Chapter 3

Fight fire with fire. Belle had hoped it would be enough to help Rumple. She had read many books on the elements and they all led back to that saying. She couldn't see exactly how it would be the answer, but it had to give him somewhere to start.

When the wind and snow finally cleared, they were back in the chamber made of ice. Belle collapsed to the floor out of exhaustion and the fact that her legs were so numb she couldn't feel them any longer. Her arms were still bound behind her back with ice but she is certain at this point she wouldn't be able to move them either. Her captor stood over her, giving the most chilling stare Belle had ever received. "Pl-Please, let m-me go. I know you are ju-just mad about the death of your sister..."

Elsa knelt down to address Belle up close. "You have no idea what it is like to watch your sister shatter in front of you. I know he could've saved her. He saved so many others from far worse actions and HE let her die. He just won't admit to it and that is what hurts the most."

The ice chamber that they were in seemed very small to Belle. Like there was no where for her to hide from the angry Queen that seemed to be doing this for no other reason than she was evil. There was no reasoning with this woman, she could see that now. She realized that Elsa was so lost in the delusion that this was all Rumple's fault there was no bringing her out of it.

Belle had been in some tight spots before but never this afraid. If Rumple hadn't followed them to where they were hiding, then for some reason she felt he couldn't track them. Belle curled up in a little ball to try and stay as warm as possible, with as weak as she was feeling she knew she would have to make a break for it when the time was right.

"What do you want from him? Maybe I can help him get it for you." Belle was willing to try anything.

"Oh, you will help me get what I want. All I want is for him to watch you shatter into millions of beautiful pieces of ice. I could kill you now, but I want to see his face when it happens. Then, I can finish destroying this town." Elsa got up and walked out of the room.

"Rumplestiltskin, if you can hear me, please help." She let a tear fall from her cheek and it froze about half way down. More white strands appeared to take over her brown hair. There was no being brave this time. Just fear.

He felt it, the feeling that someone was calling upon him by name. But this was different. He couldn't tell, even with letting all of his magic take over his thinking, where in the hell it was coming from. He knew it had to be Belle, which made it all the worse. That she would be calling out for him and him not be able to find her. The instant Belle's hair was becoming more white, more frozen, he felt that same sharp pain in his chest. It only happened for an instant but he knew that for the woman on the other end, it was continuous. A never-ending cold she would be suffering with.

"Rumplestiltskin, are you coming?" Emma reached a hand to his shoulder. He seemed to be in a trance and she knew they didn't have too much time to waste.

"Yes, of course. Thank you." They shared a special bond after being forced to watch Neal die together. If anyone knew the way he was feeling, it was Emma.

They all exited the shop. They had decided they would go and search the town. Everyone took a few extra minutes to bundle up since the snow was picking up over the whole town. Except Rumple. He refused to wear more than his suit, seeing as Belle didn't have the luxury of proper clothing to stay warm. He didn't want her to be alone. Regina tried to talk sense into him but knew it was a losing battle.

"Okay, so Regina, Robin, and I will take the western side of the woods and the mines. Rumplestiltskin, Emma, and Hook take the Eastern side. Call immediately if you find anything useful." Charming was use to being in charge of these things but he glanced over at Rumple for approval. He received a nod back from the elder man.

"Belle mentioned 'fire with fire' while in the shop. I have been trying to think through it and am coming up a little empty." Rumple knew he had to bring it up to all of them before they split up. If Belle thought it was important then maybe they all needed to know.

"Like the saying 'Fight fire with fire' comes to mind." Emma chimed up.

"Maybe if you twist it around a little she is thinking maybe ice with ice?" Hook added.

Rumple couldn't believe how unfocused his mind was that he didn't think about it that way. Maybe others helping wasn't such a bad thing.

Regina thought it sounded promising. "Of course, Rumple, you said yourself that you have tried every fire spell and heat spell around and none of them worked. What if we hit her with her own magic?"

"Maybe I can try and construct some sort of ice arrow?" Robin still feeling bad about what happened in the shop and wanted to make up for it.

