A/N: I promised you two. Oh, this is an AU to what was going on while Snow and Emma were in FTL. It will make sense why towards the end, I promise.
"I'm tellin ya, man, she has a creepy vibe rollin off of her in spades," Eliot explained.
The whole team was filling out the mid-day report of their discoveries. So far nobody had caught onto anything unusual as far as the former mayor was concerned. She was just a woman who enjoyed her power and was unseated because the town decided it didn't want her anymore. There was no official report on her removal though. She was just in office one day and not the next.
"Everything about this town is hinky," Hardison explained, "I've got nothing on any of the town's bad guys. A couple of closed cases of murder but that's about it."
"Wait a minute," Eliot growled, "This town actually has murder cases."
"Two," Hardison nodded, "A woman by the name of Katherine Nolan who was missing for a good few weeks. They found a human heart and tests said it was positive for her. She turned up shortly afterwards to prove that wasn't true."
"And the other case?" Parker asked. She was unusually bright and chipper about the whole human heart thing but she wasn't asking questions. She had probably been the one to research that part. She was always quiet if she knew the whole story and it didn't completely interest her to the end.
"Some guy got torn to shreds by a crazy neighbor looking to frame the temporary sheriff's friend," Hardison rolled his eyes at the thief. He wasn't the only one. Eliot even gave her a scowl. "Everything else is pretty much normal. A few thefts and a couple of cases of a madman but nothing to worrisome."
"Hardison," Sophie stared at a file in surprise, "This file says that Sidney Glass admitted to kidnapping Katherine and tampering with evidence."
"Yeah," Hardison nodded. The temperature in the room changed as everybody waited on baited breath for the grifter to explain herself.
"Sidney wouldn't do anything unless Regina gave him permission," she said, "He's too in love with her not to do her bidding."
"How long has it been since you've been in this town?" Parker demanded in surprise.
"Twenty-eight years," Sophie answered on autopilot. Then she looked up sheepishly like she had revealed something she hadn't meant to.
"What did you do to piss off your sister for twenty-eight years?" Eliot growled.
%
Marian and Snow were busy touring the new castle's catacombs. They were on the hunt for something special. Their torches burned brilliantly while they searched through the King's special reserves.
"Father and Regina are going to be so excited when they see what we've made for them," Snow squealed. She was wearing a bright smile and looking at every bottle of wine with close scrutiny.
"I'm certain the King will be quite pleased with you have done for him," Marian said, "Regina too."
"But you're helping me?" Snow said looking towards the older woman in confusion.
Marian just squeezed the girl's cheeks lightly and smiled towards her.
"Of course I am," she said, "but I think Regina and King Leopold will be far more pleased that it is all coming from you. It was your idea and all."
"Stealing wine from her father's cellar was her idea?" A familiar voice questioned of the pair.
The two girls spun around in surprise. Robin just smiled back at them looking for all the world like the cat who ate the canary.
"Robin," Snow gasped. A wistful smile appeared on her face. Her cheeks flushed pink with excitement at her crush's return.
Marian just looked at the man completely unimpressed. Then she took note of the young girl beside her and rolled her eyes.
"Don't you ever knock," she demanded bitterly.
Robin just smiled wider at her grouchy tone. Then he took a step forward and proceeded to work his way around the variety of wines before them.
"Ooh, this one sounds good," he said.
Snow just sighed contentedly. She was watching the older man's every move with interest and excitement.
"Obviously Snow cannot purchase one of her own considering the fact that she would cast suspicion asking her father for the money to pay for it." Marian said. Her voice was thunderous without even raising in volume.
"You could offer to pay," Robin replied. He was waving around a bottle of wine as if it weren't a belonging of the king. "As the Queen's maiden you have money enough to buy a bottle or two."
"But it wouldn't be from my father's vineyard," Snow replied, hating the lack of attention Robin was giving her, "My father grows the best wine."
"Not true," Robin smiled at the girl. Then he flicked her on the nose and tousled her hair. "Because of a deal I made with a certain Giant long ago, I now make the finest wine in all the land."
"You bought one of the Giant's vineyards?" Marian questioned in shock.
"Wow," Snow said her smile one of pure adoration. The girl was the perfect opposite of the black-eyed woman standing beside her. She looked like the lovesick puppy she was and even made a show of trying to help her crush out however she could.
"I gave Leopold a bottle of it for such an occasion," Robin continued as if he hadn't even noticed a difference in the young girl.
"I'll find it for you," Snow suggested softly.
Then the girl was gone into the crevices of the catacombs. Her pattering feet were fading away in her excitement. The girl was in hot search of her crush's wine. Marian and Robin were now left alone to wait for her arrival.
