She regretted everything.
She had shown the note to Hans, who had brought it up with David, who had suggested that "the office" that was mentioned could have been Regina's, considering that she is Cora's daughter and Cora was obviously using Elsa as part of some sort of plan.
So of course Anna had been sent to scope out the place with Hans that afternoon and was serving as his lookout as he picked the door to the office of the Mayor of Storybrooke. She couldn't help but glance back at him as he worked, growing more and more irritated the longer she had to stay in his presence. "Where did you learn how to do that? Prison?" she asked, fully aware of the five-year sentence he was supposed to carry out in his homeland for his attempt to murder her sister, the Queen of Arendelle.
"Nope," he said, smirking when the door unlocked and swung open. "I learned that in the navy."
Anna huffed and brushed past him, entering the room first, sticking her nose up in the air as she haughtily walked by. "You're lucky she didn't lock it with magic."
Hans rolled his eyes and shrugged as he followed, taking in the sights of the office with an equal awe that Anna seemed to be struck by. Knowing there was a mission to be completed here, he scanned the room for anything obvious that could have been deemed a clue when his eyes spotted a peculiar painting that hung on the wall next to a coffee table. "It seems as though Regina's had her interests in Arendelle long before Cora ever got here," he mused, gazing at the instantly recognizable castle the painting portrayed. Curious, Anna wandered over, saw the painting, and immediately turned back to search the rest of the room.
"Elsa painted that for her," she said, speaking as though it was common knowledge. "Well, okay, technically it was Alison and Regina just asked for a painting of a castle. Alison just happened to end up painting Arendelle."
"And that's not suspicious at all to you?" Hans questioned as Anna glared at him from behind the mayor's desk. "You don't think that maybe Elsa had her memories the entire time and painted that for her as a sign of goodwill? They could have been plotting something while the rest of the town was lost to the curse."
"If Elsa had her memories for the whole 28 years, she would have tried a lot harder to make me remember, too." She blinked, catching the way he was insinuating that her sister was a lot more involved than she really believed she was, and her eyes turned hard as they glared at each other from across the room. "Hans, what are you really doing here?" she asked, gripping the edge of the desk. "When we came to get Sven at the ranch you had nothing but insults to throw at us and I heard what you said at the town meeting the other week about Regina being able to control her powers while Elsa couldn't. You've been antagonizing us ever since the curse broke and now you want to help us?"
"I just want to see justice done," he said simply. It only served to vex Anna further.
"What, by seeing Elsa locked up in jail forever?"
"Not necessarily…"
"Then what?! You tried to kill my sister and you left me to die all because you wanted to be king," she scornfully reminded, grasping her golden pendant. "How am I supposed to believe that you have any intent to help us find the truth in this mess?"
He paused, clenching and unclenching his hands as he stood alone in the middle of the room, turning his sights from her angry teal eyes to the floor. "I… I want to do something right in this world," he said quietly. "I want to be someone here."
"You are someone," she countered. "You're a ranch hand. You take care of the horses and give riding lessons and-"
"And that's it," he finished, looking up at her. He sighed, putting a hand in his pocket, feeling foolish for having to explain himself, though he knew that their investigation wasn't going to progress unless if he got Anna to trust him, even if it was just a little bit. "I have all this military and leadership training from growing up in the Southern Isles and I can use it here, the right way this time. You heard what happened to me after I came home from your sister's coronation, right?" he asked with raised brows. "My status as a prince was revoked as soon as they put me in jail!"
"And rightly so!" Anna exclaimed. "You tried to overthrow the monarchy of another kingdom by murder, Hans! I'm not surprised your kingdom didn't throw a pity party for you before they gave you your sentence."
"That's not the point," Hans seethed, biting back his anger when Anna's eyes flashed at him. "I did something I was sure that was right and when it didn't work I was mad at myself for it. I still am, and I took it out on you and Elsa when my memories came back… but this isn't the Enchanted Forest," he claimed. "And I have a second chance to do something right here. I know it's not going to erase what I've done, but I'd like to see Elsa given a fair chance and a full investigation into her case before she's charged with something she didn't do on purpose."
"Like the way you charged her with treason when she accidentally froze Arendelle?"
Her counter to Hans' confession sent the man into another corner of the room and she looked back down at the desk, still in disbelief of the intentions he tried to force on her, but she'd deal with that after their business in the office was finished. She reached for one of the handles of a closed drawer on the side of the desk and quickly snapped her hand back with a yelp as a small spark of electricity discouraged her from trying to open it again. She shook her hand, trying to cool off her singed fingers while Hans gave her an odd look. "It magi-fied!" she explained, pointing to the desk with an open palm. "Did the navy teach you how to unlock magic barriers?"
He didn't entertain her with an answer and continued the search, walking along the wall until he noticed part of it dipping in as if it were part of an entranceway. For curiosity's sake, he pushed the wall and it gave. "Anna, come over here!" he beckoned, pushing the fake wall, an actual door, to the side to reveal a second, hidden room. She stood at the entrance, gaping as Hans walked in first.
"If this isn't suspicious, I don't know what is…"
The room was nearly an equal size to the previous office, but it held nothing that would aid the mayor in overseeing the town. It seemed to be a relic chamber of sorts with several prized, delicate objects displayed on pedestals and elegant gowns draped upon wired mannequins. Anna shivered in the presence of some that looked more like battle armor than a regal outfit and found herself growing both impatient and hopeless at their investigation here. "I don't see anything that proves Elsa came here," she sighed, giving in to her frustration that was growing over the past day and a half now and simply walked the perimeter of the room, staying as far away from the dresses as possible. "I mean, what are we supposed to find, anyway? It's not like she leaves anything behind to-"
She stopped when something crunched beneath her shoe. With a hesitant start, she looked down, finding part of the floor covered in frost with a few smaller spikes of ice pointed outwards from what appeared to be a path that disappeared beneath the molding of the wall. Anna shook her head as Hans approached, recognizing the striking flake patterns in the frost and how it all seemed to exist with some kind of faint blue glow. "I don't believe it…" she breathed, watching as Hans stepped forward to inspect the path and stopped at the wall, clutching at a golden doorknob that protruded from it and twisting it with effort.
