believe || ouat oneshots

To Save a Queen

Based on prompt 117: "Canon divergent oneshot where Robin crashes Regina's wedding hoping to steal some jewels and fancy plates but ends up stealing her instead."

~

Only hours ago, Regina had sent her mother tumbling through a mirror, and now, Regina was minutes away from marrying a man twice her age. A man she had no feelings for, and who had no feelings for her.

Maids had been scrambling to make sure she looked perfect, but Regina couldn't care less. She just wanted this day to be over. She followed her bridesmaids (who were all handpicked by her husband-to-be) and waited outside the door for her cue to enter the room. She began walking down the aisle, and her eyes found a man in the back of the audience. She couldn't shake the feeling that she'd met him somewhere before.

As everyone rose to their feet, Regina's eyes stayed on the stranger for as long as she could allow them to before she forced herself to look in the direction of Leopold. He was smiling, but his eyes weren't full of love. Regina looked to the left of the king and pretended she was walking towards Daniel instead.

As soon as Regina was in her place across from Leopold, the priest began speaking. Regina tuned him out and instead searched the crowd for the stranger who'd caught her eye earlier. He was in the same spot where she'd first saw him - how could he have moved? - and he was staring at her intently, studying her just as she was studying him.

Something the priest said brought Regina's attention back to the fact that she was getting married, and her eyes left the man to look at a spot behind Leopold's left ear, so she wasn't looking into his eyes.

---

Robin had been planning to wait until the reception to make a move, but the bride had changed his mind and they hadn't even exchanged a single word.

As soon as the bride had entered the room, Robin knew this wedding hadn't been her idea. She was easily half the age of the king, probably younger. She had made eye contact with him, and Robin could tell that if she could, the woman would have cried for help the entire way down the aisle.

Robin had no love for most rulers of kingdoms, but especially those who agreed to an arranged marriage with someone so much younger than them. The bride was young enough to be the king's daughter!

As soon as her eyes were off of him, Robin began to move. He didn't need to steal much, not at this point. Had he stuck to his original plan, he would be going home with enough to feed multiple villages. But now, if he escaped with the bride and sent her on her way to a place where she could be happily not married, that was enough for Robin. Something about her made him want to drop everything and focus on her happiness.

---

"Thief!" The cry interrupted Regina from her thoughts. "Thief!"

Regina followed everyone's eyes to the handsome stranger who Regina had been looking at moments ago. He was looking straight at her, as if trying to tell her to run now, to get out of this wedding.

The eye contact was over almost as soon as it started, and Robin knocked a table over and ran from the room, the decorative vase of flowers he picked up still in his hand.

Everything was chaos after that. Several people went after the thief, while others cried for the king and the almost-queen to be taken to safety. Still others were whispering to each other, trying to figure out what had happened and if the thief had come alone.

Regina took her chance. She grabbed the arm of one of her bridesmaids and ran out the door so it looked like she was trying to get to safety.

As soon as the two were around a corner, Regina let go of the woman's arm, kicked off her shoes, lifted the skirt of her dress up so it wasn't dragging on the floor, and ran as fast as she could.