I'm back! Yay! Sorry it's taken so long to get this updated- with finals week and then all the end-of-school stuff for my sisters, I didn't have a lot of time to write. And now my laptop has been acting up again and I start work tomorrow, sooooo I can't promise updates will be any quicker. But for those of you sticking with me, thank you!

So I know some terrible things have happened to our beloved Robin on the show since I last updated, but I'm not going to abandon him or OQ or this story. He now lives on in fandom and with people who will give him the stories and relationships he truly deserves.

Thank you to everyone who has reviewed and given me motivation to keep going forward with this- I almost gave up, but knowing people want to read more of this has kept me writing. So please, please, please drop me a review- it's the only way I know you like or don't like the story!

Anyway, without further ado:

She's woken the next morning by the annoying chirp of her phone, ringing relentlessly on the nightstand. Regina groans and rolls over, reaching for the offending device blindly, her eyelids still too heavy to open. She fumbles a little with the buttons in her sleepiness, but she manages to answer before the ringing stops.

"Regina Mills" she yawns, pulling the comforter up next to her cheek.

"Regina! Good morning!" Tinkerbell answers, much too chipper for this hour of the morning.

Regina slides a hand up to her forehead and finally opens her eyes to see the time on the clock- 5:17. Damn fairies. "Tink, what are you doing up this early?" she yawns again, blinking away any lingering sleepiness.

"I have soup kitchen duty," the fairy explains. "Gotta make sure the less fortunate of Storybrooke have a hot breakfast."

"How charitable. I take it you didn't wake me up just to discuss your volunteer work."

"Oh, no, but I wanted to call you now because otherwise I'd forget. Emma mentioned you two needed to talk to me, but she and I keep playing phone tag, so I thought I'd try you."

"Thoughtful," Regina grumbles. Her alarm wasn't set to go off for another 45 minutes. Tink owes her a coffee. "And did Emma happen to mention just what we want to talk to you about?"

"Something about Robin, I think. Speaking of, how is he? It's terrible what happened."

Regina rolls onto her side, looking at the empty pillow of the man in question. "Well, to be honest, he's not good. And that's what we wanted to talk to you about. We think you might be able to help us."

"With what?"

"I take it you've heard about the whole magic thing?"

"Uh huh."

Regina resists the urge to roll her eyes. Nothing stays a secret in this town. "Well, Emma and I are kinda stuck. We haven't been able to figure out what type of magic attacked Robin or who it came from. Astrid said she's never encountered it before and I haven't either. Gold said he thinks whatever magic caused this wants to… connect Robin and me somehow."

"What does that mean?"

Regina huffs a laugh. "We were hoping you'd know."

"Hmm… well, you're already connected."

"That's what I said."

"Did the magic affect you, too? Or just Robin?"

"It knocked me out for awhile, but nothing permanent. Nothing like what's happening to Robin."

"What's happening to Robin?"

Regina sighs and runs a hand down her face. What is happening to Robin? Memory loss would be the simple answer, but it seems more than that. He hasn't just forgotten- he forgets and then remembers and then forgets again. And doesn't seem like a typical memory curse with a typical cure. No number of True Love's Kisses have made any difference.

"I'm… not sure exactly," Regina admits. "He's… forgetting things. It's like whenever I leave the room, he forgets everything about us and our life and who he is beyond his name. He didn't remember me or Roland or Henry, but he knew his name. And it seems to be getting worse. The first time it happened, all I had to say was my name and then he remembered. But the next time, it took more than that and even after her remembered me, he still didn't remember Henry and Roland, at least not completely."

Tink's silent on the other end for awhile, but then she simply goes, "Huh."

Regina scowls. "I was hoping for something a little more helpful, Tink."

"No, no, I'm just thinking…"

A pause. "About?" Regina presses.

"Well, I'm assuming you've kissed him since he's woken up from his coma, right?"

"Yes. More than once."

"But it's had no effect on his condition."

"Clearly."

"Okay… hmm… alright, I don't… I don't know for certain, but I think… no, I won't speculate. I'm going to look into some stuff and then I'll get back to you, okay?"

"I'm desperate for answers, Tink," Regina sighs.

"I know you are. And I'll work as fast as I can, but I don't want to tell you anything I'm unsure of. So once I'm done with the breakfast shift at the soup kitchen, I'll dive right in."

"Thank you, Tink, I appreciate it."

"No problem. I'll let you know as soon as I find anything. And Regina?"