"There's something behind here," he grunted, giving up on turning the knob and shoving his shoulder roughly against the wall instead, only to have the sturdy immovable object push him back. "And it's locked up pretty good." He turned and looked down at Anna who was inspecting the ice spikes, silently asking for some kind of suggestion that she merely shrugged at.
"Can't you use your navy-trained lock picking powers to open it?"
He stepped to the side to show her the door knob. "I can't pick a lock when there's no lock to be picked." They both sighed, Hans scratching the back of his head as he walked away to think. "There's got to be some way in there…"
"Maybe there's another entrance?"
He blinked, surprised by Anna's small voice that offered an ingenious idea that he was slightly skeptical of. "Maybe. But how do we know for sure?"
Anna pointed down to the spikes lining the way to the wall. "Because when she went into that room, or whatever's behind there, she was upset. When she gets like that her powers get defensive and they point out to keep away whatever she's afraid of. If she came back out this way, she'd try to thaw all of this before she left, but because it's still solid…"
"…You said that her powers try to protect her from what she's afraid of," Hans reiterated, still thinking. "If she went in there with Regina and Cora willingly, her magic wouldn't have gone off, right?"
Anna nodded.
"So do you think that maybe she went in there against her will?"
She shuddered at the idea and shook her head to dismiss it. "B-But the note said to meet someone at the office, so she had to have come here on her own!"
"Right. At the office. That note didn't say anything about going through a secret door in a room that's already hidden." He crossed his arms, watching as Anna cringed and took her cell phone from her pocket, opening the lid and pointing the device at the door and the frost that led to it. "What are you doing?"
"Taking pictures of the evidence," she said as the phone made a sound similar to a shutter on a camera, capturing the scene on the digital display. "I saw it in a movie once, so the detective had solid proof that he could go over without having to be at the scene of the crime all day. Also, this way I don't have to argue with anybody about what we saw when you start telling lies to them."
He ground his teeth, irritated that after everything he just told her that she still believed he couldn't be trusted to handle this. "Why would I lie to anyone about this? This is serious!"
"And so were the attempts you made on Elsa's life," Anna said boldly, standing up and fully facing him. "I don't trust you because I can't trust you, and if you ever think that I'll trust you again you're kidding yourself, but right now my sister is in jail and acting so weird that it scares me and I don't have a choice but to put some kind of faith in you all because Emma believes in you… and I believe in her." Her bottom lip quivered and the hand she held her phone in tightened to the point where the casing creaked beneath her grip. "There's at least one woman out there with ties to another that wants something from Elsa and I don't know what the heck it is, but I'm not going to let anything get in the way of getting to the bottom of this if I can help it, and that includes you."
Hans took a step back, seeing the anger clear in her eyes and just how tired and frustrated she looked. She was on the edge of her nerves; it was obvious for anyone to see, and she had every right to be upset right now. Instead of pointlessly defending his part in all of this, he just nodded. "Okay. What do you want to do now?"
She just sighed, looking to the door and wishing she knew how to get inside, but it was impossible. "Let's just… let's see if we can find where she came out of. If there is another entrance, maybe she left more frost behind, or a clue or something we can follow."
Midday turned to nightfall and the darkness swept across the sheriff's office once more, bringing back a sense of dread that was becoming all too familiar to Elsa. She sat cross-legged on her bed, arms still cuffed uncomfortably behind her back, and she looked outside of the bars of her prison, finding herself locked into a staring contest with David, her guard for the evening.
He sat behind a desk, leaned back into a chair and frowned, his face clearly lit by the glow of the security feed on the computer in front of him. "I'm sorry about the handcuffs," he said, finally blinking away from her sights. "I know it's uncomfortable, but Ruby's bringing her shackles over in the morning, so… yeah, that probably doesn't sound any better," he realized when Elsa's eyes narrowed.
He sat forward, pressing his fingers together before working up the courage to look at her disdainful stare again. "Elsa, I know you're upset, but I want you to know that you can talk to us. If something's not right… if Cora or Regina are putting you up to everything you've been doing, then… then…"
His words caught in his throat, turning Elsa's hard glare into a confused one as the man summarily slumped over on the desk. "…David?" she asked quietly, finding her voice as she grew more concerned. "David!"
The light from the monitor flickered on his still form, startling her and she leapt off of the bed, feeling a familiar, eerie presence settle into the place that had her looking for the source out of panic.
"He won't be able to hear you. What's wrong Elsa? Are you scared?"
The low, feminine voice came from around the corner and she watched as Regina stepped into view, stalking towards her cell and followed by another, older, woman. "See, Mother? Look how quickly they've chained her up like she's some kind of dangerous monster."
"Rightfully so." Elsa hardly recognized the older woman this time as she was dressed differently, wearing her hair down and a business-like pantsuit that resembled her daughter's wardrobe, but her presence chilled Elsa in such a way that she knew without a doubt that this woman was still Cora. She looked at Elsa with an unnerving red smile and eyes that struck her still as if they stared straight through her flesh and bone to the frightened soul within. "Are you uncomfortable, dear? Let me take care of those."
Cora waved her hand and a certain pressure that was keeping Elsa's arms behind her back suddenly disappeared. She lifted her arms up to her front, rubbing her sore, bare wrists where the cuffs had left indents in her skin and looked past the two dark women to the man slumped over on his desk. "D-David… is he…?"
"Just unconscious," Regina swiftly answered. "Prince Charming won't be able to come to your rescue tonight, Ice Witch; he'll be sleeping until the sun comes up."
Cora turned sharply to address her daughter with a surprised look on her face. "Regina! That is no way to address a queen!" she chided, sending her daughter a step backwards before she turned back to the young royal in the jail cell. "My apologies, Your Majesty, for the way my daughter speaks of you."
Elsa didn't care in the slightest as ruminating thoughts of the events that took place earlier that morning sent her across her cell, clutching the green metal bars that separated her from the two women. "You lied to me!" she spat bitterly.
The older woman simply danced around the accusation with a shrug of her shoulders and a tighter smile. "Whatever are you talking about?" Elsa's grip on the bars white-knuckled and heat crept into her cheeks, painting them a rosy pink color that betrayed her efforts to keep her emotions in check.
"You told me that you'd keep her out of this!" she cried. "You almost made me shoot her!"
