Blizzard
(Elsa?)
(Please, I know you're in there)
As the day wore on, Rumple and David had no luck in finding the red head. It was like no one in Storybrooke had even heard of her. Finally, they made a full loop around the neighborhood, and back to David's truck.
Rumple let out a groan, leaning against the side of David's truck and massaging his leg, which was killing him.
"Hopefully, the others had some luck," David said after a moment of silence.
Rumple shot the farmboy-turned prince an irritated look. He wasn't in any mood to be consoled.
"Yes, that would be rather convenient, wouldn't it?" He said sarcastically.
David sighed, pulling open the driver's side door and climbing into the truck without a word.
Rumple limped around to the passenger side of the car pulling open the door and getting in. He winced a little as his bad leg protested, but didn't say anything.
At that moment, he realized he had left his phone in the truck. Immediately, he cursed himself for not having a direct line to Belle in case she was in danger. When he checked to see if she had left him a message, his stomach tightened. Four missed calls. All from Belle. Plus one text message.
Rumple? We need to talk. Meet me at the diner.
Rumple stared at the text, praying that Belle was all right. Again, he cursed his own forgetfulness under his breath.
"What happened?" David put the key in the ignition, watching the older man carefully. "Any news from anybody else?"
"No." Rumple slipped his phone in his pocket. "None."
(They say have courage, and I'm trying to)
Part of Elsa knew that Rumpelstiltskin wouldn't just thaw himself out, and that would be that. This was her life she was talking about. Something always had to go wrong.
They ended up putting him in one of the guest bedrooms, and kind of just left him lying in there. None of them could bring themselves to enter for a long time, because they weren't sure what they would find.
After two days, Elsa got up the courage to enter, hoping that if Rumpelstiltskin was miraculously conscious, he wouldn't hit her with a battering ram or douse her with hot oil or something.
Instead, she found him still curled up exactly where they had left him.
His skin had somehow lost it's reptalian hue. He looked almost human at first glance, but as Elsa came closer, she saw that his skin was deathly pale, paler than hers, even. Almost the color of snow.
Panicked, she checked his pulse, albeit carefully. She couldn't forget who the man was, after all. To her alarm, it was very faint. At first, she thought it wasn't there at all.
For a second, her mind went blank, trying to decide what to do. In the end, she just stood up again and ran out the door, flying down the hallway with a trail of ice at her heels, and ran right into Kristoff.
She would have literally bounced off of him and hit the ground, but he managed to catch her and steady her.
"Uh-Queen Elsa!" Kristoff said, awkwardly. He let go of her. "What's wrong?"
'We need to visit the trolls," Elsa said desperately. "Where's Anna? Have you seen her?"
"Uh, it's the middle of the night. She's probably sleeping," Kristoff said, matter-of-factly.
Elsa stared at him. "Why are you here? It is the middle of the night!"
"I was dropping off something for Anna," Kristoff said uncomfortably. "this is the only time I have to do it. I'm in the ice harvesting business, remember? And you just solved my supply and demand problem. Thank you for that. by the way."
"Okay." Elsa hadn't known he was a ice harvester. She supposed at some point Anna had mentioned it at some point, but she couldn't remember when. She decided to ponder that later and get to the point. "I need you to take me to the trolls?"
"Why-oh. Him." Kristoff didn't sound that pleased. "Look, are you sure you want to heal him? He is-you know-the Dark One."
"I have to! Without him, I don't know how to unfreeze the kingdoms!"
Kristoff stared at her. "Aaaaaaaaaaaand you can't do it yourself because...?"
Elsa sighed impatiently. "That's not important. Now will you take me to the trolls or not?"
"Look, how do you know that the trolls will even help him? He's a creature of-"
"Dark magic, I know, I know. But I have to try, otherwise people will die!"
Kristoff studied her for a minute, and sighed. "Fine. I'll help you."
"I'll prepare the horses. You get him and meet me at the stables." Elsa was about to leave when Kristoff stopped her.
"No horses are necessary, especially when you've got a reindeer. Trust me on this. Where is he?"
Elsa led him down the hallway and into the bedroom where Rumpelstiltskin lay, without a word. Kristoff stared at the limp form lying in the bed for a minute, then reluctantly scooped Rumpelstiltskin up and tossed him over his shoulder.
"All right," Kristoff muttered, obviously unhappy about the situation. "Should we wake up Anna and let her know we're leaving?"
"No, I don't want to disturb her," Elsa said. 'Let's just go."
"All right. Let's get this over with." Kristoff muttered something unintelligible under his breath as he and Elsa exited the bedroom and started down the hallway.
'What was that?" Elsa asked.
"Nothing."
(I'm right out here for you)
Regina frowned as she stared at her reflection in the small pocket mirror she kept in her bag. Her fingers slowly stroked the new white streak in her hair.
"Be honest Henry, how bad does it look?" Regina said.
"Honestly, it looks kind of cool," Henry said, his fingers around the cup of cocoa he had made for him and his adopted mother. "You kind of look like Rogue, from 'X-men.' "
"What's that?" Regina placed the mirror down on the small table next to the couch.
