The Snow Queen
Piper slowly examined a candle that Emma had placed on her desk in the sheriff's station, not entirely certain that this small piece of wax would be able to capture the Snow Queen as Belle had told them, even less certain as it came from the fairies and she was loath to trust anything when it came to them. However Gold had confirmed that the candle was very powerful indeed, enough to at least trap the Snow Queen for a short time.
"Belle found something in here a spell," Emma was explaining to Elsa, "It may be able to work against the Snow Queen."
"You don't mean kill her?" Elsa frowned.
"No."
"If we did mean kill her, believe you me, we would not need a mere candle," Piper muttered, setting it down, "There are many other ways, simpler ways, to end a life, magical or not."
Elsa nodded slowly at that, before she glanced at Emma, almost questioningly.
"Yeah…" Emma sighed, "She um…she's protective."
"I'm aware," Elsa let out a little breath, glancing at Piper once more as the half-siren smirked at her, crossing her arms. Elsa shook her head at that, focusing on Emma once more, Piper had threatened her nearly the very first moment they had met, she was WELL aware of how protective and dangerous the woman was.
"But no one's killing anyone," Emma gave Piper a firm look even as her 'aunt' rolled her eyes at the declaration, "It'll just neutralize her powers. Maybe."
Elsa frowned at the small book that Emma had set before her where the spell had been found, "Can you read this?"
"Elvish?" Emma scoffed, "No, I didn't even see 'Lord of The Rings…'" she trailed off when she realized Elsa was staring at her oddly for that, "Never mind."
"What about you?" Elsa turned to Piper, "You are this…Dark One's true love, aren't you?" she'd heard whispers through town about it.
"And you are this Snow Queen's niece," Piper countered, "Do you not know a weakness of hers to exploit?"
Elsa fell silent at that, understanding. Just because you knew someone or lived with them didn't mean you knew every single thing they did.
"We don't need to worry about reading the Elvish," Emma spoke, "Belle translated it. It tells us how to enact the spell."
Elsa looked over as Emma pulled a paper out of her pocket and unfolded it, handing it to the Queen to read, "'With both hands, hold the candle and then use your magic to light it. And then when you blow on it…'"
"Then bam!" Emma nodded, "She's right back to selling ice cream. My guess is business will be down."
"Maybe without her powers we can talk to her," Elsa started to smile, "We can find Anna. We can get some real answers!"
"And if she still shall not speak, I offer my magic, Emma," Piper added. She doubted it would come to that, she didn't particularly care to use her magic on the Snow Queen just yet, lest she reveal something she ought not, but Emma would expect her to make such an offer, and, if it did come to that end, she would be more than happy to use her magic if it would help her niece.
"Thanks," Emma gave her a small smile for that, the three of them lapsing into silence for a minute or two, before Emma spoke again, "Does your sister have magic?" she looked at Elsa.
"No," she sighed, "And I think that's why the Snow Queen is so interested in you."
"Yeah."
"You are a special girl, Emma," Piper told her gently, earning more of a smile this time.
"Does anyone in your family have magic?" Elsa continued.
"Just Aunt P," Emma answered absently, gesturing lightly at Piper, before blinking, straightening as though realizing what she'd said, "I mean…Piper…"
"Aunt P is fine," Piper reassured her, knowing that Emma wasn't entirely comfortable being so…familiar with her in public just yet. She still lapsed into calling Mary Margaret and David by their names instead of mom or dad as well so she didn't take it to heart.
"Yeah," Emma muttered, a small flush on her cheeks at how…easily that had come out.
She'd struggled, for…SO long to just be able to call her parents mom and dad, and that, calling her 'aunt' that had just come out so quickly, so naturally. She started to smile just a bit at the thought that, perhaps, it meant that they were getting closer, that they were bonding like a family too. Lord knew that the family could use some bonding at the moment. She still wasn't sure what had gone down between Piper and Mary Margaret, neither woman was talking about it though her mother asked her (and David…and Henry) every single chance she got how Piper was and if she was ok and if she was doing well and things. None of them, save David given his empathetic expression towards his wife, knew what had been said, but for Mary Margaret to feel that guilty it had to be something bad.
But she knew enough from herself not to push Piper to talk about it till the woman was ready, it was the same for her, nothing came from pushing save to make the person more reluctant to talk.
"And you, Piper?" Elsa turned in the chair she was sitting in to observe Piper, "You and…Mary Margaret are cousins, yes?" Piper gave a short nod, "Were there any on your family that had magic?"
"My mother," Piper stated.
"And her family?"
"If you count those that would kill you upon sight as family, then yes," Piper waved it off, "My mother was a Siren."
Elsa's eyes widened at that, clearly having heard tales of them, "Oh."
"Yes," Piper remarked, "I was the only one with my magic as Snow and I grew."
"Like me…" Elsa murmured, "Like Emma…"
"I didn't have my magic till like last year," Emma shook her head, "I didn't really grow up with it."
"But you're still the only one of your family that have it," Elsa looked at Emma, all of them aware that she knew Piper had magic but that she wasn't really her immediate family, the cousin of Emma's mother, but not Emma's mother of father or son or brother, "It's hard when they look at you differently, isn't it?"
"They don't," Emma said quickly, frowning only when she saw Piper look away, down at the candle.
"You're lucky," Elsa smiled, thinking of her parents.
"I do believe you should try this," Piper held up the candle, changing the subject, seeing Emma about to speak to HER, "Ensure that it works as the bookworm believes."
Emma rolled her eyes at Piper's term for Belle, she wasn't sure if it was a disassociation method for the woman, to not use the proper names but other titles for those outside the family to make herself not care for them, or if it was something she genuinely didn't realize she was doing as she truly didn't care about anyone outside the family. She knew Piper as half siren, so the family came first, but…she was half human too, wasn't she? That had to mean she cared at least a little. But then again, she was the one that called Marian the forest maid, and Belle the book worm, she even called David the Shepherd a few times.
"Ok," she let out a breath, not about to ask, it wasn't any of her business how Piper felt about other people. She knew she had far too many people in her own life trying to tell her how to feel about things, she wasn't going to take that from Piper, "Here," she held out her hand and Piper handed it over, the woman stepping back to give ample space between Emma and Elsa as the two other blondes turned to each other, Elsa standing.
Emma stood before Elsa, holding the candle before her, focusing enough to light the small wick with her magic before concentrating and blowing at the small flame. It trailed off from the wick, growing longer and stronger and brighter as it neared Elsa, a force seeming to pull Elsa's wrists forwards, the fire just touching her…
Before it fizzled out.
"I'm sorry," Emma sighed.
"You did well for a first attempt," Piper stepped forward, having been standing rather tensely in the corner, away from the fire, to take the now extinguished candle from her niece, "No master is born in the first try."
"Should we try again?" Elsa smiled at Emma, hopeful.
But Emma gave her an apologetic smile, "Later. I have to meet Mary Margaret. I'm supposed to babysit…tonight…" she trailed off, looking at Piper as the woman turned and, with a rather firm slam of the desk draw set the candle within it.
She probably should have said something a bit different now that she thought about it. The night she'd gone to meet Piper and talk to her had been the same night that Piper had babysat for Neal. Clearly the confrontation had happened then so bringing up that SHE would be babysitting didn't seem to be the best move she'd ever made.
"Life goes on," Elsa murmured, moving to sit back down.
"We'll find her," Emma promised.
Elsa smiled at that, "It's ok. Go. I'll be here."
