Chapter Text
Regina woke the morning that they planned to cast the Dark Curse with a knot in her stomach. They had sent search parties out, but despite a supposedly thorough search, no one had been able to find Robin. It made her worry to no end because she knew that he would have returned to them by now if he was able. At this point, she was having nightmares about finding him bloody at the bottom of a ditch, or with injuries that were so severe, they couldn't be healed.
She had asked Snow to wait until they had found him to cast the curse, but as the days passed with fewer and fewer chances of success, Snow and David had gently suggested that they move forward with their plan, that the curse would affect Robin as well, bringing him to Storybrooke with them, giving them a better chance of finding him since the area was smaller. She had been furious with them both when she heard the news, especially David. Robin was his second in command, after all, a trusted advisor- and he was Snow's friend. How on earth the two supposedly benevolent rulers could just leave Robin to let who knows what happen to him, she didn't understand at all. She had pointed out that they needed her help to cast the curse, especially since they had had the reckless idea to kill David and split Snow's heart to cast the curse (a ridiculous idea that would backfire, she was sure of it) so they could still have their happy ending.
Once upon a time, she would have relished the very thought of that idea, the mere suggestion of it giving her what she had longed for and worked toward for so long: a miserable Snow, her own happy ending at last more than just a fantasy. Now, however, she no longer wished for Snow's distress. At first, of course, her path to redemption, becoming one of the heroes, had been all for Henry, and in a way, it still was. She had to make her little prince proud of her, no matter what realm he was in or whether he remembered her or not. Now, of course, she was also doing whatever she could to not disappoint Roland and Robin as well.
She had seen the logic in Snow's plan to find Robin in Storybrooke and finally agreed, knowing that what they said made sense. And if it didn’t help them find him, the only grown man who had become her family almost as much as Henry… well, she had dealt with heartbreak once before, hadn’t she? If she could survive it once, she could most certainly do it again. She would just know better next time, that was all. If she couldn’t even find happiness with her soulmate, there was no way she was going to find it elsewhere.
That was how she found herself standing by Snow, prepared to help her cast the Dark Curse. "Are you sure about this?" she asked the woman who was once her stepdaughter.
She nodded. "It's the only way for us to get you back to Henry again- for us to get back to both him and Emma. So yes, I'm sure."
“You are aware this crazy plan of yours might not work?” she reminded Snow. She was asking her to do something that was beyond reckless, and she wanted to make sure she knew all of the risks. She may have once destroyed her happiness, but thanks to their shared love for Henry and everything that had happened since they came to the Land Without Magic, they had slowly started to mend their relationship. There were days when she wasn’t annoying her to no end that Regina still saw Snow as the little girl who had just wanted to learn how to ride a horse and have her hair braided. Once upon a time, she would have loved to see the destruction of Snow's happy ending at her own hands, but not anymore.
Snow nodded, evidence of the true love she and David shared in her eyes as she looked at Regina. “I’m positive. This will work, I can feel it.”
Regina sighed. "Very well. Are you ready?" she asked, her attention now turning to Charming.
Not even looking at her, his eyes focused only on Snow, David nodded.
She reached into his chest, feeling the familiar shift as veins and arteries moved themselves to obey her will. A minute later, his heart was in her hand, and though she knew they had things to do, she couldn't help taking a minute to notice that his heart was every bit as bright as Snow's, but without that dark spot his wife had acquired after killing Regina's mother.
She passed Snow her husband's heart. Instead of immediately crushing it as she had expected, the woman she had once considered her stepdaughter looked into her prince’s eyes. “I love you,” she said softly, caressing his cheek as she crushed his heart over the cauldron.
“Well, isn’t this a sweet scene?” a familiar voice cackled.
Regina saw the same dread she was feeling fill Snow and Charming’s eyes as the Wicked Witch swooped into the room on her broomstick. A green light flashed as she waved her hand in a swooping motion over the cauldron. “Don’t you have more class than that?” she taunted her sister. Using props like brooms as a mode of transportation was a tool utilized by magic users whose skills were mediocre at best. They hadn’t yet honed the abilities necessary to transport themselves by simply imagining themselves in their desired location, and Regina felt the need to point that out to her sister. She was demonstrating that her powers were rudimentary at best, and she had to take advantage of this opportunity.
“Well, of course I do, sis,” came the reply. “But I do love to make an entrance, and the broomstick is just another prop I can use to accomplish that. Surely you can understand that?”
Unfortunately, Regina had to admit that she could understand that way of thinking. Sorry I’m late had preceded her best, fashionably late, entrance to Snow and Charming’s wedding, after all. None of that mattered now, though. What mattered was finding out, “What are you doing here, Zelena?”
"Did you really think you were going to cast the Dark Curse and I wouldn't know about it?" she asked. “Carrying Rumple's curse again is so unoriginal, Regina. Who did you have to kill this time? After all, your dear son is far, far away, and I happen to know that the thief and his son are safe and sound as well. Maybe when we’re in this new realm, I’ll be able to finally meet my nephew. Although he won’t know who I am- and you won’t either.”