"Don't worry, it's a good thing. Are you feeling any better Mom?"
"I'm fine sweetie. I should be out looking for that princess." Regina scowled at the thought.
"You're better off here."
The new, yet familiar voice, made her jump. She immediately adverted her eyes as Robin came in with another cup of cocoa, his third for the day.
"This is extremely good cocoa, Henry," Robin said as he sat down next to Regina.
"Thanks." Henry's grin was a mile wide, and it made Regina's heart clench. It was good to have her son back, fascination with fairy tales and all. But did he have to have such a hero-worship of her kind-of ex-boyfriend?
"So," Regina said, her gaze darting down to the coffee table in front of her. "How's Marian adjusting to the modern world?"
"Well, she's glad to be back with Roland. I'm still trying to help her get settled in, but it's going well enough."
Regina didn't look up at him, but she thought that his voice was veering on the edge of uncomfortable.
"I'll be right back," Regina said quickly, standing up and walking towards the direction of the bathroom. She overheard Henry asking Robin if he'd seen the Disney version of his movie, and if he wanted to watch it. Regina quickly shut the bathroom door behind her, blocking out both of their voices, and hopefully, hers.
Regina pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and opened her contact list. After scrolling down to the one she wanted to call, she hesitated. How would she even know if he'd respond?
She tapped on the name on the screen with her finger, and soon, it was dialing. The phone rang once, twice, three times. On the fourth ring, he picked up.
"Madame Mayor? It's about time you called."
"Look Sydney, I know you must be angry with me but I'm still your master and I need a favor," Regina snapped.
"Regina, I am a lot less angry than you think I am. You kindly installed my room with a television and a phone, so at least I know what's going on in the outside world. However, I expected that you would actually call me on the phone, or at least, let me out of here when the curse was broken."
"I know. But a lot of stuff has happened since then, and I need your help."
"Pray tell."
"Someone is threatening my happy ending."
"Again?"
"Shut up Sydney!" Regina snapped. "Remember who's in charge here!"
Silence on the line. "Right. What do you need?" Sydney asked after a minute.
"You used to be able to see all sorts of magical possibilities. I want you to tell me if it's possible to make someone fall out of love with someone."
Sydney was silent again. "Regina, the laws of magic..."
"Say that magic cannot make one fall in love with the user, I know. But I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about making someone's love for a person just...stop."
More silence. Regina waited for a minute, but he said nothing.
"Well?!" She snapped.
"Yes," Sydney said, finally. "There is a way. Why don't you just kill...whoever's threatening your happy ending?"
"I can't do that." Not to Robin.
"All right, have it your way. I'll help you. But only if you let me out of this nuthouse."
"I will. Trust me on that. But you better keep your word. I'll be over there soon." Regina hung up without a word. Immediately, she replaced her phone in her pocket and walked out of the bathroom.
When she got back into the living room, she expected Robin and Henry to be watching that Disney movie, but instead, Robin was just getting off the phone with someone, and Henry was watching grimly.
"What's going on?" Regina asked. "Did they find her?"
"No," Robin said, and she saw that his face was grim. "Rumpelstiltskin killed Zelena."
"What?" Regina wasn't expecting to hear that. "But the camera footage-"
"He manipulated the footage," Robin said.
"But how did he even-Belle had his dagger-"
"No. We thought she did. He tricked her. Gave her a fake dagger. They all cut him from the search for Anna, because he's proved himself untrustworthy."
Regina let that sink in. Part of her was beyond angry with Rumple for killing her sister. Sure Zelena had done terrible things-but she was just like Regina. Regina wanted to give her sister a second chance. Rumpelstiltskin had robbed Zelena of that chance. Hell, Regina was furious with him for that.
But then again, he'd been through a lot. Regina hadn't honestly just expected him to get over it so easily, but she had dared to hope that like her, he could change, and do the right thing for once. But he didn't. And she wasn't the only one he'd let down.
"Belle must be devastated," Regina said softly.
"She is," Robin said grimly, standing up. "I'm going to go over there."
"All right." Regina went over to the coffee table and picked up her purse. " While you do that, I'm going over to give Rumple a piece of my mind. Henry, do you mind staying here for a while?"
"No," Henry said shrugging. "I kind of missed it here."
"Thank you sweetie." Regina kissed Henry on the forehead. Truth to be told, she wasn't going over to visit the imp, but rather, to visit the mirror. But she was definitely going to have a few words with Rumple.
One Hour Previously-
David's truck pulled up in front of the diner, Rumple noticed that almost everyone had regrouped and were sitting inside the diner. When the truck pulled in, the all got up and flocked outside. When Rumple slid out of the passenger seat Red was immediately in front of him, looking like she was about to slap him.
"Hey!" David snapped at her as her arm was raised in mid-swing. Rumple saw that the werewolf's right shoulder was bandaged, and Red was about to use her left hand to smack him.
"What's going on?! Don't you dare touch me Miss Lucas!" Rumple snapped.
"You've got a lot of explaining to do Gold!" Emma snapped, coming up from behind Red.
"What are you talking about?"
