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.

She turned another corner, and almost bumped into the thief.

"What are you doing?" Regina asked him.

"Hopefully saving you."

Regina tilted her head like a confused puppy, "Saving me?"

"Well given the fact that the man you almost married is old enough to be your father and you refused to look directly at him during the entire time you were there, I'm guessing you don't want to marry him. If you come with me, I can help you escape. We can smuggle you to Arendelle or another kingdom across the sea - anywhere where you're safe from him."

"Why would you do that for me? We've never met."

"I can't watch you be forced into this. I have a chance to save an innocent girl from a fate she never asked for, and I'm going to take it." The thief held out his hand. "Do you trust me?"

Regina hesitated, "I'm not sure why, but...yes," she placed her hand in the thief's, and then looked down at her dress. "I'm still wearing my wedding dress."

"Then we'd better get out of here so I can find you some new clothes."

---

Robin ended up cutting off part of the woman's dress in order to get her on the back of his horse, but once that was done, the two were on their way. They had no idea how long it would take for the king to realize his finacée had left him at the altar, but they wanted to get away from the castle as soon and as fast as possible.

"I never caught your name," the woman said as they rode away from the palace.

"Robin," he replied. "And you?"

"Regina. Where are we going?"

"Some friends of mine are staying in a nearby village. We should be able to find some clothes for you there. They won't be what you're used to in the palace, though."

"I'm fine with that."

---

Had Regina not been wearing a (partial) wedding dress, she would have been fine on the back of Robin's horse. But giving her current clothing situation, she had to wrap her arms around Robin's torso to make sure she wouldn't fall off.

There were still so many questions Regina wanted to ask, but she kept quiet. She knew this was risky, but Regina was just grateful that she had been saved from marrying the king. If Robin turned out to be worse than the king, she would deal with that when the time came.

When they arrived at the village, Robin helped her off the horse and led her to a shack that looked like it had seen better days. Before they entered, Robin turned to look at Regina. "I'm going to warn you, they're expecting me to come back with fancy plates and jewels, not the bride in a torn up wedding dress. Just let me explain what happened, okay?"

Regina nodded, too nervous to speak. Robin opened the door and she followed him inside. Before they saw her, the men inside had been talking merrily. But as soon as they saw the scared girl in a tattered dress, they stopped talking. Their eyes bounced between Robin and Regina. It seemed none of them were sure what to say.

"This is Regina," Robin gestured to Regina. "I know she's not what I promised I'd come back with, but she needed saving, so I--"

"That's-- that's the queen, Robin," one of the men stated.

"Yes, I know. But she's not technically, because she never actually married the king, so--"

"Robin, you stole the future queen!"

"Yes, I know that, Will!" Robin snapped.

"You know Robin," another man spoke up. "When he sees a soul in need, he has to help them, whether it's the logical choice or not."

"She was about to be the queen!" Will argued.

"I didn't want to be queen," Regina said in a soft voice. Everyone's eyes went to her, looking as if they were surprised she could talk. "I never asked to marry the king, my mother made me. I wanted to marry for love, but--" Regina shook her head, "It doesn't matter. I didn't have anything waiting for me in that castle except a life of feeling like a prisoner."

Robin nodded, like he was pleased what Regina had said would satisfy the men. "See? Now, would any of you happen to know where we can get a change of clothes for Regina?"

---

When Regina entered the room, she was holding the remains of her wedding dress as well as most of the jewelry she'd been wearing. The only jewelry that remained on her was a golden necklace and a simple ring on her left hand ring finger, where a wedding band would go. That confused Robin because why would Regina continue to wear a ring from Leopold? Unless there was someone else...

The thought of Regina having someone else waiting for her caused Robin's heart to fall, though he didn't want to admit why.

Regina handed the dress and jewelry to Robin. "I doubt the dress is worth anything at this point, but if you want to sell the jewels, please do."

"Are you sure?"

Regina nodded. "It's the least I can do after you saved me. And besides, they only remind me of my months as a prisoner in the palace. I don't want them."

Will looked over Robin's shoulder, "That should make us enough to feed several villages!"

Regina frowned. "You steal... for others?"

Robin nodded. "I think it's rather unfair that the rich have all the money and never share with the people who often struggle to make it through the winter, and my men agree. So we steal from royals and the rich, and give what we make to the poor."

"Wow," Regina smiled. "That's very kind of you."

Robin set the pile down. "So, where would you like to go? We can get you almost anywhere - Arendelle, Camelot, DunBroch--?"

"Actually...I was thinking I could stay with you for a little while?" Regina raised an eyebrow. "I've never stolen anything before, but your cause seems worthy, and you did save me from marrying the king, so I would be happy to help in any way I can."

Robin glanced down at the ring on Regina's finger. "You don't have anyone who would want to escape with you and start a new life?"

---

Regina saw Robin glancing at the ring on her finger. The ring from Daniel. He must assume that whoever gave her the ring was still alive and waiting for her. Regina shook her head, "No, not anymore. I had someone long ago, but... he's gone now."

Robin turned to face the men. "Well, what do you lot think? Can Regina stay with us?"

The men seemed a little hesitant to say anything, but Regina figured they knew Robin wanted her to stay, so they agreed. Robin turned back to Regina with a smile on his face. "Well Regina, it looks like you are the first official female member of the Merry Men!"

~

A/N: Okay so I really liked how this turned out, and I really like this universe, so don't be surprised if I come back with a sequel of sorts to this eventually