It wasn't hard to see how much the Hidden One's had been struggling since the second curse had broken. Her absence had been noted in the books ever since she had regained all of her memories and Luke sized hole at her bar was sill noticeable every time she looked over not to see him there.
She had been fortunate for the thieves and mercenaries that had come through with her still wanted to work for her, but they could see that her heart wasn't in it anymore. Her new manager Falstaff was only making her work life somewhat bearable, well...when he wasn't drinking her stock that is.
Darts thudded against the round board each time as she let out her frustrations of the state of her once pristine books as she heard the front door swing open behind her.
"We're closed!" she call back to whoever dared to disturb the small bit peace she had found in her life at that moment.
Thing's with John still weren't right. She knew it wouldn't happen overnight, she just had to be patient.
As she lined up her next shot the person made themselves known to her "Hello Amelia" Robin greeted her seeing her stood in the middle of her bar making her waver her shot.
"I thought I told you to stay away" she tells him retaking her stance towards the board "The only way Marian is going to live is if you give her a kiss of true love" with a quick flick of her wrist the dart leaves her hand and impales itself in the board hitting the red bullseye in the center.
"I know" he gulped behind her.
"Then why are you here?" she asks him as he watches her retrieve her darts from the board, tugging each of them out of the colored board.
"Honestly…I don't know. My mind was in the forest, but my heart took me here".
"Robin, you have to save her" she repeated her own words to him.
"Because it's the right thing to do?".
"Because she's your wife" she sternly tells him turning around to face him "And seeing you here and hearing about your conflicted heart. It's torture".
"For that I'm sorry. But I can't just fall back in love with Marian... Not when you're in my life".
He tries to see any kind of reaction from the redhead as she gives him a blank stoic expression that told him nothing of how she felt. Instead she walked over to her deserted bar and grabbed the nearest bottle of amber liquid and two decanters, each of them thudding on the wooden surface of her bar as she poured a "Sit" she simply said pointing to one of the bar stools. He did as he was told and took the one in front of her as the assassin slid his glass towards him.
"Remind me how you met her?" she starts taking a sip out of the amber liquid.
"Sorry?" he asked the woman in confusion.
"Tell me the story of how you two met".
"Amelia, you already know" he says picking up his own glass.
"Then tell me again. Or I will. You've told me enough times before. Tell me how this is any different to all those three dozen times before" she challenged him.
"I stole her father's horse" he started "I was only a two-bit thief in those days. I didn't even need it. Already had two horses back home".
"That night, you woke up to an arrow pointed at your head" the redhead continued for him "Her family were poor farmers, the little they had was held together by that prized steed. You didn't say a word as she rode off that night, and the next day you returned to her cottage-".
"With my own two horses as a gift to her family" he finished.
"And from that day forward you never stole for yourself again, you only stole from the rich to give to the poor. Which always confused me because you never stole from me" she tells him.
"Only because you weren't keeping the coin you had earned. You put it back into your home, so they could prosper as you darkened your heart" he argued with her.
"She made you into the man you are today. You need to remember that more than anything, if you have any chance of using true love kiss. Like I did for John. If it hadn't been for him I would've never stopped running and seen what was right in front of me. A life away from the Brotherhood".
"Amelia-".
"You need to forget about me, and start thinking about her. I can't be the one responsible for her death again. Not anymore. If you can't do if for her, do it for me. When I had heard what had happened, knowing I could've stopped it. It was the one of the worse things I ever did, because I was so consumed with my own vengeance I forgot what would happen if either of you got caught up in it".
"Don't say that".
"I can say it, because its true".
"I don't know what to do" he sighed out in defeat.
"Start by turning your back on me like you should've done when I found you in Sherwood Forest. Because that is the only way you're both getting out of this alive. Marian was right about one thing. I'm poison".
She didn't give him a chance to reply as she left the thief at the bar finding solace in the kitchen as she listened for the front door the open and close. She only made herself look back at the bar to see it empty once again before she felt her heart uncomfortably clench in her chest and a shaky breath left her lungs.
He would be better off without her. He had to be, otherwise her broken heart wouldn't be worth the pain she felt at that moment.
Enchanted Forest
Many Years Ago
The first thing she heard as she approached the taverns she was set to meet up with her husband with was the laughter that drifted out of the building whenever the door was opened and closed. This was where she was meant to meet his friend Robin in.
The tavern was as busy as it sounded. as the young redhead stepped through the door, men were toasting to their success or for the hell of it, she couldn't really tell, but she didn't care. She'd just left the healer that had just confirmed the impossible for her. or what she thought was the impossible for her.
She was pregnant.