"Please," Belle's soft voice came from behind Emma, and she pushed through both Red and Emma and stood in front of Rumple. Her face was streaked with tear stains, and immediately, Rumple got a bad feeling in his stomach. "Please, just let me talk to him in private."
The ladies reluctantly pulled back. Snow, holding Neal, took David by the hand and led him inside the diner. Rumple heard him ask Snow what was going on, and Snow told him softly that she'll explain inside. He saw Hook holding the door for them, Emma, and Red, and he and the pirate exchanged a quick glance. Rumple recognized distaste in Hook's expression, and...also a little bit of pity? Then the pirate turned away, and went inside like everyone else.
"Look at me," Belle ordered, and Rumple's attention turned back to her.
"Belle, sweetheart-" Rumple began to get a feeling of what this was about.
"I know you know what I'm upset about, Rumple." Belle held out the fake dagger out in front of them. Rumple's stomach twisted violently, along with something else in his chest.
"Belle, I-" Rumple's voice got in his throat, and he felt like he couldn't continue.
"You lied to me," Belle said softly. "I trusted you, and you lied to me. I called you when I was in danger. I tried to use it to summon you. You didn't come."
"You were in danger?" Rumple remembered Red's wounded shoulder, and the twisting in his stomach multiplied tenfold.
"George came after us," Belle said flatly.
"What?! King George?!"
"Yes."
Rumple swallowed. "Belle, if I had known that my actions would put you in danger, I swear, we wouldn't be in this situation."
"That's not the point. The point is that you lied to me!"
"I'm sorry." The words sounded lame, even to his ears.
"You killed Zelena didn't you?"
Rumple didn't want to make this even worse. "Yes."
Belle stared at him. "Is that why you did this? Because you wanted revenge?!"
"Yes! Yes, I'll admit it. I wanted revenge. She got my son killed, Belle! She-" Rumple stopped. He didn't want to think about what had happened in that blasted cage she had kept him in, chained up like a dog...
"I don't know what to say," Belle said, still in a flat tone. "Rumple, now what will happen to us?"
Please don't leave me Belle. Please, yell at me, scream at me, punch me, do whatever you want to me. Just please don't leave me.
"I don't know. Belle, I never wanted to hurt you. Never. I love you."
"I love you too. I always will. And maybe that's why this hurts so much." Belle wasn't crying anymore. The tear stains were disappearing from her face. "I know you love me. And I know you can be a good man."
"Belle-"
"I know you can make the right choices. So why won't you? Why can't you?"
I'm a villain, that's why.
"I don't know."
Villlains don't get happy endings.
Belle stared at him for a while. "This isn't over. Between us. Just don't expect me home tonight."
No don't leave.
Belle turned around and walked back into the diner. The door closed behind her, and he didn't see her look back.
He just stared at the spot where she had been standing, her footprints in the deep snow that followed all the way to the diner.
Gone.
Rumple didn't feel like moving. He didn't feel like walking away. After a while, he didn't know how long, David came out and walked over to him.
"You killed Zelena didn't you?" He asked.
Rumple managed a brief nod.
"Right." David cleared his throat. "Your help isn't neccesary in finding Anna anymore. You can just...I don't know, go home. But we don't want your help."
"That's a first," Rumple muttered.
"Look, I know she got your son killed. We miss Neal too, but-"
"Bae," Rumple interrupted. "His name was Bae."
David opened his mouth to continue, but he closed it, obviously thinking better of it. "Just go home."
Rumple turned around and began walking back to his car. When he got in, he turned on the wind shield wipers to clear off the snow piled onto the windshield. For a minute, he watched the snow clear away, one sweep at a time. Then he snapped out of it and stuck the key into the ignition.
When he turned it and heard the engine rumble to life, he remembered the groaning of the vault that had resurrected him. He remembered the bleak blackness of death, and then rising from the cold vault, only to find a body lying in the snow.
Not knowing where he was going, he pulled out of the parking space and drove away.
(Just let me in)
Elsa had never ridden a reindeer before, but there was a first time for everything, she supposed.
But she doubted that if she ever had to ride a reindeer again, she wouldn't do it with an unconscious Dark One's head lolling on her shoulder.
Kristoff was in front, egging Sven on. The reindeer galloped faster and faster across the snowy terrain and up a large mountain, eventually coming through a forest of pine trees.
After what seemed like an eternity of riding, Sven finally came to a large, rocky clearing in the middle of the pine forest. He slowed to a stop, and the minute he was still, Kristoff jumped off of his back, dragging Rumpelstiltskin off as well and resting him on the ground.
"Need help?" Kristoff held out a hand.
Elsa took it, and slid to the ground. She looked around, and immediately, all the loose rocks in the area began to roll towards them. She let out a yelp as one of them nearly collided into her. Slowly, each rock uncurled, revealing a wide, gray face with eyes that blinked up at her.
"Kristoff's back!" One of them said, and they began to cheer.
"Good to see you guys too," Kristoff shouted as they began to swarm around him, jabbering praises and greetings."But we kind of have a situation here!"
