Hey guys, I'm finally back! Work and moving to my own apartment's been kind of stressful, so I haven't had much time to write. But I have written a few chapters that I'm going to post tonight! I also have started to schedule when I should post chapters for various fics. Never used that before, but I felt like I had to do it now.
Anyway; enjoy these chapters! After the last one I've written when I should post the next chapter - according to the schedule.
It felt like at least a decade had passed since they were last here, in this closed-off room at the end of a corridor on the second floor of the Storybrooke hospital. Back then it had been Rachel who had been ordered to stay in bed, courtesy of David's shadow trying to strangle her, and now it was Clarissa. Rowan sat next to her on the bed with his arm resting protectively around her shoulders, but she hardly seemed to notice. Instead she was ripping off tiny pieces from a paper that she had found somewhere or other, her gaze downcast and her face hidden from view by her red hair. Chairs had been pulled up around the bed and for those who had not gotten there in time to claim a chair there were the other beds in the room to sit on as well. With thirty-two people in there, one would think it was clammy, hot and in need of a few open windows. Not to mention chatty. But it was neither of those things; in fact the room contained a silence so deep it could be cut with a knife like jelly and the air around them felt cold.
"I can't believe he's gone", Jade eventually said. Some murmured in agreement and then there was another long silence.
"Is there going to be a funeral?" Miranda asked, looking at Maryse. The Canadian nodded slightly.
"In three days, in the morning", she replied. "Unless we, by some miracle, find a way past that ice wall before tomorrow night, or at least in the morning two days from now, there's no way we'll be able to attend it."
Another few minutes of silence passed, before Indira got out of her chair and left the room. After a brief hesitation Josh followed, disappearing after his master-slash-girlfriend down the corridor.
"I'm sorry", Rachel suddenly said. "If I hadn't just run off..."
"You had your reasons", Catriona replied, "and there's no way you could have known this would happen."
"But if I'd stayed we might have been able to convince him to come with us here", Rachel muttered. "At least we would have been able to say goodbye to him."
"He had decided from the beginning not to leave New York", Toby said. "I wouldn't be surprised if he knew that he was dying already when we met him in Orlando."
"Another one of his secrets", Brandon huffed and leaned back in his chair. "Can't say I'm surprised."
"Did anyone really know him?" Imogen suddenly asked. "I mean, really know him. Who he was, where he came from..."
"No, that's part of the secrets", Wolfgang replied.
"You sure?" Imogen asked and did the opposite of Brandon, leaning forward. "Because I think that Ollivander was a clever old man. And even if he kept secrets, he knew that some of the stuff he had learned he had to pass on to others."
"What are you talking about?" Blaire asked, frowning at the British blonde.
"I'm saying that he might have told us his secrets", Imogen replied, "but in ways that we did not expect. And not to everyone at once."
"Why is this even important right now?" Nathan sighed. "The man's dead and yes, we should mourn him, but why this sudden urge to figure him out? Don't we have other issues to deal with?"
He nodded at Clarissa on the bed, which made Rowan narrow his eyes at him. Nathan simply shrugged.
"Not into girls, you know", he said. "Just trying to keep the focus where it should be."
"But maybe Imogen's right", Filipi said. "Maybe we should be trying to figure out who Ollivander was and what he really wanted us to do."
"If he did, that will have to wait", Toby said and rose. "I'm with Nathan on this; we have issues here that we need to resolve before we deal with Ollivander's possible secrets. Still..."
He paused and everyone could see his mind working to think of a good solution that would please both sides of this minor argument.
"We'll set up a board in the library of the Dragon Mansion", he eventually said. "One of those investigation boards. Anytime you remember something that Ollivander's said, write it down and put it up on that board."
Everyone else nodded in agreement.
"Now", Toby continued, "there's the situation with Clarissa and the Snow Queen."
Clarissa did not look up at them but simply continued to tear the paper to shreds, which made everyone shift their attention to Rowan.
"The Snow Queen seemed... curious about her", Rowan reluctantly said. "I'd say we make sure that Clarissa's not on any field missions until we figure out why."
"Maybe she's curious about her because of her connection to Emma?" Arianne suggested.
"Maybe", Rowan agreed, "but there was something else about her actions. Almost... almost possessive."
Clarissa shivered beside him, the only reaction she had shown to anything they had said. In that moment the lights reflected slightly on the silvery dots in her eyes.
"And the vision", Ella said, "what was it about?"
"I don't know", Rowan replied. "She won't tell me anything other than the fact that we're going to kill one another. And I'm not sure what the word we refers to here; her and me, all of us, her and Emma..."
"Whatever it is we must figure out a way to stop it from happening", Chad said.
"Agreed", Toby said. "Some of us should stay here with Clarissa tonight. The rest of you... we'll regroup tomorrow morning, see what else we've come up with that could help. Rowan, you keep us posted if Clarissa's got any other visions. Or if she feels ready to talk about the one she's had."
Rowan nodded and, slowly, part of the group sifted out of the room. Some decided to head to Granny's for dinner, while others decided to head straight back to the mansions. Rachel had promised David to babysit Neal and offered those going to Granny's a ride.
"Arianne!"
She turned in the doorway, seeing Victor breaking away from the group heading to the diner. His icy blond hair was, as usual, drawing attention, this time from two young nurses in the reception. A couple of weeks ago his shoulders would have slumped and he would have tried to hide it beneath his hood, but now he hardly seemed to notice.
