Darkness.

It enveloped her completely and she felt as though she had been swallowed whole by black space. Sensation slowly returned and she felt pain. A dull ache in her skull, a stabbing sharpness in her left side. Her skin felt on fire yet chilled at the same time and then the darkness subsided and she could see light. Just a hint of faded light through her eyelids that she was trying desperately to open. She could feel her lashes flutter on her face and then her eyes opened and she squinted at the sky and sun that seemed to be shining brightly through the trees in contrast with the dark forest.

She scrambled through her mind trying to draw answers to questions she couldn't even think of. She had been trying to close the portal. Yes. She had felt the magic in the air after leaving the party at the diner. She had been drawn, almost pulled, to the barn where Zelena had so recently been defeated. Defeated by her, by her white magic, by her love for her son and love she was beginning to feel for others.

She finally realized that her mother had been wrong. Love didn't have to be weakness. Love could be strength and she had felt that strength course through her veins as she raised her arms and tried to close the portal.

That was all she could place. Her mind was fuzzy and the dull ache in her head had slowly started to squeeze like a vice. She was pulled away from her thoughts and scattered memories back to the pain in her body and she lifted her hand to her temple calling upon her magic to soothe any injury. Nothing happened. She could barely feel her magic at all and realization slowly dawned on her that she must have used all her energy trying to close that damn portal.

She took a moment to glance at her surroundings again. She was laying in dirt and decaying leaves. Surrounded by tall trees and shrubs and plants. Plants she recognized. This wasn't story brook, this was the enchanted Forest. She must have been pulled into the portal after dispensing the last of her energy trying to close it.

She slowly lifted her head and shoulders from the ground only to be hit with a wave of nausea and dizziness. "Ugh" she grunted as she fell back to the ground trying to regain her composure. The feeling passed and she turned to her side while slowly using her hands against the dirt and moss to rise to a sitting position. The ache in her left side protested her movements while she rose to her feet releasing a sigh when she realized what she was wearing. "Ha, great!" Of course I would be sent to the enchanted Forest in nothing but a little black dress and 6 inch heels she thought to herself. At least she had been wearing her winter coat, scarf and black leather gloves as well.

Standing there peering through the trees she was just starting to formulate a plan for finding shelter when she heard the snap of a twig from somewhere to her right. She spun in the direction of the sound a little too quickly and found herself again fighting the dizziness she managed to keep at bay. Looking up she saw a double, no triple image of a figure approaching her. As her vision focused on the sight before her she released a strangled gasp at the sight before her.

"Robin?" She questioned, only a whisper, to the man standing before her with an arrow notched in his bow aimed directly for her heart.

"I don't believe I've had the chance to make your acquaintance your majesty. Then again, thieves usually tend to steer clear of the evil Queen, especially when there is a bounty on one's head." Robin said as he glared at her with a storm of emotion in his eyes. She had become quite adept at reading him during the missing year and even more so during their time growing closer in Storybrooke, but now what she saw in his eyes was unrecognizable. The man in front of her was not her Robin she realized. He doesn't know her. He doesn't know Regina. He only knows her as an evil sorceress hell bent on revenge.

Looking closer she can see the difference in him. His hair has fewer grays and his eyes are just slightly less creased. He is younger. Maybe only a couple years, but definitely younger. She takes a moment to review her surroundings. While she was so taken with her examination of his face his men have surrounded her. She recognizes most of them. Men that she has started to befriend as her relationship with Robin and Roland has grown. Now they all look at her with barely contained rage, apprehension and a touch of fear.

Thoughts race through her mind (this isn't supposed to happen, we never met before, this could change our entire future). Her mind is going fuzzy again and she can feel her breath picking up speed as she tries to think her way through this dilemma.

"Milady?" Robin says as he looks at her with something that almost resembles concern in his gaze. She looks at him opening and closing her mouth. She isn't sure if it is safer for her to speak or keep her mouth shut. She doesn't know which would cause less damage to the timeline. If it is even possible to fix what has already happened. This is all too much and the dizziness has returned along with a narrowing of her vision. She can't breath. She feels strangled and the last thing she sees before succumbing to the darkness is Robin dropping his bow and lunging toward her, then only

Darkness.