Spring time that year was colder than usual. Still, Regina was caught by surprise that Monday morning when she noticed it was snowing outside the manor. It didn't take long before she realized what was going on and connected the event to that girl who had made a sport out of annoying her whenever she got the chance, Elsa.
Elsa, Emma's girlfriend; Regina was certain that the girl meant nothing but problems. Jealous, childish, moody and completely out of control: that was Elsa. Still, Emma chose her.
This time, though, Regina knew this wasn't a mere silly prank played by the queen of Arendelle. She was absolutely certain that Emma was behind it, since, two days before, she and Henry went on a trip to New Your under a condition established by the mayor that the boy would be back in town for school that Monday.
It was obvious that Emma and Elsa had planned that to extend the trip for a day or two with what they probably believed was a really fun prank. Childish, both of them.
Infuriated, Regina took her phone, in an attempt to reach either Elsa or Emma and talk some sense into them.
~~/~~
The last couple of days were busy and, in a way, pretty stressful for Elsa.
Emma and her had spent quite some time planning some way to keep Henry in New York with Emma for more than just the weekend. In Elsa's opinion buying more time to mother and son was fair, since Emma had been planning a trip with her son for months now, but was constantly being kept from it by her own job or Henry's school schedule.
Having finally gotten Regina's permission for a weekend off, they wanted to extend the trip for a day, at least, and decided to force a blackout on Henry's school. Unfortunately, Emma still didn't have as much control over her magic as they first believed, and the spell they tried to cast to cause the blackout backfired.
Emma ended up spending the next few hours unconscious while a quite desperate Elsa tried to reverse the effects of the spell without calling too much attention for what they had done. Finally, feeling somehow like a fool for not thinking about it before, the queen gave her girlfriend the true love's kiss, the second since they began dating, and the other woman woke up, completely baffled.
Fearing that they had just blown up the cover on the blackout, Emma decided to change their approach and cause a snowstorm on Monday, which was easy for Elsa to do.
Elsa got pretty content with herself due to the snowstorm she caused Sunday night. That, in addition to the blackout that not only had actually worked, but also remained undetected, would probably be enough to keep Henry with Emma in New York for at least another twenty-four hours.
Elsa left early in the morning that day to check the situation around town before going to work at the Any Given Sundae. Halfway through she received a message from a pissed off Regina, ordering her to solve the problem and threatening to cut any contact between her and Henry if she didn't. Though reluctant, Elsa stopped the blizzard around town with the exception of the town hall area – a small vengeance.
Once again, Regina sent a message telling Elsa she was trapped inside the building with Mary Margaret, both unable to get out since, according to the mayor, she hurt her ankle and the pain was preventing her from using magic – something Elsa knew was just an excuse. Although Elsa meant to keep the mayor locked in there for the majority of the day, she didn't mean to irritate Emma's mother, so she went to the town hall to dismiss the spell.
"We'll talk to you and Emma as soon as she comes back, Elsa." Promised Mary Margaret, appearing to be much more worried than actually irritated. "You can't keep freezing the city around as if it's some joke. It's dangerous!"
Most of the times, Elsa really likes Mary Margaret and David. They've received her as a part of their family. But she really didn't appreciate when Emma's mother tried to be her own mother; after all, Elsa is a queen.
~~/~~
Due to Henry's absence, Regina was feeling even lonelier than she used to. As such, her thoughts began to drift towards Daniel, her mother, father, Robin Hood; feeling as if there was an empty hole in her life, even if Henry was just traveling and would soon be back.
Emma being so hostile to her didn't help at all. For some reason, the Savior had this weird Idea that Regina was constantly hitting on her and, because of her relationship with Elsa, she began to treat Regina badly.
And so she began to think about those people and remember those things she'd rather forget; with that came the memory of someone. Someone long forgotten in between the everyday mess that was being the mayor of Storybrooke. Someone she couldn't avoid thinking that she wronged. Her only friend in the whole Enchanted Forest: Maleficent..
Looking straight at her wall of hearts, she couldn't help it but remember Maleficent's advice, when she was about to cast the curse: there are lines even we shouldn't cross… it will leave an emptiness inside you. A void you will never be able to fill. She was right.
Regina had Henry, but he wasn't only hers, because she had to share his Love with the Savior. She missed someone. She needed someone. She needed a friend and she knew exactly where she'd find one: the underground beneath the library. She just didn't know how to bring her back. Yet.
~~/~~
The trip to New York was invigorating for Emma. A small and quick, but significant, change of scenario.
