For the moment, everything was right with the world.
Elsa sat down on a concrete parking bumper in the lot of the sheriff's station, holding a smile on her face as Anna was quickly reunited with her family and then held in Kristoff's protective embrace. The couple exchanged a few concerned words before their lips met in a relieved kiss and Elsa, embarrassed, had to turn away when it started to linger. Luckily, her two boys were there to distract her and they all but tackled her in a warm hug, thankful that she and her sister had returned safely and she was just so happy that she allowed herself to forget that there was still a threat lingering in town.
That moment of peace was however broken when her youngest former snowman discovered the bullet dent in the vest she was wearing.
"Mama?! Mama!"
Kristoff and Anna broke their kiss, Olaf took a step back and Sven even grew curious as Marshmallow held the shoulder straps of Elsa's vest and relentlessly shook her back and forth, afraid for his mother and silently upset that she had gone off to rescue her sister alone.
She grimaced at the sight of him and gently pried his little hands off of the vest, holding them to his sides and trying to get him to calm down. "Shh. It's okay. I'm okay, Marshmallow, I'm not hurt." She reached up and cupped his face in her hands, taking the heat out of his cheeks with her cool palms and he visibly relaxed, losing all of the tension in his shoulders and hands as he stared at her with the same blue eyes.
"Mama…"
"I'm sorry I worried you," she apologized with a small frown. "But you know I had to go alone. I had to fix the mistakes I made."
"Elsa, they weren't mistakes." Anna turned out of Kristoff's arms, heading the argument with a narrow gaze directed at her sister. "Yeah, you lied a lot, but you were doing what you had to for Nina. I know that you were just trying to protect me by keeping her from getting too scared and confused." She felt a hand on her shoulder, looking back and smiling at Kristoff as he simply supported her words with a nod. "And everything Nina said to you before she ran out on you this morning wasn't me. I didn't mean any of it."
"No, I know that. It was the curse." Elsa looked down at her hands, wishing this moment of near peace could last forever. These past weeks that were filled with anxiety and guilt had eaten away at her and worn her down; she wanted nothing more than to go home with her family and relax, have a meal together and just simply be together again without anything getting in the way. But the unnatural laws of this town continually denied her wishes and she moved to stand from her seat to address them, accepting Kristoff's help when he offered a hand to her.
"So is that Peter Pan guy still a threat?" he asked as he pulled her to her feet, already regretting his question when he saw the grim look on Elsa's face.
"He has Anna's heart," she told him as she shrugged off her jacket and started undoing the straps on the Kevlar vest. "With all the agents he had in town looking for her, there's no doubt that he really needs it for something. I just don't know what it is."
Anna crossed her arms, leaning heavily on one leg as everyone in her family looked at her for some answer to the mystery. "What? How am I supposed to know what he wants it for? I mean, I'm flattered that someone would hire hitmen and cross worlds just to get it from me," she smiled, oddly enjoying the attention it brought her despite the danger, "but it's just a heart. It's not magical like Elsa's."
The family focused on the sorcerous sister now as the blonde tossed the bullet-proof vest to the ground and tied her jacket around her waist, revealing the blue tank top she was wearing beneath. "I wouldn't say that so quickly," Elsa said with a smirk. "If there's anything I've learned from living here, it's that magic and enchantments come in many different forms."
"Uh… what?"
"I think I know why your heart is special," Elsa vaguely explained. "And while I'm not sure what kind of power it possesses, it's enough to make you a target. We have to get your heart back from Pan before he uses it for something."
She started to walk away in the direction of Main Street to confront the boy who threatened her family, followed closely by Anna. Immediately, Kristoff, the two little boys and Sven fell in behind them, and when Elsa noticed that everyone was coming with her she stopped and turned around to stare at them in worry.
"It can't just be you two," Kristoff told her before she could even get in a word of protest. "We're coming with you whether you want us to or not."
"We can help!" Olaf reassured, backed by Marshmallow who nodded beside him. "Just tell us what we can do."
Elsa bit her lip, looking down at her two boys, to the man who would someday become her brother, and to the reindeer she was still cautious of but was learning to be comfortable with. Anna nudged her shoulder, grinning up at her and smiling wider when Elsa finally sighed and gave in to everyone's wishes.
"Kristoff, we're going to need that shovel from your jeep."
"Got it!"
Anna blinked in surprise at Elsa's command and she looked at her, seeing the serious stare in her blue eyes that was only softened by a confident smirk spreading across her lips. "Wait, you already have a plan?"
"…More like half a plan. I'll work out the rest as we go," she said absent-mindedly, focused on a strategy in progress as Kristoff retrieved the shovel she requested and ran back to the group she started to lead down the street.
Anna was doing whatever she could to help, trying to think of anything useful she knew about their enemy that would work against him when her mind crossed another foe that might get in their way. "What about the Duke?"
"I'm not worried about him."
"Elsa, he shot you."
"And he didn't kill me. Or you," Elsa reminded. She looked down at her hands, focusing as she conjured her magic between them. "Peter Pan doesn't seem the type to tolerate failure and if the Duke wants to keep his life, then he won't tell Pan that he didn't get rid of us or lie and say that he did. He's not going to show up, so we have to take advantage of this time that Pan's waiting for him and get the heart back before its too late."
An eerie wind swept down the main street of Storybrooke that afternoon, originating from somewhere beyond the town and bringing with it a foreboding sense of dread. Hardly anyone was out on the streets to go about their normal business; most stayed home or locked themselves behind the doors of their establishments to protect themselves from the threat of a mere teenage boy.
Peter Pan seemed to revel at the sight of people attempting to hide from him and staring at him through the windows of their paltry sanctuaries as he stood in the middle of the street, waiting for the arrival of his minion to confirm the deaths of the two troublesome siblings from Arendelle and reward him justly.
He sort of regretted missing out on the fun of it, watching one sister scream in terror as the other was shot dead before her eyes. He wished he had kept at least one of them around just to watch her struggle to get revenge and then let his curse, the one that would transform Storybrooke into the new Neverland, wipe away her memory of ever having a sister in the first place, rendering everything she had ever done for the other completely useless.
Perhaps he would play a bigger game with the next pair of devoted siblings he came across, but for now, he just smirked in satisfaction that his plan was nearly complete. The heart in his hand glowed vibrantly, shimmering with its purity and he looked down the street, eyeing the stores and the people who hid inside. "You all know who I am and yet no one wants to come out and play?" he asked smugly, taking a few steps and stretching his arms wide at the question. "I thought this town was built from the finest kingdoms in the Enchanted Forest? Surely one of you can show some hospitality to a young guest such as myself?"
"Hello!"
Peter Pan whirled, looking down the street at the clock tower where a young boy with brown hair and an overbite was running towards him, smiling as he waved with one hand and held the other behind his back. He stepped right up to the teen, unable to stay still as he was practically bouncing from where he stood.
"I'm Olaf and I like warm hugs!"