She didn't know how it was possible, but it had happened. The Brotherhood's 'graduation' hadn't worked and now she was carrying a child. Her's and John's child.
The smile on her face didn't falter as she found a seat on an empty bench as she started her wait for her husband. It was warmer that she expected inside the tavern than outside as the roaring flames and the warm bodies in the building heated the room as she rolled up the sleeves of her blouse revealing the lion tattoo on the inside of her right forearm. The marking reminded her of why she got it in the first place. It reminded her to stay strong in the toughest of fight's.
"Nice Tattoo" a voice took her out of her thoughts making her head snap up to see a man take the opposite side of the table with a tankard in his hand. She had to admit he was handsome, but not as handsome as John. He had a strong jaw and sparkling eye's that would make any maid flush.
"Uh t-thank you" she shyly told the man rubbing the tattoo with her thumb nervous under the man's gaze.
"Can I get you a drink?" he asked waving down a barmaid with a tray of tankards in her hand. That's when she saw the tattoo on his arm, it was very similar to the one she had, on the same arm. They could've been twin's if not for the differing styles.
"N-no, I can't I'm waiting for someone" she refused but the woman placed the tankard down anyway, putting it in front of her anyway.
"Your husband?" he inquired.
"Yes, he'll be here soon" she warned the man.
"Well then the man must be either stupid or mad to leave you someone as beautiful as you alone in a tavern like this" He was flirting with her. But she didn't seem to mind it.
"Who say's I wouldn't be able to take on any of these men here" she retorted dryly at the man with a challenging brow.
A wide smile on the man opposite her at her as he marveled over the woman in front of him as laughter left his throat "Then you better put your money where your mouth is my lady" he said placing his elbow on the wooden table with his hand out ready for her to take it.
Amelia's unsure eye's fluttered her surrounding hoping John's presence would take her away from the man in front of her wanting to challenge her in an arm-wrestling match. But no hope came as there was no sigh of her husband to get this man away from her
"Unless you were lying" he teased her with a teasing smile.
Quickly making her decision Amelia placed her right elbow on the table accepting his challenge as a roar of cheer's reverberated around the tavern, apparently his challenged hadn't gone unheard by the other patron's in the tavern as they gathered to watch them. Looking her hand around his she felt his firm rough grip on her fair skin as he gave her a firm squeeze in warning, only for her to mirror the warning taking the man by surprise.
"On 'go' my lady" the man instructed her "Ready?" she nodded.
"3.." the crowd started them off "2.." her eye's flickered up to meet his as she saw him looking straight her as they waited "1. GO!" the crowd started them off as both her and the man opposite her started to push the other arm down. The man seemed surprised by the strength she possessed as he thought he would have to put little strength into it. But he was wrong, he quickly had to recover some ground he had lost in his underestimation of the woman in front of him as the men behind him started to yell in support of the redhead.
Amelia strained as she pushed another gear as she started to feel him give way to her. Before he knew it the back of his hand smacked against the wooden table making the whole tavern go deadly silent.
He'd lost. He never lost. He looked to see panic start to set into the woman's face as she looked like she wanted to run straight out of the tavern in fear of being hurt or worse for beating the man in front of her.
Her eye's widened as the man opposite her stood up from the bench making the seat fall onto the stone floor as anger grew in his face. She wasn't quick enough to take her hand away in time as the man pulled her up from her seat and held it above their heads and yelled out in celebration of his defeat before he was quickly followed by the other men in the tavern. The joyous smile grew on the man's face as her's blushed in embarrassment as everyone celebrated her victory with loud cheers and drink flowing into he necks of the jubilant crowd.
"Well fought milady" the man told her, yelling over the crowd as he lowered her and still holding it.
"I'm sorry I didn't mean-".
"Don't be my lady" he quickly interrupted her bringing his face closer to her's "it's good for me to lose every once and a while".
"What about me, I felt my heart stop for a second" she couldn't help but laugh at herself.
"As long as it's me who's stopping your heart, I don't mind" he said as he raised her hand in his placing a gentle kiss on her knuckle's without taking his eye's off her.
This woman was a breath of fresh air, full of spirit and joy. And the light in her eye's could light up this whole room without a single candle. He wanted to be in her company for as long as he could without her husband showing up and ruining his night with this stunning woman. Whoever this man was didn't deserve her.
"May I have the honor of knowing our victors name?".
Shaking her head in disbelief with a toothy grin "Amelia" she tells him.
"Amelia" her name seemed to roll off his tongue naturally as he comfortably squeezed her finger's "I think I speak for everyone here to thank you for putting me down a peg or two, I won't be able to live the rest of my life without my mate's reminding me of this night".
