Almost a week passed and there was still no change in the weather. No sign of it letting up. No sign of what was causing it. Leroy had made the suggestion that perhaps whomever was behind it, was simply going to hide until everyone froze to death. Not a terrible plan, as far as murderous plots go. The heat in the hospital seemed to decrease every day. Regina said that eventually even their magic wouldn't be able to stand up to the fierceness of this cold.
Not a particularly happy thought. The hospital was fuller than it had been in awhile. People staying outside for a few minutes too long and suddenly they were hypothermic. Seven people had slipped on the ice and broken a limb in the last two days alone. Not to mention the burns people were getting, trying to keep their fires going or their generators over heating. Victor was just glad that Emma had been able to convince Robin and his men to move into the town hall. Victor doubted the men would have survived very long out in the woods.
The Hoffenträumen was still in Granny's freezer, although if the temperatures continued to drop like they were, it would have no trouble surviving in this weather. Victor had left Granny's not long after the attempt on his life. She had looked very displeased with his decision but the hospital had called. A car accident. He couldn't let one haphazard attempt on his life stop him from doing his job. Granny must have filled the others in on what had happened because David was waiting for him when he got out of surgery.
"David? Is everything all right?"
"You tell me."
"Ah well, Ms. Collins slid her car into a fence. Got a nasty puncture to her left thigh, I was able to repair the damage. She should be fine in a few weeks, with a little physical therapy. You should warn people about driving in…"
"I knew her injury wasn't severe, one of your nurses told me. I was talking about what happened in Granny's diner. Someone tried to kill you? Or does that not sound familiar?"
"A dagger was thrown in my general direction. I don't think it was specifically meant for me."
"A dagger was thrown in the general direction of the only person in an otherwise empty room, but you don't think it was meant for you."
"Well it sounds bad when you say it like that."
"Look, it…it just seems incredibly coincidental that at the same time a creature from your realm appears…"
"Yes, yes. Granny made the same point. And I've decided they are unrelated."
"Oh, you've decided that have you?"
"Yes. Whomever it was could have killed me at any time prior to…"
"Granny said she wasn't out of the room for more than two minutes. Did you factor in that they were waiting for her to leave before they attacked? That they might have known she would be able to hear anyone sneaking up on you?"
"I…"He hadn't actually. He had assumed Granny had been out of the room longer than that.
"I suppose there are some factors I may have overlooked."
"Mhmm. Well just to be safe you aren't to go anywhere alone for a little…"
"David…."
"No. No arguments. Until we figure out what's happening, we aren't going to take any chances. I'm going to take first shift…"
"I was just about to go home and take a shower. You going to be joining me for that?"
"Yes."
Victor raised an eyebrow. David seemed to realize what he had just implied.
"Not for the shower, no. But…for the rest of it. I hope your couch is comfortable because you are going to have a few house guests for awhile."
Victor had hoped that the Prince was just being overzealous in his words. But every day someone escorted him to the hospital, and every night there was someone sleeping on his couch. What David thought he or any of them could do against an assassin who could throw daggers made of ice and disappear into thin air, Victor wasn't sure. A point he tried to make with Emma. She seemed to be the most reasonable of the group. But even she wouldn't be swayed.
"It's not just the ice dagger…thrower. It's Rick and his group of idiots. We don't want him coming after you in retaliation."
"He wouldn't…"
"The guy was going to shoot you in the chest in the middle of the street, with both of the towns Sheriffs standing there. I wouldn't underestimate his stupidity."
He tried not to think on the fact that he was going to shoot Rick in the head with both of them standing there. And what that said about his mental acuity. Emma considered it a closed argument. Nothing he could say would convince any of them to leave him in peace. Even a fine, completely reasonable, well-structured argument about the need for manpower to find the cause of the winter storms overriding his need for personal safety, went unheeded.
Eventually his highly ingrained isolationist instincts took over. He chose to make his escape under David's watch. Victor figured the worst the man would do was punch him again. He didn't want to think about what would happen if he slipped away while Granny or Emma were watching him. Or Ruby. Although she had been noticeably absent from his band of babysitters. Most likely they needed her for the current hunt. He liked to think he hadn't noticed her absence.
He told himself he hadn't anyway.
"David?"
"Yea."
"If you're going to insist on sleeping on my couch again, do you think you could at least not put your dirty shoes on it?"
"Right. Sorry." The man looked bashful at Victor's comment. The man probably was legitimately sorry that he had been so thoughtless towards Victor's couch. Sincerity wasn't something Victor had much experience with.
