on him and raised over the past few months for disruption of the trade route through Sherwood Forest, numerous robberies from nobles, an attempt on the Sheriff's life, and an odd occurrence of disappearances including mostly farmers or other tradesmen and one Friar Tuck from the abbey.

Regina wasn't sure what to do with the news. Robin certainly hadn't seemed like the kind of man to attempt murder, steal, and kidnap. But then, how well had she known him, really? And yet, if all this was true and Robin really was a scoundrel, how could he have been marked as her true love? She held no interest in such a man, how could she have been expected to fall in love with one?

The more she thought about it, the more she believed Tinker Bell had been right. Things just didn't add up correctly. And hadn't Robin told her things weren't as they appeared? Perhaps there was some underlying truth that she was missing.

Or perhaps Robin was exactly as these reports said and she was being nothing but a fool for listening to her heart's urging. She wanted to believe in him, in happiness, in the possibility her dreams could come to fruition. But how far had belief gotten her?

She remembered the night she'd first met him, that talk they'd shared where she'd felt the rest of the world and her troubles didn't matter, that passionate kiss in the shadows. She wanted to experience those moments again, but was she a fool for wanting it?

Three days later, Regina decided that fool or no, it didn't matter. There was no getting Robin out of her head, no end to the constant torment of wondering who he really was and whether she could love him as she wanted to. She had tried to strangle the thought of him, but her heart wouldn't let her. She needed to know the truth, it was the only way. And once she knew for sure, she'd be able to either banish him from her mind forever or let her heart take over.

She dressed in the same clothes she had taken from Johanna's closet before and waited till nightfall to escape the castle.

She stopped along the edge of Sherwood Forest and was surprised to find the lantern Robin had retrieved for their trip into the forest had been placed back in its hiding spot. She took the lantern with her.

Even with the light, the forest felt dark and foreboding. Worse was waiting for something to happen. She continued walking the trail, with each step expecting to be ambushed. Eventually, she wasn't disappointed.

A small group of men emerged from seemingly nowhere, their arrows pointed directly at her. Before they could demand anything, Regina said with all authority of a queen, "I wish to be taken to Robin Hood at once!"

The way to Robin's camp was long and winding. Though she tried, it was near impossible to memorize, especially in the dark. However, there were a few easily recognizable landmarks along the way: a small stream the men crossed, a large boulder the men turned left at, and tall dead tree, still standing, that seemed to mark some kind of borderline because the men relaxed their stance almost immediately as they passed it.

When her escort finally came to a stop, Regina realized she was standing on top of a hill, and down below her was Robin's camp. It was nothing like she would have expected a bandit camp to look. It seemed to be nothing more than a small village, though with houses built in the trees as well as on the ground.

For every building in the air, there were ladders and rope bridges connecting each building with all the others. Everywhere Regina looked there seemed to be ordinary villagers going about their daily lives. A gentleman sat outside the home closest to them milking his goat. A group of women passed below them with what appeared to be forages from the forest.

The women spotted the group on the hill and waved cheerfully. The men waved back just as cheerfully, as though they were neighbors or good friends.

The men led the way down the hill and stopped at a ladder to one of the tree houses. One of the men started the climb. A second man motioned for Regina to follow. It was just now that she noticed none of the men she had come with were well dressed. All of them seemed to be wearing the lowliest peasant clothing. Only their bows and arrows appeared well made.

"After you, my lady," said the man, gesturing up the ladder. He gave a small bow.

She climbed the ladder, and the man who had reached the landing first offered her his hand to help her up the last few rungs. Then he escorted her to the entrance of the home and knocked on the wooden door frame - there was no door.

Robin, who had been sitting in a chair with his feet on a table, his expression showing him lost in thought, jumped up when he turned at the knock and saw her standing there.

"Regina!" he said, coming over to her and embracing her. "What are you doing here?"

"I wanted the truth," she told him.

Robin looked at the men who had all climbed the ladder by now and gave a nod of his head. Two of them turned to head back down the ladder while the others turned to walk over a rope bridge leading to another building.

Robin turned his attention back her. "The truth," he said. He gave a sigh. "Where to begin?"

He led her through the house, the structure itself and everything within it obviously made from materials obtained from the woods, to an entrance on the other side where they could sit and view the entirety of the village.

"What do you know?" he asked her.

"That you are believed to be running a bandit gang out of Sherwood Forest," she told him, though the very notion of such a thing seemed ridiculous by everything she had seen so far. "That you are wanted for thievery, for hindering trade, an attempt on the Sheriff's life, and possible kidnappings."