Laughter escaped her mouth as she answered "Your welcome as long as I get your name".
"Rob-"he tried to tell her only for a louder voice to interrupt him.
"Robin!" at the voice Amelia snatched her hand out of his hand leaving it to the cold air as he turned to see John Smith coming towards them with a wide grin.
Pushing her heartache to one side the former assassin returned to her apartment to find her gauntlets after she got a call from David informing her that Emma had been able to apprehend the Snow Queen. They needed her help to look at a mirror they had found the woman with in the clock tower.
A spell of Shattered Sight, they had called it. Belle had reported that the mirror she had in her possession would see the worst in yourself. Not that she needed a mirror to make her see that anytime soon.
She was greeted with a near empty apartment as she let herself in as she heard Tom shuffling around in his room, when she caught the sight of her laptop on her coffee table with the lid half open and a notebook and pen sat nearby.
Curiosity got the best of her as she picked the notebook up and saw scribbled notes about Boston one the lined paper. Strange. Maybe it was homework Tom was working on.
"Hey, were you doing some homework on the computer?" she called out to her son.
"Dad was using it" he informs her as he walks in the the living room in a grey suit jacket and a tie around his neck with matching trousers and smart shoes. He had combed his hair so it wasn't as wild as it usefully was, neatly parted at the side like the way his father used to have his back home.
"Hey Mom, can you help me with this?" gesturing to the loose tie around his neck.
"Sure. What's the occasion? Getting married?" she teased him with smirk as she started helping him with his tie.
"Yeah in like an hour. I'm gonna be late" the sentence made the redhead freeze in place as she felt her heart skip a beat as she stared at him with wide eyes "Kidding" he quickly tells her seeing how much the joke affected her "Work with Uncle Rumple. At the shop" he reminded her.
"Please don't do that" she breathed out as she tried to get her heart to start beating again.
"Sorry" he chuckled out.
"So why the suit exactly? The real answer this time" she sternly tells him with a raised brow as started to fix his tie.
"Rumple said if I was gonna learn the family business. I'd have to represent the family business. Which would be fine if it didn't also mean wearing a tie" he complains to her.
"Are you ever going to tell me why you and Henry are working for him?".
"We wanted to get to know him" he methodically answered her, like the line had been practiced too many times before.
"Funny. That's what Regina said" she mentions the former Queen seeing how he reacted.
"R-Regina said that?" he stammered out nervously as she pulled the knot up to his neck before tucking it under the collar of his dress shirt. He didn't know they were speaking.
"You know, I wasn't born yesterday" she says straightening up his a jacket "I can tell when someone isn't telling me something".
Operation Mongoose was need to know. He swore he wouldn't tell his mother anything. Only they didn't have her as a mother. "It's important okay. Just know that" he tells her with a reassuring smile.
"Does it involve either of you getting hurt?".
"No" he quickly tells her "I can look after myself and Henry. You don't need to worry Mom".
"Debatable" she mused out load "Worrying come's with the job of being a parent. You'll always be worrying. Do you need a ride?"
"Nah I'm okay with walking" he tells her before quickly kissing her cheek "See you later Mom. Love you" with that the teen walked out of the apartment leaving her to wonder when he decided to grow up suddenly as her curiosity got the better of her with what her husband was looking for in Boston.
They had managed to teach him the basics of using a computer, despite his reluctance he was a fish to water with the technology in this land. He was eager to learn what was around him he always was, there was nothing he didn't want to try during the first few years together, he even asked her about teaching him to drive so she wouldn't be driving him everywhere. He was trying, that's all she could ask for when it came to the new world he had found himself in.
Sitting down in front the laptop she opened the lid for the screen to flash up with a picture of them together when they explored Storybrooke together. She remembered as if it was yesterday. He became curious when her phone kept on receiving text messages so she showed him the camera of how they could make a physical picture of a single moment. Tom had squeezed his head in-between his parents as they smiled up without a single care in the world.
This was before Elsa had found Elsa trapped in the wall with Emma. Before any frozen spells or love declarations from old flames. Everything seemed so simple in that one picture.
With a tap of the keyboard the screen unlocked to reveal what he had been looking at. Site after realtor site were open on multiple tabs on different apartments and small houses for sale or rent in Boston and the surrounding area. But why?
She didn't even hear the door open and close as John stepped through with a brown paper bag in his arms.
"Hey. I thought you'd be out all morning" he greeted her with a smile crossing the apartment and putting the bag he returned to the living room to see what his wife was looking at.
