Once Upon a Time 1. Snowfall

**A/N-Okay, this is basically me trying out my theory of what will happen in season four. I kind of want to see how close to the mark I am when season four airs. ( I'm probably way off) I intend for this to be a three-shot, maybe four, five at the absolute most.  
**

* * *

**Part One-Snowfall**

**_(Born of cold and winter air and mountain rain combining...)_**

She was free.

One step forward, and she could make sense of her surroundings. She was in a barn, with some sort of circle carved into the ground. Most likely it was used for witchcraft. Most likely, it was used to bring her here.

But who had brought her here?

Did _He?_

But why would _He _release her?

Off with the gloves. She cast the away in the dirt and strode out of the barn. She could feel cold air whip around her in her path, freezing the trail she left behind.

She looked out in the distance. A town, small and strange-looking. It was nothing like Arendelle. Nothing like the Enchanted Forest.

Her magic was restrained here. Why was that? Never mind. It was still strong.

Cold ice danced at her fingertips. A storm was already building up inside of her.

And she would unleash it on anyone who crossed her.

She closed her eyes her power suddenly recoiled, bent back, and shot out towards the town.

A smile played on her lips when she opened her eyes and saw that frost was already spreading rapidly towards the town, and the snow was starting to fall.

No one would get in her way.

She was going to get what they wanted.

And they would remember that, or truly regret it.

* * *

Their kiss was long, sweet. When they broke away, Rumpelstiltskin couldn't help but smile because they were now officially married.

A new start was with Belle, with her pureness, her belief in their love, in him. No more lies, magic deception...

_Zelena..._

His grin wavered when he thought of the green-skinned witch. And his dagger lying in his shop.

And the fake one in Belle's purse.

"Is something wrong?" Belle asked, noticing his expression.

"Not at all, sweetheart." Rumple kissed her cheek.

Archie's voice interrupted them. "Is that-snow?"

Rumpelstiltskin's lips pulled gradually away from her skin as they both looked up and saw white snowflakes fluttering down from the sky.

"Impossible," Maurice exclaimed. "It's spring."

A cold feeling made Rumpelstiltskin's instincts tingle, and it wasn't just the chilly weather.

* * *

_**(This icy force both foul and fair has a frozen heart worth mining...)**_

Emma shivered as another icy wind ripped through her red leather jacket and chilled her to the bone. Henry huddled up next to her for warmth as everyone at the Diner filed out and squinted up at the sky.

"What the hell?" Grumpy snapped. "Isn't it May?"

"Yeah. It's supposed to be rainy. You know, June Gloom. Not winter blizzards," Red said matter-of-factly, hugging herself to keep warm.

"Something's wrong," Regina muttered, temporarily forgetting the Marian catastrophe. "This isn't normal weather."

"So it's what, magic?" Emma asked. "Oh God, we're not getting cursed again, are we?"

"Not sure." Regina held out her finger and a snowflake settled on it. She crumbled it between her fingers and little silvery sparks of magic flew out.

Baby Neal let out a wail. Snow hushed him and rocked him in her arms gently.

Regina immediately turned on Emma. "You must have brought something back from the past!"

"No!" Emma protested, before stopping to think. Did they?

"Think," Regina snapped. "What could you have brought back?"

"I don't know!" Nevertheless, Emma racked her mind for anything that they could have brought back. There was a lot of stuff in Rumpelstiltskin's vault. Did something fall in?

Hook, who was standing at her side, nudged her. When she turned to look at him, his face was slightly panicked. "The jar. It may have fallen into the portal."

"What jar?" David asked.

With horror, Emma remembered the ceramic jar Hook had been messing with. Oh God. Was their luck that bad?

"What the hell was in that thing that could have caused this?" Emma said loudly, perhaps a little too loudly than necessary.

Naturally, someone heard it.

"Me."

Everyone in the crowd turned to see a young woman striding up to them, a trail of ice flowing out from every step behind her. Her dress and cape were made out of sheer ice, and her platinum blonde hair was kept in a braid down one shoulder.

"Really?" Emma couldn't help but groan. "The Snow Queen?"

The woman lifted her chin a fraction. "That's right." She strode into the middle of the crowd, raising her hand and letting flecks of ice swirl around her fingertips.

"I'm looking for the Dark One!" The Snow Queen shouted. "If he is here, I would like to see him. If someone here is hiding him-" She swung her hand in a full circle, and sharp icicles grew from the ground, growing longer and longer until it poked the tip of Sneezy's nose. The dwarf squeaked as the crowd gasped.

"Let's just say I hope the cold doesn't bother you!" The Queen snapped, folding her hands in front of her expectantly. "Well?"

Silence fell. No one was certain where Rumpelstiltskin had gone, except for Red, who was the only one Belle told besides her father and Archie that she and her love were getting married. Red was caught between ruining her friend's special day and the safety of the town.

She had reluctantly acknowledged that the safety of the town was much more important and was opening her mouth to say something with a familiar black Cadillac parted the middle of the crowd and stopped. The doors opened, and Rumpelstiltskin, with Belle on his arm and Maurice and Archie in tow got out and faced the woman with the icy powers.

The Snow Queen's face contorted into an odd combination of fear, anger, and sadness as she literally stormed through the crowd, icy winds bellowing up after her and snow whirling around her path, went up to Rumpelstiltskin, and slapped him directly in the face.

* * *

**_(So cut through the heart, cold and sheer...)_**

Another gasp ran through the crowd as they waited for the Dark One to strike out. Rumpelstiltskin glared at her, lifted his hand, and tightened in the air. The Snow Queen immediately gasped, and clutched her neck.

"You're lucky I don't want to kill people in front of my wife," Rumpelstiltskin whispered menacingly as he released her, just as Belle was opening her mouth to protest.

"Wife?" Elsa choked out. Her eyes flickered to Belle and widened.

"Yes, I'm not not a bachelor anymore," Rumpelstiltskin rolled his eyes. "Disappointed, dearie?"

Elsa glared at him. "You," She spat. "Broke our deal."

"I didn't."

"But-"

"I didn't let you out. I don't know who did." Rumpelstiltskin leveled his gaze towards Hook and Emma as he said this. An uneasy feeling went through both of them. He must know, or at least suspect.

Elsa didn't give up. "Where's my sister? You said you'd protect her."

"She should have been brought here. I'm not sure where she is."

"But you said-"

"I don't know where she is," Rumpelstiltskin said impatiently. "The curses split apart our worlds twice. And let's just say I've been a bit busy since we got back the second time."

Elsa's brows furrowed. "What curses?"

The corners of his mouth twitched. "Ah yes. You don't know. At least your jar was lost in the curse, so there won't be two of you. Thank whatever great forces are out there." Releasing Belle's hand, Rumple made a gesture to the Diner. "May I treat you to dinner, Queen Elsa? We obviously have a lot of catching up to do."

* * *

_Sweet music produced by the royal choir drifted through the air as Elsa came slowly up the steps, her cape trailing behind her. She cast a smile at her sister, who returned it beaming. Anna was bouncing up and down in her spot on the stairs, her green dress swishing around her with movement.  
_

_The priest leading her coronation gestured for her to kneel, one she obeyed. She knelt, and the man placed the tiara on her head. As she stood, he held out the pillow. The golden coronation instruments were resting on it, ready to help declare the new queen._

_"Your majesty," He whispered. "The gloves."_

_Anna's watching face quickly went from excited to concerned. She shot a wary look at her sister. Elsa took a deep breath, and slid off her gloves, her protection from herself. Placing them on the pillow, she picked up the golden scepter, than the ornament. She turned around and held them aloft as the onlookers rose from their seats._

_The priest said something about the crown and the throne, but Elsa was only focusing on keeping her ice in control. Slowly, her eyes flickered down and realized with a shock that ice was slowly covering the gold._

_"Queen Elsa, of Arendelle," The priest finally proclaimed, and the crowd chanted it back. Elsa quickly set down the golden ornaments and picked up her gloves. Anna breathed out a sigh of relief. The choir resumed their song.  
_

_Later, the two watched as the guests pranced and waltzed around the ballroom. Anna reached over and squeezed her sister's gloved hand._

_"You did great," She said, smiling._

_"Thanks," Elsa said softly. "Don't let them in. Don't let them see."  
_

_Anna squeezed her hand again. "Be a good girl, you always have to be," She teased  
_

_Elsa smiled. "What? It's what I have to remember. Father said so. Conceal don't feel. Put on a show."_

_"Make one wrong move and everyone will know," Anna recited with a sigh. "I know. But don't you get tired of it? You know, the whole 'conceal don't feel thing?"_

_"I can't afford to, Anna," Elsa said softly. "You know that."_

_Someone cleared their throat. The two sisters quickly turned around to face a handsome young man._

_"Pardon the interruption," He gave a small bow. "But I insist on greeting the new Queen and the Princess."_

_Elsa pushed back her annoyance and gave him a polite smile."Thank you, erm..."_

_"Prince Hans, of the Southern Isles," Hans said politely as he gave a bow. "And may I say that you both look lovely."_

_"Thanks," Anna stammered, and Elsa noticed she was blushing._

_"Would you like to dance, Queen Elsa?" Hans asked, extending his hand._

_"I don't dance," Elsa declined, shooting a small smile at Anna. "But my sister does."_

_"Ah." Hans sent Anna a flirtatious grin, which she returned. "Well, may I have this dance?"_

_"S-sure!" Anna said quickly, grinning ear-to-ear. "I'd love to!"_

_She took his hand as Hans led her out to the dance floor. Anna shot a ecstatic look of glee over her shoulder and at Elsa, mouthing 'thank you.'_

_Elsa waved, happy that her sister got to enjoy herself._

* * *

_**(Strike for love and strike for fear...)**_

Rumpelstiltskin shot a glance out the window. Most of the guests at the christening party had left, but Belle, Henry, Hook, Emma, Red, Regina, Maurice, Archie and the Charmings were waiting anxiously outside. Snow coated the insides of the diner, and in spite of himself, he shivered. He had forgotten how..._chilly_ Elsa could be.

Granny brought them both a menu, shooting suspicious looks at both of them. They were the only ones left in the diner. She left mumbling about turning up the heater.

Elsa completely disregarded the menu and crossed her arms. "What's this about a curse?"

Rumple sighed, and launched into the extremely long story of the Dark Curse and everything that happened before that. Granny didn't come back to take their orders until he had finished. Elsa sat there thoughtfully as Rumple ordered a cup of _hot _coffee and a pastry.

"So where's my sister?" She asked as soon as Granny had left.

"I'm not sure. I believe she wasn't brought by the first curse, but she definitely was brought back in the second."

"Then you have broken our deal."

"I never break deals. I'll find her, I promise."

"What good is your promise?" Elsa demanded. "You said I'd be kept in that jar but I was released. You said you would protect my sister but you don't even know where she is. You said you would help me control my magic-"

Immediately, without even realizing it, Rumple's hand went to the back of his neck and to his hairline. Elsa stopped speaking and her eyes went wide. Quickly, he put his hand down and cleared his throat.

"I promise I'll help you find Anna..."

"And you also promised you would protect her from me."

"Dearie, your greatest enemy here is yourself. Anna doesn't need protection from you. You need protection from your own-"

"My own doubts?" Elsa snapped. "Don't you know how many times I've heard that one?"

"Elsa-"

"_You_ understood my power! That's why you used me as a weapon! That's why you wanted to make our deal! You should have kept it!"

Snow started to fall. Granny brought back his coffee, and he wrapped his hands around it for warmth.

"I know. Trust me, I know. I've been meaning to find Anna, but-I've been busy." Rumple shifted in his seat as soon as Zelena's cackling face crossed his mind. His son's still body lying on the ground...

"With what?"

Rumple snorted. "I doubt you want to know."

"I do."

"Well I don't want to tell you." Elsa opened her mouth to protest, but Rumple cut her off with a wave of his hand. "Elsa, I truly am sorry. I will help you find Anna, and if you want, I can help you with your magic-"

"No!" Elsa snapped. "Look what happened the last time you tried. All I want is my sister. And if you don't find her, I won't unfreeze your town."

"Elsa-"

"No!" Elsa stood up, cold winds whipping around her. "Find Anna! If you don't find her in three days, you and the rest of this town will be trapped in ice forever. I'll make sure of it." With a huff, her icy heels clicked across the Diner and was gone.

Rumpelstiltskin stared at the snow piled on the floor of the diner. A image of Baelfire lying cold and still in the snow flickered across his mind.

_What have you done, Papa? Between Belle and Elsa, you've made more mistakes. Again. _Bae's voice whispered in his ear.

The hair on the back of Rumpelstiltskin's neck stood straight up. Was it the cold? Was it the image of his son that would forever haunt him until the day he died? He didn't know.

When Granny got back he asked her to make the pastry to go.

* * *

_Elsa hadn't seen Anna in nearly four hours, so she went looking for them. Hopefully, she wasn't about to walk on in on them 'sharing a moment', for her own sanity and for Hans's health._

_Her cape swished around her as she hurried throughout the castle, searching for Anna. She checked in the halls-no Anna. She checked in their bedrooms-no Anna. In the kitchen, the gardens, and a variety of empty rooms. No Anna._

_She was walking past the library when she heard a gasp. She slowed her steps, listening. _

_"Hans-" Anna._

_"If you say anything afterwards, you'll regret it." _

_Hans._

_"Let me go!"_

_Rage. That was the first thing she felt. But it wasn't as much when she swung open the doors and Hans was on top of Anna, slowly undoing her corset. Tears were streaming down Anna's face as she beat her hands against his back and her screams were muffled against the hand over her mouth_

_"ELSA!" Anna screamed, pulling away from his hand._

_Hans looked up and saw her, rage spilling across his features._

_"LET HER GO!" Elsa screamed, stalking up to his and punching him as hard as she could. He reeled back, but not before ripping his nails across her glove and ripping it off._

_Gasps ran out behind her and Elsa realized without turning around that they had attracted a crowd. Hans straightened himself, glaring, as he lunged toward her._

_During that single moment, Elsa only remembered the fear building inside of her, and the guards screaming at Hans to halt._

_Then he was frozen in a block of ice._

_More gasps ran out, and when Elsa turned, she saw with horror that the entire party had gathered at the doors. Heart beating frantically, Elsa turned back towards Hans, who was frozen with a final look of shock across his face, his hand reaching out towards her. _

_Anna stood up, shakily. Elsa was relieved to see that she must have arrived in time to prevent her sister from getting hurt, or worse. Her clothes were a little bit wrinkled, her hair was a mess, but she didn't look like she had been taken advantage of._

_"Sorcery!" Someone screamed. "The Queen is dabbling in dark magic!"_

_"No!" Anna protested, her voice shaking after what she had almost gone through. "No, Elsa's good-"_

_"Get her!" Someone else shrieked and Elsa saw royal guards from another kingdom surge towards her. Her own guards lifted their weapons in response, and soon, a fight begin._

_As the battle raged on around her, Elsa watched frozen in place as guests screamed, and ran around like chickens, as swords clashed against each other. She couldn't move. How could she?_

_An arrow flew past her head and impaled itself into Prince Hans' statue. Someone grabbed her hand, and Elsa was staring into the freckled face of Anna._

_"We have to run!" Anna screamed, and Elsa automatically obeyed. They ran out of the palace, completely ignored by the chaos around them, and ended up on the edge of a lake. Elsa's foot accidently hit the surface, but instead of splashing,it turned to solid ice._

_Her eyes widened, and in the distance, she could hear men shouting, coming closer. She couldn't tell if they were friend or foe._

_Pulling Anna behind her, she ran onto the surface of the lake, each step turning to solid ice. Anna yelped as she skidded across the surface behind her sister, and they ran into the night, oblivious to the snow creeping in their wake and freezing everything behind them._

* * *

"Who is she?" Regina asked. Hot air blasted against her neck, and she relished the feeling. It felt nice. Thank the Lord for Granny turning on the heaters. And thank Robin for sending Marian and Roland home. She shot a quick look at her supposed True Love, who returned her gaze. Quickly, they looked away. Regina was sure Robin had completely forgotten about her as soon as he saw Marian, but she kept noticing him staring at her. It suddenly occured to her that maybe, just maybe, there was a chance that Robin...what? Did he still want to be with her?

No. Ridiculous. Why would he want to be with her?

"Her name is Elsa," Rumpelstiltskin said dryly, his fingers drumming on the rim of his cup. His voice jerked Regina out of her thoughts. "She was originally the Queen of Arendelle before she passed the title onto her sister after she-disappeared. She and I have an...interesting history."

"Is she dangerous?" Archie asked, as Belle quietly wrapped Rumple's fingers with hers. Regina felt an unexpected little pang watching them together, but quickly scolded herself and made herself focus on the problem at hand.

"Not as much as she thinks she is. But thinking is powerful. Long story short, she's frozen Storybrooke until I find her sister," Rumpelstiltskin replied.

"Well, where's her sister?" David asked.

"Not sure. She's got to be here. I can't imagine where else she'd be."

"What happened with her sister?" Hook asked suspiciously. "More importantly, is her sister all she wants?"

"Yes."

"Why did you put her in the jar?" Emma asked, shooting a pointed look at Rumpelstiltskin.

He frowned. "It's complicated."

"From the way I heard it," Granny called from the counter, as she pointed a hair dryer to the snow covering the table. "She wanted to be trapped."

The group turned to stare at her.

"What?" She said. "I heard their entire conversation you know."

"Is that true?" Snow asked quietly.

Rumple sighed. "Like I said, it's complicated. Her magic is unpredictable. She came to me to help her control it, but...it didn't exactly go well."

"What happened?" Henry asked.

Rumple pressed his lips together as they watched him. The silence stretched out for a good minute.

"Tell us," Belle pressed, almost like a demand.

"There was an accident," Rumpelstiltskin said slowly, hesitantly.

"What kind of accident?" Emma asked. "Was it bad?"

* * *

_"Did he hurt you?"  
_

_A single tear slid down Anna's cheek. "No. He didn't touch me. But he tried to touch me...I pushed him off but he just kept coming closer."_

_She took a deep breath as Elsa wrapped her in a hug. "I'm so sorry. It's all my fault, I never should have let you near him..."_

_"It's not your fault," Anna said firmly. "But the kingdom...your coronation..." More tears slid out._

_Elsa's heart raced. The kingdom knew. and now they were frozen. As the sisters had raced up the mountain, they had also watched hopelessly as ice crawled across the fjord, both of them knowing Elsa's magic couldn't be controlled._

_"What are we going to do?" Anna whispered. "I don't know if we can go back without someone trying to hurt us."  
_

_"I don't know." Anna shivered, and Elsa took off her own cloak and wrapped it around her sister. The cold never bothered Elsa, but the same couldn't be said for Anna.  
_

_"Thanks," Anna murmured._

_"I have to learn how to control this," Elsa whispered. "I can't control this."_

_"You can," Anna insisted. "I know you can."_

_"What do you think I've been trying to do for the past eighteen years Anna?" Elsa settled down on the snow-covered ground and buried her head in her hands. "Don't let them in. Don't let them see. Be a good girl, you always have to be. Conceal, don't-"  
_

_"Elsa, stop." Anna tried to grip her sister's hands_

_"No!" Elsa quickly recoiled. "I don't want to hurt you!"_

_Anna flinched. "There has to be a way," She whispered. _

_Elsa shook her head hopelessly. The only sound was the wind whistling through the trees._

_Suddenly, Anna spoke up. "What if someone could teach you?"_

_"What?" Elsa looked up._

_"There are other magic-users right? There has to be one who can teach you to control your magic."_

_"Who?" A tiny flare of hope kindled in Elsa's chest._

_"I don't know...what magic-users are there? We only know about the Evil Queen and the Dark One."_

_Rumpelstiltskin._

_Elsa stood up. Her icy magic tingled at her fingertips as her excitement flared._

_Anna stared at her. "What did I say?"_

_"We're going to visit the Dark One."_

_Anna let out a squeaky noise. "What? Are you crazy?"_

_"He can help me," Elsa continued._

_"No! He'll ask you for your firstborn child as payment or something like that..."_

_"We can pay him! We're royalty, we can give him all the jewels he wants..."_

_"Elsa, he can spin straw into gold."_

_"It's worth a try! He taught Queen Regina, didn't he?"_

_Anna shook her head. "You're not changing your mind, are you?"_

_Elsa shook her head eagerly. _

_"What the heck then." Anna stood up form the rock she had been sitting on. "Field trip to the Dark One's castle."  
_

* * *

"Yes," Rumple said truthfully. "A death almost occurred."

"Whose?" David asked.

"It's a long story," Rumpelstiltskin said for the millionth time that night. "It wouldn't do much good tonight. I'll explain it later, if you like. But for now, we have a difficult task ahead of us and so little time on our hands. Elsa gave me three days to find her sister. If she doesn't turn up, then we're in trouble."

"So we just need to find her sister?" Red asked. "That's all?"

"Yes. And if she can't be found, then let's just say we better get used to the cold."

"By any chance, do you have anything of her sister's for a locator spell?" Regina asked.

"Unfortunately, not at this very moment. There might be something in my shop though."

"Great. Anything else we should know?" Hook asked sarcastically.

"Miss Frosty-Pants seemed a little pissed at you," Granny said dryly. "Or were you pissed at her?"

"Why do you ask?" Rumple asked coldly.

"Just want to know if my diner could have become a battle ground."

"Granny," Red muttered warningly.

Rumple didn't seem to hear her. "At this point, I'm not sure."

"Let me guess," Robin said slowly. "She's mad at you for whatever you did to her."

It was obvious he had hit a bad spot when Rumple glared at him.

"Let it go, dearie." He snapped.

* * *

_After a long trek and having stopped at a market to get new changes of clothes (and where they encountered a strange merchant) Elsa and Anna reached the steps of the Dark Castle. Elsa's gloved hand clutched the leather satchel she had picked up, where her cloak, Anna's hair ribbon, and her tiara were safely stored away. Standing at the doors, she knocked._

_No answer._

_She tried again._

_"No one's home," Anna noted. "Such a shame, we better be going then..."_

_"No," Elsa said firmly. She pushed against the doors and they creaked open._

_Immediately, as soon as the doors opened, a volley of arrows appeared out of nowhere and shot straight towards them. Luckily Anna had the quick reflexes her sister lacked and she pulled her to the ground. The arrows curved back and were headed straight towards them, when they suddenly froze in midair, inches away from the sisters' faces. Anna let out a squeak.  
_

_"Who dares enter my castle?" Snarled a an almost playfully high-pitched voice._

_Slowly, Elsa turned around to see a scaly-skinned, reptilian-like imp decked out in leather glaring at them._

_"Rumpelstiltskin," She whispered._

_"Yes, that's my name. What do you want?"_

_"Elsa," Anna whispered. "Get him to put the arrows down. One's poking my head. Ow, it's starting to hurt."_

_"Why would I put them down, dearie?" the Dark One drawled. "Are you worth not killing?"_

_"We need your help!" Elsa said. "I am Queen Elsa of Arendelle, and this is my sister, Anna. I need to be taught to control my magic. It's freezing my kingdom as we speak."_

_"Really?" The imp's eyebrows raised, but only looked half-interested. "What do you have to offer?"_

_"Riches. All the jewels you can think of..."_

_"Dearie, I make gold."_

_"Told you," Anna muttered.  
_

_"Please, I'm desperate," Elsa pleaded. "My powers are becoming dangerous!"_

_"Dangerous?" Now he looked extremely interested. "Show me."  
_

_Elsa pulled off her glove. She hesitated for just a moment for placing her hand on the ground. Immediately, it froze over with a layer of ice, crawling towards Rumpelstiltskin's boot and spreading onto the drawbridge._

_For a moment, he only stared. _

_"Interesting," He murmured. "Perhaps you can do something for me."_

_"Anything," She said immediately. "Name your price."_

_He let out a giggle. Anna looked a little disturbed by it as she elbowed Elsa in the ribs and muttered "This was a bad idea." _

_"You sure dearie? Nothing comes without a price."  
_

_"I'm positive," She said firmly. "What do you want?"_

_"Hmmm..." He pretended to ponder this for a moment. "I want you to freeze several kingdoms."_

_"What?" Elsa was shocked._

_"Only temporarily. Don't worry, it won't be for long. I just need some things to be slowed down...for a little while."_

_Anna shot her a panicked look. _

_"Only temporarily?" Elsa asked warily._

_"Yes. Don't you worry!"_

_"And you'll teach me how to control my magic?"_

_"Of course! I never break a deal. Haven't you heard yet?"_

_Elsa hesitated. _

_"Ow!" Anna shrieked as the arrow pressed deeper into her nose. "Jeez, would you put that down?!"_

_"Only if your sister agrees!" Rumpelstiltskin sing-songed._

_Elsa looked toward Anna and with a shock, realized the arrow point was drawing blood._

_"Fine!" She said immediately. "Teach me."_

_Immediately, the arrows all dropped. Rumpelstiltskin folded his hands and grinned at her._

_"Now then," He laughed. "Let's go freeze some kingdoms!"_

_"Now?" Anna groaned. "Really? We just got here. How about some rest? And sleep?"  
_

_"Nope! Now!" Without warning, Rumpelstiltskin disappeared in a puff of smoke. Another puff, and the sisters followed him._

* * *

_**(There's beauty and there's danger here...)**_

"Is the phone book out of question?" Emma asked as she peered at the shelves. She, Belle, Hook, Regina, and Robin had followed Rumpelstiltskin to his shop while David and Snow took Henry and Neal home.