Piper gave Emma a nod as she left, knowing that Emma would find it odd that she wasn't offering to go with her to see Neal, but also understanding that something had clearly happened between her and Mary Margaret and being forced to confront the woman wouldn't be wise.
Elsa let out a longer breath and hunched forward, resting her head in her hands the moment the door to the station closed.
"Have you ever lost someone?" Elsa tilted her head up to look at Piper, "Someone important to you? Someone you'd do anything to get back?"
Piper's lips pursed at that, "Which type of important? Would it be important as a parent? One that was seen murdered before my eyes and that I would not rest till I had seen the same thing happen to the murderer, for their parents to die before their eyes? Or would it be important as in a child, lost to me in the sense that he holds no memories of me at all and not at all by my own hand? Or maybe you mean another son, lost in death? Or, perhaps, a cousin I almost thought dead? Someone that I lost through the hunting of another woman who would use me as a target, lost through a curse for 28 years, and lost through mistrust? Or even the loss of a true love that drove me near to the brink of insanity to the point where my 'anything to get him back' involved human sacrifice that ultimately led to his own son dying for my sins? Do tell me, Elsa, which 'someone important' do you mean?"
Elsa's expression to her words seemed to be one of both pity, surprise, and sorrow at the list that had been described to her.
And all of it was true, she HAD lost more people than she cared to think about. Her parents, her cousin for a time (her cousin perhaps even now), her son, her would-be son, her true love…every single person important to her she had lost in some way as the times went on.
"I'm sorry," Elsa breathed, "I…I didn't know you'd lost so much."
"I am aware," Piper's tone was dry yet held a hint of exasperation to it, "No one is more important than your dear sister, Anna, why bother to consider that others have lost far worse than you."
She knew she was being a hypocrite in that. So much of what she had done in the past was to protect her cousin and her family, but she never denied that others suffered as well. She could understand Elsa's obsession with finding her sister, yes, but she was getting rather sick of how ALL Elsa seemed to focus on and talk about was Anna!
Though...perhaps it was more her irritation with Mary Margaret making her less inclined to try and understand another person in this situation. From what Elsa had said, from what she knew, Anna was Elsa's support and acceptor. She was...she was to Elsa what Snow White had been to HER, the one member of your blood-family that would accept you no matter what as a child, growing up, being there for you. And she felt like she was on the verge of losing her cousin in that sense. It was...grating her to hear how, after all the things that had happened with Elsa and Anna, that Anna still trusted and loved her sister regardless.
"I lost my parents too!" Elsa defended.
"I lost my parents, my kingdom, my people to a massacre in a single night," Piper's eyes narrowed at her, "I lost two of my sons, I lost all of my family to curses and memory wipes, I lost my true love to a Wicked Witch. I would not be surprised if I have lost my own soul by now. So do not DARE speak to me as though your grievances are the greatest in the land. You know nothing, Elsa. I have lost more than most and yet you do not hear me lamenting it to every person I meet nor constantly bringing it up to them. My cousin, who was more a sister to me, was lost for 28 years, I searched for her for decades so do not try to pull that with me, Elsa, your sister, in your reckoning has only been missing mere days."
Elsa fell silent at that, unable to really argue. She couldn't even count how many times she had brought up Anna or needing to find her since she had arrived at Storybrooke. Piper was right, she wasn't the only one that had ever suffered and she wouldn't be the last. She may have lost her parents…but she still had her sister (somewhere), her kingdom, her people, everything else, perhaps even true love one day. And Emma had told her about the curse, 28 years of families separated, but Piper seemed to be outside the curse, she couldn't imagine what it would be like searching for Anna for 28 years...
"I'm sorry," Elsa repeated.
Piper gave her a curt nod and they lapsed into silence a long while.
"You…" Elsa cut off quickly when Piper looked sharply over at her, before taking a breath and pushing on, she was a Queen after all, "You said that you were the only one with magic like yours as a child?"
Piper considered Elsa for a length, debating whether to speak any more or not, before she let out a long breath, "The children used to call me demon spawn," she muttered, "Snow never heard that one. But I did."
She wasn't sure, in that exact moment, whether she was trying to prove that her experiences growing were worse than Elsa's or if she might be on the cusp of almost wanting to empathize with the girl before her.
"No one really knew I had magic," Elsa remarked, "Not till my coronation."
"I never made it to my coronation."
"I condemned my entire kingdom to an endless winter before the end of mine."
"I would rather ice over fire," Piper mused, "Regina had my entire kingdom burned to the ground, all my subjects executed, and ripped my father's heart out and crushed it herself."
Elsa's eyes were wide at that.
So…perhaps too much information just then.
And...perhaps more competing than empathizing right now.
"Sirens do not do well with fire," she added with a shrug, Regina had known that.
"Then…the people knew what you were?" Elsa asked after another moment.
"It is quite hard to hide the fact that the queen is not human," Piper stated, "And my father would not deny who and what my mother was, he would not hide her as though she were some dark shame to be kept out of sight."
"He loved her," Elsa had to smile at that.
"Very much."
"And he…he loved you too?" Elsa eyed her.
"With all his heart."
"He...your family never looked at you differently?"
"My parents could hardly," Piper shook her head, "I was Siren as my mother was, and my father loved her despite that. Snow grew older with me. She would not..." she trailed off at that last one.
If Mary Margaret could see Gold as untrustworthy, if she could find HER untrustworthy when it came to Gold...how long would it be before she didn't trust her with anything at all? How long before she DID see her differently? See her as a monster?
Elsa's smile turned sad at that, not quite catching the reason she'd trailed off, "I wish my parents had felt the same," she admitted, "I know they loved me, but…they feared me. I know they did. They wanted me to hide my power, conceal it, don't feel it, don't let it show," she repeated, as though stating an old lesson, "They didn't want anyone to know what I could do."
"That is no way to live," Piper shook her head, "A child with a gift of magic must express it or else they cannot train in it or learn to control it properly."
"Your magic…it's music, isn't it?"
"Yes," Piper nodded, "I can use instruments or even my voice to…charm the minds of others, influence them, drive them to insanity or lull them to sleep, sway their thoughts or torment them…many things."
"And you could do this as a child?
"Since before I can remember."
"I had my gifts as a child too," Elsa murmured, "I thought I was a monster. It didn't matter that no one else had called me it, I just thought I was one. I…I hurt Anna, when we were children, badly. I never forgave myself."
"I never believed myself a monster while the children called me it," Piper thought back to that, "I never truly did, Snow would not let me. But…as I grew older, ironically, after I had left the children behind and ventured out on my own. THAT was when I began to see myself as one instead."
"What made you change?"
"Humans can be every bit as monstrous as the creatures they fear."
Elsa frowned at that, not sure she wanted to know what the Piper had experienced, the humans she'd met that had been so…cruel…that they'd turned her into the monster she never saw herself as being.
"How…how did you escape it?" she wondered, "How did you come to see yourself as not being a monster anymore? Anna helps me, her…her faith in me."
"You think I do not believe myself a monster still?" Piper scoffed, "I have no issue being a monster, Elsa. Being one is…" she cut herself off swiftly, realizing this was treading dangerously close to…conversation, to a deep conversation with someone else that should not be privy to her inner most thoughts.
But…Elsa had been much the same, cold (literally), raised fearing her potential to be a monster, isolated and closed off (though she had chosen her own willingly), with magic no one else understood save, perhaps, the Snow Queen in her family. She had been rejected by her kingdom, called a monster, misunderstood, and had only one person left for her that believed in her…
Yes, she supposed she could relate to Elsa slightly.
