The mausoleum dedicated to Regina's late father loomed ahead of them and Arianne looked up at the symbol etched into the stone above the door, as she always did when she came here; a pair of interlocking deer antlers. She had never asked the former Evil Queen what the symbol meant, if it was some symbol of her father's royal house or something completely different. Frankly, despite the closeness between them now, she doubted Regina would say anything about it at all. Talking about her past was not something she did easily.

"Alright", Arianne said as they approached the mausoleum, "I'm going to go in first, see if Regina feels like you're welcome or not. This is her place and..."

"I understand", Victor replied. "I'll wait outside. If you don't come and get me in... ten minutes?"

"Ten minutes", Arianne agreed. "If I don't come and get you in ten minutes, Regina does not want you here and there's nothing I can do about it. No offense."

"None taken", the Norwegian boy replied with a thin smile. Arianne then turned back towards the door, squared her shoulders and marched inside, then down the stairs leading to the vault.

"Regina?" she called. The woman appeared at once, standing in the usual room, left of the stairs. It housed most of her magic supplies, books and ingredients, and nowadays also a large, enchanted mirror. Arianne gave the object a wary glance as she passed, half expecting the surface to turn black and then reveal Sidney's face in there, grinning wickedly at her, but only her reflection looked back.

"I heard what happened", Regina said, "with your friend. And the Snow Queen."

Arianne nodded.

"Ollivander's dead", she then said. Regina blinked. Apparently those news had not yet reached her.

"The most skilled wandmaker ever is gone?" she asked quietly. Arianne nodded again.

"What about you?" she then asked. "How are you feeling?"

"Well, I'm feeling as good as anyone would when cooped up in here most of the time", Regina muttered, then glared at the mirror on the wall. Yet again there was no sign of Sidney.

"Hasn't he found anything?"

"Nothing", Regina replied, pushing her dark hair away from her face, "and he's getting on my nerves. He was never like this back in the Enchanted Forest, but now... now he seems very thrilled whenever he manages to wind me up."

"If he doesn't find the Snow Queen, then the rest of us will", Arianne assured her. She then took a deep breath.

"Victor's here", she said. "Not Victor Frankenstein, or Doctor Whale, whatever name he prefers, but my apprentice."

"Why did you bring him here?" Regina asked, her tone clipped.

"He asked to come", Arianne replied, "but I said that it'd be your decision if he was allowed to come down here. He's going to wait up there for ten minutes and if I don't come back up and tell him that you've given your permission for him to come down, he'll leave."

Regina opened her mouth to answer when, suddenly, footsteps thudded down the stairs. Both of them looked up, Arianne at least half-expecting it to be Victor, but instead it was Emma Swan. Regina's eyes narrowed in annoyance.

"Ms Swan", she bit out, "what an unpleasant surprise."

"Regina, I..."

"Whatever it is you want, I do not have time for it", Regina said with a wave of her hand. "Unfortunately I'm a little busy trying to save my True Love's wife."

She smiled a sarcastic smile, which caused Emma to roll her eyes.

"What do you know about these?" she said and held out a stack of photographs. Arianne frowned at the one at the top of the stack, showing Emma in the ice cream shop arguing with the Snow Queen.

"It looks like you two know each other", she said while Regina accepted the stack.

"Well, I have zero memories of this conversation", Emma replied, looking at Regina, "and I was hoping you might. Did Sidney tell you anything about it?"

"He never mentioned anything", Regina replied, sounding blatantly bored. "My guess is that you skipped the tip jar."

"Alright, then I'll... try to track down Sidney", Emma said, taking the photos back. "No one seems to know where he is. No one's even seen him since before the first Dark Curse was broken. Have you?"

"I've been busy working on Marian", Regina said and seated herself at her work table, "on the problem you created."

Emma's face fell somewhat.

"Then I guess I'll let you get back to it."

