Elsa
The snowflakes had been guiding us for a couple of minutes already and they still hadn't fount the person they belonged too. They made their way to the forest and I wondered if whoever cursed Marian was hiding there. It wouldn't be a good place to hide though.
Killian suddenly stopped and marked a tree with his hook. I raised my eyebrow when he continued walking, but stopped again to do the same thing after a few seconds.
"What are you doing?" I asked him curiously.
"Leaving a trail," Killian curtly answered marking yet another tree. "I'm more accustomed to outrunning bad weather then following it."
But the only thing we needed to do was to find this person and then leave. It didn't matter which way we came into the forest. I started to walk alongside with him and patiently waited when he kept making marks. I knew it was no use to argue with him. Still, the fact that he called snow bad weather, offended me a little bit.
"Snow isn't bad," I told him. "And we're following magic."
"Try to outrun that, too, when given the chance," Killian said back to me.
Before I could stop myself I chuckled softly. He tried to outrun magic... But he fell in love with someone who had magic.
"What's so funny?" Killian asked, clearly not amused with me.
"It's just Emma has magic and you clearly don't want to outrun her," I answered honestly.
"More like the other way around," Killian said, suddenly sounding a little sad.
"Maybe she feels the same way about pirates as you do about magic," I suggested.
It was intended to be a joke, but Killian seemed to take my comment seriously. I still wanted to ask Emma what the problem was in her relationship with him. She said it was complicated, but she never got to tell me why.
"I've worked to change," Killian said to me, now offended. "Though, in fairness, being a pirate is not necessarily a bad thing. Particularly a charming one like meself."
I rolled my eyes. He clearly thought very highly of himself, but I actually couldn't deny that he was charming and handsome. Still, I never cared what was on the outside for people. It was better to get to know them first. Anna had learned that lesson too and sadly, she had to learn that the hard way.
But Killian didn't understand what the problem was. I didn't know what was going on, but I knew very well what it was about.
"I think your self-appreciation is blinding you to a simple fact," I told him. "This isn't about you. This is about her."
"Is that right?" Killian asked me sarcastically. "A few short days, and you know Emma so well."
"We're a lot alike," I answered, ignoring his tone. "When you have the weight of the world on your shoulders, it can be hard to let people in, to trust them. Even when they want what's best for you."
Killian glanced at me and seemed to be thinking about what I said. He marked another tree before he continued the conversation.
"What am I supposed to do if she doesn't want to tell me?" he asked me.
Suddenly he wasn't curtly or sarcastic to me. For a moment, he didn't give me that cold look, but he asked me a question as if we had been friends for a very long time. I could even see some desperation in his eyes.
I cleared my throat and tucked my hair behind my ear, suddenly feeling uncomfortable. This was something I had never talked about with anyone before. But Killian seemed to be wanting my help right now. He clearly was afraid he would lose the woman he loved.
"Don't give up on her," I told him, not knowing what else to say. "Just try to make her tell you what the problem is and don't let her push you away."
"Did that break your walls?" Killian asked, clearly not convinced by my advice.
"Yes..." I answered. "Anna wouldn't give up on me and she wouldn't let me push her away. Eventually, she won me over."
"Thanks," Killian answered and for the first time, he sounded like he meant it. "I hope that what you say will work with Emma too. Love from your sibling is different than real love..."
My eyes widened and I turned my head to look at him. I knew he probably didn't mean it that way, but his last words sounded like an insult to me.
"First of all, I think what you call 'real love' is supposed to be stronger," I said coldly to him. "And the love between siblings is real love. It might be different, but it's still love."
Killian looked at me in surprised when I snapped at him. I focused myself on following the snowflakes and started walking faster.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to insult you, Love" he quickly said as he started to walk faster too to keep up with me.
"I understand that, but you kind of did," I sighed. "It's just something you can't understand if you don't have a sibling, I guess."
I turned around in surprise when Killian stopped walking and lowered his head. He looked as if my words had hurt him this time. I blinked and felt sorry for what I said before.
"You do have a sibling?" I asked softly walking back over to him.
Or he had a sibling... It was probably that because my comment about having a sibling seemed to have hurt him a lot.
"I had a brother," Killian answered, confirming my assumption. "And I know very well that it counts as love too. I didn't mean to make you upset..."
"I didn't mean to do the same to you," I answered, feeling uncomfortable again. "What happened to him?"
Killian raised his head again and he tried his best to look normal. He started walking again, following the snowflakes.
"He died," he answered, walking past me and not even looking at me. "It happens, I guess."
I stared after him for a few seconds before I started following him.
Killian clearly didn't want to talk about what happened and I couldn't blame him. I was a stranger to him and I wasn't going to talk to him about what happened to Anna either. Still, I did wonder what happened to his brother.
Killian walked in silence and didn't even want to make eye contact with me anymore. He didn't want to talk to me and was back to his old grumpy self. It was like our conversation never happened.
I followed him in silence too and hoped that it would wash over. I also hoped he would take my advice about Emma and would push her until she gave in. That was the only way I knew would work because it worked or me.
The snowflakes finally guided us to a patch of snow. They flew over to it and then disappeared as if the combined with the patch of snow.
"I'd say we're on the right track," Killian said to me as if the conversation before never happened.
"Yes," I said looking around. Finally, I noticed a woman standing in the distance. "There she is!"
Killian pulled me to a lug. "Get down," He told me as he pushed me down, so we were out of sight.
