Enchanted Forest

Seven Months Ago

Shay Cormac was dead. He took his last breath on the Morrigan somewhere near the Northern Isles about two day's ago. But before he fell into an endless sleep, he had sent a bird with a note tied on it's leg to her with a small vial that had been neatly rolled in the piece of parchment.

'Find your boy, before your time on this plain runs out'

-Shay.

That's what the note read out as the small vial of liquid rolled out of the parchment it was hidden in. After leaving Tom's sparring session with the dwarfs she found Blue and Tink to tell her what the liquid inside the vial was. It was what she thought it was.

A locator spell.

One drop of it on one of Thomas's toys she kept in a chest under bed and she would be able to find her son after so long apart. It would be as easy as that. All she would have to do is follow it and she would find him.Her head was screaming at her to do it, get it over with and find him. But her heart is what took over her internal battle. Would she be able to face him after so long apart? Would he want to know her? Was he even alive?

The bliss of the journey was that if she hadn't found him, at least she would know she tried, but now as she stood in front of her desk in her chambers with the locator spell to her right and the wooden Jackdaw to the left. The hours wore on as she hide in her room having watched the sun dip under the horizon to be replaced with the dark sky littered with millions of stars.

The simple task seemed like a chore as a gentle knock came from her closed door's."Come in!" she yelled out to the visitor as she heard her door open and close, she didn't bother to try and hide the objects as her small framed visitor joined her at the table with a sympathetic look on her face. Knowing the strife the arrival of the potion had made it's way into the redhead's mind.

Blue had told her to stay out of it, to let the assassin have her space, but she couldn't help the guilt that welted up in her chest. If it hadn't been for her, the man that took her son away wouldn't have found out where she was.

"Why is this so difficult?" Amelia asked the wingless fairy next to her as she lent on the table.

"I'm so sorry Amelia. I never thought this would happen when I told you about Regina" the fairy tells her.

"No. You didn't" she curtly tells the fairy making her tense up in worry only to relax as the redhead continued to speak "No one saw it. Not even me. It would've happened eventually Tink" she tells her as she stand up straight "You need to stop blaming yourself for what happened to me, it was my decision to make, I decided to stay with John that night"

"Still, I can't help but feel useless, you need help".

"I have a feeling it's something I have to do on my own" Amelia tells her "On one hand I can throw the spell away and never know where he is, keeping him safe from everything that comes with being the Black Widow while I continue with my life of fighting the darkness one day at a time".

"And on the other?" Tink asks as Amelia picks up the vial holding it in the palm of her hand.

"I can find him, but I'll have a price to pay. All magic comes with a price and I don't think I'd be able to pay it".

"What's the price then?".

"I would have to do the same thing my father had to do for me for eighteen years" she gulped "Lie to him about who I was. If someone like Zelena found out and uses it against me then no one here would be able to stop me" she admits to the fairy "When the healer told me I was with child, I made myself promise that they would never have to lie to him about who I was to him. Seem's like fate like's playing a cruel joke on me one again" she mused to herself.

"Don't ever say that" Tink tells her shaking her head in disagreement.

A light chuckle left the assassin's mouth at the fairy's "You say that like it hasn't screwed me over before" Amelia says' placing it back on the table. The assassin turned her back to the fairy as she walked over to the hearth.

"How?! How has it already screwed you over?" the fairy snapped at her as she snatched the vial of magic in her hand.

Everything seemed to slow down for a second or two as the vial slipped out of the fairy's hands to as the vial spun in the air until it hit the table, the clear glass cracked and splintered until it's contents spilled over the palm sized wood carving. Time caught up as the fairy's mouth gawped out in horror and surprise at what she had just done as the a hue of magic encased the toy.

"What did you do?" the assassin asked the fairy wide eyed in a low voice that made her shudder.

"I-I-I" Tink stuttered as she saw the jackdaw wood carving float up in the air and shoot out of the window across the room making the pair run after it only to stop themselves as they caught the window sill as they saw the object high the sky looking for it's owner.

"What was you said about destiny?" the assassin asked the fairy as she tagged the object with her sixth sense . She had waited this long to use the spell. There was no way in hell it was getting away from her.

"People linked by destiny will always find each other" Tink repeated herself to the redhead beside her.

"Tell destiny that they've found another believer" she tells the fairy before vaulting herself out of the window, allowing gravity to do it's job.

"Amelia!" the fairy yelled after the woman as she saw her land in a bale of hay on the ground she had no idea was there. The last thing she saw was Amelia's running form on the ground chasing after the spelled wooden jackdaw.