She started to turn, but then hesitated and turned back. Arianne had taken a decisive step away from the blonde and the former Evil Queen; these issues were theirs to solve.

"Any progress on thawing her out?" Emma asked.

"It's no concern of yours", Regina replied, the dismissal clear in her voice.

"It could be", Emma pointed out. Regina raised an eyebrow ever so slightly, a sign of both surprise and annoyance.

"I know I'm not the sorceress of the year", Emma said, "but if you want... some extra juice to undo the spell, just let me know."

She turned to walk back towards the stairs, but by now Regina's interest was definitely peaking.

"Are you offering to help me?"

"Despite everything", Emma said and turned back to face her, "you've done a lot for me Regina. So yeah; you've had my back and I want you to know that I have yours."

Regina scoffed.

"Ms Swan, one thing's abundantly clear; you've never had my back. And you never will."

Emma swallowed, then nodded and turned back towards the stairs.

"Hey", Arianne said, heading after her, "when you get back up there, could you tell Victor that it's probably better if he heads back to the mansions?"

Emma's face changed from disappointed to confused.

"Victor?" she said.

"Yeah", Arianne said. "Pale, blond, Norwegian guy. My apprentice."

"There was no one up there when me and Elsa got here. No one."

Arianne glanced back at where Regina sat, before hurrying past Emma and up the stairs. She could hear the blonde Saviour following her. They exited the mausoleum and stood in the gloomy graveyard as the sun sunk closer to the horizon. Just as Emma had said, Victor was nowhere to be found. The only thing out of place was Emma's yellow bug standing in front of the mausoleum, its passenger door open.

"Elsa?" Emma called out and ran past Arianne, who stood frozen at the top of the stairs. There was no movement or sound anywhere nearby.

"Emma", Arianne said, staring around the graveyard, "if Elsa's gone..."

"Yeah, I know", Emma replied and closed the door to the car with a bang. "The Snow Queen."

"Maybe she was waiting for you here. Maybe Victor tried to stop her and..."

"We'll find them", Emma assured her. "Both of them."

Arianne met her gaze, then nodded and pulled out her wand.

"Let's go."

Together they headed into the forest that bordered the graveyard, looking for any kind of trace of their missing friends. They walked in ever expanding circles, but other than broken branches on various deer tracks there was nothing out of the ordinary – and the broken branches could just as well have been caused by animals passing through.

"We need to call for back-up", Arianne eventually said. "We could assemble a search party, work faster through the forest."

"If the Snow Queen's behind all of this – and I think she is – I don't think we have the time", Emma replied. There was a snap of a branch breaking nearby, causing them both to spin around. Then Emma took the lead through a shrubbery, stumbling out to face a very surprised Regina. The former Mayor's face did, however, quickly turn into a scowl.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"Elsa disappeared on me", Emma replied, "and Victor's missing as well. We thought that she might have encountered the Snow Queen and that Victor was trying to stop the encounter."

"I thought you were going to stay in the crypt", Arianne said, frowning slightly.

"I intend to force the Snow Queen's hand", Regina replied.

"You know where she is?" Arianne asked, glancing briefly at Emma. She knew that the blonde Saviour did not know about Sidney's imprisonment – which was probably for the better – but Emma was now bound to ask where Regina's information came from.

"How do you know that?" Emma indeed asked. Regina scoffed.

"Explaining my magic to a beginner's a waste of my time", she said and marched past them. "She's east of the Toll Bridge."

"Regina, wait", Arianne said and walked after her, grabbing her arm. "Our best shot at finding both Elsa and Victor is to track down the Snow Queen. Now, I know you and Emma are not... best friends at the moment but we need to find these two."

Regina studied her for a few seconds before looking back at Emma.

"You don't mind the company, do you?" Emma asked in a tone that clearly stated that Regina's answer did not matter. Regina heard it as well and huffed.

"Doesn't matter, does it? Even if I say no you'll just come anyway."