Chapter 1: Red Core

Red pushed its way through blackness and with every new beat the bright core lit up. He stared; a red core. In some ways her heart reminded him of the beating of a steady drum – thump-thump, thump-thump – in quite another it wasn't the blackness that made it impossible for him to look away; it was the core. It complicated matters. Apparently he'd spoken the truth when he'd told her she seemed bold and audacious but not evil.

Her heart told him as much. Tainted by blackness, but for the core, a fragile red glow admits darkness.

He sighed.

How was he supposed to go through with this? Never mind how his own heart would surely grow darker if he handed hers and her fate over to that witch. No, not if; when.

He racked a hand through his hair and back over his face.

He was a thief, yes, not a murderer.

His attention shifted to the camp, his eyes searching and finding the little boy who was snuggly fast asleep between two of his men beside a nearly extinct fire.

He had to do it for Roland.

He couldn't condemn his son to a heartless life. He deserved to know how to love and what it felt like to be touched by love, but without a heart.

'A heart for a heart.' That's what she'd said, before she'd reached inside Roland's chest. His son's screams still resonated in Robin's mind, so loud he had been sure he lost his boy the moment he past out. But then after Zelena had flown away, a wicked laugh trailing behind her in the sky, Roland had re-opened his eyes and had innocently asked why his head hurt and why daddy was crying. He didn't remember a thing. Robin had counted his blessings then and even though his son was heartless now he was still alive and had been spared the trauma of remembering what had happened to him. But his relief had been brief and as the days past a change had occurred within his son, so subtle that not even the boy himself understood why he now enjoyed crushing small insects between the tips of his fingers, or why the squirrels in the forest seemed more much appealing dead than alive. Robin glanced back at the heart in his hand, the Queen didn't seem to be too affected by the loss of hers.

Even though his son couldn't remember what had happened, Zelena had left her mark on him nonetheless. While she took his memories she gifted him nightmares. Every single night since the day she took his heart.

Maybe he should have felt guiltier about not telling the Charmings. Maybe, if he had, they could have freed the dark one. Maybe, he could have prevented the witch from getting to Princess Snow White and her unborn child.

But he hadn't. Since day one he hadn't told a single soul he knew the identity of the Wicked Witch and every single night as he soothed Roland back to sleep he was reminded of exactly why he'd kept it to himself.

He'd made the right choice.

Even after she took Little John.

'Little John.' He whispered.

He regretted what had happened to his best mate. If he hadn't been so reluctant to follow Zelena's orders in the first place, maybe his friend would still be among them. She'd punished him for his slackness. She'd told him that she would take more of his merry men if he didn't make his move soon.

That's when he finally started shadowing the Queen. It had been easy enough at first. As he'd introduced himself to her he'd only been mildly concerned. Shooting an arrow at her hadn't been the best first impression he could have made after all, but back then part of him had wanted to kill her very badly. If the arrow could have just spliced her skull in two, it all could have ended there and then. He used to fantasise about exactly such scenarios back in the Enchanted Forest, when they'd been sworn enemies. He'd harbored a common hatred for the Queen for years, but that was before he'd ever met her.

Belatedly – as the arrow had zoomed her way - he'd realized that Zelena would surely kill Roland if the Queen died that day, and so when she caught the arrow he'd been relieved but also – though reluctant to admit it - impressed.

To his surprise - and probably her own - she took an immediate liking to him. The Wicked Witch had predicted as much, in fact, by taking Roland's heart she'd assured Robin that she wasn't stupid enough to make the same mistake twice without some leverage. It made him wonder, but not long enough. At the time the advantage had served him well.

Up to the point when the Queen had handed him her heart.

'Can't steal something that's been given to you.'

And just like that she'd given him the key to Roland's salvation. Not for the first time that evening he wondered why he hadn't traded her heart before the Queen's confrontation with Zelena. Instead he'd stood guard over it like a loyal dog.

'Keep working the Queen.' Zelena had ordered right after her cover had been blown. She'd conjured Roland's heart and toyed with it before his eyes.

'I don't have to remind you what will happen if you fail.' She'd demonstratively given Roland's heart a tiny squeeze; it was all the encouragement he'd needed.

Between then and now he'd been on the Queen's tail wherever she went. At Granny's he'd managed to approach her a second time. A third time in the forest.

'Stunning, in every way.'

That's when everything changed.

As reluctant as he felt to admit it; he felt for the Queen. He could have stolen her heart. He could have traded it for Roland's heart anytime before she went to confront Zelena.

But she was; stunning, in every way.

Now he'd been given a second chance. Tomorrow he would meet with Zelena, moments before dawn. He could give her the heart then.

'Or' a tiny voice whispered. 'you could lie and tell her the Queen has not yet fallen for you, that you do not know the location of her heart.' but then how could he make a heartless Queen fall in love with him?