A/N: Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, followed, and favorited this universe.

Derailed

Chapter 11: Tête-à-Tête

~ Catspook

More explanations. More arguments. Mary Margaret had contacted Regina, who had plenty to say on the subject of Henry's paternity, and a slate of questions that they could not answer about the Sorcerer and the gods.

"You really have no idea what they want with Henry?" she asked again.

Rumplestiltskin sighed. "Asking again will not give you a different answer than it did the last three times, dearie. I. Don't. Know. But if I had to guess, he is Miss Swan's weakness - whomever attempts to turn her dark will most likely start with him. Just as I already told you."

"I still think there's more," the lad himself said. "That has nothing to do with me being the Truest Believer."

"Maybe that part's over," the puppet suggested. "You made Emma believe. Maybe that's what they needed it for."

"And Pan did what he did because of that, which means Greg and Tamara were only here because of that - could that have been it?" Bae asked.

"I'm twelve! My job as Truest Believer can't be over yet!"

Rumplestiltskin tried not to smile. Whatever else he was, Henry always brought a certain levity and determined optimism to things. But, "It is a question for a later time. We need to move swiftly on Ingrid. Tonight, if possible."

"Yes!" Anna agreed. "Once she's locked up and we've destroyed the mirror, we'll have all the time we need. I mean, not all the time. This won't stop time, or anything. Hey, can you do that, now that you're the Dark One again? Obviously time travel is a no-no, but stopping time isn't the same thing. Regina's curse stopped time, and there's Neverland…"

"Depending on precisely what you mean by 'stopping time', and under certain circumstances, yes, I can. But it is difficult and usually more effort than it it's worth," Rumplestiltskin replied.

"Getting back to the issue," Regina drawled, rolling her eyes. "I say fine. We have to stop Ingrid before she attacks anyone else or finishes that mirror. If you three think you can do it, have at it."

"How likely do you think this plan is to succeed?" Elsa asked Rumplestiltskin.

"Likely enough that it is worth trying. Ingrid is powerful and Malcolm extremely sly; together, they are a danger to everyone here." And they were a distraction. The sooner they were dealt with, the sooner they could look into the lager forces at work. And Malcolm frightens you. A little boy frightened by his father.

"Even you?" Regina asked skeptically.

"Yes," he said simply. He would not elaborate further, not to her.

"Any reason we can't go right now?" Emma asked.

"None that I see. Only understand that once you and Elsa are through the barrier, you are on your own. If you can lure Ingrid to this side of it, I can help, but not if she remains inside."

"She won't hurt us," Elsa said. "At least, I think she won't."

"Don't be so sure," Emma said. "Stalkers get weird when they get rejected. But there's two of us and one of her; if it comes down to a battle, we've got her. And if she runs, she might leave the mirror behind, and we can take it out to Gold. The mirror is the priority."

Elsa nodded. "Very well. Let's go." She stood and drew her hand down the front of her body. Her sweater dress and leggings transformed into the turquoise gown she wore as Queen of Arendale.

"Uh, it's a battle, not a ball," Emma said.

"This is armor," Elsa replied neatly. "She will recognize it."

"Well. OK, then." She grabbed her red jacket. At Elsa's smirk, the Savior shrugged and said, "You've got your armor; I've got mine." Elsa smiled and gestured to the door.

"I can transport us there."

"Ugh. More teleporting. Beats walking, I guess. You'll have an eye on us, Gold?"

Rumplestiltskin nodded and waved his left hand in a wide circle. A viewing portal opened, showing the two of them by the door. "Until you go through the barrier, I will be able to see you."

"Good luck!" Anna called. "You can do it!"

Elsa smiled fondly and waved to her sister. They left by the front door, disappearing from the hall and appearing in the clearing just outside the barrier. The viewing portal showed their arrival and Emma's attempts to summon Ingrid. The snow witch did not appear, but the barrier before them rippled. Emma looked at Elsa. "Ready?"

Elsa nodded. "Ready."

They stepped through the barrier.

Ingrid hadn't expected her sisters so soon, but she would never turn them away. She let them in and watched as they approached her fortress. Emma whistled. "Can you do this kind of thing?" she asked Elsa.

"Oh, yes. I have a much larger one at home. It's above the snow line, so most of the snow creatures I have created live there."

"Just how many have you created? I thought it was just Olaf?"