"And that is because you failed!" Cora harshly reminded, her pleasant grin finally collapsing into a violent frown. "I told you what would happen if you couldn't get your magic to work by morning; that's the third time now you've tried to kill that man and came up with nothing, not even a drop of blood to show for your pitiful efforts!"
Elsa let go of the bars in shock, looking at her hands desperately as if they were the cause for all her problems. "I… you know I can't! Rumplestiltskin has his magic, and I…"
"Your excuses are as weak as your resolve," Cora growled. "I was perfectly clear yesterday, was I not? That your sister would remain safe so long as you kept your mouth shut? You nearly gave in this morning," she warned, looming closer to the cell. "I saw it in your eyes, how badly you wanted to tell her about all of this and that's why I made you turn the gun on her."
"Not that it would have been any consequence if you shot her dead anyway," Cora laughed, taking a step back and turning towards her daughter, beckoning for the pouch she was holding. "As I told you last night, Your Majesty: love is weakness. Your love for your sister cripples you, it forces you to second-guess and hesitate when your instinct tells you otherwise. Stubborn as you are, I don't think you'll ever understand how powerful you could become without that pesky emotion… though of course, if you want to love your dear sister again, I suppose you'll need this."
Cora opened the pouch and smiled, reaching in and pulling out a pulsing red object that was covered by thick tendrils of ice: Elsa's heart. "All you have to do is take it," the dark woman chuckled.
Elsa's blue eyes went wide. It was there… it was right there! She lunged, pressing herself against the bars, reaching out for the frozen heart that held all her love and her beautiful curse. She stretched, pushing her shoulder through a gap as fingers spread, barely brushing the cold object before it was drawn completely out of her reach. Cora laughed as the young queen retreated back behind the bars in horror of the cruel trick. "Oh, did you honestly think I'd give it to you that easily? I still have plans for you."
"Why…?" Elsa's word was small, caught in her throat from the nerves and fear of what the vile woman wanted her for. "I haven't done anything to you, I… I never even met either of you before we came here! Why do I have to be a part of this?!"
Regina shook her head as she stepped forward and plucked the heart out of her mother's hand. "You don't get it, do you? You don't have a choice."
She held up the heart in her left hand and looked at her right, smiling wide when a burning ball of flame crackled to life above it. With a spark of curiosity, she brought the flame close to the heart and held it there, watching with some kind of twisted satisfaction as the waves of heat licked the ice, weakening its hold on the life it protected. The melt pooled in her palm and slowly dripped to the floor one drop at a time.
"Oh, well isn't that curious?" Cora said with a hint of amusement as she watched Elsa writhe in her cell, grasping at her chest where her heart should have been and crying out in pain as her weak legs caused her to stumble and fall against the iron bars of her prison. She breathed heavily, sweating as she tried to catch her breath, opening her eyes briefly when Regina pulled the flame away and Cora took firm hold of her jaw to bring her closer, making sure that the young blonde was focused and paying attention to her every word. "You are going to help us take our revenge on this little town," she said with a sweet smile.
"I… I don't understand…"
"It's quite simple, actually." Cora glanced to the ceiling, drawing in a breath of pride at the malevolent plan of vengeance she was carrying out. "Did you not notice the fear in Rumplestiltskin's eyes when we tried to use your magic on him yesterday? He knows that given the right motivation, you're much stronger than he is, and if we had gotten your magic to work we could have subdued him long enough to find his dagger." Elsa's confused look just caused the dark woman's smile to widen. "The killing attempts after that were just ways to get you in a secure place for us to visit and work with you without the town wondering where you ran off to, and without your annoying sibling getting in the way."
"But now that dear Rumple's out on some fool's errand to find his son, we have all the time we need to find his dagger so we can have him kill every last person in this town who stands in the way of our happiness," the woman told her, glancing at her daughter as she tightened her grip on the young woman who was trapped within her clutch. "Though of course if we fail to locate the dagger by the time he returns, our plan falls back on you, my dear. You will lead my daughter and I to our happy endings and you will be rewarded with your own. Of course, your little Anna will be alive for her happy ending too as long as you stop resisting when we call on you to do something."
Cora let go of Elsa's jaw and reached into the pocket of her blazer, pulling out a small decorated knife and reaching towards the girl with her free hand. "Give me your palm, Your Majesty."
The blonde eyed the knife wearily and immediately shrunk back, making Cora sigh in frustration. She looked over her shoulder, simply exasperated with Elsa's refusal to do anything she wanted her to. "Regina, my daughter, please help the Queen of Arendelle cooperate before I crush the hearts of everyone she once loved."
Regina complied, hesitating just for a moment when she noticed that the ice was regenerating over the area she had melted before bringing it to her lips and whispering to it. On an invisible command, Elsa stumbled forward and unwillingly put both of her arms through the gaps between the bars of her cell, watching horrified as Cora took hold of her left wrist and pressed the blade against her palm. She shuddered and grunted softly as a steady line of blood was drawn and dripped from her hand, splashing against the floor until Cora held a clear vial near the cut to collect some.
"W-What are you doing…?"
"You don't have your powers when your heart is out of your body," Cora explained as she watched the vial fill with the young queen's scarlet life. "Fortunately, most magical problems can be cured with more magic. In this case, there is a potion that can be made from your blood that will return your powers to you without the need of your heart."
"And since we have your heart, we control you," Regina smirked, holding up the frozen object as a reminder, raising a brow at it when an amusing thought came to mind. "Funny how something that can't be crushed can be manipulated so easily. Once you drink that potion, we'll have control of both your actions and your magic."
"No… no! You don't understand!" Elsa cried, trying to wrest her hand free as Cora continued to take what she needed for the potion. "My powers react to my emotions! If I'm not calm-"
"Oh, you won't have to worry about that, my dear," Cora smiled, finally letting go of Elsa's wrist as she topped the vial with a small cork and held it up to the light from the windows to admire. "Your heart has been out of your body long enough that by tomorrow morning, you won't be able to feel a thing. By the time our preparations are complete, you'll have no emotional burdens to get in the way of all that raw magic you struggle to reign back."
They couldn't do this. They couldn't use her for their selfish, evil plans, but what choice did Elsa have? If she resisted, they would take it out on everyone she loved, even Anna.