"Yes?"

"I'm really sorry this is happening."

Regina exhales and closes her eyes. "Me too," she murmurs. They exchange goodbyes and then Regina hits the 'end call' button, dropping the phone onto her stomach. What day is it? Monday. The start of a new week. She has to go to work and the boys have to go to school. Technically. No one would probably fault her for calling in a personal day and keeping the boys home, and she's extremely tempted to do just that, but it probably wouldn't be the best in the long run. The boys need normalcy and if she's being honest, so does she. So work and school it is, even if she won't be able to focus on anything as pointless as tax reports and budget meetings.

Regina glances at the clock. 5:23. She could try to go back to sleep for the next half hour or so, but what would be the point? She'd just stew and think and worry and not get a lick of shut eye. Right. Shower it is, then. Shower and then coffee, breakfast, wake the boys, get them ready, send them off to school, a normal Monday morning. Well, normal aside from the fact that Robin usually wakes the boys and Robin usually sees them to the bus stop and Robin usually has a travel mug filled with steaming coffee waiting for her as she heads out the door. But yeah. This morning is totally normal.

Roland is just a ball of questions as soon as he opens his eyes.

"Regina, how come you got home so late last night?"

"Regina, why do you look so worried?"

"Regina, is Papa more better yet?"

"Regina, do you think Papa would like it if I made him a card in school today?"

"Regina, can we see Papa after school?"

He asks that last one as she's pouring milk over his cereal and she almost spills some on the counter. "Uh, not today, sweetheart," she stammers, popping the lid back on the jug of milk.

She can practically hear his pout even with her back turned. "Why not?" he asks miserably.

"Because…"

"Because we need to get stuff for Operation Bumblebee after school," Henry chimes in as he butters his toast. "Remember? We need to get books and pencils and-"

"I remember," Roland interrupts, surprisingly surly. "But why can't we see Papa too? It won't take us all afternoon to get that stuff."

"No, but once we get it, we need to wrap it and decorate it and make it look super cool," Henry explains effortlessly. "And we want it to look really good, right? So we need to take our time and be careful."

Roland sighs dramatically as Regina sets his cereal down in front of him. "Hey, none of that," she admonishes lightly, raking her fingers through his hair. "Papa needs time to rest and relax so he can get better. If we're there, then he'll get too excited and he won't be able to settle."

"Like how you say there's no wrestling before bedtime because then I'll get too wound up?" Roland asks as he forlornly reaches for his spoon.

"Exactly," Regina agrees, bending down to kiss the top of his head. "So how about today, you and Henry work on getting the stuff you need for Operation Bumblebee and then we'll see about visiting Papa tomorrow so you can give him everything. Sound good?"

Roland sighs, but nods, catching a dribble of milk before it can roll down his chin and onto his shirt.

"Good," Regina chuckles, combing her fingers through his curls again. "Now, eat your cereal. The bus will be here in ten minutes."

At that, Roland picks up the pace, shoveling Fruit Loops into his mouth at a speed just past polite.

Regina heads back to the counter and grabs the coffee pot, pouring the rest of the brew into a travel mug. She sets the pot back in the machine just as Henry comes up beside her.

"You going to visit Robin again today?" he asks quietly, rinsing off his toast plate.

Regina nods. "Yeah. I need to see how much worse his memory has gotten since last night. Try to figure out how quickly the magic is going to affect him."

Henry nods. "Well, for your sake and Roland's, I hope it's slow."

Regina half-smiles and pulls Henry's head closer to kiss his temple. "I hope so too." She glances at the clock on the wall. "Seven minutes til the bus gets here. Go brush your teeth."

Henry obeys, nearly colliding with Roland as the kindergartener pushes back his chair, empty cereal bowl in hand. Regina takes his dishes and then sends him to brush his teeth as well, hoping their facade of a normal morning will hold through the rest of the day.

As predicted, Regina can't focus on much while she's at work. If she's not checking her phone every five minutes to see if Tink's contacted her, she's staring out the window trying to come up with a potential answer on her own. Twice she spaced out during a meeting, thoughts too consumed with what ifs and maybes to focus on anything as trivial as zoning violations. Her secretary had to say her name repeatedly to get her attention, she ignored phone calls because she didn't realize the phone was ringing, and she missed lunch entirely, unaware that her break had come and gone until her stomach growled an hour later. She would have completely forgotten to pick up Roland from kindergarten at 2:30, but Will had texted her and volunteered to take the boy for the afternoon with a promise to meet up with Henry to work on Operation Bumblebee, so thank god for Merry Men and their convenient timing.