"I'm going to take a shower. Feel free to watch whatever you want." Victor motioned towards the TV. He couldn't remember the last time he had watched it, or even turned it on.
"Thanks Whale." David turned his focus away from Victor and towards the television. Some sort of game show Victor had never heard of.
He turned on the shower then walked back into his bedroom. He had his hand on the windowsill when the strangest thought occurred to him.
I should leave a note.
He didn't know why he thought it. The entire point was to get away from the constant interactions he was being subjected to. Now he was just going to tell David exactly where he was going? It wasn't an idea he was familiar with. Still that niggling feeling stayed with him. He rolled his eyes and walked over to his bedside table.
Went to check on the Hoffentramen. Wasn't kidnapped. I'll be back shortly. Victor Whale
It was simple and to the point. Surely David couldn't be too upset. Victor had left a note. He should be lauded for being so thoughtful.
He was almost to Granny's when his phone started ringing. He looked down and saw it was David calling. Victor hesitated. He supposed he should…
He was on the ground. And there was this odd warmth running down his face. He managed to lift his head up from the snow covered ground. There was a woman standing not too far from him. She was saying something. She looked upset.
He should try to help her. That's what doctors did. The world spun rapidly. His fingers felt numb. It wasn't that cold before was it? It was almost like the temperature had plummeted in a matter of seconds. The woman was still saying something. He really was trying to listen.
"…sorry…please…I didn't…."
"ssok. Mfine." That wasn't what he meant to say. Usually he was a bit more eloquent. He must have hit his head on the ground, that was probably…yes blood on his face. The woman was looking at him with such worry in her eyes. He tried to focus on his words this time.
"Really…I'm fine." He almost sounded convincing too. Except for the moment when he had tried to stand and his vision had faded, and he had almost collapsed to the ground. He steadied himself on a nearby car. He made to move towards the woman.
"Please…stay back. I don't want to hurt you. It was an accident."
"I'm fine really. Just a little bump. Head wounds tend to bleed profusely regardless of the severity of the injury." There. That was better. Very professional.
"You don't understand. I'm a monster."
Victor laughed. He tried not to. But it just happened.
He smiled at the blond woman in front of him.
"Well then my dear, you are in excellent company."
She was giving him the strangest look now. It was equal parts curiosity and concern. She opened her mouth to say something and then she was gone. It almost looked like a gust of wind had simply blown her away.
Victor blinked a few times. God he hoped he hadn't just imagined that. Hallucinations after a head injury were never a good sign. He looked around, there was no sign of her, not even a footprint in the snow. He should probably get out of the street and look at the wound on his head. He briefly considered going to Granny's but didn't feel like he had the energy to deal with explaining what had happened here. He turned and started to make his way towards the hospital.
He wasn't even aware he was listing until his shoulder hit the side of a building. Perhaps he should slow down. Or sit. Maybe he should sit. No.
No, sitting was bad.
For some reason. He couldn't really remember why. He shouldn't sit. He should keep moving. The sudden appearance of a wall in front of him was unexpected. Especially when it kept moving into his path.
"Dr. Whale!"
"Yes?"
Robin? Hood. That was it.
"Are you alright? Have you been attacked?"
"It was more of an accident really."
"You fell on the ice?"
"I think the ice probably aided in my descent, yes. She seemed very apologetic about it though."
"The ice?"
"The woman with the ice. Her hands were almost tinted blue. Aren't you listening?"
"I think we should get you to the hospital my friend."
Since when did he have so many friends? Victor had only had one real friend in his entire life, if he didn't count his brother, and Vladimir had tried to kill him on three separate occasions.
"I just need to lie down for a bit. I'll be fine."
"Your shirt is covered in blood and you didn't hear me when I called out to you."
"Did you need something?"
"Other than a need to not see the town doctor fall over and die, no."
That was being a bit dramatic. He was hardly concussed. A little rest and he would be fine. He wasn't suffering memory loss or…
"What the hell happened to him?"
Shit. David.
At least it was far less likely the prince would hit him in his current state.
"I was just trying to ascertain that…"
"It was nothing. I slipped on the ice."
He hoped Robin would take the hint and say nothing.
"That's it? You fell? I called you three times, then I called Granny and she said you weren't there. Then I found your cell phone next to a clump of red snow. And you're saying you just fell?"
"Yes."
"He may have mentions something about a woman with blue hands."
Traitor. He would have to remember to use the largest needles the next time Robin found his way into Victor's hospital. Victor tried to glare at the man, but the thief simply smiled.