"You're not going to Granny's?" he asked. She glanced back towards the group, now consisting of Jenna, Vera, Chad and Amber.
"I would love to", she said, "but I promised to meet with Regina."
"Oh."
He paused, pursing his lips as he thought.
"Would it be alright if I came along?" he then asked. "You can send me away if it's none of my business, but..."
"That would be Regina's choice, not mine", Arianne replied, "but I'd like some company to the cemetery at least."
"There's got to be something on her in here", Emma said and groaned as she lifted yet another box onto the desk. It, like all the others she and Elsa had gone through, was filled with files on the town's residents. Even if the Snow Queen did not show up in the census records, there was bound to be something about the business she had run in here. Something. Just a little clue as to what she wanted.
"There has to be a better strategy", Elsa said, standing with another box which she seemed tempted to freeze. "While we're reading files, my sister is out there somewhere. We have to confront this Snow Queen and..."
"Believe me", Emma sighed, "if I could, I would, but we don't even know where she's hiding. And, Elsa, we have to be careful; this woman's tricky. She seems to know both of us, yet we don't remember a thing about her and something tells me that that is not an accident!"
Elsa inhaled deeply through her nose before she spoke again.
"You think she took our memories, then?"
"I'm really good with names and faces; it was my job. She took them, alright. Question is why."
Emma glared at the files she had been sifting through. She recognized Graham's handwriting on the majority of them and, as usual, a twinge of guilt pinched her heart. If she had acted differently he would have been alive by now and not killed while the first curse was still in place. Right after he had regained his memories and become her ally, perhaps someone who could have convinced even earlier of the fact that Henry's "stories" were in fact the truth.
"We need to find out what the hell she's up to", she muttered, trying to focus on the task at hand once more.
"Paperwork, ahoy!"
Emma looked up and, at once, the dark mood she had been in vanished as Killian walked in with another box, grinning at them.
"Old city records from the Mayor's office", he said and put it down next to Elsa, "per your request."
Emma felt her lips tilt upwards in an amused smile and how her insides grew infinitely warmer just from his presence in the room.
"Oi, somebody's forgotten about me dinner!"
And, at once, that happy feeling vanished as Will Scarlet demanded her attention from the cell behind her back. She suppressed a groan and turned towards the thief, who lay sprawled on the cot by the wall.
"Bangers and mash, that'd be good", he said.
"Water and pop tart", Emma replied and grabbed the items from the desk, before walking over to the cell. Will frowned and rose.
"Somebody's already had a nibble", he remarked as she passed him the items through the bars. Emma shrugged.
"I've had my shots."
"What a relief", Will said, before taking a bite from the pop tart. She rolled her eyes at him and turned back to the task at and.
"Now", Will called the moment she was back by the desk, "I've served me time. So when will I be free?"
"When I say so", Emma replied without looking back at him. Instead she saw Killian's lips tilt upwards briefly in amusement as he turned towards her after helping Elsa with the files.
"Well", he said, walking over to her, "I'm off to the docks to teach Henry some sailing. Not going out on the water, mind, but learn how to handle a ship. Unless there's something you need me to do here, love?"
He came up so that he stood right next to her, their faces inches from one another. Emma smiled up at him and earned a grin in reply.
"Make sure Henry wears his life vest, okay?" she murmured.
"Befriending the son to get in with the mum?" Will said behind them, causing the two of them to hold back groans of annoyance. "Yep, no one will ever see through that."
Killian turned towards the thief with a dark expression, one that seemed to appear whenever he faced Will Scarlet. Perhaps they had some history together from the Enchanted Forest that had caused this to happen. Honestly, it was not Emma's business to pry into everything the pirate had done back then.
"Why don't you keep your thoughts to yourself, mate?" Killian coldly told him. Will stopped chewing on the pop tart and simply glared back, until Killian turned back towards Emma, the dark expression gone in an instant. He leaned in and gave her a soft, warm peck on the check.
"Goodbye", he then whispered, the word ghosting over her skin and making her smile once more. Then he walked back out, wishing Elsa a good evening before disappearing. The blonde queen hardly noticed; she had just discovered a yellow, padded envelope in the box from the Mayor's office, which she now opened. From it she pulled a stack of photos.
"Emma", she said, walking over to where the blonde Sheriff stood, "why are there pictures of you mixed in with the city records?"
Emma grabbed the stack and smiled once again.
"Let's just say that when I first got here and Regina was Mayor, she abused her power a bit. She was looking for any reason to run me out of town, so she had me followed."
She held up the first photo for Elsa to see.
"This is when me and Henry had hot cocoa together for the first time", she said. It was almost scary to see how much Henry had grown since then. Now he seemed... almost like an adult. She flicked through the other photos and, sure enough, most of them were of her and Henry doing ordinary stuff in public places.
And then there was one that made her freeze.
"What is it?" Elsa asked. Emma blinked at the photo, before holding it up for Elsa to see.
"It's me and her."
The photo had been taken through the window of the ice cream shop, but Emma could see the expressions on both her and the Snow Queen's faces. Hers was agitated, suspicious, angry, ready-to-throw-a-punch-angry. The Snow Queen was... almost apologetic. As if she was trying to explain something. And as if they both knew each other very well.
"And you still don't remember any of this?" Elsa asked. Emma numbly shook her head.
"But I know someone who may", she said. "The person ordered the photos to be taken, and the person who took the photos."
She turned the envelope over to show the name printed on it. Sidney Glass.