"What's this?" she asked him trying to process the new development she looked up straight at him filled with hurt and betrayal. But the thing that truly scared him was the simmering anger behind them.
"Amy. Calm down" he appealed to her.
"Calm down?" she retorted "Calm down about what exactly?" she repeated to him as he looked at her like he had just caught him with his hand in the cookie jar.
"I was going to talk to you about this once the Snow Queen had been dealt with-"
"Which was?".
"I want us to move. Be a family again, away from villains, giant snowmen and…".
"Regina and Robin" she supplied for him as she jumped to her feet to face him.
"That's not what I was going to say" he tried to argue.
"We have family here, not just true love's or ex lover's. Tom has family here" she stressed to him "A family I could never have given to him even if Angelo hadn't found us".
"That's why I chose Boston. Its only a few hours away, he can come back and visit-".
"And what? Ban me?£ she spits at him "You really think that moving away from everything we know would fix everything?".
"It thought it would be a fresh start for all of us"
Amelia scoffed a laugh at her husband "You really thought we could continue where we left off on the Godspeed, that we could live happily ever after. That I'd turn my back on them after everything I've done to them over the years, everything I've done to change who I was after you died, you really must not know me after you fell off the ship".
"These people are not your family, they've never treated you like family".
"You have no idea what you're talking about. I know plenty about what a family is like".
"What about your Uncle? How long did he have you working for him before he decided to tell you about his sister?" he questioned her only to be met by her silence as she struggled to answer for the old man's actions. Was it to protect her. or just to keep her stringing along until the information became useful enough like it did in Neverland.
"How long did the Evil Queen use you for own selfish needs not caring about darkening your heart"
Again he was met by silence.
"How long was Tom stuck on Neverland because you never cared about looking for him"
He wasn't met by silence this time as he had to duck from a glass suddenly being thrown at him. The glass shattering on impact behind him as he felt the tiny shards scrape against his skin leaving a small cuts on the back of his hands from where he had shielded his face from the projectile.
Slowly the former privateer stood up to see his wife sat on an armchair with her hands on her head physically shaking from the anger that ran through her veins, ringing her hands together as she stared off into space. In a space of a spit second she had let the Black Widow back out as she had finally felt the final snap mentioning her greatest regret.
"You shouldn't have come back" she shakily tells him as she fought with every instinct that was screaming at her to hurt him to make him regret those words he spat in her face.
But she could never hurt him. Never. He was still Tom's father. And she'd couldn't let the last couple of years go completely go to waste over this. Tom would never forgive her.
He saw the tears that fell down her face as she struggled as she forced herself to breathe through the anger in her veins as she tried to find the right words to finally put an end to this. "I've been fighting everyday for this to work, it obviously means nothing to you to throw that in my face".
"That isn't true" he tells her making her close her eye's not willing to look at him any longer.
"What I did to my heart was all me. I wanted to kill them, it was the only thing I knew how to do. I've taken..hundreds without blinking an eye and I don't regret a single one because I was doing something to let you go for good. I let you go as soon as I threw my ring back into the sea".
"We can fix this" he weakly gulps out with hands on his hips.
"What if there isn't anything to fix anymore?" she calmly retorts.
"Don't, don't say that".
"I'm done fighting John" she tells him pulling her wedding band off her finger and placing it on the coffee table.
"Amelia please" he begs her with tears falling down his face as she headed straight for the front door. With a hand on the handle she pauses and takes one last look at the man she fell in love when she had no one.
"I need you to leave. Go to the Inn, I don't really care, as long as you're gone by the time I get back tonight" at that the assassin left her Captain in the empty apartment.
It was over. There was no going back from there.
Laughter escaped her mouth as she answered "Your welcome as long as I get your name".
"Rob-"he tried to tell her only for a louder voice to interrupt him.
"Robin!" at the voice Amelia snatched her hand out of his hand leaving it to the cold air as he turned to see John Smith coming towards them with a wide grin. Amelia's stomach dropped as her husband engulfed Robin in a loving hug as Robin did the same. They held each other like brother's reuniting after years apart before they parted Robin was left confused as he watched John round the table to stand in front of his newest acquaintance with soft loving eye's as he gently cupped the red head's face in his large hands like he'd done it a thousand times before this moment as she left a sweet gentle kiss on her lip's.
It felt like someone had stabbed him straight into his heart and twisted it as Amelia welcomed John's familiar touch as their lips met. This woman that had captured his heart from one conversation was his friend's new bride.
"Hi" he heard John breath to the woman as he parted from her the thief averting his eye's on the private moment as his head spun. Robin made himself fall back into his seat as he took a few gulp full of the drink in front of him wondering if he should get something stronger to ease the ache he felt in his heart.