"What's the-" Another troll began just before she noticed Elsa and Rumpelstiltskin. Immediately, she stopped in her tracks and stared at the two of him. Slowly the trolls began quieting down as their attention was brought to the two of them. Whispers and gasps immediately sounded, and the sea of trolls parted as another rock rolled up to Elsa, who was crouching next to Rumpelstiltskin, and uncurled into a troll that looked much older than the rest.
"Elsa," The elder troll said grimly. "How nice it is to see you again."
"Hi Pabbie," Elsa murmured.
Pabbie studied the unconscious Dark One. "I sense dark magic. Elsa, what have you been up to lately?"
"It happened again," Elsa said lamely. "I need your help."
"Speaking of which, how is Anna?"
"Fine. Now Pabbie, please?"
Pabbie shuffled over to Rumpelstiltskin's side, feeling his forehead, hesitantly.
"This is exactly what happened with your sister," He murmured. "Once again, you should be thankful it wasn't the heart. Especially not his. Ice and darkness do not mix well. In fact, they're a rather catastrophic mix."
"You need to heal him," Elsa pleaded. "Please. I need his help."
Pabbie sighed. "I don't know what you've gotten yourself into, Elsa, but I do not deal with Dark magic. You know that."
"But-" Elsa began to protest.
"However, your ice seems to have knocked all of his dark magic out of him. He is no longer the Dark One."
Elsa stopped.
"How's that possible?" Kristoff demanded, exchanging glances between Elsa, Pabbie, and Rumpelstiltskin.
"As I said-ice and darkness do not miss. Ice is pure. Cold. Powerful. Dark magic is chaotic. Powerful yes, but it can easy take over one's soul like a disease. Apparently, ice can freeze that disease in it's track and shatter it into a million pieces. If I thaw him, then the darkness will return. If I don't, then he'll die. Right now, he is without magic, a harmless man." Pabbie hesitated for a split second, his hand still on Rumpelstiltskin's forehead. "Yes, even now I can feel his dark magic battling for control over your ice. And right now, your ice is winning. If he is not thawed, then he will die within minutes. You're the only one who can choose what happens to him now."
"What?"
Pabbie gave her a sympathetic look, and Elsa's stomach sank. Part of her wanted to scream 'this is so unfair! Why do I have to choose?'
Release Rumpelstiltskin back to darkness or let him die? Elsa suddenly realized that living every day as the monster everyone called the Dark One was nothing less of a horrible fate. But then again, she couldn't just let a man die.
Either way, it would all be her fault.
"Thaw him," Elsa murmured in barely a whisper.
"What?"
"Thaw him," Elsa said a little louder. "I need his help."
And I can't let anyone die because of me. Not even him.
"Are you sure?" Pabbie asked grimly.
Elsa nodded.
Pabbie sighed, and he conjured a ball of bright white light, pressing it into the back of Rumpelstiltskin's head. The sorceror murmured something under his breath, but remained unconscious.
"I'd take him back to his castle and leave him there before he wakes up," Pabbie said. "He's not going to be very happy with you Elsa."
"But I need his help," Elsa said lamely. "I froze some kingdoms...and-and I can't unfreeze them."
"Elsa, you are a sorceress. You need help from no one when it comes to your power."
"Thank you Pabbie," Kristoff said, picking up Rumpelstiltskin again and tossing him like a sack of potatoes back on Sven's back.
"No need to thank me." Pabbie nodded at Elsa. "Good luck Elsa."
Elsa let Kristoff help her on Sven's back as she watched Pabbie and the rest of the trolls curl up again to look like normal rocks. They slowly rolled away as Sven turned around and began galloping back to Arendelle.
(We only have each other)
Rumple had taken great care to avoid his son's grave for as long as he could, but he decided not to delay the introduction for much longer.
And so here he was, kneeling at Bae's final resting place, his knees growing cold and wet as they dug into the snow. He considered saying hello, but there was no one he'd be greeting. Bae wasn't here. Deep beneath the ground, there was only the silent, dead husk of his boy and nothing else.
So where was Bae really?
"Right here Papa."
Now Bae was an adult, wearing a black winter coat and casual jeans. He was studying the name written on his own grave.
"Look Papa, they put my real name. Neal Cassidy. That's kind of cool, huh?"
"Bae, what are you doing?" Rumple whispered.
"What are you doing? You're the one who came here. Why? To torture yourself even more? You were already doing a great job with that even before you came here."
"You're the one who keeps following me around when no one else is watching!" Rumple shut his eyes. Maybe if he just ignored him, he'd go away.
"I know what you're trying to do, Papa. It'll never work. I'll always be with you. I'll always be haunting your thoughts, you're nightmares. I'm never going to leave, Papa. You know I won't."
When Rumple didn't respond, Bae continued.
"It's funny. First you were a coward, then you were a monster, and now you're this. What is this? It's pathetic, Papa, that's what it is. Look at what that witch reduced you to. After a little bit of being trapped in a cage, she broke you. Is that really all it would have took? A cage?"
"It wasn't the cage," Rumple whispered. "It was you."
"Me? You mean you. Because it's your fault I'm dead in the first place."
"No it's not."
