At first his vision was blurry, Robin rubbed his eyes and slowly the world gained shape and form around him. He felt the cold, winter wind hit his cheeks as his eyes took in a sea of white snow and tall naked trees.
Suddenly he felt a presence just behind him, it emanated a familiar heat, he quickly turned around to face it's source.
Red lips that bore a smirk he wanted to kiss away.
"Took you long enough," she spoke, raising a perfect eyebrow.
"Where did I go?" He was confused.
"Doesn't really matter-" she said, taking a few steps forward in order to close the distance between them. Her eyes were looking down at the buttons of his vest, she reached for one of them and toyed with it, "The real important thing is," her gaze shot back to his, "-how fast can you get rid of these tacky khaki trousers, love?"
Robin's heart skipped a beat at her words, the warmth of her palm on his stomach made his skin buzz even through the fabric. But just as he was reaching for her waist, in order to pull her closer, he felt something else against his belly.
Unlike Regina's warm hand, it was icy, cold and pointy, the smell of iron and blood invaded his senses immediately.
When he looked down, all that came out of his mouth was a strangled sound of the word, "NO!"
There was an arrow sticking out of her middle, he brought his fingers to it feeling the warm, gooey texture of her blood in between his fingers, its color mingling with the raspberry red of her velvet riding coat.
When her body went limp in his arms, Robin was able to spot the blurry image of the archer responsible for the fatal blow just behind her.
"REGINA!"
Robin opened his eyes, sweat prickling his forehead, hands trembling, heart racing.
A nightmare. It was just a nightmare.
He instinctively reached out for Regina, who was sleeping peacefully beside him, and carefully slid his arms around her bringing her head to rest on his chest. Having the heat of the skin to skin contact, that unearthly buzz that jumped between them, soothed and calmed him down.
Just a stupid baddream. Nothing more.
Then again, he had dreamed about her with the King all those months ago and had recently found that it had actually happened in reality.
This train of thought is doing nothing to ease my mind.
Robin really shouldn't have been that surprised, things were going too well. Ever since she had told him about Daniel their dynamic had changed, there was mutual trust there, common ground, and, at least on Robin's side, a feeling he had not thought he would ever feel again.
Love
He loved her, had been in love with her for quite some time. Robin found that every new discovery, every new moment they shared together only made the feeling grow.
When he had found her by the lake a week ago, she had looked so different, lighter, freer. Robin had found himself admitting to her just how much he admired her. He looked up to her for her wit, her tenaciousness, even her ability to yield magic. She had blushed, something he had thought did not belong in her repertoire, her walls were coming down. But just as he had thought he was getting an even closer look at the real Regina, she had pushed him into the lake.
Maybe that was the real Regina. He liked this Regina, playful and naughty.
So he had brought her down with him to the lake and before long they were all over each other, just the way he liked, just the way he needed it, she was like a drug he could not get enough of.
When she uttered the words, "Fuck I need you." The words did not take him by surprise, but her reaction to her own words spoke volumes.
He quickly understood why, after all, having a mother who had taught her the mantra "Love is weakness" and then actively saying that she needed someone was, in her eyes, a show of weakness. She had looked downright terrified and Robin really did not know how to soothe her insecurities, not after such a day, so he made her laugh, "Are you wet enough?" he had asked her.
And it worked, she relaxed again and before long he was inside her as their bodies moved in concert beneath the moonlight.
But looking back at that night, what mostly intrigued Robin was the fact that he was able to see through Regina's invisibility spell. He knew there was something unique between them, her magic had worked differently on him and sometimes not even worked at all. Not to mention the fact that he was pretty sure he had been the one to free her feet from the trap William had set in the woods that day.
Maybe he had channeled her magic, or something like that.
The next day Robin had been intrigued and a little nauseated at the fact that she wanted to investigate the Blind Witch's house. He did not know what to expect from that small investigation of theirs, but he most certainly had not planned to suddenly share with her the story about his horrid mother and how he had run away from his arranged marriage at 16.
He did not like talking about his past, somehow he felt as if that Robin Hood had died the day Marian had drawn her last breath. A new Robin had been born then, merciless, without compassion and heartless. But then, he remembered how much she had shared with him, how much she had shown him from her memories, even if she didn't mean to show all of the ones that he saw. Suddenly he felt like he had to tell her, show her that they could add having a horrible mother to the list of things they had in common.
Long story short, he had fallen for her, hard.
Ever since that day their secret plan had been clear, pretending she was still after Snow White as they made their slow way to the summer palace in order to investigate light magic. He had to admit that pretending was fun, it was their little inside joke. They had made a habit of noticing who the most dramatically terrified peasants were and imitating them late at night after everyone had retired. That had led them to touching, which led to kissing and before they knew it they were all over each other, night after night.
It was bliss, Robin never thought he'd ever feel like this again, which only made that awfully realistic nightmare even worse.
What if she was in danger?