A smirk spread across Pan's lips and he dropped to one knee to get down to the boy's level. "Olaf, is it?" he asked, watching the boy nod with enthusiasm. "Where is your mum and dad? Are you lost?"
"Nope! I'm an orphan!" Olaf proudly declared, hiding the truth perfectly behind his wide grin. "The orphanage is boring and nobody wants to play with me. Do you want to play?"
Oddly, Peter Pan felt some sort of connection with the boy and he let his guard down, feeling nostalgic for the troop of Lost Boys he led in Neverland. "Sure, Olaf. Tell me, what is your favorite game?"
"Ooh, it's a really easy one!" Olaf smiled, so excited now that it was truly impossible for him to stand still. "It's called "Keep Away!""
Before Peter Pan could even react, Olaf took advantage of his fallen guard and smashed a snowball in his face, distracting him long enough to pry the heart out of his hand and start making his getaway.
"I got it!" he yelled, holding the heart in his outstretched hands as he ran, sort of grossed out by the feel of it. He booked it for the library but came nowhere close to it as Peter Pan suddenly appeared in his way, casting his glare at him and looking very cross. Olaf skidded to a halt, looked past the angered teen and said a little prayer as he threw the heart high up in the air. "Kristoff!"
Peter Pan followed the path of the heart with his eyes and readied himself to catch it on the descent, but a loud, thundering noise approached from behind and he made the mistake of turning to see what it was. He ducked down just in time as Sven leapt over him with Kristoff on his back.
The former ice harvester sat up and leaned back, reaching for the heart and snatching it out of the air just by his fingertips. "Got it!" he smirked as Sven cleared Olaf and landed, stumbling just a little as he got his hooves beneath him and took off down the street, now heading away from the library. Kristoff turned back, watching helplessly as Peter Pan batted Olaf off to the side and ran after him until his feet left the ground and he took flight. The teen held his hands together, preparing his magic and Kristoff patted Sven's neck, leaning down so he could hear him. "Okay buddy, just follow my lead!"
He turned back again to see a faint wave of magic heading in their direction and Kristoff steered Sven sharply to the right to avoid it, cringing as it tore up the street where they had just been. He directed him to the left to avoid another blast and then back to the right, but the final blast hit close and hard enough that the force of it sent Sven to the ground and Kristoff tumbling harshly off his back, losing the heart as his shoulder collided roughly with the pavement. He took a moment to regain his bearings and clear the dizziness from his head. "What is with this kid?!" he asked to no one as he scrambled to his feet in an attempt to get at the heart that landed just a few feet away. He could only watch though as Peter Pan landed and picked up the enchanted object, taking it for himself.
"Aren't you a little old to be playing with children?" he said snidely before blasting Kristoff with a wave of magic, sending him hurtling backwards as though the man weighed nothing. Pan turned around, laughing to himself as he watched Olaf run down the street after them. "Hey, you were right Olaf! This game is easy! I didn't expect to win so-"
Another snowball to the face cut off his gloating and he wiped the cold slush from his eyes, glaring at Olaf even though the projectile had come from the side. He turned, barely spotting a head of platinum as another snowball smacked him square in the forehead with enough force that it sent him back a step.
With an armful of prepared snowballs, Marshmallow stepped out from behind a bench and slowly approached Peter Pan, relentlessly pelting him as he went. "GIVE. BACK. AUNTIE. ANNA'S. HEART!" he yelled, his young voice roaring into something cutely monstrous as he threw the rest of his arsenal at Pan before tackling him and climbing up onto his back. He sat on his shoulders as Pan thrashed about, blinded by the snow in his eyes and distracted by the constant slaps to his head that Marshmallow was giving him in an attempt to get him to let go of the heart. Finally, Marshmallow just grabbed his arm, pulled it close and forcefully ripped Anna's heart of his grasp, holding it up victoriously and smiling at Kristoff, Olaf and Sven as they recovered from being thrown down.
That moment of elation was short-lived, however, as Marshmallow's small wrist was enclosed by a bigger, stronger hand. Peter Pan grabbed him by the back of his shirt and pulled him off of his shoulders, setting him down on the ground while keeping a firm grip on his wrist. "Give me the heart," he seethed, staring straight into Marshmallow's determined blue eyes to urge him to comply.
The young boy adamantly denied him and wordlessly shook his head.
"Oh, you think you're tough, do you?" Peter Pan asked, smirking when Marshmallow's brave face faltered. "Then let's see how tough you really are!"
Helpless, Marshmallow stared wide-eyed as Peter Pan hoisted him off the ground by his arm and panicked when he soon realized that they were both airborne, traveling higher and higher against the protests of his brother and legal guardian as they rose to be at level with the face of the clock tower.
He squirmed in Pan's grasp, tightening his hold on the heart and when he did, Pan tightened his grip on his wrist. It forced Marshmallow to look down to find his family, though he instantly regretted when he did. Just the sight of how high up they were stilled him and he was brought back to a memory of years ago in Arendelle when he fought valiantly against a bad man and his soldiers who sought to harm not just his mother, but at the time, his only friend. He had fallen from a height like this and survived, but back then he had been made out of snow; he hadn't been hurt, but the fall still frightened him.
Peter Pan was growing impatient with his defiance, however. "I'll give you one last chance, boy," he snarled. "Hand over the heart and we'll forget this ever happened."
And despite his fear, Marshmallow held his ground. He reared back and spit in Peter Pan's face, grinning in satisfaction until the teen forcefully grabbed at the heart and pulled it out of his grasp. "No! No, give it back!" he yelled, kicking and reaching for it as Peter Pan held the boy at arm's length, fixing him with a wicked glare that struck him still once more.
"I warned you," he said, watching all the hope disappear from those blue eyes before he let go of Marshmallow's wrist. The boy plummeted towards the street as Peter Pan slowly descended after him with the heart in his hand and a triumphant grin on his face, intent to witness that final satisfying moment before his life ended.
That moment never came. Instead of meeting his end against the pavement, Marshmallow was spared from all injury as he landed in a large pile of white snow that seemed to appear out of nowhere.
Peter Pan grit his teeth and narrowed his gaze a short ways down the street. A young woman stood there, hand outstretched towards the snow pile and she calmly relaxed it to her side as she walked towards him, tossing her blonde braid over her shoulder. "Leave my family alone," she ordered, taking a stance as the young boy she just saved clambered out of the snow and ran behind her to join his brother.
Peter Pan grinned at the sight of her and shook his head. "So, the Snow Queen still lives," he said with some kind of twisted amusement. "Somehow that doesn't surprise me."
"You shouldn't have sent a weasel to do a man's job," Elsa countered. "Give me my sister's heart. Now."
"Why should I?" he asked, casually throwing the heart into the air and catching again like it were a toy. "You're going to break it again, just like you always do. She deserves a better sister than you, you know? Always shutting her out of everything, always lying to her. You say you want to protect her, but we all know that you're just a coward, Elsa."
