Her Dark Heart

Chapter 14

A/N: I am very sorry that this chapter took so long. I didn't expect to be so busy preparing for college, but I was in for a surprise. On top of that, I had different ideas for the chapter but decided they didn't fit well so I changed them. Thanks for understanding! I want to give you guys the best story possible.

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Robin felt relieved to be with his son again. He had been worried about his whereabouts, how he might be feeling, but his Merry Men had been taking good care of him here and he seemed relatively happy, even without Robin.

Roland showed Robin the firewood that he had collected with Alan and Much earlier. Robin decided to show him how to stack it to make a bonfire.

"Here, Roland, hand me that piece there," he said and pointed to one of the larger pieces. "This will serve as a base so the wood doesn't fall over."

"Okay, Papa," the boy replied. He obediently grabbed the firewood and brought it back over. It was nearly as big as he was so he had to handle it with both arms.

Robin laughed at the sight and relieved the boy of his burden when he brought it to him. "Thank you," Robin said.

Once the fire was going, one of the Merry Men brought along a kettle to begin making dinner. Little John had informed him that it would be rabbit stew, a favorite of Robin's, probably to celebrate his return. While the food was cooking, the Merry Men kept asking to hear what had happened to Robin, so he sent Roland off to his tent for a bit so he could talk to them without scaring his son.

When the boy was out of sight, it was John who spoke up. "So, what happened?"

Robin picked at a loose thread on his jeans and began to tell his story. "I was on a trip when the curse hit, as you know. When I saw the clouds racing towards me, I turned my horse around and tried to outrun it. I was fighting it for hours, but my horse began to tire and I was taken to a very strange land with everyone else. They call it the Land Without Magic. For twenty-eight years, I was caught in a time loop in a little town called Storybrooke. I didn't remember who I was. I didn't age, and apparently, neither did any of you. Time finally started moving when the savior showed up, and eventually, she broke the curse," Robin said.

The men nodded slowly, taking it all in. "It must've been awful there," said Alan.

"Actually," Robin said, "it wasn't all that bad. The town has such advanced technology, its unbelievable. There is a cure for almost any sickness, there is a faster mean of transportation than horses called cars. The houses have heat inside of them. It's almost magical. The only part that made it unbearable was that I thought Roland was dead. The curse was designed to make me unhappy, after all."

John frowned. "I'm glad you've been reunited with him. I'm sure that was a fate worse than death."

Robin nodded. "It was. But even after all the horrors of that, I want to go back. I want to take Roland, and you, if we can find a way. It's safer there."

"But the queen is there. And the Dark One," Much countered. "What if he tries to kill you again?"

"He won't. He's too focused on other things, and as for Regina, she won't hurt anyone," he replied.

"The Evil Queen won't hurt anyone?" Will Scarlet, the troublemaker of the Merry Men, asked in a scoffing tone.

Robin felt a surge of anger before he extinguished the flame, reminding himself that the last memory of Regina that they had was her casting the Dark Curse. He could cut them a bit of slack for now.

"No, she won't," Robin said. "I know you all have awful memories of her. Even I do. But she's changed in the last twenty-eight years. She isn't the monster you remember."