"Being one is…what?" Elsa frowned.
Piper sighed, "Being one is…the only way I can help keep my family safe," she answered, "I can protect them better if I care not for anything else but them."
Elsa blinked at that, "Forgive my saying but…it almost sounds like you're choosing to be a 'monster' instead of actually BEING one."
Piper looked over at her, "Perhaps I am, perhaps I am not. I think that line has blurred far too long ago. If ever I was not a monster and decided to be one, I am one now. And that is all that matters. Whether others believe my intent to keep my family safe or not, whether my own family sees me as one…it matters not."
Elsa frowned at that last part, it sounded even more like Piper was trying to convince herself that, if her family ever saw her as a monster, that it wouldn't matter…because being one was what kept them safe.
"Does your fam…"
Thankfully the question Elsa was about to ask was cut off by the phone of the station ringing once more.
Piper leaned over and quickly picked it up, "Yes?"
"Piper?" David's voice called.
"You know what my voice sounds like, shepherd," she nearly hissed at him, "You need not question if it is me every time I answer!"
"Right, sorry," David muttered, "Look, I need you and Emma to come down to the clocktower."
"Why?"
"The Snow Queen's icy trail leads into it, and it doesn't look like there's another trail coming out, so she may be in there right now."
"Why would she leave a trail instead of teleport, can she not do that?"
"I don't know what she's doing, but it looks like she's in there and we need to act fast. Have Emma bring Elsa…"
"Elsa is with me at the moment," she cut in, "I shall bring her. You may need to call Emma, she has already left to pick up Neal."
"Damn it," David sighed, "Alright, just get her here!"
Piper blinked as he hung up, "Rude."
~8~
Piper tilted her head as she observed Emma, staring through a two-way mirror in the sheriff's station, the girl frowning at the Snow Queen sitting primly at the interrogation room table, her hands, in manacles, resting on the surface of it. It had been…easy, too easy, to capture the Snow Queen, something Emma seemed to sense as well given how intently she was staring at the woman within. They had met David at the clock tower, Emma joining them a moment later though she seemed distressed and quiet, far more business-focused than she should have been which set Piper on the alert that something was equally wrong with Emma. They'd stormed up the tower, Emma in the lead, with Elsa just behind, had the Snow Queen fire an icy shard at Emma that nicked her neck but Emma reacted quickly, using the candle to attack the Snow Queen, to bind her wrists in magic to neutralize her.
David may or may not have had to drag her back down the stairs with a hand over her mouth to keep her from using her magic when she caught sight of the scrape on Emma's neck from the Snow Queen's attack so that she wouldn't kill the woman for harming her family right off the bat.
Hook had been left in charge of the Snow Queen's mirror that was stationed at the top of the tower, David returning to help him guard it just after he'd helped drag the Snow Queen to the station.
And there they were, staring at the Snow Queen while Elsa composed herself in another room, flurries had started to appear around her and she just needed a moment she'd told them.
"Is all well Emma?" Piper asked after a moment, when Emma let out a particularly long yet almost sad breath.
"Yeah."
"Truth," Piper hesitated a moment before nudging her, "I can hear the lie in your voice."
Emma shook her head, "I wonder if that's where I got my superpower," she tried to lighten the mood, "Look, it's…it's nothing, really."
"'Nothing' would not disturb you the way it did when you arrived at the clock tower," she frowned, "Did Snow say something to you?"
Emma let out the smallest of laughs at that, "What, going to protect me from my mother now?"
"If you need it, yes."
Emma blinked at that, a little surprised, but…Piper was looking at her, dead serious, really meaning that, if she needed help dealing with Mary Margaret she would do it, "I thought you weren't speaking to her."
"I am not," she stressed, "But if it is upon your behalf…"
"No," Emma shook her head, "I don't need anyone to fight my battles for me."
"Nor was I offering that," Piper countered, turning to look at the Snow Queen, "I offered assistance. You are a strong woman Emma, confident and competent, you are not a damsel that needs a hero to defend you. I merely offer my assistance in being the…counselor to your war council should you have need of me."
This time Emma did laugh, "Thanks, but really, it wasn't anything," she looked through the glass as well, taking a deep breath before giving in, "I just…seeing Mary Margaret at the mommy-and-me group…" she shrugged, "It…it threw me off."
She wasn't used to this, she really wasn't. She wasn't used to talking about her feelings. But…she wanted to try. Regina had said that, of all the people in her family, Piper could understand her best. And while she doubted she'd understand THIS, it…it was nice to have someone to talk to about it. Someone that knew Mary Margaret, that would…defend her when it was needed but agree when the woman was wrong. She didn't need David making excuses for her, she didn't need Henry trying to give her the same sort of understanding speech, Neal was a baby, and…Piper was…she didn't know. She knew that she loved Mary Margaret deeply, she might be biased, but she also hadn't had a problem in the past telling the woman when she was being daft or going too far.
She certainly hadn't had a problem telling HER she'd made the most god awful mistake known to mankind when she altered the past.
Piper…she seemed to 'tell it like it is' and that was what she needed.
And…Piper had said she wanted to find her, had searched for her for 28 years. Anyone willing to and dedicated enough to do that, to care that much, well…Piper wouldn't do anything to hurt her and she wouldn't want her to be hurt and she could tell the woman would try to help her in anyway she could. Even if it was just to listen.
"How so?" Piper asked.
"I noticed that Neal had a ton of things that I had to take with me to babysit him," Emma began, crossing her arms, "And Mary Margaret sort of may have said that she wanted to give him everything…"
"She would have given you everything as well, Emma," Piper remarked, not judging her for her feelings, "Your nursery in the Enchanted Forest was proof enough of that."
"Yeah," she nodded, she'd thought of that as she'd remarked on Neal's things, a little sad she hadn't gotten to use any of the things that had been in the nursery, but knowing she would have if not for the curse, "And then I found out that the group isn't just for mothers with children but, well, first-time mothers."
Piper frowned at that, "Snow is not a first time mother."
"That's what I felt," Emma admitted, "But I mean, I get it, she sort of IS in the sense she hasn't actually raised a kid," she winced at that, "I might have mentioned that all she had experience with was shoving one through a wardrobe."
She glanced at Piper, expecting her to leap to Mary Margaret's defense at that, to remark that she had no choice, that the curse was coming and…
"Well she did," Piper shrugged, "There is no lie in that."
Emma let out a breath through her nose, "That must have been one hell of a fight you two had," she muttered.
Piper's lips pursed at that, swallowing hard, crossing her own arms to mimic Emma's stance subconsciously, "I dare say it was."
"I'm not asking," Emma added, "You want to tell me, you'll tell me."
"Same here Emma," Piper glanced at her, "You wish to speak, I shall listen, but do not feel the need to tell me what you do not wish to speak of."
"No, it's good, I…I sort of WANT to talk about it. I just…I feel like I CAN talk about it with you, if that makes any sense at all."
Piper offered her a small smile, "It does."
"Right, good," Emma nodded.
"I do sense though that that was not the last of it?"
"Not by a long shot," Emma huffed, "I felt bad that I said the wardrobe thing. So I tried to say it was ok, that I was over it. I was happy for her, you know, getting to experience it all. I AM happy for her. Cause I mean, yeah, I missed growing up with a family but she missed raising a child and I have a family NOW and she has a child now and…the next thing I know they're all staring at me like I'm about to curse them."