"Perhaps that could work." Rumple started to think and for the first time, he felt like he was getting a little control over the situation. "The only problem is that her magic will always be stronger than ours in this area since she was born to the ice. We will have to find a way to use her own powers against her...ok, let's start searching. We are losing time that Belle doesn't have."

As they walked along the paths that were slowly beginning to vanish by the snow, Robin was studying Regina for she seemed to be deep in thought and focused while trailing behind Prince Charming. "My Lady, is everything alright?"

"Just working out some things in my head to try and think of a freezing spell. My version of spells might not kill her, but they might buy us some time." She lifted her hand and shot at a nearby tree, creating frost on it but it only lasted for a few seconds. "It's a start."

On the other side of the woods, Rumple was working on the same thing, only his success was much faster. He looked very pleased with his work as he was able to freeze a huge tree in front of them and then blast it again, causing it to shatter.

"I never really played around with winter magic. Never had a need for it until now. Emma, care to give it a try?" Rumple looked at the savior, hoping that she was as quick of a study as he thought.

"Me? Um, I am still working on the basics but I guess as we look for Belle, it wouldn't hurt."

While they tended to the spells, Hook was trying his best to follow any remnants of a path. "What about back in town? How do we know they are even out here, Mate?"

"Elsa was always known for distancing herself from the people and places she was going to destroy. Solitude suited her very nicely. Back then when people heard of her tale, they would go on hunts for her. She made sure to keep up her truly evil appearance and gave them the show they wanted. Not only would she kill those that came looking for her, but the whole town would pay after that." Rumple stopped in his tracks. The pain in his chest had gotten worse. It lasted even longer this time.

"We can rest for a minute here if you want too? Are you okay?" Emma grabbed him by the arm before he fell over from the pain. Then, it was gone.

"Once Elsa froze Belle's heart, I felt it. As it grows worse for her, I can feel it too." Rumple finally revealed.

"So, are we taking a rest?" Hook doubled back to ask the two.

"No, if it's getting worse, we may not have as much time as I suspected. We have to keep going." Rumple took a second and pushed past the other two.

Emma and Hook gave each other a concerned look and followed him.

Belle felt the chill growing inside of her. It hurt to be this cold but she wasn't going to give up without a fight. Elsa had vanished from the cave for what had to have been 20 minutes. It was time for Belle to try and move. Elsa didn't tie her down to anything, probably not expecting her to be able to go anywhere. Belle rolled to her stomach and slid her knees under her chest. She lifted her torso so she was in a kneeling position and she pushed up to stand. She immediately leaned into the wall, knowing her legs were not going to move easily. She followed the wall slowly around the cave and made her way toward the opening of the ice cavern. Every step Belle stopped to look around and see where Elsa might be, but still to her luck, she was nowhere to be found. Belle continued on slowly, not exactly sure where she was. As she went ahead, the walls seemed to become more of mix of ice and stone and eventually even the ground under her was just stone as were the walls.

The parts where there were ice seemed to be glowing and Belle could see her way around. As she made it out of the icy section, it was pitch black. She moved slowly along, feeling that anything was better than being where Elsa could see her. Belle was still very weak and freezing from the inside. She leaned against the wall and took a moment to rest.

Regina was finally catching onto this whole ice thing. Within seconds now she was able to make a solid block of ice. She waved a hand over the block and let it burst in her hand. Once the block had shattered, Robin looked at what was left to see an arrow, made completely out of ice.

"Well done!" He smiled at the woman he loved.

"Thank you!" She smiled back.

He grabbed it and put it with his other arrows. "I don't know if it will help, but it's worth a shot. Can you make me more!"

Regina was already ahead of him. She produced 9 more arrows that he loaded into his bag. All of a sudden, the temperature took a turn for the worse and the wind had picked up around the group.

"So, what is this? Coming to find the girl or coming to hunt me?" Elsa appeared on the path directly in front of them, as if out of no where. She had her gloves off and sparks of ice were slowly radiating from them covering the ground with ice.

David drew his sword and held it at the ready. "Look, like we said before, just give us Belle and this can all end!"