She lost it. She couldn't believe it. She had been running for a good few minutes as the bird rushed through the air, until she looked away for a split second to get out of the late hunting party's way. Dodging past the Merry Men including Robin and a few dwarfs. She had yelled for them to get out of her way only for the thief to try and stop her in her frenzied state.

The next thing she knew it was gone, by the time Robin had let her go it was too late. Fate was telling her she can't defy her path anymore than she was trying to.

She'd put distance between her and Regina by returning to Monteriggioni, only for it to be destroyed by her older half-sister.

She loved Romeo like a father only to find out he was her father second's before his 'death'. Only to find him again in the most unlikely places, allowing her to say goodbye to him.

Fate fucking hated her.

But this, this was just plain cruel.

"No, no, no, no, no" she repeated to herself as she clutched at her short blonde hair in disbelief.

Destiny or fate was playing a sick joke on her once again as she tried everything to find the damn bird again. This is what she needed to happen.

Doing it herself seemed wrong somehow, like she was interfering, like she was taking the short cut by using magic to get what she wanted, but Tink's slippy fingers was all she needed to believe that something out there needed her to find her son.

Turning around she found herself at the apple tree. A place she used as a place to think only to see a figure already sat on one of the stone benches holding the wooden jackdaw in his hands.

Her heart dropped as she let her arms fall back to her sides as she looked upon the person she had been looking for just..there.

"Thomas" she whispered into the night.

The figure heard her making his head snap up to see her stood there a bright smile grew on his face that reminded her so much of her own father.

How the hell had she not seen it before now?


She felt sick to her stomach. The thing that was stopping her from finding her son again was happening as she had to lie to his face. She wanted to tell him. Tell someone. But she couldn't.

The consequences of Zelena finding out outweighed the pit that had lived in her stomach for the last week since finding him again. She knew for a fact that no one would be able to stand in her way if the Witch used her son against her.

That's why she spent most of her time in her room, to make sure it didn't slip out before she had let the new sink in first. Her leap of faith had landed her in a deep pit of despair and she didn't know how to get out of it.

Instead she focused her time on Tom the Lost Boy and his training and that alone while the royal couple's council continued to meet only to come to the same conclusion.

They had no idea what Zelena was up to with Snow's child. But at least they knew where she was, not that they could get anywhere near Rumple's Dark Castle not to get attacked by flying monkeys.

So instead she got Belle to help her got through all the Brotherhood codex's. The young brunette wrote down what was written on the scrolls while she read them out load to make sure they had a permanent record of them in case anything happened to her or Tom.

Which meant more often than not she spent whole nights reading them trying to soak in every little detail she could. She couldn't sleep anyway. Her dreams often consisted her of being back in Monteriggioni as it fell apart around her, trying to save the people she loved only to fail every time she got close. Sometimes it was people like Regina, Snow or David, but they had changed when John appeared one night getting crushed under a piece of building. One time she swore she saw Emma and Henry.

The night terror would wake her up and then she remembered the secret she had been holding onto for a week or so. An endless cycle.

In the time she found herself having to fill she ready the old texts. They noted the ways the Brotherhood studied magic users in her past, how they learnt from trail and error of how to fight them. She even recognized some of the tactics she had been taught to her when she was younger.

Some of them outlined the supposed 'birth' of the Brotherhood. The story of how Altair, an apprentice of the great Merlin was tasked into guarding a supposed Piece of Eden that harbored a great evil and to protect those without magic from those who used it against them.

Well at least half the story was true.

One of them even outlined how the Brotherhood upgraded the hidden blade so each user didn't have to forfeit each ring finger the first time they used them. Now that did sound painful.

She wanted to be ready for whatever Zelena threw at them next. If she had to read through every single scroll she would. Her readings were interrupted when her door suddenly opened.

"Oh good you are alive" Regina burst through her door unannounced and uninvited. Finding the assassin sat on one of the ornate sofa's that surrounded the large fireplace.

Their relationship hadn't been the same since she had come back after the fall of Monteriggioni. Not that she could blame her. She needed an excuse to leave the palace and the Queen had given her one.

"Good to see you too Regina" she sighed out as her eye's went back to there normal green color the golden words dimmed out on the parchment. To any normal person the scroll's looked empty and ready to be written on, but she knew how secretive the Brotherhood was.

"Your absence at another meeting was noted" she said as she came to stand in front of the assassin "again" she added as she helped herself to the amber liquid the assassin always had on hand.

"Did I miss anything good?" she asked putting the scroll to one side she focused her attention on the former Queen.

"Only that obnoxious thief of your's spouting his mouth off" the Queen gritted out taking a gulp of her drink before placing her glass back down.