Anna…
Just the thought of her sister being hurt in all of this had her reeling and she sought to cast herself away, to bring her arms around her center and hide from all of this maliciousness, but when she tried to bring her arms back through the gaps in the cell wall, she didn't get very far, almost as though she was stuck. Blue eyes looked down and she realized it before she actually saw it; her hands had been cuffed again, but the chain was on the wrong side of the bars.
Elsa snapped her head up, hurt and angered by the cruelty of the two women before her, but as one disappeared in a cloud of purple smoke, the other remained with a wicked ruby smirk that made her feel so humiliated that her knees went weak.
"Don't forget my warning. I'd hate for something unfortunate to happen to sweet, young Anna because you couldn't keep quiet. A proper queen doesn't spill her secrets, of course," Cora smiled, clasping her hands together as she watched the blonde tug uselessly on her cuffs in a wasted effort to break them. "Be a good girl, Elsa, and try not to fail the next time I need you to do something."
The dark woman vanished in a cloud of smoke just as Elsa gave one final tug on the chain before she gave up. She looked past where the mother and daughter had been standing to the desk they were blocking the entire time. "David?" she called weakly, trying desperately to stir the man who lay face down on the workspace. She stomped her foot and cried this time. "David!?"
Still no response and her hopes of getting someone to pursue the dark women before they completely got away was run into the ground. Elsa rested her head against the cool metal of the bars, pressing her thumb against the cut on her left hand to keep pressure on it in an effort to stop the bleeding, though she felt so hopeless and completely broken now that she didn't know if she cared if the wound bled all night.
She wasn't going to rest at all tonight; Cora had made sure that she wouldn't even be able to sit on the ground properly as the chain of her cuffs were caught on a crossbar that would keep her arms high above her head even if she tried. The best she could do was kneel, and even that was uncomfortable at best, but it was all she was capable of now that she didn't have the motivation or energy to stay on her feet.
Elsa slumped against the bars of the prison, closing her eyes as tears worked their way out and sobs shook her entire body. She could feel the void in her chest growing larger, slowly corrupting her feelings with darkness and leaving nothing but the sensation of emptiness in its wake.
"Somebody help me..." she cried, tossing her head to the side as her voice echoed uselessly in the large room, knowing that rescue now while her heart was in the hands of another was nearly impossible.
"I'm so sorry, Anna."
The next morning had been typical for the former Princess of Arendelle.
She had woken up early and headed out for the morning on her usual paper run, speeding through town on her bike and tossing the news with the arm of a grade-A delivery girl. She stopped by the diner immediately after for a hot chocolate (no whipped cream, that was still reserved for special occasions) and had a rather lengthy and depressing conversation with Granny about what was happening with her sister and why she needed time off right now. The business owner was very understanding, even offering to send Elsa meals during her stay in the town's enforcement office for the next few weeks as a message from the outside world that others believed her innocence despite the evidence highly stacked against her.
After that visit, she walked her bike down the street, slowly headed back home until she heard yelling and screaming coming from the direction of the library. As curious as she ever was, she decided to head over in that direction to find out what all the fuss was about.
She then spent the next half hour being chased around town by a giant.
Yes, it was just another typical day in Storybrooke.
She had been with David, Mary-Margaret and Leroy the entire time, trying to come up with a plan to subdue the building-sized man who was casually kicking over cars and knocking down power lines as he chased their small group, claiming that he "hated humans" any time they tried to talk to him. Believing that the giant was sent as a distraction by Cora to keep the group away from interfering with her plans, David convinced Anna to make an escape, knowing that she was deeply involved in her sister's investigation and had to conclude it before Cora's plans came to fruition.
She ran back to where she abandoned her bike and raced home, watching from the balcony of her apartment as the giant traveled away from her home and towards the harbor where David said he'd try to lure the towering man. The giant summarily disappeared out of her view once he made it to the edge of town near the water, but the constant rumble of his thundering steps seemed to fade along with him and never returned for as long as she waited.
Believing the threat was over, Anna allowed herself to relax and happily took her diary off the coffee table, recounting the terrifying yet exciting event to the blank pages of the book and looking to her sister's easel when she was finished. The stand displayed an unfinished autumnal forest scene: something bright and vibrant but also calming and serene at the same time. Anna smiled at the work, remembering how Alison had once told her that her paintings were like a diary and she wondered what Elsa would have painted if she had joined her on the whirlwind chase that afternoon.
About an hour later, she got a text from David with a picture of the giant standing next to Leroy and looking no more than a few inches taller than the man. "He's someone we can trust. And his name is Tiny," the message said. She couldn't help but laugh at the irony.
She composed a text back, expressing how grateful she was that part of the threat was over and she'd do her best to help take care of the other when a knock came at the door. She was expecting company and tried to feign brave when she opened it, though the sullen faces of Kristoff, Olaf and Marshmallow threatened to turn her bright smile into a desperate frown. The two boys all but tackled her when they were allowed in, hugging her waist tightly and she looked up at Kristoff with silent confusion as he closed the door behind him.
He looked away, scratching the back of his neck as if he was trying to take away the shame he felt when he finally mustered up the courage to meet her eyes. "I had to tell them," he admitted, watching Anna's face drop painfully as she kneeled down to their level. "I thought it'd be better to let them know what they're going to see before we got there."
She couldn't blame him for it. Today was Elsa's third day in the town jail and her boys were asking constantly where she was. She and Kristoff couldn't keep it from them even if they wanted to because sooner or later, one of them would figure out that something terrible had happened to her. They may have the physical form of elementary school children, but they were much wiser than what their ages suggested.
"We're gonna get her out of there, right Anna?" Olaf asked, determination backing his voice and hope glistening in his eyes. She managed a small nod and a smile, ruffling his hair as she comforted Marshmallow who had silently buried himself into her side.
"Right."
"Okay! Let's go break her out, and then-!"
"W-Wait, hold on a second!" Anna laughed, grabbing the back of the boy's shirt before he could march out of the apartment and start on whatever plan he had come up with. "We can't break her out. As much as I want to, that's kinda illegal."
"Ohh…"
"We're just going to visit and cheer her up," Kristoff told them, crossing his arms with a warm smirk on his face, growing more confident in his decision to break the news to the boys now that Anna was smiling at him brightly. "In a few days this whole thing will be cleared up and Elsa will be back home again."
