Chapter 9: Becoming Someone New
"Do you think you can fix it, Regina?" Sneezy asks, both of them staring at the half-destroyed pharmacy. The entire town is trying to recover from the recent dragon attack, but everyone is still one edge knowing the Snow Queen's Shattered Sight spell still loomed in the background.
"It won't take too long, but please keep in mind that I have to fix the clock tower as well."
"That's why you have us, Regina," Crystal says brightly. "This'll be a good magic lesson."
"It will indeed, as long as you fix my place first," the dwarf with allergies insists.
"All right already," the former Evil Queen snaps. "Emma, Crystal, let's begin."
The three sorceresses stand in a straight line and raise their hands.
"You need to picture the building like it was before, and then let the magic do the rest, but it does require a lot of concentration, we're basically reversing the damage. It's almost like turning back time, which is nearly impossible…"
"Except for when Zelena tried," Emma mutters, thinking of Regina's recently deceased half-sister who's portal ended up throwing her and Killian into the past.
All their hands begin to glow and the three shut their eyes in concentration. They lift their hands, which in turn lifts the rubble and slowly, but surely, the building begins to repair itself. The shattered glass goes back into its intended pane, the roof reassembles itself and the open sign for Dark Star Pharmacy is soon glowing brightly.
The three let out a sigh of relief and exhaustion, having achieved a great feat.
"I owe each of you a debt of gratitude," Sneezy says, happy to have his shop back up and running. "I'll give you all a 10% discount on your next purchase. Within the month that is."
"So generous," Crystal mutters. She wipes the sweat from her face, knowing the next problem is to fix the clock tower.
She turns to see her father already putting the hands of the clock back on. The building stands as steadily as it always had. Belle stands next to her husband, watching in amazement and great gratitude. The use of magic, although she still considers it dangerous, did have some real beauty to it, being able to fix what was broken. Once the library door swings open, courtesy of Rumpelstiltskin, she hugs and kisses him tightly before going back inside to open the place up again. He stands, leaning on his cane as his daughter approaches him.
"Thank you… Dad…" she says quietly.
The elderly Dark One looks at her.
"Thank you for helping us yesterday and cutting our workload in half."
"It was my pleasure…" he smirks as if she was stroking his ego.
"Now that I've said that, I feel no obligations of what might have to come next…" she warns.
"Are you threatening me?" he raises an eyebrow.
"You took Hook's heart and are using him as a puppet. I may not know why you're doing this, but I can guarantee that I will find a way to stop it."
"Such confidence even after your failed attempt to turn my wife against me…"
"I was trying to save her from the inevitable heartbreak…" Crystal bites her lip hard. "Having any type of relationship with you is like playing tee ball with a gasoline-soaked ball, it's dangerous and someone always gets hurt."
"You always were one for dramatic metaphors."
"Shut up, Dad!" she hisses angrily, her clenched fist preventing her from unleashing magic on him. "I know what you're up to, you may have Belle and everyone else fooled, but if sharing the same blood and breathing the same air as you have taught me anything, you will never be able to change. Trusting you is like letting Freddy Krueger give you a back massage. You won't kill Hook, not as long as you need the energy to power that hat…"
The colour drains from Rumpel's face, not knowing how she figured it out. He tries to remain poised.
"Yeah, you're not subtle with your magical displays, I saw the energy inside and I know you wanted Emma in that hat to power it. You lucked out though because she has actual friends in her life that care about her. And don't even think about trying to suck me into that hat because I will make darn sure that Belle will witness it and trust me, once she sees that, she'll stomp on your heart like you stomped on hers… so many times before."
"You wouldn't dare, your magic isn't strong enough," Rumpel smirks.
"Really?" she says. "I am your daughter, after all, your power is my power, (for the most part). You shouldn't be testing me. You rub the knife in my back, I rub yours… a bit harder." she says feeling very satisfied for having said her piece before she waves her hand and teleports her father back to his lonely existence. She then creates a protective field around herself, something he had taught her, which Crystal is sure he regrets teaching her now. The shield is invisible, but it protects her from her father's magical attacks.
"What happened over there?" Regina asks.
"Just a father-daughter talk," Crystal lies.
"At least he fixed the clock tower," Snow says, rocking Neal back and forth in his stroller. "Maybe Belle is right and Rumpel really is trying to change.
Bullshit! Crystal thinks in her mind. She grinds her teeth together before lying through them. "Maybe…"
…
"Your power is truly your father's," Ingrid says into the mirror, having watched the entire exchange with glee in the privacy of her ice cave. She was actually proud of the young girl for standing up to her father. He was a monster and the less often the queen spent time in his presence, the happier she was. "Plus, a little love is thrown in there too."
