Sorry for the wait! I had finals that kept me busy studying instead of writing, but now that I have nothing to do but write, I should be able to post more often. Thank you to everyone who's read, commented, and followed this story. I really appreciate it! Things start picking up in this chapter as the Snow Queen makes her debut from behind the scenes. Hope you guys enjoy it!

Regina leaned on the doorframe of Henry's room, fondly watching the two boys jump around, acting out some kind of adventure.

"I see the dragon!" Roland screamed excitedly.

"Do you have your sword?"

"Yes!"

"Alright, let's go. We have to be very careful as we approach. The dragon can't see us coming." Henry said quietly. Roland's brown curls bounced as he eager nodded his head. The two boys tiptoed up to the middle of the room where the dragon was in their imagination. Roland peered over at Henry who gave him a nod and they both drew out their foam swords and started swinging them.

"I got it, I got it!"

"Watch out for the flames!"

"Thanks Henry, it nearly got me."

"Aim for the head!"

"Did you see that? I almost got it!"

"Okay, on three, you aim for the belly and I'll aim for the head. One….two….THREE!" They acted it out, Roland ducking and running straight with his sword in front of him, Henry raising his and bringing it down sharply.

"We did it!" Roland danced around excitedly. He spotted Regina in the door, "Gina! Did you see? Did you see? Me and Henry got the dragon!"

"I did see, you guys were very brave."

"An official decree from the queen." Henry said, grinning at her.

"What's a defree?" Roland said, curiously.

"It's an official statement, like a law." Henry explained, "Since she's the queen, she can make all sorts of royal decrees."

"Oh," Roland breathed, "I see."

"So now the whole kingdom knows how brave you two are." Regina said, "Now, I'm sure fighting dragons leads to quite an appetite. What do you say we get some lunch?"

"Can we have the cinnamon rolls again? Those were yummy!" Roland asked as he followed her and Henry out the door and down the stairs.

"We had those for breakfast. You guys need some healthy foods now. Especially if you're going to be fighting dragons."

"Could we have chicken quesadillas?" Henry asked.

"Sure, I'll put some fruits and vegetables out as well."

Regina had just sent the two boys out to the backyard to play while she cleaned up the kitchen. She had just finished wiping down the table when a puff of white smoke appeared. Regina jumped back at the sight, a fireball appeared in her hands as she got ready to aim it toward the intruder. Once it faded, Elsa was standing in front of her, a wide grin on her face. Regina huffed and extinguished the fireball.

"I did it!"

"Did you manage to poof yourself into the Evil Queen's house without her knowing, nearly coming face to face with a fireball, yes I daresay you did."

"Oh, it's fine. A fireball wouldn't hurt me, I could freeze it."

"I don't think you want to test that."

Elsa shrugged, "Anyway, I've been practicing freezing and unfreezing everything in my room. I think I should be able to take down the ice wall today."

"Oh good, I was beginning to think we'd never see the end of this cold front."

"Can we poof there?" Elsa asked excitedly.

"I need to wait until Robin comes to pick up Roland and then I'll send Henry over to the unCharmings for the day. I don't want you trying to do this alone."

Elsa opened her mouth to respond but a knock at the door cut her off.

"That should be Robin." Regina said, she headed to the door, taking a deep breath before letting her face harden into a version of her Evil Queen mask. Seeing Robin last night had poked holes in everything she had tried to build up since he said he was staying with Marian. She would not let him see past her defenses. Not anymore. As she opened the door, she was met with Robin's frantic, fearful face.

"Robin?" She breathed, "What's wrong?"

"Marian." He said, stepping inside, "Regina I need your help. It's Marian, something's happened to her. I don't know who else to turn to."

"Okay. Slow down, what exactly happened?"

"I don't know. She was fine and then she just collapsed. She was so cold."

"Nothing happened to her before that?"

"No, she was completely fine!"

"Where is she?"

"In your- well, Mary Margaret's office."

"Okay, let me see if Elsa can watch the boys."