"You mean the man that put himself and his son at risk to take your castle back, that man? My closest friend. Robin".

"The very same" she said with a sarcastic smile that disappeared a second later.

"I'll be at the next one" she tells the former Queen "Was there anything else you wanted before I kick you out".

"We've noticed something different with you, the Charming's sent me in here to find out what" she lied to the redhead making the woman smile to herself.

"Everything's fine" she tells the woman brushing off her concern.

"Well according to your friend, he found you running in the middle of the night chasing something".

"It was hardly the middle of the night" she argued rolling her eye's at the woman in front of her.

"So you don't deny it" she points out the woman's mistake "What were you chasing?".

"It doesn't matter" she abruptly says as her walls quickly go up as she stood from her piece of furniture "I lost it" she tells the woman before snatching the scroll up and walking away from the Queen putting as much distance between them as she could only for her plan to be short lived when she felt one of Regina's slender hands grip her forearm, halting her from putting the physical distance between them.

Regina had seen she had hit a nerve but her sudden turn "Whatever it is-".

"It's nothing for you or the Charming's to be concerned with" she snaps at the Queen whirling around to see the anger on her face before she took a step back when she realized how she had spoken "It's my problem" she tells her.

"Melia" she trailed off as her brows furrowing in concern, she'd never seen the assassin like this "What happened?".

"I can't tell you" the woman tells her.

"Can't or won't" Regina asked her.

"Can't" she heard the redhead choke out "I can't tell anyone" the sentence only made the Queen more confused.

"Why not?".

"Because it puts you and everyone else in this palace at risk, if Zelena found out-".

"Screw what that witch finds out" Regina interrupted her "When you came back you promised that you were done running from your problems-".

"I'm not running, I'm here facing them and it's killing me not being able to tell you".

"And why's that!" the Queen's own anger coming out over the situation.

"Because I still love you!" the words spill out of her mouth making the Queen freeze, hearing the words she never thought she would ever hear leaving the assassin' s lips once again. Not after the way they parted a few months ago. Her emerald eye's were stuck on brown as both waited for either to make the next move, knowing whatever it was going to change everything.

"Screw it" was the last thing the Queen heard leave her lips before she found them attached to hers in a searing this that made her fingers curl into the redheads sides as she kissed her back with equal vigor until their faces parted to take in must needed air. Hooded eye's met as they kept hold of the other as if they were the only person from falling off the face of the earth from the kiss that had told them everything they needed to know since the last time they had kissed.

Their foreheads rested against one another the redhead tried to simmer down her fast beating heart in her chest only to feel a sense of calmness wash over her having the woman she loved so close to her once again.

"That's why I can't tell you" she whispered to the Queen "You have to trust me".

"I do" Regina replied before closing what little space that separated them into kiss neither of them wanted to end. Until the sun rose anyway.


She should be used to waking up in Amelia's bed by now. The amount of times she found herself waking up to assassin over the years, it felt like second nature at this point as she felt the comforting weight of the assassin's arm slung over her hip, keeping her at arms length as they slept through the night. It wouldn't be the first time they had spent the entire night together as it seemed to comfort them both during their darkest days knowing the other wasn't too far away. The assassin needed more than her as the nightmares started to get more intense over the years. She even secretly enjoyed having the assassin with her even it was just to sleep.

It was unusual for the former Brotherhood Assassin not to notice the movement due to her being such a light sleeper but by the look's of it, she needed all the rest she could get. The dark circle's that sat below her eyes told her that whatever the redhead was keeping from her was important enough to lose sleep over. She knew she had been spending all the hours she could get in the library with Belle, translating all the Brotherhood codex's into readable material for all to read but this was something else. The only thing she was glad of since her return was that her natural red hair was starting to come back from the root, steadily taking over the blonde almost white hair the assassin had dyed it as it grew longer with each week that passed by.

But they had more important things to talk about when the former assassin woke up. Like where last night had left them. She saw the look on her face before she kissed her, like she was prepared to take that all important leap of faith into the unknown that was their relationship. They had seemed to have said goodbye to whatever they were on Neverland before her letter seemed to be the final nail of the coffin of any hope of re-kindling the spark that seemed to remain.

Then they're was the tattoo. The one that sat on the same arm that was still slung over her hip under the thick cover, the one that was now rubbing small soothing circles into her hip with her thumb, having not realized that had been doing every since she had turned over she looked to see assassin smiling to herself knowing she had caught the former Queen out, too deep in her own thoughts.

"You are thinking way too hard there Queenie" the redhead hummed out as she finally opened her eye's.

