Freezing to death
ouatfanficreques asked for a oneshot of Snow being trapped in the ice cave with Elsa and Emma in 4x02. Snow trying to keep Emma warm while they are both freezing to death while waiting for Charming to save them. Quite a long one this but wanted to keep it as close to the episode as possible!
"Hey, who are you?" Emma said, slightly surprised to find someone so calm amongst the giant shards of ice. Snow was the first to see the stranger's hands glowing.
"Emma." She warned, taking her daughter's hand and pulling her back slightly. She could see the stranger already looked frightened.
"My name is Elsa." The replied, sounding both defensive and angry.
"Ok, Elsa, its ok." Snow said, trying to bring the woman back down. "I'm Snow, and this is my daughter Emma." Snow could feel Emma removing herself from Snow's grip and beginning to move forward. Snow still felt wary. Especially when Elsa started to back up, her hand still raised.
"Emma." Snow hissed, not wanting Emma to get hurt. Emma ignored her mother's warning.
"Want to tell me what you're doing out here?" She asked Elsa. "Do you have something to do with this…wall?" Elsa had now nearly backed up right against the giant wall of ice. Snow was worried what she'd do if she felt trapped. She moved right up beside Emma, ready to pull her back if needed.
"I'm looking for someone, my sister." Elsa told them. "I can't find her. This, was hers." Elsa held out her other hand. Snow and Emma looked down to see that Elsa was tightly clutching a necklace with a little wooden snowflake. Emma put her hand out to try and take the necklace and examine it for any clues. Elsa pulled her hand back, gasping. Snow was now very anxious. Emma was beginning to go the same way. "I found it in the store filled with things. Where is she?" Elsa demanded. Sure the pair were holding Anna captive somewhere.
"I have no idea but if you want us to help you, you have to help me." Emma said quickly. When she saw Elsa calming slightly, realising the strangers were not holding Anna captive, Emma continued. "What's her name?" She asked softly. Elsa looked the pair up and down for any little hint that they still might be villains, but something told her she could trust them.
"Anna." She told them. Snow could see that the snow was becoming wilder. She worked out that it was coming from Elsa, and the more stressed she got, the worse it got. As if right on cue for bad timing, Snow and Emma heard Charming and Hook running over. The snow started to rage.
"Emma!" Hook called out, worried. Elsa's hand raised again, she was scared. The two men seemed to have weapons.
"Stay back." Snow warned. She didn't want Elsa to do something she'd regret. Charming could see Elsa clearly had magic. And she was causing the ice and snow. He was worried, his wife and daughter were right beside her.
"Hey hey hey hey." He called, bringing out his gun. He had no intention to shoot, it was just a scare tactic."
"No no, it's ok." Snow said quickly, knowing it would only make things worse. But it was too late, Elsa had lost control of her magic. The next thing anyone saw was more ice shards shooting up, creating a barrier between the girls and the boys. Before they were fully up, Snow heard Emma cry out. She whipped her head round and saw Emma falling to the floor.
"Emma!" She called, rushing to her. But before she could reach her, there seemed to be an avalanche of Snow, forcing everyone to fall to the ground, their ears ringing.
Emma's eyes shot open. Her head was still spinning which wasn't helped by her shooting up so quickly.
"Emma." Snow said, relieved. She quickly made her way over to her daughter, not liking the way her eyes were squinting in what seemed like pain.
"Wow. Well I gotta give it to you, you put on quite a show." Emma groaned. "You wanna tell us what this is about?"
"No." Elsa said, placing her hands on her hips. "Just that I'm very powerful, and you and your people, you need to be more careful. Keep your distance." Snow took Emma's hand, not liking the way Elsa was threatening her daughter.
"I think I can guarantee that." Snow said, slightly coldly. "So if you would kindly take down this wall then we'll make sure you never have to see us again." Snow and Emma didn't like the way Elsa's face fell.
