So I spent the rest of the time waiting for my flight trying to get the second half of what I had typed onto my husband's computer so I could upload it but technology and I were not on the same page. I made it 20 minutes of the 40 minute ride home before I caved and checked Tumblr for spoilers. I am certain this episode is going to be the death of me. I'm actually debating waking up at like 5 am tomorrow to see if Comcast has it On Demand yet and watching before I go into work.
Anyway, this obviously isn't going to follow the episode (although depending on if I die of feels or not, I may write another chapter based off what actually happened) but it has feels and I wanted to share the feels.
Her phone buzzed. Leroy is saying something about an ice wall at the town line. Can you check it out? I can meet you there shortly.
Of course there would be an ice wall at the town line. Emma sighed and stood, instinctively heading toward Killian's room before stopping short. If he was still going to be as irritable as his was this morning, she had no interest in dragging him along on what was most likely an extreme exaggeration of a frozen over snow pile.
Headed there now. Emma replied to David's text.
...
Emma's eyes nearly rolled out of her head when she pulled up to the ice structure. It really was a wall made of nothing but ice. Jagged, imposing and incredibly tall, it stretched across the road and as far into the forest on both sides as she could see. "Really?" She muttered, slamming the cruisers door shut and approaching the massive structure.
After wandering around for a few moments and beginning to regret her lack of gloves or a scarf, she finally found a small archway leading into the massive structure. Stepping inside she saw it was at least ten foot wide. This is going to be a real bitch when it melts she thought.
"Hello?" She called out tentatively.
A blonde in a shimmering blue dress stepped out from behind a rather large icicle. "Who are you?"
Emma stopped, shocked. She was not expecting to actually find anyone in here. "I'm Emma. I'm the sheriff here. Who are you?"
"My name is Elsa. I'm looking for my sister. Do you know where she is?" Emma immediately detected the fear in her voice.
"What is her name? I'm positive if she is here I can help you find her." Emma asked gently, slowly approaching the other blonde.
"Her name is Anna." Elsa replied.
"I don't know of her, but that doesn't mean she isn't here. You know you are in Storybrooke, right? The town has been through a few curses and it seems new people come over from the Enchanted Forest each time. She may have come over with the last curse." Emma explained.
"The Enchanted Forest?! You mean Mist Haven? That's the terrible place my sister was visiting! I don't remember anything after Kristoff told me of her departure on the ship and it was too late for me to stop her. What if she didn't make it? It's all my fault this happened!" The panic in her voice rose with each sentence, fingers trembling. Almost involuntarily her hand shook, a trail of spiked ice forming between the two women.
Emma jumped back just in time. She held her hands out to Elsa in a gesture of peace. "Look, just calm down please."
Elsa nodded. "I don't know how to control it."
"I've never heard of the enchanted forest referred to as mist haven, but it's completely possible. I'm not from there, I mean I am but I didn't even grow up there so I don't know if there were other names or really anything about it other than the stories in my sons book and the stories that my parents have told me. But in my previous job, I was a bail bonds person. Like a bounty hunter in your land. I am really good at finding people and if your sister is here, I will do whatever I can to help you find her. But I need you to not make ice walls. Or gigantic cranky snowmen." Emma said.
Else didn't respond, just continued to look at her. "I have magic too. I don't really know how it works though, just that it's light magic and I think tied into my emotions. Or at least that's when it works better. So do you think maybe we could leave this...thing and go look for your sister? And maybe you could help melt it?"
"I can't!" Her fingers trembled again, the ground beginning to shake and ice falling from above. "I told you, I can't control it."
The ground shook harder, knocking Emma off her feet. She tried to reach out and grab onto something but her fingers met nothing but slippery ice. She tried to brace her fall but slid again knocking her head off the side of an icicle.
-/-
"Emma?" The voice was soft, tentative.
It was cold. So unbearably cold. She couldn't feel her fingers, her face or her feet. The shivering would not stop. She just wanted to be warm again. Forcing herself to open one eye, she found Elsa crouching in front of her.
"I'm so sorry. I blocked us in and I don't know how to melt the ice." Elsa sounded terrified.
Next to her, she heard something crackling. A few seconds later it dawned on her that she had grabbed the walkie from the cruiser before entering this ice palace. Grabbing it, she pressed the button. "David? Are you here yet?" Her voice came out weaker than intended.
"Emma?! Where are you? Killian and I just got here." David sounded slightly frantic.
"I'm inside, with Elsa. She's looking for her sister Anna. But some ice fell and were trapped in here. Do you think you could find a way to dig us out? Or see if Regina has any spare fireballs?" Emma joked.
"We've already started but the ice appears to be magical and fairly resistant to the dwarves axes. I've asked your mother to go find Regina but she hasn't had any luck yet. Are you okay in there?" David asked.
"It is magical ice. But yeah, I'm okay, just c-cold." Emma admitted.
"Is that your father? Why didn't you tell him that I trapped us in here? It was all my fault." Elsa asked confused.
Emma shrugged. "I don't think you did it on purpose. Accidents happen. And yeah, he is my father. Also the deputy..and barely two years older than me. This town is kind of weird."
