Okay, this is the chapter seven. I hope you will like it. And again, I want to apologize for the long delay but... I found a job, then quit and I'm looking for another... It was quite a mess. Anyway, let me know if you find any mistakes, I try to correct them with the help of my friend but I know there always could be something that is not correct.
Let's get to the fic, enjoy! xo, Pheebs
Elsa didn't know why, pushed by a strange feeling, she decided to go back to the hill where the big barn was. Maybe she subconsciously believed that she would find all the answers she was looking for there? But it doesn't matter why she went there because what was more important to her was finding her sister. When the grass started to give way for dry snow, Elsa felt cold breeze on her neck. Intrigued, she proceed the step and walked around the barn to see a massive ice castle appearing in front of her eyes. Confusingly, it reminded her of the one that she had built when she had run away from Arandelle. But… How was it possible?
A few hours earlier.
"We're going to have a guest. I hope it will not bother you." The tall woman leaned over a girl sitting on the ice floor. She smiled and stroked her red hair, which lost its former luster and seemed to have a quite cool shade.
The girl nodded dispassionately, engrossed in playing with strange ice puzzles, which she had spread on the floor and now she was trying to piece them together. She started paying attention to the outside world when the massive door slid open with the rumble, forcing her to rise her head. Her eyes fell on a shrunken woman, who barely entered the room, holding her hand pressed to her chest. She stopped after a few steps, falling with a big crush on the floor. She had less strength than before, however she was still able to keep her senses on despite the cold shredded throughout the body. She raised her head and noticed a girl, next to which straightened woman in a white dress stood proudly.
"You… You kidnapped her and kept her closed! This snow... Everything is your fault!" She cried, looking straight into the blue eyes with fury. When she didn't get any answer from her she turned to the teenager, who was still playing with the puzzles "Anna! You're not safe here! Run away while you can!"
The red-haired girl didn't move, completely ignoring Emma's desperate begging. She raised her head, waiting for her mentor's reaction.
"She doesn't know anything yet, but don't worry, soon she will be just like you. You will have someone to spend time with while I'm not there." The stranger said calmly, smiling at her warmly.
"What are you talking about? What… just like her? What is happening here?!" Emma was confused. Slowly, however, things began to fall into one piece, which reached her very quickly. "Wait… This castle… The ice… Anna's condition… You're the Snow Queen."
She almost laughed when she finally understood what was happening. Anna wasn't able to escape, because she was under the Queen's influence, who probably had to put in her the piece of glass or ice, just like it was in the original tale. Emma was thinking how to contact with Regina so she could help them. Instead, she realized something worse in horror.
"I… I'm dying… The whole coolness in my body… When it freezes my heart I'll die…" It wasn't quite a question, but more like a statement, which struck to her with a great force and spread panic in her already exhausted body. She raised her head again and her gaze met the Snow Queen's eyes. She was watching her in silence all the time with a slight smile full of victory.
"Maybe you're dying but you will still stay here. You will be able to live with me for the whole eternity and I will ensure you get everything you could imagine. Let me just take care of you and I will make your pain completely disappear so you don't have to deal with it."
"N-no… I have to disappoint you. You will never have anyone who would spend an eternity with you. At least not willingly. And what kind of life is it if these people are forced to live with you? It will not be real. It will only be an illusion, a lie which you will be creating because you can't live another way."
She was barely able to finish the last sentence, when she felt an invisible grip on her neck which tightened the moment when the Queen raised her hand in exactly the same way like Regina used to do when she was killing her victims. Gasping for breath, she gathered to stand up on her own but it was for nothing. She felt like less and less air came to her lungs and the pain in her chest began to heighten. Then the stranger left her hand and Emma fell on the ground with a crash, taking large portions of oxygen to breath freely.
"Firstly, my dear, don't you dare talk to me like this. Secondly, you don't have to worry about it. Soon you will obey me, your heart just needs to be touched by cold. Enjoy your last minutes of free will."
The woman snorted with laughter and left the great hall, closing the door with a crack. Anna, still mired in the complicated jigsaw puzzle, seemed to completely not care about her strange companion, while Emma somehow managed to get closer to the girl, trying to attempt at conversation. She didn't think that this time something would be different, but she had to do something before she lost all of her strength.
Present Time.
She approached the massive ice structure with her every step, which was giving a big impression. Every wall, every element has been done with the smallest detail, though around the whole building there was sharpen ice picks reside on the land, broadcasting a raw look. Tiny snow was falling from the sky, lazily collapsing onto the ground and silence defaulting on the hill seemed to be unbroken even by the slightest sound.
Elsa easily avoided every trap and finally reached the double doors. She closed her eyes and raised a hand and an ice lock relented and the gates opened, encouraging the woman to go inside. She didn't hesitate and stepped over the doorstep, slowly moving inside into the frozen hall. She lifted her head and in front of her eyes appeared a huge balcony where a spiral staircase led. Below it, garlands of different kinds were hanging, made of course with ice. From the walls beating cold could be felt, but Elsa wasn't bothered at all. She was closely watching every detail of the décor. Someone definitely had a talent and powers just like hers. And that could mean that Elsa wasn't the only person with such a talent like she thought before. But was it good or not? She didn't know yet.