He nodded thoughtfully at her words. "I told you my father died last summer?"

"You did."

"I didn't tell you it was the Sheriff of Nottingham who killed him," he said, not looking at her.

"No," said Regina, her stomach plummeting. "You didn't tell me that."

Robin sighed. "The Sheriff has grown arrogant in his position. He taxes the lower class fees they cannot afford, and when they cannot pay him with money he takes their land, and when they cannot pay him in land or livestock he takes their children."

The thought of a family having their children taken from them left a vile taste in Regina's mouth.

"The King is a good man," Robin continued. "But he cannot keep track of or know all of his officials personally. He relies on the words other officials and noblemen to know things are going as they should. And the Sheriff has lined many pockets with money.

"My father was one of the few noblemen who would not take the bribes and one of the only ones willing to actively speak out against him." Robin smiled. "I suppose I did make an attempt on the Sheriff's life while trying to defend my father." He looked down at his hands. "But at the end of the fight, my father lay dead and I was left alive, my father's corpse thought to be enough a determent to prevent me from acting out."

He fell silent, and Regina reached out to grasp his arm in an encouraging gesture. She had been wrong, so very wrong.

Robin sighed again. "So, I did what I could. I started thieving, stealing from those I knew to be in the Sheriff's pocket and giving the money back to the people it had been taken from. Then I started gathering followers, and I guess we did form a bit of a gang. But the more we tried to help, the more the Sheriff lashed out against the people. So we started this place," he gestured at everything around them. "We brought the people here and built a place where they didn't have to be afraid, where they could live in peace."

Regina placed a hand on his shoulder. He turned to look at her, and she smiled at him. "And the disappearances?" she said, knowing there was a perfectly reasonable explanation.

"People who have willing come to join us," he said. "The Sheriff reported them as disappearances to slander us."

"And the trade route?"

"We monitor it," he explained. "We take from noblemen known to be allied with the Sheriff and we intercept money sent to forge new alliances. Most of that money goes to people who are still hurting, who refused to leave their homes. We keep what we need for supplies for the village. And eventually we hope to be able to forge some alliances of our own or even get word to the King. But for now, the need of the people is too great."

Regina took Robin's hand, smiling at him. Relief and happiness had filled her, replacing any doubt she'd had. This was a good man. "Your father would be proud," she told him.

Robin nodded and looked out over the village. "I think so."

Regina kissed him, and he kissed her back.

He made a regretful noise when he took her arms and removed them from around his neck. "I'm looking for the truth, as well," he told her.

It was Regina's turn to sigh. Couldn't they just kiss each other and forget all this complicated stuff?

"How did you get involved in magic?" he asked.

Regina slumped back to her previous sitting position and fiddled with the ring around her finger. "My mother," she said slowly, "was taught by Rumpelstiltskin."

"I've heard of the man," Robin told her. "If he can even be called a man."

Regina continued twisting her ring around and around. "My fiancé - Daniel," she said, "and I tried to run away. My mother-" She paused, and Robin gripped her hand. She looked into his face so full of warmth and love. He'd been honest with her, hadn't he? And surely speaking of his father's death hadn't been easy. He deserved no less from her. "She ripped his heart out." The words came as a hoarse whisper, and she knew by the look of partial disbelief on Robin's face that he'd heard her.

"After that," She turned to look at her hands. "I found my mother's spell book. She had her mentor's name inscribed in it, so I summoned him. And he taught me." She turned back to Robin. "I sent my mother through a looking glass. I don't know where she is, but I don't think she's coming back."

Robin put an arm around her. "And you still take magic lessons?"

Regina nodded. "It's all I have," she said. "I'm trapped in the castle with nothing to do. Magic at least offers some freedom."

He kissed her forehead. "Well, you don't have to worry about it anymore."

He stood before she could ask him what he meant. He returned with two drinks in hand, and they sat on the landing overlooking the village, talking and laughing as they had done their first meeting with a number of kisses thrown in between. They stayed up most of the night, enjoying each other's company too much to sleep.

"I should be getting back to the castle," Regina said when there wasn't much night time left. "They'll notice if I'm not there in the morning."

Robin's face turned pale. "You didn't know," he said.

"Know what?" she asked.

"Regina, you must understand," he said. "It's a rule we have for everyone's safety. Those who come to our camp can never leave it."