Dread filled Regina, and she was sure Zelena could see it on her face, because she grinned. "Oh," she gasped, a sound that was nothing but fake surprise to Regina's ears, one hand flying up to rest over her heart. "Did you need your memories? Were you planning on defeating me in this new realm?" She laughed. "Good luck now, when you won't remember anything that's happened in the past year."
"We will defeat you," Snow replied fervently.
"We'll see about that," Zelena responded with a malicious smile.
Turning to leave, she looked back over her shoulder. "Oh, and Regina? Good luck finding that thief of yours and his son."
Her heart seizing in her chest as if it was the one that was crushed instead of David's, Regina demanded, "What did you do, Zelena?"
"You'll have to find out," Zelena informed her. With a gleeful grin, she added, "Oh wait, you won't even remember him."
She cackled as she flew off.
*Don't worry, Regina," Snow assured her, grasping her hand. "We will find a way to defeat Zelena and find Robin again."
“How?” Regina demanded, whirling around to face her. “That’s so easy for you to say. We still have time to try to resuscitate your beloved Prince Charming. Robin… who knows what on earth Zelena’s done to him. He’s probably been locked away somewhere, being tortured again, and-” Her breath hitched as she thought about that possibility. If something bad or life threatening happened to him because of her, she would never forgive herself. "If we get our memories back and haven't found Robin yet, I will make you regret insisting on casting the curse before we found him, Snow."
At the same time though, how had Zelena gotten her hands on Regina’s soulmate in the first place? It wasn’t like Robin had a death wish. He loved his son and the men he called brothers too much for that. It was possible that Zelena was just bluffing- wasn’t it? It really was a tough call. On the one hand, Regina’s wicked half sister would want her to believe anything if it would make her worry and cause her misery… but if that misery was through harming someone she loved, Regina was sure that would be Zelena’s preference if she couldn’t get her hands on Regina herself.
Then the answer to how Zelena could have gotten her hands on Robin- or at least, the answer that made the most sense- came to her, and her heart filled with dread. For all she knew, it was very possible that he had been coerced, but if Robin had gone to meet Zelena in her place…
“Regina, you said we had to do this as soon as possible, right?”
Regina yanked herself away from her own thoughts to meet Snow’s pleading gaze. “Yes,” she replied. “You’re right. The sooner we do it, the better Charming’s chances will be.”
Forcing herself to focus on the task at hand and not on what on earth was happening to Robin and the need to find him that had been consuming her for what felt like eons, Regina reached into Snow’s chest and pulled out her heart. Oh, how she had once longed to do this, had gone to great lengths to see the destruction of this woman come to pass, and now here she was making it possible for Snow not to lose her happy ending after all. Things had certainly changed- some things, at least. Her own happiness was out of reach, as per usual, but what else was new?
A thought occurred to her, and she held Snow’s heart aloft when the younger woman reached out for it. “What’s going to happen to Roland? You remember what it was like when I cast the first curse. Families were separated, and the one thing Zelena wants more than anything is to destroy my happiness. I can’t bear the thought of leaving Roland an orphan. That sweet little boy doesn’t deserve that,and you know it. We have to protect him somehow.”
Snow sighed. “Regina, that’s when you need to have the best thing any of us can have to defeat wickedness: hope. I know you want to protect Roland and I do too, but Zelena said Roland only wouldn’t remember the last year, not his whole life. That means he’ll probably be with his uncles, so he’ll be okay.”
“Hope?” Regina repeated, astounded at her friend’s arrogance. “When has hope ever done me any good? Hope won’t make sure Roland’s taken care of in Storybrooke, even with John and the others around. Hope won’t bring Robin back to me.” The youngest Hood would he fine for now- frightened, perhaps, but fine. Thankfully, she had left him in Tuck’s capable hands, so he hadn’t been here when Zelena was threatening them all. Otherwise, she was sure that the witch would have not just one, but both of the Locksley men, and she didn’t think her heart could handle it if that was the case.
“It will help you believe you’ll see them both again though,” Snow said, clasping Regina’s hand in hers. “Isn’t that enough?”
Regina shook her head adamantly. “Of course not.” Not when the smoke of the curse was in the air above them and she could potentially lose both of them.
Snow smiled. “Then I’ll have to have enough hope for both of us- and once we’re reunited with him, I’m sure Henry will help you have hope too.”
Regina’s eyes widened. “That reminds me…” She snapped her fingers, and in the blink of an eye, a small bottle was in her hand. “We can’t leave without making sure we have this.” She had brewed just enough memory potion to ensure that once they were reunited, her little prince (and the Savior, she had reluctantly agreed when Snow had caught her making the potion) remembered everything she had been forced to make them forget. Hopefully, if she had it in her hand, it would travel to the Land Without Magic with them, and she would get her little prince back.
Leroy’s eyebrows raised. “Are you sure that potion is even going to come with us to Storybrooke?”