"Blue hands?"
Victor tried to calculate what would be worse for him. Telling David he had hallucinated a woman with blue hands, thereby ensuring that he would be followed around by a steady stream of caring individuals, each trying to determine if he was still hallucinating. Or admitting that in the twenty minutes he had been outside of the watchful eye of a said caring individual, he had managed to get attacked again. And in another ice related incident. Either way, he doubted he would be getting any alone time from now on. He wondered if David would insist on sleeping at the foot of Victor's bed like a good guard dog. Victor tried to keep down the laugh that that mental image brought up, but judging by David's concerned look he wasn't entirely successful.
"She didn't attack me really. I think it was more that I was simply in the wrong place…"
"Yea ok, Robin? Go to Granny's and have her call a meeting. I'm going to take this idiot to the hospital and have him looked at…"
"By who? I'm the only real doctor." Victor muttered under his breath.
"and after he manages to string a couple coherent thoughts together, he can explain this blue handed woman to me. Then we will all meet up and go over what we know so far. Ok?"
"Of course your highness."
Robin walked away, a smug smile still on his face. Victor had no idea why the man always looked like that. Like everything was a joke in some way.
"I've got half a mind to handcuff you to the hospital bed, and before you even say something perverted, just know I am not in the mood."
Victor honestly wasn't going to say anything. His mind hadn't even supplied him with the proper response to David's threat. Maybe he was slightly concussed.
"I know how to pick handcuff locks."
"Of course you do. Come on."
Victor let David guide him towards the hospital. When they finally arrived, Victor let only the most competent nurse tend to him. The other doctors in the hospital had been farmers and miners and other lay people prior to the curse. And while there was nothing wrong with such professions, they tended to callous the hands. And people with rough calloused hands did not make good surgeons. Not that his nurse had been a surgeon; she had been a seamstress. Which was close enough.
Three stitches and an order to lie down for a bit. Which was ridiculous but Victor complied with it all the same. If only to keep David from glaring so forcefully at him. Victor lie on the hospital bed and had only closed his eyes for a moment, but suddenly David was gone and Killian was there instead.
"Bested by the street? That's a rough one mate."
Victor rubbed his eyes and sat up. Glad to find himself not chained to the bed.
"It wasn't the street. It was the ice covering it. And a strong gust of wind."
"Sure mate. And this mysterious blue handed woman no one else has seen." Killian was joking. But Victor didn't wonder if there was something else the man was hinting at. Victor felt his paranoia creep up.
"I didn't hallucinate her."
"No, I don't suppose you did. If I had to convince people I'd been attacked, and not just ridiculously clumsy, I would have gone with ice bear…."
"Ice bear."
"Yea, me and me crew were in this one realm and…."
"You saw her!"
Victor and Killian jerked their heads toward the door at the same time. Gold was moving towards them. A look of anger…and something that might have resembled fear. Emma, Snow, and Regina were not far behind.
Emma gave him an apologetic look.
"We told him about the woman David said you saw and he just…."
Killian immediately stood between Victor and the encroaching wizard. His hand resting on his sword.
"Easy there mate. The doctor was just about to…"
"She attacked you?"
"It wasn't an attack…."
"But she struck you with magic, yes?"
Most likely.
"I'm not entirely certain what happened."
"You two!" Killian and Emma were suddenly the focus of Gold's rage. "You must have done something. You must have freed her from my vault."
"Well maybe if you hadn't locked us in there we wouldn't have been poking around…" Emma didn't get a chance to finish her grievance.
"Poking around? Poking around a room full of the most dangerous magical items imaginable?"
Emma looked disgusted. Regina made her presence known.
"Only you would consider a woman a magical item. What did she do Gold? Finally find someone resistant to your…charms? So you locked her up? Figured it worked once, might as well try it again?"
"She isn't a woman. She's a creature, capable of things you can't even imagine."
Victor had heard this particular speech before.
Many times, in fact.
"She seemed genuinely sorry about hitting me."
"Oh of course she did. That's her ploy. Make you think she can't control it and then…"
Victor and the others waited for Gold to continue. His eyes were no longer focused on Victor's face. But on his chest.
"Open your shirt."
"Excuse me?" Emma and Snow had the identical look of shock. Regina looked amused.
"And here I thought it was only Snow who couldn't resist the good doctor's charms." Victor expected Snow to blush, instead she just rolled her eyes. Snow was not Mary Margaret anymore.
"Why do you want him to do that?"
"Just do it!"