She closed her eyes against the onslaught of words, trying to block out their meaning for she knew that he was trying to get under her skin to rattle her like he did at the boathouse. "Enough!" she spat. "What are you planning to do with Anna's heart? What makes it so special?"
"You should know, Snow Queen, being her sister and all. If you cared to actually get to know her, you'd be able to see it clearly for yourself," Pan mocked, stopping his casual tossing of the enchanted object. He said nothing more, leaving Elsa to figure out the truth on her own though the information she had gathered from Emma and Regina was all she needed to come to the right conclusion.
"She has the heart of a True Believer," she said calmly, putting a look of pleasant surprise on Peter Pan's face. "But if her heart has the kind of magic you need to stay alive, then why haven't you absorbed it yet?" The question only intensified the glint in the boy's eyes.
"Because I thought I'd save it for the next time I needed it. See, I'm in a bit of a dilemma," he said casually, holding up the heart. "Your friends destroyed the shadow that brought us all here and that's my only way of getting back to Neverland, so instead, I thought I'd bring Neverland to Storybrooke."
"You mean you're going to curse the town," Elsa corrected.
Pan shrugged. "It sounds harsh when you say it like that, but yeah, I am. I'll be in charge of the new Neverland, just like I was in the old one. My life will be restored and I'll have your dear sister's heart here ready and waiting for me to consume when the sand in the hourglass runs dry. I'll be youthful forever, much more powerful than I am right now and you and your pathetic family will be under my spell, kept alive solely for my entertainment until I squash each of you one by one like the vermin you-"
He ducked out of the way as a stream of icy blue magic screamed past him, freezing the ends of his hair on the right side of his head. He turned and watched as the magic exploded against a parked car, covering it with frost and pointed spikes of ice. "A bit impulsive for royalty, wouldn't you say? I'd be careful if I were you, Snow Queen," he smirked, holding up the heart while pointing a finger at it. "You wouldn't want to miss and freeze this again."
Elsa clenched her teeth, staring at the heart, knowing that Pan would try to use it to scare her off, but she knew that he couldn't risk having something happen to it, either. "You misspoke earlier," she said coolly, falling into a defensive stance and holding her hands out in preparation to strike. "I'm not the coward here; you are."
"Really?"
"I have the strength and support of my loved ones to make me strong," Elsa told him, "and you have nothing but your own inflated sense of pride and an overreliance on magic. I was frightened by the rumors of you, but now that I see you for who you truly are, I realize that there's nothing to be afraid of a boy who refuses to grow up."
Peter Pan faced her with a wild look on his face. "Oh, we'll see who's confident when I rip away everything that you've ever loved. I had hoped that when we met that this conversation would end without a confrontation, but you adults always have to make everything so difficult, don't you?" He gave the heart a short squeeze, shaking Elsa out of her strong stance and he grinned when he saw her falter. "Well if you want to play, then let's play, Snow Queen!"
He opened a palm at her, sending out an invisible wave of force and she quickly moved to conjure her magic, creating a wide ice wall just tall enough to protect herself and her loved ones who sought shelter behind her. The wall shattered and she ducked beneath the wave of magic as it passed over her, covering her head as she was pelted with chunks of her own ice. Intent to keep up with Peter Pan's casting, she vaulted over the short remainder of the wall and sidestepped out of the way of a fireball as it burst upon the pavement, taking aim and fizzling out another one with her icy powers as it screamed straight for her. She retaliated by stomping her foot and coating a short stretch of the road in a sheer layer of ice, hoping it would throw the boy off, but he simply levitated off the ground a short distance to keep it from being a nuisance.
"You're holding back," Peter Pan realized, noticing the way Elsa simply refused to strike back at him. He held the heart out, almost tempting her to run up and take it. "I suppose this isn't that important to you then, I mean, she is just a spare after all, useful only for succeeding you or replacing a heart that I can no longer possess. What a miserable life she leads living in your shadow, always being overlooked, always having to clean up after the messes you leave behind with powers that you can hardly control."
"You know nothing about us," Elsa snapped dangerously, sparks of blue dancing between her fingers as she moved her hands in soft circles.
Peter Pan seemed surprised by her statement. "Oh, really? Then I dare you to hit me. Come on," he said, landing on the ice and holding his arms out wide. "I won't even try to fight back."
Elsa cringed as she hesitated, knowing he was egging her on, trying to get her to do the wrong thing or prove a point. She was a piece in this game he created; she had been for quite some time now and this was just another part of it. With a calming breath and a reminder of who it was that she was fighting for, she cast her magic, watching the blue sparks swirl, duck and dive in an attempt to throw off her enemy, creating a continuous, curved icy path as they went. As the magic quickly approached Pan, it dove off to his right side, leaving the evidence of an aborted strike despite the sparks continuing behind him for an extra foot.
He looked down at the spikes of ice jutting up from the ground at his right side and he chuckled to himself. "I knew you couldn't do it. You're too afraid of hurting her, aren't you?" he asked, looking up and gesturing to the heart. The smile faded from his lips as he stared at her, saw the strong pose she had fallen into when she was controlling her magic, the way her cold eyes narrowed at him as if she hated him more than anything.
"I didn't miss," Elsa said, her chilled breath visible in the warm air.
"Well what do you call this then?" he asked, pointing down at the spikes with an open palm. He only grew concerned when Elsa started speeding towards him with a confident grin on her face as she utilized the icy road to her advantage.
"I like to think of it as a cool distraction!" she called out to him, reaching for the heart as she approached the teen, but of course Peter Pan pulled it out of the way before she could grab it. He turned, staying square with her as she sharply turned and made another attempt at the heart.
"It's not going to be that easy," he laughed as he pulled it out of her reach again.
Elsa simply shrugged as she skated away. "I didn't think it would be."
Confused, Peter Pan stared after her, raising a brow at her words when something moved out of the corner of his eye. He turned a little too late, just witnessing Anna speeding around the last curve of the ice track Elsa had made before the redhead reared back, shovel in hand, and smacked him solidly in the head with it, sending him flying.
"That's for calling me a spare!" she yelled as Peter Pan hit the ice and slid face-first down the street, stopping just a few feet away from Mr. Gold's pawnshop.
Anna dismounted the track and dragged the tip of the shovel behind her, using the friction to come to a stop on the slippery ice. Turning back around, she balanced the shovel on her shoulder and fixed her sister with a wide grin as Elsa quickly skated in and pried the heart from Peter Pan's limp grasp.
"Elsa, you need to work on your ice puns!" Anna laughed as she approached them, nodding happily at her sister for a well-executed plan, though she grew concerned as she stood there and the teen on the ground continued to lay still. "Oh… oh no, I didn't kill him, did I?!" she panicked, lightly kicking his foot with the tip of her shoe and looking to Elsa for help when he didn't respond. "I only meant to knock him out or just distract him, not kill him...! I'm a murderer," she blanked, holding the shovel close. "They're gonna throw me in jail. My life is over and I'm never going to see you again or eat chocolate or-"
"Anna, relax. He's still breathing," Elsa said, calming her sister's worries with a smile. "He's not even bleeding."