"Papa, you need a reality check. Which is ironic, when you think about who's giving it to you. Like I said, you're pathetic. Especially now. You lose the people you love, over and over, mostly because of your own actions. You're frozen, Papa. Frozen in the same cycle, over and over again. No matter how hard you try, you'll never have your happy ending. So stop trying. You'll never get it."
"Bae, stop."
"Look at yourself. I mean, really look. You know what I see? A ghost. Someone that should have died three hundred years ago. Someone that should have lived a normal lifespan, safe and happy with his son. And if not, you should have just died and stayed in that vault. But you didn't, and now look at you. You're a ghost with a beating heart, Papa, and you're stuck in the same merry-go-round you've been in for your entire life."
Rumple kept his eyes closed. He didn't want to look at Bae again. To look at his face and remember why he died.
"And as you can see from what you did to Belle, the merry-go-round keeps turning. See you later, Papa. It looks like trouble's brewing back in town."
Rumple opened his eyes after for what seemed like eternity, and to his great relief, Bae was gone. But when he turned to look in the direction of town, he saw a tunnel of light, swirling over the forest.
Oh no.
"Are you saying that no one in Storybrooke has even heard of her?" Emma demanded, after everyone in the circle had pooled their results and had come to the conclusion that practically no one in Storybrooke had ever seen Anna.
"Is it possible the curse didn't pick her up?" Hook asked.
"The second curse should have," David said grimly.
"Calm down, there has to be an explanation," Snow said, while biting her lower lip.
"She must have left the Enchanted Forest somehow," Red pointed out. She was sitting next to a very depressed-looking Belle, who hadn't yet contributed to the conversation.
"How though? And why? And more importantly, how?" Emma asked, fingering the edge of one of the dozen 'missing' posters they had made.
"Hey!" Granny called from the counter, while staring out the window. "You might want to take a look of what's outside!"
In unison, they looked outside to see a swirling rainbow of light.
(It's just you and me)
The one thing Anna had learned from portal jumping was that it was fun only if one enjoyed free-falling though a swirl of nausea-inducing spinning colors and then hitting the ground so hard that it would definitely bruise in the morning.
In other words, she thought it was awesome.
Kristoff, however, could agree to disagree. He always looked a bit green afterwords, and the particular trip to the land without magic was no exception.
The four of them, including Will Scarlet and Sven, landed in a forest of pine trees that was dusted over with a heavy layer of snow. Sven immediately got up and began woozily wandering around in circles.
"We're here," Will said grimly.
Kristoff woozily staggered to his feet. "Great."
Anna stood up as well. "Which way do we go now?"
"I think I know where we are," Will said. He didn't look too happy with the thought. "Follow me."
His companions obeyed, even Sven, who had taken interest in a bundle of pine needles sticking out from the snow. The reindeer reluctantly trotted after them. Kristoff scratched behind his ears almost absent-mindedly.
"Where are we going?" Kristoff asked.
"The town," Will said simply. "There's a town near here. It's probably where your sister will be. In fact, I'd bet money on it."
Anna's heart suddenly hammered violently in her chest. Her sister. Was here. In this town. Will just bet money. On that fact.
At the thought of her sister, Anna's mind connected with the snow on the ground. Her heart sped even faster.
"Let's take Sven!" She said eagerly. "It'll be faster. Come on!"
"Can he take three people?" Will asked skeptically.
"He has before," Kristoff said matter-of-factly. "Hop on."
As the three climbed onto Sven's back, the reindeer gave a little grunt of exasperation.
"Oh don't be like that, you've carried three before!" Kristoff scolded. "Let's go."
Sven grunted again, and took off running, nearly sending his passengers flying off his back. They managed to regain their grips just in time for him to speed off in the direction of Storybrooke.
Elsa hadn't known what to think when a swirling tunnel of light had suddenly appeared among a grove of trees not that far away from her ice castle, but that didn't mean she wasn't going to investigate. Quickly, she turned from the balcony and headed down the stairs, through the icy downstairs, and into the winter wonderland that Storybrooke and the surrounding area had become.
The light seemed to had died down. Elsa wasn't sure if that was good or bad, but she was immediately put on defense. Her mind raced, trying to decide what to do now.
The town, she decided. Someone in the town, probably Rumpelstiltskin, would know what that swirling light meant and if it was a threat. If it was, then Elsa knew she had better leave the forest to somewhere safer. Why not the town? She had control of her powers now. She had regained control.
Right?
"We need to stay away from it!" Hook snapped. "Remember what happened to Emma and I last time we went near a portal?!"
"Yeah, but who knows what came through?!" David told him, grabbing his jacket and pulling it on.
"What's going on?" Belle and Red were back, and both brunettes were looking at the group questioningly.
"We saw the light," Red added.
"Killian's right. We should stay away from it. Whatever came through is probably coming to visit us soon," Emma told him, obviously remembering her mistake with the portal.
David stopped and stared at her incredulously. "Killian? Since when do you call him Killian?"
"Um-" Grumpy was meanwhile gawking out the window. "Is that a reindeer?"
"What?" Emma asked, before checking the window herself.
Sure enough, a reindeer was galloping down Main Street, carrying three passengers. It slowed to a halt in front of the clock tower, and it's riders disembarked.