"Sorry, did I wake you up" the former Queen asked as she reached up to push back a lock of blonde hair behind her ear

"No, but I knew you'd be freaking out about last night"

"I'm not" she argued already knowing that the woman in front of her had already seen right through the lie.

"Well I am" Amelia admitted to her as she shifted herself onto her back to stare up at the purple canopy that covered the large bed as the brunette propped herself up on her elbow to"I admit I wasn't expecting you to kiss me back let alone stay the night after the way I left you a few months ago, I just needed an reason, and your sister appearing from OZ was as good as any"

"Then why did you?"

"I needed to figure out where I fitted in this world again. Monteriggioni seemed like the only place I could that. I did it after John died, I thought it would again"

"And you couldn't have done that here?" she heard the hurt in Regina's voice.

"Because at the time it wasn't my home" she tells her seeing the disappoint in her eyes making her sit up to catch her brown eyes with hers "I didn't realize it was my home until Monterggioni fell. My place is here with you. Whether its across a table from you trying to find a way to stop your sister from taking Snow's baby or from right beside you, there is nothing in this world that is going to stop me from loving you, there no curse, or letter or psychotic half-sisters that's ever going to stop me from being with you".

A watery smile grew on the former Queen's face at the assassin's speech before closed the distance between her and the woman she loved capturing her lips in a sweet kiss before pulling away leaving a loving hand cupping her jaw "I love you too" she tells the assassin "But you need to tell me what's been going on".

"Regina-" the assassin started to argue trying to pull away from her only for the former Queen to pull back.

"I understand you can't tell me everything, but I need something that makes this burden easier on you. It'll be easier together. Whatever it takes, remember?".

"Whatever it takes" the assassin nods in Regina's hand as she gently takes it off her face to lace their fingers together as she prepared herself to feel the weight lift off her shoulder's "Remember the other night when Robin told you I was chasing something".

"Yes" the woman trailed off as her brows furrowed together. They had been talking it last night.

"An old friend of mine sent me a locator spell before he died and I used it on one of Tom's old toys".

Regina's eye's widened in surprise at the revelation "You found him" he realized out loud.

Amelia could only nod at the former Queen as she squeezed the assassin's hand in comfort only to see a mix of heartbreak and hurt come over the woman's eyes. If it had been her and Henry, she'd be over the moon.

"Why aren't you more happy about this?".

"Because it comes with a price. If Zelena ever found out-" the assassin gave up speaking at the thought of that ever happening as she fell back in defeat onto the bed as she reached up to pull at her hair.

"She'd use it against you" Regina didn't need to elaborate more. If worse came she would be able to turn Amelia on all of them, even her until either they were all dead or she was. She had a weakness to exploit, and if she were anything like their mother, she would use it to her advantage.

"That's also why I can't tell him who I am" that's the moment the former Queen knew what the assassin had been despairing over for weeks now. It was exactly the same reason Romeo used not to tell her about who he was. She would have to lie to keep him safe. It was killing her.

"Melia..."I'm so sorry"" she tells the former Widow as she found the woman's free hand on the assassin's flat stomach lacing her fingers between her's

"He's safe that's all that matter's, right?" the assassin looked to the former Queen with a questioning look.

"We'll figure it out... together" she reiterated her earlier point.

"Together" Amelia repeated liking the sound of word already.


Present

Tom still felt the force of how hard his back had met the truck of one of the tree's as he lied in his tent later that night. He tried not to wince every time he moved in front of Amelia as the redhead still felt bad about what had happened to him by her Uncle the Dark One.

He decided to stay at camp that day instead of spending the day with Henry, if not to make sure Roland was okay, but to make sure Amelia was. She wasn't though.

Robin told him it probably reminded her of when she lost her husband, John...something and her own son. He remembered her telling Romeo about him when he followed them in Neverland. He was surprised she didn't sense him back then, maybe she was a little distracted seeing as her 'dead' father had reappeared.

He sounded nice. Someone he would've liked as father.

When the subject of his parents came up between him and Henry, he told him what Regina had told him to say. That Amelia was his mother. The news seemed to make Henry happy as he realized that they were actually related through his father and Amelia being first cousins.

He finally had a family. Even if it wasn't true for a while.

The forgetful redhead had left the main camp a couple of hours ago without a word said, but he knew she was able to look after herself if a flying monkey or Zelena showed up.

"Tom" Robin gained his attention taking him out of his thoughts as the thief crouched down to speak to the boy the redhead had taken under her wing "Have you seen Amelia lad?".

"Not since she left a while a ago, sorry" he answered as he plays with the wooden bird in his hand.

The man gave him an appreciative smile in "Don't worry Tom, I'm sure she'll be back"

"I know" Tom tells him as he sits up from his position "She always comes back".