"…He's not?"
"Look at the shovel," she instructed, pointing at the metal spade and smirking when Anna blinked at the impression of Peter Pan's face in the surface. "He must've used his magic to protect himself before you hit him. He's probably just knocked out."
With a sigh of relief, Anna dropped the shovel and watched as Elsa used her powers to thaw the ice that covered the road. Kristoff approached them, riding on Sven's back along with Olaf and Marshmallow. "Hey! Are you guys okay?" Anna asked, waving at them as Sven trotted to a halt.
Kristoff rotated his shoulder and rubbed his neck as Elsa moved to hug the two boys sitting in front of him. "Just a few bruises and scrapes between all of us, but we're okay. Mostly," he said, leaning over and receiving a kiss on the cheek from Anna as he eyed Marshmallow clinging to Olaf; the boy was practically petrified from his frightening fall. "What about you two? Are you alright?"
"Well I'm still a little heartless and Elsa's a little scraped up, but I think we're okay," she said, taking the golden glowing heart from her sister when it was offered to her. She looked at Marshmallow again and stared at him sadly as he whimpered and buried his head into Olaf's shoulder, unable to be coaxed out of his shell even by Elsa talking to him. "Kristoff, you need to take them someplace safe and away from here just in case this kid wakes up again."
"I know," Kristoff sighed. He looked at the royal siblings, noticing the determined look in their eyes and the way they stood as though they couldn't be moved. "You guys aren't coming with us," he noted.
"We want to see this through," Elsa told him, hugging her elbows as she glanced at Marshmallow with worry. "We have to keep an eye on Pan to make sure he doesn't go anywhere until Emma or someone else gets here. We'll call you when it's all over, okay?"
With a rough nod, Kristoff kicked Sven lightly in the side and the reindeer took off down the street, disappearing around a turn and leaving the sisters alone with an unconscious threat at their feet.
Anna held up the heart, staring at it for a moment before she moved to offer it to Elsa. The elder sibling held her hands up, denying it with a look of worry. "Elsa, I need help with this!" Anna begged. "It's different putting it back on your own."
"I know but… I'm afraid what will happen. What if I-"
"You won't," Anna argued, pressing the heart forward again. "And besides, you were just holding it a minute ago."
"Anna-"
The redhead gently reached out and grabbed her sister by the wrist, placing the golden heart into her hand. "I trust you. You're not gonna hurt me. It isn't going to happen again, okay? I believe in you."
Trembling, Elsa swallowed, pushing back one of her long-time fears as she placed a hand on Anna's shoulder and brought the heart to her chest. It glowed brightly as it passed through her clothed skin, warming Elsa's hand until the heart completely returned to where it belonged. Anna breathed in sharply at the return of not just her strength, but her love and passion and every other emotion that had just felt subdued to her for the past hour.
She smiled at the look of relief on Elsa's face. "See? Nothing bad happened!"
Elsa nodded, standing there as though she were waiting for something terrible to suddenly happen, and when nothing did she relaxed just a little until a small, chiming sound caught her ear. She averted her eyes from Anna's, looking past her and frowning at the man who stood in the front door of an establishment they both knew too well.
He smirked as Elsa fixed him with a disapproving stare. "Sorry I didn't intervene, Dearie, but you and your family seemed to have had everything taken care of."
Anna rolled her eyes at the voice before she turned around and faced him, watching as Mr. Gold walked out of his shop and approached the evil, mischievous teen who lay still on the pavement. "Uh, I didn't, y'know, kill him or anything in case you were won-"
"I'm aware of that," Mr. Gold snapped, glaring irritably up at Anna. She squeaked at his tone and took a step back towards her sister, watching as the pawnbroker pulled out a black leather cuff and placed it on Peter Pan's wrist; Elsa recognized it as the same bracer Greg had used against her during their skirmish at the docks.
She looked at the teen in disgust, wanting to see justice done for the pain and chaos he had caused during his short stay in town. "You'll be taking care of him?" she asked as Mr. Gold stood and calmly centered his cane beneath his palms.
"Indeed I shall."
"And what about the curse that's supposed to turn Storybrooke into a new Neverland?" To that question, the man just smirked.
"I believe by now, young Henry is on his way to bring Regina what she needs to stop the curse before it covers the town." He sighed, looking disappointed at Peter Pan before he turned the same face to Elsa. "Your powers are still giving you trouble, aren't they, Dearie?"
Elsa swallowed as her pulse leapt up into her throat and Anna looked at her in worry. "I-It's…" she started, wanting to tell him that she had been fine while he was in Neverland, but she'd be lying if she did. She nearly caused a storm over Storybrooke when her frustration with Anna's memories came to a head and her room had been like living inside an ice box. "It's been difficult."
Mr. Gold nodded, seemingly able to understand. "A bit of advice then: trust the lutefisk over there," he said, pointing to Anna.
The redhead blinked at first, wondering if she heard him right before she immediately became insulted. "Lutefisk?! Who are you calling-"
"She has a heart of a True Believer," Gold reminded, kindly interrupting Anna's rant and forcing her to listen. "The bond you two share stopped the Eternal Winter over Arendelle, or so I'm told, and I suspect that if another storm happened to approach, that bond will see you through again."
A small smile tugged at the corner of Elsa's lips, fully confident in the advice she was given, but as she thought upon it more, it started to sound more like a warning. "Wait, what do you mean by-"
She was startled out of her question as Peter Pan suddenly groaned, coming to slowly as he put a hand on his head. Mr. Gold looked up at the siblings, smirking confidently as he pressed his cane to the teen's back. "I'd like to elaborate, but it will have to wait until later. My father and I have some unfinished business to attend to before I give him a proper farewell."
Before another word could be spoken, Mr. Gold and Peter Pan disappeared in a cloud of dark red smoke, leaving Elsa and Anna staring at the vacant space they left behind.
"…Did he say his father?"
"I think so?"
"And he was talking about Peter Pan, right?"
"Right."
"…I am so confused," Anna mumbled, rubbing her forehead and getting a small laugh from Elsa. She smiled a goofy grin at the sound of it, just so happy that everything that was threatening them was gone or about to be taken care of. She looked down at Elsa's bloody knees from the boathouse and winced when she saw the scratches on her back from when her protective ice wall was shattered. "Are you okay?"
"Better than I was this morning," the elder sister smiled as she untied the jacket from around her waist and slipped it back on. "The scratches are nothing."
Anna just grabbed her hand and started pulling her in the direction of the library. "Yeah, but you need to clean them! What if you get an infection?! Let's get home and…" She stopped suddenly when she had a thought and noticed the time on the clock tower. Quickly, she spun around and pulled Elsa with her, yanking her arm and nearly knocking the poor girl off her feet. "Actually, let's go to the diner."