"Probably," Rumple admitted as he opened another cabinet and with a wave of his hand, everything it contained came floating out and danced around his head. When the cabinet was empty, he gritted his teeth in frustration and all the items floated back in. The doors slammed closed.

"So this sister," Hook pressed. "What's her name?"

"Anna," His former enemy replied. Rumple still couldn't believe that he and Hook could be in the same room together without one attempting to kill the other. Then again, he had fallen in love with Emma. Rumple would snort at the fact that a pretty woman had distracted Hook from his goal to kill him, if he didn't know what True Love did to people.

"Wait. Queen Anna of Arendelle? The one who took the throne after her sister disappeared?" Robin asked.

Again, Rumple couldn't believe that the outlaw hadn't put an arrow through his head yet after what he had done to him. He didn't understand it. Not a single bit.

"Yes. I mentioned that before, didn't I?"

"Oh," Robin said lamely.

"Did you know her?" Regina asked almost casually, but Rumple detected the hint of apprehension in her voice. He had known Regina long enough to recognize it, and he doubted the others noticed.

"Yes." When Emma opened her mouth, probably to ask how, he quickly added "It's complicated." With that, he found another cabinet, the one his dagger happened to be in, and opened it. _Stay calm, _he told himself as he scanned the shelves. There wasn't much in it anyway, so he didn't need to float everything out. He closed it, maybe a little to quickly.

"Anything?" Belle asked.

"No." Again, his hand almost went to the back of his neck, but Rumple caught himself.

_Get ahold of yourself. Forget about that day._

"Then we need a Plan B," Emma said.

"For what?"

The voice and the bell tingling at the door made everyone jump. Marian, with Roland dozing in her arms, came in, standing at the counter awkwardly.

"What's going on?" She asked.

"Nothing sweetheart, go back to the Diner," Robin said gently. Rumple noticed Regina blanch a little out of the corner of his eye.

"No, I want to know what's going on!" Marian noticed Regina, and her body went stiff. "Did she do anything?"

An awkward silence rang though the air.

"No, Regina didn't do anything," Robin said firmly. "We're dealing with something else, Marian, and I want to know that you're safe.

"I want to help."

Rumple felt a flash of irritation. He didn't want the drama from this love triangle in his shop. "Dearie, the outlaw's right. Your child is obviously tired, and it's getting late. Leave us to deal with this."

Now her attention was on him, and she froze. "The Dark One," She whispered.

"Yes, that's right. So leave, please. We're busy."

Rumple recognized the flash of emotions in Marian's eyes, but he was a little surprised by some of them. There was fear, but also...not kindness, but something like it, mixed with apprehension.

Robin went over to her and squeezed her hand. "Go back to Granny's. I'll be back soon, I promise."

Rumple did not miss the pain across Regina's face as Marian agreed, and left.

"So what's the plan," Emma quickly said, changing the subject. "Go door-to-door, looking for Ana?"

"Anna," Rumple corrected. "I suppose so. I don't see a better option."

"I can get my parents to make an announcement," Emma continued. "Ask her to come forward."

"And put up posters," Belle suggested.

Rumple's mind went back to the girl he once tried to help. Her powers were indeed strong. Hopefully, once she saw her sister, maybe she could control them a little better.

But would it do much good? Probably not. Didn't chaos occur when Elsa lost control of her powers the last time? Yep. Was it his fault? Maybe. Didn't this prove that it was better to leave her alone? Oh yes. One hundred percent definitely.

Was he really doing the right-no not right. Was he really doing the most _logical_ thing by tracking down Anna?

Who knew when it came to the princesses of Arendelle? Rumple had forgotten why he even bothered anymore.

"Good idea." Rumple leaned on his cane, suddenly feeling a little tired. Tonight was supposed to be the happiest night of his and Belle's lives. Now, only hours later, they were on the hunt for Elsa's long-lost sister.

If only he had kept better tabs on Anna. This mess may have been over with by now if he had.

"I'll see if I can talk to Elsa again. She may have something of her sister's, but I doubt it," He continued.

"Three days right?" Emma asked.

"Yes, but I'm sure she expects us to find her sooner than that. She's a tad impatient. Regina, you should print up some posters. Emma, let your parents know about that announcement. Everyone else, you'll need warm clothing. We'll start searching first thing tomorrow morning."

* * *

Anna slowly slid her knife blade across the smooth rock she had found, making sure it was sharp as possible. Across from her, his furry face was illuminated by the fire, Sven let out a little whine.

"Aw, it's okay buddy," Anna said fondly, knowing the reindeer didn't like blades. "I'll put it away soon." As soon as she was done, she kept her word and nestled the blade in it's sheath and put it in her dress pocket.

A sharp rustle made both of them jump. They whirled around towards the sound, but saw only trees.

A branch moved, and a familiar face peeked out. Anna relaxed.

"Don't scare us like that!" She snapped.

"Sorry," Kristoff said sheepishly, walking over to them and sitting next to Sven, giving him an affectionate scratch on the ears. "The stupid caterpillar wouldn't let me pass. He was lying in the middle of the road for some reason." He shook his head in disgust. "I hate Wonderland."

"Did you get it?" Anna asked, standing up excitedly.

Kristoff grinned. "Better. I got us a guide."

Another rustle got her attention, and a man clad in red came out of the bushes. Next to him, a small rabbit in an overcoat hopped along at his heels. Anna didn't blink at the rabbit. To some, it might have been strange, but that kind of thing was normal in Wonderland. One of the reasons Anna wanted to get back to her sister as soon as possible.

"Who are you?" Anna asked, immediately wary.

"Will Scarlet," The man said. "Also known as the Knave of Hearts. I was told you are looking for your sister?"

Anna shot an apprehensive look at Kristoff, who nodded reassuringly.

"Yes," She replied warily.

"Well then," The Knave said. "I believe I can help you."

**_(Split the ice apart, and break the frozen heart.)_**


	2. Winter

**Part**** Two-Winter**

_**(Do you wanna build a snowman?)**_

When Pan's curse had hit, George had been looking forward to freedom. He'd been chained up in the godforsaken mines for too long. But when the curse clouds hit, cleared, and he had opened his eyes, where was he?

In Rumpelstiltskin's cell.

Still locked up.

For an entire year, he had raged, plotted. He certainly didn't expect another curse to hit, but he had welcomed it all the same. Maybe he had finally found his freedom.

And where had he ended up?

Back in the mines. Only he had forgotten everything in the past year. He had raged and plotted all over again. And when he had gotten his memories back, he knew he had to escape and exact his revenge on the stupid farmboy he had taken in as his ward.

Now he sat, still trying to figure out a way to escape. Growling, he conjured images of David screaming in horror as his loved ones met horrible demises at George's hands. Oh yes, that was lovely. He imagined himself laughing gleefully as he regained his position as king, as he threw the ungrateful sheep herder in a prison to rot. Lovely, lovely.

He shivered. Why was it so cold all of a sudden?

When he looked up, ice was beginning to crawl down the wooden rafters. He watched as it slowly etched it's way down to the wooden post to which he was bound, and covered the chains in a layer of frost.

He pulled on his bonds.

They strained, but they didn't break. More and more frost began to form on the chains. He kept pulling, straining them furthur and furthur, until...

_Snap!_

* * *

_**(C'mon, let's go and play!)**_

The next morning, Rumple left Belle sleeping in his bed and went off to his shop after scribbling out a quick note for her. As soon as he got outside, he realized that Elsa had made good on her promise. Storybrooke had turned into a winter wonderland.

It almost would have been pretty, if he hadn't known what it meant.

When he got to his shop, he realized he had forgotten his coffee. And breakfast.

_Damn._

Oh well. When he was done talking to Elsa, he'd pick up something at Granny's. Maybe. If he had time.

His cane tapped against the wooden floors as he searched the shelves for what he was looking for. He wasn't sure if Snow and Charming's curse had brought it over. He assumed so, but curses could be unpredictable. They had a mind of their own.

Rumple stopped in front of the old mirror that once belonged to one of the royals, he forgot which one. His mind flashed back to the day when he was freed from Zelena, when he had wandered into his shop. The day he had proposed to Belle. The day he lied to her.

He had always hated mirrors. Not for the reason Belle once thought, but because he always felt like he was being watched. Not just by Regina, but by some unknown force looking at him, seeing all his secrets, and showing him what it was seeing. Like _ha ha! I can see the pimple on your chin! Loser! _In his case, it was more like _you still are scaly. Your teeth are black, your eyes are creepy, and you look like a demon fresh from hell. None of that compares to the darkness inside you. _It sounded silly when he really thought about it, but mirrors always gave him a sense of paranoia. Even when he was cursed and didn't remember a thing about his past life, he would always cover the mirror because it always screamed at him _look at the lame little pawnbroker! That leg'll never heal._

Abruptly, he pulled an old curtain over the mirror, covering his reflection.

Letting a small sigh escape his lips, a small urn decorated with snowflakes sitting on top of a shelf caught his eye. Satisfied, Rumple went over to the shelf and used his cane to bring it over to the edge slightly so that he could grab it and pull it down.

_"Pretty urn, Papa. What's in it, ashes?_

Heart pounding, Rumple slowly turned around to see his son standing at the counter, a smirk on his face. Bae looked about fourteen, the age that Rumple had lost him the first time, and was wearing a black cloak that looked like something one would find at a funeral.

"Not ashes," Rumple said softly. "Something of Elsa's."

_"Oh. I assumed it was ashes. Seems like something you'd keep."_

"Go away Bae." Rumple walked over to the counter and set the urn on it's surface. His heart thundered in his chest.

Bae smirked, looking uncharacteristically like his grandfather. _"I can't."_

"Why not?" Rumple demanded.

_"Because you don't want me to. You want me back. Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere. I like it here. We can be together, for eternity. That's what you always wanted, right?"_

"Rumpelstiltskin?"

Rumple gave a start and whirled around. Regina was staring at him with a skeptical look at on her face.

"Are you okay?" She asked.

"Fine," He muttered, casting a quick look at where Bae had been standing.

He was gone.

"What's that?" She asked.

"Oh, this?" He held the urn for her to see. _Calm down. He's gone. He's gone. _

"No, the thing in the back. Yes that."

"It contains a golem of Elsa's."

_He's been gone for a long time._

"A golem?" Regina asked quizzically. "How will that help us?"

"I need to talk to Elsa. Golems are naturally tied to their creators, and can find them at long distances. Considering that I don't know where Elsa is, I thought it would be helpful. May I ask why you are here? It's 5:30 in the morning."

Regina shrugged. "My heater broke. The cold woke me up."

It was an obvious lie. Perhaps it had something to do with her outlaw, but he decided not to pry.

"Maybe you can come with me then." With that, Rumple opened the urn. Snow immediately swirled out and settled onto the ground. It build up into a snowman, who blinked as soon as it was completed.

"Hi!" It said almost immediately. "I'm Olaf, and I like warm hugs!"

Regina stared at the snowman, an incredulous expression of her face. The snowman waddled over to her and stretched it's stick arms out to her.

"Who are you? You look nice!" It snuggled up against her. "Ahhhh. Hugs make everything better. Trust me on this, I've been stuck in that jar for a loooong time."

Regina slowly turned to look at Rumple. "You've got to be kidding me."

Rumple shrugged. "Olaf, I need you to find Elsa."

Olaf released Regina, turned around, and looked at him. "Rumpelstiltskin?! Wow, I didn't even recognize you! You look a lot less...scaly. And that suit! You look great, seriously, why didn't you do that back in the Enchanted Forest?!"

"Olaf. Help us find Elsa. Now."

"Okay." The snowman waddled out of the pawn shop. Regina shot a look at Rumple.

"Seriously?" Regina asked again.

"I will admit that Olaf's not my best choice of help. But he will find Elsa for us."

"Why do you need to talk to her again?" Regina and Rumple began to follow Olaf out of the shop.

"I need something of her sister's for a tracking spell. Without it, we may never find her sister." Rumple shot a final glance at the counter, just to make sure Bae hadn't come back.

To his dismay, there he was. Now he looked like an adult. He winked at him, and then was gone.

**_(I never see you anymore, come out the door, it's like you've gone away!)_**

* * *

_Rumpelstiltskin made them stay up all night, making Elsa freeze all the kingdoms in their paths. When they were done, they returned back to the Dark Castle. Elsa got exactly five minutes of sleep before she was magically teleported into the ballroom. A grinning Dark One blinked down at her. _

_"Wakey wakey! Time for training!" He sang._

_"Really?" Elsa groaned._

_"Really. Get up. Don't make me waste my time."_

_Elsa got to her feet, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. "Where's Anna?"  
_

_He stared blankly at her. "Anna?"_

_"My sister."_

_"Oh! The redhead! That's her name? She's sleeping."_

_"Is she okay?" Especially after what almost happened to her the night before. Elsa didn't say it aloud, but she was certainly thinking it._

_"You know what? I don't really care. Now you need to focus."_

_"But-"_

_"You ask me to train you, dearie." The man's voice had gone to a low, almost sinister tone. "You really don't want to waste my time. Now show me how well you can use your powers."_

_Elsa bit back her protests, telling herself that Anna was fine and this was not a man who cared about anything other then the task at hand. She closed her __eyes._

_"Don't let them in. Don't let them see..." She chanted under her breath._

_Ice immediately spread across the floor, surrounding her bare feet._

_"No, no, no. What are you focusing on, exactly?"_

_"Be the good girl, you always have to be," She said louder. "Conceal. Don't feel..."_

_Rumpelstiltskin rolled his eyes. "That's your problem."_

_"What?" Elsa asked._

_"You can't be the 'good girl.' You can't 'conceal', you can't 'not feel.' Who taught you that?"_

_"My father."_

_"He obviously had no knowledge about magic. All magic is linked to emotions. If you don't feel, then it goes haywire. Now, think of one of the happiest moments of your life."_

_Elsa closed her eyes, trying to come up with something, anything happy. Immediately, she thought of her and Anna, building a snowman in the ballroom. Her and Anna ice skating in their bedroom. Her and Anna stealing cookies, braiding each other's hair, throwing snowballs at the royal guards, baking a cake, freezing everything in their path..._

_Elsa opened her eyes, and saw with a shock that all of the ice around her had thawed. She and Rumpelstiltskin were standing in a puddle of water._

_"Good," Rumpelstiltskin said. "Keep thinking about that moment, and try...I don't know, making snowballs or something."_

_After a moment's hesitation, Elsa opened her palm and little snowflakes spiraled around her fingers. Growing more and more confident, Elsa waved her hands, and snow began to pile up on the floor, growing larger and larger into a snowman, just like the one her and Anna had made as children._

_Rumpelstiltskin nodded in what looked like approval. "Well done, dearie. That may be enough for today."_

_"What?" Elsa asked, feeling a little disappointed. "But we just got started!"_

_"Baby steps, dearie. Don't want to overexert yourself too much now, do we?"_

_Elsa was about to protest, when the snowman in front of her suddenly blinked, and looked around. Both Elsa and Rumpelstiltskin jumped as soon as they saw it move._

_"Hi!" The snowman said cheerily. "I'm Olaf, and I like warm hugs!" It shuffled over to Elsa and gave her a hug. "Hi!" Then it went over to Rumpelstiltskin, and gave him a hug. "Hi! I don't know you. What's your name?"_

_Rumpelstiltskin slowly turned to face Elsa. "Get rid of it, please."_

_Elsa bit her lower lip. "I can't just melt him!"_

* * *

**_(We used to be best buddies! But now, we're not)_**

Rumple and Regina eventually had to get in Rumple's car in order to follow Olaf out into the woods. Later on, they had to ditch the car in order to get through the thick grove of trees.

"Are you sure we're going the right way?" Regina asked the snowman.

"Pretty sure," Olaf replied cheerfully as he waddled along. "It's nice here, isn't it? I like the scenery. So, why are we looking for Elsa again?"

"She froze our town," Regina said flatly.

Olaf stopped, and stared quizzically at her. "Really? That doesn't sound like Elsa. Wait, did she do it on purpose, or on accident?"

"She wants to find Anna," Rumple told him. "Anna's missing."

Olaf's eyes (were they eyes, or just coal? Or snow?) narrowed slightly. "Weren't you supposed to be protecting her?"

"Give me a break," Rumple grumbled. "We've all been a little busy for the past 30 years."

They walked in silence for a minute.

"So you're really alive, or is this some kind of spell that's making us see things?" Regina asked.

Olaf stopped and stared at his stick hands. "Hmm. I'm pretty sure I'm alive, but I'm not sure. I don't really breathe. I don't eat, and I don't sleep. Then again, I'm made of snow. Do I really need to eat? What would I eat? Icicles? No, I'd just be impaled. Not like it hurts or anything, but still..."

"Don't ask him questions," Rumple muttered to Regina. "Once he gets started, he doesn't stop."

"A little warning may have been nice," Regina muttered back as Olaf chatted on and on. "How do you know this thing?"

"Elsa created him when I was training her. He got irritating quickly."

"No. I mean how do you know Elsa? What was that deal you supposedly broke?"

"Regina, you know I don't break deals. Now what's going on with that outlaw of yours?"

Regina's jaw tightened, and she didn't answer.

"Hey guys!" Olaf's voice piped up. "I don't mean to interrupt, but I wanted to tell you I think I found where Elsa is! I'm just assuming, cause it's an ice castle, but you never know."

Rumple and Regina looked up and saw a giant castle built right among the trees. It looked like it was made just out of solid ice, even the stairs, the giant balcony, the windows, and the doors.

"I'm assuming this is where she is," Rumple muttered, and went towards the stairs. "Wait here, Olaf."

"But I want to come!" Olaf whined.

"No. Stay." Rumple slid a little going up the steps, but continued to climb all the way up to the large doors. Pressing his palms against the surface, he pushed against the slick ice and they immediately creaked open.

"Okay." Olaf plopped onto the snow, and began singing. "Beeeees that buzz, kissable dandelion fuzz, and I'll be doing what every snow does in summeeeeer..."

"Really?" Regina groaned under her breath as she followed Rumple up the icy staircase.

"Elsa!" Rumple called as he made his way inside. "I know you're here. I need to talk to you."

"Wow," Regina, in spite of herself, looked impressed by the delicate chandelier that glittered on the ceiling, of the elegant spiral staircase that twisted around the interior of the castle, all the way up to the second floor.

"What do you want?"

Elsa, glittering gown and all, suddenly appeared at the top of the staircase, and was glaring down at them.

"Elsa, I need something of your sister's," Rumple told her. "I need it for a tracking spell, that's all."

Elsa sniffed a little, and Rumple realized she had been crying. Her nose and eyes were red, and there was a little frozen teardrop on the side of her face.

"I don't have anything of hers."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. You left me with nothing when you locked me up."

"You asked me to do it."

Elsa glared at him. "Get out. I don't have anything."

Rumple started towards the spiral staircase. "Elsa, look, I know you must be upset-"

"I said go away!"

"But you can help us. We'd find her faster if you'd just help us find her."

"No. I'm not going near your town. I'm not hurting anyone there. I can still keep Storybrooke frozen from here, and I won't unfreeze it until I see Anna again."

"Dearie, that may have just been an oxymoron and you know it. You say you don't want to hurt anyone, but you just froze the town. Come back to town, Elsa. You aren't meant to play villain from afar. Your heart isn't as frozen as you think it is. I've been you telling you that since we met, and I'll tell it to you until the day I die." Rumple started going on the spiral staircase, getting closer and closer to her. Regina followed him uneasily, ready to break out a fireball if she had to.

"I'm not going near your town. I'm staying here, waiting for my sister." Elsa began to back away.

"How is that helping anything?" Rumple asked.

"I said go away!"

"Elsa-"

"GO!"

If he hadn't known her that well, Rumple would have said she had done it on purpose. But after training her, and later making a deal with her, Rumple knew Elsa had acted only instinctively when bolts of ice flew from their summoner and straight towards him.

Rumple ducked.

Regina dodged, but it wasn't enough to stop the ice that struck her squarely in the head.

Her head jerked back from the blast, and her eyes widened in surprise. Then she collapsed, and tumbled down the icy staircase and onto the floor below her.

Rumple heard Elsa let out a horrified gasp when she realized what she had done. He ran over to Regina's side, knelt next to her, and rolled her on her back.

"Regina!" He hissed. "Regina!"

Immediately, a strand of her hair turned into a silvery white. Despite it being a permanent scar, Rumple felt a twinge of relief. He could fix this. At least it wasn't her heart.

"Is she-?" Came a voice.

Rumple felt Elsa kneel gingerly down beside him. "She'll be fine. It wasn't her heart."

"It's just like last time," Elsa whispered. "Exactly like last time-" Her face was pale, and her breath came out in ragged gasps.

"Remember what I told you?" Rumple asked.

She shook her head.

"Magic is controlled by emotions. You need to keep your emotions in check." Rumple scooped Regina up off the floor, staggering slightly under her weight as he carried her bridal-style out of the ice castle.

Elsa ran desperately after him. "How?! How am I supposed to stop this?!"

"You don't need to stop anything," Rumple grunted as he carried Regina down the stairs. "You just need to control it."

Ignoring Olaf's gasp, and his questions about what happened, Rumple hurried back to where he had came, practically feeling Elsa's eyes on his back.

* * *

_Rumpelstiltskin told her to read several, dusty old tomes later that night. Elsa at first thought that they would be boring, but they turned out to be about magic. Magic, she soon found out, was the opposite of boring._

_As she read, the Dark One was at his worktable, and appeared to be brewing several potions. Elsa wasn't sure what they were for, and she wasn't sure she wanted to know. Despite the fact he had agreed to teach her, and had been somewhat kind to her (minus the part where he almost killed her and her sister), she still knew he was very, very dangerous._

_Anna came skipping into the room. She and Olaf had been doing who-knows-what in the grand halls of the Dark Castle. Elsa still kept watching her to make sure she was all right, but Anna seemed as chipper as usual._

_"What'cha doing?" Anna hovered over her sister's shoulder, scanning the pages of the book she was reading. "Oh. Books. Exciting."_

_"They're much more interesting than you think," Elsa said, her eyes not leaving the page._

_"And you should be concentrating on them," Rumpelstiltskin snapped from his work table. "We made a deal, dearie."_

_The sisters fell silent, and Anna went up to the vast array of vials and potions and studied them intensely._

_"What are **you** doing?" Anna asked._

_"None of your business?" Rumpelstiltskin said absent-mindedly, as he poured a strange looking green substance in a glass test tube. "But I will have you know that if you distract me and I drop this, it will kill everyone within a five-mile radius."_

_"Jeesh, you could have just told me to leave you alone." Anna began heading towards the doors. "I'm going to play with Olaf, he's a lot more fun than you two-oof! Hey, who are you?"_

_Elsa looked up to see that Anna had run into a tall, blond, and scruffy-looking man dressed in gray furs and shaking the snow out of his hair._

_"Who are **you**?" The man retorted._

_"Ignore her, dearie," Rumpelstiltskin called from behind his worktable. "She's just a house guest."_

_Anna huffed. "Just a house guest? I'll have you know-"_

_"Did you get what I sent you for, Kristoff?" Rumpelstiltskin asked._

_"Yeah." Kristoff walked over to Rumpelstiltskin and dumped a bag of berries on the table. "Redlock berries, just like you said."_

_Rumpelstiltskin opened to the cloth bag and ran his scaly fingers over the crimson-colored berries. Letting out a shrill giggle, he waved his hand and another cloth bag appeared right next to it._

_"Your payment," Rumpelstiltskin said, dumping all of the berries into the bubbling beaker. "I'll call you if I need anything else!"_

_"You do that," Kristoff muttered, before turning and heading towards the door, but not before picking up the cloth bag and shaking it slightly. The rattle of coins instantly sounded, and he appeared satisfied._

_"What are redlock berries?" Anna asked._

_"They're poisonous," Rumpelstiltskin said cheerfully. "Now go make yourself useful and show Kristoff out."_

_"Who is this?" Kristoff asked, as Anna gave him a wary look._

_"I'm Anna. **Princess** Anna of Arendelle," Anna said, trying to sound self-important, but she looked slightly nervous in the presence of a larger, scruffy-looking male, understandably, considering her last encounter with a man her age._

_"Kristoff. Mountain man," Kristoff said, studying Anna's face for a minute. As she watched them, Elsa's protective instinct flared up._

_"Right," Anna muttered. "Let's show you out the door."_

_"What, do you want to get rid of me?" Kristoff said gruffly._

_"Not at all." Anna muttered, and the two of them exited the room._

_Elsa went back to her book. Despite being concerned, she forced herself to stay put. Not all men were like Hans, she told herself. Not all men are like Hans._

_As she thought this, she shot a glance at her impish mentor working behind the vials and beakers._

* * *

_**(I wish you would tell me why!)**_

When Belle woke up, she immediately snuggled over to Rumple's side of the bed for warmth. When she found no one, she sat up and saw that he was gone.

