The Most Resilient Heart.

Wicked Smiles.

You know, whenever I write a chapter of a fanfiction, after finishing the chapter, I always wonder whether the next time I decide to write, if I will feel so incredibly passionate about the work as I did this time. So basically, I hope that I'm sort of feeling that way today... I don't know... but I'm DEFINITELY in the mood! + you don't have to read the next BOLD part unless you're in the mood.

(My favourite characters from my favourite Australian TV show just kissed and I'm FREAKING OUT!!! You know, when you watch the scene like fifty-billion times OVER and OVER again??? I haven't done that since the last Outlaw Queen kiss- which seems like AAAGGGEEESSSS ago!!! But this one wasn't like a let's-get-together-kiss nor was it like an I'm-in-love-with-you kiss... it was just... PLEASE???-I-REALLY-LIKE-YOU kiss... you know?? <3<3<3)

So I guess I'm ready.

"Next time, we'll try in the forest, okay?"

Regina had just calmed Roland's frustration for the what seemed to be the billionth time that week. He had been coming over everyday that week since the first lesson and still, no magic. Maybe he just needed to learn in a familiar atmosphere.

Regina hadn't seen Robin for the whole of that week either. Maybe the disappearing-in-a-cloud-of-purple-smoke thing had scared him away. A part of her was relieved that he hadn't come to see her and another just yearned to see his face again. To see him in anything but her imagination and her beautiful and very embarassing dreams.

"Okay." Roland made his way to the door, head hanging down. 

"Roland, please don't worry about it. You have time." She places a warm hand on the little boy's shoulder and smiles.

"I just don't understand, Regina!" He was ready to cry again. "Why can't I just do it?"

Regina was wondering the exact same thing. Her strategies should have worked. She kneels down. She could have sworn that her knees had seriously flattened from all the times she had knelt down in that single week. She smiles wickedly a thought crossing her mind as she wipes a tear from his eyes. "You know, Roland?"

His eyes bear into hers; big and brown. He could have even been her own son.

"Emma, she took a while to learn magic. Years in fact." She sees his face fall but her smile doesn't fade and she continues. "I almost killed her once trying to teach her." Now he looked scared but she just laughed. He was too adorable. "But don't worry, because I think I need to teach you differently. You see, the difference between you and Emma, is that you want to learn to control your magic. And you are quite the determined little boy." She gets a smile on his face and then her wicked one broadens. "And Roland, a little secret: I'm going to teach you how to look cool when using magic. Because if you ever, ever, make this sort of face when using it," She scrunches her eyes closed and mimicks Emma's typical magic-using expression, trying not to laugh. "Then I will treat you exactly the way I treat Emma. I don't think you want that do you?"

Roland had heard all the stories of the relationship between these two powerful women and he certainly did not want any part in it. He shakes his head, grinning. 

"Now go home, before someone finds out where your disappearances take you." She kisses his forehead and he turns to run out the door quickly.

***

"There has to be something." Snow was talking to herself as she looked desperately through the shelf of potions in an abandoned house just out of Storybrooke. Zelena's house.

Frustrated, she bangs her fist against the wall. Turning around slowly, she looks at the table in the centre of the room. Someone else had been here before her. Maybe a long time before but there sat two glasses of whiskey. She chucks one down her throat and almost splutters, surprised. Not because it was bitter, or that it burnt her throat. This whiskey was different. It seemed to tickle her throat and wiggle her nose. 

"Magic." She was sure of it. In whiskey?

She takes the other glass. It could serve as useful later. There was only one more place to look. The bunker.

(Magic whiskey is not something one comes by everyday. Unless, of course, two soulmates meet everyday for the first time and share a bottle of whiskey and there exists a single special moment or connection between the two that neither expected. Especially if one of the two soulmates happens to be a sorcerer.)

***

Snow smiles. It was a strange smile. One you wouldn't expect to see on the fair face of Snow White. It was a wicked smile. "Found it."

She held a scroll. A bunch of jibberish was written on it but Snow expected that she would be able to read it. She knew what it would do at least. It was a spell, or a curse in correct terms. A curse that she planned to use on Robin Hood. 

Although she had been pregnant at the time, she had heard about Emma's drain of power after kissing Hook. It was perfect. That's all she needed. But this time, with this curse of Zelena's, there were more consequences. Not only loss of magic, something darker. 

She whispered the spell into the glass of whiskey and watched it glow. Her smile only grew and the heart in her chest only beat faster. Little did she know that not only did it beat faster, but it grew darker. 

***

"Robin!" Snow had found him. Finally. "Hey, I was wondering if we could grab a drink or something?"

He stared at her strangely. This was unexpected. "Of course, if you'd like. I was just off to Granny's."

"No!" She grabbed his arm and pulled him in the opposite direction. "Come over to my place."

They were soon sitting at Snow's table as she placed two mis-matched glasses on the table. One she pushed deliberately towards Robin and the other, she held firmly in her hand. 

She lifted her glass up in the air. "Cheers!" She smiled that same smile. Robin took notice of it. Something wasn't right. He looked down at the glass in front of him and he tried to remember where he'd seen something like it before. His heart seemed to be telling him to run. That this was not a good idea. That something was most certainly wrong. But he couldn't. He was a gentleman, of course.

He picked up the glass and raised it to Snow's. "To resilience." He was talking about Regina, hoping Snow had no idea.

Through gritten teeth, Snow repeated. "To resilience." She knew exactly what he was talking about. 

Robin heard the glasses 'clink' with warning. The sound seemed to echo in his ears but soon the glass was against his lips, and the burning liquid down his throat.

And Snow's wicked smile only grew.

... Fitzroy Street...

CC;)