Just a little warning, this chapter deals with some homophobia, apart from that it's mainly just mad archer fluff and Neverland adventures!
The birds had just begun their morning sing-song high in the trees, the winds carried the soft hum of the river and crunching sounds of nuts being nibbled on by the small creatures above. The sun was low in the sky, not quite ready to say goodbye to the moon and take up their duties of the day, much like the two lovers who lay cuddled under their cloaks, arms tangled, faces pressed together, lips red and swollen from events of the night before. The archer was the first to stir, being used to early morning hunts she had seen the skies like these many times, but this time was more special, because this time she was seeing it with her true love, tucked safely in her arms snoring silently. Robin still couldn't believe that she had managed to find someone like Alice, someone so kind and pure. Especially with all the things that life had thrown at her, she was still the most good-hearted person, that Robin had ever met -and she used to live in the same town as Snow White and Prince Charming- Alice was so much more than any words could describe, and Robin had tried, but none of them seemed to do her justice, she was just simply Alice. Not the girl from the stories that falls down a rabbit hole, -although Robin thought that she would probably end up doing that eventually on one of her travels no doubt- she was not just the girl who was forced to spend her life trapped in a tower, and she was just not the Guardian, the one to finally put the Dark One curse to rest. Yes, she had parts of those things in her, but that wasn't who she was…she was Alice, Robin's true love, Captain Hook's daughter, the Wicked Witch's future daughter in law, maybe. But right now, when Robin looked down at the peaceful blonde in her arms, she was just Alice, her Alice.
"Morning sunshine," Robin whispered as she gently leaned down to kiss her lover sweetly, making the blonde stir slightly in her arms.
"Mmm…Morning." Alice mumbled against Robin's lips, gripping onto the archer undershirt tightly, trying to do the impossible and pull them closer together. "How early is it?" The blonde muttered as they pulled apart, prompting the blonde girl to cuddle up against the brunette once again.
"Pretty early, the sun isn't even up properly yet." The brunette spoke sweetly as she ran her fingers through the tattered blonde hair. "Do we have to get going? Or can we stay like this for a while?"
"We can stay like this forever…" Alice smiled as she moved to straddle the brunette, kissing her hungrily.
"Sounds good to me." Robin moaned as Alice moved from her lips to her neck.
"I love you Nobin." Alice stopped suddenly to say, still not over the fact that she could say those three words.
"Not as much as I love you." The brunette coed, sweetly before flipping them over so that she was now on top.
"Cheater…" The blonde giggled as the archer attacked her neck with
"You love it!" Robin smirked, as she pinned the blonde's hands above her head, as she stared hungrily at her love.
"Maybe I do…" Alice whispered as she wrapped her legs around the archer's waist, pulling her closer. "Maybe I'm tired of waiting." The blonde whispered against the brunette's lips, before kissing her fiercely.
"Are you sure?" Robin's eyes lit up as she pulled back, she needed to be sure before she ruined everything.
"I need you Robin…I'm sure." Alice purred before she was attacked by Robin's lips, all the pent-up frustration being poured into every kiss. Alice's hand found there under the archer's shirt, scraping her fingernails down the brunette's bare back as she pulled them closer, melting together, both willing and ready to take this next step…that was until an arrow flew by, just missing Robin's head.
In a flash, Robin threw herself off the blonde and reached for her bow and quiver, only to find that both seemed to be missing, "What the heck?" Robin cursed, as she finally turned to come face to face with their attackers.
"Looking for this?" Both girls gasped in surprise, as they looked up at the man that haunted Alice's nightmares sometimes. Standing tall, with Robin's bow in hand and a giant smirk plastered on his face. "Miss me?"
"You! Give me my bow back!" Robin hissed through gritted teeth, at the man who had led the angry mob of villagers after them, the man who had locked them up and chased them through the forest, a few months ago.
"I knew you were a bunch of troll lovers…but this!" The man spat, as Robin helped Alice to her feet. "This is just disgusting…"
"And what's it to you?!" Robin moved to walk towards the man but was quickly stopped by Alice's hand on her arm.
"Robin don't…giving into bullies never achieves anything." The blonde whispered.
"That may be true, but punching this jerk in the face will make me feel a whole lot better!" The brunette violently whispered back, before taking a deep breath and smiling gently at the blonde. "Sorry, I'll leave the punching to my mind and not his face," Robin mumbled calmly as she shrugged out of Alice's hold and stepped towards the man. "Give me what's mine and then leave."
"You kind of people make me sick! I thought we had run you lot out of town, seems I was wrong." The man spat, ignoring every word that Robin said.
