The Most Resilient Heart.

Getting Involved with the Evil Queen.

He was getting frustrated again. But not only him. Regina was getting frustrated too. Why was this not working? She had tried everything! This kid obviously had magic in him but something seemed to be holding him back. Something seemed to stopping his magic. And suddenly she goes pale. The kid notices and stops his regular concertrated body-shake to look at her. To see if she was okay.

The kiss raced through her mind again. It was her. She stopped this magic. She and Robin had stepped in the way of true-love and had blocked this kid's incredible natural ability. People always seemed to get hurt when it came to her. She shouldn't have kissed him. Well, she shouldn't have kissed him back. 

"Gina?"

She looks down at the kid. He must see her like this all the time. It wasn't right to put a small kid through so much. "I'm sorry." She whispers, almost looking right threw Roland.

"For what?" He smiles at her.

Her hazy gaze clears up. She can't tell him. She couldn't tell him what she had done. "I'm sorry, Roland. I can't teach you."

His face falls. So does her heart. "Yes," He says quietly.  "Yes, you can!" He seems to be trying to convince more himself than her. 

She gives in. This kid wasn't just the only other person in town performing magic. He wasn't just a cute little child that anyone would fall for. This kid wasn't just the son of the man she loved... He was Roland, Roland of Locksley and Regina could not have loved this kid more. She could not have felt more even if he were her own child. That was the thing with Regina, when she's sought out enough, she always found it so easy to fall in love. That was her problem. It was never easy for her to deny people the right to be together, but the years of building the stone walls around her heart had made it easier. Easier to seperate lovers, children, parents, family. But with Robin, she had never fallen in love so quickly. Of course, she had thought it to be only a few weeks at the time as she had forgotten the whole year before-hand, but those few weeks were all it took. She didn't go a second now, without thinking of him. She didn't go a minute not thinking of his lips and she didn't go a day not thinking about his adorable son. 

He was close to tears and she couldn't stand it. "Maybe," Her voice was a little shaky. "Maybe we can try one more thing?" She sends him a small smile as she straightens herself up and rubs her hands together. She had spent the week trying to teach this kid out of fear, it was about time she tried something else. Fun.

The child watches enchanted as Regina swirls her hand around in the air and a white dove appears in her hands. She holds the creature out to him and it jumps lightly into his cupped hands. Her now free hands then continue to swirl and the boy, instead of watching the magic, watches the eyes of the woman performing it. Her eyes seemed to dance in time with each swift motion of her hands and the passion was burning fiercely. Suddenly, she looks up at the boy and stares confused as to why he wasn't looking down. "Roland, look." She insists.

He looks down at his hands and begins to watch her magic. The white dove no longer white, but a different colour each second. And suddenly different patterns appear: in stripes, in spots, in swirls... an endless number of different designs, all created by a swift swipe of her hands threw the air. 

He wanted this. He wanted this so badly. But no matter how he wanted it, it didn't come. He could stand there, eyes shut tightly, fragile body shaking, mind repeating the same word over and over again: magic, magic,  magic. Magic? But it never seemed to come.

Regina stared at him. It wasn't going to work, she could see that now. She had destroyed this kid's only chance. She knew the only way to stall her having to tell him this, was to continue the show. She motions for him to throw the bird into the air. He does. And he watches as the colours continue to change, always different, always new, never the same. Regina adds a bit more. The wind around them starts to swirl. The Autumn leaves lift from the ground and seem to follow the bird in its ascent. And then the snow flakes appear, soon the flowers and the the rain droplets. All the while, the young boy watches enchanted as all four seasons swirled around him and as the white dove appears again; this time, white again.