The Huntsman led them through the gates of the castle into a small courtyard before heading up the steps inside. It had taken them over an hour to reach the palace because of the slow but painful poison moving through Rumpelstiltskin's veins. He could also feel a slight drumming noise in his head, and as the pain in his side increased so did the headache. Both Rumpelstiltskin and Elsa were chained together with the queen in front while the wizard brought up the rear. Their hands were covered in cuffs but they were loose enough to allow them to drop them to wield their powers and make a quick getaway.
It took some coaxing (and a few subtle threats from Rumpelstiltskin) to make the Huntsman agree with their plan. Of course, along the way, they had to tell him to keep up appearances and not look so glum as he led them. Rumpel explained that the Queen has a magic mirror that could see across all of the lands. This was most likely the reason why Captain Hook had managed to surprise them back on Neverland. The villains had felt the death of Jafar, or at least the magical ones did, and the Evil Queen took action on seeking the perpetrator.
The Huntsman led them through a pair of doors into the throne room. Satin curtains of various shades of purple, red, and black hung on the walls. Blue carpeting led the way up to the magnificent peacock-style throne where the Evil Queen sat. She wore a purple gown with sleeves and a red rope tied around her waist. Around her shoulders she wore a black cape with a white collar and a black balaclava covered around her pale, unfeeling face. To top her head was a golden crown with five spikes that ended in stars and in the center was a jewel. Her face was emotionless as her green eyes watched the trio enter before stopping in front of her.
Rumpelstiltskin stumbled a bit, his face paling now as he felt the poison increasing. He could feel it getting closer to his heart and he figured that being in the presence of the Evil Queen must have been accelerating it. It felt like a heated blade was pushing slowly through his chest, and in the midst of it all, he could feel a spike of pain going through his skull. It took all of his willpower to not cry out in pain but he couldn't help but wince harder as it soon became difficult to concentrate let alone think.
The Huntsman genuflected in front of her, the chain still in his hand. "Your Royal Highness, I have returned with the Queen of Arendelle and the…enemy, Rumpelstiltskin."
"You may rise," she said and their captor did so. She then turned to her prisoners. "You've come quite far, Elsa of Arendelle. Yes, I know who you are. I know of a great many things. But what I don't know is you, Rumpelstiltskin."
She stood from her throne and approached him. "I can see that my poison is proving to be quite potent. No doubt you are feeling immense pain from not only the poison coursing through your veins but also in your head. A nasty side effect that I think works well with your magical capabilities. You're no doubt losing concentration, which is essential in using magic."
She gripped his head with her hand and turned his hard to face him. He couldn't help but cry out not just from the grip but the touch also accelerated the pain even more.
"You leave him alone!" yelled Elsa, straining the chains.
"Don't worry, my pretty, you're suffering will come," said Grimhilde, not looking away from her prize. "Like I said, I know of a great many things except for one: you, Rumpelstiltskin. You remain elusive from even my Magic Mirror. I've never heard of you before until I found out what happened to the sultan, Jafar. I want to know what makes you so special? What grants you the ability to absorb the powers of my allies?"
Despite his weakened state, Rumpel smiled. "Looks like we're on the same page, Dearie. I've been wondering that myself."
Frustrated, she released her grip. "Fine. If you won't tell me then I'll find the answer from your cold corpse." She looked over at Elsa. "And when I do find the secret, I'll take both of your powers."
"Sorry, not today," said Rumpelstiltskin, slipping his hands out of his cuffs and blasting the Queen across the room with magic. He then doubled over, his hand gripping his side. Elsa also slipped out of her cuffs and wrapped her arms around him, trying to get him to stand.
"You must go now!" commanded the Huntsman, pulling out his knife. Queen Grimhelde was getting up, and a fire blazed in her eyes.
The two of them left through the doors but not before making a wall of ice in hopes of slowing down the queen. As they did so, Elsa watched as she used magic to force the Huntsman down to the floor. "Weak fool!" she heard her say as she approached him, her hand outstretched. As the ice blocked her view she could still see their forms and the queen bending down with her hand reaching for his chest. Once the two of them finished, they fled down the corridor. As they turned a corner, a scream sounded through the castle.
They continued to go through the castle, Rumpelstiltskin's arm around the Snow Queen's shoulder as the other arm gripped his side. Even though the poison continued to course through his veins, he could feel it slightly lessening the more distance he put between himself and the Evil Queen. At least for a moment, because as soon as he felt it spike a fireball had blasted the wall just as they turned the corner. Acting quickly, Elsa created another wall of ice in hopes to hold the witch before the two of them continued down the corridor.
"In here, quick!" she said, opening a door off to the side. They slipped in and she shut the door quietly. They held their breaths a few seconds before they heard a loud crash as their pursuer destroyed the wall. They heard the steps from her heels click as they hit the stone, getting closer and closer.