"You shouldn't encourage the girl the way you do," Marian huffed towards the man, "It's insufferable."
"She'll be fine," Robin shrugged, "She's young. She deserves to have a dream."
"A dream that will never come true is no real dream at all," Marian said rolling her eyes at the man. "You're trying to break that girl's heart and I'm not going to let you."
"Why can't you see that I'm trying to help her?"
"By flirting with her and making her think her feelings are returned?"
"I do care for the girl."
"But not in the way she thinks you do!"
"Quiet," Robin said placing his hand over the woman's lips and looking around. The moment he realized the young Snow White was nowhere in sight he let out a long sigh and lowered his hand. "She'll hear you."
"I hope she does," Marian grumbled towards the man, but she managed to keep her voice in low whisper. "Then she can get over this crush sooner so that I may finally be rid of you."
Robin looked at her with a slight quirk to his lips. He was smiling and his eyes were twinkling once again. "You don't really wish to be rid of me, do you?"
"If it will save Snow the pain of losing her heart then I see no reason in bidding farewell," she said smiling devilishly towards him. Her eyes were twinkling as well and matched his great intensity gaze for gaze.
"Then I guess this is good-bye," Robin whispered.
He made no move to leave though. Instead his head and body were slowly moving closer and closer to the woman before him. She, likewise, was moving closer to him.
"It is indeed," she whispered.
"Good-bye," Robin said, his lips were moments away from touching hers.
"Good-bye," Marian replied, her eyes closing of their own accord.
The two collided in an enchanted kiss meant to be seen by the ages. There was no one else in the room as they shared in their kiss. They only saw and felt each other. They were connected in a way they had never felt connected before. Then there was a crash of something with liquid falling to the ground.
The pair broke apart with wide eyes. They looked towards the source of the noise and stared at the shaking form of Snow White. The girl looked from Robin to Marian in betrayal and immediately took off towards the exit.
"Oh no," Marian said chasing after girl in a bitter panic, "Snow!"
"Marian, I-" Robin called after her. It was already too late. The girls were gone and he was once again left alone in the wine cellar.
Marian was rushing up the staircase as fast as her feet could carry her. She gathered up her skirts and tried her hardest to catch up to the broken-hearted girl. She was almost half-way up when her foot caught on the lip of the step. She crumbled forward with her wicked moment and fell flat on her face. She cursed her wretched luck and immediately pushed herself into a run again. She made it to the top and looked all around for the tiny distraught girl.
"Snow!" She called panicking at the loss of the child, "Snow, where are you? Snow, please answer me! Snow!"
Marian began searching left and right throughout the hallway. She was growing desperate with the lack of sound of Snow's feet echoing through the halls. She ran further through the hallway and stopped. The sound of a child crying was coming from somewhere nearby.
Marian looked up and down, right and left. She looked in the crawl spaces above the windows and under tables. She looked in the drawers of the buffet and in the doors of whatever chambers were close by. The sound was right there she just couldn't find its source. Then she noticed the soft bureau in between her room and Snow's.
"Snow!" Marian called.
The sobs only got louder and more rapid as Marian slowly approached the bureau. The young woman sighed at what she was about to do.
"Snow," she called out again.
The tears immediately grew silent at her close proximity. Marian took a deep breath and flung open the doors. She was ready to face anything the child threw at her. Then she was met with a quick succession of fists, tears and tiny raven hair.
"I hate you," Snow growled with each desperate blow, "I hate you and I wish I never met you! How could you do this? How could you hurt me? You were supposed to be my friend!"
Marian just pulled the struggling girl against her chest and held on tight. She felt tears in her own eyes at the heartbreak of the child in her arms. She felt terrible and she wasn't going to let go until she explained.
"Let me go!" Snow whimpered in her arms. The girl had stopped struggling but her tears were falling harder. She was completely crushed to say the least.
"I'm sorry," Marian cried, "I didn't mean to hurt you. It just happened. "
"I don't care!" Snow cried fighting with renewed vigor, "I hope you die! I want you dead! Let go of me!"
"I'm not letting go, Snow," Marian shook her head, "Not until you understand the truth."
"You kissed him!" Snow screamed. Angry tears were falling from her eyes as she gazed upon the older woman with hate. "You knew I loved him and you kissed him."
"That's not how it happened," Marian said shaking her head and fighting tears along with the little girl, "I wanted to protect you. I was only asking him to stop pretending…"
"You just wanted him all to yourself," Snow whined, "You love him too, don't you dare deny it!"
Marian shook her head. She opened her mouth to deny the claim and reassure the girl of something else, but she couldn't. So she shook her head again and released the girl from her grasp.
