Because this story picks up so quickly, it will be written differently than all of my other ones. The timelines will alternate a little with flashbacks and memories and such :) I will be writing the relationship between Robin and Regina as well the FRIENDSHIP between her and Charming. This story will not contain a romantic Evil Charming relationship because it is instead focusing on her and Robin's. Just a heads up I don't really suspect that this story will be updated as frequently as my others and for that I am very very sorry :/ but it will continue on I promise! I do hope you enjoy it! And please let me know what you think!

They were running and they were running fast but what they were running from she couldn't say. From the increasing sound of war cries she had to assume it was some form of humanoid. Hook and Robin had quickly urged everyone in to a run at the sound when they first heard it so here they were running for their lives. Hook lead the way followed by Emma and Rumplestiltskin who was just askew from Snow and David followed close behind her and then there was herself who ran hand in hand with Robin.

Neither one of them pulled the other for their strides matched impeccably but she held on to his hand tight and listened to her racing heartbeat echoing in her ears along with the yelping and howling that seemed to come from every direction. She was panting, they all were but the adrenaline kept them going and a startled yelp made it past her lips when a spear went hurtling past her.

She had to do something, she had to get them out of there, they couldn't run forever and they certainly couldn't outrun whatever was chasing them. She had to do something. But then the hand she held so tightly was suddenly ripped from her, "Robin!" She screamed in panic and immediately dug her heels in and spun around back to where he laid on his back in the grass with a spear through his heart and blood soaking his shirt, "Robin!" She screamed again as she fell to her knees and moved her hands so they hovered over his body in search of something she could do to fix him.

"Run."

"No," she sobbed through her ragged breath as her tears streamed down her face and the life quickly left his, "Robin!" Her hoarse voice screamed again and she took fistfuls of his shirt and shook him, "come back to me," she sobbed slowly, her shoulders shaking with her despair, "please."

She fought the hands that gripped her shoulders and shook free of them, "no!"

"Regina come on."

"No!"

"Regina he's gone! I'm sorry but he's gone," the wail that shook her body twisted his gut uncomfortably and made it hard to breath. The spear that stuck the ground just next to them had him trying with more effort though, "Regina!" When she violently shook him off again and took Robin's limp hand between both of hers he shook the tears from his eyes and wrapped his arms around her waist and heaved her to her feet, pivoting as he did so they were facing the direction they had been running. Quickly he ran his hands down her arm until he found her hand and held it tight and began dragging her behind him.

"Robin!" She screamed as her tears blurred her vision and she dug her heels in and tried to pry David's hand off hers with her free one as he roughly tugged her behind him, "let me go!"

David stopped once more with the knowledge that he would get nowhere fast with his current method and let go of her hand only to take her head between his hands so she had no choice but to look at him, "Robin is gone."

"No," she shook her head and closed her eyes as she sobbed, her hands on David's chest with her fingers gently curled.

"Yes," but she shook her head faster and her tears just kept falling as she crumbled. He jolted her head clear with a sharp shake and her dark glossy eyes looked into his blue and he didn't blink, "run Regina," a spear hit the ground next to their feet and quickly he took her hand once more and began running but this time she ran with him. She ran right next to him with tears falling helplessly from her eyes and he could not escape the sight for every time he tried to outrun her just enough to have her behind him, she ran faster as well and remained miserably at his side.

Ducking and jumping they ran forward and when she saw the rest of them in front again she ripped her hand from David's and planted her feet so she bounced to a halt and before he took her hand once again, all six of them were purple smoke and everything was silent. If only for a moment, everything was silent and the pain stopped.

Now David stood next to Snow and Emma while Hook stood on his own close by to Rumple and she stood alone and away from everyone. Her body hurt and she couldn't breathe and she couldn't even begin to try to stop shaking or keep her tears from falling anymore.

"You have got to teach me that trick," Emma struggled to huff out as she bent over and braced her hands on her thighs as she tried to catch her breath. No one answered for they were all trying to catch their breath as well but there was one breath in particular that caught her attention and she looked up from between her feet to find the source of it to be Regina. "Whoa, Regina," she had her voice down to a near whisper and stood up tall and took a step toward her with wide concerned eyes.

She was shaking from head to toe and her hoarse breaths were uneven and shallow as her body demanded to cry but her lungs took precedence and forced her to breath. There were tears falling from her eyes and the many tracks down her cheeks proved that those tears did not just start. She had never seen Regina cry before. It made her powerfully human and it caught Emma off guard and made her uneasy. The woman sounded like she was about to throw up and she didn't know if she should stay put or try and help her.

