After Regina had left, he'd wasted little time in taking his prize up into his tower. It was there that the full brunt of the last few days came crashing down on him. It was a weight that he'd never felt before. It pushed down against him, an opposition to the buoyancy of joy he felt when he held that scroll in his hand. He'd done it! According to plan! He'd known he could, and perceived that he would, and yet he was left breathless at the realization that it had actually worked! The hat might have been out of his reach, but the Curse was in his possession! All his dreams of "someday" had become "today". He would have loved to spend the next ten years staring at it in awe, feeling it curl its power around him. But getting the Curse was not the end goal. It was only a single step in his plan. A big step, he readily admitted, but still only one of many. And so long as he was holding it in his hand, his job wasn't done yet.
He spent hours hiding it. Simply put, it was concealed behind a stone in his fireplace. Not so simple however, were the hours and hours of spells that he placed around it. Every concealment potion he'd ever crafted was used to try and hide the spell from others who could sense magic. He used blood magic to seal and lock the wall, allowing only himself, his blood, or those of his choosing into the hiding place. He placed detection enchantments over it so he'd know if someone so much as sneezed the wrong way around it. And he used Dark Magic, some of the darkest he knew to give it a protection against all forms of Light Magic and that included Fairies. If anyone who shouldn't so much as stood next to it they'd receive quite the blast of magic that would throw them across the room and paralyze them if not knock them unconscious completely. It would give him enough time to return and decide what to do to the thief who dared to take it. But he didn't stop with just the Curse, he used the blood he'd taken from the rodent-Apprentice to craft a powerful spell against him. Inspired by the same wards the man had used on his house to keep Dark Ones away, he crafted one to keep the Apprentice out; it was time to fight fire with fire.
When he was done, when he was sure all was as it should be, he allowed himself to breathe. Then, he summoned his crystal ball into his hand. In it, the Apprentice lay, an old man once more, on the bed resting soundly. There was no indication he knew something had happened to the Curse. No visit from the fairies, no stumbling about in panic, Ingrid had visited him the other day, but he didn't even appear to be bothered by that.
It was perfect. He couldn't believe he'd succeeded. He spent the day in his Tower spinning, working, and nervously watching the space he knew the Curse was. He did want to take it out, to study it, to learn from it, but it was too risky now. He needed to lay low for a few days, let it adjust to its new home. And so he sat there, spinning away in his Tower, on guard, and when night fell…it was then that he felt something inside of him go alert.
It was a feeling like he'd never experienced before. One minute he'd been fine, and the next, he felt as though part of his magic had been muted or silenced altogether. No, it wasn't just his magic. It was Dark One Magic. He glanced around his surroundings. Nothing was different. Nothing was changed. He held out his hand in the direction of the fireplace, and fire sparked to life, the appropriate place, the appropriate reaction. He put his hands over his potions, he felt their magic just as he always had. He stepped closer to the stone the Curse was hidden behind and placed his hand over it. The Blood Magic heated at his touch but cooled when it recognized him. The potion was still there, the spells and enchantments all the same. His magic was intact. Whatever he felt hadn't come from him. It was beyond these walls.
He stepped closer to the cauldron and checked on the Apprentice, a benefit of using his blood to banish him from the property meant he could finally see inside his house without the Crystal Ball, but only through reflections, like before. He was awake, but sweeping his home looking rather bored. This wasn't his doing. One by one, he examined the lives of those he meddled in, those who mattered to his future. Belle was with her father and Gaston, discussing something or other. James was in his chambers with a leggy blonde. David was bringing the sheep in for the night. Snow White he found resting her head in a hollowed log, a place she'd come to call her own not far from Red and Granny. And Regina was with her Hunter, experimenting with positions he'd rather not watch.
The cauldron cleared as he sighed. He still felt it. The odd muffle within him remained. But what was it?! When the usual suspects failed, he was forced to examine the unusual ones. Zelena? No. He saw her in Oz sitting down to eat, all was well. Jefferson? By his daughter's bedside reading a child's book as she fell asleep, not a threat. At Nimue's insistence, he cast his gaze upon the tree that held Merlin captive, but it hadn't moved. Anna?
Anna. The moment he summoned the image of the Princess of Arendelle, there was no doubt in his mind about what he was feeling. It was her. And what he saw…it wasn't pretty. To begin with, he couldn't actually see Anna. The mirror he'd tried to look in on her with…it was covered with something. Not a blanket, it wasn't blackness, and it wasn't a cloth that moved. It was stiff and hard, and it had a pattern to it. It was ice.
He turned to the Crystal Ball for answers, demanding it show him Anna of Arendelle, and he nearly did a flip of joy at what he saw. She was frozen. Head to toe. She was nothing but icy magic. An Elemental had finally unleashed her power.
"Show me her sister," he demanded with a smile, looking forward to seeing the aftermath of the one that had stolen something so precious. He could handle Elsa easily enough. All he wanted was to find the hat and take it for himself! The idea that he might get through all this with the hat in hand after all made him nearly giddy.