In one moment she saw a movement on the balcony which she had been watching before. She looked up again, preparing for an unexpected attack but nothing like that happened. Maybe it was just wind or something other than a human being? Elsa cautiously walked over the glassy stairs and slowly started going up, holding her hand raised at the level of her chest just in case, to be ready to react. She stepped carefully down the stairs until she reached the top of it, but still she couldn't see anything which could cause the movement she had seen before. She approached the balustrade where she had the whole view of the first floor and staircase, but there wasn't anything there either.
"Are you looking for me?"
Elsa shuddered at the sound of a strange voice and she quickly turned to come face to face with the Snow Queen, who clearly appeared from nowhere, now standing freely a few meters away from the a woman.
"Who are you?"
"You don't recognize me?" The tall woman looked surprised, to laugh sarcastically just a while later. "Actually, why would you remember me at all…"
Elsa frowned, while listening to the stranger. Why was she so sure that both of them knew each other from somewhere? She should remember someone who looked so… characteristic. Especially if she was a person with power and created this ice castle. She hesitated over the next words she wanted to say because she wasn't sure what answer she would get. Maybe the woman was playing with her to knock her off and then attack? Or maybe she wasn't thinking about a fight at all… Elsa wasn't sure what she should expect, and that's why she preferred to stay cautious, not only about the stranger's behavior but also her own words.
"You have created this castle?" She asked after a moment of silence, ignoring the question the woman asked before.
"You really think that you're the only one who has this beautiful gift? Oh, my dear Elsa… If only you hadn't grown up with so many lies… Everything would be different…" The woman sighed but her acting was too fake to believe in her intentions.
"How do you know me?" Elsa threw up another question but she guessed that woman would not be willing to answer her. She started to feel more and more anxious, which was unfortunately revealed by tiny snowflakes that appeared around her, swirling and sparkling in the light. She cursed herself, hoping that the stranger would not guess the reason why those little particles had appeared.
"If you had someone who would help you to understand yourself from the beginning, you wouldn't have to show your insecurity through the snow. You would be able to control your emotions while using magic only when you want to. Unfortunately, your father made wrong decisions in his life…"
"My father? What are you talking about? Who are you?" Elsa stepped back, and the snow around her thickened.
"Mothers know what is best for their children. But sometimes, it's not enough… And everything ends tragically." The woman looked away from the frozen walls and her eyes met Elsa's gaze. The younger woman stood confused, completely not knowing what to do.
For a moment, both of them were standing motionless, watching each other in silence. And none of them seemed to know how to continue the conversation. Elsa didn't really understand what the woman was referring to, was it some kind of a play? She verified in the corner of her eye how far she was from the stairs but she already knew that her chances for escaping may be completely equal to zero, because the woman was standing too close to the staircase and she was clearly stronger that her. The queen noticed the movement of the white-haired girl and she only smiled indulgently.
"Relax, you don't have to be afraid. I would never hurt my daughter."
Regina furiously threw away another book she was browsing in search of answers about the suspicious woman in a white dress. She couldn't find anything that would help to find Emma so her patience was almost on edge. A few hours had passed from the moment when she had been alone on the street and she still hadn't showed up in the town, to tell the Charmings that their daughter had been kidnapped. She had no idea how they would react and she was afraid that they will blame her and she didn't want it, but this irritating thought appearing in her head all the time wasn't quite helpful. She was going to find Emma before midnight without causing unnecessary trouble, so she stayed in her vault, searching for everything she had in sight.
After a couple of minutes she fell resigned on the cold floor, sighing heavily. She still had a feeling that this woman had something to do with Elsa, but she couldn't find any of them, or even track them because she didn't have anything that belonged to them. But one thought, that seemed to be not bad idea was return to the hill, where that malicious barn hadn't wanted to let anyone in besides Emma. But did that have any sense? Regina hated to feel like that. The feeling of being useless, not being able to act to help find a living person. And the worst part of it was that Emma's life could really be in danger. Regina lifted her head, and her eyes fell on the photo where she was with Henry. She couldn't disappoint her son. She couldn't be the reason of his mother's death. She couldn't let Emma be a hostage or god even knows what else.
And then her thoughts wandered to the scene in front of the Granny's. Images from that moment showed in front of her eyes and through she tried to forget about it, she couldn't erase that feeling she had when Emma got close to the mayor and did the least expected thing she could ever do. That was a mistake. Right. However that didn't change the fact that Regina was still analyzing everything that had happened that night. And although she didn't want to admit it to herself, she felt somewhere deep inside that Emma was somehow important to her, and she could trust her. That's why she couldn't give up. She had to once again go to the barn and this time use her magic to find out what the hell is happening.
She got up from the floor, put down books on their place to slowly head on to the exit.