And through it all, Tink still hasn't reached out. Neither has Emma or David, but seeing as the nature of the investigation is strictly magical at this point, she's really not expecting anything to come out of the sheriff's department. Still, anything would be better than sitting at her desk chair, tapping pencils and twiddling her thumbs.

It's at half past three, when she's missed her fourth phone call in the last two hours, that Regina decides to call it quits for the day. She's no use at her office with her mind in a whirlwind and just sitting around is helping no one, not the citizens of Storybrooke, not the investigation, and certainly not Robin. And besides, she hasn't seen him yet today. She's entitled to a little extra time to care for him, whether he remembers her or not.

So knowing Roland's safe with Will and Henry's safe with Emma, Regina leaves the office for the day and makes a promise to herself that she'll work doubly hard tomorrow to make up for all her shortcomings today. She gets to the hospital fifteen minutes later, greeting the front desk receptionist with a polite smile as she heads for Robin's room.

When she reaches his door, she hesitates. He's not going to know who she is. She's fairly certain of that, but how much is she going to tell him before he remembers? And how is she going to jog his memory without frightening him? Having a strange woman come into your room claiming to be your soulmate and spouting nonsense about pixie dust and tattoos would probably be pretty startling.

Right. So, gentle. Subtle. Two things Regina's never been very good at.

She knocks first, it's only polite since she's not currently on a first name basis with the person occupying the room, and then opens the door, poking her head in with a cautious smile.

Robin is sitting up, quite the improvement from yesterday, and his oxygen tubes are gone, leaving only the cuts and scratches on his face as signs that anything is wrong. He smiles at her politely, curiously, ever the gentleman. "Hello," he greets pleasantly, any glimmer of recognition gone from his eyes.

Regina's heart sinks, but she steps into the room anyway. "Hi," she returns, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. She feels shy all of a sudden, like she shouldn't be here, like she doesn't belong here, and it's stupid because it's Robin, and if she belongs anywhere, it's by his side.

"Can I help you?" he asks pleasantly, politely, after a moment.

Regina startles slightly, realizing she's been staring at him and that's probably really creepy from his point of view. "Oh, no, I'm sorry, I- uh, I'm being incredibly rude," she stammers, somehow managing to find some mayoral composure. "Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Regina Mills and I'm the mayor of Storybrooke."

Robin's eyebrows quirk up as he smiles. "The mayor, huh? What did I do to be honored with a visit by our lovely leader?"

Regina catches her smile before it grows too unguarded. Typical Robin. Even with a magically affected memory, he still manages to flirt with her. "I visit the hospital every now and then," she half-lies. It's the truth, she does pay visits on occasion, but that's not why she's here today. "Just to check on the patients, make sure their needs are being met."

"Well, that's very kind of you," Robin praises, head tilting to the side as he studies her.

Regina shifts her weight, crosses and uncrosses her arms. Why is this awkward? They've never been awkward before. From the moment they met, conversation flowed, smooth and witty, topics neverending. And now… now he's staring at her, much like she had been looking at him just moments before. "What?" she asks self-consciously, his gaze still as penetrating as always.

Robin blinks, shakes his head. "I'm sorry, it's just… you seem very familiar. Have we… have we met before?"

She could cry. She could just break down into tears right then and there and not feel bad about it. But she won't. She won't because that would most definitely be startling and unexplainable in their present knowledge of each other. So instead, she plays it off: "I doubt I'd ever forget meeting you." It's flirty (he was the one who originally said it, after all), more flirty than anything they've said since opening this conversation, and it clearly catches Robin off-guard, but being the smoothtalker that he is, he doesn't miss a beat.

"Not only do I have a beautiful woman in my room, but she's also paying me compliments? I must have slipped back into my coma," he chuckles, a sound that wraps around Regina's heart and squeezes warmly.

"Hm, must be the pain meds. You're hallucinating," she tosses back and this is better. This is more like them, more familiar.

"Well, someone better tell the doctor to change my prescriptions. Don't want to end up in the psych ward."

They both laugh and Regina exhales, nerves calmed for the most part. She can do this. She just needs to focus, find something that will jog his memory. "May I sit down?" she asks.

Robin straightens. "Oh, of course! How rude of me. Please, take a seat," he insists, gesturing toward the chair she's occupied for the majority of the past forty-eight hours.