David ran to Regina, the sight of her absolutely falling apart was unpleasantly twisting something inside him and his eyes burned with tears that he wouldn't let fall as he roughly pulled her into him and wrapped his arms securely around her shaking form. She did not hold him back and he didn't expect her to, he was not certain she even knew which way was up right now. Her arms were bent at the elbow and her hands were left limp against his chest as she pushed her face in to him and was finally able to inhale enough air to cry out.

Snow had followed Emma's worried gaze and felt her heart begin to ache in her chest at Regina's sudden despair so she reached out to find comfort in David but was confused when he ignored her and ran to Regina instead. She watched in confusion as her chest heaved for air and David held Regina so tightly in his arms and she began to cry harder and fell in to him. Why David was comforting her and not Robin she did not know...

Robin.

"Robin?" She called quietly but kept her eyes focused on Emma's for she was too scared to look around for the man Regina had managed to find love in. "Robin?" She called a little louder with a hand on her churning stomach but there was no reply and only Regina's harsh sobbing in to David's chest. Quite suddenly she spun and looked around for the missing man, "Robin Hood!" She yelled but it only made Regina cry harder, "no," she whispered and shook her head as tears sprung to her eyes, "no, no, no," she whimpered the last 'no' and bowed her head as she closed her eyes, "not again. Please not again," she cried quietly and covered her mouth with her hand as her tears started to fall.

"It's my fault," whimpered in to him and clenched her hands around the fabric of his shirt as her shoulders continued to shake with violent cries.

"It is not your fault," he whispered sternly and shook his head against hers.

"It's my fault."

"It is not your fault Regina."

"I wasn't fast enough!" She wailed in to his chest and leaned heavier against him.

"It is not your fault," he insisted in to her hair and held her tight.

"It is my fault!" She screamed against him and jerked roughly at his clothing, not accepting his claim of her innocence.

David swallowed his tears as she pulled at his shirt and punched his chest hard with small and deceivingly strong hands. When she stopped and gave in to the despair that gripped her entire body and continued to cry against him he tucked her head in the nook of his neck with his head and closed his eyes as he absorbed her violent shaking. He did not believe she had it in her to love and when he watched Robin try his hardest to get her he secretly called him a fool when Regina snapped coldly at him in response. But the day she allowed the poor man in was a truly remarkable day.

She was instantaneously happier when she allowed Robin to touch her heart and the pair were never seen apart since. Regina smiled, she laughed, she held him close, always touching him in some manner, and every kiss the couple shared left her smiling like a damned fool. She single handedly shot the morale of the entire group impossibly high and he did not think her capable of such a thing. And now her love was lost and she could not cope. "It is not your fault," he whispered slowly in an almost soothing tone and moved a thumb back and forth over her back as she cried miserably in to his neck, "it is not your fault."

"I've killed almost everyone I love," she cried and shook her head, "only Snow and Henry are left and I don't even know if he's alive," she wrapped her arms tightly around his neck, unaware that she had voiced that particular confession loud enough for it to reach the ears of the other four people in their company.

It took a moment for him to come to terms with her words and he pushed his head in to hers a little more and it did cause several tears to fall on her behalf as well as Snow's. Yes she had killed many, both her parents included, but Cora was not her fault, Daniel was not her fault, Robin was not her fault and yet she was convinced otherwise and the guilt was eating her alive. He could not think of her as anything but human now.

She loved Snow. Lucid or not she had confessed it and he knew for a fact that Snow questioned that everyday. If Regina had ever loved her. His arms wound tighter around the small woman in his arms that had become suddenly important to him and promised himself he would put it upon himself to protect what was left of her beaten heart.

"You should have left me there," she whispered and then turned her head deeper in to his neck as more tears fell and dampened their skin and her body continued to shake.

"You would have died."

"I would have died loved."

David shook his head and hugged her even tighter for both their sake and felt her frown against him as she breathed out a pained sob into his neck and clenched her fingers around the back of his leather jacket.

"I can't be alone anymore," she wailed and shook her head, clawing at his back for something to keep her from falling back in to darkness, "I loved him," she sobbed slowly and hugged him as tight as she could.

"I know you did," he whispered slowly and nodded, "I know you did."

...

"You're crying again," Emma whispered to Snow when she saw another tear roll silently down her mother's cheek and reflected the light of the fire before she hurriedly wiped it away, "you okay?"