"What?" Piper shook her head, "Why on earth…"
"I had Neal's bottle in my hand, and it was…it was glowing," Emma turned to her, "I was pouring magic into it and, I mean, I'm sure it was just left over from trying that candle but…"
"Even if it was not, it is not like you can control your magic just yet, Emma," Piper argued, "If you only knew the tales I could tell of when I was still learning my songs and music. As I said before, the first attempt does not a master make," Emma still seemed unsure, so she continued, "One time I was singing, some…nonsense song about foxes and hares, just for fun, because I was bored…and the next thing we knew, the castle had been invaded by them."
"You're kidding me," Emma smiled at that, a hint of a laugh on her lips.
"Sadly that is not the only example," she sighed, "One time I was sad, I don't even remember what I was sad about, but I was humming a tune to try and cheer myself up, try and see if I could even use my magic on myself…"
"Let me guess, you had the entire castle laughing like they were high on nitrous oxide?"
"I had them balling their eyes out, curled up in fetal positions on the floor, and the knights weeping in each other's arms."
This time Emma couldn't stop the laugh that came out of her.
"And...there ARE worse examples than that, times where my magic hurt someone or another. But my point is Emma, magic takes time and practice. Most of it, in the early stages, comes from emotion, powerful emotion that we cannot hold in."
"So what was I doing then?" Emma shook her head, "What could I have been doing to the bottle?"
"If I had to guess, from what you have told me, infusing it with protection?"
"Really?" Emma shifted at that, something Piper noticed instantly, "You really think I was trying to help him?"
"Well I hardly doubt you were trying to poison him," she deadpanned, "You were thinking of your brother yes? How happy you were that he would get to experience what you could not?"
"Yeah," Emma shrugged.
"Then I have no doubt that you were trying to help him," she reached out and put a hand on her arm, "You want him to not experience what you had, to not have the hardships, you wanted him to be well and healthy and protected, yes?"
"Yeah," Emma sounded firmer in her response this time, "I did."
"Then that is what you were doing," she eyed Emma a moment, "I take it my paranoid cousin did not think the same?"
Emma looked away, "I stepped in to take Neal, to start babysitting…" she sighed, "Mary Margaret stepped back, she couldn't even look at me, wouldn't even let me touch him…"
"I have been there," Piper murmured, making Emma look up at her with a frown at the words, but Piper wouldn't let her speak, merely continued, "Take heart Emma, in the reminder that YOU were one of the few that came to Neal's rescue when the Witch took him. You fought, even without your magic, to save your brother. A love like that, a protective instinct, it does not go away for no reason. You faced down a powerful sorceress, while you were powerless, to save him. And if Snow ever fails to remember that when you wish to hold your brother, you best remind her of that. Understood?"
Emma nodded, "Yes ma'am," she swallowed hard, her voice cracking slightly.
She had no idea how much she'd needed that, needed someone to reassure her she wasn't about to accidently harm her brother. Piper was right, all she had ever done from the moment she found out her mother was going to have another child was protect it, protect them both, and recuse him. She would sooner sell her beloved yellow bug than see any harm befall her brother. And if Mary Margaret actually thought SHE was a danger to her brother, well…she would just remind the woman that SHE had gone there to rescue him, that she had protected him and would always protect him, no matter what.
"Thanks."
Piper nodded, glancing over her shoulder as Elsa stepped into the room, "Are we ready?"
Elsa took a breath but gave a firm nod, "I am. Emma?"
"Let's do this," she glanced at Piper, "You coming in with us?"
Piper considered the Snow Queen but shook her head, "I believe it is a bone you two have to pick with her," she smiled a bit, "But I shall be right here for you if you need me."
Emma nodded, actually relieved that she was staying. She looked to Elsa and nodded at the room before stepping past Piper and entering the room, "Alright, Queenie, time to talk," she strode through the room and came to stand before the Snow Queen, Elsa beside her.
"Ooh," the woman gave an almost sad expression and a nod to Emma's scratched neck, "You should get that looked at, Emma."
"Oh, now you want to play nice?" Emma scoffed.
"With you two? Don't you understand, that's all I've ever wanted."
Elsa shook her head, "We don't care what you want. Where is Anna? She's alive. We know it. We heard her heartbeat."
"You…heard her heartbeat?" the Snow Queen lifted an eyebrow at that.
"From Bo Peep's Crook."
She gave an almost snorting laugh, "Sounds like someone's grasping at straws about their long-lost sister."
"What happened to her?!"
"I'm not sure you should care. I told you she's the one who put you in that urn. I have no idea why you'd want to find someone like that."
"Because she is my sister and she would never do what you say!"
"Or she's your sister and she couldn't handle what you what we are, and she did exactly as I say."
"No!" Elsa slammed a fist down on the table before the Snow Queen who merely smirked up at her.
"Elsa!" Emma hissed, reaching out to take Elsa by the arm, leading her to the doorway, into the hall, back to Piper, "Please. Take it easy. She's getting under your skin. Don't let your emotions cloud your judgment. If we want answers, we have to be calm."
"She knows what happened to Anna!"
"And we're gonna figure it all out," Emma promised.
"Perhaps you should join the others with the mirror?" Piper suggested, "You will be no help here if you cannot remain calm and, at the moment, your sister is too sore a subject for you to rein yourself in."
Elsa shot her a small glare that held no power behind it.
"She's right," Emma nodded, "You go help David and Hook try to figure out how to take apart her mirror. I got this."
"Emma…" Elsa shook her head, not wanting to leave Emma alone.
"WE have this," Piper corrected, "I will not leave my niece to face this threat alone, Elsa. You go, assist the men, with ice powers yours may be what they need to dismantle the mirror," or realize it was fake, she hadn't gotten the same feeling off the mirror as she had in the cave, during the brief moment she'd gotten to glimpse it before David was pulling her off that is, "I shall stay with Emma."
"I'll be fine," Emma nodded, "Trust me."
Elsa looked between them, hesitating, but eventually nodded and turned to go.
Emma let out a thankful breath and glanced at Piper once Elsa had left the room, "Anything you can do to help?" she nodded at the room.
Piper smirked darkly.
"Not like that!" Emma huffed, "We are not killing her or torturing her for answers."
Piper pouted.
"Are you actually pouting?" Emma felt herself smile despite the situation, Piper just shrugged, "I meant is there anything you can do to help ME keep my cool?" she glanced at the Snow Queen, "She really knows how to get under skin and we can't afford for me to blow up at her."
"I may be able to help," Piper nodded, "There are speakers within yes?" she glanced at the room, Emma nodded, "I can play a tune over them, we could tell the Snow Queen it is merely a recording…"
"Because we don't want to risk her finding out there's magic in it," Emma nodded, understanding why Piper wouldn't want the Snow Queen to know it was her playing, if they ever needed her music again, it would be best if the woman didn't know it came from Piper.
"Yes," Piper nodded, "It should be able to calm you down if you have need of it."
"Good," Emma glanced to the side where a small microphone was sitting and made her way over to it, quickly setting it up. She stepped away for Piper to sit before it and start to play, understanding Emma wanted the music going before she went back in, to keep with the 'recording' cover, "Wish me luck," Emma muttered, Piper only able to give her a nod for it as she headed back into the room with the Snow Queen, "Hope you don't mind the tunes," she started immediately, nodding up at the speakers, "Helps to soothe the savage beast doesn't it?"
The Snow Queen frowned, "Are you calling me a beast? That's not very nice."
"You're not my mother, lady, you don't get to scold me on manners."
"Speaking of manners," the Snow Queen glanced at the door, "Is Elsa not joining us?"