"Look mate why don't you…"
Killian was thrown suddenly to the side, and before either Regina or Emma could retaliate, Gold had put up a sort of force field around the two of them. Gold stepped towards Victor.
"Alright. Easy. I'll just…open my shirt here for you. Good thing I'm not self-conscious."
Victor unbuttoned his purple shirt and looked down at his chest.
"Huh."
There was a large black bruise over his heart.
"I don't remember getting hit there. I don't even feel it…"
Victor's fingers grazed over the bruise. It was cold.
"She froze your heart."
"She what?"
"Do you want to lower this shield now Gold and start explaining what the hell is going on?" Emma looked furious, although he was certain that had to do with the currently unconscious pirate. Gold waved a hand and the blue protective shield instantly vanished. Killian began to stir on the ground. Emma kneeled by the pirate and helped him to his feet.
"Next time you could just ask me to move." Killian's voice was light, but Victor could sense he was holding back a great deal of anger.
"And if I had, would you?"
It was clear from Killian's face that the answer to that would always be no.
"Ok, so now that everyone has calmed down. What do you mean she froze his heart?"
"Her name is Elsa. She was born with the power to summon snow and ice…."
"And you didn't think to mention this when the town was suddenly in a winter wonderland in May?" Regina was watching Gold carefully. Looking for signs he was deliberately holding something back.
"I thought she was safely tucked away, somewhere she could never escape from. Clearly I didn't factor time travel into the equation."
Victor kept prodding the bruised area. He should probably be more worried that he couldn't feel the repetitive action. It was so cold. It was a familiar feeling under his fingers. It was the skin of a corpse.
"As I was saying, her powers allow her to summon great snow storms. She can create small things herself, a snowman or an ice sculpture, from the moisture in the air around her. But the larger snowstorms she has to pull the ice from somewhere else. Sometimes from the realm she is currently in, sometimes not. I believe that's how your Hoffenträumen got here Doctor. It was simply pulled along for the ride, caught in a snowstorm in your realm that she transferred to this one. She was born with these great powers, and learned to control them when she was young. She used them many times as the queen, to protect her realm from invaders. But then something happened. Her powers changed. The way she explained it to me, one day she was summoning a storm to defend her kingdom when she felt something else in the snow. Whatever realm she had pulled the ice from was littered with something. So small, almost invisible, except they weren't harmless grains of sand. They were shards of glass. Those shards became entwined with her magic somehow. They bonded themselves to her power. Every time she would try to use her magic for any reason, the shards would be pulled along as well. She could no longer use her magic as she once had for fear of hurting those she loved. So she ran away from her kingdom and tried to hide herself amongst the mountains. Which is where I came across her."
"So she flings glass instead of ice, won't those two hurt the same amount?" Victor was glad Emma was asking all the questions. It saved him from trying to figure out a scientific way to explain all this.
"The shards of glass were magic in nature. Relicts of a shattered magic mirror that would reveal the darkest parts of the person it reflected. Whoever destroyed it did an abysmal job, because the pieces just floated on the breeze infecting people's eyes. If a shard gets in your eyes, then you only see darkness around you. You think every person is a monster in disguise. But if a shard were to forcibly be pushed into someone's heart, say through a strong gust of wind or magic…."
Victor looked up from where he had been poking the cold skin. They were all staring at him.
"I can't imagine this is going to end well for me."
"It's not you I worry about Doctor. It's us. Or rather, what you will do to us."
"What the hell does that mean?" Killian was trying to get between the two of them again. Pointless really, considering how it had ended last time.
"It means, that a shard of this frozen glass with reveal the darkest parts of the person it is inside of. And I personally, am not looking forward to finding out just how dark Victor Frankenstein can go."
"So it is like having your heart ripped out."
"It's worse than that dearie. With your heart gone, you don't feel anything. It is as if your emotions are simply turned off. But with your heart frozen, you will feel your anger and your paranoia and your cruelty stronger than you ever have before. They will be all you feel. The glass reveals the emotions, reveals these things hidden in your heart, and the ice will burn inside of you. Tearing at you to let them out."
"So how do we fix him then? How do we…unfreeze his heart?"
"I'm afraid there's no cure dearie. Not even true love's kiss could break this spell. You have to remove the shard itself, which I'm fairly certain only the Doctor himself could do, and undo the magic freezing the shard which would require Elsa to unfreeze and…"
"Ok we get it, it will be difficult."
"I didn't say difficult dearie, I said impossible. There is nothing you can do to stop what the Doctor will become. Best thing to do for him, and us, is to end this now."