"Good" Robin says as his eye's see something in the teen's hands "What's that?" he asks in curiosity seeing the hand carved bird in his hand.

"I-it's nothing, I found it in my pocket when we all woke up" he says showing it to the man in the light the fire gave off. Gently Robin takes the wooden object from him as examining every detail of it. He seen it before, but couldn't quite put a name to where when Tom's voice made him look at the teen.

"Did I do something wrong?" he asked Robin in worry.

"No lad, you haven't done anything" he says taking a seat on a nearby log that was positioned near the tend "Do you know what bird this is?" Tom shakes his head "Its a Jackdaw" he tells the boy as he tried to remember where he's seen the object before. It was before the first curse anyway. He didn't know why he was struggling to place.

"C-Can I tell you something?" he asks the man, if there was anyone he could talk to it was Robin.

"Anything" Robin says as his brow's furrow in concern.

"The bird wasn't the only thing I woke up with, I don't know if it's important b-but Lia" he started to panic as he trembled, remembered how angry she got seeing Captain Hook.

"Calm Tom" Robin tells him taking his arms in his hands "What is it?".

"She'll be mad if she finds out".

"Who? Amelia?" Tom nods at him "Whatever it is I'm sure she won't be angry, she care's about you " his words seemed to calm the teen enough for him to pull up the sleeves of his jacket to reveal he dark leather gauntlets that hand the Brotherhood's insignia embossing into the metal work with a skull in the middle of it.

"W-what are those?".

"Assassin gauntlets, its what Lia wears on her arms it their signature weapon" he explains as he flicks his wrist out for a blade to shoot out of its sheath "Romeo told me every assassin gets a pair when they're training".

"Then maybe she was teaching you in the last year" he tried to reason with the young man.

"They're not mine" he tells the thief "at least not originally".

"Who's were they then?".

"Romeo's. Lia's Dad, she took them off him when he died but she never gave them to me before we went back home"

"Then how-" he began to question as the memory finally resurfaced in his mind. He remembered now, on a visit to Monteriggioni with the Merry Men and Roland when he was still young. He had managed to find the wooden bird Tom now had in his hand and the story behind it. It was once a toy of Amelia and John's young son Thomas. His friend had made it himself before giving it to his son. A son that bore more of a resemblance to his grandfather on his mothers side than John with brown eyes and hair. Robin had to give the teen a second look as his mind matched his nose and chin to his friends perfectly blending together into one child.

It was him. Thomas. Sat in front of him was the boy that had been taken away from her for all those years. Not that she remembered, but if this discovery stopped history repeating itself than he had to do something. But had to be sure it was really him. Amelia had told him how Angelo had scratched the side of her son's face when he got his hands on him, hard enough that it would have left a scar.

"Robin?" Tom's voice had brought him out of his thoughts making him blink at the teen that looked more like his old friend with every passing second.

"Tell me" the thief started "Do you happen to have a scar on the side of your face?"

"Uh..yeah" Tom answered by pulling the woolen hat off his hat before slowly turning his head to right to let Robin see the small faint scar that had been there as long as he could remember "I-s is it important, I don't remember getting it"

He needed to tell Amelia. Now.

"We need to find Amelia" he suddenly said taking teen by surprise as he sprung to his feet as he started to walk away from the main camp, to the area he knew Amelia had taken herself to.

"W-what? Why?" Tom started to panic as he scrambled to his feet to catch up to the thief.

"I think I've just discovered one of the reasons the Wicked Witch has taken her memories" Robin tells him as he see's the glow of the the fire guide them towards the assassin.

"Really? What?".

"I-" he was cut off as they came to abrupt stop at the edge of the small clearing the redhead had taken herself to, only to see that she was no longer alone. He and Tom saw Amelia and the former Evil Queen locked in a lover's embrace that made his heart skip a beat seeing the woman he had come to love over the years back in the arms of the woman that had made her into the Black Widow. Nothing came out of his mouth as she watch the Queen lead the redhead away leaving the thief in stunned silence as his heart and mind tried to make sense of what he had just witnessed.

He was too late. Again.

"Come" he made himself say to the teen who was waiting for him to say anything "It's uh, it's getting late. We'll talk to her in the morning" at that the thief turned around to head back to camp with Tom following him soon after.


AN: Aww poor Robin.

Hello! Another chapter! Yay! Some fluff for you all today to fill in a bit of info before the next chapter.

Just to clarify the flashback directly follows where the Jolly Roger chapter flashback leaves off.

Getting to the end of the season soon. Been delayed by work and COVID (Finally got me).

Thanks for everyone that's recently followed and Favorited.

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