"Hi" she replied to her husband.
"How did the healer go?" he quickly asked her.
"Fine, nothing to worry about".
"Really?".
"Hmm, it's good news I swear" she reassured him with a small peck of his lips. John seemed to remember whose company they were in as he looked towards his old friend while he still held his wife close to him wrapping a strong arm around her waist
"I see you've already met Robin" John deduced "I hope he hasn't gotten you in too much trouble without me" he teased his friend across the table as they took a seat together.
"I'll have you know Smith; you were usually the one to get us chased out of most taverns and not alone I might add".
"He was no trouble really; we were just talking" Amelia told her husband as she tired to relax the knot in her stomach the Robin had left before John showed up.
"Although she did beat me at my favorite game" Robin added from over his tankard.
"No surprise there" John commented before looking towards his old friend "Although she still doesn't know her own strength when we're alone"
Robin watched as Amelia smacked her husband on his shoulder scolding him for his comment
"Mercy please" her husband teased holding out his hands in mock surrender making the thief opposite chuckle to himself.
"How about I get the first round for you boy's" Amelia said as she stood from her seat only to be stopped by John's friend.
"No, I'll get it" Robin offered jumping from his seat, he was desperate to get a break from the loving couple.
"Please John's been looking forward to see you again, besides it seems like this won't be the only round between you two" she says with a teasing wink of her eye towards him. Accepting the answer Robin slowly sat back down as Amelia left the pair to get them more drinks. John's eye's were fixated on her retreating figure.
"Didn't I tell you she was beautiful" the captain mused to his friend.
"Yes" he gulped putting a smile on his face as he watched her approach the bar "Very".
"Is that jealousy I hear Robby?" John teased his friend.
"No, just can't believe my luck, you bastard" he playfully retorted.
A laugh escaped the Captain's throat at his friends insult before sobering as his blue eye's seem to sparkle every time he looked at his new wife "I know, I never thought I'd meet someone like her, I can't believe it most day's that she'd marry someone like me".
"I couldn't believe it too when I got your letter, I thought you'd gone mad" Robin chuckled out.
"Maybe I have".
"Mad in love seems more like or maybe she is" Robin told his friend making John smile to himself as Amelia reappeared from three tankards in her hand's placing them down in front of the men. John and Robin took their tankards as Amelia took her's and sat next to Robin this time.
"What we toasting to boys?" Amelia inquired to the men holding out her tankard with her right hand as they mirrored her action. John noticed the similar tattoo's his wife and friend had on their right forearms, a lion. Maybe it was fate that intervened for them to meet not noticing the green dust that swirled around his wife's arm as she held her arm up for the toast.
"To new love and new friends" Robin toasted to the newly married couple and to the woman who would have to stay his friend.
"Cheer's" the three clunked their tankard together just as the door to the tavern slammed shut taking the redhead by surprise making her head snap towards the tavern door in fright. Her heart seemed to jump into her throat as she looked to the door ready for anything that would come through it, only for nothing to happen as she felt a hand on her shoulder snapping her out fright.
"Milady?" Robin gently called out to her.
"Sorry" she apologized to the men turning back in her seat "Made me jump" with the door quickly forgotten the three enjoyed their evening together, oblivious to who was outside that door afraid to come in.
Turning off her phone the redhead retreated back to her bar as she felt the final nail being banging into the coffin that was now her marriage each time she heard the hard thud of the dart the hit the wall around the board.
Once she had ran out of darts the assassin took a long swig out of the glass of rum that she had to hand on a nearby table, feeling the burn of the liquid go down her throat as she hears the door to the bar open and close.
Will Scarlet, ever the curious man stepped into the bar unaware that the same person he had been trying to avoid this whole time was actually the owner of the Hidden Ones. The woman was fiercely protective over Robin and the Merry Men and the second she saw him, he would be a dead man for what he did to them.
Turning to leave he was abruptly stopped when a dart thudded into the door in front of him, or what he thought was a dart. On closer look it was in fact a small knife that had bee impaled into the wooden door.
"Too late" her voice rang through his ears "I've seen you Will Scarlet".
Slowly the thief turned around with his hands open for the redhead to see them "I can explain".
"No need. Come have a drink, on me this time".
The former Black Widow and Will Scarlet sat at the bar of the Hidden One's with a glass each in front of them and a full bottle of unopened rum sat in the assassins hand.
She looked a wreck. She looked like she had been drinking for far long before he had arrived looking for a quick drink and maybe a bottle or two to leave with.
"I really do want to make amends, you know, for what I did to Robin and the Merry Men at Sherwood Forest"
"You nearly got them all killed".
