Author's Note: This is for contest #4 OriginalBeliever

~

The only thing Robin could think about was saving both Regina and his daughter. At the moment, he didn't care about what the cost to him would be. And so he dove in front of Regina, just before the light from the Olympian Crystal had time to reach her.

"ROBIN!" Regina screamed. But it was too late. Robin felt his body drop to the ground. Regina was safe, and so was his daughter, and that was all that mattered. Regina fell to her knees next to him, begging him not to leave her. He could hear every word she was saying, but couldn't do or say anything, and it just about killed him. The fact that he was already dying was beside the point.

The last words Robin heard from his soulmate were whispered softly, like a gentle breeze on a cloudless day in late spring; "I love you."

Robin used the last of his strength to make sure Regina knew he felt the same, "I love...you...too..." As Robin's eyelids fluttered shut, cold wrapped around him, as if he were covered in a thick layer of ice. And in some far off dimension, he heard muffled crying, but he wasn't sure if it was from Regina or someone else.

~

Regina refused to attend Robin's funeral. She wouldn't even leave her house, let alone publicly finalize the death of the man she was in love with. As much as Emma, Henry, Snow, and Zelena tried to get her to leave, she wouldn't even listen to what they had to say.

And so Henry spoke on his mother's behalf. The speech was very short, because Henry wasn't sure what Regina would write about Robin. Regina wasn't the sort of person who verbalized her love when others were around.

After the funeral, and after the sun had gone down, Regina's doorbell rang. Regina didn't feel like talking to the Charmings, so she shouted, "Go away!"

"No." The voice from the other side was much deeper than what Regina was expecting. She sighed and dragged herself over to the door. When she opened it, she was met with the sight of Little John and Roland, with tears streaming down his face.

"Gina?" The little boy asked quietly, causing Regina's heart to break. What no one else had managed to do since Robin's death, Roland had done with one simple word; lowered Regina's walls.

"Come here, my little knight," Regina held her arms open and Roland ran into them before burying his head in Regina's shoulder, muffled sobs escaping his mouth.

"He wanted you," Little John explained. "I can take him back if you want me too, but--"

"No," Regina cut him off. She stood up slowly, holding Roland close to her. "He can stay with me."

~

A woman in a light blue dress and nearly white hair that was in a neat braid was sitting in a booth at Granny's, her knees curled to her chest, and her head buried between them. Soft crying was coming from her body. Slowly, the cries turned to sobs and her body began shaking. It was all too much. Nearly a year had passed and she was no closer than she had been right after the disaster had happened.

The sound of cracking ice filled the room and the sobs stopped. The woman looked up, her eyes scanning the restaurant. The sound came again, and her eyes focused on a man. She didn't know his name – though to be fair, she didn't know anyone's name – but a hairline fracture was running down the ice that surrounded his body. All at once, the ice crumbled away and the man broke free of his freezing bounds. He was shivering, and looked confused to say the least.

"Where am I?" He spoke with an accent that the woman hadn't heard before.

"Granny's," she answered as she wiped the tears from her eyes. "I think I have a bit of explaining to do."

~

A cardboard box sat across from Regina, but she was afraid to open it. It was full of stuff that belonged to Robin, put together by the Merry Men. They had all agreed to give it to Regina, and she was grateful, but that didn't make it any easier to open.

Finally, she lifted the flaps and peered into the cardboard. There wasn't much; mostly jackets, shirts, and a few pairs of pants. But the first thing Regina noticed was the overwhelming smell of forest that came from the box. It smelled like Robin. Regina felt her eyes began to tear up, and she was tempted to just close the box and try again another day. But she forced herself to keep looking. So she pulled out the clothes and gently set them down next to her.

Underneath the clothes was archery equipment, as well as a few knickknacks and a folded up index card. Regina slowly reached in and grabbed the index card. She unfolded it and read the few words that were written on it;

My Queen,
It will be okay. Just open your eyes.
—Your Thief

Regina traced over the words with her fingers, wondering what they could mean. Open her eyes?

As Regina's grip on the index card tightened, the world became blurry. She saw glimpses of what looked like Granny's, but full of people frozen in place. Robin had his back turned to her, but he was very much alive and not frozen. Regina tried to reach out to him, or even call to him, but her voice wouldn't work and she seemed to be paralyzed.

Regina threw the index card down and backed away from it, breathing heavily. Once her breaths had evened out again, she picked the card back up and pressed it to her lips. "I trust you, Robin," she whispered, "and I will figure this out. I promise."

~

It had been nearly a week since the man had emerged from the ice. He had known the names of everyone, including the woman herself, and explained what had happened through his eyes.

In short, they were dreaming. They were stuck in a universe that had been created only in their minds, and they only way to escape was as the man had; you would have to seize to exist. But neither the man nor the woman could affect the events in a universe they were not a part of. No more than simple whispers, ghosts of words, that may not have even made it past the ice that wrapped around the bodies, keeping them from awaking or even aging.

But the man knew. He assured the woman that he knew she could hear him. She being the one he called his soulmate. Perhaps, the woman thought, soulmate love was stronger than even true love. Or perhaps it was nothing but empty hope.

Either way, it was the only chance they had to ever free anyone else from the icy prisons.

~

"My Queen,
It will be okay. Just open your eyes.
—Your Thief"

Zelena read the note from Robin out loud. "What does that even mean?" She looked up at her half-sister.

Regina shrugged hopelessly. "I don't know." She stuck her hands in her jacket pocket and felt a piece of paper that definitely hadn't been there when she put the coat on. She pulled it out, unfolded it, and read it silently.

My Queen,
I love you. Please open your eyes.
—Your Thief

Regina frowned. Was it possible that Robin was sending her letters from...wherever he was? Hades had said he wouldn't exist anymore...but what if he did?