Robin's eyes glimmered with relief, "Thank you Regina," He paused, "I know this isn't easy-"

"Let's just focus on saving your wife." Regina said sharply.

Mary Margaret, David, and Emma stood hesitantly near the desk as Regina and Robin entered the room. Regina's face was devoid of all emotion, a careful mask that she had slipped into place so many times it was effortless by now. A shock of color caught her attention out of the corner of her eye. She looked and saw the most atrocious painting of birds hanging from the side of the wall. Who had ruined the meticulous design of her office by adding that?

"Regina, thank you for coming." Mary Margaret started forward.

Regina cut her off, "It's fine," She pointed toward the painting. "Who's idea was that?"

"Mine. I thought I'd add my own personal touch on the office."

Regina gave a light scoff, "Well you've succeeded, hideously."

Mary Margaret shot her a look before her face shifted back into it's concerned state, "We don't know what happened."

Regina looked at the couch where a completely frozen Marian lay, "Really?" She said sarcastically, "I would've thought that was obvious."

"We don't know how it happened." David said, shooting her a look.

"Again, I would think that would be obvious." Regina said, pointedly ignoring the daggers in David's gaze.

"Really, how?" Emma's surprised tone reverberated around the room.

"Unlike you, Ms. Swan, I've spent quite some time around magic seeing as I possess the capability to use it. How this happened should be pretty self explanatory even if you do only have half a brain. She was cursed."

"Cursed?" Mary Margaret said shocked, "Are you sure?"

"Well I doubt she did this to herself for kicks."

"Can you do something?" Robin pleaded.

"Maybe." Regina held her hands over Marian's frozen figure, emitting a purple glow from her fingertips. The ice had made its way into her body, Regina concentrated, trying to use the magic to paint a picture in her mind of how serious this was. If it had reached her heart….a picture was forming, the ice was in her blood, traveling to her heart but it hadn't reached it yet. Letting out a sigh, Regina faced the others, her hands dropping to her side. She chewed her lip, staring at Robin, "Do you trust me?" She asked abruptly.

"Trust you- yes, of course." He said.

"The ice is making its way through her body. I can't do anything about it without more research. No spell will easily fix this."

"Okay?"

"We need to take her heart out."

"What?" The Charmings said in unison, but Robin was nodding, his blue eyes fixed steadily on her, full of trust. Mary Margaret took a step forward,

"Regina, are you sure this is the only option?"

"If you want her to live, yes. She will die if the ice reaches her heart."

"I trust you." Robin said softly, "Please do it." Before anyone else could jump in with their opinion, Regina thrust her hand in Marian's chest, wincing at the shards of ice that pierced her skin. Her face contorted as she struggled to pull the heart back out. For a split second she thought she wouldn't be able to do it, but then the heart slid through and she stood up straight, holding the light red heart in her hand. It was light, Regina had expected that, clear of any imperfections, but it was an odd color. Regina didn't know what to make of it. Something felt off about the heart, it didn't look right but Regina chalked it up to it being close to freezing.

"I will put this in one of my boxes for safekeeping while I research a way to save her."

Robin nodded, "Thank you." She nodded stiffly and with a wave of her hand, she disappeared in a puff of purple smoke.

Turning a page, Regina studied the print, her brown eyes flickering from one page to the next. She let out a growl of frustration, she had been through all the books in her collection and still found nothing that could help Marian. Lifting her head, she peered over at Elsa who was pouring through her own little stack of books that Regina had given her after Elsa had asked if there was anything she could do to help.

"Have you found anything?" Regina's voice was hoarse, she hadn't talked for a couple hours, her attention focused solely on the volumes of textbooks hoping to find a cure.

"No," Elsa said dejectedly, "Do we know what happened to her? To freeze her like that?"

"You would have the most experience out of anyone here with that."

"It wasn't me." Elsa said defensively.

"I know that, I know what your magic feels like and what happened to Marian wasn't it. There's someone else here with powers like yours, or the ability to mimic them."