She stood up, got dressed, and went downstairs in search of him. She didn't find her new husband, but she did find a note attached to the freezer.

**Belle-**

**Went to talk to Elsa. I should be back soon. I love you.**

**-R**

Belle crumpled the note in the little frustration that she felt. Weren't newlyweds supposed to go on a honeymoon after they got married? Then again, there was Elsa threatening to trap Storybrooke in an eternal winter. That would probably put off any trip they could go on.

Hopefully, when Rumple got back, he'd explain whatever past he had with Elsa. Belle knew there was a story there, but she also knew that she couldn't really pressure him. Not after what he had gone through with Zelena.

Truth to be told, she was a little worried about her husband. He hadn't really had much time to come to terms with Bae's death, or his time as a slave. Belle was considering scheduling a therapy session with Archie, probably after the Elsa fiasco was over.

Speaking of Elsa, as soon as Belle looked out the window she found that the ex-queen had made good on her promise to freeze Storybrooke. Everything was covered in ice and snow. It was actually a little bit beautiful.

Belle went to get her winter coat and boots in order to make the trek to Granny's diner. When she got there, she saw Snow and David standing on their car and making the planned announcement. Emma stood next to them with her pirate on her arm. A crowd had gathered around them, listening to Snow's words.

"Anybody who knows anything about the whereabouts of Queen Anna of Arendelle, please let us know as soon as possible. We plan to create a drawing of her and put posters around the town so that you know what she looks like. Remember, this is urgent. If we do not find her, we will be trapped forever in eternal winter!" Snow yelled through a megaphone, apparently completing a speech. The crowd murmured and dispersed, going in separate ways as Belle pushed past them and to the Charming's.

"Hey Belle," David greeted. "Where's Rumpelstiltskin? We've been looking for him."

"He's out talking to Elsa. I think he wants to get something of Anna's in order to do a tracking spell," Belle said. "I see you've made the announcement."

"Yeah," Emma said, holding out baby Neal to Belle. "Want to hold the baby?"

"Sure." Belle took the little bundle and cradled it in her arms. "He's precious."

"So, uh-" Hook cleared his throat. "I heard you and...Rumpelstiltskin got married."

Belle smiled. "We did. Last night."

"Really?" Emma looked surprised. "Uh-congratulations. I thought that was just a rumor."

"No. Rumple proposed as soon as he returned." Neal cooed as Belle rocked him, and beat his tiny fists together.

"Congratulations." Robin came up behind them and nodded at her. "May I talk to you for a minute?"

"About Regina?" Emma asked cautiously. Belle recognized a little flash of guilt in the blonde's eyes.

"Yes," Robin admitted.

The Charming's took that as an invitation to leave. Snow took Neal back, and the family went inside. Robin cleared his throat as soon as they were gone.

"I uh-heard from the dwarf that you give good romantic advice," Robin said. "And I'm in need of such advice, I'm afraid."

"I heard. Where is Regina anyway?"

"I don't know. I tried to find her when Marian came home a couple hours ago. Apparently, she'd gone to visit Regina."

"Oh." That couldn't have gone over well.

"Yes...seems like the two got into an argument, and Regina left. Marian came back and-well, she's boiling in the diner as we speak." Robin looked awkwardly down at his feet. "I know she's my wife, but...Regina told me that she believed we were true love. And I believed _her._ But-"

"If you believe it's true love, then maybe you do belong with Regina," Belle said thoughtfully. "But I wouldn't know how you feel. The best advice I can give is follow your heart. You never know where it might take you."

Robin stared down at the snow. "That's the problem. I don't know where my heart is going."

"Follow it anyway. Stay true to it. It's called true love for a reason."

Robin opened his mouth, about to reply, when suddenly a familiar shout rang through the air. Both she and Robin turned as they saw Rumple's Cadillac pull into a parking space and him getting out of the car.

"Rumple!" Belle ran over to him and wrapped him in a tight hug.

"Hi sweetheart," Rumple gave her a quick kiss and let her go. "We have a bit of a crisis on our hands."

"Hi!" Out of nowhere, a snowman's head popped out of the window and waved at her. "I'm Olaf-"

"And you like warm hugs," Rumple sighed. "We know. How is she?"

"Still unconscious," Olaf said grimly, as he opened the car door and hopped out. Belle blinked, more then a little taken aback by Olaf's sudden appearance.

"Who?" Belle asked warily, before looking inside the car and having her breath catch. Regina was lying in the backseat of Rumple's car, her head lolled, her face pale, eyes closed and a strange white streak in her hair.

"Is that a talking snowman?" Robin asked in disbelief as he came over to them, before stopping when he noticed Regina. He immediately screeched to a halt, his eyes growing wide.

"Help me get her inside," Rumple commanded. "She'll be fine as soon as I thaw her, but she needs to stay warm."

Robin swallowed, and quickly went to Regina's side. He picked her up and followed Rumple and Belle inside the diner.

"She's as cold as ice," Robin murmured.

As soon as they got inside Granny's, everyone had stood up and were running towards them.

"What happened?" Snow gasped.

"She'll be fine," Rumple said quickly. "Granny, we need blankets."

Despite her dislike of Rumpelstiltskin, Granny didn't argue and went off to the bedrooms of the B&amp;B.

"Will she be okay?" Emma asked worriedly.

"I just said she will be, didn't I?" Rumple snapped, as Robin lowered Regina into a chair. The former Evil Queen's head lolled slightly as she slumped back in the chair. "Stand back, everyone."

They all took a step back except for Robin, who stayed locked in place next to Regina, gripping her hand. Rumple extended his hand, and a small ball of flames appeared in his palm.

"What are you doing?" Robin demanded angrily.

"Thawing her." The fire in Rumple's hand grew dimmer and dimmer until there was just a red-hot patch in his hand.

"You'll burn her!"

"No I won't. Her head's been frozen. Just be glad it wasn't her heart, dearie. The heart's not as easy to thaw." Rumple placed his hand on Regina's forehead. She didn't stir. the residents of the diner watched in anticipation.

Finally, she stirred, blinking her eyes open. "Ugh...what-happened?"

Robin relaxed. At that moment, Henry and Red burst into the diner, making everyone give a start, and immediately saw the crowd of people.

"What happened?" Henry asked, his eyes flickering over to his adopted mother. "Mom?"

"She's all right, Henry," Rumple said as he took his hand off Regina's forehead. Regina straightened up, shivering slightly.

"Wait, weren't we in Elsa's castle?" She asked.

"Elsa did this?" David asked, glancing over to Rumple.

"Not on purpose," The man said. Granny came over with a blanket and gave it to Regina, who immediately wrapped it around her shoulders.

"Th-thanks," Regina muttered, her teeth chattering slightly.

"What happened?" Henry asked, scooting through the crowd of people and standing protectively next to his adopted mother. Everyone around them except for the Charming's, Robin, and Belle went back to their usual business.

"Elsa's ice," Regina murmured. "It-it hit me, didn't it?"

"What happened to your hair?" Snow asked, her brows furrowing.

"What do you mean?"

"It's white. Well, part of it's white," Emma said, studying the said strand intensely.

"What?" Regina clawed at her hair, and held it in front of her face. Her eyes narrowed into slits when she saw the white strand. "Oh. She _didn't. _She did _not _just ruin my hair."

"It's not so bad," Rumple told her. "It could have been your heart. I can't heal a frozen heart, I'm afraid. You were very lucky."

"You mentioned that before," Robin said dryly.

"How do you heal a frozen heart?" Henry asked.

"An act of true love," Rumple said softly. "Is the only thing that can thaw a frozen heart. Without it, the person will die."

Emma blinked, as if something was clicking together.

"You said when you met Elsa, an accident occurred," She said slowly. "Did someone's heart get frozen?"

All eyes glanced at her, and then Rumpelstiltskin.

"No, not the heart. The head."

"But you said someone almost died." Robin pointed out.

"Yes. That was because Elsa didn't know how at first to fix a frozen head."

They looked at him like they wanted him to go on, but he didn't.

Olaf chose that moment to burst into the restaurant. For the second time within two minutes, everyone jumped.

"Hi everyone!" Olaf said cheerfully. "I'm Olaf! Hey, is that hot chocolate?" Granny, who was behind the counter, watched him wide-eyed as he waddled over and plopped onto a stool. "Hi! What's your name?"

"That's a talking snowman," Emma said, wide-eyed. "That is a talking snowman."

"Cool," Henry said, wide-eyed.

Rumple sighed. "I'll put him back in the jar."

"Don't do that!" Belle scolded. "He's adorable!"

"For about a second. Then he opens his mouth," Rumple grumbled.

"Who almost died?" Hook asked, changing the subject. "It wasn't her sister, was it?"

Rumple shook his head. "No. Not Anna."

"Well, who else was there?" Regina asked.

Rumple suddenly found the ceiling very fascinating as he studied it intensely.

"Rumple," Belle prodded.

"Granny, can you get me a cup of coffee?" Rumple called.

"Rumpelstiltskin!" David snapped. "Just remember, I still don't believe that you had nothing to do with Zelena's death!"

That got his attention. Rumple straightened himself up and gripped his cane tightly. His eyes focused back down to them. "It doesn't matter. We need to focus on finding Anna."

"Rumple," Belle said again.

"Tell us," Regina demanded.

Rumpelstiltskin sighed. "It-" He hesitated. "Not here. Later."

Emma sighed. "Let's go outside."

"Let's." Regina attempted to stand up, and immediately, her knees began trembling.

"Stay in here. You need to keep warm," Robin told her, gently placing his hands on her shoulders and pushing her back down. Regina flinched slightly at his touch, but didn't protest.

"He's right," Rumple said, a little awkwardly.

"Oh for God's sake!" Regina snapped. "What's so bad that we have to go outside for you to tell us what happened?!"

Granny, momentarily distracted from Olaf's chatter, gave them a wary look from behind the counter.

Rumple muttered something under his breath, then shot a irritated glare at her.

"Rumple, it can't be that bad," Belle told him as she intertwined his fingers in hers. "Please Rumple. Trust us."

Some hesitation immediately flickered in his eyes.

"Please," Belle asked again.

For a minute, he was still silent.

"It was me," He suddenly murmured under his breath.

"What?" Emma asked.

"It was me," he said a little louder. "I-I was the one who nearly died that night."

Almost as if to prove it, Rumple pulled his hair off the back of his neck, not letting loose of any of it except for a single, white strand that matched Regina's exactly.

* * *

**_(Do you wanna build a snowman? It doesn't have to be a snowman...)_**

"So let me get this straight." Anna pointed to the White Rabbit. "That rabbit can create portals. Portals to other worlds."

"I have a name!" The White Rabbit snapped.

"Indeed he can," Will Scarlet said, ignoring him.

Anna sighed. After all those years of searching, after abandoning her kingdom in order to find her sister, the answer she had been looking for all this time was a rabbit.

Well, it _was_ Wonderland.

"It'll work," Kristoff told her. "I know it will."

Anna's frustration dimmed slightly. "All right."

The rabbit nodded. "So where do you want to go?"

"I dunno." Anna drummed her fingers against her knife hilt. "I've been everywhere with magic. Oz, the Enchanted Forest, Wonderland-"

"Maybe she's in a world without magic," The White Rabbit said thoughtfully.

"Is there such thing?" Anna asked.

"There is." The rabbit nodded. "Do we really have to take them?" He muttered to the Knave.

"Yes." Will Scarlet muttered, standing up. "To the land without magic it is then?"

Anna nodded slowly. "Yeah, I think so."

"All right then."

"Wait! Why are you helping us?" Anna asked, remembering that she was suspicious.

Kristoff chuckled. "Oh, the Knave and I go way back."

"Really?" Anna asked skeptically.

"By exactly three days," Will muttered.

"I saved his life," Kristoff said proudly. "He owes me a favor." Sven got up, tromped over to him, and nuzzled Kristoff's shoulder.

Will sighed. "Let's just get this over with."

As his words, the rabbit bounded over to the middle of their circle.

"Stand back!" He ordered, just as he waved his hand in a circular motion. Almost immediately, a portal swirled open.

"Good luck," The White Rabbit said as he took a step back.

"What?" Will shouted. "You're not coming with us?"

"Hey, my anniversary's tomorrow. I can't miss my anniversary. Don't worry, I'll check up on you in three days or so." The White Rabbit yelled. "Better hurry! The portal's closing!"

Anna heard Will grumble something under his breath before he jumped into the slowly closing portal. Swallowing, she hesitated before joining him, the wind whipping through her hair and her cloak fanning out behind her.

She felt a familiar, rough hand take hers. Anna looked up at Kristoff, who gave her a reassuring smile.

"Let's go find Elsa," He told her. "We'll jump in together on three."

Anna nodded. "One..." She started.

"Two..." Kristoff continued.

"Three!" The two of them jumped and fell into the portal, which closed as soon as they were through.

**_(Go away Anna.)_**

**_(Okay, bye)_**

* * *

**A/N-I haven't really watched much of 'Once Upon a Time in Wonderland' so I'm not really sure if my depiction of Will Scarlet and the White Rabbit is accurate or not. Feel free to correct me as much as you want. **


	3. Ice

**Part**** Three-Ice**

**_(Do you wanna build a snowman?)_**

Elsa's icy heels clicked against the cold floor as she paced in circles.

_Don't let them in. Don't let them see. Be the good girl, you always have to be. Conceal. Don't feel..._

No. She couldn't go back to that.

_Put on a show!_

(Stop it!)

MAKE_ ONE WRONG MOVE AND EVERYONE WILL-_

(They already know)

Paths of ice trailed behind her as she paced. Snowflakes whipped around her hair and face, falling faster and faster, slowly forming into a miniature storm.

Slowly, Elsa took a deep breath.

_Anna. Think of Anna. Think of how you'll feel when you see her again._

The snowflakes began to fade away.

_Think of chocolate. Think of snowmen. Think of happiness._

Elsa glanced down and saw that the ice had melted.

Triumph. That was the first thing she felt.

_You've done this before. You never have to not feel again._

She started to laugh. She couldn't help it. Elsa had almost forgotten how easy it really was to control the curse.

Then she remembered that one, fateful night.

Immediately, the ice around her feet froze over once more. Swallowing a small lump in her throat, Elsa conjured up the images in her head, Anna's laughing face, a snowball fight with her parents before everything had turned bad...

_No! Try again._

Her mother reading her a bedtime story, her and Anna running from an angry servant when Elsa had accidentally set off a snowstorm in the kitchens, sledding with Anna...

As she felt puddles of water underneath her feet, Elsa breathed in a sigh of relief. Maybe just a little more work, and she would be safe enough to be around. Just safe enough to help the people of Storybrooke find Anna.

But she wouldn't unfreeze the town. Not yet. Rumpelstiltskin had taught her how to keep a deal, and he taught her well, probably without him even realizing he was doing it.

If he hadn't been on the other end of the deal, he might have been proud.

_"You're not evil, dearie. It isn't in your nature."_

He hadn't stated it to reassure her. He had stated it as a fact, a dead fact. Elsa was almost certain that she shouldn't take that sort of advice from the Dark One, but besides for Anna and maybe her parents, he was the only one who ever told her that. Even if he wasn't trying to reassure her.

* * *

Rumple immediately let his hair drop over the offending white streak and looked around to make sure no one else in the diner had heard him, but almost everyone was focused on the walking, talking, overly happy snowman. Well, at least Olaf was good for something.

Those gathered around him just stared. Rumple quickly regretted coming clean so fast, and he cursed himself vehemently.

"Wait," Hook said slowly. "You-"

_I should have said it was Anna. Dammit, I should have just said it was Anna, and left it at that._

"Yes," Rumple snapped. "It wasn't-it wasn't that serious."

"You said you nearly died," Emma pointed out.

_Well thank you Miss Swan. _"I-well, I wouldn't have _died._"

_I just would have never woken up._

"Oh, pardon our assumption then." Hook rolled his eyes. Rumple wanted to strangle the pirate, but refrained, considering there were witnesses.

"What happened?" Belle asked softly.

Rumple immediately felt his irritation dim. "A practice session went awry. That's all there is to it, really."

They were quiet. Rumple could practically see the wheels turning in their heads as they processed what he had told them.

Finally, Belle shot him a small smile, and squeezed his hand.

"Thank you for being honest with us," She told him.

Her eyes read '_We'll talk about this later.' _Rumple couldn't agree more, but the guilt that was quickly piling up threatened to crush him under it's weight.

_Thank you for being honest with us._

If only she knew.

"Has there been any progress in finding Anna?" Rumple asked uncomfortably, quickly trying to change the subject.

"No," Emma said, looking relieved to get over the awkwardness that resulted in the conversation. "We plastered nearly every surface of the town with posters. So far, there's been no sign of her."

"We have two more days." Rumple reminded her. "I tried going to Elsa for something of Anna's so that we could use a tracking spell, but as you can see..."

"It didn't work out," Regina muttered. She had stopped shivering, but still kept the blanket tightly wrapped around her shoulders.

"We'll go door-to-door if we have to," Snow said. "We can't let her trap Storybrooke in eternal winter."

They all nodded in agreement except for him. Rumple just stayed silent.

_"But she won't," _he wanted to say. _"She doesn't have it in her. You may not know this, but I do."_

He held his tongue though. He wasn't in the mood to defend Elsa at the moment. Besides, it wasn't in his nature.

**_(Or ride our bike around the halls?)_**

* * *

Walking out of the mines, George had discovered quite quickly that Storybrooke had really let itself go. Ice was quickly building up in the streets, and the dwarves and various other citizens were working overtime trying to clear it all away. (Ah, that was why no one had bothered to do anything while he broke out) He quickly decided that he need some warm clothes. you know, since it was so. _Cold._

His old house was abandoned. The only sign that anyone had been there since he had been imprisoned was the yellow 'caution' tape was pulled over the doorway in an 'x'.

George took great pleasure in ripping it down.

After retrieving his winter coat and snow boots, George set out to see what the town's current happenings were.

He kept his head down as he walked through the streets. There weren't as many people out and about as there normally were. But he stopped about a block away from Granny's Diner when he recognized Snow White coming out of it, followed by Red Riding Hood. Her faithful _dog,_ George thought disdainfully.

As he watched, Emma Swan came out next, followed by her son, a man George had never seen before with a hook for a hand (he was positive he would remember a man with a hook for a hand), the Evil Queen-with a blanket over her shoulders and being helped out of the door with another man? Hmm, apparently the Queen had a new beau. George wondered how long that man would last until he met Graham's fate. Then came out the Dark One, with a brown-haired woman George thought he kind of recognized but whose name he couldn't quite call to mind. Finally, out came his enemy, holding an infant.

Ah. So _Prince Charming _recently had another child? Yet another weapon in George's arsenal. George couldn't help but smile. Oh, he couldn't wait until he had the chance to enact his revenge.

Now they were all quiet as Rumpelstiltskin talked. He looked slightly anxious, and he was using his hands as if to emphasize certain points.

George got a little closer so that he could hear what they were saying.

"-And Hook and Emma will go to the northeast part of the town, and Regina, you'll stay home and rest," Rumpelstiltskin was finishing.

"I'm fine!" Regina snapped.

"You don't get your head frozen and then recover within twenty minutes," Rumpelstiltskin said calmly. "Don't worry, Henry will keep you company."

"I want to help!" Henry protested.

"It's not safe," David told him.

"I'm not a little kid anymore!"

"Henry, you're staying with Regina, and that's final," Rumpelstiltskin said. "And her outlaw can stay with you too, if he wishes."

Regina and the man next to her both looked uncomfortable. George watched as he slowly took his hand off her shoulder, and how the Queen looked both upset and relieved at the gesture.

"I still don't think we should split up," Emma pointed out.

"It's our best option," David said. "We need to find Anna. Keep your cell phones with you at all times."

George backed away again as David kissed his wife and handed the infant to her. Slowly, the group broke apart. George watched them go, then walked past the diner, head down. He stopped when his eye caught a poster attached to the telephone pole. He went up to it to get a better look.

The poster depicted a painting of a red-haired, freckle-faced girl. Underneath, the caption read:

**If You See This Girl-Call Sheriff Swan Immediately**

**Anna, If You See This-Come to the Sheriff's Station Immediately**

George ripped down the poster, rolled it up, and stuffed it in his coat pocket. He continued walking.

He had a girl to find.