It was a heavy promise, but he was confident, as was Anna. She stood to get ready to leave and then headed out the door with the rest of her family, forgetting to mention one minor thing that had slipped her mind after the excited rush of the giant chase and the warmth her loved ones surrounded her with. "H-Hey, there's something I should warn you about before we get there…"
"Hans?!"
Anna rolled her eyes as she swung open the doors to the sheriff's station. "Yes, Kristoff, for the eighth time now, Hans is helping with the investigation."
"But… but…!"
"I know, I know, I don't like it either, but Emma had to leave town and put him on the team, so… we don't have much of a choice," she sighed, watching as the two boys scurried on ahead of her down the hallway. Kristoff grumbled as he joined her side, taking her hand as they followed.
"And you're sure that he's not going to make her look guilty?"
"She already looks guilty; they caught her talking to Cora on the security footage."
"So what if he's part of her plan, too?"
"I don't know!" Anna cried softly, knowing the man they were talking about was just around the corner. "He just said that he wanted to help and make a change, so… well, this is his chance to prove it."
"Tch. Can't trust him as far as I can throw him."
"Well, I punched him clear off the side of a ship, so…"
Kristoff shot her a witty smirk, still so proud of her for the mean right hook she had given the Prince of the Southern Isles after his plan to usurp the throne of Arendelle failed. If he tried hard enough he could still hear the solid sound of Anna's knuckles colliding with the man's face.
The bit of joy that the nostalgia brought him was soon muddled however by the silence of the main office in the station and the dark feeling that saturated the air. He felt Anna's hand stiffen in his own and he offered her a small confident smile as they slowly crossed the room, avoiding eye contact with the auburn haired man who sat at a desk across from the holding cells as they approached.
It was the first time in days Kristoff had seen Elsa, and he had to keep himself from turning away. It wasn't that she looked bad, it was just… he could tell that she was believing that she belonged there. Her eyes were tired, her dirty blonde hair was falling out of its usually perfect braid and the look on her face screamed utter devastation as her eyes were focused on the chains of her newly adorned shackles. She didn't seem to notice the group as they stood outside her cell door, completely fixated on her own anxious thoughts as she ran her thumb against the fingers of her other hand.
Olaf stepped forward, grabbing the metal bars with both hands as he looked up at her, hesitating as his heart raced in his chest. "Elsa…?" he whispered, his hope for recognition renewed when the light in her eyes suddenly seemed to spring back to life. She picked her head up and turned slowly towards him, looking at him in a moment of confusion before a small smile tugged at the edge of her lips that was widened by the former snowman's happy laughter. Marshmallow joined him at the edge of the cell, calling out "Mama!" when he noticed she was looking at him.
Anna stood back, happily watching the boys but finding Elsa's behavior a little… odd, almost as though she was forcing herself to smile for their sakes. Her sad, tired eyes never brightened any more than when Olaf first called her name, and the brown-haired child seemed to notice it as well but refused to say anything to keep up the lightening mood. Elsa looked up, silently acknowledging Anna and Kristoff's presence with a nod and Anna gave her a small wave in return.
"Hi Sis," she said quietly, watching as Elsa returned her gaze to the chains of her shackles. Anna's eyes fell on the menacing looking restraints and noticed something that her sister didn't have yesterday before she left with Hans to search the mayor's office.
The hand Elsa had been cradling was wrapped in a white medical bandage. Anna's heart hastened at the implication and she whirled, infuriated, marching up to Hans' desk and staring the man down as she approached. "How did she hurt herself?! Did you do this?!"
His green eyes went wide and he shook his head, holding his hands up in defense. "No! Of course I didn't! David was with her all last night; she was like that when I got here this morning!"
"Can't you watch the security feed or something?!"
He lowered his head, staring at the computer monitor in front of him with a look of dejection. "No, I can't. All the security systems failed halfway through the night, including the cameras. There's nothing past midnight on all the footage."
"It sounds suspicious if you ask me," Kristoff said, quickly giving voice to Anna's feelings and she looked up at him, grateful for his sturdy presence while she tried to figure out just what had happened overnight. She seemed hesitant to the conclusion she came to, but really, it was the only one that made sense at the moment.
"You don't think Cora came in last night, do you?"
Hans held his chin in thought, raising a brow when he looked at her again. "That's what I've been thinking. She could have used her magic to shut down the security systems and subdue David, or maybe even give him false memories. He said that everything seemed fine, but when he got up to use the bathroom this morning, he came back and Elsa had her hands cuffed around the bars of her door instead of behind her back and she was bleeding." He winced at Anna's utter confusion as she held her head with both hands and leaned against Kristoff's side, unwilling to believe that all of this was truly happening. "Look, it's clear to me that the only person with all the answers right now is Elsa. David couldn't get her to talk and I know she doesn't want to speak with me, so you should give it a try," Hans suggested. "She is your sister, after all."
His words should have given her some kind of confidence in all of this, but it didn't. She couldn't get Elsa to speak with her about her problems in Arendelle and it took some serious arm twisting to get her to talk about anything here in Storybrooke. With a heavy sigh, Anna walked back to the cell, already knowing the outcome of this, but maybe it would be worth it to try. The door was already closed and Elsa was literally a captive audience to her questions; the worst thing that could happen was that she would remain silent, and that was something Anna was regrettably already used to.
She stepped up to the iron bars, gripping them lightly and looking through a clear space, watching as Elsa silently adjusted the bandage on her hand. "H-Hey," Anna shakily started, catching the immediate attention of her sister who stared back at her with as much curiosity as she looked at Olaf and Marshmallow. "Is everything alright?" she asked, wanting to lead into her main question slowly even though she wanted answers as quickly as possible.
The blonde just shrugged with barely a gesture, frowning as she turned her sights to the boys and then to the floor.
"You know that you can talk to me, right?" Anna pressed. "I mean, we can have everyone else leave for a few minutes if you wanted to-"
Her thought was quickly cut off by a shake of the blonde's head. "Oh, okay then. Um…" Anna turned back, looking to Kristoff and Hans for help, but they had nothing for her but blank looks and silent signs of encouragement to keep going despite how futile it seemed to be. She took a deep breath, gathered her courage, and exhaled. "Did Cora come in to see you last night?"
Rich cobalt eyes narrowed immediately and Anna had her answer. "She hurt you, didn't she? What is she planning? Why are you helping her?!"