Elsa shrugged charmingly. "I'm not sure how many. I got a bad cold once and accidentally created a small army of tiny ones. They keep the sentinel company. Olaf is the only one who lives down in the valley with us."

"Wait, you can get colds?"

"Yes. I thought it was odd too, but then Belle explained what a cold actually is. It's not about being cold at all; it's a virus. That's why my powers did not make me immune."

"Huh."

"Hello," Ingrid said, appearing behind them. "It's good to see you both."

She smiled as they spun around, Elsa in her gown, Emma in her jacket. She would have to ask the story behind it sometime. There will be time for that later. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"

"The attack on the school," Emma said.

"What about it?"

"It ends here. No more ice monsters."

"My creations are tools, not monsters. The real monsters are back in town."

"And right here," Emma said.

"You aren't a monster."

"I wasn't talking about us."

"Is it Malcolm you're after, then? He's around here somewhere."

"Funny. We're here to stop the attacks. What do you want?"

"You know what I want. I want for you both to see the truth. And I don't think you have yet." The Sorcerer had not explained exactly how her sisters would come to her, but Ingrid had been expecting it to take much more than this. But the Sorcerer had promised her it would happen. He is wise. She smiled.

"The only thing that attacks on innocents show us is that you have become the monster my mother accused you of being," Elsa said. "Rumplestiltskin told us that Helga's death was an accident, but everything you've done since being released from the urn was your choice. You can choose to be good. Or you can choose to be evil."

"I did choose to be good. I fought it for so long, just like you. And just like you, it wasn't enough. Our power is not meant to be shut behind castle walls or hidden behind gloves-"

"Then I guess you should have taken Gold up on those lessons, huh?" Emma asked dryly.

"And what would the Dark One have molded me into?" Ingrid asked. "The only one I could ever trust with my powers is myself. You will learn the same lesson in time."

"OK, yeah," Emma said, "So life sucked for you. You got really unlucky, or the gods were screwing with you or something. But that doesn't give you the right to take it out on everybody else. That's what makes you a monster."

"It's not wrong to reject the social contract when the other party has not held up their end," Ingrid said. "I have read the books of this world, Emma."

"You haven't given anyone a chance to hold up their end," Elsa said, "Not since my mother. You're punishing others for what she did; that is wrong."

"Elsa," Ingrid said with a fond smile. "You are so kind, but so naive. We don't have to give others the chance to hurt us over and over again; we are allowed to protect ourselves."

"Bullshit," Emma said. "The Spell of Shattered Sight has nothing to do with protecting anyone. It's about inflicting your misery on other people just to make them feel it, that the entire point of the story. See? I can read books too." While Elsa had kindness, Emma had strength. They were her sisters.

"So what are you offering me?"

"What do you want?" Emma repeated. "You didn't attack the school for no reason. You wanted something; what is it?"

Well that was hardly a question Ingrid could answer. She deflected instead. "What do you think I wanted?"

"Cut the crap," Emma said. "If you know me like you claim you do, you know I don't like games. State your terms." And that was pure Emma, straight to the point.

"Well," Ingrid said, "Let's begin by being civilized to one another. Would you come in for tea?" She gestured and the front doors opened.

Emma and Elsa exchanged a look, and it was Elsa's royal manners that carried the day. "We will, thank you."

As far as Emma was concerned, the creepiest part about this - and the part they had not properly planned for - was Malcolm. He was a smarmy, manipulative con-man that made Hook look like a choir boy. He had a certain deadness in his eyes that, paired with what she knew of him, convinced her that he was a sociopath. Emma was starting to think it was a wonder that Gold was as well adjusted as he was.

Emma had the cuff in her pocket. They had discovered that there was no way for Elsa to teleport it on, so it would be down to Emma to snap it on as soon as she got the chance. (Elsa also had a vial of squid ink, but any splash back would affect Emma and Elsa just as much as Ingrid, so it was the last resort.) Emma had tried to be the last one to sit, hoping to have Ingrid on her right hand, but Ingrid had insisted on guests first, and Malcolm had then taken the seat next to Emma. Ingrid was now across from her. This is going to be tricky.

Ingrid poured the tea and served it with a tray of chocolate biscotti that Emma was pretty sure were from the Storybrooke Coffee Company. "Been to town recently?" she asked.

"Perhaps," Ingrid answered, that annoying, mysterious smile teasing the corners of her lips. It seemed ever-present, even when she was spewing the most ridiculous crap. She was clearly delusional. Emma might have been able to pity her if she wasn't so determined to make everyone else suffer as she had.