* * *

**_(I think some company is overdo)_**

_In the next month, Elsa showed tremendous improvement in controlling her powers. Rumpelstiltskin allowed her to go back to Arendelle, even though he kept popping into the castle at unpredictable times.  
_

_The new Queen and princess's disappearances had caused an uproar in the kingdom. Things had gotten so bad, Arendelle rejoiced when they came home, ice powers and all. For a while, things had settled down. The sisters had even gotten used to Rumpelstiltskin's random appearances. Anna even attempted calling him 'Rum-Rum' once, though he gave her a look of death and told her if she ever called him that again he would turn her into a snail and squish her under his boot._

_Anna took the hint, and decided to just avoid him from then on by going to visit Kristoff. Elsa had a sly suspicion the two were becoming more then just friends, but didn't ask any questions. She just hoped Kristoff wasn't as bad as Hans._

_Between running a kingdom, learning to manage her ice powers, and monitoring Anna, life was fairly good. Even better than it was before. Elsa didn't have to 'conceal.' She didn't have to 'not feel.' She could let people in, let them see her for who she was. _

_But when a block of ice falls, it shatters._

_Just like her life did._

_Elsa learned that the eternal winter that she had cast on the kingdoms Rumpelstiltskin had requested were still active. And worse, the kingdoms were suffering._

_When she received word that some poor villagers had frozen to death, she had immediately called Rumpelstiltskin._

_"Here, dearie."_

_He grinned at her impishly, and folded his scaly hands in front of him in expectation. "So eager to start today's lesson, are we?"_

_"Why is it still winter in the kingdoms?" Elsa demanded. She had chosen to meet him in a ballroom, and had ordered the guards to stand outside, ready for her to call upon if she needed them but far away enough so that they wouldn't overhear any of Elsa and Rumpelstiltskin's conversation.  
_

_"You cast the curses. You tell me," the Dark One said matter-of-factly.  
_

_Elsa bit her lip. She had no idea how to lift a curse! She had half-expected Rumpelstiltskin to do it for her, but now she realized that was childish._

_"How do I stop the winter?"_

_"Whoa, slow down dearie! I didn't say you could lift the curses!"_

_Elsa felt her temper rise-and the blizzard beginning to form._

_"You're not in charge of me."_

_"But we did have a deal. You keep the kingdoms frozen, I teach you magic. Simple."_

_"But people are dying!" Elsa snapped. "Why do you even want the kingdoms frozen?!"_

_"It's complicated. Let's just say keeping the kingdoms frozen will delay a certain Evil Queen to accomplish an act of vengeance. It's hard to explain now, but it will matter in the future."_

_"You're insane."_

_"No, I can just see the future. But trust me, it's hard to tell the difference."_

_"I don't care about whatever you saw in the future! People are dying!" Elsa snapped. The blizzard was starting to pick up._

_"You should care about what happens in the future, dearie. It's rather foolish of you not to. Oh, and by the way-" Rumpelstiltskin pointed to the snow swirling around her. "If you're trying to freeze your own kingdom, so far, you're doing an excellent job."_

_"Get out!" Elsa snapped. "I'm unfreezing the kingdoms!"_

_Rumpelstiltskin's eyes narrowed. "Are you breaking our deal, dearie?"_

_"I said leave. You're no longer welcome here."_

_"How are you going to break the curses without my help dearie?!" Rumpelstiltskin had to yell over the icy winds that whipped around the two of them. _

_Elsa paused, but the anger was quickly building up inside her.  
_

_She couldn't see Rumpelstiltskin through the blizzard, but she heard his voice. "Fine, the deal's off! Try mastering your powers without me dearie! Without my help, you'll never thaw the kingdoms!"_

_"Wait!" She screamed. "Come back!"_

_He didn't respond._

_"Tell me how to thaw the kingdoms!" The snow whipped around, dissolving into her chest. Rumpelstiltskin was prancing away mockingly, his back turned towards her._

_"COME BACK!" She screamed, and before she knew it, the ice shot out of her like a torpedo.  
_

_She saw Rumpelstiltskin freeze in mid-step, jerk, and stiffen. Then he fell to the ground._

_For a minute she wasn't sure what had happened. Then she saw a strand of his hair turn white, and with horror, she immediately knew what had just happened._

_"Rumpelstiltskin?" Elsa went over to his side and kneeled next to him. She placed a hesitant hand on his shoulder and shook, but the Dark One didn't move. Elsa flinched once she realized his touch was ice cold._

_"Rumpelstiltskin!" Elsa cried. _

_No. This couldn't be happening. She needed his help! Surely her magic wasn't strong enough to take out the Dark One?!_

_"M'lady?" Someone knocked on the door. A guard. "My Queen, are you all right?"_

_"Don't come in!" Elsa cried. "Get Princess Anna, quick!"_

_"My Queen-"_

_"GO! NOW!"_

* * *

Don't get her wrong, Belle understood the necessity of finding Anna. But she had hoped she would able to go with Rumple so that she could talk to him about...well, everything that had happened in the past year. Including him being kept by Zelena and his son dying.

Instead, Rumple had gone off with David while Red went off with Belle. Belle personally felt a little put off. Was it because he was so focused on finding Elsa that he split them up? That, or...was it possible? He didn't want to talk to her?

The thought made Belle's stomach clench.

_Give him time, _Belle thought. _Be patient._

Although she couldn't shake the uneasy feeling that something was wrong.

As they went up to their first house, the two of them nearly slipped on the icy pathway. When they managed to get to the porch, Red knocked briskly on the polished wooden door.

"Don't worry," Red told her. Belle had confided in her friend about her worries. "Your relationship didn't last this long for nothing."

"I hope you're right," Belle murmured.

A blonde woman in a slick green jacket opened the door, shooting them a small smile.

"May I help you?" She asked.

"Hello Mrs. Green," Belle said politely. She took one of Anna's posters out of her pocket, unrolled it, and displayed it for the woman to see. "On behalf of the Sheriff's department, we were wondering if you've seen this girl anywhere?"

Mrs. Green frowned. "No Belle, I'm sorry. I've never seen that girl in my life."

"Are you sure?" Red asked. "You were both royalty."

The woman shook her head. "No. I'm sorry."

"Thank you," Belle said, despite feeling disappointment. "Have a nice day."

"I will as soon as this winter's over," Mrs. Green said with a wry smile, then closed the door.

"Okay," Red sighed as she and Belle turned around and began descending down the driveway again. "One house down, a hundred and ninety-nine more to go."

After they hit about twenty more houses (with no sign of Anna) Belle started to walk to the next house when Red stopped her.

"What?" Belle asked.

"No one lives there anymore," Red said grimly.

"How do you know?"

"The former resident was a lawyer who was arrested and imprisoned about a year ago. He was known in our land as King George."

A chill went through the back of Belle's neck, and it wasn't the icy weather.

"The one who David and Snow overthrew?" Belle asked.

"That's the guy." Red studied the double-story house for a minute, then stiffened. "Someone's been here."

"What do you mean?"

"There was caution tape over the door," Red said as she started towards the house. "Someone tore it down."

"Maybe one of the dwarves did," Belle suggested as she followed her friend.

"They don't have any reason to be here. Neither does Snow or David." The two women climbed the steps up to the porch, and Red opened the door.

"It's not locked," Belle whispered. "Was it locked before?"

"I don't know." Red walked in slowly, making no sound. Belle did the same.

Inside, the house looked untouched except for the empty coffee cup on the desk.

Red swallowed. "George was here recently."

Belle went over to the coffee cup and touched the ceramic surface. It was cold, but it had to be recent. There was still a little coffee left, and it certainly didn't look more than a year old.

"We have to warn the others," Belle said, turning around. Too late, she noticed Red had gone still.

George was standing in front of them, gun out and pointed right at them.

"Now," He said slowly. "I don't believe it's a full moon tonight, is it Miss Lucas?"

* * *

**_(I've started talking to the pictures on the walls!)_**

Rumple wasn't eager about riding with the legendary Prince Charming, but it was either Charming or the pirate. Admittedly, it was a hard decision, but at least David had never gone on a long angry rampage trying to kill him.

David's truck slowly pulled to a stop. He and Rumple were looking in the north part of town, while Snow and Robin checked in the east, Emma and Hook checked in the west, and Belle and Red checked in the south. Regina and Henry were to go home.

If there was anyone Rumple trusted to watch over Belle, it was the werewolf. Granted, he and Red didn't like each other. But to be honest, a werewolf was a pretty damn good line of defense, and she and Belle had a good friendship going. It was only when they got out of the car did Rumple remember it wasn't a full moon tonight.

"Do you have the posters?" David asked, jarring him out of his thoughts.

"Yes," Rumple responded, telling himself not to worry. What could possibly go wrong?

"Hey," David slammed the car door and gave Rumple a sad look. "I'm sorry about your son."

Silence. Rumple felt like something had just hit him in the chest.

"He was a good guy. Just wanted to tell you." David took off walking, wrapping his scarf around his neck.

Rumple grit his teeth and clenched his cane in one fist. He tucked the poster under his arm and followed David onto the sidewalk.

Obviously noticing his silence, David shot him a backwards glance but didn't say anything.

"Let's get started," Rumple said after a while, his eyes firmly locked on the rows of houses ahead of them.

_Eyes on the houses Rumple. Eyes on the houses._

As soon as his gaze flickered to across the street, he knew he had made a mistake.

Bae was standing on the sidewalk across the street. He looked about six years old now, and looked exactly as he had that age except for the cruel smile on his face.

He pointed to Rumple, and mouthed '_eyes on the houses.'_

Rumple turned away, his heart pounding in his ears. Bae's laugh was ringing in his ears, and even though it was freezing cold, Rumple was sweating bullets. He stole a quick glance at David, who was walking down the street as if nothing was happening.

It was official. Rumple knew he was going insane.

**_([Hang in there Joan])_**

* * *

_When she told the servant to get Anna, Elsa absolutely did not remember telling him to bring Kristoff too. _

_The two of them strode in, arm-in-arm, giggling over some stupid joke one of them had told the other. When they saw Elsa crouching over an unconscious Rumpelstiltskin, their smiles were immediately wiped off their faces and they rushed over to them.  
_

_"What happened?" Anna gasped, kneeling next to Elsa. Upon seeing the white streak in Rumpelstiltskin's hair, she stiffened, probably remembering that fateful day of her childhood. "Oh Elsa..."_

_"What happened?" Kristoff asked, looking a little lost._

_"Elsa, what are we going to do?" Anna asked, almost desperately. _

_"We can go to the trolls," Elsa muttered, her mind racing. "There has to be a way to figure out where they are..."_

_"Even if we could find them, they wouldn't heal him!" Anna snapped. "You know they don't deal with dark magic!"_

_"Hey!" Kristoff snapped, obviously sick of being kept in the dark. "What's going on?"_

_"Elsa froze his head!" Anna told him impatiently. "Now we have to do something!"_

_"What? Why?! He's the Dark One! Why would we want to heal him?!"_

_Elsa swallowed. "We need him to tell me how to break the curses I cast on the kingdoms."_

_Silence._

_"Wait what?" Anna asked, blue eyes widening. "You don't know how to-"_

_"No!" Elsa took a deep breath, trying to keep herself calm. "We have to get to the trolls."_

_"They won't want to heal him," Kristoff said darkly. "Anna's right, they don't deal with dark magic."_

_Elsa stared at him. "How do you-"_

_"Oh-" Anna giggled nervously. "I forgot to tell you. Kristoff was raised by trolls. He kind of knows about this kind of thing."_

_Elsa stared at both of them. "Of course," She sighed. "So do you know where they are? It's been a while since...I last visited."_

_"Oh yeah. I know where they are." Kristoff's face was grim._

_"Can you take us there?" Elsa pressed._

_"Seriously? You actually want to help the Dark One?"_

_"Kristoff," Anna pleaded. "Please?"_

_Kristoff sighed. "Look." He gestured to Rumpelstiltskin, who was still crumpled on the floor unconscious. "He's pretty powerful, isn't he? Maybe he'll heal by himself and we won't need to go to the trolls. They probably won't heal him anyway. Let's just give him a few days. I mean, no one can be more powerful than the Dark One, right?"_

_Anna bit her lip. "He may have a point Elsa. Besides, didn't he try to kill us?"_

_"Yeah, but-" Elsa felt the floor beneath her beginning to freeze over. "But I need his help. He's the only one who can tell me how to thaw out the kingdoms. I don't know how to do it myself."_

And I don't want him to die, _She thought. _He may be awful, but I don't want to be responsible for anyone's death. Even his.

_"We'll give him a couple of days," Anna said gently. "Kristoff's right. No offense, but-you can't be THAT powerful. Powerful enough to take out the DARK ONE."_

_Elsa looked into her sister's eyes and immediately detected not only nervousness, but a little bit of fear. Dread was starting to grow within her own chest._

_What if she was that powerful?_

_Powerful enough to kill Rumpelstiltskin?_

_No. That was impossible. Anna an Kristoff were right. Rumpelstiltskin would probably be fine in a day or two. Yes, he'd probably kill her. But at least Elsa would know that she wasn't _too _powerful._

_"All right," Elsa murmured. "We'll give him a couple days."_

_Anna bit her lower lip again. Elsa knew Anna had to be wondering the same thing she was-how far the extent of Elsa's power really was, and if was far enough to perform possibly the greatest feat of all.  
_

_Killing the Dark One without his dagger._

* * *

_Regina was bored. The damn winter that had appeared out of nowhere had kept her inside for far too long. _

_'Come on,' she thought, as she picked absent-mindedly at her nails. 'It's the goddamn middle of August!'_

_"My Queen."_

_Ah. It was her guards._

_"Any news on the fugitive?" Regina asked, boredly, already suspecting what the answer was._

_"My Queen, I regret to inform you that the...unexpected weather has halted all our efforts on looking for Snow White. More than one scout has been lost to the blizzards. There is nothing we can do."_

_"I suspected as such," Regina sighed. She had already gone to Rumpelstiltskin, demanding his reasons for casting the curses that had put the Enchanted Forest through a seemingly random winter. But the bastard had told her that since he wasn't the one who had cast the winter, he couldn't do anything about it. By his look of sheer amusement, and the unusually mischevious hint in his voice, she suspected he did indeed had something to do with the curse, even if he hadn't cast it directly._

_There was nothing she could do. _

_Regina was on her feet immediately, and she stalked to the balcony._

_She had it all planned out. She had known Snow White's exact location, and she knew that the trap she had set for her wouldn't fail. She had consulted with Rumpelstiltskin, and he had told her as much. _

_If it wasn't for this winter, she would have Snow White in her clutches already._

_Screaming in frustration, she hurled a fireball out the window._

* * *

**_(It gets a little lonely, all these empty rooms,)_**

**_(Just watching the hours tick by...)_**

"You ladies are going to stay right there," George said slowly, as he walked towards them. Belle suddenly saw he was clutching a coil of rope in the hand that wasn't pointing a gun towards her and Red. Her mind flashed back to a similar incident with Ariel not so long ago.

What did George have in mind? What was he going to do to them?

"Hold out your hands, bitch," He said.

Red gritted her teeth. "I'm a werewolf."

"You," George ignored her and addressed Belle. "Put down your purse. Tie her up or I shoot her."

He tossed the coil of rope towards Belle. Trying hard to keep her hands from shaking, Belle began to wrap it around Red's wrists.

She had to come up with some sort of plan. Was there a weapon she could use somewhere-

That's when it hit her. Rumple's dagger! She could call him, and he'd come rescue her!

"I said drop your bag!" George snarled. The gun clicked, ready to shoot.

Belle's hand went into her purse, rummaged around for a second, then pulled out the dagger. She held it aloft and in the air, Rumpelstiltskin's name gleaming on it's surface.

"Rumple!" She cried. "Help us!"

She waited a few seconds.

Nothing happened.

Yet it provided a good distraction. George recognized the dagger, stopped, froze, and stared at it in horror. With those precious seconds, Red attacked, and tackled George to the ground, knocking the gun out of his hand.

"Rumple!" Belle screamed, desperately holding the dagger in the air. "Rumple we need you!"

Nothing. George managed to regain possession of the gun, and pulled the trigger. Red yelped as the bullet hit her in the shoulder.

Belle acted instinctively. She dropped the dagger, snatched a table lamp from the desk, and smashed it into George's head, knocking him to the ground. Then she grabbed Red's arm and slung it over her shoulders. Snatching the dagger, she dragged Red and herself out of the house and out the front door as two bullets impaled into the wall behind her seconds after she passed.

She made a mad dash to Red's car, dragging Red behind her.

"Keys!" Belle gasped.

Red, one hand acting as a tourniquet for the flow of blood coming from the wound, fumbled through her pockets with her free hand and gave them to Belle. Belle unlocked the car doors, and helped Red into the passenger seat, she herself going around and into the driver's seat.

"Here," Belle panted, unwinding her scarf around her neck and pressing it against Red's wound. "Use this to staunch the blood flow."

"Why didn't-" Red gasped, as her trembling hands pressed the scarf against the wound. "Why didn't the dagger work?"

Belle's mind was running wild, trying to come up with an answer herself.

As soon as she did, an immediate pang went through her heart. More than a pang, really. Her heart twisted hard, until it was practically wound in a knot.

Red stared at her, her eyes pitiful, having come up with the same conclusion.

"I-" Belle swallowed. "No. I don't...I don't believe it."

"Maybe there's another explanation Belle," Red said quickly, trying to reassure her.

"There is no other explanation." A tear leaked out of Belle's eye and slowly ran down her cheek. "None."

"Look," Red squeezed Belle's wrist reassuringly with the hand that wasn't covered with her own blood. "Hear him out. He may have a good reason for it."

"I know his reasons for this!" Belle cried. More tears came out. "But I'm his _wife_! He should trust me! I trusted him..."

With a strangled sob, Belle wiped her eyes.

"Talk to him," Red said softly, fighting back a ball of anger at Rumpelstiltskin that threatened to appear. Anger wouldn't help Belle. But leave it to the Dark One to break his own wife's heart. "You two need to talk."

"I know," Belle murmured. "I plan to. Just-keep your hand on the wound. I'm dropping you off at the hospital first."

She placed the keys in the ignition and started the engine.

"It'll be okay," Red said softly.

Belle's eyes locked onto hers, and they looked unsure.

* * *

**A/N-Took me a while to get this chapter right. As for Rumpelstiltskin wanting to keep the kingdoms frozen in the past, well, I noticed that in the scenes back in season 1 with Snow White and Red Riding Hood it was snowing. Sooooo, I dunno. Coincidence? Though I'm probably wrong. Judging by the season 4 spoilers released already, a lot of my theories in this story are already wrong. :P  
**

**Also, Mrs. Green is meant to be the Frog Princess. I don't know if anyone caught that.**

**Aaaaand, I'm done. No more pointless facts that the readers probably don't care about. On a final note, review please! Only two more chapters to go!**


	4. Blizzard

**Blizzard**

_**(Elsa?)**_

_**(Please, I know you're in there)**_

As the day wore on, Rumple and David had no luck in finding the red head. It was like no one in Storybrooke had even heard of her. Finally, they made a full loop around the neighborhood, and back to David's truck.

Rumple let out a groan, leaning against the side of David's truck and massaging his leg, which was killing him.

"Hopefully, the others had some luck," David said after a moment of silence.

Rumple shot the farmboy-turned prince an irritated look. He wasn't in any mood to be consoled.

"Yes, that would be rather convenient, wouldn't it?" He said sarcastically.

David sighed, pulling open the driver's side door and climbing into the truck without a word.

Rumple limped around to the passenger side of the car pulling open the door and getting in. He winced a little as his bad leg protested, but didn't say anything.

At that moment, he realized he had left his phone in the truck. Immediately, he cursed himself for not having a direct line to Belle in case she was in danger. When he checked to see if she had left him a message, his stomach tightened. Four missed calls. All from Belle. Plus one text message.

**Rumple? We need to talk. Meet me at the diner.**

Rumple stared at the text, praying that Belle was all right. Again, he cursed his own forgetfulness under his breath.

"What happened?" David put the key in the ignition, watching the older man carefully. "Any news from anybody else?"

"No." Rumple slipped his phone in his pocket. "None."

* * *

**_(They say have courage, and I'm trying to)_**

_Part of Elsa knew that Rumpelstiltskin wouldn't just thaw himself out, and that would be that. This was her life she was talking about. Something always had to go wrong. _

_They ended up putting him in one of the guest bedrooms, and kind of just left him lying in there. None of them could bring themselves to enter for a long time, because they weren't sure what they would find. _

_After two days, Elsa got up the courage to enter, hoping that if Rumpelstiltskin was miraculously conscious, he wouldn't hit her with a battering ram or douse her with hot oil or something._

_Instead, she found him still curled up exactly where they had left him. _

_His skin had somehow lost it's reptalian hue. He looked almost human at first glance, but as Elsa came closer, she saw that his skin was deathly pale, paler than hers, even. Almost the color of snow. _

_Panicked, she checked his pulse, albeit carefully. She couldn't forget who the man was, after all. To her alarm, it was very faint. At first, she thought it wasn't there at all._

_For a second, her mind went blank, trying to decide what to do. In the end, she just stood up again and ran out the door, flying down the hallway with a trail of ice at her heels, and ran right into Kristoff._

_She would have literally bounced off of him and hit the ground, but he managed to catch her and steady her._

_"Uh-Queen Elsa!" Kristoff said, awkwardly. He let go of her. "What's wrong?"_

_'We need to visit the trolls," Elsa said desperately. "Where's Anna? Have you seen her?"  
_

_"Uh, it's the middle of the night. She's probably sleeping," Kristoff said, matter-of-factly._

_Elsa stared at him. "Why are you here? It is the middle of the night!"_

_"I was dropping off something for Anna," Kristoff said uncomfortably. "this is the only time I have to do it. I'm in the ice harvesting business, remember? And you just solved my supply and demand problem. Thank you for that. by the way."_

_"Okay." Elsa hadn't known he was a ice harvester. She supposed at some point Anna had mentioned it at some point, but she couldn't remember when. She decided to ponder that later and get to the point. "I need you to take me to the trolls?"_

_"Why-oh. Him." Kristoff didn't sound that pleased. "Look, are you sure you want to heal him? He is-you know-the Dark One."  
_

_"I have to! Without him, I don't know how to unfreeze the kingdoms!"  
_

_Kristoff stared at her. "Aaaaaaaaaaaand you can't do it yourself because...?"_

_Elsa sighed impatiently. "That's not important. Now will you take me to the trolls or not?"_

_"Look, how do you know that the trolls will even help him? He's a creature of-"_

_"Dark magic, I know, I know. But I have to try, otherwise people will die!"_

_Kristoff studied her for a minute, and sighed. "Fine. I'll help you."_

_"I'll prepare the horses. You get him and meet me at the stables." Elsa was about to leave when Kristoff stopped her._

_"No horses are necessary, especially when you've got a reindeer. Trust me on this. Where is he?" _

_Elsa led him down the hallway and into the bedroom where Rumpelstiltskin lay, without a word. Kristoff stared at the limp form lying in the bed for a minute, then reluctantly scooped Rumpelstiltskin up and tossed him over his shoulder. _

_"All right," Kristoff muttered, obviously unhappy about the situation. "Should we wake up Anna and let her know we're leaving?"_

_"No, I don't want to disturb her," Elsa said. 'Let's just go."_

_"All right. Let's get this over with." Kristoff muttered something unintelligible under his breath as he and Elsa exited the bedroom and started down the hallway._

_'What was that?" Elsa asked._

_"Nothing."_

* * *

**_(I'm right out here for you)_**

Regina frowned as she stared at her reflection in the small pocket mirror she kept in her bag. Her fingers slowly stroked the new white streak in her hair.

"Be honest Henry, how bad does it look?" Regina said.

"Honestly, it looks kind of cool," Henry said, his fingers around the cup of cocoa he had made for him and his adopted mother. "You kind of look like Rogue, from _'X-men.' _"

"What's that?" Regina placed the mirror down on the small table next to the couch.

"Don't worry, it's a good thing. Are you feeling any better Mom?"

"I'm fine sweetie. I should be out looking for that princess." Regina scowled at the thought.

"You're better off here."

The new, yet familiar voice, made her jump. She immediately adverted her eyes as Robin came in with another cup of cocoa, his third for the day.

"This is extremely good cocoa, Henry," Robin said as he sat down next to Regina.

"Thanks." Henry's grin was a mile wide, and it made Regina's heart clench. It was good to have her son back, fascination with fairy tales and all. But did he have to have such a hero-worship of her kind-of ex-boyfriend?

"So," Regina said, her gaze darting down to the coffee table in front of her. "How's Marian adjusting to the modern world?"

"Well, she's glad to be back with Roland. I'm still trying to help her get settled in, but it's going well enough."

Regina didn't look up at him, but she thought that his voice was veering on the edge of uncomfortable.

"I'll be right back," Regina said quickly, standing up and walking towards the direction of the bathroom. She overheard Henry asking Robin if he'd seen the Disney version of his movie, and if he wanted to watch it. Regina quickly shut the bathroom door behind her, blocking out both of their voices, and hopefully, hers.

Regina pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and opened her contact list. After scrolling down to the one she wanted to call, she hesitated. How would she even know if he'd respond?

She tapped on the name on the screen with her finger, and soon, it was dialing. The phone rang once, twice, three times. On the fourth ring, he picked up.

"Madame Mayor? It's about time you called."

"Look Sydney, I know you must be angry with me but I'm still your master and I need a favor," Regina snapped.

"Regina, I am a lot less angry than you think I am. You kindly installed my room with a television and a phone, so at least I know what's going on in the outside world. However, I expected that you would actually _call me_ on the phone, or at least, let me out of here when the curse was broken."

"I know. But a lot of stuff has happened since then, and I need your help."

"Pray tell."

"Someone is threatening my happy ending."

"Again?"

"Shut up Sydney!" Regina snapped. "Remember who's in charge here!"

Silence on the line. "Right. What do you need?" Sydney asked after a minute.

"You used to be able to see all sorts of magical possibilities. I want you to tell me if it's possible to make someone fall out of love with someone."

Sydney was silent again. "Regina, the laws of magic..."

"Say that magic cannot make one fall in love with the user, I know. But I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about making someone's love for a person just...stop."

More silence. Regina waited for a minute, but he said nothing.

"Well?!" She snapped.

"Yes," Sydney said, finally. "There is a way. Why don't you just kill...whoever's threatening your happy ending?"