"The diner? Anna, what-?"
"There's something we have to do." She paused. "Well, okay, we don't have to, but we should. Do you still have that potion?"
"Anna, no."
"Elsa, yes."
The blonde sibling rolled her eyes and closed them, mentally counting to three to control a temper that was burning brighter the longer she had to stand there. "You are my sister and I love you," she said through clenched teeth, "but this is a stupid idea…"
"Oh, hey, I agree one-hundred percent: it's really dumb. But," Anna started, putting her hands on Elsa's shoulders and urging her to take more than a step into the diner, "you can't deny that he made an effort here to really change. He deserves his memories back, Elsa."
The elder narrowed her icy blue eyes at the table where Anderson Stromme was sitting. "What, so he can remember that he's a murdering sociopath with a vendetta against us? Anna, I've already considered getting another lock for the apartment door, please don't make me actually go out and get one."
"I know! I know!" Anna sighed, knowing it was going to be a challenge to convince her sibling to go through with the idea. "Okay, we can't forget all the things he's done to us in Arendelle, I get that, but he did work really hard to help me get your heart back from Cora and, contrary to what you probably thought, he tried to save me when the Weselton thugs had me at the town line."
Elsa blinked. "He did?"
"Yeah. He did. The thugs ambushed me as soon as I left the orphanage and Hans followed us the whole way in the forest." The redhead crossed her arms and shrugged. "It's kind of hard to thank someone when they don't even remember what they did." She looked at Anderson, sort of feeling sorry for him until Elsa huffed and brushed past her, headed for the cursed man's table.
"Sometimes I hate how right you are," she grumbled as Anna caught up to her.
They approached the table together and Anna waved at the auburn-haired ranch hand when he recognized her. "Hey Nina! Haven't seen you in a few days. Where have you been?"
"I've been here! I probably just missed you when you stopped in," Anna smiled. She put a hand on Elsa's shoulder and gestured to her with an open palm. "This is my sis- uh, my roommate, Alison."
"The painter, right?" he asked, looking up at Elsa, genuinely curious. She nodded. "I've seen your pieces hanging in that new general store and I've got to say that your work with still life and scenery is impressive."
"Yeah, she's amazing, isn't she? Hey, do you want a refill on that?" Anna asked impatiently, pointing down at Anderson's nearly full glass of sweet tea, trying to move this all along before Elsa became too irritated just standing in front of him.
"No, not rea-"
"Great! Be right back!" Anna smiled, snatching the glass off of the table and taking the vial of potion that Elsa discreetly handed to her, leaving her sibling behind to deal with her cursed enemy alone.
Anderson laughed as Anna scurried off. "She just never stops does she?"
"She's pretty energetic," Elsa agreed.
"And you're a bit of a mystery, aren't you?" he asked with a raised brow. She just shrugged and looked away, not interested in holding a conversation with him.
"I prefer to stay to myself and keep busy with my own projects."
"Are you too busy to go out and enjoy the town? I've never seen you around before."
Elsa blinked, snapping her focus and confused stare back at Anderson. "I-I'm not sure what you're talking about."
He smirked, resting his chin in the palm of his hand as he looked up at her. "I'd like to learn more about you, Alison; Nina doesn't talk about you much. How about once I finish here, you and can I go to that ice cream shop around the corner?"
Oh God, is he asking me out? "Anderson, I don't think-"
"What's your favorite ice cream flavor?"
She stared at him, caught off-guard by the sudden question, but he looked so curious that she felt bad if she just walked away. "Mint chocolate ch-"
"Mine too!" he exclaimed before she could even finish, sitting back and smiling at her with that handsome grin that she thought would look better behind ice. "This place makes the best and you won't regret it."
I'm not going to regret freezing your ass to that chair if you don't back off…
"I'm back!" Anna announced as she returned to Elsa's side and gave her the empty vial. She placed the glass of tea back on the table with grin that was so wide that it almost gave away that she was up to something, but Anderson was oblivious to it as the interruption had him looking to the glass to hide his disappointment.
"That was quick," he said, reaching for the glass, about to bring it to his lips when he was stopped by a sudden thought. "Hey, did you know that the Storybrooke Annual Marathon isn't going on this year?"
"Ha ha! Yeah, who knew?" Anna laughed, glancing at Elsa briefly, noticing how red her face was and the blazing look in her eyes that made her believe for a second that her sister had fire powers.
Drink. The damn. Tea.
And whether he had been influenced by Elsa's mental urges or just his own need to quench his thirst, Anderson finally did drink from the cup that Anna had laced with the potion, practically chugging the drink as though he couldn't stop. Once he finished every last drop, he sat there for a moment, just staring with a blank look on his face before he turned to face the sisters.
"…Anna?" Hans asked, watching as the redhead's over-the-top cheerfulness faded into an unamused stare. He sought the sights of the blonde instead who, at the moment, seemed to be rather placid. "El-"
Elsa slammed the vial down on the table, letting her fingers rest on the glass for just a moment to coat it in a thin layer of frost. "The only reason I'm letting you have your memories back is so I can repay the debt I regrettably owe you. Thank you for trying to save my sister from the Duke and his thugs," she said quickly, practically forcing the words through her teeth. "But for as long as we're all cursed to stay in this town, stay away from my family."
She pivoted on her heel and headed towards the door, followed closely by Anna who was looking back at Hans from over her shoulder. The man sat there, staring at the vial with a smirk that only widened when he turned his green gaze to the older sister.
"So I guess this means you're turning down Anderson's offer?"
The diner air went frigidly cold as Elsa stopped dead in her tracks. Without any hesitation, she lifted her right hand and snapped her fingers, shattering the glass vial behind her and sending Hans to the floor out of surprise. The other dining patrons just watched and stared as she and Anna left the building and then turned their disapproving stares at Hans as he tried to recollect himself.
"Yeah, thought so. Crazy ice bitch…" he muttered under his breath.
Anna stood at the door to the diner, watching through the glass to make sure that everyone inside was okay before she skipped down the steps and caught up with her sister. She smiled from ear to ear, putting a hand on Elsa's shoulder to show encouragement. "I think that went well!"
"No. No it didn't."
"You didn't freeze his hands off. That's a good start."
Elsa rolled her eyes as they turned and headed down the street. "Anna, be thankful that I didn't freeze his face off after everything we've gone through today."
"Hey, we did the right thing by giving him that potion, and don't make it sound like everything is going wrong today. I mean, things can't really get much worse, can they?" Anna dared to ask. She smiled optimistically in the face of Elsa's pessimistic look, but a sudden cold wind had her regretting asking in the first place as a large shadow loomed over the siblings.
Slowly, they both turned at the sound of a distant rumbling behind them and looked up to witness a large, green cloud slowly roll in, blocking out the sun and sweeping over the town in one giant mass.
Anna swallowed dryly at the sight of it. "…What the heck is that?"