"Nearly" he corrected her "Surely that's worth something?".
"You'd think so, but no" she tells him "All because of a woman I heard. Where is she now?" she asks him looking straight at him. He stayed silent before looking back straight in front of him. He lost her "Sorry".
"I chose my path. Sometimes even when you win, you lose" she stayed quiet this time "Robin told me how he met you know. A few dozen times in fact".
"Oh yeah? How did we meet then?".
"He told me, he had received word that his friend had gotten married, that he was going to meet the woman that had made an honest woman out of him in a tavern. He was still a two bit thief back then looking to make some easy money while he waited for you and Johnny boy to arrive-".
"Careful" she curtly warned him.
"Anyway, he came across you and thought easy money. He challenged you to an arm wrestle, low and behold this pretty little thing beat him at his own game. He said he'd never met anyone else like you. Not afraid to show her own strength to anyone".
"I didn't make him the man he is today. Marian did. He need's to remember that".
"Aye thats true, but tt wasn't easy for him, you know. Loving you. I asked him once how he could do it, to love someone as dark as the Black Widow. Do you know what he told me?".
"What?".
"He said 'There's good in her, Will. And when you see good in someone, you don't give up on them...Especially if they don't see it themselves. And if you're ever lucky enough to find true love, you fight for it every day".
"Do you still believe that?" she questioned him "After everything you did for love? Was it worth it?".
"Mate, if you find someone you love enough to ruin your entire life, it's always worth it".
"Take a leap of faith" she whispered to herself as she felt her heart beat faster in her chest as she finally knew what she had to. What she should've done when John first showed up. She just had to hope she wasn't to late.
Following the their grandfather's and great uncle's instructions Tom and Henry continued to methodically dust and sweep the shop until it was spotless. Operation Mongoose was at an agonizing standstill, until they gained more of the man's trust.
The teen contained to buff out the fingerprints on the glass cabinets with the rag in his hand as he and Henry heard Mr. Gold re-enter the main shop as the teen stopped to stand back up straight to stand with his cousin to try and convince the man to teach them something more useful to the Operation.
"Okay, we've swept the floor twice and dusted everything in this shop" Henry addressed his grandfather as the older man stood behind the cabinet
"Don't you think it's time we learned something a bit more... Magical?" his nephew suggested.
The whole shop was filled to the brim with magic. The hair on the back of neck would stand up on end each time he approached to an item that had some sort of magic attached to it. Those items he deliberately avoided.
"Well, boys, today is your lucky day" he addressed the pair as he turned away to pick something up as the pair smiled excitedly at the prospect. The older man presented them with a brown bottle filled with liquid "Because I am gonna give you a potion that possesses the power to transform something old into something new" he tells them.
"What kind of potion is that?" Henry asked his grandfather.
The boy's faces fell in disappointment as he turned the bottle to reveal that it was a bottle of furniture polish. Nothing magical at all ."Furniture Polish. You can start in the back. Don't touch anything you shouldn't" at that the pair head to the back room just as the the door to the shop opened. Looking to his right he see a very angry looking John Smith storming into the shop.
"Ah Captain" he greeted the man "I was wondering when you would show up" he said thinking back to the only time they had met in Arendelle.
"Help me get her back" the Captain demanded out of the man as he placed her wedding ring onto of the glass counter-top.
"I'm afraid I'm not following" the dark one asked with e curious brow "Has my niece gotten herself lost somewhere? If so I assure you, she's more than capable to get herself out of whatever quandary she's found herself in" he tells the man.
"No. We had an argument. And she left me, told me to leave".
"Then I might suggest you make an appointment with Dr. Hopper. Maybe some couple's therapy might do you some good" he suggested to the man.
"No" he said angrily slapping his hand on the glass making the items on the surface shake"Not after the deal we made".
"Might I remind you, my grandson and your son in the back of my shop" he calmly tell the man pointing to the back room "I've had the experience of a son being disappointed in father" he warned him with gritted teeth as the Captain made himself take a few calm breath before the man in from of him continued. "I remember our deal. And I seem to remember you gong back on it" he retorts.
"How?" John asked him in confusion.
"I told you, when the time came for her past to catch up to you. Which did. I told you not to fight" he said.
"I didn't" the man argued "I let them take our son away. I stood back while-".
"Ahhh but you did" the older man quickly reminds him "Didn't you?" the man question him making him think back to that night on the Godspeed.
"Oh my dear Captain, you really think I'd let your men-" the caretaker never finished his sentence as a scuffle was heard behind the pair as John had managed a way out of the binding around his wrists to take the sword that had been pointed at his neck, quickly taking care of the man before heading straight to the caretaker only for a loud bang to ring out in the night.