"I can't do that." _Not to Robin._

"All right, have it your way. I'll help you. But only if you let me out of this nuthouse."

"I will. Trust me on that. But you better keep your word. I'll be over there soon." Regina hung up without a word. Immediately, she replaced her phone in her pocket and walked out of the bathroom.

When she got back into the living room, she expected Robin and Henry to be watching that Disney movie, but instead, Robin was just getting off the phone with someone, and Henry was watching grimly.

"What's going on?" Regina asked. "Did they find her?"

"No," Robin said, and she saw that his face was grim. "Rumpelstiltskin killed Zelena."

"What?" Regina wasn't expecting to hear that. "But the camera footage-"

"He manipulated the footage," Robin said.

"But how did he even-Belle had his dagger-"

"No. We thought she did. He tricked her. Gave her a fake dagger. They all cut him from the search for Anna, because he's proved himself untrustworthy."

Regina let that sink in. Part of her was beyond angry with Rumple for killing her sister. Sure Zelena had done terrible things-but she was just like Regina. Regina wanted to give her sister a second chance. Rumpelstiltskin had robbed Zelena of that chance. Hell, Regina was furious with him for that.

But then again, he'd been through a lot. Regina hadn't honestly just expected him to get over it so easily, but she had dared to hope that like her, he could change, and do the right thing for once. But he didn't. And she wasn't the only one he'd let down.

"Belle must be devastated," Regina said softly.

"She is," Robin said grimly, standing up. "I'm going to go over there."

"All right." Regina went over to the coffee table and picked up her purse. " While you do that, I'm going over to give Rumple a piece of my mind. Henry, do you mind staying here for a while?"

"No," Henry said shrugging. "I kind of missed it here."

"Thank you sweetie." Regina kissed Henry on the forehead. Truth to be told, she wasn't going over to visit the imp, but rather, to visit the mirror. But she was definitely going to have a few words with Rumple.

* * *

**One Hour Previously-**

David's truck pulled up in front of the diner, Rumple noticed that almost everyone had regrouped and were sitting inside the diner. When the truck pulled in, the all got up and flocked outside. When Rumple slid out of the passenger seat Red was immediately in front of him, looking like she was about to slap him.

"Hey!" David snapped at her as her arm was raised in mid-swing. Rumple saw that the werewolf's right shoulder was bandaged, and Red was about to use her left hand to smack him.

"What's going on?! Don't you dare touch me Miss Lucas!" Rumple snapped.

"You've got a lot of explaining to do Gold!" Emma snapped, coming up from behind Red.

"What are you talking about?"

"Please," Belle's soft voice came from behind Emma, and she pushed through both Red and Emma and stood in front of Rumple. Her face was streaked with tear stains, and immediately, Rumple got a bad feeling in his stomach. "Please, just let me talk to him in private."

The ladies reluctantly pulled back. Snow, holding Neal, took David by the hand and led him inside the diner. Rumple heard him ask Snow what was going on, and Snow told him softly that she'll explain inside. He saw Hook holding the door for them, Emma, and Red, and he and the pirate exchanged a quick glance. Rumple recognized distaste in Hook's expression, and...also a little bit of pity? Then the pirate turned away, and went inside like everyone else.

"Look at me," Belle ordered, and Rumple's attention turned back to her.

"Belle, sweetheart-" Rumple began to get a feeling of what this was about.

"I know you know what I'm upset about, Rumple." Belle held out the fake dagger out in front of them. Rumple's stomach twisted violently, along with something else in his chest.

"Belle, I-" Rumple's voice got in his throat, and he felt like he couldn't continue.

"You lied to me," Belle said softly. "I trusted you, and you lied to me. I called you when I was in danger. I tried to use it to summon you. You didn't come."

"You were in danger?" Rumple remembered Red's wounded shoulder, and the twisting in his stomach multiplied tenfold.

"George came after us," Belle said flatly.

"What?! King George?!"

"Yes."

Rumple swallowed. "Belle, if I had known that my actions would put you in danger, I swear, we wouldn't be in this situation."

"That's not the point. The point is that you lied to me!"

"I'm sorry." The words sounded lame, even to his ears.

"You killed Zelena didn't you?"

Rumple didn't want to make this even worse. "Yes."

Belle stared at him. "Is that why you did this? Because you wanted revenge?!"

"Yes! Yes, I'll admit it. I wanted revenge. She got my son killed, Belle! She-" Rumple stopped. He didn't want to think about what had happened in that blasted cage she had kept him in, chained up like a dog...

"I don't know what to say," Belle said, still in a flat tone. "Rumple, now what will happen to us?"

_Please don't leave me Belle. Please, yell at me, scream at me, punch me, do whatever you want to me. Just please don't leave me. _

"I don't know. Belle, I never wanted to hurt you. Never. I love you."

"I love you too. I always will. And maybe that's why this hurts so much." Belle wasn't crying anymore. The tear stains were disappearing from her face. "I know you love me. And I know you can be a good man."

"Belle-"

"I know you can make the right choices. So why won't you? Why can't you?"

_I'm a villain, that's why._

"I don't know."

_Villlains don't get happy endings._

Belle stared at him for a while. "This isn't over. Between us. Just don't expect me home tonight."

_No don't leave._

Belle turned around and walked back into the diner. The door closed behind her, and he didn't see her look back.

He just stared at the spot where she had been standing, her footprints in the deep snow that followed all the way to the diner.

_Gone._

Rumple didn't feel like moving. He didn't feel like walking away. After a while, he didn't know how long, David came out and walked over to him.

"You killed Zelena didn't you?" He asked.

Rumple managed a brief nod.

"Right." David cleared his throat. "Your help isn't neccesary in finding Anna anymore. You can just...I don't know, go home. But we don't want your help."

"That's a first," Rumple muttered.

"Look, I know she got your son killed. We miss Neal too, but-"

"Bae," Rumple interrupted. "His name was Bae."

David opened his mouth to continue, but he closed it, obviously thinking better of it. "Just go home."

Rumple turned around and began walking back to his car. When he got in, he turned on the wind shield wipers to clear off the snow piled onto the windshield. For a minute, he watched the snow clear away, one sweep at a time. Then he snapped out of it and stuck the key into the ignition.

When he turned it and heard the engine rumble to life, he remembered the groaning of the vault that had resurrected him. He remembered the bleak blackness of death, and then rising from the cold vault, only to find a body lying in the snow.

Not knowing where he was going, he pulled out of the parking space and drove away.

**_(Just let me in)_**

* * *

_Elsa had never ridden a reindeer before, but there was a first time for everything, she supposed._

_But she doubted that if she ever had to ride a reindeer again, she wouldn't do it with an unconscious Dark One's head lolling on her shoulder. _

_Kristoff was in front, egging Sven on. The reindeer galloped faster and faster across the snowy terrain and up a large mountain, eventually coming through a forest of pine trees.  
_

_After what seemed like an eternity of riding, Sven finally came to a large, rocky clearing in the middle of the pine forest. He slowed to a stop, and the minute he was still, Kristoff jumped off of his back, dragging Rumpelstiltskin off as well and resting him on the ground. _

_"Need help?" Kristoff held out a hand._

_Elsa took it, and slid to the ground. She looked around, and immediately, all the loose rocks in the area began to roll towards them. She let out a yelp as one of them nearly collided into her. Slowly, each rock uncurled, revealing a wide, gray face with eyes that blinked up at her.  
_

_"Kristoff's back!" One of them said, and they began to cheer. _

_"Good to see you guys too," Kristoff shouted as they began to swarm around him, jabbering praises and greetings."But we kind of have a situation here!" _

_"What's the-" Another troll began just before she noticed Elsa and Rumpelstiltskin. Immediately, she stopped in her tracks and stared at the two of him. Slowly the trolls began quieting down as their attention was brought to the two of them. Whispers and gasps immediately sounded, and the sea of trolls parted as another rock rolled up to Elsa, who was crouching next to Rumpelstiltskin, and uncurled into a troll that looked much older than the rest._

_"Elsa," The elder troll said grimly. "How nice it is to see you again."_

_"Hi Pabbie," Elsa murmured. _

_Pabbie studied the unconscious Dark One. "I sense dark magic. Elsa, what have you been up to lately?"_

_"It happened again," Elsa said lamely. "I need your help."  
_

_"Speaking of which, how is Anna?"_

_"Fine. Now Pabbie, please?"_

_Pabbie shuffled over to Rumpelstiltskin's side, feeling his forehead, hesitantly. _

_"This is exactly what happened with your sister," He murmured. "Once again, you should be thankful it wasn't the heart. Especially not his. Ice and darkness do not mix well. In fact, they're a rather catastrophic mix."_

_"You need to heal him," Elsa pleaded. "Please. I need his help."_

_Pabbie sighed. "I don't know what you've gotten yourself into, Elsa, but I do not deal with Dark magic. You know that."_

_"But-" Elsa began to protest. _

_"However, your ice seems to have knocked all of his dark magic out of him. He is no longer the Dark One."_

_Elsa stopped._

_"How's that possible?" Kristoff demanded, exchanging glances between Elsa, Pabbie, and Rumpelstiltskin._

_"As I said-ice and darkness do not miss. Ice is pure. Cold. Powerful. Dark magic is chaotic. Powerful yes, but it can easy take over one's soul like a disease. Apparently, ice can freeze that disease in it's track and shatter it into a million pieces. If I thaw him, then the darkness will return. If I don't, then he'll die. Right now, he is without magic, a harmless man." Pabbie hesitated for a split second, his hand still on Rumpelstiltskin's forehead. "Yes, even now I can feel his dark magic battling for control over your ice. And right now, your ice is winning. If he is not thawed, then he will die within minutes. You're the only one who can choose what happens to him now."  
_

_"What?"_

_Pabbie gave her a sympathetic look, and Elsa's stomach sank. Part of her wanted to scream 'this is so unfair! Why do I have to choose?'_

_Release Rumpelstiltskin back to darkness or let him die? Elsa suddenly realized that living every day as the monster everyone called the Dark One was nothing less of a horrible fate. But then again, she couldn't just let a man die. _

_Either way, it would all be her fault._

_"Thaw him," Elsa murmured in barely a whisper._

_"What?"_

_"Thaw him," Elsa said a little louder. "I need his help."_

And I can't let anyone die because of me. Not even him.

_"Are you sure?" Pabbie asked grimly._

_Elsa nodded._

_Pabbie sighed, and he conjured a ball of bright white light, pressing it into the back of Rumpelstiltskin's head. The sorceror murmured something under his breath, but remained unconscious. _

_"I'd take him back to his castle and leave him there before he wakes up," Pabbie said. "He's not going to be very happy with you Elsa."_

_"But I need his help," Elsa said lamely. "I froze some kingdoms...and-and I can't unfreeze them."_

_"Elsa, you are a sorceress. You need help from no one when it comes to your power."_

_"Thank you Pabbie," Kristoff said, picking up Rumpelstiltskin again and tossing him like a sack of potatoes back on Sven's back._

_"No need to thank me." Pabbie nodded at Elsa. "Good luck Elsa."  
_

_Elsa let Kristoff help her on Sven's back as she watched Pabbie and the rest of the trolls curl up again to look like normal rocks. They slowly rolled away as Sven turned around and began galloping back to Arendelle._

* * *

_**(We only have each other) **_

Rumple had taken great care to avoid his son's grave for as long as he could, but he decided not to delay the introduction for much longer.

And so here he was, kneeling at Bae's final resting place, his knees growing cold and wet as they dug into the snow. He considered saying hello, but there was no one he'd be greeting. Bae wasn't here. Deep beneath the ground, there was only the silent, dead husk of his boy and nothing else.

So where was Bae really?

_"Right here Papa."_

Now Bae was an adult, wearing a black winter coat and casual jeans. He was studying the name written on his own grave.

_"Look Papa, they put my real name. Neal Cassidy. That's kind of cool, huh?"_

"Bae, what are you doing?" Rumple whispered.

_"What are you doing? You're the one who came here. Why? To torture yourself even more? You were already doing a great job with that even before you came here."_

"You're the one who keeps following me around when no one else is watching!" Rumple shut his eyes. Maybe if he just ignored him, he'd go away.

_"I know what you're trying to do, Papa. It'll never work. I'll always be with you. I'll always be haunting your thoughts, you're nightmares. I'm never going to leave, Papa. You know I won't."__  
_

When Rumple didn't respond, Bae continued.

_"It's funny. First you were a coward, then you were a monster, and now you're this. What _is_ this? It's pathetic, Papa, that's what it is. Look at what that witch reduced you to. After a little bit of being trapped in a cage, she broke you. Is that really all it would have took?__ A cage?"  
_

"It wasn't the cage," Rumple whispered. "It was you."

_"Me? You mean you. Because it's your fault I'm dead in the first place."_

"No it's not."

_"Papa, you need a reality check. Which is ironic, when you think about who's giving it to you. Like I said, you're pathetic. Especially now. You lose the people you love, over and over, mostly because of your own actions. You're frozen, Papa. Frozen in the same cycle, over and over again. No matter how hard you try, you'll never have your happy ending. So stop trying. You'll never get it."_

"Bae, stop."_  
_

_"Look at yourself. I mean, really look. You know what I see? A ghost. Someone that should have died three hundred years ago. Someone that should have lived a normal lifespan, safe and happy with his son. And if not, you should have just died and stayed in that vault. But you didn't, and now look at you. You're a ghost with a beating heart, Papa, and you're stuck in the same merry-go-round you've been in for your entire life."_

Rumple kept his eyes closed. He didn't want to look at Bae again. To look at his face and remember why he died.

_"And as you can see from what you did to Belle, the merry-go-round keeps turning. See you later, Papa. It looks like trouble's brewing back in town."_

Rumple opened his eyes after for what seemed like eternity, and to his great relief, Bae was gone. But when he turned to look in the direction of town, he saw a tunnel of light, swirling over the forest.

_Oh no._

"Are you saying that no one in Storybrooke has even heard of her?" Emma demanded, after everyone in the circle had pooled their results and had come to the conclusion that practically no one in Storybrooke had ever seen Anna.

"Is it possible the curse didn't pick her up?" Hook asked.

"The second curse should have," David said grimly.

"Calm down, there has to be an explanation," Snow said, while biting her lower lip.

"She must have left the Enchanted Forest somehow," Red pointed out. She was sitting next to a very depressed-looking Belle, who hadn't yet contributed to the conversation.

"How though? And why? And more importantly, how?" Emma asked, fingering the edge of one of the dozen 'missing' posters they had made.

"Hey!" Granny called from the counter, while staring out the window. "You might want to take a look of what's outside!"

In unison, they looked outside to see a swirling rainbow of light.

* * *

**_(It's just you and me)_**

The one thing Anna had learned from portal jumping was that it was fun only if one enjoyed free-falling though a swirl of nausea-inducing spinning colors and then hitting the ground so hard that it would definitely bruise in the morning.

In other words, she thought it was awesome.

Kristoff, however, could agree to disagree. He always looked a bit green afterwords, and the particular trip to the land without magic was no exception.

The four of them, including Will Scarlet and Sven, landed in a forest of pine trees that was dusted over with a heavy layer of snow. Sven immediately got up and began woozily wandering around in circles.

"We're here," Will said grimly.

Kristoff woozily staggered to his feet. "Great."

Anna stood up as well. "Which way do we go now?"

"I think I know where we are," Will said. He didn't look too happy with the thought. "Follow me."

His companions obeyed, even Sven, who had taken interest in a bundle of pine needles sticking out from the snow. The reindeer reluctantly trotted after them. Kristoff scratched behind his ears almost absent-mindedly.

"Where are we going?" Kristoff asked.

"The town," Will said simply. "There's a town near here. It's probably where your sister will be. In fact, I'd bet money on it."

Anna's heart suddenly hammered violently in her chest. Her sister. Was _here_. In this town. Will just bet money. On that fact.

At the thought of her sister, Anna's mind connected with the snow on the ground. Her heart sped even faster.

"Let's take Sven!" She said eagerly. "It'll be faster. Come on!"

"Can he take three people?" Will asked skeptically.

"He has before," Kristoff said matter-of-factly. "Hop on."

As the three climbed onto Sven's back, the reindeer gave a little grunt of exasperation.

"Oh don't be like that, you've carried three before!" Kristoff scolded. "Let's go."

Sven grunted again, and took off running, nearly sending his passengers flying off his back. They managed to regain their grips just in time for him to speed off in the direction of Storybrooke.

* * *

Elsa hadn't known what to think when a swirling tunnel of light had suddenly appeared among a grove of trees not that far away from her ice castle, but that didn't mean she wasn't going to investigate. Quickly, she turned from the balcony and headed down the stairs, through the icy downstairs, and into the winter wonderland that Storybrooke and the surrounding area had become.

The light seemed to had died down. Elsa wasn't sure if that was good or bad, but she was immediately put on defense. Her mind raced, trying to decide what to do now.

_The town,_ she decided. Someone in the town, probably Rumpelstiltskin, would know what that swirling light meant and if it was a threat. If it was, then Elsa knew she had better leave the forest to somewhere safer. Why not the town? She had control of her powers now. She had regained control.

Right?

* * *

"We need to stay away from it!" Hook snapped. "Remember what happened to Emma and I last time we went near a portal?!"

"Yeah, but who knows what came through?!" David told him, grabbing his jacket and pulling it on.

"What's going on?" Belle and Red were back, and both brunettes were looking at the group questioningly.

"We saw the light," Red added.

"Killian's right. We should stay away from it. Whatever came through is probably coming to visit us soon," Emma told him, obviously remembering her mistake with the portal.

David stopped and stared at her incredulously. "Killian? Since when do you call him Killian?"

"Um-" Grumpy was meanwhile gawking out the window. "Is that a reindeer?"

"What?" Emma asked, before checking the window herself.

Sure enough, a reindeer was galloping down Main Street, carrying three passengers. It slowed to a halt in front of the clock tower, and it's riders disembarked.

The Charming's, Belle, Hook, Granny, Red, Grumpy, and almost everyone else in the diner dashed outside and went to meet the riders. Even though no one recognized the two male riders, they immediately recognized the blue eyes and red braids of the female rider from the posters that they had put up all around town.

"You-" Snow stared. "Are you Anna?"

Anna stared at her, looking a little overwhelmed by the sudden attention that they were giving her and her companions. "Uh-yeah. Actually I am. Um...how did you know...?"

"We've been looking for you," Emma said, pushing her way to the front.

Anna eyed her suspiciously. "Okaaaaaaay...why?"

"Yeah, why?" One of the men, with shaggy blond hair, placed a protective hand on Anna's shoulder.

"Let's just say your sister's been asking for you," Emma said after a minute, not knowing how to put the fact.

"Sister?" Anna's eyes widened. "She's really here?"

"Yes. Blond hair, ice powers, right?"

"Yep." Anna swallowed. "That's her."

* * *

George, who was hiding behind Emma Swan's parked car, smirked gleefully once he recognized the red haired girl from the poster. Letting himself kneel down, he opened the briefcase holding the various home made bombs and smoke bombs he had simply stolen from Clark's store.

He took one of the bombs and set it underneath Swan's yellow bug.

* * *

"Do you know her?"

"Yeah." Emma nodded. "You could say that."

Anna's eyes flickered back and forth between Emma and the other members of the crowd, still looking slightly suspicious.

"Why don't you come inside?" Red offered. "Hear us out. Then we'll take you to your sister."

Anna hesitated for a minute. "All right."

"Great! Um, who are your friends?" Emma gestured to the men and the reindeer.

"Oh, um, this is Kristoff and Will. The reindeer's Sven."

Sven snorted as a way of greeting, and licked Grumpy's face.

"Ugh!" The dwarf's face crinkled in disgust as he wiped the reindeer drool off his face.

Anna seemed to relax a little, and her face broke out into a grin. "Aw, he likes you."

Without warning, the temperature suddenly dropped several degrees, and another voice suddenly spoke out from behind them.

"Anna?"

Everyone turned to see the Snow Queen standing at some distance away from them, staring wide-eyed at her sister. Anna visibly froze (pun not intended).

"Elsa?" She squeaked.

For a minute, all the the sisters could do was stand gawking at each other. Then Anna suddenly broke out of her daze, taking a few slow steps, before running over and throwing her arms around Elsa.

"Anna-" Elsa choked out, before Anna stepped back and glared at her.

"Where were you?" The redhead snapped. "Do you have any idea how worried I was?!"

"I-" Elsa's eyes fell down to the ground.

"Where were you?!" Anna repeated, tears broiling in her eyes. "You just disappeared, Elsa!"

"Where have you been?" Elsa asked weakly, taking note of the other girl's clothes, which were ragged and made out of animal skin.

"Everywhere! Looking for you!"

"What-"

"What, did you just expect me to stay at the castle instead of look for you?!" Anna snapped. "You just vanished, and you didn't come back! What was I supposed to do?!"

"Stay safe!" Elsa shouted.

"You left, didn't you? After what happened with Rumpelstiltskin-" Anna sighed angrily. "Why can't you just get it?"

"Get what?"

"You're not dangerous! Why can't you understand-" Anna stopped in mid-sentence. "Um, who's that?"

Elsa, and everyone else, turned around and saw George standing in the snow, with a certifiably insane grin on his face, holding what looked like a remote in his hand.

"You!" Red snapped, immediately getting into what she liked to call her kick-ass stance. It was only ruined by her wounded arm.

"Me." George's grin didn't fade.

"What are you doing here?" David said coolly, coming to stand in front of all of them.

"Ruining your life," George said simply, before pressing a button on the remote and both the diner and Emma's car exploded.

* * *

**_(What are we gonna do?)_**

Rumple was almost to the diner, his eyes on the crowd of people that were standing in front of it, when the explosions suddenly sent his car skidding. Fumbling at the wheel, Rumple barely managed to get his car under control before it could smash into a lamp post.

_Belle,_ was his only thought, before he grabbed his cane and got out of the car.

Through the fires that burned on despite the cold air, Rumple could make out Snow, a man whose name he couldn't remember, and Red lying on the ground, Belle and Emma kneeling next to them, George and David standing face-to-face, and Elsa, Anna, and Kristoff struggling to their feet.

Wait. Elsa, Anna, _and_ Kristoff?

_Looks like they found Anna,_ Rumple thought grimly, taking a step forward.

Another blast from behind him sent him to his feet and the remains of Emma's Bug into the air. Rumple ducked as the car flew over his head and crashed in front of him.

His ears ringing and the world spinning, Rumple attempted to get to his feet, but the world suddenly swooped and he stumbled onto his hands and knees. The cold snow on the ground stung his hands. Shakily, he crawled out from behind the car and towards the scene of mayhem. He attempted to conjure a fireball, but his dizziness prevented him from doing so.

Ice was swirling around Elsa, ready to fly from her fingertips and towards George, who was currently getting yelled at by David.

"What do you want?" David shouted. There was a gash over his left eye, and his jacket was covered with snow.

"Oh don't worry," George sneered. "I'm just here to pick something up. But trust me, you won't have a happy ending."

He then threw down some little round things that from the distance looked like marbles, but when they hit the ground, they exploded into smoke that spread out and covered everyone.

Rumple crawled faster. He heard a scream, yelling, and then, Elsa's shriek of anger suddenly made everyone else go silent.

"Get away from her!" Elsa's voice screamed, and then bolts of ice suddenly shot out from multiple directions. Something in his stomach sank, because something told Rumple that something had happened to Anna and Elsa was now blindly shooting ice in multiple directions. Any fool could tell that that was a bad idea, but Elsa was desperate. Nevertheless, she wasn't going to be able to help Anna in time, and Rumple knew he probably wasn't going to get a chance to either. Hopefully, Swan or Charming would trip George or something.

His thoughts were cut off abruptly when one of Elsa's ice bolts suddenly flew towards his direction. For a split second, he scrambled to get out of the way, but it was too late. The ice made impact, and knocked him to the ground.

* * *

It took a while for the smoke to clear, but until it did, Emma was stumbling blindly around in it. When it had dispersed, George was gone.

And so was Anna.

"He took her!" Elsa sobbed. "It's all my fault!" She had collapsed to her knees, tears trickling down her face. Kristoff was kneeling next to her, and so was Sven.

"We'll find her," Kristoff said grimly.