"Anna, wait," Kristoff said, reaching out for her in an attempt to get her to slow down, but she just smacked his hand away as Elsa winced at the pressing questions and shifted on the bed, turning her back to them and hugging her knees to her chest. It was obvious to everyone that she just wanted to be left alone, but her sister refused to let her hide in plain sight.
"Elsa, whatever's going on, I promise I'll understand!" Anna begged. "But I'm so confused right now and you're hurt and please, just talk to me! Just say something!"
"…Go away, Anna."
The redheaded sibling took a step back from shock and she dropped her hands to her sides in disbelief. "…You haven't talked to any one of us in two days and that's what you say to me?"
Elsa didn't move. No one did.
"I… I trusted you," Anna breathed, feeling the burning of betrayal stinging at her eyes. "I always trusted you and I believed… I really believed that you trusted me too. I thought we said that we'd go through everything together, no matter what, but you keep shutting me out and I can't help you when you push me away. Do you have any idea how much that hurts?"
Elsa picked her head up, turning slightly and looking over her shoulder, wincing at the sight of her sister fighting off tears while holding onto the golden necklace that had made it here from their homeland. "Anna…"
The younger sibling looked at the older with dashed hope. Her blue eyes were dull, her expression blank, and any emotion she had tried to put into her voice just came with such a pained effort that Anna couldn't believe that she even cared about the pain she was causing her. With a forceful tug, Anna ripped off the necklace and tossed it in the cell, watching the golden pendant bounce once and clatter to a stop at Elsa's bedside. "I listened to all the rumors people spread about the Snow Queen at the diner and I never believed them until now," she said sadly. "I thought I knew you, I thought you had changed, but you're just as cold and heartless as everyone thinks you are."
"Anna!" Kristoff yelled, running after her as she bolted from the room, only to be stopped by Olaf tugging at the back of his shirt. The two stared at each other, silently arguing until Kristoff stepped back at the sight of understanding eyes and the boy gave chase instead, sharply turning the corner in pursuit of the broken-hearted young woman.
He didn't have to go far to find her as she collapsed at the end of the hall, hiding her face in her hands as she sobbed. Olaf approached cautiously and sat down against the wall right next to her, waiting for her to notice him and giving her a sad smile when she finally did.
"You're not giving up, are you?" he asked quietly, putting a hand on her shoulder as she furiously wiped away her tears.
"N-No, I'm just… I'm so frustrated, Olaf," she cried. "It's like she doesn't even care about what she did anymore, she's just… and then Cora…" She dropped her head into her hands again, feeling so lost and even more confused, and just so fractured by her sister's request that she simply "go away."
Olaf felt all of it as well, and he didn't have any answers, but Anna's belief that Elsa didn't care about what was happening was a belief that the two didn't share. "Elsa's scared," he admitted, coaxing the redhead out of her shell, "and she's upset, too."
"She didn't look scared or upset…"
"I think she's trying to hide it or something," Olaf mulled, looking to the ceiling in thought, not quite understanding but still confident in what he had said. "But I can tell all the way from over here that she's not happy about all of this at all. Not a bit."
The tears stopped flowing and Anna stared at the boy with such a perplexed look as though she just witnessed him suddenly sprout a second head. "Olaf, what are you talking about?"
He got up from his seat and held his hands over his chest, trying to find the right words before he began his explanation. "I don't know how to say it right, but… ever since we got here, I could always kinda feel where you and Elsa are. Like, I could tell how mad and sad you were back there, and whenever I look at you I see this glow, right here," he said, patting the right side of his chest over his heart. Anna sat up, wide-eyed and amazed at his reveal, believing everything he said and he smiled widely at her eager acceptance of his strange power, though something worried him that had him scratching his head. "Except it's really weird right now because Elsa's here but she's not here."
Anna blinked, trying to understand what the former snowman was saying. "You mean like there's a part of her missing?"
"Yeah! Like, when I look at her I normally see a bluish kind of glow, but she's in here and the glow is…" he looked around, spotting something that was invisible to Anna and he waved towards it, "…somewhere over that way. Is that normal?"
She shook her head, unsure of what the "glow" was but knowing it was important. "No, but there's someone in town right now who has magic and wants something from Elsa. She could have taken something from her… and we have to get it back!"
"Okay! Let's go!" Olaf cheered, taking her hand and pulling her towards the door. She resisted for a moment, pulling back just as Kristoff and Marshmallow walked around the corner.
"Are you okay?" the blonde man asked, walking up to her and embracing her, feeling her shaking in his arms even as she tried to feign brave.
"Yeah. I mean, no… I mean… I don't know," she admitted sadly, still upset with her sister for refusing to speak with her or help her understand why she was acting the way she was. "Look, Olaf has a lead-"
"Olaf?"
"Yeah, I know, crazy right?" she laughed, eyeing the young boy as he hopped excitedly on the balls of his feet, ready to get going. "But I think it's worth it to check it out. I need you to stay here with Marshmallow and keep an eye on Elsa for me until we get back, okay? If she says anything or if Hans does anything fishy, call me right away." She stepped up on tip-toes and kissed him on the cheek, staring adamant in face of his bewildered look. "Just trust me, okay?"
"Okay…" He waved as Anna and Olaf exited the building, still staring at them even after the doors closed. He looked down to Marshmallow, who had watched them leave with a face of determination.
"Olaf has a plan?" Kristoff asked again. The platinum-haired boy just shrugged his shoulders and turned, walking back the way he came and leaving the former ice-harvester dumbstruck in the middle of the hall. He wandered around the corner, wanting to be back with his mother, and growled at Hans as he passed by his desk on his way to the blue couch by her cell.
He stopped walking when he noticed that she was standing. Elsa held up the necklace her sister had thrown at her, staring at the shine of the golden pendant before wrapping her fingers around the small piece of metal and bringing it over her chest where her heart should have been.
"Are you sure it's coming from here?"
"Positive!"
"Like, are you really, really sure?"
"Absolutely!"
Anna shivered, taking in the environment as they passed through sturdy metal gates and veered off to the right on a dark concrete path. "I just think that maybe there's a better place to hide something magical, you know? Like a vault or something… not a cemetery."