Elsa's shoulders dropped and she reached for Anna's hand, gripping it tightly as she stared the familiar sight in the face, one that they had met head on over twenty-eight years ago. "It's Pan's Dark Curse," she breathed, hesitating just a moment longer before she sprinted in the opposite direction, pulling her sister with her.
"I thought Regina was supposed to take care of it?!" Anna wondered out loud, catching up to Elsa's pace as the older sibling started to leave a faint trail of frost in her frightened wake.
"God, I hate this town!" Elsa spat, searching desperately for an answer to where things had gone wrong… not that it mattered now.
They could have tried taking shelter in one of the local stores, but they both knew that wouldn't protect them from the curse as their own castle in Arendelle was powerless to shield them from the first with its many sturdy walls. They had no way of stopping it and so the two of them ran away from it, heading down Main Street in an attempt to save themselves.
Their attempt was slowed however by the sight of a gathering just outside of Mr. Gold's shop. Emma, Henry, Regina, Mary-Margaret, David, Belle, Neal, Captain Hook and even Granny Lucas all stood in a line, standing so still it was as though they were petrified. As Elsa and Anna approached, they both saw the shimmer of magic around their friends; they really were petrified, at least temporarily, and for a moment they wondered what was going on until they looked past the group and witnessed what they were all staring at for themselves.
Peter Pan paced before the group with a smug look on his face that only brightened when he saw Elsa and Anna speeding towards him. "Finally! I was wondering when you two would show up!" He held his arms out wide as they stumbled to a halt, falling in line with the others, and the grin on his face spread when he noticed the faint blue glow of magic in Elsa's palms. Quickly, he held out a hand at the two of them, trapping them with the same spell that he had trapped everyone else in.
"Sorry, Snow Queen, but we're playing a different game now and you were about to break the rules," he laughed as Elsa was caught in a pose that suggested she was halfway through casting a blast of ice magic at him. "I was just trying to decide who out of this lot I should kill first. It was going to be Baelfire," he said, gesturing to Neal, "but now that you're here I think I'll kill you first. You've been as much of a pain in my side as these other heroes, keeping me and my operatives from getting your sister's heart, so it's only fitting that you go first."
He held his chin in thought as he looked at her and thought back to their skirmish in the street and the situation at the boathouse. "Actually… I changed my mind. Killing off the spare will be much more satisfying, I mean, if I can't have her heart, then why should you have your sister?" he suggested, pointing an open palm at Anna. Her face was frozen in a determined glare and even though she couldn't move, he could see the anger burning in her teal eyes and he laughed at just how pitiful the two of them were. "Pathetic. It's like you two were made just to hurt each other."
The sound of something crackling had Peter Pan turning his sights to Elsa and he only smirked as familiar, instinctive frost coated her fingertips as ice struggled to sprout beneath her feet out of fear. "Who's the coward now, Snow Queen?" he dared. "Just imagine how much fun you're going to have once this curse fogs your mind and you spend the rest of your existence searching helplessly for your precious sister not knowing that she's already dead."
On the outside, the sisters looked positively livid, stuck that way due to the spell that stilled them. On the inside they both screamed bloody murder; after everything they had gone through in this town, it was all going to end right here at the hands of a childish teenager who wanted to stay young forever. Elsa tried to utilize what little magic she already conjured, but the effort was for nothing. All she could do was watch as Pan summoned a fireball in his hand and turn his sights towards Anna… and then stumble backwards as someone jerked his shoulder back to keep him from casting the magic at her.
"Stay away from them," Mr. Gold warned darkly.
Peter Pan laughed at his courage, clearly not intimidated at all. "How about this? The worm has teeth," he mocked. "You're here to protect your "loved ones?""
"I'm not gonna let you touch them," the pawnbroker stated, looking between Belle and Neal and then to Elsa and Anna. "I won't let you hurt any of them."
"Oh, I'd like to see that."
As the two exchanged words, Elsa saw the opportunity to make a stronger attempt at freeing herself from the spell. She struggled to move her limbs and from the sound of Anna humming next to her, her sister was trying to do the same. Frost sprouted up to her elbows and she had a moment of clarity where she thought she could use it to break free of the spell and so she tried to focus, to ignore the threat in front of her and concentrate on the magic that coursed through her veins. If she could just shatter the enchantment, she could protect her sister and put an end to-
"What are you doing?!"
Her concentration was broken by the outcry and she looked up at the boy who had caused her so much worry and heartbreak over the past two weeks. Mr. Gold held onto Peter Pan with one arm and raised his free hand to the air, summoning a shadow who deposited a wicked, curved dagger into his hand. In one swift move, he stabbed Peter Pan in the back and by doing so, impaled himself upon the blade.
The boy disappeared in a cloud of black smoke and moments later, when the smoke cleared, an older, shady looking man took his place.
"Hello, Papa," Mr. Gold said with a pained smile.
The man struggled against the blade, coughing as he fell against him, weak. "Rumple, please, you can stop this. Remove the dagger. We can start over." He smiled, trying to convince his son to spare him. "We can have a happy ending."
"Oh, but I'm a villain," Mr. Gold reminded him, smiling as he stared him straight in the eyes. "And villains don't get happy endings."
The man, Mr. Gold's father, slumped in his arms, defeated. He slowly turned his head, smirking at Elsa and Anna with a crooked grin. "I-I guess I lost the game. I was never very good at "Keep Away" to begin with," he said, practically spitting the words at his son.
Mr. Gold looked to the sky, shaking his head. "And seconds ago you were just trying to bargain for your life," he said, twisting the blade, grunting against the pain. He turned his sights over to Elsa and cringed against a bright golden light that was emitting from the dagger; the small smile he held on his lips deepened into a serious frown as they locked eyes, completely focused on one another. "Elsa… remember the advice I gave you. There is a prophecy… one I tried to steer you from, but I failed. Do not give in to the nature of your magic." As the golden light threatened to overwhelm him, he nodded to the redhead at Elsa's side. "Protect her. Anna will help you find the way through the darkness."
The two sisters wanted to cry out in protest at the warning but they could not speak. All they could do was stand there as the light blinded them.
Moments later after the light faded, Elsa found herself stumbling forward from the fading immobilization spell with a desperate question on her lips, but as Anna caught her to keep her from falling, she soon found that she would not get an answer even if she spoke the question out loud; Rumplestiltskin and his father were gone from this world without a trace, leaving Elsa hopeless with a warning she didn't know what to do with.
"Hello? Kristoff? Yeah… yes… I know, the green cloud with the lightning and… okay… okay! Yes, it's in town, but don't worry, okay?"
Elsa looked over at Anna, wondering what the ice harvester was saying on the other line and the condition of her two boys. Her sister just huffed, holding the phone away from her ear as Kristoff's voice came through in one drawn-out, single-breathed line of worries and concerns.
