Chapter 4

By the time Emma had put her phone back in her pocket, the other three had arrived. They all looked to Rumple for the next step of the plan. "I think we should split up again. A few of us should stay out here incase something..." Rumple was cut off by a loud shrill coming from the cave.

"Aaaahhhhh" it was Belle's voice. He knew it.

Rumple turned to stare at the cavern. "BELLE!" Just then he felt the pain in his chest again but he pushed through it and went toward the entrance of the cave. Just as Rumple reached the entrance a burst of icy cold air exploded from the cavern, sending the group flying back. They were all thrown in different directions, just like in the shop earlier that day.

As they all made their way back to their feet, Rumple looked back to the entrance of the cave. There Elsa stood with a proud look on her face from knowing she had so much power. "Well, I see you all have made it for the final show!"

Rumple was at the front of the group and he lifted his hand and sent a blast of ice at Elsa. She responded with her own blast back before his reached her. They were in a stand off of power. The two blasts meeting in the middle. Regina stepped up next to Rumple and added all that she had, shifting the blast in their favor. Another scream came from the cave behind Elsa, causing Rumple to be caught off guard and slip a little in his concentration. Elsa gained the upper hand and took the opportunity to send everything she had. Her power stream was so close to Rumple and Regina when Emma decided it was now or never. One of those moments where she hoped she would get lucky and her magic would come out like self defense. She stood on the opposite side of Rumple and sent her own icy spell at Elsa's. The power shifted back in their favor. The stream of ice magic was getting closer and closer to Elsa. Rumple had never seen a look of worry from the white haired woman before, but he could see it now.

"I have to get to Belle. I can feel it, she is running out of time." Rumple shouted to the group. Another scream of pain came from the cavern that Elsa was blocking. But this time instead of throwing Rumple off guard, it gave him the extra push that he needed. With one more burst of energy the 3 heroes' stream of magic connected with Elsa. Sending her flying back into a rock solid wall of the cave entrance.

Rumple didn't miss a beat. He used a quick spell on his ankle so he could run to her. Scoop her up and give her true love's kiss. It had to be enough, it just had to. It was one of the few things he couldn't use to help Elsa's sister and he didn't really know how to harness the power back then either.

Within seconds, he was off. Using a ball of light magic to light his way down the cave.

Elsa stood back up but was greeted by an ice arrow in her face. "I wouldn't think about moving if I were you." Robin said with confidence. Regina was ready with another spell to back up her lover.

This is what Elsa had been waiting for all these years and she wasn't going to miss the look on her captor's face when he lost his true love. So, with another one of her famous disappearing acts, she created a white out wall of snow and when it died down, she was gone.

"I really wish she would stop doing that." Hook remarked.

"We need to help Rumplestiltskin." David noted. "Hook, Emma, and Regina can wait out here in case we need back up as we are escaping. Robin and I can see if we can assist Rumplestiltskin."

"I would love to help in there." Regina stepped forward.

"In case something goes wrong in there, we need someone strong out here to stop her from going after the town." Robin added, knowing what David was thinking when he selected the teams.

"Well, let's not stand around here all day, get in there." Hook shoved the two toward the cavern then backed off to wait with Emma and Regina.

David and Robin ran into the cave.

Rumple felt like it was taking forever to find Belle. He noticed the temperature beginning to fall as the cave walls around him started to almost glow. They were like ice. He slowed his pace as even the floor became slippery. He was getting closer, he knew it. Then, he saw the opening. He turned the corner and couldn't believe his eyes. How could it be. Elsa had already made it to the small room and she was standing over Belle. He was too late. He saw as the last little bit of her turned into ice. From head to toe, her body was on the floor, completely...frozen.

Elsa had one hand pointed at Belle as if she was going to send magic at her to shatter her. "Just in time. There's the look of despair I was hoping for." Elsa laughed a little with pure evil. Even as the dark one, Rumple was never this way.

"What have you done?" Strangely the pain in his chest had disappeared. He would give anything to still feel it.

Elsa's hand began to glow. Rumple knew Elsa's next step so he sent an ice ball directly at her hand. He had to be careful in the small room not to hit Belle. Elsa staggered back and grasped her hand. "That actually hurt!"

She charged up both hands and aimed them at Rumple this time. Just as before they were in a struggle for power, only this time Rumple's blast was filled with more rage. Elsa started to feel like she might lose and she looked down at Belle and took one of her hands out of the fight. She pointed it at Belle and Rumple panicked.

Just then, as if in slow motion, he saw an ice arrow land right in Elsa's hand that was pointed at Belle. Causing her to lose focus on the hand firing at Rumple. He took the opportunity to send a strong burst of ice at her. She flew into the wall and slid down.