Snow nodded in reply but then started shaking her head and looked down at her hands with a quiet sniff before she whispered, "it's not fair. It is so hard for her to let herself love and everyone she has loved has died but not only have they simply died but she watched them die. Every single one. Her father, her mother, Daniel, Robin...all of them have died right before her eyes. I cannot even begin to imagine what that does to a person."

Emma frowned and shook her head as she looked away from the tears falling down Snow's face and back to the fire. She liked Robin and she was going to miss having him around but she would miss the happy and carefree form of Regina that he had built more. She was quite an enjoyable person and much easier to befriend than the mayor she had known. Seeing Regina break had shaken her harder than she had thought and she could not remove the images or sounds from her mind.

"You two are awfully quiet," Snow whispered and glanced up to see both men staring at the fire deep in thought.

"Reliving old memories, love," Hook whispered in return and tried a smile but it was unsuccessful and he frowned in to the fire with Milah's face behind his eyes.

Rumple shrugged his shoulders a little, unsettled by seeing visually what he felt like on the inside. Shaking, mourning, anger, heartbreak, loss, loneliness, despair...he didn't like it in the slightest, "it is not easy being alone."

...

He had taken her away from the rest and by simple chance they had come across a higher point with a clear view of the ocean and the sight of it had her calming down significantly and for that he was relieved. He stood next to her and often looked back at her in hopes that her tears would be dry but they remained on her soft face glinting the moonlight as the ocean breeze gently pushed her dark hair from her face.

When she reached for his hand he allowed the contact and intertwined his fingers with hers only to have her bow her head and take a long shaky breath as more tears dropped from her eyes.

"Do you know what he saw in me?" She whispered and furrowed her brow with a small cock of her head.

David shook his head, a little ashamed that he could not come up with an answer for her but feeling a fraction better when even she couldn't, "something no one else did. Something he wanted you to see. I believed him to be a fool when I watched him try to court you."

She let out a single laugh and shook her head as her tears fell, "I wasn't aware he was trying. I found it incredibly annoying that he wouldn't leave me alone."

"He was quite blatant," he smiled and she breathed out the saddest of laughs as she remembered.

"It wasn't blatant enough until he kissed me," she smiled momentarily and then sniffed and wiped away her tears with her free hand.

David smiled a small smile and moved his thumb over the back of her hand, "that was quite funny. You looked like you got slapped in the face," he chuckled quietly and she gave a watery smile, "your comeback was golden."

"Oh," she laughed a little and nodded,

"Just 'oh'," he laughed softly with an amused shake of his head, "hilarious."

"Not one of my most articulate moments," she laughed quietly and sniffed back her tears.

"No it most certainly was not," he shook his head, his words bouncing with a small laugh as he watched her and she watched the water, "one of my favorite moments though," he smiled and she turned her head with a smile and tears brimming her dark eyes as she squeezed his hand. He held her friendly but heartbroken gaze until she blinked and the tears rolled down her cheeks as she turned her head back to the ocean.

"I miss him already," she whispered through a cry and covered her mouth with her free hand as she closed her eyes.

David frowned and pulled her in to his side and she wrapped her arms around his middle and he held one around her shoulders and the other around her waist. He rested the side of his head on the top of hers as she dropped hers to lay on the side of his chest so if she were to open her eyes she would be able to see the water reflect the moonlight, "he was a good and clever man."

"He really was," she agreed in a shaky voice with a nod. "I just want to be loved," she whispered hopelessly and shook her head as she cried in his arms, "I've tried every form and it always leaves me lonely and broken," her whisper was shaky with her tears and her heart hurt in her chest more than it had in a long time, "I only want to be loved."

Tears had sprung to his eyes at the simple wish of the dark queen and his chest tightened painfully with sorrow for her. To be loved until the day she died was a desire he didn't even consider her having and it broke his heart to hear such a request from her. Especially after seeing how happy she had been and how fulfilled she was when she had love. She dropped everything else when she had it, there were minimal instances of bickering, no more glares through hard eyes, no more scowls or impatient scoffs, no more manipulations, she was happy and nothing else mattered to her.

"Don't give up," he whispered to her and took a long slow breath to try and calm the ache in his heart, "there is still time."

Regina shook her head slowly as she cried and leaned heavier in to his side, "time is not the issue. My past and the amount people willing to overlook it is the issue."

"There's always someone."

"That someone is dead."