The place was eerily quiet that afternoon and a small breeze rustled her hair, sending another chill down her spine at the sound of the gate creaking behind her as she walked further in. Her eyes caught sight of the tall stone structures marking the gravesites of her parents and she said a silent prayer to them, hoping they could instill some bravery and faith in her for she was running out of both with the recent turn of events. Noticing her hesitation, Olaf grabbed her hand and pulled her along, breaking her gaze from the monoliths and pulling her towards the far corner of the cemetery.
"It's over this way!" he called giddily as he trotted along the path, stopping when he came face to face with a large door to an old looking crypt. Anna looked up, having noticed it before and remembering her sister mentioning whose family it belonged to the last time they came to visit their parents, though the name was inscribed above the door for all to see.
"This is Regina's family crypt," she breathed, looking down to Olaf's dark, wide eyes. "Elsa's "glow" is somewhere in there?"
"It's more like down and a little further that way," he nodded enthusiastically, pointing past the crypt before grabbing the handle on the door. "Let's go get it back!" he cheered, tugging on the handle and growing dismayed when it wouldn't budge. Politely, Anna took his place, wiggling the handle up and down and beating on the door in an attempt to break it down, but she was out of luck. "Of course…" she grumbled, "it's probably magi-fied, too." She glared at the door with hard eyes and looked around the side of the building, knowing there would be no side or back entrance to the place, but she remembered something from the previous day that had her curious. She looked past the iron fence of the cemetery, searching in the distance for something and it wasn't long before she found her suspicions to be true.
About a half-mile out stood the tall, proud building of Storybrooke's Town Hall, and she snapped her fingers, knowing know she had one part of the mystery figured out. "Regina or Cora took Elsa through the secret door in the mayor's office to a hidden passage that runs between there and here," she mused, ignoring Olaf's quizzical stare as she mumbled to herself. "They took her "glow" and she must have come out this way because there's no ice, she would have thawed it if there was, but… what did they take from her?"
"I do believe that it's something you ought to be retrieving sometime soon, lass."
Anna whirled, stepping protectively in front of Olaf as a man dressed in black and a crooked smile on his face limped towards her and stopped a reasonable distance away for them to talk. "Who are you? And why are you wearing eyeliner?" she dared to ask.
The man scoffed at her questions. "I won't answer the second, but to sate your curiosity I'll answer the first. My name is Killian Jones, more widely known to all who sail the seas as Captain Hook."
Anna squared her jaw, looking the dark man up and down, noticing the prop he used in place of his left hand. "Um… where's the hook?"
"In another's temporary possession," he grinned, eyeing her curiously. "If my sources are right, you must be the sister of the Snow Queen."
"S-So what if I am?"
"Well lass, it'd be in both of our best interests if you retrieve what's down there in that crypt as soon as possible, otherwise the Snow Queen herself won't be able to stop what Cora's got planned for her."
Blinking, Anna took a cautious step forward, raising her brows in question and swallowing whatever fear managed to creep into her throat. She wasn't sure she wanted to know, but she almost had to now that Olaf had led her here. "What's actually down there…?"
Hook wasn't surprised by her question at all and he leaned forward as the words dragged past his lips. "Elsa's heart."
She immediately covered her mouth as she gasped in shock, feeling terrified at what he had told her. She wanted to accuse him of lying, but the whole situation made too much sense and his unwavering confidence in his statements almost dared her to accuse him and prove him wrong with useless facts.
"Cora took it from her," Hook explained as Anna reeled from the news, finding aid and support by Olaf taking her hand as she listened and put the last pieces of the puzzle together. "She plans on using the Snow Queen in her plan to strike out any threat to her or Regina's happy endings, whatever those might be. They have her heart, and so they can control her to do their bidding."
"Why are you telling me this?"
"I have no interest in Cora's agenda, if that's what you're thinking," he said, narrowing his eyes. "I have a crocodile to slay and I can't get my ship out of port if your sister freezes the entire bloody harbor before I set sail from this wretched place. Mother and daughter are converging in that building over there," he warned, pointing to the town hall with his fake hand. "You'd be a fool to try and barge in that crypt when they're so close by. They've sealed it with their magic, but like anything else, it weakens over time. If I were you, I'd give it a go again tomorrow. Hopefully the heart will still be there by the time you get inside."
He turned to leave, pausing for a moment and looking at Anna over his shoulder. "Be quick about it, lass. The man I seek vengeance on has ruined countless lives… I'd hate for Cora to force someone as beautiful as the Snow Queen to do the same."
Anna stood there, struck still as she watched the captain stalk away as best he could with his apparent limp. She couldn't move and was only brought back to reality by Olaf's worried voice and the shake of her hand. He worriedly looked up at her, having felt the change of emotion from where he stood. "Anna?"
She just couldn't believe it. This entire time, from the day Elsa made her first attempt on Mr. Gold's life, to the second where she nearly pointed a gun at her, to the third, today, when she sat there without a care for anything that was going on around her, Elsa had gone through it all without her heart. Even worse was the knowledge that she could be controlled by whoever had it in their possession. Anna shivered at the thought, feeling a little relieved now that she knew the reason why her sister didn't seem like herself, having sudden violent outbursts and an apparent vendetta against Rumplestiltskin.
And then she winced, remembering how upset she had gotten with Elsa at the sheriff's office just before she stormed out and came here.
She called her heartless. Anna didn't know it then, but she had been so right and completely wrong when she spat the bitter words at her sister. Elsa didn't tell her to go away because she was hiding a confession or because she didn't want her to understand. No, Anna knew now that Elsa was shutting her out to protect her, just as she had always done, because behind bars with shackles on her wrists, that all she was capable of doing to keep her safe from all this danger that was ready to explode all around them.
Anna set her eyes on the door, willing to try and break it down with force despite Hook's warning and regardless of the magic that kept it locked when a chiming, musical sound rang from her pocket. She took out her cellphone, reading the name pictured on the front display before she opened it and held it to her ear. "Kristoff? Is everything okay?"
"Uh… no and yes. You gotta get back here right away, Anna. Something happened."
She shared a brief look of panic with Olaf before the two sprinted out of the cemetery as fast as their legs could carry them, temporarily leaving the heart behind, locked in its prison of darkness to await their return.