Just as Rumple would normally make his dagger materialize, he created a dagger out of ice. He walked over to Elsa and stood over her. "I think you have been using magic without paying the price for far too long, Dearie." He lifted the dagger into the air...

"Rumplestiltskin, WAIT!" David's voice rang out as he entered the room with Robin. "Think about how Belle would want you to handle this!"

"I will handle this, just as I handled the last problem that came to town and hurt my family!" Rumple plunged the dagger into Elsa's heart. He leaned down and whispered to her. "How does it feel to have your heart frozen?"

She looked up at him, and a small smirk formed on her face. "You are strong, but still not as strong as me. Your practiced magic can't defeat me. I have been playing with winter magic since birth." She pulled the dagger out of her chest and laughed as she disappeared while clutching the wound.

In his rage of emotion, he forgot what he himself had told the others. He would need to use her own magic to kill her. Not their version of it.

Then it hit him..."Belle!" He turned around and ran to her frozen form. He knelt down and scooped up the ice statue. "I'm so sorry." He whispered to her. He kissed the icy lips but nothing came of it. No magical burst of warmth. How else could he use true love? He looked to David.

David could see the desperate look from Rumplestiltskin, the man that once came to him for love advise. Now, David had no tips or advise. If the kiss didn't work, what would. "I'm so sorry Rumplestiltskin. I'm sorry." He laid a hand on the elder man's shoulder.

"Leave us, please. Go find Elsa. She may be heading for the town."

"How do we beat her?" Robin asked before they left.

"Remember, it will have to be with her own magic. That's the only thing strong enough. Freeze her heart." Rumple spoke but it was as if he was in his own world. "Regina will think of something."

The two men left, making their way back to the group. Rumple sat holding Belle in his arms. Talking to himself and her. "No, you can't be gone. There has to be something I can do? I'm so, so sorry for everything. There is so much that I should've told you, been honest about. The dagger I gave you was a fake. I switched it not because I didn't trust you, but I didn't want others to attack you to get it from you. I used the real dagger to kill Zelena. And now, again, I just tried to kill Elsa. Oh Belle, how will I ever be able to control this without you? I need you. I love you." As he professed his love and bared his soul, Rumplestiltskin began to cry. His tears falling onto the frozen form. As he opened his eyes, he looked down at Belle, ready to get up and move her back to a safe place when he noticed a glow from where the tears were falling.

Slowly, the icy form melted away revealing the trembling, defeated looking Belle. All of the scrapes, cuts, and bruises remained. Was still wearing just a short sleeved top and a skirt. Without even thinking or caring about himself, Rumple laid her down and took off his suit jacket. He laid it around her and then scooped her up again holding her as tightly as he could. Her hair was slowly returning to it's true color.

"Belle" he whispered while starring into her eyes. Rumple didn't want to look away because he feared she would disappear if he did. "I'm so...so sorry. I..." Tears escaped his eyes.

"I love you. It's okay." She closed her eyes to try and keep the tears from coming out and freezing to her cheek again.

Rumple knew she wasn't completely healed and he had to get her home to warm her. He stood up still holding her in his arms. He had wondered if she heard everything he said while she was frozen, but what surprised him the most is that he hoped she did. He knew he had to start trusting the others more and completely letting his wife in. He looked down at her and as she looked up at him their eyes met. He kissed her as if it was their first and last kiss all at the same time. He didn't want to stop but he could feel her shaking again.

In a cloud of purple smoke, he transported them back to their house.

David and Robin made their way back out of the cave. "Is she out here?" David yelled to the group they had left as backups.

Regina looked puzzled, "No, what happened?"

Robin was quick to respond. "We have to get to the town, she may be on her way there."

Emma looked at her father. "Where are Belle and Rumplestiltskin?"

Tears formed in David's eyes and he shook his head. "He was too late. We were too late."

Hook looked down at the ground.

Regina stepped forward toward the men. "What do you mean? It should've been fixed with an act of true love!" She felt horrible for her former teacher. To finally find true love, someone that saw the good in him and have that taken away.

Robin gave her a hug. "She was completely turned to ice when we got in there."

A loud crashing noise coming from the town snapped them all back to the urgent matter at hand.

"Looks like we better go and teach that ice witch a lesson before she hurts anyone else." Hook looked to the group and they all agreed. Even though he had tried to kill Belle in the past, he had felt bad for his previous actions and wanted no harm to come to her.

"Agreed!" With a wave of Regina's hand and a cloud of smoke, they were transported back to Storybrooke right in the middle of town.

Once they arrived they could see buildings were beginning to freeze over. David reminded them, "Rumplestiltskin said we will have to use her own power against her but it will have to be her own, not our replicated versions."

"So we just need to create something to bounce it back at her" Emma added.