The Snow Queen adjusts the glowing crystal around her neck. The constant changing of colour, from lilac colouring to royal purple truly reflects the young girl's personality and the torn feelings she has within herself. It doesn't matter whether it is light or dark magic, as Ingrid only needs a small sample to begin the next phase of her plan. It was the whole reason for letting the girl attack her, one sample is all she wanted. What happened to the girl during the spell, wasn't her concern anymore. She'd offered the teenager a chance and she turned her down.
She then waves her hand over the mirror, looking for someone very specific. She knew that the only way Emma was ever going to want to be her sister was to have the rest of her family be disposed of. The connections between all of them were strong, a true family bond, but still a bit frail considering the last time Ingrid tried to break the ties. She decides to take them out one by one, giving each of them a specific prison to become trapped in. Once they were all gone, she'd cast the curse, allowing a hurt Emma to come running into her arms. Elsa was also equally stubborn about joining the "family," but if Anna was missing, she had no one to turn to. No one to connect with.
Ingrid has decided to start on the newest connection, the pirate. The dashing man who had just recently started courting Emma. As much as she wanted the Saviour to be happy, he had to go. Their bond was still quite young and would be the easiest to sever. All she needed was the sample of magic, from the Dark One's daughter.
Her mirror shows both Emma and Killian sitting in Granny's, talking over onion rings and some coffee. The two look lovingly into one another's eyes, smiling and holding hands across the table. The signs of new love. Ingrid had never truly felt such a thing before, but for a moment wondered what it would be like to be in love, to have someone who devoted themselves to making her happy, who told her she was beautiful and who trusted her, like she would him.
She watches as the two get up to leave. She knows they will soon be parting, and the time to act was now.
She holds tightly to the crystal and teleports herself from her ice cave.
She ends up in the alleyway just a few feet from the restaurant. She makes sure that she is completely alone and cannot be seen by any passing individual. She twirls the single crystal and few times, waiting as the couple exits the front door.
Ingrid's heart begins pounding, knowing she'll have to act very soon. The wall to which she was pressed against began to frost over, indicating her excitement. She quickly gets it under control and waits.
"I have to go pick up Henry from school and I promised I'd buy him a new comic book. Regina needs him occupied while she works on the Marian problem," the Saviour explains. "I also said I'd check in on Elsa too."
"How is she doing?" the pirate asks.
"She's recovering slowly, she's still a bit shaky and afraid, which has caused a significant drop in temperature in the loft. She took nasty injury yesterday, she's not used to Crystal's seismic explosions."
"None of us are, Love. I warned her about them."
"She's like me Killian, she's not fully used to her powers yet."
"Aye," he says.
She then kisses Killian on the lips. The two then embrace tightly, even though the male counterpart is missing his heart. He wants beyond all measure to feel the feelings he has towards this beautiful woman, the love, the passion, the concern, and care. He can't feel any of it as long as the bloody crocodile holds his heart. He stares at the ground before meeting Emma's emerald green eyes.
"I'll see you later," she says.
"Aye, I will," he nods. He then watches the blonde walk away, down the street and past Ingrid's hiding place. He feels longing to tell her what was wrong and he wanted to tear the Dark One limb from limb for doing this to Emma and him.
As soon as the Saviour vanishes around the corner, Ingrid slips from her hiding place. She goes stealthily around the corner and then touches the purple crystal. It was only a bit of magic, just enough to entrap the pirate in her web.
She waves her hand and watches as her ice gown transforms into a pair of jeans, and a gray top with a red leather jacket. Her hair becomes a shade lighter and now flows down her shoulders, the top concealed by an itchy wool hat. Her blue eyes are now green and her half smile is now completely full. It was unusual to literally become someone else, but Ingrid's been concealing her identity for a long time. She then begins walking casually back towards the pirate.
"Swan?" Killian says, very surprised that she came back so suddenly. "I thought you were going to meet the lad after school ended."
"I realized that I forgot to do something important," she says, in a voice that is not her own.
She then grabs hold of the pirate's collar and pulls him in for a very deep kiss. The man is very surprised by the passion in this locking of lips, but immediately he senses that something is off. Her lips are very cold and not as soft as before. Something inside his body shifts violently as it seems that all the warmth seems to leave him.
Once Emma releases him, Killian cannot stand up any longer and collapses unconscious. The Snow Queen then smiles, quickly teleports the two of them from the street, knowing what she was going to do next.
A/N: Borrowing a little bit from Genevieve Kelly's story, How Deep is Your Love, about the Snow Queen being able to steal the warmth of someone's body and knock them out. Thought it was clever. Hope you're ready for more soon.