"No," Emma shook her head, "Looks like it's just me."
"Good," the Snow Queen smiled as Emma sat down across from her, "You're the one I wanted to talk to anyway."
"Yeah, yeah," she rolled her eyes, crossing her arms, "I know. You want me to turn to the dark side and be your sister-buddy-something or other. I'm not interested."
"I'm so proud of you, Emma…"
"No," Emma cut in, "That's not gonna work. I know that we have a past, which we're gonna get into, but you're not gonna push my buttons."
"I'm being completely sincere. Use your super power, you'll see I'm telling the truth."
Emma frowned at that, almost about to be concerned and suspicious, on edge, about how she knew, when the music on the speakers drifted over to her, the pause in her response allowing her to hear the tune, it was…soothing, really soothing actually. She blinked, "Let me guess, I told you?"
The Snow Queen didn't seem quite pleased that she'd guessed that, that she hadn't been thrown off, "When you were a child," she nodded, starting to smile, "What a lovely child you were. I am so grateful I got to know you then."
"Don't talk to me like we're friends," Emma shook her head.
"We're not friends, Emma. We're family."
Emma snorted at that, "I know that's what you want, but whatever past we had, the past you stole from me, I know enough to tell you about the future. And what you want? It ain't gonna happen, sister."
"Oh, but it will. You see, at the end of the day, you'll understand that everything that I've been saying is true. And then you'll do the last thing in the world you'd think possible right now."
"Yeah?" Emma lifted an eyebrow, "What's that?"
The Snow Queen smiled, "You're going to let me go. Now then," she leaned in, "What would you like to talk about?"
Emma eyed her a moment, not sure if she was being serious, but tried her luck, "The Spell of Shattered Sight. Pretty impressive stuff."
They had been in the sheriff's station, her, Hook, and Elsa, going over a genealogy book Elsa had found of her family, showing the Snow Queen's two sisters, Elsa's mother and another sister that looked a good deal like Emma. Elsa had found a scroll in the Snow Queen's files and been able to translate it, apparently it identified the Savior as a girl named Emma...who would become the Snow Queen's sister, somehow. It became all too clear that the Snow Queen was planning to replace her two sisters with Elsa and her. As though it couldn't have gotten any worse, Belle ran in, shouting about a mirror she'd come across in the Snow Queen's lair, a dark and evil mirror that showed you the darkest parts of yourself. When Hook had mentioned smashing it to keep it from harming anyone, Belle had dropped the bombshell that that was exactly what was supposed to happen. To smash the mirror was to enact the Spell of Shattered Sight, which would cause everyone to see and think and become their darkest selves...it would cause the town to tear itself apart. And they had to stop it.
"What does it matter?" the Snow Queen shrugged, "You stopped me."
"That's right. I did. We know who you are. We know what you're planning. And we know that for some sick, twisted reason, you want Elsa and me to replace your long-lost sisters."
"Well, then, you have all your answers. May I retire to my cell now?"
Emma smirked this time, seeing that she'd gotten to the woman with talk of her sisters, "No. I want to know why. Why have you been tracking me my whole life?"
There was only one person she knew that had been actually trying to find her through her life, and she doubted the Snow Queen had the same reasons.
"I was trying to protect you, Emma."
Emma scoffed, "Is that what you were doing in the foster home, protecting me? So why did you erase my memories? Because they were just too good?"
The Snow Queen's lips pursed, "Every family has their ups and downs."
"You see, no," she shook her head, "You and I we are not family. I have one of those, and it spans three generations and 400 years."
"Family isn't about blood," the Snow Queen argued, "It is a bond far stronger than mere genetics. Elsa and I are your real family because we are the only ones like you. We belong together. The family that you think you have, they may love you, but they also fear you."
Emma's jaw tensed at her words, pausing, taking a deep breath as she heard the song on the speakers, feeling her lips curl into a smile that seemed to surprise the Snow Queen. Clearly she hadn't done enough research if she thought no one in her family was like her, if she thought that her family would fear her merely for having magic.
Her aunt was the Pied Piper for god's sake.
Her step-great-grandmother, the Evil Queen.
Her son's grandfather the Dark One.
Of all the people in her twisted family tree, she was the LAST one to fear, and if her mother and father and son could accept all those three before her as family and not fear them, then there was no chance at all that her parents would ever fear HER.
"No," she said simply, "They don't."
The Snow Queen eyed her a moment, seeming almost confused, almost as though she were trying to work something out, "You've never seem them wince at your power?" she tried, "You've never seen a twinge of panic just behind their eyes? Not even once? I find that hard to believe."
Emma tried not to let on how those words had gotten to her, had pulled the memory of Mary Margaret flinching back, not letting her touch her baby brother solely because she made milk glow, how the woman had seemed to fear what she would do the baby to be put into her arms…
Her eyes flickered up to the speakers as the song grew louder, building to a crescendo, calming her, reminding her that Piper was right out there, and no matter if Mary Margaret looked at her like that…she was only one person in the entire family, there were others and even if they all came to gaze at her like that…she doubted Piper, of all people, ever would. And that…that was all the reassurance she needed. If her family hadn't come to fear Piper, had learned to be around her and loved her despite the winces she DID see when she used her power and the panic in her father's eyes whenever the woman pulled her pipe out…they STILL loved Piper, still accepted her, still cared for her and trusted her.
"They love me for who I am, including my powers," she remained firm.
The Snow Queen frowned at that, her gaze turning sympathetic, "I thought that once, too, Emma."
The Snow Queen waited just a single moment more, to see Emma's eyes flick up, over her shoulder, at something in the wall behind her and above her and she knew what it was, she could hear the source of the music even without turning around.
And a smirk came to her face.
~8~
Henry looked up as Mr. Gold stepped into the shop from the back room, smiling at his grandfather. He felt…a little bad, to be doing what he was. He and his mother had launched Operation Mongoose, to help Regina find the author of the storybook, to ask them to write her as a hero now instead of keeping her stuck with the villain title despite all she was doing to really be a hero from now on. They hadn't had any luck just looking at the book, when he'd thought of his grandfather, the Dark One would HAVE to know, wouldn't he? He and Piper seemed relatively happy, yet they were both villains. He wasn't sure if it had to do with Piper being Snow White's cousin and sort of lumped into a 'hero' category by association, that nothing THAT bad could happen to Snow's blood family…though that was a stretch. And then there was his grandfather, the Dark One, but…he was HIS grandfather, and his mother was the savior and maybe that was another connection by blood that gave the Dark One a happy ending too?
His mother, Regina, she had no tie to him by blood, nothing to give her the protection of a hero…that is, if the blood theory was even right. Even HE doubted it, the Dark One and the Pied Piper were villains, had admitted it, lived by it, and didn't seem likely to change any time soon…yet they were happy with each other. No, actually, it was more like they were happy together but they still had to fight everything else to be together. There was a town full of people that hated them, they both lost their sons, they both had enemies and other things going against them, so not quite a happy ending there, but they were at least happy now.
He should ask his grandfather, flat out, ask him for his help, but…it was just…this was his first Operation with his adoptive mother and he wanted it to be their thing just a little longer, something that as JUST theirs, like Operation Cobra had been for him and Emma. If they didn't find something soon, he would tell his grandfather the truth about why he was in the shop (to snoop), but…it was complicated, because he also DID like working there. Gold would tell him stories of his father growing up when there wasn't anyone around, and he liked hearing them. So it was sort of a win-win for him, he got to learn about his father and spend time with his Grandfather (and Piper), while also helping his mother and searching for clues.