"Kristoff, hold on for- yeah, I know, just stop talking for a second!" Anna put her hand over the speaker and leaned over to her sister, smiling widely. "He's got Sven and the boys in the sheriff station. Everyone's okay, but the curse is pretty much right on top of them."
"Tell him that-"
"We're going to be fine," Anna interrupted, giving her sister an apologetic look as the blonde rolled her eyes at her. "Regina's going to undo the curse that took us here in the first place and the entire town's going back to the Enchanted Forest, so stop worrying, okay?"
Elsa bit her lip and turned away from Anna's conversation, looking instead to the older sorceress who was walking by her side. "When you break the curse, it's going to wipe out the one that Peter Pan cast, correct?"
With a firm nod, Regina kept her focus on the road ahead as she led the sisters, Mary-Margaret, David and a sizable group of others to one of the town lines. "So long as I break it before his curse reaches us, the entire town will be spared and we'll all return to where we came from… except for those two, of course," she said, gesturing to the yellow car that they were following. "Emma and Henry can escape my curse's destruction, but the rest of us… well, we just have to deal with it."
There was a moment of pause between them. Anna wandered away from Elsa's side to deal with Kristoff's worrying in private and it was then that Regina noticed the somber look on the Snow Queen's face. "What's wrong? Out of all of us I assumed that you'd be the one most excited to return home."
Elsa breathed in, brows drawing together as she watched the car stop before the orange line on the road just up ahead. "I-I'm ecstatic, really. I've wanted nothing more than to go back to Arendelle, but… I'm worried." She put her hands in her pockets, gripping the crown in her left hand to try and alleviate the fear she was experiencing. "Do you know what Mr. Gold meant when he said about giving in to the nature of my magic?"
Regina crossed her arms, holding tightly onto the scroll that held the Dark Curse as she turned to face the young woman who was about to return to her position as a queen. "Rumplestiltskin has a gift for seeing the future," she explained, "and regardless of how bizarre or frightening his predictions are, he's always right. Always," she repeated, looking distant for a moment as her own past caught up with her.
The news didn't come easily to Elsa. "Then something's going to happen to me," she dreadfully realized, "or I'm going to do something horrible again that I can't stop."
"If I were you, I'd spend less time trying to figure out what this prophecy means and focus instead on the advice he gave you to get through it. Let the pipsqueak help you," she said, smirking at Anna as she skipped back to Elsa's side and linked arms with her. "I ignored Rumple's advice for years thinking that I didn't need it and I only made things worse for myself."
"What're you guys talking about?" Anna asked, looking between the two curiously. Regina shook her head, ignoring her as Emma and Henry stepped out of the car. She left the siblings on their own and Anna turned her question to Elsa instead. "Everything okay?"
"Y-Yeah. I'm just overthinking again."
"About what Gold just said? Elsa, don't worry about that," Anna said softly, squeezing her arm. "Just like everything else, we'll get through whatever happens together. You've got me to back you up, remember? Besides, he said I was supposed to guide you and-"
Anna couldn't even finish what she was about to say as she found herself being dragged away from her sister by an arm around her neck. Instinct told her she was in danger and she tried to pry off the hold beneath her chin, but as she looked up, she just smiled sheepishly as Granny Lucas pulled her away with Elsa laughing at her, hiding her genuine smile behind her hand as she always did.
"Just because we're going home doesn't mean you can get away with all the things you broke in the diner, missy!" Granny spat, loud enough for Elsa to hear. "You owe me three coffee pots, five mugs, two plates, a salt shaker-"
"I thought I broke a pepper shaker?"
"…You owe me a salt and a pepper shaker, one broom and a chair."
"You broke a chair?" Elsa asked, her curious stare deepening into an angered one at Anna's cheesy look of innocence. "Those are metal, how did you-?"
"It's better if you don't ask," Anna told her, twisting out of Granny's headlock and backing away towards her sister. "I'm just a little clumsy sometimes when I get nervous! I mean, everyone is, right? Besides, most of that was Nina, not me!"
"Anna, you are-"
"Yes, I know, and I'm sorry! I'll send you some trinkets or gold or something from Arendelle to make up for the loss!" Anna called as she pulled Elsa along to get to the front of the group of townsfolk who followed them, leaving Granny laughing at her, still amused by the girl's energy and spunk.
The two sisters stood back as Emma said goodbye to her parents, watching with heavy hearts as tears flowed and warm hugs that should have lasted a lifetime were hastily broken with the encroaching storm. They both knelt down when Henry approached them and he looked between them, just staring for a moment, unwilling to forget their faces before he tackled them both in a wide-armed hug.
"I'm gonna miss you guys," he said, bowing his head down as they both hugged him close.
"We're gonna miss you, too," Anna said, speaking for both sisters as she could feel Elsa shaking in her part of the embrace. Henry pulled back and she ruffled his hair, trying to leave him with a smile, though it was clear just how upset he was.
"Thank you for being like sisters to me," he told them, "and for being my friends during the curse, and for believing in Operation: Cobra. You guys are like the coolest old people ever."
"Old people?" Elsa repeated with a skewed smile, getting a jab in her arm from Anna.
"Well, you are fifty years old, after all," she joked, missing Elsa's pout as she turned a playful smile towards Henry. "We'll all see each other again someday."
The boy didn't seem so sure. "How? You guys are going back to your world and all the magic beans are gone. You can't come back here."
"Well, I believe that we'll get back somehow!" Anna declared brightly. She reached behind her neck and untied the black material of her necklace, catching the golden crocus pendant before it hit the ground. She looked at it for a moment, remembering how she found it, how she got it, how she had once thrown it away in anger at the person who gifted it to her and how that person returned it out of faith.
She gave it a tight squeeze before she offered it to the boy. "I want you to have this," she said, watching as Henry hesitated and then nodding to encourage him to take it. He held the pendant in his palm, running his thumb over the crocus engraved into the metal. "When Elsa and I were cursed, she gave that to me and it always reminded me that no matter how hard things got, we'd get through it."
"And whenever Anna wore it, it reminded me that everything bad that happened to us was just temporary." Elsa reached for the pendant in the boy's hand, turned it over and pressed a finger to the flat surface, leaving a bright snowflake shining on the side opposite of the crocus. "You might not remember us after you leave, but we'll never forget all the fun we had together in this town."
Henry looked at the snowflake symbol in wonder, then turned the pendant over to stare at the crocus. He wrapped his fingers around the gold, holding it tightly as if to protect it. "We will see each other again," he said, smiling at Elsa and then nodding at Anna, agreeing with her previous statement.
She smirked. "We're true believers, right? If we both believe it, then it has to come true!"
"Henry!" The two siblings and the young boy looked up at Emma who was standing by the trunk of her car, looking worse for wear with all the farewells. "Curse is coming. Say goodbye to Regina," she said quietly, eyeing the green clouds that were approaching the in the distance behind them. Henry kindly thanked the siblings and ran off as Emma walked up to them. She put her hands in her pockets as the sisters stood, holding her shoulders in a shrug, unsure how to start saying goodbye. "Well that was one hell of a day, huh?"