Until what the ball showed him wasn't Elsa, but an urn; his urn. It was the one he'd given to Anna's aunt Ingrid for emergencies, the one he'd seen discovered in the North Mountain but hadn't watched because there were more important things going on. Perhaps he should have watched. He wouldn't say he was paying for it, he'd had two choices, the first was to go after the urn and the second had been to retrieve the Curse. If given the opportunity, he'd do the same thing all over again. But perhaps he would have watched Arendelle's royal family a bit closer so that this never came as a surprise. He would have gotten the Curse and then figured out exactly how Ingrid of Arendelle had gotten out of the urn and managed to make her way to Apprentice's house instead of forgetting until this moment. Still, not an ideal situation to retrieve it and make inquiries about the hat…but what he saw next was.
How had the urn gotten from the North Mountain back to Arendelle? The Crystal Ball sensed his question before he could ask it, and what he saw was a story unraveling before him. He watched as Anna of Arendelle stood, facing off with another woman. She was blonde and pale, so pale she was nearly the color of snow. She was wearing a familiar set of gloves. Queen Elsa of Arendelle, it could be no one else. But why the two sisters were fighting, why she'd just taken off that remarkable necklace of hers and tossed it into the fire…it was beyond him. He couldn't listen into the past. And then he saw something he hadn't expected something so shocking that he hadn't thought to ever check in on her! Ingrid. Their aunt. Lurking in their castle.
And then, Anna of Arendelle, the girl who loved her sister so much, used the urn. And Elsa didn't stop her. She didn't fight back. It was as if she knew it was coming! She simply crossed her hands over her chest and continued speaking to her sister as she pulled the top off the urn, and Ingrid watched as it did its job and swallowed Elsa as it had once swallowed her. Whatever Ingrid wanted in all of this, whatever her plan was, it wasn't to take over Arendelle. It wasn't for Elsa to be gone and her to be Queen, not with a reaction like she had. She was upset with Anna, shocked. Furious.
Though Anna reeled looking suddenly confused, a look that told him without a shadow of a doubt she'd been under some kind of spell when she'd done what she'd done, Ingrid was angry. She pried the urn from Anna's hands and held it close. She guarded it as the boy he'd seen on the mountain, the one who had helped to retrieve the urn, came running into the room a weapon raised. But he'd never get to use it. In the next moment he saw what had triggered the magic he'd felt within him, Ingrid froze Anna. And the boy. And the room. And the palace. And then he watched as all of the land of Arendelle froze solid. All but her. A powerful Elemental indeed. But not more powerful than he was. The Curse was safe, and he wasn't about to leave magic that was free to be claimed or reclaimed, in his case, sitting about!
When he arrived he took stock of the situation before him, one that was not unfamiliar to what he saw in the mirror. Still, there was one difference, there was a very clear stench around the room, around all of Arendelle that even he recognized though he rarely dealt in it himself, most recently in Belle's father. Troll Magic. And the reason it smelled so badly now? Because she was doing it now. She hadn't noticed he'd come into the room because she was on the opposite side, using a round rock to pull forth memories from the urn in her hands. A powerful Elemental and witch. Shame he'd never been able to train her himself. If he had, then he knew he would never have gotten this close without her noticing.
"I see someone's been practicing their rock-troll memory magic," he announced, allowing her to turn and notice him finally in the room. "Quite impressive, dearie." With her watching, he finally turned around to examine the two statues standing in the room. The male he didn't care for but seeing Princess Anna frozen in ice and unable to move had a satisfying touch of irony to it that he appreciated. Perhaps now she'd see how fun it was not to have control over one's body. "You know, I prefer her better this way. More cooperative. Less mouthy. Oh!" he exclaimed suddenly. Ingrid's magic wasn't the only magic in the room; something called to him from the fireplace. Something with a power that he recognized but doubted Ingrid would because she'd given up her ribbon all those years ago thinking it was useless. Anna's necklace still contained its power, even after everything that had happened. An impressive bit of magic it was becoming. "But this? This was much lovelier when it was around her neck. You know...when she was breathing."
Suddenly there was an image in his head of this very necklace. It was sitting in the shop on a shelf, stood up displayed well. And then the image changed to something more. In his hands, human hands he held a white card. There was something called a photograph in the top corner. It was a picture of the necklace. And on the card there were typed words. His vision flashed. He felt his arm around someone and another arm around his waist. There was a smile. And then he was back to the card he'd held, the words suddenly clear. "Silver. Cut well. Damaged. Slightly burned. Slightly warped. Repairable. Fair condition. Current price: $200. Estimated repair costs: $150. Fully restored price: $300. Additional Notes: The repair isn't profitable but should someone buy it refer the buyer to jewelry repair so they can spend the extra fifty dollars themselves." The thought "not worth my time" entered his head and then...
"Priceless" the Seer whispered.