Amelia's screams of anguish was the last thing he heard as he engulfed by the sea as he came out of the distant memory. He fought back when he shouldn't have.
"And we both know who saved you from dying that night" the dark one continued as the man looked straight at him"The temporary loss of your memories was a price so to speak. Even the king of gods power has limits. As do I, I cannot make my niece fall in love with you again, nor I wouldn't. Now I suggest you leave before you make a mistake you'd regret".
Leaving the ring behind the Captain walked out of the shop leaving the man in peace before it was disturbed once again as the door to his shop opened and in walked David, Hook and his wife and the Ice Queen. With this procession into his shop, it seemed his day wound't be coming to an end just yet.
With her mind still reeling from what the fairy Tinkerbelle had just told her she took a break from the hot tavern as she sat on a barrel outside as she willed for the night to cool her off as she stared up at the shard like palace that overshadowed its kingdom in the distance.
Determined to prove the fairy wrong she took it upon herself to tell John of condition. He was ecstatic when she told him in a secluded part of the tavern, away from everyone else and Robin. He'd never seen him that happy before.
Now she regretted telling him about her condition right after she re-entered the tavern as he announced it to the whole building that he was going to be a father quickly followed by downing an entire jug of mead in celebration quickly followed by another.
"Milday" Robin's voice brought her out of her muddled thoughts as the thief appeared before her with a sad smile "May I join you?".
"Of course" she told him with a small smile as he sat himself on the wooden barrel next to her as he leaned against the brick wall next to her.
"I didn't have a chance to congratulate you earlier" he started "You and John will make wonderful parents".
"I don't know. I didn't exactly have a father around to know, and I barely remember my mother and my father.. that's a whole different story.
She felt his hand cover her own making her look at him in the moonlight "I'm sure you'll figure it out. John's father wasn't not around and I'm sure he'll make sure he's around for his".
"Thank you" she told him "What about you? Have you got anyone special?" she inquired with the man next to her.
"No, not at the moment, my lifestyle isn't right for a wife, let alone a child".
"Maybe it'll happen" she drawled "Six months ago, I was nowhere near where I am today. You'd be surprised what you would do if the opportunity ever came up, you'd do anything to keep it, even make a new life for it".
"This old life? Do you miss it?" he asks her.
"Sometimes" she admitted to the thief. She did miss it. There were days she wished she was back home surrounded by the sounds and smells of the city she grew up in. But she knew she could never return. That was her price for the life she had now and she was willing to pay it.
"I'm sorry" Robin tells her giving her hand an extra squeeze of comfort as the door of the tavern suddenly burst open as she recognized some the Godspeeds crew mate's tumbling out of the door closely followed by their Quartermaster who had her husband slung over his muscular shoulder dead to the world
"Milady!" the Quartermaster boomed out as she slipped off the barrel "The captain has drunk his last drink" he announced to her.
"Take him to the ship" she ordered the men who nodded to their captains wife "Gather everyone up we need to leave at first light, hungover or not" she ordered them.
"You heard the woman!" the man yelled once again as the rest of the crew followed their Quartermaster and unconscious Captain down the street making the assassin close here eyes in disdain at the man's behavior.
"Amelia" Robin's voice called out to her making her want the ground to swallow her up below her.
"Thank you for tonight, but we need to go" she said without looking at him.
"Amelia-" he tried to stop her from following her love down the cobbled streets back to their ship.
"I need to go" she tells him.
Maybe in a different life they would be together, but fate seemed to be against the thief and former assassin as a watery smile grew on the man's face. He never thought he would fall for the redhead as quickly as he had done, but the moment his eye's set on her, he knew she was important. But she loved another.
"I really do hope we meet again Amelia" the thief said to her as he forced himself to say.
"Me too" she replies before starting her journey back to the Godspeed ready to leave this place and get back onto the open sea.
Sherwood Forest
4 Years Later
John was dead. His best friend gone. Killed defending his family.
That was all Robin could think as the Merry Men had gathered around camp with the addition of John's widow Amelia. The sombre mood had filtered through the group at the news of their fallen former comrade. Marian did her best to comfort her husband at this difficult time as he sat next to his best friends widow.
The two had secluded themselves from the others as Marian handed a bowl of food to her husband and to the red head who took the bowl gratefully with a nod.
"I'm sorry this is how we meet" she said to Marian who took a seat next to her husband "It doesn't seem only a few years ago I met Robin for the first time".
"I as well, Robin spoke highly of your husband. I'm so sorry for your loss, I wouldn't wish that fate on anyone".