Rumpelstiltskin's mouth was open in a silent scream as one hand braced against his head and the other braced his side. Worried that he may not only make a noise revealing their hiding space but also succumb to the pain, Elsa approached him and pressed herself against him, her hand covering his mouth. They heard her pass by them and Rumpel began to jerk uncontrollably in her grasp. She held him tighter still against her chest until he stopped as the sound of the Evil Queen's steps passed by them.
They held their breaths some more before Rumpel relaxed and patted her hand to signal that she could let him go. They finally got a good look around them to see brooms and dustpans standing against the wall beside them. There was also a bucket with a brush inside of it.
"Really? A broom closet?" he glanced over at Elsa. " You do know this is the most cliché of all hiding places?"
"Well, I'm sorry that I couldn't hide us on a tropical beach where we could sip on coconuts under the shade of a palm tree," she talked back sarcastically.
Rumpel laugh but it only came out in a slight groan as his hand pressed against his side.
"It's getting worse, isn't it?" she asked.
He lifted up his shirt to reveal the poison had passed half of his chest and little dark lines were creeping toward his beating heart. "I've got only a few more hours. I have to get to her laboratory, which is beyond the dungeons, but I don't think I have the strength to teleport there."
Elsa was silent for a minute before she held up her hands, which began to glow and sparkle as she brought up her powers.
"What are you doing?" asked Rumpel.
"What if I can freeze your heart? That way the poison won't work and you'll be able to live long enough to find the cure," she explained.
"But it takes an act of true love to thaw a frozen heart," he protested. "And I don't have a true love. So, I'll die as well as you when the Evil Queen finds you." Seeing her crestfallen face, he added, "But I do have another idea. What if you can freeze the poison in place or at least slow it down then perhaps that'll give me more time."
Her eyes widened at the thought. "I've never done anything like that before."
"Neither have I been poisoned before," he grimaced again as he felt a stab of pain in both his chest and his head. "But I need you to do it. Once you start, don't stop. No matter what you hear, or how loud I scream, or if I move, you cannot stop until it's done. If I start using magic to stop you, you have to continue. Do you understand?"
Elsa gulped. The weight of this task was more than anything she had ever felt before.
"We don't have time for second thoughts," he persisted. "I'm putting my life in your hands. I've never done that before and hopefully it'll be the only time that I do so. So, please, you have to do this."
She nodded slowly in understanding and reached over to his wound.
"Don't think," he told her. "Remember magic doesn't come from knowledge. It comes from emotion. You must ask yourself, 'why am I doing this? Who am I saving?' Feel it and concentrate on the task. Only on the specific task."
Elsa's hands glowed again with her power as he slowly reached for his wound. At a nod from the wizard, she took a deep breath poured her magic into the cut and into the poison. She concentrated on the reason why she was doing this. She needed to save Rumpelstiltskin because the world needed him, because the prisoners of the Evil Queen needed him, and because she needed him in their journey. And she knew, in her heart, that he needed her too.
For Rumpelstiltskin, the agony that he felt was far worse than any pain he had before. He jolted and writhed in the small space, his legs flailing on the floor, his arms and hands trying to find something to hold on to. Instead of a hot blade slowly moving through his chest, it was a blade frozen solid that seemed to create tiny slivers that angrily spread underneath his skin and through the bone. His voice soon became hoarse from the amount and volume of his screaming.
Just when he thought he would black out from the pain Elsa stopped, panting though not as hard as him.
"G-g-g-great," his teeth chattered as he shivered. "In-in-instead of-f-f getting k-k-killed by poison, I'm g-g-gonna d-d-die by hypothermia."
"You said it was a good idea," said Elsa.
"I s-s-said it w-w-was an id-d-dea," he reminded. "D-d-didn't s-say it was-s good. But you n-n-need to g-g-go."
"What?"
"The Evil Queen w-w-will no d-d-doubt have he-ard a-all of th-that and w-will c-c-come running b-b-back over here. You n-n-need to d-d-draw her away."
"Nonsense. I'm not leaving you."
"Listen. I n-n-need you to d-d-do this. D-d-draw her away f-f-from the castle. I n-n-need to be able to r-r-reach the d-d-dungeons without any t-t-trouble. I d-don't think I'm s-s-strong enough to f-f-face her in my p-present condition s-s-so I need t-t-to find th-the cure for the poison."
Elsa gave an impatient sigh. There was no use arguing with his logic. She grasped his hand with both of hers, "Fine but promise me you're going to be all right."
He smiled weakly. "I always honor m-m-my agreements. Now go. Go!"
