Emma jumped as the knock came suddenly at her door. She had been attempting to do as she was always trying to do...control her icy temperament. Her powers were and had been growing from almost the moment she was born. Her parents, the King and Queen of Arendelle had done everything they could to protect their kingdom. However the only thing that had worked had been complete isolation...from everyone.

"Emma, are you coming out today?" Ariel asked from the other side. Emma looked down at her frost covered hands, she was angry as her concentration was broken.

"No, Ariel...go away!" She said. Emma hated treating her little sister like this but she was told by her parents that this was what was best for both of them. Ariel was dejected, but she was never deterred from trying to get her sister to open up to her. Sadly she walked away, once again wondering what it was that made Emma so angry at her. Emma's powers were getting stronger with each passing day and her fear of them only made them worse.

"Conceal, don't feel..." She said repeating the mantra that her parents had come up for her to try and control her powers which seemed to be intimately tied to her emotions. Not just bad emotions like anger, but even good ones. She watched as the frost began to dissipate.

"Conceal, don't feel..." Emma repeated over and over again. She watched and was pleased to see the flesh of her skin returning to its "normal" color. Another knock on the door caused Emma to lose her concentration and her hands began to ice over again.

"No...no...no...go away!" She yelled flinging her hands towards to the door as it opened slowly. Snow White was startled to see a large spike of ice had been hurled at the door. She peeks her head around and looks surprised at her daughter. Emma's eyes widened as she realized that she could've just killed her mother.

"I am so sorry mama..." She said quickly. Snow looked sadly at her daughter; of all the things that she had come up against it was the fate of her oldest child that gave her pause. She walked carefully into the room and to her daughter's side.

"Emma, maybe we should just cancel this party...it could be for the best." Snow said. Emma shook her head; she knew how much preparation was going into her party. They had kept the family in seclusion because of her powers, and Emma was determined to not be the cause of that any longer. She reached over and slid on her long sleeved gloves. They were supposed to curb her powers but only did so for a short amount of time.

"No mama...it's ok, I will be good." Emma promised not wanting her family to suffer for her powers yet again. Snow gently took her daughter's face in her hands. She had never loved someone and yet was so incredibly frightened of them at the same time.

"Are you sure?" She asked and Emma nodded before hugging her mother. Emma relished in someone else's touch, something that she was denied so much in her life. Snow held her daughter tight to her body...but knew that she couldn't do it for too long. Snow could feel as the icy powers flowed though Emma's hug and into her body. She held her daughter until her lips began to turn blue. Finally she stiffly pulled away from Emma; the blonde looked at her mother and was horrified that she had caused this reaction in her mother. She started to reach out to her mother, but stopped knowing that she would only make it worse.

"I'm sorry mama..." She said and Snow looked at her daughter and smiled weakly.

"It's ok baby...mama couldn't just let you go." She admitted knowing that it had been so long since they had embraced. Emma felt slightly better knowing that her mother chose to hold her instead of allowing her power to frighten her away.

"I'm going to be better mama...try to not feel anything." She said. Snow forced a smile to her lips, hating that the only way that they could attempt to control Emma's powers were to make her not feel emotions. She wished she was better at hiding her own emotions as she felt the tears come to her eyes. Emma hated being the reason behind her mother's tears, feeling as her gloves began to crackle from the ice that was beginning to show through. Snow wiped her tears away and tried to put on a strong face for her daughter.

"It's ok, baby..." She said before she began to slowly began to back out of the room. Emma was again left alone with her powers her only friend.

"Is Emma ok?" Ariel asked her mother as she watched as Snow left her sisters room. Snow again forced a smile to her lips.

"Of course she's ok my little fish..." She said, feeling as her smile became more genuine as she looked to her red haired daughter. She knew that eventually Ariel's powers would manifest, but she would be much older and able to control them. Ariel believed her mother implicitly, she didn't have any real reason not to. She threw her arms around her mother feeling the chill that was around her.

"Mama, you're cold...I will warm you up." She said and Snow felt warmer almost immediately holding her youngest daughter to her.

"Thank you baby..." She said. Snow was still trying to convince herself that this celebration was something that they wanted to do. She knew that she had kept not just Emma secluded but Ariel as well, even though she knew deep down that it wasn't really fair.

"Are you ready for the party?" She asked and Ariel pulled away from her mother excitedly.

"Ready...mama? I have been ready for this...my entire life." She said happily. Snow watched as her daughter twirled around the hallway her dress flittering up around her.

"Just think, I can be around...everyone...anyone." She confessed, causing more guilt to creep into Snow's heart. She knew that the seclusion had been hurtful to Ariel, but she never truly knew that this was how she felt.

"Yes, little fish...you can meet everyone, I'm sure that they will be excited to meet you too...all the people in the land are coming." She said before ushering her daughter off to prepare for the ball.