Regina did her best impression of her mother, holding her head high and her back straight, looking down her nose at the prisoner the guards had thrown to the ground at her feet, with a cold and emotionless expression that revealed nothing.

He glared at her. His eyes were a clear shade of blue, and he wasn't bad to look at. In fact, he was quite handsome, for a peasant.

That last bit was wrong. Regina knew it was. The love of her life had been a peasant. But she couldn't let her weaknesses slip through in public.

"You tried to rob me, thief?" she demanded.

He chuckled. It was not a happy sound, but rather, the laugh of a man who would break if he didn't somehow find humor in his situation. She recognized the weakness at once. Her temper flared up, and she lunged toward him, grabbing him by the throat and hauling him to his feet, using her magic to lift him more than her physical strength. They were eye-to-eye now.

"Answer me!" she snarled.

"Yes," he gasped, choking as she tightened her magical grip on his throat. "Not that it matters if I confess, because you'll just kill me either way."

Regina smiled coldly. She might not like everything about being the queen, but she liked the power. She liked watching the people who dared to cross her squirm. She would never – never – be powerless again.

Then she let her grip break, and he collapsed to the floor, gasping for breath. She turned to the guards.

"Take him to the dungeon. He dies tonight."

But as they led him away, she caught a glimpse of a torn sleeve. Ink on skin. A tattoo she thought she would never see again.

Her eyes widened.

Her heart skipped a beat.

She watched as her guards dragged her soul mate off to her dungeon, and for a moment, it all seemed so surreal. She almost felt eighteen again, seeing him for the first time, before reality came crashing back down on her. A flicker of fear in her chest betrayed her as she tried to steel herself for what she had already decided to do.

And the Evil Queen stood there wondering what might have been.

She was going to kill him. What would it look like if the Evil Queen changed her mind once she had already sentenced a man to death? And if anyone found out or even suspected why, they would know her weakness. She couldn't afford to be weak.

Still, she found herself down in the dungeons, dismissing the guards, alone with the prisoner glaring at her from behind the bars.

"What do you want with me?" he asked.

"Oh, I merely came to let you know how well the execution plans are coming along," she told him, keeping her voice cold and devoid of emotion. "You're lucky, thief. I could have you burned alive, but I've decided to be merciful and hang you instead."

"Ah, that's mercy, is it?" he asked. "Not quite my definition of the word."

It wasn't mercy. It was fear. Fear that when the time came, she wouldn't be able to look at the man who Tinkerbell had thought was her soul mate and throw a fireball to end his life. No one would suspect a hanging, but if they saw even a moment's weakness from their queen …

"If you wanted to live, you shouldn't have robbed me, thief," she said.

"Why?" he asked. "What need do you have for these riches when the common folk are starving?"

That was a good question, and one Regina had asked herself many times. What good were riches when her beloved stable boy was dead and the simple life she wanted was gone forever?

"Who are you, thief?" she asked. "What's your name?"

"And why should I answer you, Your Majesty?" From his tone, she got the impression he was mocking her with the title.

"Well, let me put it to you this way," said Regina, pacing back and forth in front of his cell. "You know I have magic."

"I gathered that, yes."

"Which means that I can make sure your execution is quick and painless, or I can draw it out and make you suffer. It's your choice."

He was silent for a moment. She watched him, standing tall even behind the bars of his cell, thinking it over. Then: "Robin of Locksley."

"Robin of … you mean you're Robin Hood?" she asked with a wild laugh. "Oh, this is better than I imagined. I've captured Robin Hood!"

A little voice in the back of her head said, Robin Hood is your soul mate. Isn't that amazing? But she ignored that voice. It was just a distraction. She turned to leave, but he spoke again.

"Wait. Don't go."

"Why not?" she asked, looking back over her shoulder. "There's nothing more to say."

"I want to ask a favor," he said.

"What could I possibly do for you?" she asked. "I'm not about to let you go, if that's what you think."

"I don't expect you to," he said. "But I have a son, only a year old, and his mother is dead. I know that you're searching for the Merry Men. I want you to promise that if you find them, you'll have mercy on him, at least. It's not his fault who his parents were."

In spite of herself, Regina felt a twinge of pity. No, it was never anyone's fault who their parents were, was it? And her soul mate's child … even if she couldn't spare Robin's life, surely …

"I don't make a habit of killing orphaned toddlers," she said bluntly. "They may call me the Evil Queen, but even I have standards."

Another thought occurred to her as she walked away: his mother is dead. Maid Marian was dead, and Robin might still be single. Maybe there was a chance …

No. There wasn't a chance. A good man like him would never love the Evil Queen. But still, as she walked away, she flicked her wrist and unlocked the door to his cell. If he got away … well, then it could be the guards' fault.

Twenty-eight years later, in Storybrooke, Regina Mills walked into The Merry Outdoorsman, the local sports and camping equipment shop. A blue-eyed man with sandy hair and a nametag that said Robert Locksley greeted her.

"Welcome to The Merry Outdoorsman," he said. "How can I help you today?"

"My son, Henry, has been begging me to take him camping for months," said Regina. "And I really don't know the first thing about it, so …"

"Not to worry," he said. "We'll help you out."

He held out his hand for her to shake, and she noticed a tattoo of a lion on his wrist. It seemed familiar, somehow, but that couldn't be right. She hadn't seen it anywhere before in her life.