Regina took the opening to try out her newly practiced magic. She sent a burst of ice flying toward Elsa. It hit Elsa in the chest and for the first time, she went flying back. Just a few steps back, but Regina knew it was more than the woman had ever really experienced in a fight. Elsa looked up at her, furious of the attack. Elsa charged past David, knocking him down in the process and headed right in front of Regina. Elsa sent a burst of air mixed with ice shards from both of her hands directly at the former Evil Queen. Regina tried to send her own burst back, but Elsa's was stronger and it knocked Regina into a nearby tree.

All of the sudden the burst of air stopped and Elsa let out a scream of pain. She reached over her shoulder and ripped out the ice arrow that was sticking from it. A small amount of what appeared to be blood seeped from the wound. It was nearly black but may have been a dark blue color. She looked around to see what happened.

Robin was standing with another arrow ready to go. David was standing further up the path but had recovered quickly from being knocked over. Elsa decided it was best to get out and regroup her thoughts. She brought a flurry of snow around her and with another snowy burst, she and the blizzard were gone and just a light snow fall had returned. The two men rushed over to Regina.

"Before either of you ask, I am fine. Just a few cuts that I can heal as we keep moving. Thanks for helping, Robin. Nice to see that we have something to show some of her weakness."

"I had better call the other group and let them know she was here." David pulled out his cellphone and reached Emma.

Emma finished the conversation as the other two awaited the story. Rumple was the first to ask. "Was Belle there? Did they see her?"

"Afraid not. It was just Elsa. They are all fine. Apparently, Regina made Robin some ice arrows and he was able to puncture her shoulder. Looks like Belle's theory was right." Emma slid the phone back in her pocket.

"If Elsa was fighting them and Belle was nowhere to be found, that means she left her unattended." Hook stated.

"Knowing Belle, she may have tried to make an escape if that is the case. We have to move, now." Rumple feared that if the fight was over then Elsa would return back to where she was keeping Belle. If Belle had made a move, Elsa would be angry.

Belle began to move again. She knew if the Queen was gone, it wouldn't be forever. She noticed a slight speck of white in front of her, way down the tunnel she was moving through. Daylight! She thought. Belle moved down the tunnel as best as she could. She saw the speck getting larger and now she could see that it really was the outside world. If she could get far enough away from the chamber, could Rumple sense her? It was definitely worth a shot. She felt a slight chill pick up in the hallway behind her. It was followed by a very loud scream.

The queen had returned and Belle could hear that she was angry. Belle moved faster now. Pushed by her adrenaline. Her legs still having trouble but Belle didn't care, she had been captive for too many years of her life and she wasn't going to stay any longer.

She felt the wind pick up behind her and almost start to bow her back. She was just near the entrance when she gave it a shot. "RUMPLESTILTSKIN!" At that moment, she was knocked over and pulled back into the cave by the wind and snow. She slid on the floor, rocks digging into her dry, chapped and exposed skin on her arms and legs. She was numb from the cold, but the pain while she slid back to the ice chamber was worse than almost anyone could've imagined. There, in the small room, hovering over Belle's torn up body was Elsa.

"Going somewhere? I'm very impressed."

"Let me go and die with the people I love, Elsa!" Belle was drained.

"No!" Elsa laughed as she watched Belle's hair completely turn white. "I will be taking you soon enough. It won't be long now."

The pain in his heart was intense, but he pushed through it. Knowing he had to keep moving. The same instant as that was happening, Rumple finally could sense where the person calling him was coming from. Or at least he knew he could get close to it. "Belle!" They were heading in the right direction. Rumple stopped the group and grabbed both Hook and Emma by their shoulders. "Time to move faster." In a cloud of purple smoke, they were transported to the opening of a cave. He knew by the huge temperature drop that they were very close now. This is where his name was called. Belle must be in this cave.

Hook looked over at Rumple. "Well, do we barge in like a group of unorganized pirates? Or should we plan this out?"

"Call the others. I left a trail so Regina should be able to find us." Rumple was trying to assess the situation. He couldn't make a mistake.

To be continued