Regina shrugs off her coat, settles in against the uncomfortable plastic, and glances around the room. "So, what are you in here for? If you don't mind me asking."

Robin shrugs. "Got hit by a car on Friday night. Barrelled me right over."

"Oh, I'm so sorry."

"Thanks. I was out of it for a while, but the doctors said I should make a full recovery."

The doctors should learn not to count chickens, Regina thinks grimly. "That's wonderful," she fakes. "Was the driver injured?"

"I don't know," Robin answers. "When the police find them, I'll be sure to ask."

Regina tsks, plays the part of shock and pity rather well. "How awful."

"Eh," Robin shrugs again. "I was miffed about it at first, but I figure you can't control other people. And I'm not going to die or come out of this paralyzed, so in the long run, I'm not that worse for wear."

"Well that's-" An electronic chirp interrupts her and Regina jumps slightly, realizing with a flash of worry and anticipation that it's her phone. That could be Tink. That could be an answer. "I'm so sorry, give me one second…" she apologizes, fishing the device out of her pocket. Her fingers fumble over her passcode and she opens her messages with bated breath.

It's not Tink. It's Henry, sending her his obligatory text that he made it to Emma's okay followed by another one:

Why didn't you tell mom about Robin's memory thing?

Oh, shit. She didn't tell Emma about Robin's memory thing. Well, that should go over great when she sees her next. She shoots back a quick reply of, Busy day didn't have a chance I'll talk to you both tonight, and then tucks her phone back in her pocket.

"I'm sorry, that was my son," Regina explains, looking back up at Robin.

He tilts his head, interested. "You have a son?"

So do you. "Uh huh. Two. Henry is fourteen and Roland is five."

Robin blinks, brows furrowing, mouth frowning. "...Roland?" he repeats absently, eyes going blank.

Regina's heart leaps into her throat. This is it. This is her in. "Yeah, he's a sweet boy. Curls and dimples that could make anyone melt," she rushes, hoping, praying something will catch and stick in his brain.

Robin's eyes fall to the floor, perplexed. "Huh," is all he says, eyes swirling with something unreadable.

"Would you like to see a picture?" Regina asks, a bit too intensely as she takes out her phone again. She pulls up a picture of their boys from the other week, both holding up the rinds of watermelon slices like smiles. She doesn't wait for an answer, not that she's expecting one- he seems thoroughly stuck in a fog of confusion- and moves over to the bed, practically shoving the phone in his face. "That's Henry," she says, pointing. "And… that's Roland."

A second.

A blink.

"Regina."

And there it is.

Robin takes a deep breath. "Regina," he repeats quietly, looking up at her.

Regina locks her phone and tosses it somewhere near his knees, breath leaving her on a thin exhale. "Yeah, it's me," she murmurs, sitting down on the bed.

"Why didn't you say something sooner?" Robin asks, taking her hand. He laces their fingers together and it doesn't escape Regina that he trembles as he reaches for her.

"I didn't want to freak you out," she sighs. "Having someone you don't know burst into your hospital room and claim to be your girlfriend would probably be pretty startling."

Robin looks at her miserably. "I'm sorry, my love."

"Stop apologizing for this. I don't want to hear it anymore."

"But I feel awful. Knowing you have to go through this? That when you leave today, I won't remember you tomorrow and we'll have to do this dance all over again? I wish I could just… restart my brain or something. Anything that would make this stop," Robin says in frustration.

"I know it's hard," Regina sighs. "But I'm working on answers. Tink seemed to think she might be onto something when I talked to her this morning. I've been waiting all day to hear from her, but nothing yet."

"What did she have to say when you talked to her this morning?"

"She didn't want to speculate. But she seemed to be interested in the fact that I've kissed you after your memory started to be affected, but nothing changed."

Robin tilts his head. "Huh, that's true. I didn't think of that before. I mean, in the past, memory curses were broken with True Love's Kiss. You'd think… it would work this time, too."

Regina's eyes snap up to meet his. "Just because a kiss didn't work, doesn't mean-"

"That's not what I meant, love," Robin hurries to interrupt. "I just meant a kiss isn't the solution to this problem. I didn't mean to imply that what we have isn't true love." He smiles and brings her hand to his lips, presses a kiss to her knuckles. "I couldn't love you truer if I tried."