"I…not right away." She said. Both knew she was bluffing, but why they didn't know. "Bring me what I want. And then, I'll consider freeing you." Emma took her hand out of her mother's to run her hands up and down her arms. Unlike Snow, Emma wasn't so well dressed for winter and was beginning to feel the cold.
"Your sister, right?" Emma asked. "We can't really look for her from in here." She pointed out. Suddenly, the walkie talkie sprung to life in Emma's pocket.
"Emma, can you hear me?" They heard Charming yell, sounding terrified.
"What is that?" Elsa snapped, beginning to get defensive again.
"Uh, it's a…"
"Emma are you both ok? Say something!"
"It allows us to talk to my father, who's on the other side of that wall, but if you wanna melt that, we can all talk?" Emma tried.
"Tell him to go get Anna." Elsa demanded. Snow nodded, letting Emma know to do what Elsa wanted for now. She could see Emma was beginning to shiver and she didn't want Emma in here much longer. Emma brought the walkie talkie to her mouth.
"Dad, can you hear me?"
"Emma! Say it again." That wasn't Charming, that was Hook. Snow wanted to grab the device from Emma and demand that Hook stop being a walkie talkie hog and let them talk to her husband. But she needed to remain calm just now.
"We're in here with this woman. She's looking for her sister Anna." Emma let them know. Elsa approached them and Snow grabbed Emma's upper arm protectively. Emma continued talking to Charming and Hook whilst Snow kept an eye on Elsa. "She thinks that Anna is in town because she found a necklace of hers in Gold's shop. She wants us to try to find her before-"
"Before I freeze this town and everyone in it." Elsa warned, grabbing the walkie talkie from Emma. Snow glared at her, not liking Elsa being able to touch Emma. She was ready to pull her daughter back in a flash if needed.
As time passed in the cave whilst Hook and Charming searched for Anna both Snow and Emma were getting colder and colder. Snow had tried to give Emma her hat, scarf and gloves but Emma point blank refused. Instead, she paced up and down, rubbing her arms. Emma noticed Elsa standing quite calmly.
"Aren't you cold? I'm freezing." She asked. Elsa shrugged it off.
"It's never bothered me." Snow suddenly remembered the events of the previous day.
"The other day there was something here called a snow monster. I assume that's something you made?" She accused Elsa.
"I'll do whatever it takes to get my sister back." Elsa said coldly. Snow stood close to Emma again.
"I can tell you care about her a lot." Emma said gently. "I'm sorry about her necklace." Elsa looked around, only suddenly aware she was no longer in possession of it.
"Where is it?" She asked, panicking.
"It fell, under the ice here." Snow said, now feeling a little sorry for her when she saw the heartbroken look on Elsa's face upon seeing the necklace. Emma again tried to use the situation to get Elsa to melt the cave, but it didn't work. And Emma finally thought she knew why.
"You can't control it, can you?" She sighed. "What you said to my dad on the walkie, it wasn't a threat it was a warning because you can't control what you're doing." The pieces suddenly clicked together for Snow too.
"What makes you think you know me?" Elsa asked. Snow smiled. She knew why her daughter had worked Elsa out.
"Because I know me." Emma stammered through the cold. "And I have powers too and I am not great at controlling them. And it looks to me like you're the same way." Elsa's eyebrows knitted together.
"You…you have magic?"
"Yeah." Emma responded, completely freezing. Elsa finally gave in her pretence.
"Anna helps. She helps me control it. So if I can find her, she can help me undo this. We can get rid of all this, the whole wall, when she's here."
"Well, I'm afraid she's not." Emma said, beginning to panic that they were trapped.
"Maybe, your magic could help get us out of here?" Elsa suggested.
"I've been trying." Emma admitted. "Even just trying to warm myself up. I can't really feel my hands or my feet." Emma unfolded her arms and shook her hands, trying to coax some magic from herself.
"Emma, you don't have to do this." Snow said, worried Emma would hurt herself. Emma shook her head, she had to try.