When he focused back on the world around him he knew only one thing. Urn or hat or nothing at all. He needed the necklace!
"What do you want, Rumplestiltskin?" Ingrid asked, still clutching that urn tight against her. Urn or hat or nothing at all he needed the necklace, but the urn and hat would be nice too.
"Just an old trinket your frozen niece stole from me...a hat," he declared fingering the necklace. Could he slip it into his pocket unnoticed? She seemed rather attached to the urn at the moment, would she notice if this went missing? Would she care if she didn't realize what she had? He could do another bit of magic if necessary, switch it out with an identical one, but that would require magic, and she might sense that.
"I haven't seen it," the Snow Queen whispered low.
He laughed. Her heart had skipped a beat when he'd mentioned it and when she answered. Lies. "Oh, lying is so un-queenly, Ingrid," he commented. He wasn't in the mood for lies and games at the moment. He wanted that hat. She knew where it was. So…it seemed a deal was in order. If he couldn't retrieve his property, then he'd take back another! He turned his back on her and used his magic to do two things at once. He made a copy Anna's necklace and pocketed the original, then seized the urn Ingrid thought she had a hold of, and sent it back to his castle, where he put it away in the room with no doors. He couldn't risk it getting open around him…and Ingrid couldn't risk losing it.
"Where is she?!" she roared, not noticing the other little bit of magic he'd done. "Give her back..."
"Careful, dearie," he warned, finally turning back to face her, the fraudulent necklace in hand. "You're not the only one who knows how to hide something of value. We wouldn't want it lost forever, now would we? Though I'm curious why you took memories from that poor girl. I mean, you would have thought being trapped inside a bread bin was punishment enough."
Her heart was racing again, not from rage now, but rather from desperation. He could smell it on her. He had her in a precarious position, the poor Would-Be Queen. She wanted her niece back. He knew where she was. Which meant that she would do and say anything just to get her.
"She learned more than she was meant to," she admitted. "I wanted us to have a fresh start."
"Don't we all, dearie? Don't we all?" Little did she know that the key to their fresh start was back in his castle safe and sound and still years away from being cast, which was why he didn't have time to be here. He wanted that hat. But not more than anything. Baelfire was his true goal. If the hat should present itself again, he'd take it, but he had to keep his eyes on the goal! And leave the door open for what might be. "You know, uh...I'm gonna make you a deal..." he explained, cutting right to the chase after glancing at Anna. He wasn't interested in anything more than he needed to be. "An urn for a hat, as simple as that. And just to make it easy for you, when you 'find' the object of my desire, just say my name three times, and I shall come to you. See you soon!" he laughed, escaping with the necklace safe in his pocket.
Well, look at that. You made it to the last chapter in the Frozen Section and it was a doozy let me tell you. This whole section...putting aside how I felt about the season, from a writer's standpoint this storyline was just as perfect to write as it was difficult. I said in an earlier chapter that having Rumple find the Curse and become obsessed with getting ahold of it here fit perfectly, part of that is because it keeps him from following this storyline too closely. It forces him to sort out his priorities and then focus on the Curse instead of what is happening in Arendelle. That's good because it seemed obvious to me that while he seemed to have a sort of general knowledge as to what was going on in Storybrooke during 4A, he really didn't know as much as he normally did. When you break the Arendelle 4A storyline down you find that soon after Anna arrives in the Enchanted Forest the episode storylines happen pretty close to one another and have been running consistently with the Dark Curse storyline. So, if you've been paying close attention in these last few chapters you'll note what is happening in Arendelle briefly before Rumple moves on to what is important. Just before Anna arrives to see Rumple Kristoff and Elsa get the urn and Ingrid is released and Elsa brings her home with them. Rumple noted that several chapters back but didn't think much of it because he was too busy with Anna and David. Immediately after he returns Anna with the hat, Anna meets Ingrid, immediately distrusts her and leaves to go talk to the Rock Trolls. This is where Anna meets Belle. But he doesn't see any of that because he's working on getting Jefferson to go find Cruella (that allows it to be a mystery to him until Belle tells him in season 4 [see MT&U for details]. Anna is captured by Ingrid and Ingrid begins to work her magic which includes going to the Apprentice's house. A few chapters back Rumple did see Ingrid go to the house but he didn't watch it carefully because he panicked and he immediately went to see the women to get his Curse and so now here we are. The two paths meet and cross once again leaving Rumple ignorant on some key things, but also in possession of some very important tools. I mean, really, when you think about it, he doesn't have the hat, but he did get the urn, necklace, and Curse out of it so, who really won here?
Thank you dearly for your reviews on the last chapter Jennifer Baratta, Alarda, and Grace5231973. I'm so sorry if this section has been a bore or complicated. The above paragraph quite honestly feels like the last chapter to the murder mysteries where everything is laid out and suddenly revealed. It wasn't a fun one to write, but we did it. We got through it. And your reward...that's the next section! Peace and Happy Reading!