Victor felt like he should be contributing something to this conversation. Especially since it had just veered into killing him territory.
"Not happening." Emma was glaring at Gold. Regina looked contemplative. So his odds with her were probably fifty-fifty.
"We are not going to kill Whale. And we are not going to let him turn into…"
Snow didn't want to say it. Her eyes darted to him, then looked resolutely back at Gold.
"He won't become a monster."
"Well, when the Doctor here figures out how to kill us all in our sleep or poison the water supply, don't say I didn't warn you."
Rumpelstiltskin walked out of the room.
They all watched him walk out. Victor thought he should probably say something. And probably not mention that he already knew how to do both of those things.
"So…"
"Don't worry mate, we will figure out how to…."
"You should lock me up."
"Whale…"
"That isn't necessary mate…"
"Yes it is. If what he says is true then you should lock me up somewhere. Somewhere I won't be able to hurt anyone."
"I'm not going to lock you in a jail cell…"
"No, you're not. You're going to put me in a straight jacket and you are going to lock me in one of the padded rooms downstairs. You are going to have rotating shifts of guards, but don't allow any of them to talk to me. Or to enter the room for any reason, even if it looks like I am sick or having a heart attack. My food should be delivered on a tray without any utensils, make sure there are no bones I could use to…"
"That's pretty detailed." Emma was looking at him curiously.
"It's not the first time I've thought of it."
"You've thought out the best way to keep yourself locked up?"
"Yes, although you need to make random changes to my plan. There is always the possibility that I might have subconsciously built in a way to escape…"
Snow was looking directly in his eyes. He hated how compassionate, how understanding she could be sometimes.
"How long have you been worried that you would kill everyone?"
She meant in Storybrooke. She meant the people in the town, the people she knew. A few months would be an acceptable answer, they could understand that.
"Since I was ten and I realized how easy it would be."
The vast majority of your life was probably not what they wanted to hear. He started to button up his shirt.
"You should do this before I get worse. Before…" Before I no longer come willingly. He almost said it out loud. But something held him back. Something told him to keep that information to himself.
So it was starting already then.
Regina stepped forward.
"Let's go then Doctor."
Victor got the feeling that he might be glad for Regina's fifty-fifty stance on letting him live before too long.
She held up her hand to stop the others from following.
"I'll take him down to the cells. You go tell the rest of the rabble what is going on."
"We should…"
"And if someone else is hit with this same thing and goes on a rampage while you are busy coddling Whale? Then what? Go. I can handle him."
Regina waved the others away and started walking out of the room. Victor followed, but a hand on his arm stopped his progress.
"We will figure this out." Emma had that same sincerity her father and mother possessed. She just didn't use it as often.
He wanted to say something encouraging. Something about how he would fight it. How he knew they would win. But he had never been a convincing liar.
"Don't let anyone come to see me Emma. I mean it. No one." He was certain Emma knew the exact someone Victor was alluding to. "Please."
Emma nodded her head.
"I'll try. But do you really think these precautions are necessary? What if Gold is wrong and…"
"That man you saw in the street. The one that would have killed Rick without a thought. That part of me will take control, that part of me is….Yes. This is necessary."
Victor turned and followed Regina out of the room.
The trip down to the basement was quiet.
"You will need to change all of the combinations to the keypads. And don't use a number I could guess like Henry's birthday. Use a random number generator."
"We will."
"Good."
There was nothing else to say really.
"Two guards at all times by the door, but one at the end of the hall behind the reinforced door. Tell him no matter what happens he is to push the button for lock down at the slightest sign of something wrong. And it wouldn't hurt to have some sort of magical barrier as well. One that I've never seen before and couldn't…."
Regina had opened the door to his cell and his feet stopped. It wasn't a conscious decision. He wasn't even aware he had stopped moving until Regina looked him.
"Inside Doctor. Don't make me force you."
"I…Right…Sorry. I don't know…" He moved quickly inside the room. Regina turned and Victor grabbed her arm.
"Whale…"
"Don't…Don't let me kill anyone. Please Regina."
Victor didn't know how many times a person could sink into the depths of darkness and be able to pull themselves back out. But he was fairly certain he had reached his limit a long time ago.
"I'm sure the heroes will…"
"I'm not asking the heroes Regina, I'm asking you. Please. If you have to...Stop me."
Regina's looked at Victor and something like understanding passed between them.
She nodded at him, and he let go of her arm.
Suddenly he was all alone in his padded room. With nothing but his traitorous heart to keep him company.