Robin closed his eyes, trying to get the image off his mind and managed to fall asleep to dreamless was until he felt her shifting and could feel her intense stare over him.
"Good morning-" he opened his eyes to see her.
"Look who's finally woken up-" and now she was blushing, "I thought you were finally going to manage to swallow your tongue today."
He chuckled as he raised himself to his elbows to get a better look at her. It was funny how their dynamic had changed, now she made fun of his snoring and he told her she snored as well. At times she kind of choked and stopped breathing during the night which was absolutely hilarious and terrifying at the same time.
It did not take long for the banter to cease and for his hands to find home under her camisole, they really could not get enough of each other…
CRACK
As soon as the sound invaded his senses Robin was brought back to his nightmare and instinctively placed himself in front of her acting as a shield from the tent's entrance.
"I'm going to check out what happened," his ears were burning as he exited the tent, his body tense, alert, fearing they were under attack like in his nightmare.
As he inspected the outside of the tent he soon discovered that there was no threat. Merely a wagon carrying too many supplies that had given in to the weight it had been buried with and made the crashing sound.
Robin cursed himself for leaving Regina without so much as a glance back but before he could make his way back to the tent he overheard a group of knights chatting over their breakfast.
"-I don't see the point of us making plans for the day if we're always gonna run late." one of the men complained.
"I just wish I was the one making us late-" another voice, he chuckled before continuing, "- you know, over there in the Queen's tent-" it was Bishop's voice.
His words were followed by a hoard of laughter and a few whistles. Robin's vision became completely red, his ears buzzed and his teeth clenched, animal instinct overtook him, his actions being guided by fury and his path by Bishop's annoying voice.
He was still speaking when Robin got to him, "-I mean, I am aware that she can kill me with a flick of her wrist, but, doesn't that make it even more enticing? I tell you, if I was the one under those skirts-"
His nasty next words were cut when Robin caught him by the back of the neck with ferocious strength.
How dare he speak of her that way? He would pay. Robin would make him pay.
What transpired after was a blur, Robin could only feel rage and the warmth of Bishop's blood in between his fingers. Just as he felt he was going to end Bishop's life, Robin felt a gush of chilly wind and suddenly his world gained color once again.
Not tainted with red alone, his vision became clearer as he decided to give Bishop a strong kick to the shins with a threat to kill him if he ever saw his sorry face again and left.
Robin walked towards the river to take the blood of his hands in a haze. A million voices speaking at the same time inside his head.
What was happening to him? What had just happened? Was he out of control? Was he becoming weak? Or worse, was he turning back to the noble Robin Hood?
As they rode towards the Summer Palace, those questions pondered in his head, insistent, latent. When Regina approached him with questions about that bloody soldier, Robin had to use all his strength not to snap back at her. At the end, he told her what had happened.
Robin did not know what to make of the fact that she found the whole thing amusing. No, not amusing, alluring, so much so that she was suggesting they change their riding arrangements. And although he was still jumpy because of his strange dream, infuriated because of the complete lack of respect his men had shown toward the Queen and utterly puzzled as to why he had not just killed Bishop, he really wanted to have her behind pressing against him all day.
Just as he was about to reply, his gaze caught the glimmer of an arrow's metal tip on top of one of the small hills to his left. A sudden memory of the horrid nightmare froze him on the spot and before the Queen could finish her remark he set off, going uphill, after whatever threat was hovering over their heads.
It was frustrating to find nothing except for a setting macabrely similar to the one in his dream, snowy ground, thin trees, gray skies. Robin shivered as he remembered the sensation of having her blood in his hands, how similar it had been to feeling Bishop's blood, how he had nearly killed the man but then simply stopped.
"What on earth are you doing up here?"
Of course she had followed him, of course she could not stay put for a second and simply wait. Robin could feel they were being watched, he could sense there was something strange about the place and the fact that he had seen an arrow only confirmed his suspicions, something was going to happen, something bad.
"I think I saw something odd and wanted to check-"
She was her bitchy self to which he gave back by being his most charming dick self. Fortunately for Robin, that combination resulted in Regina changing into her temptress self and before he knew it she was squeezing his balls and slurring fantastical things like "My thief".
But if Robin was going to get any kind of bliss that day it was bound to be short lived. When the moment he most feared finally came, he felt it in his bones. The world seemed to move in slow motion as the pointy end of the arrow came to his line of vision. Robin could tell it was making its way towards Regina's chest, where her heart was.
No!
Before he could take another breath, Robin lounged himself in her direction, knocking her over and ultimately saving her from the fatal blow. He had had that dream for a reason and this was obviously it, he would not let her be harmed, even if it meant he himself-
When his back hit the cold, wet ground Robin forgot how to breathe, his eyes squeezed shut as he felt sharp, awful pain. The arrow had attached itself to his hollow chest and although he was pretty sure he was not going to die because of it, it did hurt like a bitch.
He took a loud breath when her hand touched the arrow as she muttered something that sounded like "No, not again."
