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Andromeda

There was a new guy in town. He called himself Hercules. He wasn't the biggest, or the strongest boy I had ever seen, but something about him made even the most experienced bullies shy away. Still, he seemed like he was another one of those brutes that use maximum muscle and minimum brain power to get what they wanted.

At least, that's what I thought.

He approaches us on our way back from the soup kitchen. The snow from my storm hadn't quite melted yet, and the sharp chill of winter persisted in the air. I had seen him in the shadows not too long before, so I eye him suspiciously.

"Hello. What's your name?" he said, all grins. "Mine is Hercules. My friends call me Herc." He stretches out a hand. Papi steps forward to shake it, but I stop him with a gesture.

"Nice to meet you, Hercules." I reply coolly. "I haven't seen you before. Are you new?"

"Fresh off the boat." he admits. His eyes drop down for a moment, then refocuse on me. "I don't really know my way around. Think you could help me?" I bit my lip. What was his game? I stalled for time.

"Where are your parents? If you just got off the boat, they must be around somewhere." He didn't seem old enough to have gotten his papers to immigrate, plus he didn't have the slightest accent. My beleif that he had nefarious plans got stronger by the minute. His eyes darken at my question. I got scared by what I saw in there. Anger so strong, it almost baked me right there. And just a touch of madness. I had to get away. And fast.

"My parents are...unavailable. Now, about showing me around?" My eyes darted around. Did he have a group of people readied for an ambush? I didn't think he'd been here long enough to form alliances with a gang. No, that couldn't work, he didn't know for certain where we would lead him, and there were no spaces for hiding. I looked around. Nothing but a lot of people.

Oh. Duh.

He wants to lead us away so he could attack us steal our stuff. OK, how do I get out of this? I didn't want to get on this guy's bad side. So I stretched my mouth into what I hoped seemed like a believable smile, and said:

"Well, we usually stick around the soup kitchen, so we don't know our way around that much." I lie. "Besides, there's everything you need here; food, people that give an occasional dollar, why go look elsewhere? Well, we're going to look for a place to eat now. Bye!"

As I speed off, Papi in hand, I glance back. Hercules had disappeared. I shudder. That guy scared me. As soon as we got a safe distance away, I stop, letting Papi catch his breath.

"He was nice, 'Meda!" Papi complains. "Why'd we run away?"

"He might have seemed nice, Papi, but I could tell he was a bully." I respond, not impatiently. The 6-year-old Papi wouldn't understand what I had seen. He shrugs, plunks down, and starts eating his food. A paper on the nearby lamp post catches my eye.

That's when I see it.

Wanted

For a double murder of the first-degree,

Jackson Altman

If you see this man, call...

Murder? In this neighborhood, not too surprising. But... I glance at the picture. I stop cold(no pun intended). I notice ice spreading out from under my feet. Hands shaking, I look more closely at the mug shot. Even though it was smudged and dark, it was clear:

Hercules was the murderer.

Hook

"Blasted wind." I grumble. "Bloody snow."

I was getting less fond of this decision by the minute. It was almost like the storm was fighting against me. For every three steps I took forward, it pushed me two steps back. But it meant I was getting closer to the witch. The wind howled ferociously, it almost sounded like a voice.

Hooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooook, the wind said. I'm goooing to kiiiiiiiiiiill yoooooooooou.

Wait. Wind isn't that articulate. At that very moment, someone crashes into me.

"Gaah!" I yell, brandishing my hook. The mystery person looks up, and I let my hook drop. It was Emma.

"What were you mhhmblmuff." Her last words were stifled, probably because she was hugging me with her face shumshed into my coat. "The storm go so bad, and I got really worried. I thought you had died of hypothermia. I was so-" Then she seems to remember she was mad. "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING? GOING AFTER THE ICE WITCH! I CAN'T-"

"Her name is Elsa." I interject, not because I want Swan to call her by her proper name (hell, I don't) but mostly because I wanted her to stop yelling.

"Elsa? How would you know that?" Emma asks.

"We have-a bit of a history."

"What kind of history?"

"She destroyed my life." I can feel anger flooding into me, words coming out in a torrent of angry speech.

"Before I became a pirate, I lived in a village. This village was tired of paying too much for protection they didn't really need, under a kindom that taxed then too much anyway. My village wanted to declare independence. They started to rebel. Eventually, it got so serious, they sent the Queen over." I take a deep breath.

"Her name was Elsa. We met her at the gates, and our leader entered the town hall with her." I take a quick breath in, as my heart was beating faster than usual. Probably from all the emotions rushing through my body. I numbly noticed I was shaking, and not just from the cold.

"A few hours later, there was a big boom. Everyone rushed outside, including me my...mother, and my sister. Our leader was on the floor, frozen to death. The Queen herself was fine. We shouted and brought our weapons, saying she was going to kill us all with her black magic. Then another blast came out from her. Once it touched my sister, she disappeared." I stop for a moment. Just saying this next part made my heart twist.

"It struck my mother in the heart. Elsa ran away, while I sat beside my mom. Hoping...hoping..." I try to dispel the lump of emotion in my throat. I notice my breathing is even quicker and shakier now, almost like I'm hyperventilating. "Her hair started turning white. I chased after the Queen, screaming all the while to come back and heal her. I tracked her for 4 days, but she had disappeared into the woods. When I came back, my mother was dead. Turned into an ice statue by that...WITCH!" I choke out.

Emma murmurs in sympathy and touches my arm.

"My father was a drunkard, and abusive. He didn't care whether any of us lived or died. It was really just my mom, my sister and I. My sister and my mother were the ones I cared about most in the world, and to have them taken away like that..." I shook my head.

"You can't be going after her for revenge though, are you?" Swan asks gently.

"No. It's just-" I swallowed. "my sister disappeared when the blast hit her. I didn't see her die. So I clung to the hope that somewhere, she was still alive. Somehow. And only the ice witch would know where she went." I look at Emma pleadingly. "You have to understand-"

"I understand." Emma smiles sadly, and slips her hand into mine. "Let's go find Elsa."