The Charming's, Belle, Hook, Granny, Red, Grumpy, and almost everyone else in the diner dashed outside and went to meet the riders. Even though no one recognized the two male riders, they immediately recognized the blue eyes and red braids of the female rider from the posters that they had put up all around town.
"You-" Snow stared. "Are you Anna?"
Anna stared at her, looking a little overwhelmed by the sudden attention that they were giving her and her companions. "Uh-yeah. Actually I am. Um...how did you know...?"
"We've been looking for you," Emma said, pushing her way to the front.
Anna eyed her suspiciously. "Okaaaaaaay...why?"
"Yeah, why?" One of the men, with shaggy blond hair, placed a protective hand on Anna's shoulder.
"Let's just say your sister's been asking for you," Emma said after a minute, not knowing how to put the fact.
"Sister?" Anna's eyes widened. "She's really here?"
"Yes. Blond hair, ice powers, right?"
"Yep." Anna swallowed. "That's her."
George, who was hiding behind Emma Swan's parked car, smirked gleefully once he recognized the red haired girl from the poster. Letting himself kneel down, he opened the briefcase holding the various home made bombs and smoke bombs he had simply stolen from Clark's store.
He took one of the bombs and set it underneath Swan's yellow bug.
"Do you know her?"
"Yeah." Emma nodded. "You could say that."
Anna's eyes flickered back and forth between Emma and the other members of the crowd, still looking slightly suspicious.
"Why don't you come inside?" Red offered. "Hear us out. Then we'll take you to your sister."
Anna hesitated for a minute. "All right."
"Great! Um, who are your friends?" Emma gestured to the men and the reindeer.
"Oh, um, this is Kristoff and Will. The reindeer's Sven."
Sven snorted as a way of greeting, and licked Grumpy's face.
"Ugh!" The dwarf's face crinkled in disgust as he wiped the reindeer drool off his face.
Anna seemed to relax a little, and her face broke out into a grin. "Aw, he likes you."
Without warning, the temperature suddenly dropped several degrees, and another voice suddenly spoke out from behind them.
"Anna?"
Everyone turned to see the Snow Queen standing at some distance away from them, staring wide-eyed at her sister. Anna visibly froze (pun not intended).
"Elsa?" She squeaked.
For a minute, all the the sisters could do was stand gawking at each other. Then Anna suddenly broke out of her daze, taking a few slow steps, before running over and throwing her arms around Elsa.
"Anna-" Elsa choked out, before Anna stepped back and glared at her.
"Where were you?" The redhead snapped. "Do you have any idea how worried I was?!"
"I-" Elsa's eyes fell down to the ground.
"Where were you?!" Anna repeated, tears broiling in her eyes. "You just disappeared, Elsa!"
"Where have you been?" Elsa asked weakly, taking note of the other girl's clothes, which were ragged and made out of animal skin.
"Everywhere! Looking for you!"
"What-"
"What, did you just expect me to stay at the castle instead of look for you?!" Anna snapped. "You just vanished, and you didn't come back! What was I supposed to do?!"
"Stay safe!" Elsa shouted.
"You left, didn't you? After what happened with Rumpelstiltskin-" Anna sighed angrily. "Why can't you just get it?"
"Get what?"
"You're not dangerous! Why can't you understand-" Anna stopped in mid-sentence. "Um, who's that?"
Elsa, and everyone else, turned around and saw George standing in the snow, with a certifiably insane grin on his face, holding what looked like a remote in his hand.
"You!" Red snapped, immediately getting into what she liked to call her kick-ass stance. It was only ruined by her wounded arm.
"Me." George's grin didn't fade.
"What are you doing here?" David said coolly, coming to stand in front of all of them.
"Ruining your life," George said simply, before pressing a button on the remote and both the diner and Emma's car exploded.
(What are we gonna do?)
Rumple was almost to the diner, his eyes on the crowd of people that were standing in front of it, when the explosions suddenly sent his car skidding. Fumbling at the wheel, Rumple barely managed to get his car under control before it could smash into a lamp post.
Belle, was his only thought, before he grabbed his cane and got out of the car.
Through the fires that burned on despite the cold air, Rumple could make out Snow, a man whose name he couldn't remember, and Red lying on the ground, Belle and Emma kneeling next to them, George and David standing face-to-face, and Elsa, Anna, and Kristoff struggling to their feet.
Wait. Elsa, Anna, and Kristoff?
Looks like they found Anna, Rumple thought grimly, taking a step forward.
Another blast from behind him sent him to his feet and the remains of Emma's Bug into the air. Rumple ducked as the car flew over his head and crashed in front of him.
His ears ringing and the world spinning, Rumple attempted to get to his feet, but the world suddenly swooped and he stumbled onto his hands and knees. The cold snow on the ground stung his hands. Shakily, he crawled out from behind the car and towards the scene of mayhem. He attempted to conjure a fireball, but his dizziness prevented him from doing so.
Ice was swirling around Elsa, ready to fly from her fingertips and towards George, who was currently getting yelled at by David.
"What do you want?" David shouted. There was a gash over his left eye, and his jacket was covered with snow.