"How could you do this to me?" Snow demanded bitterly, "You were supposed to be my aunt, my only aunt. You were supposed to be my greatest friend. You were the only thing that could help me understand Regina and become the daughter she could be proud of!"
"You are," Marian reassured the girl, "You already are the daughter she can be proud of! Snow, she loves you."
"But not Robin," the girl whimpered, falling to her knees in misery, "He doesn't love me."
Marian immediately scooped the child into her arms and held on tight. The princess cried into her shoulder and clung just as tightly. It was like they were mother and daughter if only for the moment.
"He does love you, sweetheart. He does. He just loves you like a sister, like an adorable, brilliant little sister. That's all."
"But he doesn't love me like he loves you," Snow whimpered. Still her grip on the older woman tightened in her need for comfort during such a difficult time.
Marian pushed the girl away and quickly gathered her face into her hands. She wiped away at the tears falling from the princess' eyes. Then she swallowed back some tears of her own.
"He doesn't love me, Snow," she explained to the devastated little girl, "Not really. It's just lust."
"Lust," Snow repeated.
"Yes, lust," Marian smiled sadly at the girl, "Sometimes grownups just think they're in love with someone but they aren't. They're only interested in that other person because of the way they look and not for their brain."
"And that's called lust?" The girl looked confused now.
"Yes!" Marian cried, "It was only lust. Robin doesn't love me and I don't love him. We were just… I don't know what we were. Caught up in the moment I guess. But it will stop, Snow. I'll never be alone with him again."
"You don't love him?" Snow asked looking for all the world like hope was alive again.
"I don't love him," Marian shook her head. She wiped away the rest of the girl's tears and then started on her own. She was a crying wreck and she couldn't figure out why that was anymore. Were her tears for the girl or for herself, she didn't know.
"Then promise me you'll never see him again," Snow begged. She was on her knees again but her eyes were finally shining. She looked almost as happy as she was when the day began. "Promise me you don't love him and that you won't be alone in a room with him ever again. Promise me, Marian!"
"I promise," Marian nodded to the little girl's demands. What else could she do? She was already on the cusp of losing her sister. She couldn't lose Snow as well.
"I promise you, Snow. Robin and I will never see each other again. I promise."
Snow threw herself into the older woman's arms and held on tight. She and Marian were hugging and crying together over their broken hearts. They were both so busy trying to mend each other that they hadn't even noticed the third person in the room.
Robin was standing behind a pillar, in the shadows watching the whole seen. His lips were set in a firm frown and his heart was on fire. He stepped away from the crying women and slowly made his way out of the castle. Only if you looked very closely could you see the single tear sliding down his cheek.
%
Henry stared at his book with confusion on his features. He was biting his lower lip in concentration and trying to figure out why the image on the page didn't match his knowledge like it should have.
It was a picture of Snow White when she was a little girl. On one side she was holding Maid Marian's hand. On the other her arm was wrapped around the Evil Queen's. They were all smiling and looking happy with baskets in their hands. Even the words on the page adjacent displayed just how much of a good time they were having berry picking.
"I don't get it," he finally decreed.
"Get what, Henry?" Regina asked of her son. There was worry on her features. Her eyes demanded the child's attention and captured his eyes in their gaze.
"You and Marian and Snow," he explained, "You were all so happy when you were younger. What happened to make you all hate each other?"
"She chose Snow over me," Regina explained, "We all make mistakes and that was hers. She chose Snow White over family. In the end, I guess that became a good thing."
"She used her magic for good," Henry smiled towards his mother.
"She had no choice, Henry," Regina told her son regretfully, "She was always more afraid of turning into our mother than I was. She asked the Blue Fairy to teach her good magic to counteract what Mother had made her. She would have destroyed herself if she hadn't."
"I don't understand," Henry replied.
Regina smiled sadly towards her son. She took a deep breath and opened a door she had never meant to see again. "My sister, Marian… she couldn't control her own powers. She figured asking the fairies for help would help her."
"Did it?" Henry asked.
Regina nodded. "Yeah," she said, "She was better than ever. She even almost had me stop training with Mr. Gold because of how it cured her."
"Cured her?" Henry repeated.
"Magic comes with a price, Henry," Regina explained, "Mother had forced Marian to consume a lot of power when we were younger. It was Mother's plan for us. I would marry above my station and Marian would become the most powerful sorceress in the world."
"But why would she need to be cured?" Henry asked softly. Fear and worry were all over his features. He was gripping his library book tight to his chest and looked ready to bolt.
"Because magic can kill you if uncontrolled, Henry," she replied, "Now, pack your things. David's going to be here to pick you up soon."