He blinked a few times, the image of her coming to focus before him, she looked petrified. So much so he found himself asking her "Are you alright?" even though he was the one who had actually been shot.
In no time her worried expression melted to give way to a very annoyed one as she hit him across the arm. But Robin did not care for the pain, because beneath her demeanor he could understand what she meant, she cared.
"The arrow was going to hit you in the heart," he tried to explain.
"But it hit you in the heart, you idiot!"
Robin threw caution to the wind and just went for the words his absent heart told him to say, "Good thing you're keeping it safe for me."
There was a moment of silence between the two of them and Robin could feel the double meaning of his words sinking in, but she cut the moment short by trying and succeeding in healing him. When her magic hit him it felt different, it was warm and welcoming. Robin took a deep breath and could have sworn he had been able to catch a whiff of a minty fragrance in the air. The magic emanating from her hands did not bear the usual gray color but a deep forest green.
The warmth of her magic was soon substituted by the heat of her body as she straddled him and suggested they defile Lepold's throne and then set it on fire. As the words of agreement left his lips they were being engulfed by her magic and transported somewhere else.
Not the throne room though, but a secret room of hers in the Summer Castle where she kept all sorts of magical items and potions. Apparently she was concerned that he might still have an internal wound due to the arrow blow. So he found himself laying down on the hard wooden surface of her working table telling her about all of the times he had to go to the royal tailor because of her constant ripping off his clothes.
As her healing magic took him again, at first as a timid thing but then gained strength wrapping itself around him, nearly drugging him with… It was over before he could fully enjoy it, but its effect gained shape when the words, "A very fair woman has stolen my heart, actually." left his lips.
She looked almost like another person when she replied, "You offered it to me."
Robin's heart skipped a beat looking at her like this, he told her,"That's not what I meant." before quickly changing the subject after seeing the color red rise from her neck. He asked her about the color of her magic, which had always been gray (or maybe another color that was not in his eye palette yet) and was now green, which led her to explain a bit more about how her magic worked. Robin liked listening to her talking about things she was passionate about and could not hold back asking her which emotions she was using to heal him.
She obviously cut him down, telling him it was none of his business, but Robin felt quite differently about that. He was feeling bold that day, confident, merry even. So without much thought, he grabbed the first pointy object he could find and slashed it across the palm of his left hand. She was furious, something about the possibility of the blade being cursed and killing him instantly. That statement should have terrified him but it filled his chest with hope and happiness, the feeling not more intense because his hand hurt like hell, he was quite good with blades after all.
With eyes full of fury, worry and a touch of something so unspeakable it made Robin catch his breath, she started healing him again. She might not utter her feelings, but her magic spoke volumes about how she felt, it wrapped Robin up, this time even more powerful and intense than before.
It happened out of the blue, at one moment he was basking in her energy, red, passionate and strong. The next he felt cold, he opened his eyes and he was back at the snow covered forest. He was looking over Regina's shoulder but his vision was enhanced. He sensed she was about to get shot, his eyes squinting as the face of the man who shot her became clear as day.
Not a man after all, a dwarf, one of Snow White's no doubt, sent to kill Regina.
That he could not, would not have. That dwarf was going to die, Robin would chop off his head with his own ax-
His eyes shot open but he felt his entire body rigid as stone. She was talking, as per usual annoyed, but he couldn't hear her. He slowly gained back his full consciousness as he retold her what he had seen. Her red lips twisting into an evil smirk as she told him she wanted to go back there.
Of course she did. But he was not having it. If anything, his dream had saved her life somehow, warning him of what was to come. He had been on his toes, ready for an attack at any minute all day, which was why he had been so quick when the time to actually protect her came. He was not going to risk her safety. He was not having that.
That did not mean that Robin himself wasn't willing to go and bring back the dwarf chopped up in pieces for her. But she had other plans for it, she wanted to control it, have a spy in Snow White's midst.
The only problem was, she would have to go in order to pull out the heart. Robin was then taken by a strange feeling of confidence and protectiveness. An eerie certainty that he should do whatever was in his power to shield her from harm. And if the skill he possessed was not enough, well, she would just have to teach him.
Learning how to rip out a heart was not what he had imagined he would be doing today. First of all, he had not liked the idea of using her heart for practice. All this time he had been adamant in protecting her, the very idea of taking her beating heart out of her chest did not seem logical. And yet, there he was, placing his hand to her chest, trying to figure out what feelings he should be putting forward in order to accomplish the deed but not hurt her.
At the end he did not concentrate on negative feelings but in the inexplicable way she made him feel. Those precious and few moments when her shields were down and her smiles reached her eyes. Robin felt his chest swell with emotion as his hand traversed skin and bone, reaching its destination. With tenderness he did not remember he possessed, Robin pulled out her heart, it was darkened just as he remembered his own was.