She used the moment to get back things she and Henry had left behind when they came back in a hurry to Storybrooke with Killian, about ten months before. They'd also been to Neal's old apartment to get a few objects that belonged to him and Robin had separated when he moved in. In the end, they visited Gold and Belle, who were traveling in their honeymoon for a few months already.
Emma tried not to think about the menace right in front of her, something she'd still have to talk about to everyone. Six months: no dragons, evil queens, wicked witches, teenage boys that are actually grown men in denial, and evil stepmothers who actually are your girlfriend's aunt. All she had to worry was the divided attention between being a mother, sheriff, daughter, and girlfriend. Peace.
Sadly, that seemed to have come to an end, and Emma was the bearer of bad news. Great!
When Emma and Henry finally arrived back in Storybrooke, about Tuesday noon, the blond left her son in school, fulfilling the promise she made Regina, and rushed to Granny's, where friends and family had planned to gather for a small celebration. The sheriff asked herself if she indeed needed to tell everyone about the trouble she got herself in at that moment; she expected to have at least a few hours to rest from the trip before bringing up the subject.
Only after everyone had arrived, Mary Margaret, who confessed to a very surprised Emma that she decided to use her lunch time to participate on that small reception, turned to both Emma and Elsa with a reproachful look:
"I was thinking, since everyone is here, if we could talk about all that snow here in Storybrooke."
Emma tried to keep a neutral expression under her mother's glare, though Elsa blushed violently. It was alright, the Savior always knew her girlfriend was a terrible liar; specially now, when her nervousness was making it snow all around inside the dinner in the middle of that conversation.
Worst possible moment!Emma would have to work on her girlfriend's lying ability, she felt like they'd need that. Not that anyone had noticed the snow, that was weak and concentrated around the former queen of Arendelle; everyone was much more interested in seeing the sheriff being scolded by her mother.
Emma, though, noticed Elsa's apologetic look and smiled. It wasn't as if she could keep that problem a secret for much longer, anyway. At least they could take measures to make sure no one got hurt.
"I suppose we could say you're too honest for your own good," Emma sighs facing her girlfriend with a look that could be both sad and playful at the same time. "I'm sorry I got you into this mess."
"I'm sorry, Emma. At least it was fun for a while, and Henry doesn't have too much homework today," Elsa says, unable to face her girlfriend back.
"It's not quite like that, I tried to hide this incident the best I could," she answered and lowered her gaze, unable to face anyone at that exact moment. "The truth is that the reason I asked you to cast the blizzard yesterday… well, it wasn't just so Henry could skip classes."
"What do you mean?" Elsa finally looked straight in Emma's eyes, ignoring everyone else around.
Regina, though, was many times more irritated than worried, being forced to watch that whole scene between the two women. Probably, that was nothing more than another of their stupid pranks, the two of them had already made up a few false alarms throughout the last few months just to annoy people – specially Regina. While David found them funny and Mary Margaret thought them reckless, Regina found them irritating.
"I'm all ears, dear."
Emma breathes slowly and deeply before starts telling what really happened:
"When I tried to cause the blackout in front of Henry's school, my magic kind of bounced back and hit me, and I ended up paralyzing myself by accident. I was still conscious though," she turned to Elsa as she pronounced the last part. "After some time I saw a shadow, moving towards me. It just stayed there, staring at me for a while, then it reached for my shoulder. Worst sensation ever!"
"And then...?" Regina sits straight, unable of taking her eyes away of Emma's face, which turned to Elsa. If that was another prank, she'd kill Swan!
"Then, the shadow turned to Elsa and tried to touch her shoulder as well, but quickly backed away as if it was in pain. That's when I noticed the shadow's hand was frozen!" Emma looked down at her own hands before proceeding. "After that Elsa managed to bring me back, but my magic... was gone. Somehow I know, the shadow took it from me."
"Why did you want me to create the blizzard then, Emma? You think my magic can stop this... shadow?" Elsa asked, confused.
"The shadow couldn't touch you, your magic froze it. I figured that, even if you can't stop it, you can keep it away from everyone else," Emma held her girlfriend's hands. "If that thing took my magic away, it might as well have other targets."
"How are you feeling?" Elsa asked, holding Emma's hands firmly.
"Better now that I got it out of my system, I guess," Emma smiled weakly at Elsa.
"So," Regina began saying, slowly. "Nor Gold, nor Belle had any idea of what that shadow could be?"
"I didn't have the opportunity to ask them and I didn't want to worry more people than strictly necessary." Emma answered, looking at Regina.