"Ok." She said, trying to pump herself up a bit. She held her palms open and closed her eyes, trying to force some magic from herself. She pictured the wall melting, but nothing happened. Her hands were just numb. Elsa and Snow still looked at her hopefully. Emma opened her eyes and shook her head. "See I don't h-h-have control over mine either." She wrapped her arms around herself once more. Snow was very concerned, she definitely looked worse. "I'm just tired." Emma announced, looking around for a comfortable spot. She started to sink to the floor.
"No." Snow said, knowing if Emma fell asleep it was unlikely she'd ever wake up again.
"Let me just, lay down for a minute." Snow and Elsa rushed over, Elsa too knowing what would happen if Emma fell asleep.
"Elsa, sit behind her and keep her upright." Snow ordered, moving in front of Emma. Elsa nodded, doing as Snow said. "Emma, Emma talk to me." Snow said, trying desperately to keep her daughter awake. She took her hat off and tried to place it on Emma's head, but still her daughter tried feebly to move away.
"No." She groaned. "You have a baby, you need to get out of here. He needs you…"
"And I have a baby in here who needs me right now." Snow said, firmly placing the hat on Emma's head. Neal was with Red right now whilst the rest of the family had been searching. Snow was very cold as well, but she'd be damned if her daughter froze to death while she sat here with a hat, scarf and gloves. Emma didn't protest, mostly because she felt too weak to. Come on Charming. Snow prayed. We need you. Together, Elsa and Snow fought to keep Emma awake. But there efforts seemed to be coming to nothing. Emma was feeling very drowsy. She let her head begin to droop.
"Emma." Snow said, shaking her, panicking. She would not lose her daughter. Emma's eyes fluttered open, and Snow had never felt so relieved.
"Tell me more about your son." Elsa said quickly.
"You only wanna know more because you know if I sleep I'll die." Emma croaked.
"Exactly." Snow said, stroking Emma's frozen cheek. Truth be told Snow was frozen too but she was too focused on Emma to care about how cold she was. "And I'll be damned if you die on me Emma. I'm not losing my daughter for a third time, do you hear me? So, you tell Elsa more about Henry and you keep that heart beating until your father and Hook rescue us." Snow said firmly. Emma gave her mom a small smile. There was that hope again. The walkie talkie cracked into life.
"Snow, how's Emma?" Charming asked, knowing Snow would not go down at all with Emma in there. Snow scrambled over, picking up the device.
"She's freezing." Snow said honestly. "Turning blue." Snow was terrified they were going to lose her.
"Elsa, I know you can hear me too. I need you to find a way out." Snow came over and held the walkie talkie up to her.
"I need Anna." She said, defeated.
"Well, we don't have her right now, but, we have a way to find her and we will. But right now, you're going to have to do this on your own." Snow felt hope soar again. If anyone could talk Elsa through this without Anna it was her husband.
And he did. Soon, Elsa was able to blast a hole through the ice. Snow helped her daughter up.
"We're going to be ok." She assured her, kissing Emma's cheek. The first thing she saw was her husband's and Hook's heads peering through the hole.
"Emma! Snow!" Charming called, reaching his hand out." Together, Elsa and Snow managed to help Emma move towards the hole. Charming pulled her out before Hook gathered her up, allowing Charming to help Snow out. He kissed her passionately.
"Are you both alright?" He asked, pulling away. He could feel how freezing his wife was. Snow smiled.
"We will be. But we need to get Emma home now and warned up." Charming and Hook nodded, racing towards the car. Snow turned to Elsa. "You're coming too." Elsa looked shocked. "We made you a promise, and I intend to keep it. Come on, quickly, we still need to warm Emma up." Snow also needed warming up herself, but her children were always going to be her main priority. Snow had been worried for a while in there, worried they would lose their daughter. But it was over now, Emma was alright. Or at least she would be once they brought her temperature up again.