Regina handed the second letter to Zelena, not trusting herself to read it aloud without crying.

"Why didn't you tell me there were two?" Zelena hissed.

"Because there weren't," Regina responded in a hushed voice. "It just appeared. I think Robin's trying to warn me about something.

"How? I thought Hades said--?"

"Hades must have lied," Regina interrupted her sister. "Robin has to be out there somewhere, I know it. He's sending me these notes, trying to tell me something important."

"How do you know it's actually him?" Zelena challenged.

Regina didn't even have to think about her answer. "Because no one else would even want me to be their Queen."

~

"Robin?" The woman's voice was like a soft snowflake floating to the ground, which was very befitting, knowing what her magic was like.

"What is it, Elsa?" The thief stood up and looked over at the Queen of Arendelle.

"Something's wrong." She was studying the frozen face of a blonde woman, standing next to a one-handed man.

Robin didn't want to leave the place he was standing in, but he knew he had to move. Elsa had snowflakes fluttering around her head, showing that she was worried. When Robin approached her, Elsa pointed at the frozen blonde. The tips of her fingers had sparks dancing around them. Robin looked around to see two other woman with the same thing happened; the one he had been standing next to, and the woman next to the blonde who Robin knew was not who she looked like.

"She heard me," Robin breathed. He rushed back over to his frozen soulmate and wrapped his warm hand around her iced one. "You can do it, Regina," he whispered. "I believe in you. Just open your eyes."

~

Regina, Zelena, and Emma were sitting on a park bench, trying to figure out what the two notes meant. They were from Robin, that much was clear. But what was unclear was how.

A piece of paper floated down from the tree above the three woman and landed on Regina's lap. She picked it up and read it,

"My Queen,
You can do it. I believe in you. Just open your eyes.
—Your Thief"

"Another one?" Emma asked. "How is this even possible?"

Regina shook her head. "I don't know."

Zelena took the third note from Regina and read through them all again before looking up. "Open your eyes." When she was met only with confused looks, she elaborated, "That's the one thing all of the notes have in common, besides the greeting. He's telling you to open your eyes."

"To what?" Regina raised an eyebrow. "Is that...like...a metaphor?"

Emma shrugged, but then a thought occurred to her. "Unless...you're dreaming? Or we're all dreaming, I should say. And whatever Hades did to Robin woke him up."

"That's ridiculous," Regina waved Emma's theory aside. "How much of out lives could really be a dream?"

Emma sighed. "Just a thought. I mean, why else would you need to open your eyes?"

"I have no idea. Maybe you're right," as soon as the words left Regina's mouth, she was back in Granny's, frozen in place. Robin was talking with a woman Regina recognized as Elsa, Queen of Arendelle, standing next to a frozen Emma, Hook, and....Marian?

Everything clicked in Regina's mind. It was crazy, and outrageous, and maybe even impossible, but it meant that Robin was still alive.

Regina jumped up off of the bench and turned to face Emma and Zelena. "Ice coma!" She exclaimed.

The blonde and the redhead shared a confused look. "What?"

"We're in an ice coma! Give me those," Regina snatched the letters from her sister and looked through them. The words, 'open your eyes,' stared up at her. "Ever since the night when you and Hook brought Marian back, and Elsa came along with you! Emma, you're a genius!" Regina turned around to look at the lake. "Now, we just need to figure out how to open our eyes.

~

"Robin!" Elsa yelled, the fear in her voice obvious. "Something's wrong with Regina!"

Robin was by Elsa's side almost immediately. Sure enough, the frozen Regina was shooting off sparks.

"She's waking up!" Robin exclaimed.

"She needs magic from this side," Elsa explained. "But I can't do anything besides freeze her more.

Robin's heart skipped a beat. Magic. He didn't have magic, and Gold's shop was too far away. He looked at Regina, and an idea hit him. It hadn't worked with Marian, but that wasn't real, and Marian wasn't his soulmate.

Robin pressed his lips to the ice coating Regina's.

~

Forest.

The smell of forest filled Regina, but more importantly, it was the smell of him. Robin.

And then the sky cracked open. The bright blue tore apart to reveal black nothingness, like a black hole. The roaring winds made it hard to hear, but there was a voice coming from it;

"She's waking up!"

"She needs magic from this side!"

Regina looked back at Emma and Zelena. "What now?!" She had to shout to be heard over the wind.

"Now you open your eyes," Emma responded. "Once you wake up, I have a feeling the rest of us will follow."

Zelena stepped closer to her sister. "If what you say is true, and I just came back as Marian..." the witch looked down. "I don't want to be that person. I want to be good, I promise."

Regina pulled her half-sister into a hug. "I know." Regina broke the hug and turned back to face the tear in the sky. "I'm coming, Robin," she muttered.

~

A bright light shot out from the couple, blowing Robin and Elsa both backwards. The ice on Regina's feet and hands had began to slowly recede.

"It's working!" Elsa exclaimed. "True love's kiss! The most powerful magic of all!"

"Soulmate's kiss," Robin corrected. "Even more powerful than true love."

~

A flickering image of Robin appeared across from Regina. She ran towards him, but he didn't move. He didn't seem to even know she was there. But Regina could touch him, which meant she could kiss him. And a true love's kiss – or soulmate's kiss – might be exactly what they needed. Regina grabbed Robin's jacket and pulled him down into a kiss. She squeezed her eyes shut and she could feel a bright light surround her. When she opened her eyes, she was back in Granny's with the iced Storybrooke citizens. But this time, she could move, and she ran straight into Robin's arms.

~

Author's Note: Yes, this is my way to deal with the crappy writing choices; pretend they never even happened. And I thought everyone being in an ice coma, meaning nothing since the season three finale is real, would be a nice plot twist.

Word Count: 2361