"Kristoff?" Elsa blinked up at him. "What are you doing here?"

"Rumple?" Belle suddenly said.

The name got Emma's attention, and she saw the man staggering dazedly to his feet, clutching his chest. Her eyes couldn't help but narrow despite everything that had happened.

"What are you doing here?" Red snapped.

"I saw the light show, so I came down to see what the hell was going on," Rumple said sarcastically. "Although now I see we have more problems then that at the moment."

"George took Anna," Snow said woozily, sitting up. David kneeled next her, taking her hand.

"I can see that dearie," Rumple glanced towards a distraught Elsa, then glanced up at the sky. Emma followed his lead unknowingly and reliazed that it was starting to snow.

"Elsa, dearie, calm down." Rumple walked over to her and crouched down next her, wincing slightly because of his leg.

"Why would he take her?" Elsa moaned, wiping her eyes.

"Good question," David said, while helping a dizzy Snow to her feet. "Especially when he wants to exact his vengeance on me."

"I'm guessing he knew about our deal," Rumple said grimly. "Find Anna, and you stop the snow. If we don't, then we're stuck in an eternal winter. How he knew, I have no idea. The first step in defeating him is to thaw Storybrooke." He looked expectantly at Elsa. "That's your cue dearie."

Elsa stared at him wide-eyed. "What?"

"Fix this winter," He said simply.

"But-I can't. You know I can't. I don't know how."

Rumple took a deep breath. "Then how were you going to thaw out Storybrooke if George had not been involved with this equation?"

"I don't know," Elsa looked like she was about to start crying again.

Rumple looked like he was about to blow an artery. Emma watched him slowly take deep breaths before speaking again.

"Elsa, you have to thaw out the winter."

"Just put me back in the jar! That's what stopped it last time, didn't it?" Elsa asked hopefully.

"Not this time dearie."

"But-"

"No. Not again. There are better ways to learn how to control your powers. You just have to focus-"

"This never would have happened if you had just kept me in that jar!" Elsa suddenly exploded. The snow began to fall at a faster rate. "We made a deal!"

"I didn't open that jar, for your information! Your jar was lost in the curse! The only thing that brought you back was Swan and the pirate going back in time in order to bring your jar here for you! You should be grateful, dearie. You were given a second chance to learn how to control your powers. Use it." The last two words he spat angrily, and Elsa looked a little taken back.

A minute of silence followed his words. Emma saw Elsa swallow softly.

"I'll try," She said quietly.

"Good," Rumple sighed. "You can do it. Trust me on that. As you do that, we'll find Anna."

"Again," Emma muttered.

"How are we going to do that?" Hook asked impatiently.

"Well, at least we actually know she's in Storybrooke this time. We'll just search high and low." David said determinedly. "Find out what George is up to."

"I'll go with you," Elsa said, getting to her feet.

"Keep trying," Rumple reminded her.

"I know."

Rumple looked like he was about to say something else, but winced suddenly, pressing his hand to his chest.

"Are you okay?" Kristoff asked.

"Fine." Rumple muttered. "Do you, by any chance, have anything of Anna's?"

"Actually..." Kristoff went for his knapsack hanging around his waist, and pulled out a small shard of glass. "She um-uses it as a mirror. She gave it to me before we transported here because she didn't want it to break."

"Perfect." Rumple held out his hand, and Kristoff hesitantly gave it to him. "I don't have any more tracking spells at my shop, so I'll have to brew one from scratch." Emma saw his eyes flicker to Belle hesitantly, and his wife immediately looked away. Dejected, Rumple turned around and walked back to his car without another word.

"Where are you going?" David snapped suspiciously.

"Back to my house. One of the ingredients to the tracking spell is there. I don't have it in my shop. I'll call you when the spell's ready." Rumple opened his car door and got in.

"Hold on," Emma interjected, stalking up to the driver's side window and glaring at him through it. Rumple rolled down the window. "Why are you so helpful all of a sudden?"

"Because I don't want to be stuck in eternal winter, just like the rest of you. If getting Anna back will prevent that, then I will gladly do what I need to do." Rumple rolled out the window, perhaps to drown out any remaining arguments Emma might have. She caught him glancing over at Belle again, and this time, the Beauty held his gaze. For a minute, they stared at each other before Rumple eventually broke his gaze and drove away.

"Now what do we do?" Red asked, holding her wounded arm at her side. The blast from the bombs probably hadn't done it much good.

"Get the rest of the dwarves," David ordered Grumpy, who nodded. "Until Rumpelstiltskin makes that spell, we're going to be searching."

"I'll be helping too," Kristoff announced. "Ow!" Sven had nudged him in the back of the head and was giving him a pointed look. "And so will Sven."

"I will too," The other man that had accompanied Anna and Kristoff said. He had a nasty-looking cut over his right eye, but otherwise looked fine.

"Sorry, I didn't catch your name," David said politely.

"Will Scarlet. Knave of Hearts."

"I'm David, this is my wife Snow and my daughter Emma, and our friends, Red, Grumpy, Hook, and Belle."

"Nice to meet you all," Will replied. "And I'm assuming we're off to find the princess?"

"Yep." Emma cast a look at her destroyed car. She clenched her teeth together angrily. That bastard was going to pay.

* * *

As he drove, Rumple realized he was getting colder and colder by the minute. He switched on his car's heater, but that did little to help.

He really hoped that Elsa's ice blast hadn't caused much harm. Having never met anyone whose heart had been frozen, Rumple wasn't sure how the 'frozen heart' process worked. Did it happen instantaneously, or did it happen slowly, over time? If it happened slowly, then he could deal with it later. There were more important things happening. Hell, maybe he didn't have a frozen heart. Maybe he was fine. Yes, he was probably fine. If Elsa's ice blast had hit his heart, surely he would have noticed some sort of side effect by now.

Surely.

Rumple's car pulled into his driveway. As he got out, he realized that the snow was coming down faster and thicker.

_Dammit Elsa,_ he thought in frustration. _Is it really that hard to figure out?_

Apparently so. Sighing, he hobbled towards the front door. He had lost his cane in the explosion, but he was fine without it at the moment. He had extras in his bedroom, he'd just pick one up after he got what he needed for the tracking spell.

When he got to his front door, however, he noticed that it was wide open, and the lock was broken. He immediately felt anger coil in the bottom of his stomach, and knew the intruder was going to pay.

He took a few steps inside, and entered his living room. Immediately, he saw Anna, her wrists tied and her mouth gagged, sitting on the sofa glaring at a silver-haired figure rummaging through Rumple's foot locker.

"Knock knock, dearie," Rumple called, and George immediately whipped around, his face tight with fear.

"You-" George's hand went to the gun at his side. "What are you doing here?"

"Retrieving a neccesary item," Rumple said coolly. "Let me guess-you're searching for my dagger. Don't worry, everyone seems to want it these days."

"You're not supposed to be here," George snarled, as if he was a toddler on the verge of throwing a tantrum. Rumple took a second to wonder how sane George was these days. He didn't seem or act quite like the king he was back in the Enchanted Forest. The look in his eyes was almost disturbing. If his sanity really was off, then that would make him a lot more dangerous than usual.

But not by much.

"Where's the dagger?" George shouted angrily.

"I'll be asking the questions here, thank you very much." Rumple replied. He held out his hand, ready for it to ignite and for the flames to burn the king to a crisp.

Instead, his fingers only spluttered with only small flickers of flame, and then went out.

George and Anna stared at him questioningly.

Rumple tried again _(Fire, dammit, I want fire) _but this time, no flames appeared at all.

He heard Anna let out a muffled gasp.

"'Ure air!" She shouted, her words distorted through the gag. "Ure air!"

_Your hair..._

Rumple immediately glanced in the mirror hanging above the couch just to see a shock of white, remarkably identical to Anna's appear through his hair.

_Oh no._

Guess Elsa's ice bolt had hit his heart after all.

Slowly, he turned back towards to George, heart hammering. A cruel smile had suddenly spread across the older man's face.

"Well well," George said, grinning from ear to ear. "A powerless Dark One? This may be my lucky day."

The gun immediately came out and was pointed at him.

"Now,' George said calmly. "You're going to sit down next to Miss Anna over there. I'm going to tie you up. If you try to refuse, I'll shoot you. Understood?"

Rumple was so tempting to uppercut George in the nose, but knew that that was an extremely terrible idea. So he walked over, sat down next to Anna, and let George bind his hands and take his cell phone, all while fantasizing taking his dagger and stabbing George multiple times in the neck.

"Now," George said calmly, picking up Rumpelstiltskin's cell phone. "Why don't we give my ward a call and let him know I have two hostages that I'd be happy to kill if he doesn't give in to my demands?"

* * *

**_(Do you wanna build a snowman?)_**

* * *

**A/N-Yes, I sacrificed Emma's car. It had to happen. I hope no one's mad at me. Please review and let me know what you think.**


	5. Thaw

**A/N-Wow..hehe...this is totally not late. But come on. Look at this thing! 13,000 words!**

**Sorry to anyone kept waiting. I was planning to finish this at least way before the mid-season finale ended, buuuut life happens. Yeah.**

**Okay, going to get into a little rant here. Feel free to skip. I really, really hate how Rumple's turning out this season. Just freaking hate it. What happened to all that character development?! It's like it all went out the window! I mean, there might be some room for redemption, but he seriously has a lot of explaining to do. I mean, this is one of the instances where you want to go into the TV and strangle a character for being stupid/evil/totally making you insane. Then again, I guess it's not really that OOC for Rumple, but like I said, all that character development is now out the window and flying circles around the sun.**

**Okay, now done with rant. I will let anybody who's still paying attention read. When your done, feel free to leave a final review if you like it, if not, well, you can leave a review anyway. I don't really care.**

**Thanks for reading!**

**Part 5-Thaw**

_**(Hyup! Ho! Watch your step! Let it go!)**_

_After visiting the trolls, Elsa stayed in her room all day, ignoring Anna's questions and pleas to come out. She thought she overheard Kristoff quietly filling Anna in, but made no attempt to contribute to the conversation. Instead, she let no one in her room. _

_She kept replaying the night's events in her head, one fact in particular playing over and over in her head._

My magic is powerful enough to take out Rumpelstiltskin.

_It scared her. No, it didn't just scared her-it absolutely terrified her. She could have killed the Dark One. She had the power to do it. If she could do that, what else could she do?_

Be the good girl, you always have to be.

_She couldn't even stop her own storms. For all she knew, they were still ravaging the kingdoms, taking more and more innocent lives._

Make one wrong move-

_She had to fix this somehow. The power inside her-how could she possibly control it? How could she possible protect Anna while she was inhabiting strong magic she couldn't quite control?_

_Elsa was so deep into her thoughts that she didn't even notice the ice spreading underneath her feet, freezing everything in the room._

Conceal, don't feel.

Don't let them know.

_She had to do something. Before she hurt someone (Anna)._

* * *

**_(Hyup! Ho! Watch your step! Let it go!)_**

Regina got the call just as she had left the hospital, the potion that she and Sydney had brewed tucked safely in her purse. Immediately, she left to her car, cursing. This is the kind of thing that happened when she turned her back on everyone for less than a day!

Unfortunately, she had just started the car when she realized that she had an annoying little stowaway.

"Hi!" Olaf popped out from the backseat, making her jump in her seat so high that she nearly reeled forward into the dashboard. "How are you doing?"

Taking a deep breath in annoyance, Regina turned around to glare at the snowman.

"What the hell are doing here?" Regina snapped.

Immediately, Olaf looked stricken. She started to regret her tone when Olaf started sniffling, and little drops of snow began to appear in his coal eyes.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry, you just startled me is all. Um-" Olaf sniffed again, but he still didn't look that happy. In a desperate attempt to appease him, Regina held out her arms awkwardly. "Um-hug? You like hugs, right? Will that get you to shut up?"

Olaf immediately beamed, and wrapped his little stick arms around her tightly.

"Okay, okay, that's enough." Regina pried him off of her and plopped him in the passenger seat. "What are you doing here?"

"I was exploring Storybrooke!" Olaf said excitedly. "I love it here! So quaint...but I realized I couldn't find anyone, so I went around looking for people that I recognized, and I saw you driving, so I followed you here. But you were already inside the building when I got here, so I decided to wait in here for you!"

Regina sighed. "Well, I'm going back to town. There's been a bit of a mishap with Elsa and her sister."

"Did they find Anna?" Olaf asked, his face immediately contorting into childlike joy. "I missed her soooooo much!"

Regina bit her lower lip. "I'll explain on the way there-" She stopped when she realized that the snow outside was beginning to fall, and it was falling hard. "We better hurry though."

* * *

"What did I miss?" Robin asked as he burst through the diner.

"Daddy!" Roland, who had been brought in from the guest rooms, immediately ran over for a hug.

"Hi Roland." Robin returned his son's hug and glanced over at the assembled Charmings, dwarves, werewolves, Belle, and Hook.

"Quite a lot," Snow said, then set off explaining what had happened with George, and the two sisters from Arendelle.

"They took her." Robin suddenly noticed the blond-haired woman that was hunched over in the corner booth, her face tight with misery. Sitting across from Elsa was a rugged man in animal furs, as well as-

"Will?" Robin asked in disbelief. "Is that you?"

Will Scarlet blinked up at him, holding an ice pack over the left side of his face. "Robin Hood?"

Robin grinned, making his way over to him. "Been a while! How are things with Anastasia?"

Will winced at the mention of his lover. "Um...interesting."

"What happened?" Robin asked, frowning.

"It's a long story. But right now, things are going all right. I guess."

"Have you heard from Regina?" Emma suddenly asked, breaking up the conversation almost immediately.

"Not yet." Robin's frown grew deeper. "Have you?"

"We called her. She said she was on her way. That was twenty minutes ago. Where did she go?"

"She said she was going to go chew out Rumpelstiltskin," Robin said, glancing over at Belle as he said this. Belle gave him a tight smile.

"Speaking of Rumpelstiltskin, he should have been back by now," Granny said, glancing out the window at the snow, which was starting to fall harder and harder.

"By the way, um, Elsa?" Emma said, following the other woman's gaze towards the mini-storm outside.

"I know," Elsa murmured, not even having to look out the window to see all the snow. "I'm sorry."

"It's all right honey, just take your time," Granny said encouragingly.

"What are we waiting on Rumpelstiltskin for?" Robin asked.

"He's getting an ingredient for a tracking spell," Will said, and held his ice pack out to Elsa. "Um, do you mind refreezing this?"

"Sure." With a single touch, Elsa's ice re-chilled the slightly thawed ice pack. Will took it back and held it back to his bruised and scarred face.

"Thanks," He said.

David's phone suddenly rang. He checked the caller ID, and frowned.

"Who's calling?" Snow asked.

"Rumpelstiltskin." David answered it, and held it to his ear. "Hello?"

"Is he all right?" Belle asked, looking slightly worried despite herself.

_"Put me on speaker, or I won't continue."_

"George," David snapped, immediately getting the attention of everyone in the room.

"What's he saying?" Elsa asked, her eyes narrowing.

_"Put me on speaker right now," _George hissed.

David's eyes narrowed as he complied. "Okay, you're on speaker. What do you want?"

* * *

**_(Beautiful!)_**

"You'll never guess how I got the Dark One's phone," George hissed, smirking at the tied-up Rumpelstiltskin and Anna, who were both glaring daggers at him.

A pause on the other end.

"Here, I'll have him tell you." George held out the phone, which had also been put on speaker, out to Rumple. "Go on. Tell them."

Rumple by then had had more than enough, and decided to respond appropriately by biting into George's hand.

In his defense, the crazy king was totally asking for it.

* * *

**_(Powerful!)_**

_"AGH! GET OFF OR I'LL SHOOT YOU!"_

The screaming suddenly ceased into cursing, and Belle, Hook, and Robin all winced despite themselves.

"That's Rumpelstiltskin all right," Emma muttered. "Dammit."

* * *

**_(Dangerous!)_**

George glared furiously at Rumple, who was silently congratulating himself while spitting out little gobs of George's blood. Ugh. It was disgusting. Anna meanwhile, was giggling into the gag, thoroughly enjoying the spectacle.

Both of them were silenced when George suddenly responded by landing a sharp kick into Rumple's leg, and the sorceror cried out.

* * *

**_(Cold!)_**

The cry echoed into the phone, and Belle tensed in shock.

_"Now," _George's tone was cold. _"It's simple. I will meet David at the clock tower in twenty minutes exactly. He and Madame Mayor will sign the entire town over to me. I already would have gotten Rumpelstiltskin's signature by then."_

_"Don't hold your breath dearie-AGH!"_

At Rumple's snark, George must have landed another kick or punch on him, due to his sudden yelp.

_"Shut up. If David and the Queen comply, then I will let both Miss Anna and Rumpelstiltskin free. If they do not, they will be killed. Although the Dark One seems to be on the brink of death himself..."_

"What?!" Belle and Elsa both exclaimed.

_"Don't believe him-OW!"_

_"I should gag you! Now shut up! Clock tower in twenty minutes David. Bring your family, the Ice Queen and the Dark One's little beauty along with you. Be prepared to sign over the town. I hope that you'll comply."_

"Anna!" Elsa shouted, right before the line went dead.

* * *

**_(Ice has a magic)_**

Rumple shivered as more of his hair suddenly turned bright white. George stared at him in fascination.

"Interesting...what ailment has poisoned you, Rumpelstiltskin?"

"**** you," Rumple said, gritting his teeth. He shivered again, growing colder and colder as ice continued to take over his heart.

"Anyway..." George produced several papers from his pockets and displayed them for Rumple and Anna to see. "Know what these are?"

"The deeds to the town," Rumple growled. "You stole them, I assume. I'm not signing."

"You don't need to." George whipped out a pen, and scrawled almost an exact replica of Rumple's signature on the paper.

Dread settled in Rumple's stomach. "How did you-"

"I was a lawyer in a past life, as you recall. I've seen your signature on many land deeds. I know exactly what it looks like." George neatly folded up the papers and replaced them in his pocket. "Now I'm off to kill Prince Charming."

"And leave us here?" Rumple asked sarcastically.

"Yes. Leave you here to die." George walked over with ease and opened all of the windows, letting the freezing cold air in.

Rumple immediately began shivering violently when he felt the cold wind hit him. Anna began shivering too.

"I'll turn on the air conditioner too. The more cold, the faster you two will freeze to death. I assume you'll go first." George pointed at Rumple. "You, Princess, will take a little longer. But I fully intend to keep your friends distracted for as long as it takes."

"What exactly, do you hope to accomplish through all of this?" Rumple snarled.

"Simple. The Ice Queen will be so disraught by her sister's death that this town will be frozen forever. You on the other hand, are a powerful enemy. I really don't want to deal with you in the future. Right after I'm given the town, then I'll kill David, and maybe take his wife as my own." George grinned wickedly.

"What is this, the Dark Ages? We're not in the Enchanted Forest anymore George. And besides, they'll never let you win. Even if Anna and I die, you'll be done for if the Charming's have anything to say ab-about i-i-it." Rumple's teeth were beginning to chatter as more of his hair turned white.

George grinned. "They won't put up a fight if an innocent life is at stake. Not yours of course, put the princess's."

"You u-un-underestimate them. I-I-I did-didn't think you-you-you'd m-m-make that m-m-mistake ag-ag-again."

George's eyes narrowed. "Have a nice stay in hell, Dark One."

"I'll s-s-s-see you t-there." Rumple spat.

George turned around and stalked out of the room. Both Anna and Rumple attempted to lunge at him. Anna managed to make it all the way to the front door just as it closed and locked, but before he had barely gotten three feet, Rumple felt himself give a great shudder as the cold overtook him suddenly and he toppled to the ground shivering. His hair was now completely white.

* * *

**_(Can't be controlled)_**

"He must be crazy if he thinks we're going to give him the town this easily," Emma spat.

"We have to be careful though," Snow said, her eyebrows tied tight in a worried arc. "He has Anna and Rumpelstiltskin."

"How did he manage to kidnap Rumple?" Belle demanded. "I doubt he managed to get the dagger."

"I don't know," David said, running an anxious hand through his hair.

"We need to find them," Elsa said determinedly. "They can't be far."

"We can't go and look for them, we literally have fifteen minutes! He requested all of our presences!" Red pointed out.

"What would he do?" Robin asked grimly. "Blow them up from a distance? He can't do that." He paused. "Can he?"

"Maybe," David said slowly. "He's unpredictable at this point.

At that moment, the bell jingled, and Regina walked in, Olaf in tow.

"Hi guys!" Olaf said, though he seemed a lot less cheerful than usual. "Anna hasn't really been kidnapped, has she?" He waddled over to Elsa and wrapped his arms around her protectively. Elsa absent-mindedly patted him on the head.

"Along with Rumple," Belle murmured.

"What?" Regina exclaimed. "What else did I miss?! Fill me in right now."

* * *

**_(Stronger than one! Stronger than ten!)_**

_Standing in front of the Dark One's castle wasn't as terrifying as last time, which was ironic if you compared the circumstances of this visit to the last one._

_Elsa tapped on Rumpelstiltskin's door gently. When that got no response, she decided just to sent a wave of ice at the thick wood. Slowly, the wood splintered and crumbled to the ground and Elsa took that as her cue to come in._

_So far, the castle was abandoned. As Elsa wandered the halls she had used as her training grounds not so long ago, she evaluated what she was about to do, tried to find any flaws in her plan (admittedly, there was a lot) and decided there was no going back now. She had already busted down his door. He was going to be even more angry with her now._

_Without warning, the carpet underneath her feet suddenly twisted and arched, sending her flying. With a gasp, she fell to the ground, only to be caught by the rug, which rolled tightly around her and trapping her inside._

_"You've made a terrible mistake dearie," A familiar high-pitched voice hissed. _

_"It was an accident," Elsa said lamely as the imp came sauntering up in front of her and glared down at her. _

_"Well, why have you come? You know I'm just going to kill you."_

_"I was hoping you'd reconsider."_

_"And why on earth would I do that?" Rumpelstiltskin snarled._

_"Well, you like making deals don't you? I have a deal for you."_

_He glared at her. "You have ten seconds to explain. Go."_

_"In return for you unfreezing the kingdoms and keeping my sister safe, I'll do whatever you ask. I'll-I'll be your servant, or-"_

_"I already have a maid dearie. I don't need another one."_

_"Well-Then how about I do you a favor? If-"_

_"Sorry dearie, I already have several people to run errands for me. Is that all you can offer? Or should I just kill you?"_

_Elsa felt her throat begin to lump up. "Please. I'll do anything as long as you protect my sister."_

_"From what? You still haven't explained that dearie."_

_"From me!"_

_Elsa let a sob escape from her throat, but fought back any more tears. She was already tied up via rug and lying in front of the devil himself. Tears would just make everything worse, both for her situation and her dignity._

_Rumpelstiltskin regarded her carefully. The anger in his eyes dimmed slightly, but not by much.  
_

_"Stop sniveling," He said after a minute._

_"I did." Elsa sniffed again._

_"Look dearie, your constant angst is starting to annoy me. You're not dangerous in any way whatsoever. Why the hell are your going on and on that you are?" Elsa opened her mouth to respond, but he cut her off again with a wave of his hand. "Actually, I don't care. Please, just shut up about it and get on with this conversation."_

_Elsa swallowed down another lump in her throat. "Look, do what you want with me. Just give me your word that you'll protect Anna."_

_Rumpelstiltskin again studied her for a minute. From her angle, she could see the white streak curled around the back of his neck._

_"Tell you what," He said after a while. "I won't kill you. I'll just lock you up."_

_"What?" Elsa asked lamely. _

_With a snap of his finger, Rumpelstiltskin produced a silver jar from the neat puff of smoke that appeared in his hand. _

_"I'll lock you up in this. for the next several years or so, you'll be my own genie in a bottle. When I call on you, you'll do as I say. In return, Anna will be kept safe." He grinned at her wickedly. "How does that sound dearie? It's not like you have a choice. Ha!"_

_He was right. She didn't have a choice. Not anymore.  
_

_Elsa stared at the jar for a minute. Was this what the rest of her life looked like? Spending it cooped up in a jar?_

At least you won't be able to hurt anyone,_ the small, quiet voice in her head said. _If you can take out Rumpelstiltskin himself, then who knows what you can do? Better stay locked up.