She let go of her hand and exited the broom closet, making sure to shut the door behind her. She then created a wall of ice right before the door that extended across the corridor like she did previously. Seeing the distorted form of the Evil Queen come out from another doorway, she fled back they way that they came.
Queen Grimhilde grumbled in annoyance and pressing her hand against the ice, shattered it. She was about to follow the Snow Queen when she noticed the door to the broom closet. At once she knew that she had been tricked and rushed over. Opening it, she found it empty.
"He's all yours," she mumbled under her breath before turning to the direction that Elsa had taken. "But she's mine."
Rumpelstiltskin had thought that his life couldn't get any worse. At every encounter that he had with the villains in this land, he only managed to escape from death by either luck or his growing power and skill and sometimes both. He knew that he needed both now if he was to find a cure for the poison. It was definitely the closest he has ever been to death surpassing even his duel with Maleficent, his near drowning after killing Ursula, and his battle with the Cauldron Born in Paris. There was only one villain that he had failed to kill yet in past encounters and he was standing right in front of him.
"We've clearly been underestimating your abilities, little reptile, "sneered Captain Hook as he held up his signature weapon.
"And I've been underestimating your knack of surviving tough situations," Rumpel countered wincing a bit from the cold. He did manage to use his heating spell from before but he still felt cold. He did try to get his teeth chattering under control but it was still a lot to handle.
"I must hand it to Her Majesty," gloated Hook. "She does have quite the knowledge of Dark Magic. It's almost starting to make me appreciate its usefulness." He huffed. "Almost. By the way the poison that's affecting you now is derived from a plant that she found on Neverland back when we first made the prison. Never knew such a thing could be found on that island of all places. If I had known I definitely would have ended that accursed Peter Pan long ago."
Rumpelstiltskin began to chuckle. "I never took you for the sort to say monologues, Captain. But what exactly are you going to do after I'm dead? You'll be back to where you started only this time without a ship and a crew."
Hook looked quizzically at him. "What are you saying?"
"I can raise your ship," answered the wizard.
"That's impossible. She's on the bottom of the ocean. You put her there!" he held his hook an inch from Rumpel's face but he didn't flinch in front of the point.
"No, it's not. Like you said, you appreciate the usefulness of magic. I have enough that can almost rival the gods," he watched Hook's reaction as he talked. He knew that his next words had to be chosen carefully. "If you help cure me, then I will get you back the Jolly Roger…in addition to taking care of your crocodile problem."
Hook thought about it for a moment before speaking, "What about Peter Pan?"
"With the amount of friends he's making I would highly advise not to engage him," advised the imp. "Everyone would hunt for you as soon as this is all over. Me included if they ask. No, it's best to take your ship and your crew and hide out at sea. Forget about Peter Pan."
Hook stepped back and began to curl his moustache thoughtfully with his hook.
"I definitely need to start exercising after I get back," panted Elsa as she ran down the third flight of stairs. She was pretty sure that she was on the far side of the castle now as she can see through the windows that a river was running down below the hill that the castle was situated on. Once at the end she set up another wall of ice. She knew that it was barely slowing down the Evil Queen but if she could leave a trail then it would lead her away from Rumpelstiltskin.
Finding another door to her left, she opened it to find a narrow corridor that she was sure led outside. A crash made her turn to see Grimhilde stepping through the shattered wall, a fireball materializing in her open palm. Elsa quickly ducked into the corridor and followed it to find beyond another door that it sure enough led outside to a cliff. She quickly froze the door after she closed it before taking a look around. She could see a narrow path that led down the rocky face but it was too open and she knew that the Evil Queen would kill her if she went down.
A slam sounded from the door, startling her. Frightened, she watched as the door shuddered again and again against its hinges and the ice.
No. She wasn't going to be frightened anymore. She'd been afraid for too long in her life. It was time for her to stand up for herself. She was as much as a part of this world as everyone else and she was going to fight.
The door blasted away toward her, and she conjured a small wall of ice to protect her. The door bounced off of it and fell over the cliff. Looking up, she could see the Evil Queen step through the doorway with a thin smile on her face.
"It's time someone put an end to you," said Elsa as confidently as she could.
Grimhilde gave a hollow laugh. "And you think you're the one to do it, my pretty?"
Elsa responded by sending several spikes of ice toward her. Grimhilde gestured her hand to them and they broke off to be lifted in the air. She sent them back to their creator, who raised another wall to shield herself from the volley. Seeing her assault was useless, Grimhilde conjured a ball of fire in each hand and began to throw them at the wall. Again and again she pounded it, each one hotter and stronger than the last. Elsa tried to keep up with her own powers when suddenly a particularly large one had struck the wall so hard that it pushed her back. Looking up at the sky, she could see it quickly darken with storm clouds with lightning flashing followed by explosions of thunder.
