The italics are either dream sequences or flashbacks. Author's notes at the end.
The two women were running desperately through inches of snow. Maybe feet. The trees of the forest had prevent more snow or the wind that was racing it seemed a mile a minute. But when you are racing for your life, you don't feel the cold or the wet or the wind. You both knew that death would come in seconds.
The two women, one blonde, the other red-haired, did not speak. It was as if speaking would drain either of necessary energy. They both wore colorful dresses and only shawls protected them from the elements. The snow and ice were falling heavier and faster. They knew when phenomenon caused this blizzard. She was coming for them.
There was an oak tree ahead of the pair. The blonde almost slammed into it as she collapsed from fatigue. "Maleficent! Mallie! We can't stop now, she knows where we are!" The redhead was trying to get the blonde to go just a few more feet...a house awaited where they might be able to get warm.
"Z-Z-Zelena..." There was almost no fight in the woman Maleficent, having battled as a dragon and a human, did not have the strength to go on as either. All she could do was to tell her friend to go on, To get to the house and protect herself. Zelena tried to persuade her, but as the snow and the ice became more intense, it was clear that Mallie wanted her friend to save herself. Zelena tried not to cry, the tears would freeze on her face, and kissed her friend lips.
"My pretty."
Then the woman in green ran.
The snow and ice pelted Mallie's face. She never prayed, but she was praying that if the end comes, it would be merciful.
The scream she heard told her otherwise. She turned her head. There was Zelena, frozen solid. She almost made it to the house.
Then when she turned back, she was there. In front of her. The younger woman in front of Mallie had whitish blonde hair and ice blue eyes. The seem to pierce Mallie's. She had no expression on her face except that of determination.
And as the younger woman looked intently, the snow and ice were now falling more intensely than before, both feeling painful as the fell on Maleficent's face.
Now the other woman's hands were outstretched. She was coming closer to the older woman.
Closer...
Closer...
"NOOOOOOOOOO...!"
"NOOOOOOOOOO...!"
A woman with honey blonde hair was awakened with a sudden start. She woke to her bed mate sitting straight up, almost hyperventilating with fear.
"Mallie, Mallie...wake up...it's me...Holly..." The younger woman tried to calm Maleficent down by embracing her. She kept saying. "It's me, Holly" over and over. When the older woman finally realized who was talking, Maleficent turned to the woman next to her, then returned the embrace. it was like Mallie was floating down a river, Holly was the log, and she was hanging on to her lover as if her existence.
"Baby...was it...?
"Yea, Boston," a reference to Holly's hometown where she and Mallie first met two years and a few great adventures ago, "the same dream."
"Baby, its just a dream. She can't hurt you..."
"Hollz, she might. And I deserve it..."
"No, baby.."
"Yes...we were supposed to kill her."
"But you didn't...you told me that story."
"Maybe...but maybe she holds us responsible. Maybe...maybe she knows where I am..."
Holly holds Mallie closer, kisses her, and tells her that no matter what, she will be there for her...
The Apartment of Mary-Margaret Blanchard and David Nolan
7:05 am
There is something about coffee that activates whatever signals a human's wake-up glands. And Emma Swan can make a bitchin' cup of joe.
The apartment was a full house. Tink went back to the mansion. Henry may be 14, but he's still a kid and someone has to look out for him. Regina stayed as well as Emma. Zelena stayed upstairs with Snow and David...it seems the Wicked Witch also has the magic touch with little babies.
That left Regina and Emma downstairs to deal with the mystery woman. The one they found in the city garage yesterday. A garage in a city that was undergoing the worst blizzard in the history of Eastern Maine...in the middle of the summer. A blizzard that not only ended at the exact moment that the mystery woman fell faint to the floor, but the skies cleared and the temperature rose dramatically.
Regina was still asleep. So was this mystery girl, Elsa. And so looking out the window, Emma contemplated what was said last night...
"You...are...my...parents!" Elsa was adamant about that. And still, with all the outrageous things that had happened to Emma Swan in the four or five years she had lived in Storybrooke, the mere possibility that not only she might have another child...that said child was in front of her all fully grown...but that "father" could actually...REGINA?!
"Ok..." Emma was still trying to figure out what the deal is... "For a moment, let's put aside the fact that what you are saying is physically impossible...or at least impossible. Let's start with where you came from."
Calmly Elsa answered "Arendelle."
Instantly a wave of recognition swept the room. Everyone...except Emma...seemed to know where this Arendelle was...at least by looks on everyone's faces. It was a recognition that was confirmed by the answer to the next question posed by Regina: "Do you happen to know of a place called the Infinite Forest?" Elsa simply nodded her head vertically.
Snow's face lit up like a searchlight. "I know that place! You had to go through there to get to the Enchanted Forest..! "
David slapped his head as if he just realized he coulda had a V-8. "The blizzard..."
"Elsa!" Regina Mills was never one for astonishment. But this was one of those times. "Princess Elsa?"