"We should take a look at the library." Said Ruby, who had stopped her work to listen to what Emma was saying. "Belle would have done that for sure."
"Belle is in New York with Gold, but we should call them." Said Elsa, facing Ruby. "I'll talk to Anna as well, she's been working with Belle at the library for some time now."
Emma agrees with Elsa and turns to her dad and Ruby. "Since that day, no one saw the shadow again? Nothing weird happened?"
"No one reported anything at the station Emma." David approaches and rests his hand on Emma's shoulder trying to comfort her.
"We haven't noticed anything different and there were no comments about anything of the sorts here in the dinner. It's best if we ask Anna and Belle, still." Ruby concluded.
"Great, now I'm starting to think I'm just going crazy," Emma thought about it and tried using her magic again, but nothing happened.
"Maybe you're just insecure because it didn't work the first time," Regina mocked. Some part of her still believed that was just another tasteless joke, another part, on the other hand, was terribly worried. "Maybe I should take you back to that bridge."
"Regina, this time I'm certain I'd fail," Emma was frustrated and felt helpless without her magic. Ironic, considering that up until two years ago, she didn't even know she had magic.
Hearing Emma's tone of voice, Regina finally convinced herself that was no joke. No, Emma was a good liar, most of the time, but she wasn't that good.
"Don't worry, Emma," said Snow in a confident tone, clearly noticing her daughter's frustration as well. "We'll look for the shadow and you'll have your powers back."
"Thank you," Emma said, forcing a smile, but it soon vanished as she thought about the shadow that attacked her. "I thought that shadow looked like Pan's, but there was something different in it, it didn't have the same shining eyes."
"You have a powerful kind of magic, Emma, that has already been taken from you once by Zelena's spell..." Regina stopped, her eyes widened, as she thought about it. "Wait a moment... we never really got to see Zelena's body, did we?"
"No, we didn't…" Emma looked around, terrified. "We only saw the station's camera recording where she became a statue and broke in pieces, then vanished."
"Zelena! First she tried to take our baby, then she goes after our daughters magic... again?" Mary Margaret turned to David, apprehensive. "We need to do something, David."
"Of course, we'll get her, Mary Margaret." David made a brave expression, even though he wasn't as confident as he wanted to make it look like.
"It's a good guess. So, we have to find out what happened to Zelena," says Emma, standing up with a determined look. She turns to Elsa, "but you should contact Anna at the library anyway, see if there's something there that might be useful."
"I'll talk to her as soon as possible but you should probably contact Belle and Gold."
"We can't say for sure it was Zelena, but we can do some more research on this death of hers," Regina said. "If my sister's still alive somehow, then we should be prepared. She sure had good reasons to get rid of your magic, Emma, and I can bet mine is next."
"If you're next we should find a way to protect you," Elsa said, also standing up. "I mean, my magic repels this creature. What can I do?"
"Well, dear, I'm not moving to the northern mountains with you," Regina answers, sourly. "Don't worry, I know how to protect myself against Zelena, if it's really her we're up against."
"I can always freeze you." Elsa says, smiling at the thought of having permission to freeze the other woman.
"Let's not jump up to drastic solutions," Emma interfered, though it was clear she was making more than an effort not to laugh out loud.
"Of course," said Regina, irritated, as she also stood up. "We already lost to much time chatting. I have much to research on Zelena's death. I'm going to the station to check on that security recording again, see if I can find anything about her disappearance."
Emma observed as Regina left, asking herself, as she usually did after playing one of her pranks, what she was doing. Maybe they should change targets next time. If there was a next time.
Elsa was the second one to leave the dinner. She casts a light blizzard to keep the shadow at bay, then leaves for the library. Mary Margaret returns to the school and David follows her. Emma, on the other hand, stays in the dinner, trying to contact Belle and Gold.
~~/~~
Regina had been watching the recording over and over for a while now and she was still unable to figure out what had happened to her sister. It was clear that her sister was powerful, but what the mayor was witnessing wasn't like anything she had ever seen in the universe of magic.
It took a long while before she finally noticed: a glimpse, so subtle she hadn't noticed up to that moment. A weird energy that did not belong in that tape, she easily recognized that: it was magic. The tape had been, for some reason, altered by magic.
Regina used her own magic to remove that which the tape contained. Once more, she pressed the button to watch the recording and there it was, Rumplestiltskin was standing inside Zelena's cell, he approached her with his dagger and stabbed her in the stomach.
Regina was still gaping when she felt it. A presence, much like the Wraith she once faced. She felt dizzy before everything faded to black.