Grimhilde raised her arms to the storm and commanded the thunder to shatter the ice walls that Elsa had constructed. The Snow Queen flew to the very edge and landed on her side. The Evil Queen raised her arms again and commanded the wind to blow Elsa over the edge. At the last minute, she had gripped a rock outcropping to hold on to save her life.
"This sort of thing never happened in Arendelle," she said to herself, ice and frost quickly forming around her. "I do hope that Rumpel is all right because I could really use his help right now."
"I shall take great pleasure in ridding this land of your pretty face," said Grimhilde above her. "Just like I had done to Snow White. Then I shall be fairest in the land!"
She laughed hysterically before readying another fireball in her hand. Elsa could only watch in horror as she readied to throw it. Suddenly, a bolt of lightning struck right next to the Evil Queen, shattering the rock and throwing her over the edge. She screamed as she fell down to her death. However, the tumbling rocks began to fall down to Elsa and she had no choice but to let go, screaming.
To her surprise, someone had grabbed her, and instead of falling, she could feel the wind blowing past her head.
"It's all right. I've got you," she heard him say. She opened her eyes to see a young man with orange hair and bright blue eyes riding bareback on a white horse with wings. His body was impressively muscled, like a warrior, underneath an archaic armor and his strong arms held her in a cradle fashion. He flashed her a dazzling smile as if this was a regular thing for him.
"My name's Hercules," he said. "And this is Pegasus."
"I'm Elsa," she answered before taking a look around. Immediately, she regretted her decision as she saw the world shrink down below her. Closing her eyes she gripped her savior tightly.
"Please let me down now," she cried.
"That's what he wants," Hercules said as the horse did a nosedive that made Elsa screech. They soon landed in the courtyard and immediately Elsa dropped down on the horse, her legs a little wobbly.
" Don't worry. Everyone gets that way the first time flying on Pegasus," consoled Hercules beside her. "You should've seen Meg."
Pegasus gave a whiny laugh at the memory. At once Rumpelstiltskin approached the three of them along with the seven dwarves, a handsome prince, three fairies, and a small man with goat legs and a horn. They introduced themselves to be Prince Charming, Flora, Fauna, Merriweather, and Phil.
"Great work, kid," congratulated the satyr. "Even though we didn't cover saving damsels from rockslide during training."
"Rumpel! Are you all right?" asked Elsa joyously as she stepped toward the imp.
"I feel like my old self again," he smiled back at her.
"Oh my goodness, are you all right, my lady?" asked Flora flying over next to Elsa. "You're not hurt are you? Dress not ripped? Hair out place?"
"Give her some breathing room, Dearie," chuckled the imp as he watched the fairy make a fuss. "She's not like your Aurora."
"Speaking of our Rose, where is she?" asked Fauna.
"What did Maleficent do her?" asked Merriweather.
"Nothing that couldn't be undone," he replied and gave them the shortened version of the story. They were all appalled at the thought that Aurora hadn't woke up for such a long time and quickly decided to make their way to King Stephen's castle to join the heroes gathered there.
"What about Hades?" asked Hercules once he had finished.
"That's what we need your help for. He's got the Olympian gods imprisoned on Mt. Olympus and you are the sure way to beat him," explained the warlock. He then turned to the prince. "By the way your princess is waiting for you. Dwarves, why don't you take him where you've put Snow White?"
The dwarves cheered and immediately began to lead the prince out of the castle toward the direction of the forest where Snow White lay in her glass coffin.
"Why don't you ladies go with them so that they can also join with the others at King Stephen's castle?" he said to the fairies and they followed, waving their goodbyes. Once they were out of earshot from the company, they shrunk themselves into little balls of light and began to whisper among themselves.
"Did you feel it?"
"Of course, dear. I just had to see it to believe it."
"It's still giving me the creeps."
"The amount of power within him. It felt like Jafar, Ursula, and Maleficent were all in our presence."
"I'm surprised that such evil has not corrupted him."
"Perhaps it has and we just don't know it."
"Don't think like that, Merriweather. We can only hope that it hasn't."
"Shall we get going?" asked Phil, climbing onto Pegasus' back. He looked longingly at Elsa. "The lady can sit by me."
"Sorry, Dearie, but I was thinking taking a shortcut," replied Rumpelstiltskin.
"What short-?" he was interrupted when the imp waved his hands and a cloud of smoke enveloped all of them, teleporting them away.
In the castle there was a narrow door off to the side of the throne room. Within it was treasures and artifacts some with magical properties, others without. It was about as luxurious as the throne room with curtains draped across the walls and rugs on the floor. Torches hung on brackets around the room to provide light.
There was a little spot cordoned off by two pillars with two steps leading up to it. However, there was nothing on the wall to indicate the reason why it had gotten special attention. Nothing except for an oval outline to indicate that something had hung there.