The walkie crackled again. "Emma, love?" He sounded hesitant.
She wasn't expecting to hear his voice. She had almost forgotten that David said he was with him.
"Yeah?"
"Why did you not ask me to accompany you on this patrol?" He sounded hurt.
"I thought it best to leave you alone." Emma said flatly.
"Love I'm so sorry for earlier. I most fervently apologize for my rudeness toward you this morning. It was most uncalled for." Emma wasn't sure if he was whispering or if the ice created a bad connection.
"Yeah, can we talk about this later?"
"Of course love, anything that you wish. I just needed to hear with my own ears that you were okay. You are okay, right love?" The hope in his voice made her uncomfortable.
She debated for a minute or two. She could lie to him and say that everything was fine, it was just a bit chilly. But that wasn't the case. It was absolutely freezing in here and she was not properly dressed for the frigid temperatures. She wanted nothing more but to sleep but knew that was an extremely dangerous idea. "Not-t really. It-t's s-so cold-d in here and I c-can't get warmmm." She couldn't stop her teeth from chattering.
She heard some fumbling in the background and it took her a minute to realize he hadn't let go of the button. "Break through that ice faster." He demanded. "Your sheriff, your savior, is freezing to death inside and if you don't get to her in time I will personally murder you with your own axe myself." She heard the shattering sounds of ice crunching under the weight of axes.
"Love, you're going to be okay. We're going to get to you. I just need you to stay awake." He voice was soft, a stark contrast to the tone she overheard him use with the dwarves.
"T-trying." She bit out, pulling her legs against her chest and wrapping her arms around her knees. "T-talk to m-me?"
"Of course, love. I'll tell you the story of when a dashingly handsome pirate hellbent on revenge came across the most gorgeous blonde woman he ever laid eyes on. He quickly found that she was not some useless, pretty lass but instead as tough as any warrior. The pirate could read her as an open book, immediately seeing the fear from loss in her eyes." He told her of the climb on the beanstalk, how it was just not in jest that he had hoped it was her, but truly because he had never been so intrigued by a woman in his life. He told her how he wasn't all that surprised when she chained him up on the beanstalk but never expected that she would make a deal with the giant to spare his life. He told her of the confidence the woman possessed, sword fighting a pirate with hundreds of years of experience on her without preamble and maybe how the pirate had thrown the fight because he could see the desperation in her eyes to return to her son.
He told her of the first words she ever spoke that truly touched him, when she related to him and asked him to be a part of something. That her words haunted him, repeating over and over again his his head, causing a sharp pain in his chest until he physically turned around his ship and offered his assistance to Neverland to get her to her boy back. Of how he knew she would succeed in defeating the bloody demon, better known as Pan, and that she would be reunited with her son because he never encountered such fierce determination in someone else.
He told her of how defeated he felt with that next curse looming, knowing that he would never get to see her again nearly did him in. Knowing that she would forget all memories of him, hurt him to his core causing him to take a chance and tell her that there wasn't a day that would go by that he wouldn't think of her. And that it was the truth; from the second he arrived back in the Enchanted Forest with everyone his first and only thoughts were of returning to her. It took over, not allowing him to sleep without her flitting through his mind and how he was never more grateful to see that bird on his ship, because even if it meant more danger it also meant he could see her again.
"Emma, are you still with me?" He asked not realizing how long he had been talking, completely caught up in telling her how she consumed every inch of the heart he previously thought blackened beyond the ability to ever love again.
There was silence on the other end. "Emma?!" His voice was more frantic.
"Hurry, Killian." It came out broken and small, so quiet he almost didn't hear her.
Turning to David, he couldn't keep the anguish and fear off his face. "She's going to freeze to death."
-/-
She flitted in and out of consciousness, vaguely remembering a heavy weight draped across her body, providing warmth and smelling faintly of the sea.
Hours or days later, she couldn't be sure but she felt another heavy weight on her arms and chest. Wiggling her arms a bit, she realized she was wrapped securely in a blanket, tucked in on either side of her. A faint beeping and antiseptic smell lead her to believe she was in the hospital.
Slowly she opened her eyes, not expecting the first thing she saw to be Killian hunched over in an uncomfortable hospital chair, worry lines creasing his forehead. His eyes were closed, but his posture was still held rigid.
Struggling a bit, she finally freed her hand from the confines of the blanket and placed it on top of his. His eyes immediately shot open, gaze landing on her.
"Hi." She said sheepishly, a small smile on her lips.
His fingers immediately laced through hers, squeezing tightly. She visibly saw the stress and fear leave his body. "Love, you had me absolutely terrified." His voice was hoarse.
"I'm sorry." She said, hoping he would understand she was sorry for more than just going into an ice wall alone.
Understanding crossed his face and she knew, once again, he was reading all the words she could not say. She grinned. "What, no 'thank god you're alive' kiss?"
He blinked at her for a second until her words sunk in, then his body shot forward, capturing her lips with his. "Thank the gods, the heavens, stars and the seas that you are alive." He murmured against her lips.
I really never thought I would write Elsa and that I could somehow skip over this part of the show, but honestly the connection she is going to have with Emma is going to be way too hard to pass up. Hope you liked this!