"Hi gramps," he smiled, coming over to the small counter of the shop and setting the small broom he'd been using beside him, "I've swept the floor twice. Don't you think it's time I learned something a bit more magical?"
Gold chuckled at that, "How you are my boy's boy is beyond me," he remarked, "Bae wanted nothing to do with magic, of any kind."
"Well, I DO have some of my mom in me," Henry joked, "And she is the product of true love, she has magic, and YOU have magic, and Aunt P…"
"Yes," Gold nodded, "And, speaking of your 'Aunt P,'" he leaned in, "Today is your lucky day. Because I am gonna give you a potion that possesses the power to take something new and preserve it for years to come."
Henry's eyes widened as he saw Gold pull out a bottle, "What kind of potion is that?"
"Wood polish," he grinned, turning the bottle around to show Henry, "I have…been working on a surprise for Pip. And I would like you to be a part of it."
"Really?" Henry smiled, "Awesome. What is it?"
Gold turned and pulled a small box out of a cabinet, placing it on the counter and opening it to reveal a cushioned lining inside, with a rather beautifully crafted wooden pipe lying within. It was a darker wood, yet it had an intricate swirled pattern around the edges set in a lighter wood, a pattern that looked like a cross between roses with music notes for leaves.
"That's…grandpa, that's amazing," Henry reached out, glancing at Gold for permission to pick it up, "You made this?" he lifted it gently.
"I did."
"I didn't know you could carve…"
"It's…an old hobby of mine," Gold reached out to pluck it from Henry's hands, his finger lightly tracing the length of the pipe, "I can teach you if you'd like."
"Definitely," Henry nodded, smiling, "And it's for Aunt P?"
Gold sighed, "Piper has been…"
"Sad?" Henry supplied, "Yeah, I know. I know she doesn't really show a lot of emotion, but I can tell something's bothering her. And it's something to do with grandma isn't it?"
"How could you possibly…"
"I'm not stupid, Grandpa, I'm not blind either. And Aunt P is important to me. I pay attention to her and she's been acting really weird…distant…from Grandma lately," he eyed Gold a moment, "Do YOU know what's going on? No one will tell me."
Gold let out a breath, "I'm not sure it's my story to tell Henry."
"But it's Aunt P," Henry urged, "I hate seeing her upset and I just want to help. Did grandma say something to her?"
"Many things were said on both sides," Gold supplied, "And…some hard truths came out that upset Piper greatly."
"So it WAS something grandma said then?" Henry nodded, "I thought so. Grandpa, er, my other grandpa, I heard him talking and he kept trying to reassure grandma that everything was ok and that Aunt P would forgive her, but they didn't say what for," he frowned, seeing Gold silent at his baiting, "And you're not going to tell me either are you?"
Gold looked at Henry a long while, before looking down at the pipe, "Do you trust Piper, Henry?"
"What?" Henry blinked at that, "Of course I do."
"Why?"
"Because she's Aunt P, she's…she's always been there for me, trying to help, believing in me and supporting me. She's helped rescue me and dad and…"
"Do you think she'd ever harm you or your family?"
"No!"
"And why not?"
"Because she loves us. And if that's not enough, which it should be, she's a siren, family is everything to them!"
"What about me, do you trust me?"
"Yeah, you're my grandpa, and you love Aunt P."
"And that matters because…"
"Because you wouldn't do anything to hurt her and hurting us would hurt her. So even if you weren't my grandpa, I'd still trust you."
Gold smiled at him, children had the uncanny ability to see the simple truths in life and not complicate things, if only the rest of his family could be the same, "I believe Piper would be very relieved and happy to hear that if you were to say exactly that to her."
Henry frowned a moment, taking time to process what Gold had said and what HE had said to the questions asked, the questions that HAD been asked…
"No," he shook his head, his eyes growing wide, "No…grandma would NEVER say that to Aunt P!"
"Say what?"
"That she doesn't trust her, or…or trust you," Henry elaborated, working it out, working out what Mary Margaret had to have said to Piper, "She wouldn't. She knows that Aunt P loves our family and just wants us safe. Why would she not trust her after everything she's done?"
Gold just gave him a sad look, "Your guess is as good as mine, Henry," he mused, smiling a bit, "You are a very clever boy, working that out."
"Well, my grandfather is the Dark One and my aunt is the Pied Piper, words and cunning run in my blood," Henry smirked, pleased with the praise, though his smirk fell a little, "Grandma REALLY said that she didn't trust Aunt P?"
"I'm afraid she did. It appears she is not quite as…supportive of Pip's relationship with me as she first seemed, though, given recent events…"
"That's no excuse," Henry argued, Gold had been controlled and even then he'd tried everything he could, every trick, to help them defeat Zelena.
"No, it isn't," he agreed.
"Poor Aunt P," Henry murmured, thinking about how hurt Piper had to be for Snow White to say that to her, didn't anyone besides him read the book? Trust was a big part of a Siren's connection to their family, "And you made that," he nodded at the pipe, "To cheer her up?"
"Indeed I did," Gold closed the box.
"Can I have the polish?" he held out his hand for the bottle, "I'd really like to help."
"I'm glad you do Henry," Gold handed the bottle and box to Henry, "Pip will need her family and all the support she can get from its other members right now."
"I know," Henry nodded, "I'm going to give her a big hug the next chance I get."
Gold smiled, watching Henry disappear into the back of the shop to get a small polish brush for the pipe. Though his smile fell instantly when the bells above the shop door jingled. He turned to see David, Hook, Belle, and Elsa rushing in, "Ah, this kind of procession never bodes well."
"The Snow Queen iced over the locks of the Sheriff's Station," David said quickly, "Emma's trapped inside with her."
"There must be a way for you to get us in there," Belle agreed.
"Please," Elsa begged, "Please!"
Gold opened his mouth to answer, when David cut in, "Piper's trapped in there too."
Gold would have rolled his eyes at the man's assumption that he was going to turn down their request, and instead gestured at the doors, "After you."
He stepped out from behind the counter, about to head after them, when Hook moved in his path, "Alright, Crocodile. What's your game? The last two villains that came into town tried to kill you. But you seem rather unconcerned by this one. Makes a man wonder if you two have a history."
"You can wonder all you like, dearie," he glared, "My history my business. Henry!" he called, making Hook step back as Henry peeked into the room, "It seems we have work to do elsewhere."
~8~
The Snow Queen tilted her head as she watched Emma get up and stand before her, needing to be taller, needing to stand over her, and so she smiled, "It's understandable you feel upset…"
"Now you think you know how I feel?" Emma asked, feeling more amused that the woman was trying to guess her feelings than irritated, one thing could be said at least, Piper's music most definitely did as it was meant to.
"I know you better than you know yourself, Emma."
"Yeah, because you took what, a year from my life?" Emma shot her an incredulous look.
"When you lived with me, you talked about your parents all the time. You were so angry with them for giving you up…"
"They had a good reason for that," Emma cut in, "I know that now."
The Snow Queen spread her hands out on the table, curling her fingers into a fist a moment later, just the pointers extended, "It doesn't change the fact that you felt unwanted for 28 years."
Emma frowned at that, starting to feel…not quite calm any longer, but she could still hear the music playing just…softer, "They didn't have a choice," she defended.
"There is always a choice, Emma. They could have kept you. They could have figured out something else. They could have tried."
"They did what they could to save an entire Kingdom!" Emma almost shouted, only the faint tune of the music Piper was playing keeping her from doing so.