Unlike Ingrid's carefully regal manners, Malcolm lounged insolently in his chair, chewing on a biscotti like it was a carrot. He was watching Emma and Elsa like they were both on the menu, and it was almost funny. A lesbian and a jaded woman who knew exactly what he was - if he actually expected to be able to charm either of them, he was in for a rude awakening.

"So how's Rumple?" he asked with a dangerous grin.

"Pretty pissed off. I'd stay away from him, if I were you," Emma answered.

"If he didn't kill Zelena, he'll not have it in him to kill me. Always was a coward, that one."

Emma didn't know all the details of what had gone down between Gold and Malcolm, but she knew enough. She opened her mouth to tell the asshole off, but Elsa beat her to it. "It takes far more courage to become a better person than it takes to kill an unarmed man in a jail cell. You should be thankful."

He laughed. "Oh, I am, lassie."

"We're not here to discuss Rumplestiltskin," Ingrid said primly.

"Right. So, can I ask you a question?" Emma asked.

"Of course," Ingrid replied. That smile was getting creepy.

"Why don't you wear shoes?"

What Emma had meant to be a disarming question actually seemed to flatter her. "To feel the natural forces as they travel through the ground. The ground here is so refreshing this time of year; I'm so glad that Storybrooke will finally be experiencing a true winter."

"OK, that explanation made more sense than I was expecting." Emma decided to work the unexpected flattery angle; Ingrid seemed vulnerable to that.

She was. She smiled contently. "There's so much I can teach you. Both of you."

"So what is it that you want?" Emma repeated. "Keeping in mind that people who ask me to believe things are often disappointed, at least initially."

"I'm aware. I was one of those people, once. I told you about your powers when you were in my care. You couldn't believe me, not yet."

"That's why you took my memories?"

She nodded. "This world - it does not nurture the spirit like ours does. At least, it didn't."

"But now we have magic."

Another smile. "Yes."

"Still haven't answered my question. What. Do. You. Want?"

"Keeping in mind that you cannot believe something just because it is asked of you."

"Right."

She took a sip of tea, considering her answer. "If I cannot have belief, I will ask for time. Time with my sisters."

"We're not your sisters," Elsa insisted.

That was the kind of thing that might set a stalker off, but as before, Ingrid only smiled serenely. "In time, you will see that you are."

"OK, time," Emma said. "In exchange for no more attacks. How much time? When?"

"This is nice," Ingrid said. "Having tea with you both. Tea time. Every day."

"Uh, American here - what time is tea time?"

"Three thirty in the afternoon," Elsa said.

"To five," Ingrid finished. "But I will shorten it to four thirty. An hour every day, I don't think that's unreasonable."

"OK, fine." Emma put her own cup down. "Shake on it?" She didn't extend her hand yet, instead bracing them both on her hips. With the tips of her fingers, she pulled the cuff out of her pocket and slipped it into sleeve.

"Not the usual way to seal a magical contract, but it will do." Ingrid extended her hand. Emma extended hers.

Malcolm seemed to catch on a spit second before it happened, because he warned, "Ingr-"

Elsa flicked some kind of spell at him under the table and his chair toppled backwards. Ingrid turned to look, and Emma snapped the cuff on, standing up as she hung on to her wrist. Malcolm took one look at their hands and turned to run. "Stop him!" Emma told Elsa.

Elsa raised her hand and a fence of giant icicles sprang out of the ground in front of Malcolm, then behind, quickly encircling him entirely.

"Well, how about that?" Emma said. "Two for one."

Ingrid tried to pull away. "Emma! What are you doing? What is this?"

"A magic-blocking cuff. And no, you won't be able to got it off."

Ingrid stared at her like she'd been betrayed. "Emma… this isn't right. You're not one of them; you're my sister."

"I am not your sister. And I am one of them. This is my town and my family you're screwing with. Ingrid, you are under arrest." Emma walked around the table, Ingrid's wrist still in her hand. She didn't resist as Emma cuffed her hands behind her back.

But she did cry, "This isn't how it's supposed to go!"

"According to whom?" Emma asked suspiciously. "The Sorcerer? He's the one that sent you to Earth, right? And got you into Storybrooke without Regina noticing? What did he tell you?"

"I can tell you!" Malcolm volunteered. "For a price."

"Quiet!" Ingrid snapped, and Emma shook her head.