He found himself in a very delicate situation. For the first time in forever he felt his hand tremble, he was nervous about holding something so precious, so valuable. The words tumbled from his lips, "You're really trusting something so valuable to a common thief like me?"
Her response made his head spin, "Can't steal something that's been given to you." Her eyes shone with sincerity and he could feel the hole where his heart used to be swell with feelings, stronger than ever.
He leaned closer, longing to feel her lips to his when something changed, the heart felt as if it was melting itself into his palm, not coming apart but rather mingling with his own skin, as if they were becoming one. She had felt it too, and alarmed Robin quickly moved to put the heart back where it belonged.
There was a grave moment of silence after that. It was at moments like this that Robin thought that if his heart was ever returned to his chest, it would probably burst with emotion for the woman. He did not have much time to think about what had just happened for she quickly dismissed him, engulfing him in magical smoke, sending him back to retrieve the dwarf's heart.
…
In a flash, he was back at the snow covered hills, bow at hand, quiver filled with arrows and a mission to complete. Taking a deep calming breath, Robin scanned his surroundings, quickly spotting a group of three people. Even from where he stood, it was clear that the dwarf he was looking for was in the group. Feeling confident and quite hungry for a nice pursuit, Robin shot a warning arrow that hit the dwarf's hat, pinning it to the ground, and started to walk toward them.
They had been startled by his arrow, talking to each other in haste as he slowly approached. To his delight, the dwarf and one of his human companions started to run away, while one remained.
This hunt would be fun.
As the pair started to put more and more distance between them, Robin picked up his pace and found it strange that the remaining companion was still there. Standing in the open field, sword nowhere to be seen, just looking at his direction. It was quite strange. Robin had a feeling the person was there waiting for him.
When his eyes were able to register who the person actually was, his whole plan changed. His attention diverged from the running pair to concentrate on the lone figure standing there, easiest prey he would ever catch.
Maybe destiny was on his side after all.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" a malicious smile crept on his face as finally reached the man he had met all those months ago at the royal engagement party, "I came here to take care of a dirty dwarf that dared to shoot at the Queen, but this is even better-"
"Better?" the man tried to sound casual, "How come? I done nothing against the Queen-"
Robin huffed out a laugh, "Personally, I really don't have anything against you-" what was that man's name again? The only title coming to his mind being "Charming". The Prince who ran away in order to be with his one true love, Snow White. "But you will have to come with me."
The man gave him a half suspicious smile, "Why?" He was trying to sound confident, but failing miserably.
Robin took a few more steps in the man's direction, "You are the prince who has left his engagement to be with the bandit Snow White, are you not?" The man opened his mouth but could not find the words to reply, so Robin continued, "Snow White, who has committed several crimes against the crown and the Queen herself."
He found his voice, "I can assure you she is-"
Robin cut him off, "Innocent? How can you be so sure?"
"I-" he started, "I know her heart. I know she's incapable of harming a soul."
Robin huffed, "You know her heart? For how long have you known her? For how long have you actually been with her?"
The man sounded more resolute in this response, "It does not matter how long, what matters is what we feel for one-"
"You know, that all sounds lovely on paper. But in reality love does not work that way."
"How could you possibly know anything about love?" the man gave back in a strange tone, as if he was fishing for information.
Robin put one hand on the man's right shoulder, "Love is knowing your beloved inside out, the good and the bad, and still feeling the same way about them. Love is not denying the horrible things they might have done to make them worthy of love. It is loving them as they are, faults and all."
The man opened his mouth but no reply came out, it hung open as he kept looking at Robin, eyes full of unanswered questions.
"I meant it when I said it is not personal, truly." Robin moved quickly then, using his foot to give one of the man's knees a kick hard enough for him to fall. Robin quickly immobilized the man and sent out a loud signal to the rest of the entourage to come find him.
Robin regarded the man he had once advised, encouraged, and inadvertently helped pay the price for his love. Had he known the man had been talking about Snow White, he would have advised him differently.
But now it was too late and Robin would sacrifice anyone for his love's sake.
"Wait!" the man questioned, "Why are you taking me?"
"I'm sure the Queen would love to have a little chat with you about your beloved."
The entourage reached the pair and took the prisoner. The journey toward the Summer Palace was slower than he wished, but the men were weary after a month of terrorizing village after village, sleeping in the woods with very little time to rest. During their journey, Robin tried to keep his thoughts at bay, tried to concentrate on the landscape, tried to forget for a moment about everything that had happened that day. To no avail did he try and for the rest of the journey his mind was plagued with images of what would have happened if he hadn't taken that arrow for her.
Upon arriving at the castle, he quickly gathered a few of his men in order to present the prisoner to the Queen. He made a splashy entrance, he had picked up a little of her dramatic theatrics after all. Robin knew she would be pleased with his catch but as soon as she removed the sack from the man's head, she became stiff and did not seem to be able to breathe.