"It's pretty average for Storybrooke," Anna laughed half-heartedly, bringing them all to realize that the town and all its adventures, as scary and terrible as they were, was going to disappear in just minutes. "But everyone's okay and that's all that matters, right, Elsa?"
The blonde sighed and shook her head with a pained expression on her face as she rubbed the back of her neck. "Speak for yourself; I'm going to have bruises for weeks."
"Too much adventure for a Snow Queen?" Emma asked with a raised brow, laughing at Elsa's nodding.
"Emma, ever since we came to this town I've been manipulated, insulted, threatened, thrown in jail, and shot," she exclaimed, showing the bullet hole in her jacket. "My sister and I have both had our hearts ripped out twice and today I got beat up by a kid who was half my age but turned out to be some fifty-year-old swindler. I've filled my quota for adventure and I'd like to go home now."
"Never thought you'd be so eager to go back to all that paperwork," Anna joked, remembering the days Elsa used to spend sorting through documents and plans that required her attention or approval. Her sister just rolled her eyes at her.
"At least paperwork never tried to kill me."
"Not yet."
"I think you guys did pretty well for yourselves here," Emma smiled. "I remember when I first came to town you were both struggling just to eat every week, but in these last few months you turned it all around. You should be proud of yourselves."
"Not bad for a pair of princesses raised in a castle, huh?" Anna smirked, her half smile fading at a sobering thought. "Thank you though, Emma."
"Me? What'd I do?"
Anna rolled her eyes as if it were obvious. "You came to Storybrooke! If it weren't for you, nothing would have ever changed in this town. I… I mean, Nina would have never gotten a job and we would have never moved out of that crappy apartment."
"You helped Alison stay anonymous as Mr. Gold's bail provider," Elsa reminded, "you tried to protect me when Cora took my heart and you helped me get the memory potion from Regina which actually led to the two of us settling our differences, so thank you for that."
Emma took a step back, smiling sadly. "Yeah, but you guys realize that I only helped, right? Everything you guys went through, all those bad situations, you solved them on your own. Together. I only did what I thought was right." She hesitated for a moment, wanting to say so much more but some kind of emotional barrier was holding her back.
Eventually, Anna just had enough of watching her struggle with what to do and crossed the distance, pulling her sibling with her. "God, you're just like Elsa was when it comes to giving hugs!" she joked as she wrapped her arms around Emma's shoulders. "If we find a way to cross worlds, we'll come visit you."
"I won't remember you, but sure," Emma said skeptically, letting go of her and embracing Elsa. "You guys take care of each other. Don't let Gold's rambling scare you, all right?"
Just the reminder of Rumplestiltskin's final words brought back a twinge of fear and Elsa only nodded as Anna took her hand and squeezed it tight. "We'll be fine," the younger sibling assured, trying to hold her smile though her lips trembled. "I guess… I guess we'll see you later, Emma."
Swallowing her sadness, Emma gave one last look to the siblings, to her parents, and to all the people she had met and helped during her stay in Storybrooke before she turned her back on all of them for the first and final time. Moments later, she was driving down the road with her son, leaving behind her friends, her family, and the town that had been under her protection for most of the last year.
Elsa watched her drive away, feeling regretful that she had spent more time fearing and almost resenting the sheriff instead of getting to know her. She heard a sniffle to her right side and she turned, letting go of Anna's hand and giving her shoulder a soft squeeze as the younger sister wiped away tears. "Hey, it's okay," she told her. "Let's just be thankful that we had this time with her and Henry."
"I know, I just… I don't like saying goodbye." Anna took a deep breath and exhaled, stopping her tears and facing her sister with a bright smile. "We're finally going home, Elsa. It's about time, huh?"
"Yes. Finally," Elsa sighed, her shoulders relaxing as she looked down the road where the yellow car was fading into the horizon. "I'm looking forward to visiting all the places I've been painting for the last twenty-eight years."
"But we had quite an adventure here, didn't we?"
"I guess," the blonde shrugged. "A frightening, occasionally heartbreaking adventure where we stared death in the face about a dozen times, but it was an adventure nonetheless."
"…Are you up for one more?"
Elsa blinked, looking down at the crazy stare her sister was giving her. "Hm? Anna, what are you- hey!"
"Come on! Come on, come on!" Anna cheered as she spun around and pulled Elsa through the small crowd of gathered townsfolk who had come to see off Emma and Henry. She dragged her a short distance past them and then stopped, staring in the face of the large green miasma as it slowly rolled towards them, churning with dark magic and snapping with flashes of lightning. Anna smiled at the sight of it and Elsa shook her head, knowing her sister had no intention of moving from her spot.
"Anna, this is crazy."
"Is it?" the younger sibling asked, smile still wide on her face. "Hey, the last time this happened, we were both scared stiff and thought we were gonna die, but we know what's happening now. We don't have to be afraid of this. We're gonna face it together just like everything else that's come our way."
A loud crash of thunder startled Elsa and she closed her eyes as the wind picked up, messing with her hair, throwing off her hearing. The last time she faced a storm like this, she had intended to go through it alone, hoping her sacrifice would save her people from whatever evil the magic had brought with it, but Anna, her dear precious sister, wouldn't let her.
Over twenty-eight years ago they stood together against the storm that tore them away from Arendelle. Now they stood together facing the one that would be destroyed to bring them back.
Anna felt her hand being gripped tighter and she looked up to Elsa's newly confident smile.
"Forever frozen?"
"Yeah. No matter what."
A soft wind blew at their backs and where their vision had once been clear, it was now filled with purple smoke. The dark cloud surrounded the sisters and they stood hand in hand as they watched it crash against the green mist of Peter Pan's curse and obliterate it, continuing on to spread its magic throughout the town. It coated the streets and climbed up the buildings, engulfing local businesses, the sheriff's station where their family was hiding, the cemetery where their parents rested, the Town Hall where they faced numerous trials and even the library clock tower. Even in its final moments, the clock counted the minutes and hours that passed since the Savior came to Storybrooke.
Anna and Elsa closed their eyes, thinking of all the time they spent in this place and all the memories they had of it, good and bad. They went through a lot in this little town, but they learned much, not just about themselves, but each other as well.
If they concentrated, they could almost see the purple mist swirling around a familiar brick building. Third floor, apartment number fifteen, it was a homey little place they kept up together that was decorated with Elsa's paintings, where the kitchen was stocked with boxes upon boxes of Anna's favorite toaster pastries and the couch had been their favorite place to crash during sleepless nights. It wasn't the castle they grew up in, but they made it theirs. In moments, it became swallowed by the same magic that was drawing them away from this world.
Something resonated in their hearts and they both opened their eyes to find that their vision was fading to black. It became difficult to hear. The wind died and the world went still.
Anna flexed her fingers. Elsa squeezed them in return. They were still together.
And they were going home.