"Queen Elsa, Regina. Promotion, you know..."
"So it was yoooooo...!" Tink's level of amazement, usually high, had gone through the roof.
And Emma Swan had now had enough of being left out of the loop. "Excuse me! I may be the Sheriiff but I am also still the out of towner here...what the hell is going on?"
It was Elsa herself who elected to tell her story. That Arendelle was a kingdom just of side of both the Enchanted and Infinite Forests that was situated on a port. meaning that Arendelle was also not too far from Storybrooke. Elsa told that she was born with a magical power to control ice and snow, but that it almost killed her sister. She had mostly learned to control it, but in extreme moments of emotion...fear, for instance...that power get out of control. A winter storm in the middle of July, for instance.
After two years of Evil Queens, giants, flying fairies, and Snow White and Prince Charming as your 'rents, the fear of thinking that you have gone insane does die down a bit. These days. all Emma needs is a bit of information. "So I take it you're the Snow Queen. I have to say you look a lot better than Tilda Swinton..."
Regina: "Anyone looks better than Tilda Swinton..."
Snow: "Agreed..."
Elsa :"Who's Tilda Swinton?"
Emma: "She plays...oh, forget about. it's not important."
The important stuff was that Elsa could not give details about how it happened, but there was a reason that she came. Actually two.
"I need to make sure that you and Regina are together. You are each other's true loves. That's really how I was born with the powers I have. Just like you were born with the powers you have. Just like...well...you just need to be together, that's all."
Regina scoffed at this. For one thing, Robin Hood was supposed to be her true love. Her best friend-dingbat fairy-dingbat deputy said so. The fact that Robin right now had probably made Marian, the WIFE that Emma so callously brought back from a rather perfect death that Regina had arranged made a mockery out of that. And because of that all of the things Regina hated about Emma. Her non-stop eating. Her cursing like a sailor. Her hideous red jacket that shaped those amazing boobs just perfectly. Her green as the forest eyes. Her silky golden hair. Her incredibly kissable lips. Her...well, she hated Emma. She did. Really.
And the Evil Queen told the Snow Queen that in no uncertain terms. But Elsa wasn't buying. Actually neither did Emma (she of the truth detecting superpower) or anyone else in the room.
And probably not Zelena, though. She was silent through this whole thing. And she seemed a bit tense.
Suddenly, but politely the witch excused herself. Everyone probably thought she was tired. After all she shoveled a lot of snow earlier in the day. And as she went up those stairs she was pulling out her smartphone, maybe to text someone, who knows.
And a cacophony of yawns around the remained group downstairs meant that the night was over. Everyone knew there was much more to this. But it would have to wait until the morning...
...as Emma was pouring her second cup, she felt a kiss on the back of her head. Smiling she thought it was Regina...maybe. She was close.
"Good morning, boo." Zelena had a habit of calling the people she loved that. It wasn't that long ago that the Wicked Witch of the West could love anyone. But that was a year and a partial change of heart later it was amazing how much love she had in her.
"Hey, Greenie!" It seems like the popular nickname for a woman whose color turned green during times of jealousy or great stress. Emma offered the woman a cup of coffee. Emma could tell that Zelena's attempts at morning cheer were not working. The two had gotten very close...Emma got Zelena a job as a reporter for the Mirror and the TV/radio combo that it was attached to, and the redhead was her occasional go-to girl when there was gut spilling time concerning Regina..when Snow wasn't around, of course.
So Emma could tell something was bugging the redhead. It wasn't her relationship with her sister, Ruby, or Walsh...thing were going swimmingly on all fronts. "So...what's up, Zee?"
"You're about as subtle as your sister. You guys really have got to stop this dancing around...the two of you love each other and you know it..
"Nice try changing the subject, Zee...what's wrong?"
It was then that Zelena became somber. The red in her eyes were as much red from not sleeping as they were from quietly weeping.
"Em...its about Elsa."
"Stop changing the subject, Zee..."
"No, Em, it's...look, I've done a lot of bad things in my life before..."
Suddenly, Emma's Sheriff's smartphone went off. She answered, it was Granny. A trio of strangers had checked into the inn yesterday, quickly followed by another couple. That's five strangers in one day.
Six including the one sleeping soundly on the floor in the living area.
Emma started grabbing her cop gear. She told Zelena something was up and that the conversation would have to be done later. Zelena got up from her seat and followed Emma. When they both got to the door, Zee turned Em around. For some time they just looked at each other, then Em said to the redhead, "Whatever it is, it will be alright." The the blonde kissed the forehead on the Wicked Witch and headed downstairs, with Zelena sliding the door bar.
"She's something, isn't she." The voice Zelena heard was her sister just awaking.
Zelena smiled,then came over to the sofa where Regina was squirming herself.
"Zee, I heard everything. Including that 'you guys love each other bit."
"Well, you do..."