He knew it was risky, after all the prisoner Prince and his men were there, but he knew she needed him to ground her, it had been an exhausting day for the both of them. So he positioned himself slightly behind her and placed his hand on the small of her back, calling her back in a whisper, "Regina-"
It worked and she came back to the here and now and started breathing again. She was quick to start tormenting the prisoner, which was predictable, she had to let her frustration out at someone.
What Robin did not expect for her to recount her tale to the man. The story which had been so difficult for her to share with him, of her engagement, Daniel's death, her then forced marriage to the King. Thankfully she did not share too many details, only the ones she knew would hurt, the ones she knew would run deep and taint the man's feelings towards Snow.
But Robin wasn't just concerned about what was being revealed to the Prince. Even though his men stood like stone figures, he was able to catch small twitches on their expressions as she told her story, the youngest seemed stunned whilst the oldest looked down in shame.
Robin had to wonder just how much did these men who had served under King Leopold for a long time know about the whole affair. He remembered faintly one of her memories where palace guards held her down as she had tried to escape.
His wonderings didn't last long for she grew tired of tormenting the Prince and sent all of them away. All of them except for Robin, of course.
As the doors closed and it was just the two of them in the room, she changed her posture completely. She had had her royal, arrogant and slightly mental act on for the guards and prisoner to see.
Now she relaxed as she took several deep, calming breaths. Her voice came out small, completely different from the one she had just been using, "I don't even know what to say-"
He replied in her ear, as if it were a secret, "A simple thank you would suffice."
She turned to meet his eye, "Words are rather tricky for me-" she confessed, her voice faltered. "Why don't we do something to celebrate this victory, hun?"
He smirked at her "What do you suggest?"
"No, this victory is thanks to you." Her fingers found the waistline of his pants and pulled him towards her, "Tonight, you choose what we are going to do."
Both his brows went up in surprise, "Really?"
Her hand tugged him closer, extinguishing the distance between their bodies, "Really. Anything you want."
As his hands found her waist, Robin started to think of the possibilities. They were pretty creative together, and he did have a few bold ideas for their evening. And yet, something completely different crossed his mind as he asked her again, "Anything?"
"Not for much longer if you keep asking me over and over again,"
He smiled as he made up his mind, "Fine, I already know what I want."
"Care to share?"
Feeling a tad self conscious but at the same time resolute on what he wanted, he started guiding her backwards as he spoke, "I want to take my time tonight. I want to divest you slowly, I want to kiss, taste, worship your entire body-" They came to a halt when her back met the wall, and he could resist her no longer, lowering his mouth to her neck, sucking with gusto.
"Are we already getting started then?"
His mouth left her neck then as he looked up at her, "Oh no. First we are going to have a drink-" he then turned around heading towards a small table that contained different sized bottles and a few crystal glasses. "Because we have survived this hell of a day and we deserve it."
Once he reached the table uncertainty took over. It was such a plain request, but what if that was where she drew the line? He unconsciously rolled up the sleeves of his shirt as he examined the bottles and chose one, removing the stopper and pouring the amber liquid into two glasses. He took a deep breath before taking each glass in one hand headed back towards her, it was now or never.
"I do have a request though-" he spoke sheepishly.
"As I said-" she reminded him, "-anything you want."
"Right-" he swallowed, "-after we have our drink, I want us to go to my room, I want us to do all those things I told you about on my bed."
She frowned and he felt his veins go cold, "On your bed?" she smiled then, "How original. And here I thought you wanted to do it on the roof or something wild like that-"
"We've never been together on a bed before Regina-" he spoke earnestly.
If this was the moment she would walk over his heart, he braced himself for it. She opened her mouth, probably a snarky reply on the tip of her tongue, but closed it again. She averted her gaze from him, looking up, pensative for a few seconds before bringing them back to him.
Deep inside her eyes he could see that she understood what he meant, "Well, here's to first times then-"
Relief washed over him as he smiled back at her and offered her a glass. She looked down in order to get her drink and then everything changed.
"What the hell is this?" there was a tremble in her voice.
"What?" He felt a small lump on his throat, "You don't like whiskey?"
"Is this some sort of joke?" her tone had changed completely, her gaze fixed to his wrist.
"I really don't understand what you are talking about-"
Out of the blue she grabbed his wrist so abruptly that the glass in his grasp found it's end on the floor. "When did you get this?" she asked in such fury it seemed her eyes were going to pop out of her skull. He frowned and looked down at the lion tattoo and then back at her, when he opened his mouth to reply, she beat him to it, "How did you even know about this? Did my father tell you about this? Did you speak to him before coming here?"
He had had quite enough of her craze and yanked his wrist from her hold, "You're angry over a bloody tattoo? It's my family crest, I got it a million years ago when I was 15-"
Then Robin started to get really worried because her facial expression shifted from enraged to stunned and worst off, she was getting pale. Her mouth hung open as color drained from her complexion, her lips were turning to an odd shade he could not make out and her eyes filled with tears.
