The creature stinks of burnt feathers and scorched fur. Regina stares while the thief nods to her over his son's head.

"Thank you."

She tilts her head at the mess of steaming ashes. " That wasn't my doing."

"It was me, but if you'd like to get somewhere safe from inexplicably flying monkeys, perhaps we could discuss it there?"

Regina's eyes follow the familiar voice. It can't be. She's dead, Emma killed her and yet- there Maleficent stands, dressed in her familiar tight black dress, staff in hand. Her horns are absent, and her hair's mussed, but she's here.

Alive.

Regina's heart skips.

"Maleficent-" Snow gasps.

""I'm not going to hurt you, any of you." Mal steps from the woods onto the path and pokes at the steaming mass of dead monkey with her toe. "I am going to hurt more of these. We need cover."

"Our castle is-"

"Further than mine," Mal says, turning to Regina. Everyone looks at her, Snow, David, the thief and his band of scoundrels. "It's safe. Well defended. I don't know what happened here, but unlike you-" she galances at Snow and David, "I protected my castle against the curse. Just in case. We'll be safe."

Time drags out and if her heart didn't ache so for Henry, she'd say something more, explain that Mal tried to stop her from casting the curse, all those years ago. Instead, Regina nods to Snow. "We can trust her."

Snow and David share a glance, then Snow nods. "All right, we go to Maleficent's castle."

The evil queen hands him a stuffed dragon toy, bright purple with little wings. "Here, for your boy."

Robin smiles at her, pleasantly surprised. Roland's been sticking close after the flying monkey scare, but being in a castle that belongs to a dragon has made him curious. Maleficent hasn't been in dragon form yet, but she's been a gracious host of all the refugees in her castle. Between her and the queen, everyone seems to be safe for the moment, and he's grateful.

Surprised, yet grateful.

"You're kind to him."

The queen, Regina, she wants to be called Regina, smiles but her eyes are soft and sad. "He's a sweet boy."

He thanks her again and brings the dragon to Roland who hugs it happily to his chest. Robin wonders about her eyes as he lies in bed. Who has she lost to give her that darkness? What hides behind that sad smile?

He finds out later, washing Roland's nightshirt in the castle laundry, that there's a son Regina left behind. A child she may never see again, and that haunts him while Queen Snow and her werewolf walk away.

He wants to rush to her, to tell her how sorry he is that she's separated from her son, but he meets the dragon first, passing her in the hallway with a wet shirt in hand.

"I can dry that," she offers, holding up her hand.

He accepts, holding out the shirt because he can't help wondering how she'll dry it. There's a flash of light, magic passing through the wet fabric, then it's dry and warm in his hands. "Thank you."

"I imagine your son doesn't have many spares."

None of them have much of anything, but for the second time, he's staring into eyes full of sorrow. While Queen Regina's pain is buried deep, Maleficent's blue eyes shine with tears while he talks of Roland and his adventures in her castle.

"Where is your child?" he asks as they walk.

Maleficent blinks, and her tears slip free. "I don't know."

They tuck Roland in together, and she stays, telling Roland a story about dragons far in the North and their adventures with the men of long ships and thick laughter. Roland laughs and falls asleep wrapped in warm blankets. Robin pats his head and they slip away. She offers him a drink and then they're lying together on the roof of her castle, staring up at the stars while she tells him stories of the world long before he was born.

He returns the openness, telling her of Marian's death, of raising his son alone, and Robin learns that her sorrow springs from losing her child to Queen Snow and King David and after that, he struggles to look at them across the dinner table. He's always thought of them as good and just, but they took a child.

Perhaps it would be different if he saw the monster in Maleficent, but as they spend more long nights talking, he only sees the woman.

One night when he kisses her, she whispers that the she lost child was Regina's, and she knows not how to tell her, because Regina's already lost so much.

Robin suggests he come along, that they tell her together, and he doesn't know why he's in so deep between them, how he became mixed up in the lives of dragons and queens, for he's only a thief.

Who smells of the forest.

Regina's too stunned to cry when Maleficent finally confesses. She's already hollowed out form the loss of her son, and Mal can only add to that sorrow. Regina has two children, and both are lost to her. Robin, sweet Robin, hands her the wine and the three of them drink to what they've lost, to each other, and maybe it's in desperation that they kiss.

Both of them taste of wine and the frenzied passion of mortals makes her heart beat rough. Mal takes them into her bed that night, stripping them bare as they explore her. Even making love can't lift Regina's sorrow for more than a moment. He tries to make sure both of them spend time with Roland and the other children, that he make them laugh when he can, and that hope is something close to their hearts even if he can't work it all the way in.

Mal cradles Regina to her chest and kisses Robin. She shares whispers of returning to the world she never saw, looking for her child, finding Henry-

It's all a dream, because only the Dark Curse can send them there, and Regina has no one else to sacrifice.

Robin makes them laugh. Robin won't give up.

Robin of the soft beard and gentle hands.

Their thief.

He holds her hand when Queen Snow promises they're going back, to find Emma, to save Henry, and to right the wrong of long ago.

"Maleficent must be reunited with her child as well," Snow promises, looking at the dragon. "That's a wrong I should have mended years ago."

Regina finds hope then, finally, at the promise of her son. She kisses Mal's cheek, warm and brightening. "We'll find our child too. She should be there."

Mal's heart soars for Regina, for Robin and his son, but it aches in the quiet darkness, even with both of them asleep on her chest. Regina will see Henry, and Roland will grow up safe and protected.

Her child is still gone. Maybe dead.

"We'll find her," Robin murmurs, as if he'd plucked the darkness from her thoughts.

"Together," Regina adds, succumbing more to hope with each passing day.

Mal takes a breath. "I hope so."

With the two of them, hope seems possible.

Anything does.