He looked at the person in the distance and then grabbed something out of his pocket. It was the same thing Emma had used this morning to talk to her mother.
"What is that thing?" I asked curiously.
"I don't know," Killian sighed. "it's a device for... talking. I don't bloody know. I press the "Emma" button and usually, she answers."
He pushed the button and held the thing against his ear. There was a beep for a moment and then Emma's voice sounded through it.
"Hey, this is Emma. Leave a message."
By the look on Killian's face, I could assume that he wasn't happy with the fact that she answered that way. I also did think it was a strange way to answer something.
I looked curiously at the woman who was busy making snow. She seemed to be in control over her magic and she didn't seem like she would do a bad thing to anyone. I leaned forward to have a better look. The woman didn't seem to notice me, but I had a perfect look at what she was doing. A huge part of me wanted to stand up and walk right up to her. I had never seen anyone like me and I wanted nothing rather than to meet her.
"Why should I carry around this ridiculous thing if you're never there when I use it?" Killian asked Emma annoyed. "We found the person who froze Marian. Get to the west edge of the woods right away!"
I didn't hear Emma's voice through the object anymore. It seemed like the conversation was over and Emma was already on her way. I leaned in a little bit closer, but now Killian noticed what I was doing.
"What the bloody hell are you doing?" He asked me, grabbing my shoulder and pushing me down again. I looked down, knowing I had made a mistake.
"Sorry," I sighed. "I've never seen someone like me before. She doesn't look evil." I looked back at the woman, but this time I stayed down as I watched her.
"Yeah, well, looks can be deceiving, love," Killian answered. "So let's just stay out of sight. I haven't a fondness of Icebergs and I'd rather avoid being turned into one."
Killian had a point. I never thought you could judge people by their looks. Anna and I both made the same mistake with Hans. He didn't look evil, but he was. It took me a long time, but eventually, I had trusted him to take care of Anna when I wanted to leave and never come back. That might have been the worst mistake I had ever made.
"We've waited long enough," Killian said after a few minutes of waiting and watching the woman. "We have to find Emma."
He stood up and started to walk away, determined to find Emma. I stood up to follow him, but suddenly he stopped. Killian tried to move his feet, but they were both frozen to the ground. I bit my lip. The woman had known we were there all along and waited for the right moment to greet us.
"I'm sorry," she said when I spun around. "I'm afraid I can't let you leave."
"What?" Killian asked confused and angry at the same time.
I shook my head and stared at her.
"Let go of him, now!" I demanded.
"Not when you and I have so much catching up to do, my sweet Elsa," The woman answered with a kind smile.
My eyes widened and I stared confused at her. How did she know my name? And what did she mean with catching up?
"Catching up?" Killian asked just as confused as I was. "What? You know her?" I shook my head, offended that he immediately assumed again that I did something wrong.
"I've never seen her before," I answered.
"You've simply forgotten," the woman answered.
"I wouldn't forget someone like you," I argued. "Like me..."
"The magic of the rock trolls," the woman answered sadly. "They pull memories. They did quite a number on you, I'm afraid."
What? No, that couldn't be true!
The rock trolls were practically family. They would never... "The rock trolls?" I asked the woman. "Why would they do that to me?"
"For the same reason they did that to your sister, Anna" The woman answered. "Some memories are just too painful."
My eyes widened when she mentioned Anna. I could see she was a bad person, but she knew something about Anna! She was now the only one who could help me find her.
"You know Anna?" I asked, hopeful. "What happened to her?"
"The same things that happens to every ordinary person," The woman answered sadly. "Eventually, they grow fear of us. You wonder how you ended up trapped in that urn. It was your sister. Anna put you in there."
I stared at her in disbelief and shook my head. Now I knew she wasn't going to help me find Anna. I didn't know how she knew who I was, but she didn't know me well enough. I knew Anna would never do anything like that.
"You're lying!" I told her angerly.
"Am I?" the woman asked, still staying very calm. "Look at the people in this town. They're ready to burn you at the stake."
"Because of what you did," I argued. "You hurt one of them."
"You mean that woman... Marian," the woman answered. "Well, that was an accident."
I was not going to fall for that lie. It clearly was not an accident. But I wanted to know the reason for it. What had I ever done to her to be framed like that?
"No, it wasn't," I said, crossing my arms. "You wanted them to think it was me. To blame me. Why?"
"I was trying to teach you a lesson," the woman said as her eyes hardened. "Eventually, everyone tuns on people like us. Even friends. Even family... They're just waiting for a reason."
She waved her hand and I heard a sound behind me. I gasped for breath when sharp icicles started to grow about Killian's head. They were shaking, ready to stab him.
"What are you doing?" I asked. I raised my hands and tried to stop the icicles from falling.
"Don't bother," the woman said, smiling. "I've neutralized your magic."
So that was what was keeping the wall up. She was keeping it up because she was weakening my magic...
Without a moment to lose, Killian started trying to free himself from the ice by chipping it with his hook. But of course, that didn't work. I kept my hands up and still tried my best to keep the woman's icicles from falling. Emma would be heartbroken if something would happen to him.
"When your friend is found, you'll look responsible," The woman said, ready to make the ice fall. "They'll turn on you and they'll treat you as a monster that they truly see you as, and you'll know that I'm right."
"No!" I yelled, trying to stop her.
Why was she doing this to me? What had I done to her and why did she think she knew me? She didn't know anything about me or Anna!
"Hey, Dairy Queen!"