Regina rolls her eyes, but smiles all the same. God, he's such a sap. She leans in and sweetly presses her lips to his, wishing their problem was so easily solved as a simple kiss. She drops kisses to his nose and brow, thumb rubbing across his very stubbly jaw. "You need to shave," she grimaces, running her fingers through his scruff.

"I thought you liked my beard," Robin replies with faux indignation.

"I do, but not when you're on the verge of looking like a lumberjack," she chuckles, scratching his jaw lightly.

"A lumberjack? Milady, I would never cut down trees for a living," he gasps dramatically. "Think of the wooden humanity!"

Regina rolls her eyes again, laughing. "I'm sure August would greatly appreciate you standing up for his people."

"Well, if I don't, then who will?"

"Exactly."

Robin chuckles and untangles his fingers from hers, moving his arm to gently tug her to him until she's curled against his side, legs resting on the bed beside his, her shoes left on the floor. "How are the boys?" he asks, hand coasting up and down her arm in slow, soothing passes.

"They're… alright," Regina answers tentatively. "Worried. But, I sent them to school today to keep their minds off everything."

"Where are they now?"

"Will offered to take Roland for the afternoon and I thought that'd be nice for him. Keep him distracted. And Henry's with Emma who… is probably pretty pissed at me right now."

"Emma mad at you? Why?"

"I forgot to tell her about your memory thing and I'm assuming Henry brought it up thinking she already knew," Regina explains. "Needless to say she didn't, and so now she's probably mad I kept something like that from her, unintentional as it was."

"It was an accident," Robin dismisses. "She might be annoyed, but I doubt she'll be angry with you for long."

"Let's hope so."

Robin starts tracing nonsensical patterns on her side, his touch dulled through the fabric of her top. "Aside from that, how was your day? What'd you do?"

Regina snorts. "Not much. I went into the office, but-"

Her phone interrupts them, ringing and vibrating somewhere around her calf. She sits up and reaches down to get it, hitting the answer button just before it goes silent. "Regina Mills" she greets, settling back against Robin.

"Regina," Tink says on the other line, voice neutral, unreadable.

"Oh, thank god. I was starting to get worried," Regina sighs, free hand skirting across Robin's stomach to grasp his hand. "What did you find out?"

"Well, um, you see… it's- it's not good."

Regina squeezes Robin's fingers. "What's not good?" she asks as his arm around her tightens.

"What I found. It's, um, just… yeah. It's not good. And I think you need to meet me right away. Like, now."

"Tink-"

"I don't want to tell you over the phone. I can't, really. I have to show you."

"Alright," Regina sighs, rubbing her forehead. "Where are you?"

"The convent."

Of course. Back to the godforsaken den of the fairies. "Fine. I'll be there in five minutes," Regina says and then she hangs up, any sense of calm from the last five minutes gone.

"What'd she have to say?" Robin asks as Regina moves to stand up.

"She found something that she needs to show me," Regina replies, slipping her heels back on.

"And it's not good?"

Regina scratches her head, then smoothes out her hair. "No," she admits, shoulders rising and falling in a heavy exhale. "But that could mean a lot of things. It could just be another dead end."

Robin nods grimly. "Or it could be something worse."

"Hey," Regina admonishes gently. "Since when am I the optimist in this relationship?"

"Since you became the only one who could remember for more than five minutes that we're in a relationship," Robin states dryly.

Regina glares at him sternly. "That is not the right attitude to have about this, mister."

Robin laughs shortly. "You sound like Roland." He shakes his head. "I'm sorry, my love. You're right. I need to stay positive. I'll… I'll do my best."

"That's all I ask," Regina says, bending down to kiss his forehead. "How about tomorrow, after we jog your memory, I ask David or Snow to bring the boys down so you can see them? Roland's been dying to visit again and they've put together something for Operation Bumblebee."

Robin smiles. "I'd like that."

"Then that's what we'll do," Regina declares. She moves down and captures his lips, ignoring the pang that goes through her heart knowing this isn't enough to save him. Their love isn't enough to save him. No. No, that's not true. Their love is enough. Their love is plenty and true. It's just this magic doesn't work like that. That's all it is. The type of magic. Nothing more.

She looks him in the eye for a long moment when they part, memorizing the way he looks back at her, full of recognition. "I love you," she says softly.

"I love you, too," he answers, leaning up for one more short kiss.

If only that were enough.

Regina poofs herself to the convent once she's outside the hospital, appearing inside a room she's never been in before.