"Someone like me?" Elsa's tone was wistful and Regina could sense the longing that Elsa had to connect with someone who had her magic, who could understand what it was like to wield such power and live surrounded by fear. Regina didn't have that problem with her magic, she wasn't scared of it nor did she care what others thought of her ability.

She had already labeled herself as a monster, it didn't matter who believed it.

"Yes, that's the only explanation. Do you have any ideas how they would be able to curse Marian without anyone noticing?"

Elsa bit her lip, thinking, "Well when I accidentally cursed Anna, it was a blast from my magic that did it. But to do it without anyone noticing…" Elsa trailed off.

Regina frowned, thinking back to the cursed apple she had given Snow all those years ago, "Would it be possible to curse an object, perhaps some food, that when she ate it, caused her to freeze?"

Elsa tilted her head, "Yeah, I think that would work."

"Then we have some place to start," Regina said confidently, "If we can't find anything in these books, which at this point, I don't think we will, we can retrace Marian's steps and figure out who she had contact with and who would have the opportunity to curse her food."

Elsa grinned, "That's a good idea. If we find whoever did this and how, it might be easier to figure out how to fix it."

Footsteps were heard coming down the stairs and the soft hum of voices startled Regina. She exchanged a confused glance with Elsa. Who would be coming down here? Her question was answered as her least favorite trio stepped into the room.

"The unCharmings." Regina said sharply, "To what do I owe the pleasure." Her lips curled bitterly over the last word. They exchanged uneasy looks with each other and Regina narrowed her eyes as Emma's gaze flickered over to Elsa. She didn't like the wariness surrounding the group, nor how Emma's eyes kept darting to Elsa.

"The townsfolk have heard what happened to Marian." Mary Margaret said, shifting slightly, "They want the person who did it locked up."

Regina clenched her jaw, she could sense where this was going and she didn't like it one bit, "Well I assume you told them that we don't know who did it. Elsa and I are working on a way to track them down right now."

David exchanged a look with his wife, "They believe Elsa did it."

Regina raised an unimpressed brow, "What a shock. They never did have the common sense to think before they open their mouths. Instead of pointing unnecessary fingers, they should go and find whatever trees are working overtime to replace the oxygen they just wasted and apologize."

"Who else do we know that has ice magic?" David said accusingly.

"Someone in this town! I can sense someone's magic, it's like a signature. Elsa didn't do it. Now run along and try to find simple words to explain it to the others. I find speaking in complete sentences doesn't work that well."

"Regina, we have to take her in." Emma said softly, "We have to show the town that we're doing everything possible. I know Elsa didn't do it, but for the sake of appearances."

"Ms. Swan," Regina said cuttingly, "It seems that time portal wiped away all the common sense you had once possessed. Locking Elsa up will do nothing to help anyone. She is not a threat, but one of the most important assets we have in this situation. It would be foolish of you to throw that away."

"I didn't do it, I can tell the town that. I can explain that I'm just trying to help." Elsa said.

Regina turned toward her, "That is the last thing you will do. They have never taken the time to understand magic and you will just be putting yourself in danger."

"Then they should just lock me up." Elsa said softly.

"They will do no such thing. What they will do," Regina said forcefully, turning back toward the Charmings, "Is tell the town that Elsa's magical signature is not the same as the one hanging around Marian. On top of that, Elsa has never interacted with Marian, nor gotten close enough to curse her."

"I don't think they're going to believe that." Mary Margaret said.

"Do I need to give you crayons? What part of that is hard to believe?"

"It's not that it's unreasonable, it's just that-" Mary Margaret broke off, eying Regina uncomfortably.

"It's just that- what?"

"We'd be going off your word." David said.

"Why would that- oh." Regina froze as the realization hit her. They wouldn't believe it because she was the Evil Queen. Not only was she the Evil Queen but she had a personal interest in Marian, and she was friends with Elsa. It was a reasonable assumption, Regina accepted that, but it still hurt that after everything she had done, they still didn't trust her.

Not that she deserved it.

"I'm sorry Regina. You see our issue." Emma said apologetically.