"You were their only child. And they used you to break a curse. They're still using your powers."
"That's not true."
"Isn't it?" the Snow Queen scoffed, shaking one of her hands, "How many times have you saved them? How often have you felt more like a 'Savior' than their daughter? And all it takes is one tiny mistake, one accident, and you and your powers go from being their salvation to their worst nightmare."
Emma shook her head, crossing her arms, feeling shifty, feeling…feeling angry and…upset, but…the tune, it was…it was fainter, "You don't know them or me," she tried to remain calm, tried to hold onto the feeling the song had made.
"I don't have to know you, Emma. I've been you, different, misunderstood, alone. And now they've chosen to have a new child. And don't you think that they thank their lucky stars every day that he was born normal?"
"They love me!" she shouted, not even realizing that she couldn't hear Piper's song playing any longer.
"You can't love somebody you don't understand," the Snow Queen pushed, "And do you know what happens when people don't understand something? They learn to fear it. And then they look at it like a monster!"
"Emma!" Piper shouted, bursting through the door, at the same time that Emma screamed, "Shut up!" and slammed her hands onto the table before the Snow Queen…
And the magic raged out of her, blasting the wall to her left, creating a massive hole in the side of the building. She gasped, stumbling back, staring at her hands as they rippled with red energy, "What did you do to me?!"
"Emma!" Piper moved to get to her side, but the Snow Queen threw out her hand, sending Piper back into the wall.
"All I did is show you who you really are," the Snow Queen stood, the manacles falling away from her wrists easily.
Emma glanced between Piper, her eyes racing up to the speaker, a breath leaving her as she saw a thick layer of ice covering it, making her realize why the song had been growing fainter, why she hadn't been able to hear it at the end, the Snow Queen had worked out their plan or something of it and covered the music up.
She winced as the energy ripped over her hand again, "Make it stop!"
"I can't," the Snow Queen smiled at her, "It's you, Emma, and it's beautiful."
Emma could only watch with wide eyes as the woman disappeared in a swirl of snow, "Piper!" she turned to the woman, wanting to reach out and help her up, but not trusting herself to touch her, "Piper, are…"
"Emma?!" she heard David calling from outside.
She glanced at Piper once more, lying on the ground though seeming to be about to stir, and ran out the hole in the wall to call the others to her, to help Piper…when she saw just how much damage her outburst of magic had caused, "What have I done?"
"Emma!" David breathed as he ran up with Snow, Hook, Henry, Belle, Elsa, and Gold, "You alright?"
"We were so worried," Mary Margaret murmured, stepping towards her daughter.
"Wait!" Emma gasped, stepping back.
"Where's Piper?" Gold cut in, seeing Piper, who David claimed was there, nowhere to be seen.
"She's in there," she nodded at the hole, "The Snow Queen blasted her and…"
"I am fine," Piper groaned, managing to climb through the hole, rubbing her back as Gold rushed to her side to help her, "Emma…" she began, but Hook reached them.
"Swan, what did that monster do to the Sheriff's Station?!"
Emma frowned at that, and Piper knew exactly where her mind had gone, "The 'monster' who did this was not the Snow Queen. It was me."
"What?" David looked at her shocked.
"It was quite the display of magic," Piper tried to diffuse the situation.
But Emma was too frantic, "Just keep your distance," she warned them, holding up her hands to show them the red rippling over them, "I don't know if I can control myself. I don't want to hurt anyone."
"Swan…" Hook took a step towards her.
"She said to stay back!" Piper snapped at the man who was disregarding Emma's genuine fears and warnings.
"We should heed her words," Gold agreed.
"Emma, we can help," Mary Margaret tried to reason.
"Just stay away!" Emma tried to step back, but Hook reached out to stop her, "Let me go!" she pulled away from him, the red energy shooting out of her hands and striking a streetlamp beside them, causing a small explosion at its base, sending it falling, toppling over…right at Hook, "Watch out!"
David ran forward and pushed Hook out of the way, getting caught by the streetlamp in his place, knocked to the ground with a groan.
"David!" Mary Margaret gasped, rushing to his side to help him up, checking on him as he groaned more, gripping his arm in pain, "Emma!" she snapped at her daughter, a hard look on her face…
Till Emma flinched at the expression.
"Emma…"
"Do NOT speak another word, Snow White!" Piper snapped right back at her, "Emma…" she turned to the woman, but Emma was shaking her head, turning to run, "Emma!"
"Wait!" Mary Margaret tried, "Please come back!"
"Swan!" Hook called.
"Mom!" even Henry tried to stop her, but Emma was already at her yellow bug, revving the engine and speeding off.
Piper was panting as she turned to glare at the so-called heroes (and Hook), "What is wrong with you?!" she demanded, "She warned you! She warned you to keep back, yet you could not be bothered to LISTEN to what would make her comfortable!? She TOLD you she couldn't control it and you look at her as though she harmed the shepherd on purpose?!"
"We didn't mean to…" Mary Margaret teared up, "It was…it was just…"
"What? What was it Snow White? Reaction? Instinct? Shock?" she shook her head, "Emma made a mistake, her emotions conflicted with her control, her FEAR, and the magic could not be contained. It reacted and you look at her as though it was her fault, her desire to cause harm? My god, Snow, if this is how you look upon your own daughter for a genuine accident, I cannot begin to imagine how you would have looked upon me when I consciously chose to use my magic to harm."
Gold gently pulled her back as she took an advancing step towards her cousin. She took a deep breath and looked at him, conveying something to him that the others couldn't decipher, but whatever it was, Gold seemed to understand and nodded, releasing his grip on her shoulders as she turned to stalk off.
"Where are you going?!" David called.
"To find my niece and reassure her that she is NOT the monster you have made her think herself to be!" she nearly snarled at them all.
"Let me come with you," David tried to step after her.
"Try it," Piper challenged, her expression dark and warning, "If she sees you, any of you, she shall run."
"And what makes you think she won't when she sees you?" Hook demanded, glaring at her.
"I am already a monster, am I not?" Piper returned his glare times two, also reminding him that his so-called 'redemption' would work against him now, if he wanted Emma to see him as not a monster and not have his own horrible deeds come up, then he couldn't claim NOW that he wasn't one. But she was.
"Rose," Mary Margaret winced.
"She knows I will not look upon her any differently, so leave this to me, or drive your daughter farther away from you."
Gold had to smirk as he watched her spin and carry off, pulling her pipe from her boot to undoubtedly use a tracking tune to find Emma's song and follow it to wherever she might be, to convince her she was not a monster at all…and he knew the exact argument she would use to do it.
Emma…was nothing like Piper.
And while he had no qualms with what Piper was, embracing all of her, every facet, light or dark (and how he did love the dark parts), he knew that a 'hero' like Emma would need to be face to face with the dark, with one who embraced the dark and the title of monster to be forced to see she was nothing like the person before her. And only Piper would be able to do it, as a 'monster,' her word would be the only one Emma would believe.
Though, the fact that Piper would have to use that argument, go that route, that she would have to reveal more of herself than she felt ready to do so, to bring Emma back, it set him on edge.
Perhaps he should have a little chat with the Snow Queen, this time…she had gone too far.
~8~
Gold glanced up from where he was standing at the counter of his shop, his eyes narrowing as he saw who had entered, the Snow Queen of all people, "As someone who's created many monsters in his time, I am impressed by the number you did on Ms. Swan. Though," he moved to step around the counter, "If I were you, I would NOT have selected her to target."
"Oh?" the woman tilted her head, "And why so?"