Regina ran her fingers through her tousled hair and looked her sister. "I'll put it this way...yeah." That was something that Emma had not heard in all the arguments that happened in the last few months. Maybe she was waiting for Emma to make a first move, or or maybe it was vice versa. Zelena knew that, and usually it would be at this point where she would tell Regina something like "stop letting your pride get in the way and tell her," or some sisterly tripe like that. But today there was something else on her mind.
Zelena, then, hugged her sister, who then told her crimson-haired half-sibling that she overheard the conversation she had with Emma. She asked Zelena what was it all about.
Zelena was never ashamed of anything she did. Regretful, maybe, but never ashamed. Even now. But she felt that she had to tell someone...someone who understood. Emma would, but she's gone. Regina definitely would, and she's probably tell Emma anyway.
So Zelena, uncharacteristically nervous, sat down and started to tell the story.
And it was at that time when Elsa started to awaken...
Storybrooke Lighthouse, aka home for Maleficent, her lover Holly, and Holly's niece Madison.
Around the same time.
The smell of coffee can wake most people up. The smell of coffee, eggs, bacon, and hash browns has been known to be more effective, or at least that's what 14-year-old Madison Bailey was hoping for. Last night, she heard noises from her aunt's bedroom she shared with Mallie. Not the usual noises that would elicit "ewws" from herself and her best male friend, Henry Mills (son of the mayor and the sheriff, and almost terminally cute). But stark chilling noises. the ones Mallie makes when she has a nightmare.
And Mallie has had a lot of those lately.
So a hot, full breakfast breakfast, Maddie thought, would be just the thing for the two women who were, in essence, her parents.
After all, they got this lighthouse for her.
After months living at the Inn, Mallie and Holly wanted their own place. Money was no object, since it seemed these fairytale people seemed to had a bottomless pit for funds, and it seemed that same bottomless pit allowed Storybrooke General to pay their new nurse from Boston very well. But a lot of the places were too small or too rundown. But one day, a very excited Maddie got Holly to stop the car and she pointed to the lighthouse that sits at the edge of the bay. The building was white, the lighthouse tower tall and elegant. The living quarters were vast with several rooms. The two blonde women looked at each other, smiled, and agreed that the lighthouse would be a great birthday present...if, of course, they can buy it from it's current owner.
And it just so happened that the owner was in a rare good mood (flowers were sent to Mrs French-Gold for expertly putting the owner in said good mood), enough that he simply took cash on the deal. No extra "favors."
And the three lived pretty much happily, and if you asked either of them, they were working on the "ever after" part.
Until the nightmares.
They had started a few weeks ago and had increased until the the last few days when the nightmares for Maleficent came every night. And ironically, they started with the freak summer snowstorms.
And Maddie had worried about it. Ever since the adventure in Boston when she met Mallie and a few of the Storybrookians, Maddie had grown almost as attached to the former empress of evil as her aunt. And her aunt was and is madly in love with Maleficent.
So when the two blondes walked into the kitchen with smiles, kisses, and hands held, Maddie was relieved. Holly and Maddie were also appreciative of the breakfast...Madison was, for a 14-year-old, a very good cook.
After the adults each gave Maddie a kiss on each cheek, everyone decided to chow down.
There were the usual wisecracks and snarky remarks. Years of being the most evil woman in the Enchanted forest for Maddie, not to mention years living deep in the heart of Boston gave each of the women the tools they needed to keep up with each other in the sarcasm department But it was all filled with love.
Mallie's iPhone had been charging and there was a light indicating that she had a text from last night. Mallie got up for a second to check, leaving Holly to crack wise about Maddies infatuation with the mayor's son, while the niece was not-so-gently razzing the aunt concerning her infatuation with a certain Keith Urban.
Mallie though, was obilvious to the chatter. She just wanted to see who texted her during the night. It was Zelena, probably dropping some gossip about their mutual BFF, the Evil Queen. But that was not the case.
MAL, ELSA IS HERE. CALL ME.
And it was at that point that all the blood drained from Maleficent's face before falling faint on the kitchen floor.
TBC
Coming up: More about Holly and Maddie, As well as more from Anna, Kristoff and Olaf, and what are the two people following them are plotting.. And, yes, an explanation of why Elsa's dad is Not The Brain from Pinky and the_ (wikipedia that..)
A/N: First, sorry for the delay. I had a bit of a brain freeze, but I managed to knock this out.
I don't know when the next one will be...but I hope it would be soon.
Due to the addition of Elsa as a OUAT character, this is no longer a crossover but a pure OUAT story.
To the 13 people who have made this a favorite and the 26 people who are following, thank you. If you have not reviewed, please do, If you have, let me know how I did on chapter 4, Both praise and constructive criticism are welcome.
The mistakes are mine. So are the characters Holly, Maddie, and one other character to be introduced. All OUAT and Frozen characters are property of the Walt Disney Company.
Again, thanks.