To her relief and endless gratitude, Snow glared at him. “It doesn’t matter. We have to have hope that it will.” She turned to Regina, her eyes pleading. “Now can you save David? Please?”
Regina sighed. The expression in her eyes reminded Regina of the young girl Snow had once been, the innocence Regina had seen in her before a revealed secret had tainted her view of her stepdaughter for longer than she cared to remember. “All right. But I’m warning you…”
“It may not work,” Snow recited the truth Regina had tried to drill into her before they had decided to go through with this plan. “I know. Just do it please.”
She closed her eyes and Regina placed her hands on either side of the beating organ. She raised her eyebrows. “Are you sure?”
Snow nodded, determined.
Using magic that Rumple had once taught her that even in her darkest moments she had never wanted to do, Regina split Snow’s heart in two, looking to make sure that the two halves were even. The closer they were to the same size, the better the chances that Snow and her prince would have their happily ever after.
Snow watched her every movement with bated breath as she gently pressed the severed half of Snow’s heart into David’s chest. She stepped back as Snow rushed to David’s side, cupping his cheek in her hand. “David? David, it’s all right. Regina made sure it’s all right. Come back to me, David.”
With a gasp, the prince’s eyes opened. “Snow,” he whispered, his voice a loving caress. It made Regina’s heart ache to see the prince and princess reunited when she had no idea if she would ever see Robin again. She vowed then and there to make sure she broke whatever version of a memory potion Zelena had slipped into the cauldron. Once she did, she would make sure that finding Robin was her first priority. She wouldn’t be doing it solely for herself- after all, while she knew Robin thought she was beautiful, he didn’t love her yet. However, Roland, her sweet little knight who deserved nothing but happiness, needed to have his papa in his life no matter what it took for Regina to reunite the two of them.
As the room was engulfed in the magic of the Dark Curse, Regina vowed that somehow, she would find both Robin and Roland again.
********
“I’m going on an unexpected trip,” Zelena announced as Robin was unceremoniously deposited in front of her by the winged monkeys that had been posted outside of his cell night and day, which had prevented him from escaping.
Robin raised his eyebrows. “And? Why are you telling me? I don’t care where you go or what you do.”
“Oh, but you will,” she smirked. “You see, the Dark Curse is on its way here as we speak. The heroes and I will be returning to Storybrooke, and I’ll be joining them- but you’ll be staying here all by yourself- with the exception of a few of my simian companions, of course. Don’t think you’ll be able to escape and join us, either. As my dear sister’s stepdaughter found out, there are no other ways to travel between realms. You’ll be parted from your son and the woman you love for the rest of your miserable existence- and there’s absolutely nothing you can do about it!”
She seemed positively gleeful about her triumph, and honestly, Robin couldn’t blame her. It seemed that she had truly trapped him in a corner, except for one miniscule, but very important detail. “How are you going to ensure that you’re swept up in the curse and I’m not? I was spared from the first curse thanks to the whims of Regina’s mother, but-”
The witch’s face soured at the mention of Regina’s mother- and, of course, her own. “You’ll be remaining here thanks to a barrier spell very similar to the one that prevented my mother from being swept up in the first curse with all of you. She may not have taught it to me, but I found it in one of Rumple’s spell books, and I’m going to return to the castle and cast it. Don’t worry, though. Unlike the first Dark Curse, you won’t be frozen in time- and neither will your son or Regina. Your little brat will grow up without a mother or a father, and my sister? Well,” she smirked. “My sister will have forever lost her soulmate, her only chance at a happy ending. She won’t even know that she had the opportunity to have one.”
“We’ll find a way to defeat you. I know we will,” Robin stated, determined that his words would prove to be true. He may have loathed Snow’s hope speeches as much as the woman he loved did, but there were some instances when they were called for- and after Zelena’s rambling about her villainous intentions, this was definitely one of those times. “You can’t just separate us and think it will last forever. Good always wins, and we will find a way to be together again.” He would make sure of it. Even if he was old, his skin covered in and hair white, and his son was forced to grow up without his papa, he would never give up on finding his boy and the woman he loved.
“We’ll just have to see about that, won’t we?” Zelena cackled. With that, she instructed the winged monkeys who acted as his guards to take him back to his cell. “But before you go, there’s just one more thing…” She came up to him and wrenched his heart from his chest. “There. I need it, and now you’ll no longer have any use for it. After all, you’ll be separated from the two people you love most. As an added bonus, I’ll have a way to keep an eye on you.”
Devastated, knowing from what Regina had told him what her sister could do with his heart, Robin struggled against the guards as they led him away. They locked him in his cell once more, and a wave of magic sealed him in. Robin had a feeling that that spell, or whatever Zelena had done, would make sure he couldn’t escape. He would find a way back to Regina and Roland though, that much he was sure of.
He sat down in his cell and started to brainstorm. No matter what, he would be reunited with the woman he loved and his son, no matter what it took.