"I already warned you, dearie, I will NOT allow you to harm any I care for, and Ms. Swan happens to fall under that category."
"Because of your precious Piper?" the Snow Queen smirked at how his expression darkened, "Oh don't look so surprised Dark One, I WAS in this town among you all. I have eyes. I have ears, I could see you walking the town, heard the whispers of how the Dark One had found his true love," she sighed mockingly, "How sweet."
"I would wipe that smirk off your face, dearie," he glared, "The only reason you're still alive right now is that Piper is with Emma, and she will counter anything you hoped to accomplish with her niece."
"Oh, I know she will," the Snow Queen nodded, "I'm hoping she will. I need her to, really. Though, for the time being, it will prove a distraction for Emma, because, you see," she stepped closer, "I'm ready to make that deal."
"So you finally understand what you didn't so many years ago," he taunted.
"I want my ribbons back."
He turned, reaching onto the counter to a small wooden box, similar to the one he'd made to hold Piper's new pipe, and opened it, revealing three small yellow ribbons, ones he had acquired from the woman…oh years ago, when she had come crawling to him for a way to control her ice powers. Much like Elsa, she used her sisters' love for her as a way to hold the power at bay, but it wasn't enough to ease her fears. He had traded her blue gloves that would contain her power and a magic urn that would trap her, as a failsafe, for the ribbons she and her sisters wore around their wrists as a symbol of their familial love.
"Then you'll also understand that a…a deal requires an exchange of goods. And I'm no longer convinced you have anything I want," he snapped the box shut, making her glare at him.
"You still need one more thing to cleave yourself from that dagger," the woman stated.
His lips pursed at that as he tensed, "And how do you know about that?"
"I had that hat longer than you," she smirked, stepping closer, speaking softly, "I learned many things. Among them…the missing piece of your puzzle. Give me my ribbon," her eyes drifted to the box before snapping back to him, "I'll tell you what it is. You see, I've figured out your plan."
"Have you?" he baited.
She nodded, "Storybrooke is a small town. Too small for someone as powerful as the Dark One to be content."
"Well, they did close down that ice-cream parlor I was so fond of," he muttered, inwardly keeping his smirk from showing on his face.
Oh how wrong the woman was.
But whatever advantage she thought she had over him…it seemed her assumptions would work to his advantage.
"You want to cleave yourself from the dagger so you can venture outside Storybrooke without losing your power or those close to you," she eyed him, "You want, in short, what all villains want."
"And what's that?"
"Everything," she sighed, her gaze flickering to the box once more, "And I want to give it to you," before returning to his face.
He scoffed, as though she could give him everything, she wasn't Piper, so it was impossible, "What makes you so generous?"
"What you want is out there," she gestured to a globe sitting off to the side, "And everything that I want is in here. Do what you want with the rest of the world. Storybrooke will be mine," she eyed him, "Now…do you want your answer?"
"You know I do," he muttered.
"Then we have a deal," she smiled.
He stepped back as she reached for the box in his hands, "You first," he warned, "Tell me what I require," the Snow Queen did not seem pleased by his demand but she gave a small nod and leaned in, whispering in his ear exactly what he would need to truly free himself from the hat, and pulled away, "Not only can I do that," he grinned, "But I shall do it with great pleasure."
And, with that, he held the box out to her, watching as the Snow Queen took it with a gentle hand, giving him one final nod before she disappeared in a swirl of snow.
He couldn't help the grin that came to his face as the snow cleared, the Snow Queen had fallen right into his trap, a trap, he was quite sure, Piper would be VERY pleased to learn about.
~8~
Emma sat, alone, in her yellow bug at an overlook high above Storybrooke, just looking sadly down at the town lights, tears in her eyes, a fear in them as well, a fear for what she was, what she really was, what sort of dangerous, dark monster she had to be for...
Her thoughts were cut off when the passenger door opened and another blonde woman entered, older than her, a pipe being stuck into her boot as the woman closed the door.
Emma froze, completely tense about what would happen...when the woman turned to her.
"Emma," was all Piper said as she looked at her softly, an understanding and empathy in her eyes that startled Emma after everything she'd seen and done and been told today, after the looks she'd seen in the eyes and faces of those closest to her just outside the station.
It was enough to bring more tears to her eyes.
But what caused them to fall wasn't any of that...it was Piper's next actions.
The woman reached across, and took her hand, just holding it as she turned to look out at Storybrooke, not saying another word, not forcing her to talk or giving her any reassurances she wasn't ready to hear just yet, merely...sitting there with her, and holding her hand, one of the hands that had caused such destruction in the town only hours ago.
It was that silent display of trust, the acceptance in Piper's eyes, the action of not letting her be alone speaking more words than could be said in that moment, that had her squeezing her aunt's hand back tightly and turning to look out at Storybrooke once more.
A/N: I sort of feel bad for Piper in this, with her discussion with Elsa and Emma's remarks about not having magic till she was an adult. Looking at it in a general context of the three women and even Regina, Piper is really the only one that grew up with her magic out in the open. Regina didn't start learning till she was about 18ish based on the show, Emma till she broke the curse, Elsa had them as a child but the only ones that knew were her parents till she was queen. Piper was the only one that was forced to be around other children that ALL knew what she was and what she could do. In a way, if anyone ever needed someone to relate to in being mistrusted and rejected and misunderstood, it would be Piper to turn to. Elsa was isolated and it was terrible to do to her, but it was actually much better a situation than Piper where every single day she was exposed to the judging eyes of the people around her, the whispers, and the way everyone treated her even though she was a princess :( Poor Piper :(
That'll...actually be very important in the next Storybrooke Chapter, right now Emma's not alone, but she's still going to be freaking out about what she did. Some darker moments for Piper might come out to help Emma realize SHE is not the monster of the pair of them }:)
I really wanted to have a moment of understanding between Elsa and Piper. It annoyed me just a little that almost every other line out of Elsa's mouth was 'I have to find Anna!' and I fully understand it's her sister and she's missing and they don't know what happened to her, but there's many more other things going on at the moment and I wanted someone to be like 'you're not the only one who lost family or was searching for them' to Elsa, to make it more a mutual understanding moment :) And the part with Emma and Piper, I couldn't see Piper going with Emma when she knew Snow would be there, but I also couldn't see her not noticing something was bothering Emma just after it and wanting to help.
Some notes on reviews...
We'll have to wait and see if Gold will experience the same loss in this story to see if that'll be the same reason his heart started to affect him or not ;) I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter :)
Oh we'll definitely get a meet the parents for Ilayda and Ethan, or at last meeting Ethan's parents ;)
I don't think it's bad that they remind you of Merlin and Morgana :) We'll actually see a father/daughter bonding moment between Piper and Ethan later that will touch on fears of ruling and strength to do it ;) I think a part of it was that he knew he could go to another siren, but after Ilayda turned him down he wanted it to be her, he was sort of intrigued and drawn to her even then but didn't realize it and wouldn't realize it till much later, that he COULD find another siren or magical creature to end him, but something kept bringing him back to her ;) I'm glad you felt the lack of consideration for Sirens, I wanted to sort of show the deep prejudice against them, that they're considered so far below humans in that regard, to sort of hint at what Piper went through in being half around humans :( I don't think Piper could harm them after she lured children away, at most I could see her putting them to sleep if it was going to be a long wait, but I don't see her ever harming them. And, unlike Snow, she always returned them ;) It'll depend when and how it goes dark and where each of them are when it happens for if it would affect Piper ;)