Regina pressed her lips together, "Ms. Swan, the only issue I see here is a bunch of so-called leaders failing to do the one thing required of them. Lead."

"Regina, we can't just ignore their request just because we're in charge and believe differently." David said exasperatedly.

"Yes you can. You were a shepherd, you dealt with leading sheep to the right place. It's not any different. Although the sheep might be smarter. Part of being a leader is setting an example, if you guys stood up to the town and told them that Elsa didn't do it, I would hope that would settle the matter."

"I don't think that's going to work, Regina." Emma said, "What if they don't listen to us, they don't have much of a reason to trust you, especially given the situation. It is rather convenient for you."

"I am not here to give a leadership seminar! I am focused on saving my True Love's wife, or did you miss that part. Now if you're done insulting the only two people who can actually help you solve this problem, I suggest you leave."

"Okay, we'll try. But if it doesn't work, we're going to bring Elsa in."

"Well that's certainly a great way to show everyone what a great leader you are. You'll definitely win an award for that. Go out and tell everyone that Elsa didn't do it and if they don't believe it, bring her in. Really, I should be taking notes."

Emma gave a huff of exasperation, "We're trying your idea."

"I'm waiting."

Rolling her eyes, Emma left the room, David following her. Mary Margaret lingered, her eyes soft as she approached Regina.

"What do you want now?" Regina snapped.

"You know I'm on your side, right?"

"Mary Margaret, I've been hearing that and I have yet to find a way to believe it." Regina said softly, "Don't say things you don't mean."

"But I do! I'm sorry that we listened to the townsfolk and ignored doing what was right. We never should've come here to lock Elsa up. You both are just trying to help."

"I appreciate that." Elsa interjected quietly, "It means a lot that you believe me." She turned to face Regina, "Thank you for defending me, you didn't have to do that."

"Yes I did. I'm not going to let them back you into a corner. Not when you're innocent."

"What can I do to help?" Snow said.

"Explain to the town that Elsa is not to blame, that we are all on the same side. Elsa and I will track down this person but the only way we can do that is if the town trusts us. I know they have no reason to trust me, but Elsa hasn't done anything. Plus, I would hope that Snow White's word would be reason enough to believe us, even if we don't have their trust."

"Regina…" Mary Margaret grasped her hand, "You deserve to be trusted. You are good and you have proven that many times before. You have changed and you are trying to help us. It's not your fault if they can't see that."

Regina stared at Mary Margaret, "Thank you," She said softly, "That means a lot."

"I am on your side." Mary Margaret squeezed her hand before letting go, "I'll go talk to the town, I'll be by later. Good luck."

"Thank you, you too." Regina said.

"Thank you." Elsa echoed. As Mary Margaret's footsteps faded, Regina let out a deep sigh and turned back to the pile of books. There had to be something there, something that could help them. She flipped through the pages, her mind wandering to the events that had just happened. She had to save Marian. She had to prove to the town that she had changed, that she was good. That even if she was heartbroken, even if saving Marian meant her happy ending with Robin was gone, she was someone to be trusted, she was still a hero.

But most of all, she wanted to prove it to herself.

This pain was achingly familiar, she had opened her heart to love and lost it once again. While it wasn't like she had lost Robin like she had Daniel, he was still gone and she was still here.

Alone.

Again.

It had been nice having someone to love her like that, she hadn't had that in decades. But she was never destined to keep it. At least she could give Robin his True Love back, at least one of them would be happy.

"Regina?" Elsa's voice drew Regina out of her thoughts.

"Hmm?"

"Would this work? To help find the person who cursed Marian?" Elsa held up a page for a tracking spell, "If you can sense someone's magic, maybe we could alter it to track the magic."

Regina stared at Elsa, it was so simple, so brilliant, she should've thought of it. "Yes, that would work." She shook her head, frustrated with herself, "I should've thought of that!"

"It's fine, you have a lot on your mind. Plus we can do it now, no harm done." Elsa said reassuringly. Regina flashed Elsa a soft smile,

"Then we better get to work."