Regina knew exactly what to do. Within seconds she had created ice shields for all of them.

An evil laugh echoed through the streets. "Come to defend your little town? I have frozen entire villages within minutes." Elsa appeared out of a tornado made of snow. "Well, I guess you all can be the first victims.

Back at Rumple and Belle's house Rumple was surveying the damage to Belle and working to heal every little scratch. He had laid her in their bed after completely healing her but she was still physically and mentally drained and she still couldn't get warm no matter how hard he tried to warm her.

"You have to..go..help them." Belle said. "I am..not going..anywhere and..I am..fine."

"I don't want to leave your side ever again. But they did risk their lives to help me save you so if you are sure you are alright?" He couldn't stop looking at her even when she was bloody and bruised a few moments ago, she was still beautiful.

"They need your..help." Her teeth chattered in between words. "If you don't help, we will all die."

"I love you!" He leaned down and kissed her forehead. "I will be back shortly."

"I love you too, Husband."

Then he vanished to join the fight.

He arrived just as Elsa was firing off the first blast at the group. None of them budged. They all ducked behind their shields letting her blast bounce off. Rumplestiltskin had appeared behind Elsa and threw a blast of ice right at the back of her head. Elsa was annoyed by this and she turned around to see what had happened.

"Well, well, well, welcome Rumplestiltskin. All by yourself, I am guessing you didn't find the answer to unfreezing a heart?" Elsa laughed. She was just pure evil.

"Oh no, quite the opposite dearie! But it's something that you will never be able to master in your lifetime." Rumple saw her hands charging. She was upset that her plan failed and she threw a blast at him. Rumple quickly fashioned his own shield of ice and her magic reflected off of it but didn't bounce directly back at her.

She continued to blast toward him in a stream of ice. Rumple nodded to the others and Emma picked up on what he was trying to do. Emma ran to the spot where the stream was bouncing to from his shield and she used her shield to deflect it again. It still wasn't the right angle and Hook picked up on Emma's nod as well and jumped in. This completed the circle and the stream was heading back at Elsa, hitting her directly in the chest. She was blasting so hard that she couldn't stop. The stream continued to hit her until she let out a scream when it became unbearable.

Within seconds Elsa had turned completely into an ice statue.

Robin quickly loaded an arrow into his bow and shot it at the icy figure. Elsa shattered into a million pieces, just like her sister. The snow immediately stopped.

They all watched as the town slowly began to melt. David walked over to Rumple. "Wait, so Belle is ok? But the kiss wasn't working when we left!"

"Let's just say that tears of love can be just as strong and melt a frozen heart." Rumple grabbed David's shoulder and David brought him in for a hug.

"Glad to hear she is ok." Emma said.

"That girl has been through a lot in her lifetime. She's tough." Regina added giving a nod in Rumple's direction.

"Well, things are finally warming back up around here. Join me for a drink, Love?" Hook wrapped his arm around Emma's shoulder.

"Why not. Rumple, let us know when we can come by and visit Belle?" Emma asked the elder man.

"Of course. Now if you will all excuse me, I am going to check on my wife." Rumple was getting ready to leave when David called out to him.

"Rumplestiltskin, about what you said in the cavern, about taking care of Zelena? Did you have something to do with her death?" David asked so the group couldn't hear as they were walking away.

He didn't want to hide things from them anymore. "Yes." He said while looking David in the eye. "She killed my son, she locked me up, and she tried to use your baby for her evil plan. I did what had to be done."

"It's ok, I'm not here to tell you that I think what you did was right, but thank you for doing it for the reasons you did. I will let you tell everyone in your own time. Now go to your wife." David gave Rumple a brotherly pat on the back.

Rumple appeared by the bedside and found Belle sleeping. Curled up in a little ball. She looked like she was warming up. Rumplestiltskin changed his clothes since his were soaked from all of the snow. He climbed into the bed and under the covers with Belle. He wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her close. She opened her eyes just enough to roll over and look at him.

"Hi!" She whispered.

"Hello my Darling." He smiled at her.

"Rumple, I heard what you said in the cavern. I don't know how, but I did." She kissed him on his forehead. "It's alright. I understand that if I had the dagger someone could've attacked me for it to control you and I always had a feeling you killed Zelena but I figured you would tell me when the time was right. She killed your son and held you captive and made you hurt people that you loved. I don't care though...i..."

"Belle, in that cave, when I thought I had lost you, I saw the power of love and trust and how trust can make that love stronger. I never want you to question that trust again."

"Thank you for saving me. Thank you for finding me." Belle began to cry. "I have never been more afraid that I would lose you than I was today."

Rumple held her even tighter. "I will always find you."

The End

That's it. I hope you all liked my first story.