_"Okay."_

_That clearly wasn't the reaction Rumpelstiltskin was expecting. He stared at her for a minute. "What? You're-fine with it?"_

_"I_ suppose_ so." Elsa couldn't take her eyes off the jar, which was, in a nutshell, her future._

_Rumpelstiltskin sighed. "All right, I'm done. No more angst. I'm putting you in here, and I'm not letting you out."_

I'm fine with that.

_"Just keep Anna safe," Elsa said softly.  
_

_"Right..." Rumpelstiltskin muttered. With that, he opened the jar, and silver tendrils of mist began to crawl out and envelop her._

_Elsa felt herself dissolve, and it was a strange feeling. The world around her slowly faded away, and the last thing she saw was Rumpelstiltskin's grinning face._

_Then she was lying in a small, bare room. The walls were the same color as the jar._

_This was it. She was alone. _

_Surprisingly, she was still fine with it._

_Elsa sat up, slowly, and sat cross-legged. The image of Anna's face flashed in front of her eyes, and suddenly, Elsa began to feel her eyes grow moist with wet, hot tears._

No. You're doing what was best for her.

_Elsa wiped away the tears, and stared uselessly at her hands. What to do for the rest of eternity? With no one around to talk to?__  
_

Don't cry. Don't cry. You're doing the right thing.

_To distract herself, she opened her palm and a flurry of snowflakes appeared from her fingers. The temperature in the room dropped considerably, but Elsa barely noticed._

_After all, the cold never bothered her._

* * *

**_(Stronger than hundred men!)_**

Anna had managed to shake the gag off her mouth, but her wrists remained bound. Anger was coiling in her stomach as she helplessly heard George bar the front door.

"No!" Anna proceeded in slamming her body over and over into the door, as George's silhouette, viewable from the windows, walked away and soon dissapearred in the snowy haze. "Don't you dare leave us here you son of a bitch!"

"It's no use," Came the view voice behind her.

Anna turned around to face Rumpelstiltskin, and regarded him in contempt. He was a lot scaly looking, sure, and he was kneeled on the ground pathetically, shivering and pale, but he was still that man who took her sister.

"I'm not giving up! I'm getting out of here somehow, and I'm going to find my sister, whom _you _stole from me!" Anna made sure to shoot a glare at him.

Rumpelstiltskin winced. "What happened with you sister happened a long time ago."

"Oh, and I assume you're going to go on and on about how you're a changed man!" Anna glared at him.

"No," He admitted. "Because in all honesty, I'm not sure how true that is."

"Damn right!" Anna angrily kicked the door, almost losing her balance with her hands tied. "She froze your heart, didn't she?"

"Yes," Rumpelstiltskin admitted.

"Well that's just great. Right when we need an all-powerful sorceror, it turns out he's completely useless."

"Dearie, what's just as useless is you kicking that door. It's made out of thick mahagony. It would be quite difficult to kick through it."

"I am not in the mood for your sass mister!" Anna snapped.

"Here." Rumpelstiltskin held up his bound, shaking hands in front of him. "I'll untie you. And you can, I don't know, break a window or something."

"Don't even come near me." Anna narrowed her eyes at him.

"Listen..." Rumpelstiltskin took a deep, shaking breath. "I-un-understand why you're-you're upset. B-b-but this is g-g-getting us n-n-nowhere, you r-r-realize that, d-don't you?"

Anna regarded him in such cold contempt that it even surprised her.

_Let him untie you,_ some rational voice in her head said. _You can do more with your hands untied._

"Fine." Anna went over and held out her bound hands in front of his own. Rumpelstiltskin slowly began to unravel the knots around her wrists, his fingers trembling violently. It took him a while to undo the ropes, and as soon as they slid off her wrists, Anna was immediately up and back to pounding at the door.

"I already t-t-told you that wouldn't help," Rumpelstiltskin muttered.

"I don't care! We have to help them!"

Silence. It took her a minute to realize what she just said.

"I mean, me! Me, uh-I have to help them! You can just do whatever!"

"I'm d-dying dearie," Rumpelstiltskin said flatly. "I doubt I'll be m-much help."

Anna took several deep breaths. A feeling of hopelessness settled onto her as she slowly stopped beating the door and instead rested her forehead on it's smooth, polished surface.

"I came all this way for nothing," Anna said softly. The coldness of the room was starting to set in, and she felt herself beginning to shiver. "I spent so long trying to find my sister...for nothing. And now we're going to die."

"I m-m-might," Rumpelstiltskin agreed. "B-but you might not."

"Will you just shut up?!" Anna whipped around, glaring at him. "You took my sister from me! I don't care if you die!"

Another pause. Rumpelstiltskin, despite being in his weakened state, stared at her in cool calculation.

"I know you don't mean that," He said quietly.

Anna let out a moan. "I know. I know. But I do, and just...don't you have any idea what you did?!"

"Trust me, I d-do," Rumpelstiltskin replied. He gave a shudder, as frost began to curl around his face.

"Urgh!" Anna stomped over to the other rooms and began searching for a blanket. When she found one, she stomped back over and tossed it at the man, hating herself for doing it. "Cover up with this!"

Rumpelstiltskin complied without complaint. His shivering subsided slightly.

"If I s-said I was s-s-sorry would you believe me?" He murmured.

"No." Anna immediately snapped.

"Would you f-forgive me?"

"It'd take a whole lot of begging and groveling to get me to forgive you." Anna began to pace. "And I don't have time for that. I need to find a way to escape."

"Have you e-ever though about breaking a window?" Rumpelstiltskin asked sarcastically.

Anna paused. Immediately, she felt like the dumbest idiot on earth.

"Good idea." Another thought occurred to her. "Wait. George would probably expect that."

"S-so you think he booby-trapped th-the windows?" Rumpelstiltskin asked, the sarcasm evident in his voice.

"I'm just saying? Isn't that too easy? Why would he-"

"I-I'm n-n-not sure if you've noticed dearie, but George is a li-little mentally off," Rumpelstiltskin grumbled. "In his mind, everything sh-should go his way. He's been through a lot of frustration n-not to think otherwise."

Anna stared at him for a minute. "How would you know?"

"L-let's just say I kn-know a thing or two about i-insanity," Rumpelstiltskin said, without a trace of emotion in his voice.

Another pause.

"O-kay," Anna said slowly. "Is there anything I can use to break the window?"

"Be creative," Rumpelstiltskin said wryly. "A-and if you c-c-can find another bl-blanket that w-would be f-f-fantastic."

Anna sighed. "All right." She walked around for a minute, looking for something to break the window. Finally, she came across the gold-tipped cane Rumpelstiltskin had been carrying originally, and mentally smacked herself for not thinking of using it earlier. She picked it up, and Rumpelstiltskin watched her silently as she gripped it like a baseball bat, and swung with all her might.

When it hit the glass, it only cracked slightly. She had to swing the thing a few more times before the glass finally shattered. Immediately, a rush of cold air swept into the room, reducing the temperature even more than before. Rumpelstiltskin continued to shiver.

"Do you know where Elsa would be?" Anna asked, dropping the cane to the floor.

"Yes," Rumpelstiltskin replied.

"Well," Anna pointed an accusing finger at him. "If you want me to forgive you, you're taking me there."

"F-f-fine, dearie," Rumpelstiltskin said dryly. "B-b-but who s-s-said I w-w-wanted y-y-your f-f-f-forgiveness?"

Anna glared at him. "Look, do you want to escape or not?"

"I'm d-d-d-dying d-d-dearie. Th-th-there's n-n-not m-mu-much for m-m-me to d-d-do, o-or w-w-want."

Anna sighed. "Right. The frozen heart thing. Only an act of true love can thaw your heart, right?"

Rumpelstiltskin nodded.

"Well, isn't that a dilemma." Anna knew that was kind of cruel, but she knew it was probably true. "Is there anyone who loves you?"

Rumpelstiltskin fixed a blank stare at an empty space aside from her. "N-n-not anym-m-more."

That wasn't the answer she expected.

"Anymore?" She asked after a moment's hesitation.

"My w-w-wife," He said shortly. "And my s-s-s-son."

"You have a son? And a _wife_?" Anna was incredulous. "Was this before, during, or after the green skin thing?"

He narrowed his eyes at her, obviously growing annoyed.

"L-long st-st-story," He grumbled. "Are w-w-we g-g-going or n-n-not?"

"Uh." The new piece of information was still taking a while to set in. "Sure. Uh-need help?"

Rumpelstiltskin wordlessly glared at her, making Anna feel a bit indignant. He was the one who brought up his supposed wife and son, not her! Nevertheless, she gave him her arm and helped him move towards the broken window, ready to climb through it.

**_(Born of cold and winter air and mountain rain combining)_**

* * *

_Anna was in a panic._

_Elsa hadn't come home in almost two days. Well, technically, Anna hadn't seen her in two days, because as soon as she and Kristoff had returned from the trolls (excluding her involvement, which Anna was still a little upset about), Elsa had shut herself in her room and refused to come out. _

_That day, Anna had decided to just go in anyway, and had entered to an empty room._

_Elsa was gone._

_"Where could she have gone?" Anna demanded, pacing up and down the palace halls. She had sent guards everywhere, and they had both came back in the evening reporting no sign of their Snow Queen._

_"I don't know," Kristoff responded. His eyebrows were drawn down in the center of his forehead. Elsa's disappearance troubled him too. Anna could tell just by looking at her. "She'll turn up. She has to."_

_"What if she doesn't?" Anna cried, whipping around to face him. "Come on, think. Where else could she have gone?"_

_"I dunno-" Kristoff stopped suddenly. "Oh no."_

_"What?" Anna asked sharply._

_Kristoff swallowed. "I just thought of something. Or someone. Dammit. Oh goddammit, no."_

_"What?" Anna snapped anxiously._

_"Rumpelstiltskin," Kristoff said weakly. _

_Silence. An intense horror began to grow inside on Anna's stomach, clenching it so tightly she thought she might throw up._

_"No," She croaked. "He wouldn't. She saved him-"_

_"Rumpelstiltskin doesn't work that way." Kristoff said, fists clenched. "If someone hurts him, they pay."_

_Without another word, Anna turned around and ran, arms and legs pumping, braids flying behind her until she reached the royal stables. Ignoring the stableboys' questions, she climbed onto the nearest horse, yelled a 'hyah!' and kicked as hard as she could. The horse took off riding, bursting through the stables and was off riding to it's destination._

_Before she knew it, Anna burst into Rumpelstiltskin's castle. There were no arrows this time, which Anna didn't know what to think of. That could either mean something very good or very bad._

_"Where is she?!" Anna screamed. "WHERE"S MY SISTER YOU BASTARD?!"_

_"No need to shout dearie." She heard a puff of smoke behind her and whipped around to face the grinning imp. He folded his hands in front of him politely._

_"What did you do to her?!" Anna snarled. The ferocity of her tone surprised even her, but she was too enraged to care. _

_"Who?" Rumpelstiltskin said innocently._

_"Elsa. My SISTER! Where is she?"_

_"Oh her!" Rumpelstiltskin snapped his fingers as if he was just remembering. "Oh yes. She's long gone, dearie. you don't have to worry about her anymore."_

_With a furious scream, Anna lunged at Rumpelstiltskin. He gave a start in surprise as she tackled him to the ground, to shocked to even dissolve into smoke. Anna managed to punch him a few times in the face before he finally got over his shock and disappeared, reappearing behind her looking less than happy._

_"Don't push your luck dearie," He growled. "I had no intention on killing you, but I'm starting to change my mind."_

_"You bastard!" Anna screamed. Tears were spilling out of her eyes and down her cheeks. "You-she saved you! How could you kill her?!"_

_At this Rumpelstiltskin snorted._

_"Kill her? Oh no no no, dearie. I didn't kill her." Rumpelstiltskin's face drew into a sneer._

_"Wait-what?" Anna sniffed, looking up at Rumpelstiltskin with wide eyes. Dare she hope?_

_"You're right dearie. She did save me." Rumpelstiltskin didn't look happy about that fact. "I owed her a debt. So I didn't kill her. I merely...sent her someplace else."_

_"Where?" Anna demanded._

_"Sorry," Rumpelstiltskin snapped. "Can't tell you that. Better start looking for a new Queen, dearie."_

_Anna glared at him, wiping away any remaining tears. "Look pal," She began. "You better tell me where she is or I swear, the armies of Arendelle will come knocking at your door-"_

_"Blah blah. Blah blah. Go away." With a wave of his hand, Anna felt herself dissolve into smoke and before she knew it, she was standing in front of the palace she knew and loved._

_She stood there in plain shock for a moment. This couldn't be happening. Elsa was coming back. She had to come back. What would she do wit__hout Elsa?_

_She wanted to scream. She wanted to burst into tears again. Something besides just stand there. But she felt numb. Like none of this was real. _

_She had no idea how long she stood there. Eventually, Kristoff came running out of nowhere and he wrapped his arms around her in a familiar soft embrace._

_"Where have you been?" He demanded in her ear. "I was so worried, Anna, why would you-"_

_"She's not dead," Anna interrupted. "She's not dead."_

_Kristoff was silent for a minute. Eventually, he drew back, but kept his hands on her shoulders. He tilted her chin up to face him._

_"Then where is she?" Kristoff said softly._

_"I don't know." The tears were coming again. "I don't know."_

_At that point, she dissolved into sobs. Kristoff continued to hold her and let her cry into his shirt. She could feel citizens start to crowd around them, whispering worriedly. Eventually, he helped her back inside and into her room, where he finally left her alone to pur out her misery and tears into a pillow._

_Her first instinct was to remain optimistic. But her soul, gut feeling was that she knew she wasn't going to see Elsa for at least a very long time._

_Within a month, Elsa's disappearance became official. None of the guards or scouts had received any word of her whereabouts. And more importantly, neither had Anna. This was a problem. Arendelle needed a Queen. Someone to be in charge and run the country._

_So before she knew it, Anna was being led across the palace church, a crown was being placed on her head, and golden coronation instruments were being placed in her hands. The words 'Queen Anna of Arendelle' were chanted at her, and it all felt so wrong she wanted to cry._

* * *

**_(This icy force both foul and fair)_**

"We'll split up." David, despite the infant in his arms, stood in front of the large group of various fairy-tale characters, from traditional to non-traditional, ever the take-charge prince ready for action. "Elsa, Regina, and anyone else willing to stay will confront George under the clock tower. Meanwhile, we'll sent a small rescue team to Gold's mansion. Any volunteers?"

"I'll go," Kristoff said immediately.

"Me too," Belle added.

Something in the corner of Belle's stomach was twisting, her instincts screaming at her that something was wrong, very wrong. Somehow, George had managed to contain Rumple. Belle knew from experience it wasn't easy to contain a Dark One, especially Rumpelstiltskin.

But somehow, George had done it. This troubled Belle deeply.

"You can't,' Emma pointed out. "George said you had to be there."

"What?' Belle demanded, before recalling that fact herself.

"I want to go too," Elsa protested.

"George specially requested your presence at the tower," Regina said stiffly. "If you don't go, he'll know something's wrong and who knows what that lunatic will do."

"All right." Elsa looked like she wanted to say anything otherwise, but resisted. Instead, she turned to Kristoff, giving him a cool glare that was suited perfectly for her icy nature. "Take care of her."

"Always." Kristoff looked grim. "When have I haven't?"

"Fair point." Elsa then leaned forward, and gave him a quick hug. Kristoff's eyes widened in visible surprise before she retreated. "It's good to see you," Elsa added.

"You too," Kristoff said, smiling a small, half-smile that quickly faded, likely due to the circumstances.

"I wanna rescue Anna too!" Olaf suddenly chimed in.

"You're staying here," Elsa told him firmly.

"But-" The snowman's face fell.

"I don't want anything to happen to you Olaf," Elsa said softly.

"And you can watch Henry while you're here too," Emma added.

"What?!" Henry cried indignantly.

"Sorry kid. As soon as George comes, you're staying in here and you're not coming out no matter what," Emma said stubbornly.

"For once, I agree with Emma. You're staying here," Regina told Henry.

"Same goes for you Roland," Robin told his son. "Stay with Henry, okay?"

"Okay," Roland said in a small voice, not fully understanding what was going on but fully comprehending the seriousness of the situation. "Where's mama?"

Robin visibly winced at the question. Regina cast a casual glance in his direction but quickly looked away.

"She's...resting in our room," Robin said after a minute. "You can go see her after we're done taking care of things, all right?"

"Okay."

"You should get going," David said, glancing at the clock on the wall. "The rescue team I mean."

"Anybody want to come?" Kristoff asked the group. "If not, it'll just be me and Sven."

"I'll go," Hook volunteered from his corner.

Everyone who knew his history with Rumpelstiltskin turned around to study him, just to make sure he hadn't gone mad.

"What?" Emma asked, visibly shocked.

"I'll go." Hook shrugged. "What? I want to make myself useful."

"If you lay a hand on him..." Belle began.

"I'm a changed man, Belle. I swear I won't do anything to him. Although he deserves it after what he did to you-"

"Killian!" Emma snapped.

"That's my business, Captain, not yours," Belle said coolly.

"Sorry." Hook raised his hands sheepishly, then rose.

"Hurry." David returned baby Neal to Snow's arms, then nodded at the clock. "You have ten minutes."

"C'mon," Kristoff nodded at Hook, and the two men exited the diner. Belle watched them go, worry twisting her heart. Don't get her wrong, she was still impossibly angry and upset with Rumpelstiltskin, but she wasn't going to lose him. Not again.

**_(Has a frozen heart worth mining)_**

* * *

"Sorry, I didn't catch your name." Kristoff said as he and Hook headed towards Sven, who wagged his tail at the sight of Kristoff.

"Call me Hook." Hook extended his hooked hand at Kristoff in greeting.

Kristoff stared at it. "Okay. That's easy to remember." He hoisted himself up onto Sven's back, and scooched forward a little to make room for Hook. "Are you getting on?"

Hook stared at Sven's back for a second. "We're riding that thing?"

Sven snorted indignantly, and gave a pointed look at Kristoff. Kristoff glared at Hook.

"His name is Sven. And yes, we're riding him."

"I've never exactly ridden an animal before-"

"Just get on."

Hook obeyed. He awkwardly climbed on, and sat up on Sven's back, feeling completely out of his league. Or below it.

"Hold on," Kristoff ordered, then turned his attention to Sven. "Hyah, Sven!"

"All r-AGH!" Hook nearly went flying off the reindeer's back as Sven took off at top speed, huffing and panting off into the growing swirl of snow.

* * *

**_(So cut through the heart, cold and sheer)_**

Rumpelstiltskin stared at his car in dismay.

Or, to be more exact, the car-shaped mound of ice and snow.

"Where's this carriage you were talking about?" Anna asked after a minute.

Rumple opened his mouth to speak, but another blast of cold wind caused him to shake so hard he almost lost his balance. Anna caught him, and sling his arm over her shoulders, grunting in discontent under her breath.

"Well?" She demanded, raising her voice slightly over the wind's increasingly loud howl.

Rumple wordlessly pointed a shaking finger at the mound of snow. Anna cursed under her breath.

"N-n-no," She stammered, the cold beginning to affect her as well. "W-what d-d-do we d-d-do now?"

Rumple had no idea. Whatever hope he had left was beginning to die. It would have probably been better if they had stayed inside, but now it was too late. Anna had already broken a window, so the temperature of the house was probably equivalent of that of a refridgerator. So there was no point going back inside to try and keep warm.

"W-we can t-try w-w-walking," Anna pointed out after a minute.

Rumple let himself nod, even though he knew that idea was pointless. They'd never make it. One or both of them would just end up freezing to death. But what else could they do?

Slowly, they began shuffling down the driveway and back towards the town. The falling snow was growing so thick that they could barely see where they were going.

Leaning heavily on Anna, Rumple could feel his limbs beginning to stiffen, frost beginning to build in his veins. He was tempted just to close his eyes and let the cold take him, but something, probably Anna, kept him on his feet. Neither of them said anything as they slowly trudged through the snow.

_So this is how I die,_ Rumple thought. _Not a bad way to go, actually._

Minutes ticked by. Rumple felt himself grow colder and colder. Not a soul appeared in the snow-covered landscape. Just as he was giving up whatever shred of hope he had left of being rescued, he felt Anna stiffen, and then she stopped.

"D-d-did you h-h-hear th-that?" Anna stammered.

Rumple lifted and turned his head to give her a quizzical look, but then he heard it too. The faint sound of hoof beats thudding against snow.

"Kr-kr-kri-KRISTOFF!" Anna screamed.

"Anna?" A voice, sounding not so far away, sounded in response, and then suddenly a reindeer practically burst through the thick snow. Anna let out a sob. Rumple felt a twinge of relief, but then he saw the riders.

There was Kristoff, yes, but then hanging onto the back for dear life was none other than Hook.

Sven slowed to a stop when he reached them. Kristoff immediately jumped off and ran towards Anna, looking like he was about to hug her in greeting but stopped when he saw Rumple's condition.

"What happened to him?" Kristoff asked, looking startled.

"Elsa f-f-froze his h-h-heart," Anna gasped, giving Kristoff a sort of a clumsy one-armed hug.

"What?" Hook by then had jumped off of Sven's back and was staring open-mouthed at Rumpelstiltskin. "Bloody hell Crocodile."

"I'm assuming we ave to take him back to the town?" Kristoff said gruffly.

"W-w-well, we c-c-can't leave him h-h-here," Anna pointed out.

"Sure we can," Hook said simply.

Rumple shot the nastiest glare he could muster in Hook's direction.

"C'mon," Kristoff sighed. "You owe us Rumpelstiltskin. We've already saved your life, I don't know, like twice by now?"

Rumple turned the glare in his direction, but before he knew it he was being helped onto Sven's back by a slightly reluctant Kristoff and a smirking Hook. Then Kristoff helped Anna on next, and he and Hook climbed on next.

"Guess you are really cold-blooded, huh?" Hook said, looking slightly pleased at himself for coming up with that one. Rumple attempted to crane his head around to glare at him, but he decided just to curl up into himself more. He was so damn cold.

"He's dying," Anna said from the front.

"Yeah, I know," Kristoff replied. "We need True Love's kiss, don't we?"

"Mmm hmm."

"Well. All right then."

Kristoff didn't point out what they were all probably thinking. _Who would ever love a beast?  
_

If he had to be honest with himself, Rumple had to admit that he himself wasn't sure. It was the truth, but like they say-the truth hurts.

* * *

**_(Strike for love and strike for fear)_**

_Anna had been queen for only one week, and she was already wondering how Elsa could have stood it._

_There was just so. Much. Paperwork._

_Eventually she just decided to order some of the servants to complete a stack or two, just to take off some of the load. Combined with her grief over losing her sister, it was all just too much to bear._

_"Hey," Kristoff said one day, two weeks after her coronation, coming up behind her where she was working at her desk and placing a hand on her shoulder. "Have you eaten anything today?"_

_"Yeah." Anna replied, not looking up._

_"Really?"_

_Anna's shoulders sagged. "No."_

_"That's what I thought." A plate sudden slid in front of her, and on the plate, was a sandwich. Anna took a moment to blink at it and nudged it to the side almost immediately._

_"I'll eat when I'm done," Anna said._

_She heard Kristoff sigh. "Okay. if you're not going to eat, why don't you sleep? You could certainly use it."_

_"I'm fine Kristoff."_

_"See, you say that, but I don't believe you."_

_"I'm fine." Anna placed down the quill and turned towards Kristoff. She knew she looked tired, but there wasn't much she could do about that. "Thank you for your concern though."_

_She turned back to her papers. That hadn't sounded like her, and she knew it. But after being a queen for a while, she was used to sounding proper and official. She had managed to train herself so that it had become a habit._

_She heard Kristoff sigh. "Okay. I wasn't going to give you these until I considered you to be in your right mind so we could talk it through, but..."_

_Before she knew it, Kristoff had thrown yet another thing in front of her._

_Anna picked it up. It appeared to be a small, mini-knapsack. When she undid the string, three small beans came out of the bag._

_She blinked. She looked up at Kristoff._

_"Beans," She said._

_"Magic beans," Kristoff corrected._

_Anna stared at him, feeling a flicker of annoyance. "Okaaaaay, so these are good how?"_

_"Okay," Kristoff began. "So we can't find Elsa here, right?"_

_"Right." Anna didn't need the reminder. After her coronation, she had ordered guards to go and search the entire kingdom, to search every nook and cranny until Elsa was found. There had been no success whatsoever._

_"So I came up with the theory that maybe Rumpelstiltskin transported your sister to another land. Somewhere where he thinks we can't get to her."_

_Anna felt herself stiffen._

_Kristoff pointed to the beans. "These can transport people to different lands. They're really rare. I got them from the trolls. They only have three, but there are other ways of traveling through magical worlds."_

_"Are you saying-" Anna swallowed. "That these beans can help us find Elsa?"_

_"Uh-huh." Kristoff nodded._

_Hope dared to blossom up inside of her. It grew and grew until Anna suddenly felt more alive than she ever had in the past few months._

_"Look," Kristoff added quickly. "You can't forget about Arendelle. Just saying. You're a queen now, and you have no idea how long we'll be gone-"_

_"I'll find a way." Anna stood up, papers long forgotten. "I'm not giving up on Elsa."_

_Her mind was set. As soon as she found someone suitable enough to run the kingdom, she was going to find her sister._

* * *

**_(There's beauty and there's danger here)_**

**_(Split the ice apart)_**

They stood in a line.