"Seems like this realm missed the pride memo." Robin mumbled sarcastically to herself, "Look, I'm not interested in fighting with you again, you have your beliefs, I have mine. So can you just gave me my stuff back so we can all get on our way and hopefully never see each other again?"
"People like you don't deserve to walk these realms freely. If it was up to me, I'd lock you all up in a tower and throw away the key!" The man spat, pushing Robin violently.
"What the hell is your problem? Is your life that lonely and pathetic, that you spend your time trying hurt people?" Alice spoke up, shocking the pair.
"And the crazy speaks. Thought you were going to stay hiding behind your pretty little girlfriend here." The vile man winked at Robin, only angering the blonde woman more and more.
"Don't you dare even look at her! People like you don't even deserve to breathe the same air as someone like her!" Alice moved to run at the man, but she was thankfully stopped by Robin quickly grabbing her waist and lifting her to stand behind her.
"What is a pretty girl like you doing wasting your life with a crazy bitch like her?!" He spat taking a step towards Robin, who clenched her fists in anger. "Come with me and I'll show you how a real man could make you feel."
"Really? You could help cure me?" Robin played dumb as she stepped closer to the man, swallowing the disgust as she allowed him to take her hand.
"And this will all be some nightmare left in the past. What do you say?" He smiled to himself, actually believing that he had won Robin over.
"Well, how could I possibly say no to such an amazing offer." Robin coed, as she placed her hand on his shoulder. "Maybe like this." The brunette whispered, before bringing her knee up violently, smashing it into his privates.
"You bitch!" He cried out as he fell to his knees in pain, allowing Robin the chance to grab her bow and quiver from his hold.
"I suggest that you walk away before I do something else you'll regret!" The brunette spat at the shivering man, who nodded weakly. "Coming Tower Girl? I believe we have a date to get underway." Robin winked as she extended her hand to the now calm blonde.
"Can't wait!" Alice chirped before placing a small peck on Robin's lips, taking great pleasure in the moan of disgust that came from the injured man.
"You two will regret this!" The man shouted as the two girls jumped onto their horse.
"We're shivering in our gay boots! Have fun icing your balls!" Robin shouted as she took off on the horse, Alice happily tucked behind the archer this time.
The cave where Wendy brought them to was dark, wet and smelt like a mermaid's toilet. The magic that Regina and Zelena possessed was ripped from them and Hook's ability to fight dampened. The three prisoners stood huddled together, Hook holding them both protectively as the effect's of their loss of magic took its toll on their bodies.
"It won't last forever. Only until you leave my home." The young girl appeared in a puff of yellow smoke, sitting on a throne of rocks.
"This wasn't part of the deal!" The pirate spat, as Zelena pushed herself out of the man's hold, able to regain control over her body, considering this wasn't the first time she had been drained of her magic.
"I swear if you do anything to hurt us…"
"Silence…I brought you here because the trees can't be trusted." Wendy shouted as she jumped down from her throne to face the trio. "The Lost Boys, they never accepted me as their ruler, not really anyway."
"I don't care if you can't seem to keep a bunch of children under control, tell us what you need from us!" Regina snapped, still holding onto Hook's arm as she took a step towards the girl.
"I need to show them who the real ruler is…and for me to do that, I need you to find this," Wendy smirked as she pulled out a tattered piece of parchment paper, with a badly drawn stone scribbled on it.
"A rock? You essentially kidnapped us, because you want us to find a bloody rock!" Zelena snapped, having to hold herself back before she did something she would regret.
"You have not been kidnapped by me…you are all welcome to leave whenever you want!" The honey blonde girl smirked as a doorway appeared in front of Zelena. "But, then you won't know what Gothel has planned for Alice Jones and Robin Mills…"
"We get this rock, and you tell us everything?" Hook questioned, his face dropping at the mere mention of his daughter.
"That's the plan, but if you think this task too…mundane for you, I'll happily just take this little potion. Erasing the encounter with dear Gothel from my mind entirely." Wendy giggled as she played with the small vile in her hand. "So, do we have a deal or not?"
"Aye, we have a deal." Hook answered before any of the women he was traveling with had a chance to speak. "Where can we find this rock of yours?"
The two girls rode in silence down the deserted road, neither knowing what to say about the events of their morning. They had come so close to finally being together, there was so much want and desperation in their kisses, so much love and lust in their touches and so much promise and hunger in their breathless words. But all that was crushed, when that pig-headed idiot appeared. It wasn't the first time Robin had been a victim of that kind of bullying, Storybrooke wasn't exactly a very accepting place, but she had thought things would be different here. This was supposed to be the place where true love wins, and magic exists, so what was so wrong with two girls loving each other?
