How Deep Is Your Love
Chapter Seventeen
After Dr. Whale finished informing the thirteen year old and the other heroes that they could go in to see Hook, Henry quickly sent a text to his mom to let her and the others know Killian was stabilized and that they could see him when they get back, then he looked back towards Elsa and Robin while the Queen of Arendelle said quietly, "Go on ahead, Henry. We'll wait right out here for your mom and the others."
The teenager nodded, then walked away as he followed after the doctor, then when Elsa turned back to Robin, the archer looked at her and seeing the worry in her eyes and asked with concern, "I think we've done well to reassure Henry everything's going to be all right, but what about you?"
"I'm sorry," Elsa thought back to Ingrid saying, being unable to hold back her own worries any longer. "I'm afraid I can't let you leave."
Killian turned his body to face the Snow Queen as he glared at her and asked in confusion, "What?"
Elsa immediately walked between the villain and her friend as she stated firmly, "Let go of him now."
"Not when you and I have so much catching up to do, my sweet Elsa," Ingrid answered as she walked around the younger woman, looking at her captive for a moment before turning back to Elsa.
"Catching up?" Hook replied angrily while he stared at Elsa as though she had betrayed him and their friends. "What, you know her?"
Elsa looked between him and the Snow Queen in her own confusion as she responded honestly, "I've never seen her before."
The Snow Queen kept her eyes on Arendelle's true Queen as she answered, "You've simply forgotten."
"I wouldn't forget someone like you," Elsa quickly replied. "Like me."
Ingrid began to circle around her again while she continued, "The magic of the rock trolls. They pull memories. They did quite a number on you, I'm afraid."
Elsa asked again, "The rock trolls? Why would they do that to me?"
"For the same reason they did it to your sister, Anna," the older woman responded callously. "Some memories are too painful."
"You know Anna?" Elsa continued to question the villain standing before her. "What happened to her?"
The Snow Queen moved closer to Elsa until they were inches apart as she answered angrily, "The same things that happens to every ordinary person. Eventually... they grow to fear us. You wonder... How you ended up trapped in that urn. It was your sister. Anna put you there."
With disbelief, Elsa replied coldly, "You're lying."
"Am I?" Ingrid said sternly. "Look at the people in this town. They're ready to burn you at the stake."
"Because of what you did," the good Queen responded worryingly. "You hurt one of them."
Ingrid answered, "You mean that woman... Marian. Well, that was an accident."
Elsa glared at the other woman as she retorted coolly, "No, it wasn't. You wanted them to think it was me. To blame me. Why?"
"I was trying to teach you a lesson," she replied with a false sense of remorse meant only for Elsa, then turned back to Hook and slowly began to walk towards him. "Eventually, everyone turns on people like us. Even friends. Even family. They're just waiting for a reason."
"Milady," Robin spoke again more forcefully as he shook the woman still standing within the clinic beside him by her shoulders in order to regain her attention. "Elsa, what's wrong?"
When she finally snapped out of her thoughts, Elsa looked back in the archer's eyes as she responded, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to blank out like that. What did you ask me?"
He asked again, "Are you alright?"
"Yes, I uh… I just couldn't help, but think back to my first confrontation with the Snow Queen," Elsa whispered sadly. "She wanted to test me first and because of it, your Marian got hurt, for which I am deeply sorry for by the way. And now, she's tested Emma and Killian has been hurt as well. He was already almost killed. What could she want so badly that she's willing to hurt innocent people to get it?"
"It doesn't matter what this woman wants," Robin answered. "If there's one thing that I've learned since I've met everyone here in Storybrooke, though it was actually in the Enchanted Forest when we first met, it's that villains don't win. I've always fought against tyranny back in the land that I'm from, but my merry men and I always fought alone and at times it didn't seem as though we made much progress in defeating our enemies for good. Here we fight alongside heroes that include the Savior, Captain Hook, the former Evil Queen who is a good and an amazing woman, and now a powerful Queen with magic that can create snow and ice. We defeated a Wicked Witch from the Land of Oz I have no doubt that we will defeat this ice witch. As for Marian, I don't blame you at all for what happened to her. The Snow Queen is the only one to blame for her condition. Henry reminded me that I needed to have faith she will be alright. And I do. Marian's going to be fine, as will Killian."
Elsa smiled at him as she replied, "I truly admire your courage and faith, the same courage and faith I see in everyone here. I miss Arendelle and even more so my sister, but I'm certainly grateful that I've come here to Storybrooke."
Robin smiled and then responded, "Good. Now, let's go look in on our friend with Henry."
When the true Queen of Arendelle and the archer from the Sherwood Forest walked away to check in on Killian and Henry, Ingrid slowly stepped out from within another room nearby where she had frozen Dr. Whale and a few more of those working that evening. Like the spell that froze Leroy to the wall when she had kidnapped Captain Hook, the spell on the clinic staff was also only temporary. She didn't need a whole lot of time for what she had come to the clinic to do, only a brief distraction should the rest of the heroes return before she finished doing what she had come for.