When Anna and Olaf returned to the sheriff's office, she half expected the place to be engulfed in flames or have a hole blown through the side of the building from the sound of Kristoff's vague phone call. Her heart pounded in her chest at the anticipation of what she would find when she rounded the corner from the hallway and at first she was relieved at the normalcy of the space when she entered. Hans was still seated at the desk and Kristoff was walking towards her with a mixed look on his face. She smiled at him and watched as Olaf trotted across the room in a hurry, taking a seat next to Marshmallow on the blue couch next to the jail cell where…
Her breath escaped her and she was struck still at the sight of her mother sitting quietly on an uncomfortable looking cot with her hands shackled to the iron bars of her prison. She blinked as the dark haired brunette looked up at her with bright blue eyes, and her youthful face betrayed Anna's memory of the older, more mature woman who had passed away so many years ago.
"Elsa…?" she breathed, and the young woman nodded once, running her fingers through her chocolate colored hair to free the strands from the loose braid she had been wearing for the past few days. Anna turned to Kristoff, her eyes filled with questions that she didn't have to ask because he knew what they were without her needing to say anything.
"Everything was fine right after you left," he told her. "But then Marshmallow said that he felt something was wrong with her even though she seemed okay. A few seconds later she just doubled over, crying and holding her hands over her heart. It only lasted for about a minute or two," he said, waving his hands to calm Anna's panicked stare, "but right after that her hair changed color and… well, that was it."
"That makes sense…"
"What makes sense?" Hans suddenly asked, standing from his seat and walking over to the couple to join the conversation. "Did you find something out there?"
Anna hesitated, still not quite sure what to think of the man's true intentions, but now that she was sure that she had enough information to understand most of what was really going on, she supposed it couldn't hurt to inform him of what she discovered.
So she told the entire room about the heart, how Olaf was able to lead her to it and her inability to retrieve it. She told them of Captain Hook and how he explained that a heart could be controlled if it was in the possession of another, and also of his warning that Elsa would become part of Cora's plan if too much time passed without them interfering.
"Elsa's powers come from her heart and she doesn't have it right now; Cora and Regina do. They were trying to make her use her magic against Mr. Gold the other day, but she can't use it without her heart."
"That's probably why her hair changed color," Hans mused, bringing the entire group to realize that Elsa's usually platinum blonde locks weren't hereditary and were caused by the magic of her frozen heart. Hans nodded to himself, placing his hands on his hips as the obvious conclusion came to mind. "We'll just have to protect her the best we can and make sure Cora doesn't get the opportunity to somehow utilize her magic, otherwise we're all in trouble."
"What, keeping her locked up is supposed to keep her safe?" Kristoff asked with sarcasm lining his voice. "You're practically inviting the bad guys in here! There's nowhere for her to go!"
"And we can keep a better eye on her this way!" Hans argued. "If Cora does try to use her, she'll already be restrained. It gives us a better opportunity to stop her before she goes too far!"
"What's the difference between keeping her here and keeping her at home?! At least she'll be more comfortable there; just let her go! She's not responsible for any of this!"
Anna reluctantly listened as the two men bickered back and forth while the woman of the argument watched from the confines of her cell, shrinking further back the more their voices raised. Marshmallow was calling to her and Olaf was jabbering on and on about everything he saw that day… Anna could tell that it was getting to be too much for just this one space and Elsa looked like she could use a little bit of quiet after all the discussion about her. Quietly, Anna walked up to Kristoff and Hans, touching them both lightly on the shoulder and stopping their shouting immediately as they both turned to look at her.
"Can you give us a minute?" she asked, looking over at Elsa to indicate who she was talking about. Hans opened his mouth to protest, but decided not to follow through, thinking it was better to let the two have a moment considering all the chaos that was surrounding them over the past two days. He quietly left the room as a sign of good will and Kristoff did the same, beckoning Olaf and Marshmallow to follow him into the hallway, leaving just Anna and Elsa alone in the room together.
They stared at each other, blue meeting teal until the former broke her sights and dropped them to her palms, thumbing the bandage wrapped around her left hand. Anna stepped forward, still keeping her distance, cautious to get too close after the hateful outburst she had earlier in the day. "Does it still hurt?" she asked quietly, to which Elsa just shrugged, still refusing to say anything in fear that her words would come with consequences she couldn't bear to live through.
The silence lingered between them, Elsa unable to say anything and Anna for once unsure of how to start after the way she had stormed out of the place earlier. Eventually she gave in to her guilty heart and stepped up to the bars of her sister's prison cell, holding onto them as she looked at her through a gap.
"Elsa…" she started, already feeling tears burning behind her eyes when the elder refused to look at her, "I am so, so sorry for everything I said to you earlier. I was upset and confused and you wouldn't say anything and I called you heartless and I didn't know… I had no idea what you were going through."
She bit her lip, looking down at the floor now as she pressed her forehead against the cool metal. "I'm sorry I lost my trust in you, and I'm sorry I didn't realize until now that you've been trying to protect me this whole time."
Anna heard the jangle of metal links clinking together and she slowly looked up, finding Elsa's eyes again and knowing just by the look on her face that she felt relieved that Anna wasn't mad at her. Really, the younger sister felt that the elder deserved to be angry with her instead, but she wasn't sure if she was capable of ever being angry her family, even when she could feel emotion. Anna sighed, knowing she had made a terrible mistake at accusing Elsa for being uncaring over the past few days. "Cora's threatening you with me, isn't she?"
Elsa looked down and Anna knew she was right, knowing from the deeds of the woman's daughter that the matriarch was much more likely to stoop to such a dark level upon her arrival to this town. Anna leaned a little closer, waiting until her sister regained her confidence after silently confirming that her assumptions were true before she spoke again. "You know I wasn't lying yesterday when I promised that I'd fix this, right?"
That brought out a chuckle that she wasn't expecting and the older sibling nodded, her bright blue eyes softening when she realized what exactly that promise meant. "Just… be careful," Elsa said quietly, hoping that her brave little sister would see none of the danger she was currently neck deep in.
"I will. That's a promise too."
They looked at each other, feeling enlightened by how strong the other was even though the feeling was subdued for one of them. Anna slowly lowered herself and sat down cross-legged on the floor, making herself comfortable as she hadn't had a chance to truly talk with her sibling for the past few days without something radical getting in the way of their conversation.
"So…" Anna started, watching as her sister ran pale fingers through her dark hair. "You were always supposed to be a brunette?"
Elsa closed her eyes and just smirked.
I missed you too, Anna.