"You okay?" Alice mumbled against Robin's back, pulling the brunette from her horrible daydream filled with all the heartache and homophobia that she assumed was waiting for them at every corner.
"Yeah…just thinky," Robin replied quietly with a shrug of her shoulders.
"I'm sorry." The blonde whispered, just loud enough for the brunette in front of her to hear, prompting her to stop the horse in its tracks and jump off.
"What could you possibly need to be sorry for?" Robin paced as she waited for the blonde to get off the horse, both of them wanting to get this conversation out of the way before they reached their destination.
"I'm sorry that…" Alice looked down, embarrassed for causing a scene in the middle of the forest. "I'm sorry that I'm not a man!" The blonde shouted before hiding her face in her hands.
"What? Why would you think that I wanted you to be a man?" Robin couldn't help but let out a small giggle, as she forced the girl to remove her hands from her face. "Is this because of what happened with that jerkwad?" Alice gave her a watery smile, before nodding slightly.
"Things like that would never have happened if one of us were a man." Alice kicked the ground, she didn't understand why people like him didn't accept her, why she had been afraid to tell her own Papa that she was into girl's and not guy's. She wasn't stupid, she knew what a being a lesbian meant in the enchanted forest, it meant strangers staring at you, it meant being alone. But she thought she had gotten past all that when she met Robin when she kissed Robin. She knew that she wouldn't be alone anymore, she just thought that they could be just like any other couple.
"If one of us were a man, then we wouldn't be us," Robin replied simply, reaching out to touch the smaller woman's hand gently. "I could have dated a guy if I wanted to…but I didn't, because I don't care about what other people say. I like girls, it's part of who I am and if people don't like it then screw them!" The brunette pulled the blonde into her arms abruptly, causing her to let out a squeak.
"You really don't care about the looks we'll get when we hold hands in public, or the whispers when we share a small kiss?" Alice mumbled as she relaxed into her archer's arms, allowing the taller girl to sway gently with her.
"Nope!" Robin said with a pop. "None of that matters to me, as long as I've got you by my side."
"You really mean that?"
"With all my heart." Robin winked, "We are probably going to come across people like him our whole lives, but as long as we are happy together, they can't do anything to hurt us." The brunette promised, before dipping her head to capture the blonde's lips with her own.
"I just wish that we didn't have to fight to be happy…" Alice mumbled as she cradled her head in Robin's chest.
"Me too, Tower Girl…and one day, maybe we won't." Robin kissed blonde hair as they stayed holding each other for a little while longer.
"This is the last time you get to make a decision for the group pirate!" Zelena hissed through gritted teeth, her skin green with sickness as the small rowboat rocked against the frightening waves.
"It was for our daughters! And I'd happily do it again if it meant they stayed safe." The one-handed man spat back, as the rowed carefully.
"Will you two quit it! We've come this far, we can't let a child come between us! Let's just get what she wants, find out what she knows and then get off this horrible island!" Regina snapped, thoroughly annoyed with her two traveling companions bickering.
"Fine." "Aye okay." The two said in unison.
"Are we nearly at Skull Island? The sooner we retrieve the stupid stone the better!" Zelena moaned, thinking back to the conversation they had just been forced to have with Wendy.
"I think we're here," Regina spoke quietly, nodding towards the large skull-shaped rock floating on the sea.
"Just as I remember it…" Hook muttered to himself, as the little rowboat neared the shore of the rock island. "Keep your wits about you, nothing good has ever come from this place and I've got a feeling that's why that little missy sent us here instead of her."
"Always the brains of the operation, aren't ya Hook." Regina rolled her eyes as she accepted his help to step out of the boat.
"If you don't want my expertise, just say the word." The pirate shot back playfully, knowing that Regina was only messing with him.
"Now, why would I do that? We wouldn't want our favorite pirate to feel left out, would we?" The brunette teased right back, as Zelena looked on smugly. She couldn't believe how easily her sister had gotten along with this version of Hook, considering how much she disliked the other one.
"If you two are quite finished. Let's find this Power Stone or whatever it's called." The redhead proclaimed before strutting off into the dark cave. "So pirate, where is this little stone hidden?"
"It says here, it's hidden in the eye of the heart." Hook spoke as he pulled out the tattered piece of parchment.
"The eye of the heart? What can't you pirates be straightforward?" Regina moaned, as she used her magic to light up the cave.
"Why don't we split up?" Zelena suggested, mimicking her sister's actions.