"You should warn a person before you spontaneously transport yourself to their private quarters," Tink gripes from behind her.

Regina turns around to see the green fairy standing behind a wooden desk, books and papers and vials covering the top. They're in Tink's bedroom, Regina realizes- a simple, but cozy room dressed up with plants and flowers, paintings of landscapes and seascapes, and green curtains that don't exactly go with the maroon bedspread, but somehow work all the same. Very Tink.

"Sorry, but you said you needed to see me now," Regina dismisses, shrugging off her coat and tossing it on a nearby chair. "So what's up?"

Tink blows out a short breath and then turns back to her desk. "When you mentioned on the phone this morning that True Love's Kiss has had no effect on Robin's condition, I got to thinking. You two are soulmates- that's even rarer than True Love, so naturally, you'd think a kiss would be the solution to any problem."

"Yeah, well, clearly it isn't."

"But why?" Tink wonders. "That's what didn't make sense to me. True Love's Kiss is the most powerful magic of all. It should be able to break any curse."

"I've just assumed that whatever magic is causing this, it isn't… programmed, I guess, to be broken with True Love's Kiss," Regina explains.

"Well, see that's where I'm at a loss," Tink continues. "I haven't had a chance to test out the magic in Robin's room, so I'm not sure about that part, but I've been investigating this under the assumption that the magic is geared toward True Love's Kiss. And I think I've found something important."

"What's that?"

Tink picks up a vial off her desk and holds it up so Regina can see. It's half-filled with a brownish powder. "I started looking into the whole connection thing you mentioned, how Gold said this magic wants to connect you and Robin. I don't think that's true. I think whatever magic this is, it doesn't want to connect you. It wants to mess with the connection you already have."

Regina furrows her brow in confusion. "What do you mean?"

Tink gestures toward a stack of books as she puts the vial down. "I was reading about soulmates. There's not much on them, but the more I read, the more curious I got." She picks up a book. "The connection between soulmates is formed at birth. Whatever one of your souls is made of, so is the other person's. After that, a soulmate connection can't be created through magic or anything. Either you're born with a soulmate, or you're not. But," she puts down the book and picks up another, "A soulmate connection can be destroyed."

Regina swallows, her heart picking up speed. "That's impossible."

Tink nods. "I thought so too. I mean, how can you destroy the connection without destroying the souls? And I'm still not sure about that part, but it got me thinking that maybe that's why True Love's Kiss hasn't worked. Because your soulmate connection has been broken."

Regina shakes her head. "Tink that's… that's ridiculous," she stammers, struggling to find an argument against such a claim. "Robin and I… we're… we're soulmates," is all she manages to come up with.

"I know," Tink states grimly. "But I was hoping we could see if that's still true." She holds up the vial of brownish powder again. "Just to be sure."

Regina scoffs in disbelief. "You think… you think Robin, the man with the lion tattoo, the man the pixie dust led me to, the man you showed me, isn't my soulmate?"

"I think he was. But I think someone tampered with your souls and severed your connection," Tink theorizes. She closes her fist around the vial for a moment. When she opens her fingers, the brownish powder starts to glow a goldish green. Pixie dust. She looks up at a dumbfounded Regina. "So what do you say? Can we use some pixie dust for old time's sake?"

Regina can't really find it in herself to shake her head or nod or do anything. She stands frozen, mind racing with the terrible thought that the man she loves, the man who loves her, might no longer be hers to love. Again. Oh, how fate is a bitch. And oh, how pixie dust lies.

"Regina?" Tink says after several moments of silence.

Regina blinks, swallows, and then slowly nods. "Do it," she whispers.

Tink uncorks the vial and pours some pixie dust into her palm. She mouths some spell over top the magic powder and then tosses it into the air, letting the tiny sparkles rain down around the queen.

Regina feels the same tingling sensation she felt years ago, the dust working its way into the deepest parts of her soul. It swirls around her and above her, making the most beautiful patterns, as if showing the markings on her heart and soul. And then the dust starts to move around the room, sending a pulling sensation through Regina's veins, beckoning her to follow. And she's about to, she's about to follow it to where she knows she's destined, to Robin, but then it stops. The dust swirls around the window, darts toward the door, makes a loop around the room and then stops. A moment later, all the sparkles slowly fall to floor where they settle on the hardwood and fade away.

Regina looks up at Tink.

Tink looks back.

"That didn't happen last time," Regina states shakily.

Tink shakes her head slowly. "You had a soulmate last time."

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