"Thank you"
"Is there anything you are in need of Milady?" Robin asked the redhead "Shelter? Food?".
"No. Neither" Amelia answered her husband's friend shaking her head, putting the bowl of food down onto the ground "I have made arrangements for both already. I plan to take my vengeance on my former brothers for their transgressions against me".
"Amelia, is vengeance really the answer here?" Marian implore to the woman "You're grieving your family, stay with us a while you mourn but don't go down a road you may not be able to return".
But Amelia wouldn't listen to them "I don't expect you to understand my intentions, but this is the only way for them to pay for taking the people I love away from me. And the only way to do that is my taking their lives. I've already made a deal with the Dark One, he'll aide my venture for as long as it takes to bring all to justice while I complete contracts for him".
"Then why did you come here if you've already made up your mind" Robin was the one to ask her.
"To find them and beat them I need to reclaim Monteriggioni the Creed's headquarters to be able to reach out my influence in the Enchanted Forest to hunt down my former Brothers".
"We're not soldiers Amelia" the thief tells her.
"That's where the Evil Queen comes in, she has the armies to take the city back without a single innocent to perish, they'll have no choice but to hand it back to me. That's why I don't need your help I already have a deal with her" At that Robin stood up from his seat and stormed into the Forest in a fit of anger at the revelation of her.
"Robin!" Amelia called after the man as she followed him into the forest making the rest of the camp look up from their own conversations at their leaders sudden fit of anger.
Robin whirled around to face the redhead "You really think I'll aide you in your plot of revenge. I refuse stand by as you darken your heart".
Once she caught up to the man who had stopped with angry hands on his hips she continued her explanation to his back "Once I reclaim Monteriggioni I can create thief guilds throughout the Enchanted Forest, I need people I can trust to run them".
"-You'd never need to pick up your bow against them, you can live your own life with Marian, and you'd be safe. You're the only connection I have to the man I love, if I go down this path, I need to know your safe, by heading a guild you can do that".
Robin's head dropped as he heard the desperation in her voice as a wave of grief washed over him over the death of his dearest friend. A pair of hands cupped his head and forced his eye to meet hers to see the tears the freely slowed from her green eyes he became captivated with from the moment he met her three years ago. The only other woman he'd fallen for other than his wife.
"I need to do this. It's the only thing that makes sense anymore Robin" she told him wiping the tears from his face "They need to pay for what they've done, even if I darken my heart, I need to do something to take the pain away. Tell me to walk away and I'll never bother you again, but I'll be doing this whether you're with me or not".
The thief searched the woman's eyes seeing the pain and desperation that filled them to the brim, if he let her go now, he would never see her again. She would keep her word and leave him be with Marian. But who would look out for her? Would he really allow her to go down this dark path with no tether to the light?.
Would John be able to forgive him for letting the woman he loved so much to marry, would he able to forgive himself?.
"Don't leave" Robin whispered letting his head fall onto her forehead "I'll be with you until the end milady" he promised to her.
Sat in her vault with the storybook in her lap, the former Evil Queen once again read through the stories of the residents of Storybrooke, including her own and Amelia's, trying to figure out who the Author was. The only potential lead they had was going to Gold himself seeing as he had defied his narrative as a villain to marry the woman he loved.
Hearing footsteps coming from the stone steps that led down to the underground vault her eyes' snapped up as she suddenly saw the redhead that had been playing more and more on her mind of late.
"Melia?" she called out to the redhead who hadn't quite seen her as she shut the storybook on the page that illustrated the assassin marrying her first true love. Placing Operation Mongoose to one side as she tried to gauge what had happened to the woman that had looked like she had ran all the there.
Hearing her name the assassin finally set her eyes on the woman she had been looking all over town for.
"I've lived by vow's my whole life" she started with a shaky voice as she took a step into Regina's part of the vault "To serve the Brotherhood in its entirety. To find vengeance for my family. I've tried to keep them every day of my life but there's always been one I've haven't been able to keep until recently".
"Which one?" she inquired as the redhead slowly entered the vault.
"To take a leap of faith".
Taking her chance she didn't give the her soulmate a moment to reply as she quickly closed the distance between them, grabbing her head in her hands before bending down to place a searing kiss on her lips, taking her by complete surprise.
She felt like she was able to breathe for the first time in weeks as she felt the woman lips kiss her back in an equally passionate kiss she as stood up to deepen it further as she felt the Queen's hand on the small of her back where it belonged all along. She wanted to show just how much she truly loved the woman in her arms.
Her soulmate. Her partner in crime. Her heart.
AN: Hello!
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