She was lucky he was very quick on his feet, for the next moment she passed out and Robin was fast enough to catch her before she fell on the floor. As he held her, a million questions ran through his mind but at the same time he felt anguish beyond anything he had felt in the longest time. The weight of her limp body in his arms again reminded him of his premonition-like dream.
What had happened? Had he done something to cause this? A cold awful shiver ran down his spine at the thought and Robin didn't know what else to do but to, as gently as he could manage, call out her name, "Regina-"
He felt like his soul returned to his body when she finally opened her eyes. She looked at him in confusion and tried to gain her footing.
"Regina-" his voice gave way at the end, "Are you alright?"
She frowned and blinked a few times before muttering, "Destiny-"
He did not know what to feel at that moment, he was certainly relieved that she had woken up, but she sounded dazed, as if under a spell. Her eyes had always been very expressive but the amount of sincerity that poured from them was almost overwhelming. Her gaze bore such wanton and, dare he even think it, love, it took him aback.
That did not mean he did not lean in when she started to slowly close the distance between their lips, their skin to skin connection becoming stronger by the moment. When their lips finally met it was such a tender, wonderful exchange he nearly gasped.
As the kiss progressed and she sighed, gaining her balance and deepening it, Robin came to the realization that something indeed had happened. He did not know what it was but he felt it in the way she touched and kissed him that their life would not be the same as it was before.
She slowly broke the kiss and touched her forehead to his. But before he could breathe easy again he felt her frown.
Robin opened his eyes to find her expression had changed once again.
"I can't do this-" she stuttered, he had never seen a look of such fear in her face.
He quickly tried to comfort her, "What do you mean?"
She took two steps back extinguishing the contact between their bodies and told him "I cannot do this to you." and before he could say, do or even think of anything else, she engulfed herself in a cloud of smoke.
When it cleared Robin did not know what to think.
What the fuck was that?
He looked down at the lion tattoo imprinted on his wrist and still could not understand why.
Why had she completely lost it when she had seen it? Hadn't she seen it before?
Why had she kissed him like, like- But then she left, simply, disappeared.
Where did she go?
He gathered she couldn't be far. He didn't understand what was going on but wanted to believe that she was still near, near enough for him to find her.
And so he went out looking for her, he exited the Throne Room thinking of places she might go to and cursing over the fact that he did not know this Summer Castle, had never been there before. It took him a little over half hour to find her secret potions room where they had been earlier that day. But she wasn't there. To every person he passed by he asked, at times demanded, where the Queen was, but no one had seen her.
Robin's mind was invaded by the worst of thoughts, thinking up the most awful of scenarios. In the past she had done this to him time and time again, simply disappearing (or throwing him in the river) once she had gotten irritated with him. But things were different, and the look she had before she vanished was not the one of an annoyed person.
At one point he even considered that his heart had grown back in place inside his chest, for it felt tight and it beat frantically with every passing minute.
At the end Robin blamed several things for having blacked out.
One, he was tired as fuck, he had not eaten all day, that is without the entire emotional journey he had been through over the last 16 hours.
Two, he did not know where she was and the image of her with an arrow sticking out of her gut in his dream would not leave his thoughts alone.
Three, he was using every single last drop of energy he had left in his body looking for her in a gigantic castle he had never explored before.
But in truth number four was the nail in the coffin since, how could he have seen the plank of wood right in front of him when his mind and body were in such a state. He only had time to register the wooden surface when it was too late and had already made contact with his forehead and then the distinguished smell of blood before everything went black.
…
"There is no way on earth that I'm going to get any nearer." a male voice spoke.
"You have to, you're first in command." another male voice, but this one sounded younger.
"Precisely, and as first in command I order you to go do it yourself." The first one spoke again.
"But, he may-" the second was clearly frightened. But what of?
"No more buts. Just do as you are told." The first was resolute.
He heard someone swallow, "What if he's startled and breaks me neck?"
"Better your neck than mine."
Robin blinked just in time to see two male figures above him jump in unison, startled by the conversation's subject, which apparently had been him. He blinked again, confused that he was laying on the ground.
What had happened?
He blinked again to find his head hurt a bitch. He brought a hand to his temple and felt a small bump there. He had hit his head, had fallen and passed out.
He groaned as he tried to sit, feeling an utter emptiness in his stomach. He had not had anything to eat or drink for a long time. When he managed to sit, he looked up at the two men before him, they stood with military stiffness and silence, apparently waiting for him to say something.
It took all that Robin had in him to stand up and ask the pair, "Where is the Queen?"
Both men's eyes widened at the question, the oldest palled a bit as he spoke, "Her Majesty has not been seen since yesterday eve, sir."
"She was last seen in the Throne Room, sir." The other one managed to speak.
She had run away indeed.
Robin ran a hand through his hair and frowned as he looked at a nearby window noticing the position of the Sun.
"What time of day is it?" he asked.
"It's way past lunchtime, sire." the youngest replied, "I'd say it's nearly 5 in the afternoon."
