Thank you for the reviews and continued support. Sorry for the delay. This ones back to robins point of view. I may keep switching back and forth between Robin and Regina's point of view so that you know what Regina is going through, but I'm not sure if I want to do it every chapter or every few chapters. Feedback is welcome. Anyways enough rambling more story. Mistakes are mine, I own nothing but the plot(ish). Enjoy.

He doesn't even have time to react before she goes limp before him. Instinctively, he catches her, scoops her into his arms before she can fall and hit her head. That's all for her to need is to wake up from a sleeping curse with a head injury. Of course there is still the manner of waking her up. He knows that it won't be easy, that most likely no one in this land loves her that much to give her True Love's kiss. Even he couldn't. Sure he may have had some inkling of feelings towards the woman currently in his arms, but he's not sure what those feelings are. He's never felt so alive as when he's with her, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's love, let alone True Love. And all he'd need is to be disappointed when the kiss wouldn't work. He's already been too hurt by love in the past, and doesn't know if he can open his heart in that way again.

He hears the whistling of wind and he pulls Regina closer. He fears as if the Wicked Witch is about to fly in here at any moment. Regina is unavailable to help and he knows he doesn't stand a chance against the witch on his own. What's worse is that he knows the Wicked Witch wouldn't be alone; that one if her blasted monkeys would be with her. Since he was holding Regina, there would be no time to even draw his bow and shoot an arrow. They'd both be goners for sure.

He begins to walk out of the room, back the way that they came, his hold on Regina tightening. Never in his wildest dreams did he ever imagine him being this close to Regina. There is a smug comment in the back of his head about him only being this close to her because she's unconscious and if she was awake he'd be incinerated. The voice sounds awfully like Regina. He chooses to ignore it.

He hates her in this moment. For being so selfish and stupid. Did she not care that she could be killed? Did she not care that he had to clean up her mess - he knew that answer to that one but again didn't want to dwell on it.

Lifting her up more in his arms like a groom does on his wedding day, he cradled her impossibly close and made his way out of the castle as quickly as he could.

At least that was one less issue to deal with.

Now he had to figure out a way back to Snow and Charming's castle, the castle he now calls home. To carry her the entire way would be beyond tiresome and he couldn't just leave her. Not with the Wicked Witch and her flying monkeys coming after her. And he also knew he didn't want to leave her. That whatever feelings he had for her were strong enough that he didn't want to leave her. He rather still enjoyed her company and felt that connection to her even as she lay unconscious. He just wished he could sort out his feelings already. He'd have a lot of time to do that on his journey back he supposed.

He sighed and shook his head out of frustration. He silently cursed his honor sometimes. An honorable man would never just leave a damsel in distress. Through he knew that Regina was no damsel. Even like this he still wouldn't consider her to be a damsel; only a woman in pain. He laughed softly then thinking about her reaction to this situation had it been reversed or if she could see herself like this. She'd make some sassy remark about it all, he was sure.

Already he was finding he missed being sassed by her.

He was more in love with her than he assumed. But that didn't matter. The queen was lost to everyone now for the rest of eternity.

He mused that he and everyone one around them must have mistaken her sass for her being okay at the separation from her son. But they were wrong. So wrong. Looking back he realized that sass was used to mask the pain. Of course she wasn't over the loss of her son and he couldn't imagine the pain that she was in. The loss of a child was unlike any other. He should have remembered that when he had saved a pregnant Marian all those years ago. How much sleep he had lost simply because he feared losing her and losing their child. How much pain that put him in. And his pain was a mere fraction of hers - he guessed - since his pain would never have driven him to do this.

He recalled how Snow referred to Regina as a woman with a big heart who had been crushed by pain after pain. Even if she had put up walls around her heart so impenetrable that no one could get in and hurt her heart, there was no doubt in his mind that none of that applied to her son. She loved her son freely and openly and not having him there must have really taken its toll. Especially on a woman who had lost all her other loves in her life as it was.

Out of the castle and in the safety of the woods, Robin paused and looked down at Regina's face. At least she looked at peace. Whatever her reasoning for doing this was, at least the curse finally brought her peace. She deserved it after all of the pain she'd been put through. He sighed once more and wished that wherever she was, she was finding her happiness. Then maybe her putting herself under this curse wouldn't be so tragic.

After looking at her for what felt like an eternity (but not even close to long enough) Robin began to walk again. He decided that he would stop somewhere and make camp. There was no way he'd make it back to the castle carrying her in one trip. Not that she was heavy, quite the opposite actually, but that his muscles already begun to grow tired and he'd need the rest eventually.

Since he was fine at the moment, he carried her through the forest determined to go as far as he could. He had a son to return to, and he had to return her body back to the castle as soon as possible. After all someone there had to know how to fix this. There was no way he was going to simply accept that this would be her fate for the rest of forever.

He felt like a failure. He had volunteered to see her off. To make sure the Wicked Witch didn't hurt her. Not that Regina wasn't capable of protecting herself - she'd done that for years now - but now she had people in her corner. Now she didn't have to protect herself. Others would be willing to help her fight the monsters away.

But she didn't see that and she took the easy way out before even giving them a chance. He was going to have an angry word with her about that once they woke her up. If they got her to wake up. He shook his head. He couldn't think like that. He had to remain hopeful. That would be the only way that they'd be able to save her: with hope.

Though it's very hard to save someone from herself.

But boy was he willing to try. He wasn't the typical knight in shinning armor that he had heard about. The ones that always saved the princesses around here. But Regina wasn't a helpless princess. And maybe she didn't need a knight in shinning armor, but instead a common forest-dwelling thief. She wasn't typical and her story most certainly wouldn't have a typical ending either. He just couldn't give up on her. Which was something he didn't want to do. He looked down at the sleeping Queen and paused once more. He took a deep breath and vowed never to give up on her and to protect her and find a way to wake her up. He also vowed to never leave her side for as long as she needed him to be. Of course he couldn't bring himself to say these words out loud. A part of him feared that she would just wake up at any moment; that she was only napping. As ridiculous as that thought was, what was worse was that he was mortified at the thought of her actually waking up and hearing his vow to her. Certainly she'd never let him live that down.

But he tried not to think of the sass she would give him if she could hear his thoughts. It made him miss her that much more and he knew that he didn't have the right to miss her. He had no claim on her and yet he found himself missing her all the same. He sighed and shook his head only thinking of the vows he just made. Though silent, he knew that the universe had heard his promises to her so they were binding. And as an honorable man he never broke his promises.

More determined than ever by his silent vows, he shifted her slightly in his arms to give himself a little break as he kept walking through the forest back to the castle. There was only one thought that he kept having over and over again as he walked: Save Regina.