"Oh don't worry," George sneered. "I'm just here to pick something up. But trust me, you won't have a happy ending."
He then threw down some little round things that from the distance looked like marbles, but when they hit the ground, they exploded into smoke that spread out and covered everyone.
Rumple crawled faster. He heard a scream, yelling, and then, Elsa's shriek of anger suddenly made everyone else go silent.
"Get away from her!" Elsa's voice screamed, and then bolts of ice suddenly shot out from multiple directions. Something in his stomach sank, because something told Rumple that something had happened to Anna and Elsa was now blindly shooting ice in multiple directions. Any fool could tell that that was a bad idea, but Elsa was desperate. Nevertheless, she wasn't going to be able to help Anna in time, and Rumple knew he probably wasn't going to get a chance to either. Hopefully, Swan or Charming would trip George or something.
His thoughts were cut off abruptly when one of Elsa's ice bolts suddenly flew towards his direction. For a split second, he scrambled to get out of the way, but it was too late. The ice made impact, and knocked him to the ground.
It took a while for the smoke to clear, but until it did, Emma was stumbling blindly around in it. When it had dispersed, George was gone.
And so was Anna.
"He took her!" Elsa sobbed. "It's all my fault!" She had collapsed to her knees, tears trickling down her face. Kristoff was kneeling next to her, and so was Sven.
"We'll find her," Kristoff said grimly.
"Kristoff?" Elsa blinked up at him. "What are you doing here?"
"Rumple?" Belle suddenly said.
The name got Emma's attention, and she saw the man staggering dazedly to his feet, clutching his chest. Her eyes couldn't help but narrow despite everything that had happened.
"What are you doing here?" Red snapped.
"I saw the light show, so I came down to see what the hell was going on," Rumple said sarcastically. "Although now I see we have more problems then that at the moment."
"George took Anna," Snow said woozily, sitting up. David kneeled next her, taking her hand.
"I can see that dearie," Rumple glanced towards a distraught Elsa, then glanced up at the sky. Emma followed his lead unknowingly and reliazed that it was starting to snow.
"Elsa, dearie, calm down." Rumple walked over to her and crouched down next her, wincing slightly because of his leg.
"Why would he take her?" Elsa moaned, wiping her eyes.
"Good question," David said, while helping a dizzy Snow to her feet. "Especially when he wants to exact his vengeance on me."
"I'm guessing he knew about our deal," Rumple said grimly. "Find Anna, and you stop the snow. If we don't, then we're stuck in an eternal winter. How he knew, I have no idea. The first step in defeating him is to thaw Storybrooke." He looked expectantly at Elsa. "That's your cue dearie."
Elsa stared at him wide-eyed. "What?"
"Fix this winter," He said simply.
"But-I can't. You know I can't. I don't know how."
Rumple took a deep breath. "Then how were you going to thaw out Storybrooke if George had not been involved with this equation?"
"I don't know," Elsa looked like she was about to start crying again.
Rumple looked like he was about to blow an artery. Emma watched him slowly take deep breaths before speaking again.
"Elsa, you have to thaw out the winter."
"Just put me back in the jar! That's what stopped it last time, didn't it?" Elsa asked hopefully.
"Not this time dearie."
"But-"
"No. Not again. There are better ways to learn how to control your powers. You just have to focus-"
"This never would have happened if you had just kept me in that jar!" Elsa suddenly exploded. The snow began to fall at a faster rate. "We made a deal!"
"I didn't open that jar, for your information! Your jar was lost in the curse! The only thing that brought you back was Swan and the pirate going back in time in order to bring your jar here for you! You should be grateful, dearie. You were given a second chance to learn how to control your powers. Use it." The last two words he spat angrily, and Elsa looked a little taken back.
A minute of silence followed his words. Emma saw Elsa swallow softly.
"I'll try," She said quietly.
"Good," Rumple sighed. "You can do it. Trust me on that. As you do that, we'll find Anna."
"Again," Emma muttered.
"How are we going to do that?" Hook asked impatiently.
"Well, at least we actually know she's in Storybrooke this time. We'll just search high and low." David said determinedly. "Find out what George is up to."
"I'll go with you," Elsa said, getting to her feet.
"Keep trying," Rumple reminded her.
"I know."
Rumple looked like he was about to say something else, but winced suddenly, pressing his hand to his chest.
"Are you okay?" Kristoff asked.
"Fine." Rumple muttered. "Do you, by any chance, have anything of Anna's?"
"Actually..." Kristoff went for his knapsack hanging around his waist, and pulled out a small shard of glass. "She um-uses it as a mirror. She gave it to me before we transported here because she didn't want it to break."
"Perfect." Rumple held out his hand, and Kristoff hesitantly gave it to him. "I don't have any more tracking spells at my shop, so I'll have to brew one from scratch." Emma saw his eyes flicker to Belle hesitantly, and his wife immediately looked away. Dejected, Rumple turned around and walked back to his car without another word.
"Where are you going?" David snapped suspiciously.
"Back to my house. One of the ingredients to the tracking spell is there. I don't have it in my shop. I'll call you when the spell's ready." Rumple opened his car door and got in.
