Outlaw Queen Shorts

Forgotten Love

WARNING: angst (a lot)
Sentence prompt from tumblr: "I trusted you" & "I thought you loved me"
No specific time, but set in Storybrooke.
Any prompts would be greatly appreciated!

He doesn't remember going to sleep; doesn't remember where the line between yesterday and today blurred together but somewhere along the way it did. His head is pounding, blood pulsing against his skull in uncomfortably tight waves that cause white splodges to cloud the corners of his vision. As he finally swings his legs out of the bed - who's bed is this? - a lance of pain shoots up his abdomen, excruciating, blinding pain like nothing he's felt before. A groan flies from his lips, his fingers pressing to the skin below his ragged shirt and coming away sticky, covered in thick red blood seeping from the wound. "Come on," he whispers to himself because it's just a flesh wound, he's dealt with such before, if he just manages to find someone to help, he'll be fine.

Help may be what he needs, but he doesn't even know where he is, or how he got here, let alone know who to call for. The only thought racing through his mind is that there's blood pouring out of him and soaking his shirt so quickly he estimates, in his groggy state, that in a few moments he'll be passed out. He stumbles over his own feet, grasping desperately onto the metal bed frame as he plummets to the ground, his cheek connecting with the cold laminate flooring. A dull groan leaves his lips and he presses his hand over the ever-leaking wound, trying to contain some of the blood flow. His vision is fading, closing in, distorted and blurry around the edges now as a slender figure comes into view at the doorway, precise steps accompanied by a high pitched laugh that rings in his ears. A single red curl bounces down over her shoulder as she crouches next to his head, whispering in his ear, "You're mine now," before his world turns black.

---

"Have you seen Robin?" Henry's sat at the counter in Granny's when Regina walks behind him and asks, eyes skimming over the faces of everyone else in the diner before finally landing on her son.

"No, are you meeting him?" He shakes his head as he looks up from his comic book, only then noticing the deep furrow in Regina's brow. "Is everything okay?"

"He said he'd meet me at my office after work, that was last night." Her eyes are slightly wider than usual, flicking from one spot to the next, never stilling over a single item for longer than a couple of seconds. "I haven't heard from him today and now he's not picking up his phone." Henry places his hand over hers resting on the counter and she squeezes it - giving her best I'm fine smile which he knows well enough by now means she isn't - before telling him, "I'm sure he's just been held up. He'll be fine."

"Mom–"

"What are you reading?"

"Mom." He says, more forcefully this time, and Regina looks away, sighing, because of course she raised a son who wouldn't let her off the hook so easily. She looks at him with glossy eyes, determined not to cry. What kind of mother can't even control her emotions in front of her child? "I know you're scared that something will tear you two apart again, but you can't keep thinking like that."

She nods, "I know," because she does know, she realizes that this fear must end somewhere but she can't shake the feeling of dread, can't rid herself of the firm knot tied in her stomach that tightens each time she imagines some other scenario where Robin is ripped from her grasp. "I think I'm going to go home," she states, "I have a headache from today." Henry gives her a small smile and he nods, turning back to his comic as she makes her way towards the door.

She's halfway there, more than that, just a couple of steps away from reaching the handle when the door opens and he walks in, shirt stained a dirty red with what Regina can only assume is blood, and eyes that have lost all their light staring unfalteringly at her.

"Robin," His name tumbles from her lips in a choked sob and she starts towards him, hand outstretched to touch him, his arm, his cheek, anything she can reach to prove to herself he isn't here, that this is a cruel trick of her mind. He moves back, away from her, and his features twist into a scowl, deep lines embedding themselves into his forehead.

"You," He breathes, staggering into the table at the side of them in his efforts to avoid her grasp. She pulls back her hand, fingers coiling back to her palm as she lowers her arm to her side and stares, "I trusted you."

"What's going on? I don't understand, what happened? Is that blood?" It was like everything around them had stopped. All eyes were on the pair as Regina tried to slowly make her way around to Robin but for every step she took forwards, he took one back, the gap between them increasing.

"I trusted you," He repeats, eyes falling from her face to the ground as his hand (also covered in dried blood, she notices) rakes through his hair.

"Robin," She coaxes, taking the opportunity of his wandering eyes to move closer to him, running a hand over his arm and clutching his fingers. "You're not making sense. Are you hurt?" His fingers are pale, cold as ice within hers and she sees the blood on his shirt is still damp, still seeping out of the wound she is now certain is underneath. He looks into her eyes then, a moment of recognition flickering across his beautiful blue eyes, her name falling from his lips before he doubles over in pain, a loud cry replacing the air around them, the glimmer of hope all but gone from his eyes. Even in his agony, he pulls his hand out of hers, stumbling backwards and out onto the street away from her.

"Mom!"

Henry grabs Regina by her shoulder but she shakes him off, tells him, "Henry, wait here." before heading out of the door and after Robin.

---

His breathing is heavy, labored, and his side is burning with the pain of the deep gash splintering further and further towards his chest. He falls to his knees in the middle of the road, clutching feebly at his side as sobs begin to rattle through his body. And then she's there again, calling his name and crouching down next to him on the concrete. He can't remember what she did, he doesn't know why he feels this way but he does, he hates this woman with all his heart. With enough venom that as soon as she comes close he shuffles as far away as his broken and battered body will carry him.

She looks hurt, he can see it in her eyes but she did something, he knows she did, she must have, why else would he feel this way at the very sight of her face? "I thought you loved me." Because she did, he knows that much and from the very depths of his mind he can just about pull to the surface the thought that he did her too.

"Robin, I do! Of course I do! I love you," Fat tears are rolling down her cheeks and Robin has the urge to reach out and brush them away but a voice in his head tells him no, she deserves this, it whispers but as she carries on, his heart aches, breaks for this woman he just knows he used to love. "I love you more than anything." And she's leaning forwards then, eyes closing as she presses a close mouthed kiss to his lips.

The memories flood back to him in an instant, Zelena with her dagger slicing at his flesh and then murmuring enchantments and incantations in his ear, "She has wronged you." She hissed, face crumpling from anger and resentment, "She doesn't love you." Her spindly fingers running across his jaw. "And you don't love her."

But he does love her, more than words alone can express, and it's too late now, he can feel the last strands of life flowing from the open gash down his side. Regina's hands are moving over his body, purple smoke trying its best to repair the torn skin and replace the lost blood but it's not working, he knows it isn't, the blade wielded magic and although Regina is strong, she cannot fix this. Robin stills her hands in his, tears gathering in his eyes as he watches her shoulders shake. "No," She's saying, over and over, so many times the word no longer has meaning.

"Regina," He says, a heavy hand coming up to rest on her cheek as he softly strokes back and forth along her cheekbone with his thumb. "I'm sorry,"

"Robin–"

"I love you." His hand falls from her face as his eyes begin to close, the image of her dark eyes and her raven hair tumbling over her shoulders the last thing he sees before his eye lids become too heavy for his weak body to hold open any longer.