Cursed Hearts

Back in the Game

Ten years of dormancy really did take its toll. In the few hours they had been walking for under the wintery sun for, Robin already felt true exhaustion. He and the guys had a regular routine of working out after he got married, but as the years went on, it seemed to happen less and less often. Evenings of weightlifting soon turned into evenings of beer and whiskey- he was beginning to regret that. On top of the cold sweat and sore joints, he was juggling between figuring out his next move against Zelena and answering his daughters questions as they came at him a mile a minute.

"Are we close to where you and Will grew up?" She asked, seemingly oblivious to his inner turmoil. Dressed in a jacket and blue jeans, she didn't seem to be fazed by the light bits of snow on the ground. For the end of March, the winter was far more lenient than the one in Maine.

"Dad? Did you hear what I said?"

He turned his head towards her, trying to give her the attention she wanted. "Sort of, it's a little way from here," he said with a small smile, "our village was in the Sherwood Forest."

Thinking back to the days before he ran away from home was something the man rarely did. Sometimes random memories would flash through his dreams- a crack of morning sunlight through the trees, the stillness of the forest...

"What did you guys do for fun?" Caroline was quick to ask, keeping the conversation going, "I can't ever get Will to talk about childhood."

A tinge of guilt hit him- not only because he knew his brother's childhood wasn't great, but also because he had kept so much information from their past from his own daughter without even realizing it. Their life in Storybrooke was so carefree that it was easy to forget the past. But that didn't mean the past didn't happen. She deserved to know the truth, no matter how checkered or depressing it was.

"That's because he was on his own for most of it," he admitted with a sigh of relief. "I had a chance to leave, but Will was too young to come with me."

To his surprise, Caroline didn't seem too daunted by his words. "That must've been hard, Dad."

Her voice was full of compassion. "Do you ever miss your parents?"

He outstretched his arm and wrapped it around her shoulders, bringing her near enough to plant a kiss on her head. "Not really, no. But I made my own family, and I wouldn't trade it for the world."

Never in a million years would be have thought that one day he would be reunited with his little brother. Fate had a funny way of working out.

"Do you think the people here remember Mom as the Evil Queen?" She asked suddenly, looking up at him curiously. "Will they have awful things to say about her?"

It was something he hadn't thought about. "It's been such a long time since she was the Evil Queen- I'm sure everyone has moved on."

A few paces ahead of the two, Zelena couldn't help but audibly groan upon hearing that. She was already irritated with having to walk through a cold forest, and now she was stuck listening to more undeserving praises about Regina. Hate began to drive her thoughts once again, making her empathy towards Caroline diminish quickly. Her dream was so close to becoming a reality- all she had to do was hand the girl over to the Ice Queen. Whatever happened to her after that was beyond her control.

"Zelena!"

She spun around at the call of her name, realizing that Robin and Caroline were far behind.

"Why are you walking so fast?" The girl asked, out of breath by the time she caught up to her. "Can we take a break?"

Her anger simmered down at the sight of Caroline distressed and out of her element, fear showing through her soft brown eyes. She really had no idea what she was in for.