Emma opened her eyes, her head spinning. She was hardly aware of herself or the room around her. Her brain was fuzzy, as if she had stared into a very bright light for a very long time. Elsa was still unconscious next to her, her body and face obscured by a blanket that made her look very small and helpless, but she was tossing and turning violently, like someone else had control of her body.
Then Emma started to feel her legs moving, and she found herself standing up. She was powerless to stop it, as hard as she tried to sit back down. Emma's legs walked her past the beds and the window, to the other side of the room, where she stopped in front of the mirror.
The room was dark, but the golden-framed mirror shone as brightly as if it were the star of the north. For a while Emma found it hard to see her reflection, but her legs would not let her step away, so instead she closed her eyes to her reflection. As the light receded, Emma opened her eyes.
A small scream escaped her tightly shut lips. Emma stared at herself, her heart racing faster than if she had just sprinted from a dragon (which she had). She blinked repeatedly. What stood before her was ten times worse than the dragon.
Emma was 16 again.
She was wearing the same pink dress Ingrid had fashioned for her, but her face was rounder, her eyebrows less tended to and her lips more puckered. Emma clutched at her face. What was going on?
Emma crept back over to Elsa, who now seemed impossibly child-like under the small blanket. She peeled back the blanket slowly, terrified of what could be beneath.
Underneath was a small 13-year-old Elsa, hands covered in small gloves and wearing a blue dress. Emma screamed and tripped backwards.
Elsa was immediately awake from the scream. She leapt backwards, gathering up the blanket.
"Who are you?" She demanded, hands shaking.
"Elsa, it's me, Emma!" Emma replied, extending an arm to Elsa.
"Emma?!" Elsa extended her own arm. When she caught sight of her own glove she screamed, ripping the thing from her hand. Elsa ran to the mirror, and Emma followed her.
It was then that little Elsa began to cry. Emma put a hand on her shoulder. She felt like she should comfort the little girl but she had no idea how.
"What has she done to us?" Elsa whispered
"I made you into my little sisters of course!" The bedroom doors banged open, and light streamed into the room. Ingrid swept the curtains open with one hand whilst she strolled over to the girls.
"Why?! What good could this do?" Emma demanded
"Ahh, the rebellious teenage years, should have thought about that." Ingrid smiled
"But why?" Elsa sniffled
"Well now you can never leave!" Ingrid cackled "I have word that Snow White and Prince Charming are here to save the day from the ice monster I put in your old ice palace Elsa. Now, they can't save you until you have true love's kiss, and you have no true love!"
"I can find true love!" Emma protested weakly.
"Don't lie, Emma dear." The Snow Queen said, Emma drooped her head.
"But!" The Snow Queen teased after a long, despairing pause
"But?" Elsa looked up eagerly
"I will give you one chance. We have a ball at the palace, tomorrow night!" Ingrid beckoned at her maids to follow her as she left "Maybe you'll find true love then?"
The doors slammed shut and Emma sat down on a bed, her head in her hands, sobbing tears that can only be summoned when one is grieving or hurting pain that comes from the heart.
"Emma!" Elsa kneeled down next to her 'sister' "We have a chance!"
"But Elsa, I'm incapable of loving properly. I was never taught as a child." Emma turned her face away from Elsa, ashamed of what she had admitted.
"But Emma, it's our only chance." Elsa said as she sat next to Emma, holding her quivering hands.