Arrow ｡ Henry Mills [1]

1 - THE ROBBERY

All her life Teresa Holmes has wondered where she truly belonged. She wished to know her purpose so that she could fulfill it, but her wishes remained just that. Wishes that seemed almost like a dream, when in reality she is just a girl. An orphan. Abandoned by her own mother with no recognition of why or whom her father even is. The ghost of memories she shared with her mother haunt her at every moment no matter how much she wishes they would go away. She loves her mother of course, but who has the heart to abandon a six-year-old year in the middle of the forest with nothing to defend herself with?

Teresa was lucky that a group of hunters were passing by and found her or else the young girl may have died from starvation. Robin Hood and his group of Merry Men were kind enough to give her clothes, food, water, and a nice, warm fire to sleep cozy near. When she became the age of eight, she was even given her own weapon, that of a bow and quiver full of remarkable arrows, fashioned by Robin Hood himself. She would always be thankful to Robin and the Merry Men, for they had saved her life that day.

Not long after living with the Merry Men, did Teresa decide to venture out into the world, promising to always visit Robin Hood and the others once in while. She met a friend on her adventures, but their friendship did not last when Marley suddenly disappeared on her one day. It shocked Teresa╶ learning that everyone wanted to strike her heart with the bitter pain of abandonment. She became distant after, never trusting easily anymore so as to avoid further abandonment.

One afternoon while she was hunting, Teresa was lucky enough to come across someone that would change her entire life. Her name was Snow White╶ Teresa recognized the raven-haired runaway from her wanted posters hung up by the Evil Queen. Why Snow White was being hunted, Teresa did not know.

Upon first glance, Teresa wanted to strike the raven-haired woman with an arrow and claim the reward for herself, but something about Snow White spoke to her. It turns out that they both needed each other. So Teresa had lowered her bow and said to the runaway that she was safe with her ... thus a beautiful friendship had been forged. A friendship that was practially family.

Now three years and here they are, together, running through the woods, dodging low branches and jumping over fallen trees, on their way to their biggest robbery yet. To survive, that is what they do. Steal things, and sometimes even pawn them to people who will give them enough money to purchase food and clothes and weapons, if that is what need.

Teresa glanced over her shoulder to her raven-haired friend that was lagging slightly behind, as Teresa was always much faster than her. "Hurry, Snow!" She shouted quietly.

Finally, they reached the path of road and Snow pulled out her ax from her leather belt. Before Snow could start knocking down the tree, Teresa grabbed her wrist, abruptly stopping her. The sixteen-year-old archer stepped forward and ripped down the wanted poster that had Snow's face on it, crumbled it up, and tossed it over her shoulder. Snow smirked lightly, before stepping forward and intructing Teresa to keep watch for the prince's carriage that they would soon be robbing while she cut down the tree to block the road.

"I'll get in the tree so I'll be able to see the road ahead better from higher up," Teresa said as she began walking over towards another tree in the area.

Snow nodded as she swung her ax into the trunk, again. "Good thinking."

Teresa cast her hood up over her blond head before climbing up a tree. She sat on a high branch, watching for the carriage with her ice-blue eyes. After a few minutes, Snow managed to successfully chop down the tree. Afterwards, she hurriedly began to climb up the tree just as Teresa voiced that she could see the royal carriage approaching.