"Hold on," Emma interjected, stalking up to the driver's side window and glaring at him through it. Rumple rolled down the window. "Why are you so helpful all of a sudden?"
"Because I don't want to be stuck in eternal winter, just like the rest of you. If getting Anna back will prevent that, then I will gladly do what I need to do." Rumple rolled out the window, perhaps to drown out any remaining arguments Emma might have. She caught him glancing over at Belle again, and this time, the Beauty held his gaze. For a minute, they stared at each other before Rumple eventually broke his gaze and drove away.
"Now what do we do?" Red asked, holding her wounded arm at her side. The blast from the bombs probably hadn't done it much good.
"Get the rest of the dwarves," David ordered Grumpy, who nodded. "Until Rumpelstiltskin makes that spell, we're going to be searching."
"I'll be helping too," Kristoff announced. "Ow!" Sven had nudged him in the back of the head and was giving him a pointed look. "And so will Sven."
"I will too," The other man that had accompanied Anna and Kristoff said. He had a nasty-looking cut over his right eye, but otherwise looked fine.
"Sorry, I didn't catch your name," David said politely.
"Will Scarlet. Knave of Hearts."
"I'm David, this is my wife Snow and my daughter Emma, and our friends, Red, Grumpy, Hook, and Belle."
"Nice to meet you all," Will replied. "And I'm assuming we're off to find the princess?"
"Yep." Emma cast a look at her destroyed car. She clenched her teeth together angrily. That bastard was going to pay.
As he drove, Rumple realized he was getting colder and colder by the minute. He switched on his car's heater, but that did little to help.
He really hoped that Elsa's ice blast hadn't caused much harm. Having never met anyone whose heart had been frozen, Rumple wasn't sure how the 'frozen heart' process worked. Did it happen instantaneously, or did it happen slowly, over time? If it happened slowly, then he could deal with it later. There were more important things happening. Hell, maybe he didn't have a frozen heart. Maybe he was fine. Yes, he was probably fine. If Elsa's ice blast had hit his heart, surely he would have noticed some sort of side effect by now.
Surely.
Rumple's car pulled into his driveway. As he got out, he realized that the snow was coming down faster and thicker.
Dammit Elsa, he thought in frustration. Is it really that hard to figure out?
Apparently so. Sighing, he hobbled towards the front door. He had lost his cane in the explosion, but he was fine without it at the moment. He had extras in his bedroom, he'd just pick one up after he got what he needed for the tracking spell.
When he got to his front door, however, he noticed that it was wide open, and the lock was broken. He immediately felt anger coil in the bottom of his stomach, and knew the intruder was going to pay.
He took a few steps inside, and entered his living room. Immediately, he saw Anna, her wrists tied and her mouth gagged, sitting on the sofa glaring at a silver-haired figure rummaging through Rumple's foot locker.
"Knock knock, dearie," Rumple called, and George immediately whipped around, his face tight with fear.
"You-" George's hand went to the gun at his side. "What are you doing here?"
"Retrieving a neccesary item," Rumple said coolly. "Let me guess-you're searching for my dagger. Don't worry, everyone seems to want it these days."
"You're not supposed to be here," George snarled, as if he was a toddler on the verge of throwing a tantrum. Rumple took a second to wonder how sane George was these days. He didn't seem or act quite like the king he was back in the Enchanted Forest. The look in his eyes was almost disturbing. If his sanity really was off, then that would make him a lot more dangerous than usual.
But not by much.
"Where's the dagger?" George shouted angrily.
"I'll be asking the questions here, thank you very much." Rumple replied. He held out his hand, ready for it to ignite and for the flames to burn the king to a crisp.
Instead, his fingers only spluttered with only small flickers of flame, and then went out.
George and Anna stared at him questioningly.
Rumple tried again (Fire, dammit, I want fire) but this time, no flames appeared at all.
He heard Anna let out a muffled gasp.
"'Ure air!" She shouted, her words distorted through the gag. "Ure air!"
Your hair...
Rumple immediately glanced in the mirror hanging above the couch just to see a shock of white, remarkably identical to Anna's appear through his hair.
Oh no.
Guess Elsa's ice bolt had hit his heart after all.
Slowly, he turned back towards to George, heart hammering. A cruel smile had suddenly spread across the older man's face.
"Well well," George said, grinning from ear to ear. "A powerless Dark One? This may be my lucky day."
The gun immediately came out and was pointed at him.
"Now,' George said calmly. "You're going to sit down next to Miss Anna over there. I'm going to tie you up. If you try to refuse, I'll shoot you. Understood?"
Rumple was so tempting to uppercut George in the nose, but knew that that was an extremely terrible idea. So he walked over, sat down next to Anna, and let George bind his hands and take his cell phone, all while fantasizing taking his dagger and stabbing George multiple times in the neck.
"Now," George said calmly, picking up Rumpelstiltskin's cell phone. "Why don't we give my ward a call and let him know I have two hostages that I'd be happy to kill if he doesn't give in to my demands?"
(Do you wanna build a snowman?)
A/N-Yes, I sacrificed Emma's car. It had to happen. I hope no one's mad at me. Please review and let me know what you think.