"Like that's gone so well for us in the past," Hook muttered, earning a scowl from the redhead.
"And to think I was just starting to like you!" Zelena spat playfully, knowing that all of them were running on nothing, completely exhausted and frustrated with their current situation. "What do you suggest then pirate?"
"Why don't we follow these?" The pirate mumbled as he held the torch up to strange markings that littered the walls, leading up to a small corner just below the right eye of the skull.
"Always the smart arse, aren't you Captain!" The one-handed Captain scowled at the familiar voice of his former nemesis filled the cave.
"Pan…"
"Nice to see you too, Hook." The young boy smirked as he came into the light. "Now, what brings you to my humble little home?" Pan asked, taking a step towards the group, only to be stopped by the sharp blade cold against his neck.
"I haven't forgotten our last encounter, or what I said would happen if I ever saw your smug face ever again!" The pirate spat, putting pressure on the boy's neck.
"Seems only fitting that you'd be the one to end me, once and for all." Pan smiled sadly at his old enemy. "Get it over with Captain!"
"Wait!" Zelena shouted before Hook delivered the final blow, prompting the pirate to stop before hitting his target. "We need him!"
"Aye…" Hook muttered, lowering his sword. "What do you know of this?" He asked, pulling out the parchment paper for the young boy.
"What use would a man like you, have with a stone like that?" The boy's eyes lit up as he snatched the paper off the pirate.
"Do you know where it is or not?!" Hook snapped, raising his sword once again.
"Temper, temper Captain!" Pan laughed, as he circled the man. "I can give you what you desire," The boy smirked, with a flick of his wrist a dark stone appeared, replacing his right eye with a glowing hole.
"How do we know it's not just one of your little tricks?" Regina questioned as the boy held out the stone for Hook to take.
"What could I possibly gain from this? That bitch has me trapped he! Forced to watch as she runs my island into the ground!" The boy grew frustrated.
"Wendy? She's the one who trapped you?" Hook asked, stepping closer to the two women behind him, just in case Pan was to try and strike.
"She's one of them! Her and that monster Gothel, they imprisoned me! But not before they could get their hands on this!"
"The stone...it's the key!" Zelena reached out, quickly plucking the stone from the boy's hand.
"She sent you here, didn't she?" Pan asked rhetorically, smirking at the trio. "Whatever you do, you have to swear that you'll take the stone and leave! Gothel can never get her hands on this!"
"Why should we trust you! You've only ever led me astray before!" Hook shouted, as they cave began to glow, light bouncing off of every surface.
"If there was one thing I was loyal to, it was the stone! Find the rest, that is the key to stopping her!" Pan shouted as the light began to engulf him. "Goodbye, old friend...find them!"
"Where did he…" Zelena was the first to speak when the lights finally settled. "Is he?"
"Dead? Aye...and we need to get off this bloody island before that witch gets us!" Hook shouted as they clung to each other allowing Regina's magic to teleport them to the Jolly Roger.
"Okay, so what it lacked in candy apples, it definitely made up for in festival games!" Robin smiled happily, as she handed the small plush fox over to the blonde.
"For me? But you won it!" The blonde asked in confusion, as she tried to hand the small fox back.
"I won it for you silly!" The brunette laughed, before pulling the blonde into her arms and placing a small peck on her wanting lips, blissfully ignoring any strange looks they received from passersby.
"Thank you, I love it!" Alice cuddled into Robin, as they walked through the small streets filled with vendors and market stalls. "What do you want to do next?"
"Honestly? I saw a little inn a few streets back…" Robin teased, thinking back to their morning together.
"Oh really? And what would we want with an inn? When we've got the whole forest at our disposal." Alice played coy, as she snuggled closer.
"Alice, I love you...but I don't think my back could survive another night sleeping on the ground!" Robin moaned, pulling Alice into a nearby alleyway. "And I don't feel like being interrupted again." The brunette purred as she hungrily attacked the blonde's lips, pinning her against the wall.
"About that…" Alice mumbled, afraid to look Robin in the eye.
"Hey, talk to me." The brunette placed a gentle finger under the blondes chin, gripping it slightly as she tilted her head upwards.
"I...I'm kind of glad that we got interrupted. I know that I said that I was ready, but…"
"Alice, my love. I told you, you don't ever have to worry about telling me stuff like that! If you're not ready yet, I'm perfectly content with just spending the night with you in my arms." Robin smiled the brightest of smiles at her red-faced lover, before kissing her passionately. "I love you, with every piece of me and I will wait as long as you need me to."
"I love you too My Robin." Alice beamed, as she stole a kiss from her archer. "Now, about that inn?"