"I'm not making any deals with you," she told him. He had wanted Henry's heart, and that was on top of all the other horrors; there was nothing he could offer that she would take.

With Elsa's help, Malcolm was also cuffed and taken outside. "I don't suppose you'd be willing to make it easy and just drop this barrier?" Emma asked Ingrid. Ingrid stubbornly looked away. "Fine. Be that way."

Once they crossed it, Gold, Regina, and Anna appeared to greet them. "Elsa!" Anna cheered. "I knew you could do it!"

Elsa smiled broadly, and Ingrid glared at her younger niece. "May I suggest the hospital rather than the Sheriff's station?" Gold said, his eyes on Malcolm. "The increased security would be wise."

Malcolm grinned at him wolfishly. "Scared, laddie?" From the set of his shoulders, Emma could tell that Gold was.

But he did not admit it. He looked away boredly, in an intentional snub. "Or the cell in the mines?" he continued.

Regina snorted. "The hospital has better security," she said.

"Now that we have the cuff, that's probably true," Emma agreed, refusing to fight with her.

Gold made a showy gesture, and their prisoners disappeared. "Very well," he said after the fact. Emma rolled her eyes.

"At least let me call the staff and let them know. We're lucky George is still in lock up, or no one would be there."

Gold examined the barrier, testing it in various places as Emma made her call. "I was kind of hoping it would fail when we put the cuff on, but I guess not," she said, once she had put her phone away. "Can you use the Hat to get it down?"

"I think so, actually. Stand back." He conjured a round, jeweled box and set it on the ground. Next was the dagger, which he waved over the box. Instead of opening, the box glowed, pouring out an indigo smoke that coalesced into the Hat.

"Woah." Emma could not decide what was more disconcerting: the fact that the Hat appeared to be made of a real, miniature sky, or how much it resembled the hat from Fantasia. "That's just creepy."

Gold looked up and gave her an evil, little smirk before banishing the dagger and replaced it with a wand. "The magic of the barrier is not actually coiled, as Zelena's was," he explained. "I feel crystals instead. It's quite fascinating really."

"Riveting," Regina said flatly.

"Hush, he's teaching," Anna said.

"I know."

"I should actually probably know this stuff," Emma said, then asked Gold, "So what does that mean for bringing it down?"

"She constructed it as if it were made of ice. What does that mean?"

Emma pinched her nose. "Please, Gold, it's been a long day. Could you be direct, just this once?"

"Oh! I know the answer!" Anna said, and Elsa chuckled.

"Me too. Ice melts."

Gold nodded. "Just so. I don't need to find the end of the thread, just cause a destabilization anywhere in the crystal structure. The Hat should do the rest of the work, and as the destabilization spreads, the entire thing should, essentially, avalanche."

"Straight into the Hat."

"Precisely."

He waved the wand in his left hand, his right braced firmly on his cane. His entire body was stiff with effort, and Emma didn't dare make a sound in case it interrupted his concentration. She did feel like she was back in school when he got like this, and after her experiences in school (with a few exceptions), she did not relish that feeling. Anna fidgeted next to her, bouncing on the tips of her toes. Emma glanced at her. Whatever kept her so perky all the time, Emma could use some just about now.

Regina had started to shift impatiently before Gold began to move at all, pulling the wand back slowly. Emma could feel more than see a slight distortion in the air, and Gold teased the wand like a snake charmer with a flute. He'd taken two full steps back before he was even with the Hat, and then he transferred the want into his right hand, letting his cane fall to the ground. With his left, he titled the Hat into its side, the opening facing the barrier. Immediately, a sort of great whirlpool emerged from it, filled with creeping threads of yellow light. Gold took two more hasty steps back, grabbing his cane and lowering the wand.

"Wow," Anna said.

"It's working," Elsa said, "I can feel the barrier collapsing."

Emma tried to as well, but she could not take her eyes off the Hat. Like seeing a wood chipper in action after watching Fargo. The gods had tried to get Gold to do this to people. People like her. When the barrier did finally fall, it came in a great rush, the wall of invisibility falling to reveal Ingrid's ice castle. Gold tilted the Hat back into an upright position, and the whirlpool stopped.

"Now let's find that mirror."

Emma nodded. "We should see what else she has. Ingrid implied that the Sorcerer not only sent her here, he told her how this whole thing was supposed to happen. Sounded almost like Mother Superior, actually. Maybe she's left something behind that might clue us into his plan."

His face grim, Gold nodded, and they made their way inside.