Nearly 5? He had nearly slept through the entire day.
Not wanting for his men to see him look worried, Robin dismissed them and started to think about what he should do next. His stomach protested and he was forced to drag himself to the castle's kitchens to get something decent to eat. After all, he did not want to pass out a second time.
Once there, seeing the hustle of a big castle kitchen, filled with people going about their chores, Robin felt a little bit better. Maybe it was just the warm food and drink, or maybe the image before him gave him a sense of normalcy he had not felt in a very long time. He took his time there, breathing in the scent of freshly baked bread and the sound of curious chatter around him.
He felt his mind a little bit more at ease and was able to think straight, something he had not been doing the night before. He tried to remember his last encounter with the Queen as best as he could, tried to read in between the lines of what she had said. Tried to fish out any sort of clue she might have given him to explain the way she had acted.
She had been content over his capture of the fake prince, they had been making plans, looking forward to enjoying an evening of celebration. But then she saw his tattoo and everything changed. She had been furious, then fainted, then gave him the most tender kiss he had ever experienced in his entire life. But all of a sudden it was over and she looked petrified and finally, puff, smoke and nothing.
There was something about his tattoo, he did not know what it was, but it was the only clue he had. If he found out what it was about his tattoo that made her so uneasy, he would be able to understand her, speak with her, and reason with her.
That trail of thought immediately made him remember that he did not know where she was. Robin took a deep breath, trying his hardest so that his feelings did not get in the way, he needed to come up with a plan. Tracking her down would need to be step two, step one was finding out more about the possible meanings behind his tattoo.
Having that thought settled in his mind, Robin stood, and headed towards the castle's library, surely he would find there some book that would help him. It took him a while to get to said library, for asking around for directions was not something he liked to do at all, made him feel weak for some reason.
Upon pushing the heavy doors Robin was met with a room that was not very large but tall, shelves upon shelves covered all the walls, except for one where velvet burgundy curtains covered the windows. A few streaks of sunlight dared to dodge the heavy material and managed to illuminate the room a little. As he walked in he could see small specks of dust dancing in the air, Robin took one good look around and picked a random spot to begin his search. He was looking for anything about family crests but it was a slow and irritating search. At times he wished he had Regina's magic so he could simply wave his hand and the right book would come flying his way.
The sunlight was beginning to fade, which showed that this day was nearly over and he had found nothing. As he closed what felt like the hundredth book he had picked up there was a noise coming from the closed wooden doors.
Robin quickly stood facing it and waited patiently as the knob turned and one of the heavy doors opened ever so slowly, revealing an old man. This old man was no stranger to Robin at all, he was Regina's father. The moment he saw Robin, his eyebrows went up with surprise and quickly tried to close the door again.
"Wait!" he called out.
His round elderly face came back to the door, eyes even wider than before.
Since he didn't seem like he was going to say anything, just looked petrified and stunned, Robin spoke again, "Hum-" now Robin had the attention he did not know how to address the man. "A word, sir." Robin swallowed, "Please."
The man cleared his throat and slipped inside the library in careful steps.
"You wanted to speak to me?" the old man finally said.
"I-" Robin was getting a bit irritated by his inability to finish a sentence. In truth, it was really hard for him to ask for help, "I was searching about the Enchanted Forest's family crests. But this library is far too big and I have very little time on my hands. Would you happen to know any books here that could help me?"
The man's expression softened a little, "Oh," he looked around for a moment, "I think I might be able to help." The man went to a shelf Robin had not yet searched through and started running his fingers about the spines of the books.
The man was concentrating on the book titles for a few minutes, when all of a sudden he turned around and asked, "You don't-" he swallowed, "You don't happen to know where the Queen is, do you?"
"I'm afraid I don't-" Robin replied.
"Really?" The man looked truly surprised.
"I think she left-" Robin felt his throat go dry, "- yesterday evening."
"Oh dear, I do hope that-" he stopped mid-sentence, looking up at Robin again, "Nevermind." And turned back to the book spines.
Robin felt his curiosity stir, maybe the man knew something that might help him, "Is there something wrong?"
It took the old man a few moments to speak, Robin could tell he was thinking up what he was going to say for his hand had stopped midair."We didn't part on the best of terms yesterday-" he spoke softly as if to himself.
There was a long moment of silence in which Robin did not know what to do or say.
He was still not looking at Robin when he spoke again, a little louder this time, "I worry about her. What she might do." The man sounded defeated, as if he had failed her somehow.
The man finally turned around, "I-" but seemed to think better and stopped, he looked as if he was holding his breath.
Robin felt it was the moment to say something, "Do go on, sir."
The man let out a breath, "I don't really know what to think or say." He looked a bit less defeated now, more in doubt of what to say, "For one, and cannot believe I'm saying this, but I've heard of times when she was out of control. Burning houses, killing people for no good reason-" he looked down as his eyes started to get glassy, "-but you! You were there with her." for a moment Robin had a strong feeling he was going to be told off by her father. "And your presence there somehow ground her. Your council makes her think twice before taking an innocent life."