There was Charming, with his sword sheathed and hanging next to his gun on his belt, Regina, who stood arms crossed next to him, the white strand decorating her hair like a battle scar. Robin stood next to her, bow slung over his shoulder, and then there were Will, Belle, Red, Grumpy, and Emma, who had her gun strapped to her waist. And finally, there was Elsa, who was steeling herself for George's arrival, Olaf positioned firmly by her side.

From across the street and inside the diner, Snow, who had made it very clear that she had wanted to stand with everyone else but had eventually relented to stay inside with baby Neal, watched from the window, Granny and Henry standing at her side.

Then, Elsa recognized George's strange-looking carriage (Emma called it a car) rolling along through the snow that was falling thicker and thicker. That fact made Elsa feel more than a tad guilty, but it wasn't as if there was anything they could do.

"Remember the plan," Regina hissed as the car stopped, and George exited, slamming the door behind him.

"Stall him," Charming muttered. "Right."

George strolled over to them lazily, looking extremely pleased with himself. Elsa felt a strong feeling of hatred directed straight at him.

"Do you have the deed?" George asked smugly.

Regina, with a wave of her hand, summoned the deed that held the property of all of Storybrooke in her hand.

"Good." George shook his head slowly, looking delighted. "You know, I must say I didn't think you'd go to such lengths to save the Dark One and some girl most of you have never met."

"Why are you doing this George?" David asked softly, launching into stall topic number one. Prior to gathering outside, they had composed a series of different topics that they thought would keep George busy in order to give Kristoff and Hook more time to find Rumpelstiltskin and Anna and bring them back safely.

"Why wouldn't I do this David?" George shook his head again. "After all you did to me?"

"May I remind you that you attempted to kill my family multiple times, steal my happy ending, among numerous other crimes?" David said slowly.

"You locked me up underground and left me there for years!" George shrieked.

"Technically, it was only two."

"Not one soul came to check on me! No one!"

"Actually, us dwarves took turns bringing you food," Grumpy pointed out.

George laughed bitterly. "Do you think I'm stupid? None of you came! You just magicked the food there! There was no one! No one!"

"Uh...no." Grumpy blinked. "One of us came three times a day. I came several times myself."

"No! No! No one! No one!"

"Okay..." David stared. "Look George...you're not in your right mind."

George laughed again, but this time, it was pretty much a high-pitched giggle, disturbingly similar to the ones Rumpelstiltskin used to make. "Oh, you think I'm insane do you? Well I have news for you, Davy!"

"Davy?" David blinked. "Did you just call me Davy?"

"I think he did," Olaf chimed in. "And I'm pretty sure he's insane. Just saying guys."

"I'm not insane!" George waved his arms in emphasis. "What's wrong with wanting a little revenge? A little credit? A little of what I deserve? That's not insane. That's human! I'm human! I'm not insane!"

Elsa was seriously considering telling him otherwise, when Red gasped, and pointed.

"Look!" She yelled.

Elsa looked, and saw the silhohette of a reindeer through the rapidly falling snow. As it came closer, she could make out it's rider, or two riders, or...three! There were at least three people riding Sven, back to them.

Relief and happiness settled upon her almost instantly, and almost immediately the snow stopped falling. She could now make out Kristoff's face, and Anna's and vaguely Hook's and Rumpelstiltskin.

"They're here George," David said coolly. Regina, on cue, waved her hand again and the deed disappeared. "It's over."

"No!" George yelled. "No! No they're not here! I win! I win!"

"Anna!" Crazy man forgotten, Elsa ran towards the reindeer as it came to a stop aside her. Anna leapt off of Sven's back and greeted her with a hug.

"Rumple!" Belle was by her side next, a reluctant Red trailing along next to her, when they both suddenly stopped.

Elsa looked up at Rumpelstiltskin, and that's when the shock slowly set in.

"Hello," Rumple muttered weakly, as Hook dragged him unceremoniously off Sven's back. His face and his hair were both a bright shade of white, and frost was travelling up his face, neck, and hands.

"They're not there! They're not there!" George shrieked.

"Sure they're not." Emma coolly pulled out her handcuffs and began walking over to him.

"No!" George, hands fumbling, pulled out his gun and pointed it towards them.

"Anna! Rumpelstiltskin!" Olaf cried cheerily as he joined them, then stopped when he realized what was going on. "Oh...oh no..."

"Rumple?!" Belle looked shocked. "What the hell happened to you?!"

"You know him?" Anna suddenly turned to Belle.

"Yes, I-I'm his wife..." Belle was still staring at Rumple. "What the _hell _happened to you?!"

"You're _married?!" _Anna whirled to face Rumple, who was leaning against Hook, in shock. "You. _You're_ married."

"Will you please refrain from insulting me while I'm slowly freezing to death?" Rumple muttered.

With a wave of Regina's hand, the gun flew out of George's and into the snow.

"No! NO!" George attempted to run, but with a loud yell, Grumpy charged, leaped, and tackled the older man to the ground. Emma the walked over and smartly snapped the handcuffs around George's wrists.

"Freezing," Elsa said slowly. "Your heart's frozen. I-I froze your heart."

Rumpelstiltskin winced. "D-d-don't remind me."

"You love him right?" Anna demanded, now facing Belle.

"I-" Belle blinked. "I-yes, but-"

"Then _kiss him!" _Anna shoved her again unceremoniously towards Rumple.

"What's going on over here?" Regina snapped, everyone else finally noticing what was going on, and they all stopped.

"What-" Emma stared at Rumple. "What the hell-"

"Happened to me?" Rumple asked through gritted teeth. "My heart's frozen. I'm magically freezing to death."

"Wait-how-" Regina looked confused for a minute before her mouth set into a grim line. "Elsa..."

"It was an accident!" Elsa's chest felt tight, and she was having a hard time breathing.

"Kiss him!" Anna yelled at Belle. "Kiss him-uh, what's your name?"

"Belle," Rumple murmured. "Belle, don't kiss me."

"Wait, what?" Hook stared at him.

"What'll happen if I kiss him?" Belle asked.

"Only an act of true love can thaw a frozen heart," Elsa explained, somehow a lot more calm then she thought she would be. "Like True Love's kiss."

"Well what are you waiting for?" Regina snapped at Belle. "Kiss him!"

"NO ONE'S THERE!" George screamed in the background, Grumpy still sitting on top of him.

"Shut up," Grumpy growled.

"No-" Rumple gasped. "No, don't kiss me."

"What?" Belle stared at him incredulously.

"What's going on?" At that point, Snow, Henry, Granny, and baby Neal exited the diner and out to where everyone was gathered. Upon seeing Rumpelstiltskin, they gasped in unison.

"What the hell-" Granny began.

"For the l-l-love of-" Rumple jerked away from Hook, who, despite the circumstances, looked extremely glad that he had. But almost immediately, Rumple collapsed to his knees in the snow, and reeled forward.

"Rumple!" Belle kneeled next to him, a worried-looking Olaf waddling over and peering over her shoulder. "Rumple, let me kiss you-"

"No," Rumple gasped. "No-no-n-n-not u-u-unless you f-f-forgive me..."

To Elsa's horror, just as she kneeled next to Belle, ice began to form over the surface of his hands, spreading up his arms, chest, and rapidly spreading throughout his entire body.

"No!" Belle cried, and immediately leaned in and kissed him.

But her lips only touched ice.

She broke away, eyes widening in horror. Elsa thought she heard Snow gasp, and she was vaguely aware of Anna covering her mouth in shock. But she was too busy trying to process what was happening right now to comprehend anything else.

Rumpelstiltskin was now an ice statue, kneeling in the snow and looking up with Belle with pleading eyes.

Then Belle started to sob, cupping Rumpelstiltskin's frozen face in her hands. Red crouched down next to her, placing a hand on her shoulder. Tiny droplets of snow were starting to form in Olaf's coal eyes too, and he sniffled.

Elsa slowly placed a her hand on Rumpelstiltskin's shoulder, now a block of ice. For a minute they just sat there.

"What have I done?" Elsa said softly, her voice shaking.

No one dared to move. Regina, Emma, Snow, David, and Robin hung their heads, Grumpy, Granny, Henry, Will, Hook, Kristoff, and Anna all stared at Rumpelstiltskin with wide, unbelieving eye. Because surely, Elsa wasn't powerful to kill the Dark One. Surely.

Elsa knew better.

Then, Belle sniffed loudly, and rested her forehead on Rumple's icy forehead.

"I forgive you," Belle whispered softly, barely loud enough for Elsa to hear. "Rumple, I-I forgive you. J-j-j-just please, please come back to me..."

**_(And beware the frozen heart)_**

* * *

_He was frozen._

_He was sitting in his shop, but it was snowing. Snowflakes fell and settled on the counter tops, dusting precious artifacts in a layer of white. _

_The bell jingled._

_He had a customer._

"Hey papa." _Bae came strolling in, hands in the pockets of his black coat. _"See you finally decided to join me."

_"Yes," Rumple said. "I did."_

_They were silent for a minute._

_"I want to see it," Rumple said._

"Don't know what you're talking about."

_"You know exactly what I'm talking about. I need to know, Bae. Please."_

_Bae rolled his eyes, and held out his palm. In it, rested a small pocket mirror._

_Rumple snatched it before Bae could do anything._

"NO!" _Bae screamed. He lunged for his father, but Rumple sidestepped, shoving him away._

"That's mine!"_ Bae yelled. _"You can't have it!"

_Rumple ignored him. Something pounding in his chest, but certainly not a heart, he held the mirror up and to his face. He saw his face, pale, and etched with frost. He saw his veins, bright blue and criss-crossing under his frosted skin, all leading up to his heart. It was still. It was pitch black, just like Rumple thought it would be._

_Then he reached into his chest. Found his heart. And squeezed. Squeezed until it split in half. _

_More black tendrils were there. It sank in from where the darkness covered the surface of his heart. But on the inside, there was an unmistakenly bright red glow. And among the glow, there were even specks of gold. Corrupted by darkness, yes. But still there._

_Feeling suddenly numb, Rumple let go of the mirror. It fell, tumbling to the ground, and then it shattered to pieces._

_He turned around slowly and saw Bae, who was suddenly completely calm._

_"You lied to me," Rumple said shakily._

"Yes," _Bae said tiredly._

_"You're wrong. My heart's not-it's not-" Rumple's voice cracked._

"Yes. Now go and move on with your life already Papa." _Bae replied._

_"But-" Rumple swallowed. "Bae. Why?"_

"You had to move on somehow," _Bae said, looking sad. _"That witch took a lot from you, Papa. Left you with a lot of ghosts. I wanted to be the one to help get rid of some."

_There was so much Rumple wanted to say. But when he opened his mouth, he couldn't find the words. Then suddenly, he heard the loud sound of what he soon realized was ice cracking. When he looked down at his hands he realized that the ice that made them up had cracked, and had fallen to the ground, revealing flesh._

"Looks like she forgave you Papa," _Bae said._

_"Bae," Rumple said softly. The ice was cracking, falling off of him, returning him to his previous state._

"Don't worry," _Bae murmured. _"I'll be okay. Just move on with your life. Maybe even create a new one. Make yourself deserve a happy ending."

_"I love you," Rumple whispered._

"I love you too Papa." _Bae leaned over and kissed Rumple on the forehead, just like Rumple used to do to him at bedtime._

_Rumple felt the last of the ice crack and fall off of him, returning him to his unfrozen state. A burst of warmth flowed through his body, and the last thing he saw before he faded away was the smile on Bae's face._

* * *

For a minute nothing happened, and Belle descended back into sobs. Red placed her other hand on Belle's other shoulder gently, but at the same time, firmly.

"Come on," She said softly. "Come inside. There's nothing you can do-"

But right as she said that, the outline of Rumpelstiltskin's hands shimmered, and the shimmering spread throughout his entire frozen form.

And slowly, ice turned to flesh.

Olaf let out a delighted gasp. No one else made a sound, not even George, who had previously descended into hysterical sobbing.

Then, a full flesh-and-blood Rumpelstiltskin was there, kneeling in front of Belle.

Again, no one dared to move.

Rumpelstiltskin blinked, then looked over towards Belle, who's eyes were brimming with tears again.

"I'm not dead anymore right?" He asked.

Belle let out a final sob and wrapped his arms around his neck, burying her head in the crook of his neck.

"But-" Regina looked stunned. "How-"

"Forgiveness," Elsa said softly. She was extremely surprised at how well she was taking all of this and honestly, kind of pleased with herself for keeping her emotions in check so well. She rose to her feet. "Forgiveness is an act of true love, apparently."

Her eyes flickered over to Anna, whose eyes were also brimming with tears. Without another word, she went over and hugged her sister all over again.

As she let herself enjoy it, Elsa felt the snow around her feet begin to thaw.

* * *

**48 Hours Later**

Rumple stared out the frost-less window, out at the snow-less skyline of Storybrooke. Within minutes of getting Anna back, Elsa had somehow managed to thaw out Storybrooke.

He could honestly relate. Sometimes he felt that the only way he kept his own powers in control was the thought of the ones he loved. Being the Dark One meant handling a lot of power. When he'd first gotten it, there had been some instances where he'd accidently let himself go a little too far and some property had been destroyed. He'd managed to keep those instances successfully from Bae though, and in a way, that was the reason he hadn't lost control again. Because Bae had been there. When he'd lost him, he hadn't lost control of his powers in the physical way where they were literally destroying everything in their path, but in a way where instead the power controlled him. Made him hungry for more power.

In that way, he felt like he could kind of relate to Elsa, even though their situations were much, much different.

But there was also a second part of it. The part where not only would there loved ones be there to help them control themselves, but where they needed to be willing to control them too.

That was where it got tricky. For him, at least.

But now, Rumple thought he was finally ready.

"Rumple?"

Speaking of which.

"We need to talk." Belle leaned against the door frame, face serious but pretty as always. She was wearing a loose, cotton sundress that brought out the shade of her eyes quite nicely.

"I know." Rumple turned around to face her. "But you forgive me?"

"I do." Belle studied him. "But that doesn't mean...well...you know."

"I do." Rumple took a deep breath. This was going to be hard. "I can't make excuses for lying to you. Especially on the eve of our wedding. But-" Rumple tried not to wince at the memory of Zelena's smirking face, holding the dagger in front of his eyes.

"I know. I thought about it." He saw Belle swallow. "She did a lot to you, didn't she?"

"I don't really want to think about it."

"I know. But I think maybe we should have waited to get married. Waited until we could make sure you were doing all right. After-after Bae-"

"Bae." Before his heart got frozen, saying his name would've opened a fresh wound. But now, it felt...not normal, because the sound of Bae's name would never be normal again, but less...hollow. "Belle, I'm sorry. I really, really am. You deserve so much better than me. I hope that someday, I could be the man you deserve, but I'd be lucky if I come a small fraction of the way close-"

"Stop." Belle went over, and placed a finger on his lips. "Stop saying that you can't change. If you don't believe that you can change, then how can you? Believe that you can, Rumple. I believe. Bae believed." A smile played on her lips. "Olaf believes."

"Olaf." Rumple groaned aloud at the mention of the snowman. "That thing is following me around _everywhere_..."

"He adores you. It's adorable."

"It's not, it's annoying as hell."

Belle's smile grew for a minute, then faded. "Rumple. I mean it. Believe. For me. Please?"

"I'll try." Rumple swallowed. "I-" He trailed off.

"What?"

"I used to see Bae. Everywhere."

That got a frown from her. "What?"

"His ghost, I think. He came in different forms. When he was a child. And adult. A teenager." Rumple's hair stood up on the back of his neck at the memory. "He told me things. He teased me. And then, when I froze, and I saw him again-he told me to let him go. He said-" Rumple swallowed down the lump in his throat. "He said he loved me. And then I was back in your arms again. Alive."

Belle was silent for a minute before speaking again. "Have...you seen him since?"

"No." Rumple shrugged. "Either I let him go...or he did."

There was again another period of silence from Belle. Then she leaned forward, and gave him a long, deep kiss.

"Let's start from the beginning," She murmured. "Let's pretend we got married yesterday. You never gave me the dagger. None of that ever happened. Okay?"

How could he say no to that?

"Okay."

* * *

Regina knew it was considered vain to not only carry around a pocket mirror, but to continuously look at it as well. But she was debating whether or not to cover it up with hair dye. Henry had told her that it looked cool, but she wasn't sure if he was saying that just to appease her or if he really did think that it looked neat.

"Regina?"

Regina immediately slammed the pocket mirror closed when she heard the voice call out to her from behind the crypt's doors, but it took her a little longer to recognize it. That voice hadn't called her name in quite some time.

Robin suddenly appeared through the doorway, but stopped, almost hesitantly.

"Hello Robin." Regina gave him a strained smile. Her mind was reeling, trying to come up with a reason why he was here.

"We need to talk." Robin cleared his throat uncomfortably.

"About Marian." Ah. So this was it. He was going to tell her. Tell her that he was done with her, and that he wanted to stay goodbye.

"Yes." Robin cleared his throat. "I understand...that this is a bit awkward..."

"No kidding," Regina sighed.

"So." Robin's eyes, which had been darting back and forth to everywhere except to her, finally flickered over to meet hers. "I wanted to tell you..."

"Yes?" Regina braced herself. This was it, this was it...

"That I hope to resume our relationship."

"I understa-" Regina stopped. "Wait. What?"

"I would like..." Robin swallowed. "To resume our relationship."

Regina was fairly certain at this point that she had gone deaf. "What?"

"I've given much thought about this." Robin's gaze fell away from her again. "I know I made a commitment to Marian. But..." Robin hesitated.

"But what?!" Regina stared at him incredulously. "She's your wife!"

"She's-" Robin looked pained. "For whatever reasons, she's not the same woman I married. Or at least, she doesn't seem like it."

It took Regina a minute to comprehend that. "What do you mean?"

"It's...hard to explain." Robin swallowed. "But there's something...off about her. She seems much more...how do I put this..._aggressive._ We've been arguing...a lot. She refuses to accept the fact that you've changed. She wants me to cut all ties with you."

"That hardly seems like an unreasonable reaction." Now it was Regina's turn to look away. "You are her husband. And I have been seeing you."

"Yes...but the Marian I fell in love with would have seen the truth." Regina heard, and sensed Robin coming closer to her and her heart began drumming in her chest violently. "Or at least, I think she would have. I'm not even sure of that now."

"You realize it may be my fault that she's changed," Regina said quietly. "I wasn't exactly kind to my prisoners when I was the Evil Queen."

"I know. But you weren't you." His fingers intertwined with hers. She immediately felt her breath catch in her throat. "Regina...the thing I love about you-" Regina immediately winced when he used the l-word. "-Is that I can tell who you are. I never knew you when you were the Evil Queen, but I know you now. And isn't that really all that matters? I see more than just the Evil Queen, and I think you deserve happiness. Marian...maybe it would be easier to stay with her if she would be willing to give you a second chance...like the Marian I thought I knew. But she won't. And I know that sounds a bit one-sided of me, but I feel like I know you. In a way that I've never felt with Marian."

"What are you saying?" This couldn't be happening. This was just too good to be true. Villains didn't get happy endings. Never.

"I'm saying-" Regina dared to tilt her head up at his words and met his gaze somewhat hesitantly. But it held strong. Like he never wanted to let her go. "I'm saying I choose you."

Silence. Joy filled her, and almost immediately she knew she was going to throw away the potion she and Sydney had brewed. Why had she ever thought she needed it?

"What about Marian?" Regina asked in a soft whisper. "She's the mother of your child. You can't abandon that for me."

"This is my choice Regina." He lifted a hand to gently trace his finger along her jawline. "Let me worry about the consequences. But the fairy dust brought you to me for a reason. I've made a lot of decisions I regret in the past, and I feel like if I don't take a leap of faith, then it'd be the biggest regret of them all."

Okay. That was enough for her.

She kissed him then, and she kissed him hard. As she felt Robin's arms go round her waist and pull her closer, she felt warmth stir within her chest, fueling the strange optimism that everything would be all right.

* * *

Granny's had gained two new regulars. Anna turned out to be a huge fan of hot chocolate (omigosh, chocolate is a drink now?!), and as she and her sister worked to resolved any issues caused by Elsa's disappearance, the table in the far corner of the diner had become their usual spot, and no one dared to interfere.

"So no more unexpected winters?" Red asked Elsa teasingly as she brought their usual rounds of hot chocolate. After a day or two recovering from the gunshot she had received from George, it was her first day back on the job.

"I doubt not," Elsa replied, giving her a smile. "You look better."

"Thanks. I'm just glad it wasn't silver." Red gave her a final friendly nod, then walked away to the neighboring table to take their order.

Anna reached forward, and began sipping the warm liquid out of her mug. "Seriously, why didn't we ever do this? I mean, chocolate as a drink. That's brilliance in itself."

"Anna..." Elsa's hands closed around her mug, feeling the warmth radiate from the surface. She didn't like it, she preferred the cold, but she loved the drink so she bared through it. "Are you doing okay?"

Anna blinked. "Me? Yeah. I'm fine. Why?"

"You were kidnapped," Elsa said frankly.

"By an old guy. Compared to all the other stuff we've been through, that's not so bad." Anna let out a little sigh. "I dunno. I was scared, yeah...but I was more scared for how it would affect you." Her voice cracked a little bit at the end of her sentence. "Really scared."

Elsa reached over and took her sister's hand. "I'm so sorry. I never should have let myself be locked in that jar. But I was scared...scared I was going to hurt you..."

"We've been through this." Anna squeezed Elsa's hand. "You'd never hurt me. You can control your powers now, right?"

"Yes...I suppose." Elsa felt a little hesitant admitting so.

"No. Bad Elsa. No doubt." Anna smacked her hand lightly, making Elsa crack a smile. "No doubt. You _can _control your powers. You don't need me to do it. You have it in you. I have faith in you."

A bell chimed, signaling the arrival of new customers. Elsa looked up to see Rumpelstiltskin and Belle stride in hand-and-hand. They both looked happy, the kind of happy you could only feel if you were with someone you loved unconditionally.

As Belle let go of her husband's hand to greet Red and give her a hug, Rumple's eyes flickered over to meet Elsa's.

He didn't smile, he didn't wave. But he did give her a small, curt nod from across the room. Then his eyes were all for Belle again, as Red lead them to take a seat in a table all the way across from the diner.

"Hellooo?" Anna said, frowning. "Earth to Elsa?"

"Sorry." Elsa refocused her attention on her sister.

"Say it."

"Say what?"

"Say that you can control your powers, silly."

"Okay." For the first time in what felt like forever, Elsa felt a flicker of optimism. It grew faster and faster, until it was curled in her chest and filling her with the only warmth her magic would permit.

"Say it."

"I can control my powers." Elsa smiled. "Happy?"

"Yes." Anna was beaming brightly.

"Good." Elsa let go of Anna's hand and sipped at her hot chocolate. "Now, do you have any idea when Kristoff is going to propose?"

Anna's grin grew wider, and Elsa smiled.

Yes. Everything was going to be alright.

***The End***


End file.

Once Upon a Time, Angst, Drama