Outlaw Queen Shorts

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Authors note:
From a prompt on tumblr - "don't go where I can't follow."
Missing year which flashes forward to present day at the end, enjoy!

Mesmerising didn't come close to describing her. Robin was completely besotted, had been since the second he laid eyes on her sprawled across the forest floor. The dark red of her lips, sharp cheekbones - and even sharper tongue - caught his attentions and wrapped around him like vines, capturing him to forever be hers. He didn't want to get out of it. If anything, he tried to cling on tighter, even when she refused to offer him so much as a greeting.

She'd stride through the palace, purposeful, intent on avoiding as many people as she could while still wanting all eyes on her. Another of her traits Robin admired in awe. Her mask was confidence, and she wore it so well most people no longer saw the cracked surface behind it.

He did.

He knew she sidled off early from dinner because that was the only time she got to herself, when no one needed her or her magic. It felt selfish of him to follow her, and for a while he didn't, he kept his distance and observed her from afar. The way she picked and prodded at her food and her forced conversations with the Charming's. His boy would sit with her sometimes and then, very rarely, a smile - a real smile - would appear on her lips for just long enough that he could capture the image.

Eventually, his curiosity got the better of him. Regina slipped out of the great hall and he followed, keeping far enough behind that the click of his boots on stone tiles was undetectable. She made her way up several flights of stairs, as graceful and powerful as ever, bunching up her skirts in her fists so she could move swiftly. Finally, when she broke off to the left down a corridor dimly lit with torchlight, Robin assumed they'd reached her rooms.

This happened nearly every day, Regina practically running from the hall and Robin going after her, never imposing on her space, always watching her go inside and then returning back to the festivities downstairs. Part of him hoped she'd notice him, another part wondering if she'd ever go a different route or go to a different destination. She never did.

Out of the hall, up the stairs, and down the corridor - same as usual, nothing changed.
Until she stood still at the doors, shoulders rising and falling.

As Robin peered round the corner, he could hear her shallow breaths. "Why do you follow me?" She asked, not turning to face him but not moving any further down the corridor. Robin froze, air catching in his throat as he searched for something to say. "You always follow me."

Not sharp, not angry, but almost...interested. Her voice was soft and light; she finally turned to face him, brow furrowed, watching as he choked on his words.

"I– you–" If he was honest, the most shocking thing about all of this was her calmness. Her eyes were brushing over him in a slow perusal and it threw him. "I find it hard not to."

Her eyes widened slightly at that, but she quickly schooled her features, building back her mask (unaware that Robin had already seen through it a long time ago). There was no tension in the air. It felt like they'd been plucked from the earth to have this moment alone together and Robin couldn't help but smile - Regina's lips quirked in return. Then she turned to face the door, looking back over her shoulder at him, raising a brow that told him to follow when she swung the wooden doors open and revealed her chambers.

He followed.

---

Smatterings of crimson were stark against the snow blanketing the forest floor. Regina lay, her head pillowed on Robin's lap where he knelt beside her, her eyes drifting in and out of focus as he said her name, desperate to keep her conscious.

"Do you remember the time I tried to cook dinner with that stove of yours?" He said - trying to distract her, to keep her awake - swallowing down the lump in his throat, the glossy coat of tears in his eyes defiant.

Regina nodded faintly, smiling, "You nearly..." Her words came out in forced exhales, whispered and croaked, "burned down my kitchen." Robin gave a watery laugh and caught the tear which fell from her eye, rolling sideways off her cheek. "Didn't even...taste good."

He scoffed and pressed her side more firmly (earning a wince from her but he had to keep the pressure on) hopefully clotting the blood enough to stop her from bleeding out. The arrow had flown from nowhere, embedding itself between two of her ribs. She'd hit the floor with a smack and a low grunt of pain which made Robin surge forwards to her aid. The feathered end still protruded from her jacket where Robin pushed down on the flesh around it, gray material becoming red and then black as more blood soaked in.

"Can't you use your magic?" He asked, panic rising in his voice because the stained white snow around her was growing and growing, seeping into the knees of his jeans.

"I don't have...enough energy," Regina's eyelids flickered, fighting to stay open.

"Come on Regina," he'd find out who fired that arrow and God help the bastard who did because Robin would kill them. But right now, all he cared about was saving Regina, making sure after all they'd been though, an arrow to the side wouldn't be what thoroughly split them apart. "Don't go where I can't follow."

He swallowed thickly, his forehead dropping to hers as a tear dropped from his cheek and landed on her face.

"Please, Regina." Her limbs were limp in his arms as he pressed his forehead further into hers. "We've been through too much for it to end like this." Sharp exhales of breath were leaving her parted lips, but she no longer had the strength to form words. Robin became vaguely aware of Emma's footsteps running up behind them and Snow's gasp as she drew closer to the ever-growing blood patch, freezing onto the ice.

Tears ran from Robin's nose onto her cheek and then David's hands were wrapping around his shoulders, trying to pull him away but he wouldn't leave her, he refused to leave Regina alone on the cold floor.

"Robin, we can help if you step back," Emma's voice was trembling but she was trying to be the calm for both of them and so Robin moved, linking his fingers through Regina's ice cold ones, still kneeling by her side as Emma tried to fix the torn flesh.

"Please," Robin whispered, choked and broken, over and over, holding her hand in between both of his to try and give her some of his warmth. "Please,"

"Please."