To that Robin had no response whatsoever, he simply stared back at the old man dumbfounded and not sure if he had heard him correctly.
The man cleared his throat and continued, "Although-" he sounded hesitant now. "She, she-" He closed his eyes taking in a deep breath, "She only started acting this way after you appeared."
Robin felt a timid flame of anger on the pit of his stomach, "I'm afraid, sir-" he emphasized the title, "-when I met her she was far worse than what she is now."
The man looked back at Robin puzzled, he squinted his eyes slightly and then blinked twice.
"You're right-" the man's voice was a whisper, "Forgive me-" he took a few steps in Robin's direction. "She's my daughter, I know her better than anyone else-" he stopped about a few feet away from Robin. "So I know-" he swallowed, "I know she's been like this for a while now. Long before-" he brought his eyes to meet Robin's, "You."
The old man's nearness was a little strange and in his discomfort Robin brought a hand up to brush his hair back. The man's eyes suddenly widened, they were looking at him, more specifically they were fixed on his wrist, on the ink imprinted on it.
For a moment the old man before him did not breathe, looking wide-eyed at the tattoo as if he had seen a ghost. In a second Robin closed the distance between them holding out his arm for the man to see.
"What does this mean?" his tone of voice had changed completely, it was hard and carried a hint of desperation. But the man did not respond, "Tell me what it means! Tell me why the Queen ran away from me when she saw it!"
"She, she has seen it?" the man stuttered.
"She did-" Robin's voice was growing more urgent, "And she had a look much like your own on her face when it happened. Then she just-" Robin waved his arms around himself, tired of having to tell this tale. He grabbed the man's collar and demanded, "What does it mean?"
As if on cue, the double doors to the library burst open, both men looked their way. One of Robin's men, Laurent, entered, quite breathless.
"Sir, I'm-" he took in a deep breath, "Sorry to disturb sir. But you told me to let you know-"
"On with it Laurent!" Robin nearly roared.
"The Queen-" the man swallowed, "-she has returned!"
…
Robin had never moved so fast in his entire life. One moment he had his hands on her father, desperation tipping in his voice, dying to learn the secret behind his damned tattoo. The next he was moving, Laurent's words having somehow brainwashed him. Suddenly he had very little interest in discovering secrets and an almost painful need to see her. To learn if she was well and unharmed.
As he took hurried steps to cross the castle, he wished that her departing drama had only been one of her strange moods. That they'd go back to things as they were in the woods. That he'd get more of Regina, less of the Queen.
His hopes, however, plummeted when he got the Throne Room.
Robin was relieved, at first, for she was in one piece, she didn't seem to be injured in any way. But he could tell there was definitely something off about her.
When their eyes met she acknowledged his presence with such a look that made him feel something cold and awful on the pit of his stomach. Bringing his eyes from her own, he noticed that she looked very different from what he had gotten used to during their time hunting down Snow White.
She had preferred wearing riding clothes then, which expressed her dark lavish style but were still comfortable and less flamboyant. She had also started wearing her hair down more often, and adding less coloring to her features.
The image before him could very well be immortalized by the royal painter. She was the spitting image of a ruling Queen. She wore a grand, dark dress that had a hooped skirt and a high collar that surpassed her ears, it had long sleeves and was covered in dark precious stones. But it wasn't just the clothes, her eyes looked empty, adorned with dark face paint which contrasted with her pale complexion. Her lips were dark, almost black and thin. Her hair was up as if a foreign force was pulling it up, probably the work of one of her spells.
When she finally spoke, her voice was dark and grave, "Thief, I have something of yours-" she swiftly turned around and headed towards a small table further behind her. Robin could not see what was on it but he observed her as she stood in front of it for a few moments, frozen into the spot. Suddenly she moved both hands as if to get the object on the table but paused again, hands hanging midair.
Robin felt this was his cue, "Regina-"
But it was the wrong move, her hands quickly went for the object and she turned around again to look at him, face still emotionless.
Robin opened his mouth in order to say something but the words died in his mouth when he was finally able to see the object she had in her grasp. It had been a little over a year since he had seen it, had been close to it, something he had asked for her to take away from him so long ago.
He had joked about her having it and tried to make his feelings for her more explicit by telling her she had it because he had trusted it to her. He remembered how she had trusted him to hold her heart the day before.
This whole scene should have been a wonderful moment for the two of them. But Robin knew there was something wrong. He knew this was not the woman from yesterday, the one who had healed him, kissed him, played with him, even cried with him. He knew Regina had tucked her away for this exchange.
"It seems as if your mission is finally complete-" she finally broke the silence, words cold as ice, "- I no longer need this-" she looked down at the box with a sour expression, "-anymore."
He blinked twice, confused, "My mission?"
"Snow White is dead and I no longer require your services."