Daughter of Darkness || Once Upon a Time

Chapter Seventeen | A Frozen Encounter

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|Arendelle|
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The palace doors burst open and Queen Elsa turned to see her guards nudging along to woman who had their hand tied behind their backs.

"Your Majesty," the first guard said, "this is Mulan, the same one your parents warned us about, and her associate, Ruby."

Elsa studied the women. Neither of them looked very likely to cause harm, but Elsa recalled her parents telling her a story of a warrior woman named Mulan a few years before they died.

"If you knew you were wanted here, why did you return?" Elsa asked Mulan.

"We're looking for a group of people who escaped the Enchanted Forest during the reign of the Evil Queen."

"And why would you want to find them?"

"Because they're my family!" The other woman - Ruby - exclaimed. The guard who stood behind her nearly yelled at her to be quiet unless addressed by the Queen, but Elsa put a hand up, signaling him to not do anything.

"Ruby, you seem to act differently than most here, have you spent time in another world?"

Ruby was hesitant to answer, but reluctantly gave Elsa the truth when she got chills from the Queen's icy stare, "Yes. I was in another realm for over twenty-eight years. I was a victim of the Dark Curse that the Ev-- Regina cast."

Elsa looked at the guards, "You may go. I will have Kristoff take them to the dungeon."

The guards nodded and left the throne room. Once they were gone, Elsa dropped her regal posture and facial expression. "They're so overprotective. You two are fine." Elsa easily untied the ropes around Mulan and Ruby's wrists. "Sorry about them. I haven't been sure my parents motives were ever the correct ones since I discovered they wanted to get rid of my magic but never told me."

"So you lied to your own guards?" Ruby asked, rubbing her wrists where there were now indents in her skin where the rope had been rubbing.

Elsa nodded. "I'm surprised they fell for it. But you have been in Storybrooke, yes?"

"Yeah. Have you?"

"Yes. I was trapped in an urn for years before Emma accidentally brought me back to Storybrooke with her. Now, tell me about the people you are looking for."

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|The Fields of Punishment|
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Mary Margaret, Emma, and Liam burst out of the building and into the street.

"This way!" Emma shouted, mostly towards Liam, who was unfamiliar with the layout of Storybrooke. Mary Margaret and Liam followed Emma down the street, not daring to look back at the dead who had followed them from the building. Emma was ready to knock down the door of Gold's shop, but the lock was already broken. She didn't have time to think about that, though, because she was too busy motioning for Mary Margaret and Liam to hurry into the shop. "Hurry! Get in, get in!"

Once they were in, Emma slammed the door shut and she and Liam slammed their backs against it while Mary Margaret grabbed a chair for them to block the door with.

After the door was blocked, the only noise in the shop was heavy breaths coming form Mary Margaret, Liam, and Emma as well as muffled shouts from outside. Just as they were catching their breath, a figure emerged from the back of the shop.

"Emma, how nice it is to see you again."

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|Arendelle|
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Elsa had ordered a private dinner for her, Anna, and Kristoff so there would be no interruptions from the guards and so they could talk to Mulan and Ruby without anyone realizing that Elsa had lied about having them arrested.

"Wait... so you're a werewolf?" Anna asked after Ruby and Mulan finished telling their story. Ruby nodded in response.

"And you're looking for more werewolves who you think tried to escape from Regina back when she was the Evil Queen?"

"You know, I'm not really convinced about this whole 'Evil Queen redemption' thing," Mulan muttered.

Anna was still considering what to do now that she had met a werewolf when a thought occurred to her. "We have a pack of wolves in Arendelle!"

"We do?" Elsa asked.

"Yes! Remember, Kristoff?!" Anna turned to her husband. "We saw them when we were on our way to Elsa's ice palace."

"I also remember them trying to kill us and you dropping my sled into a chasm..."

Ruby turned to Mulan. "What if that's them? What if they escaped Regina and came here?"

"It's possible..."

"Where did you see them?"

"They were in the woods that are north of here, it's really not that far," Anna answered.

Ruby stood up. "We should go see if that's them."

"Wait!" Elsa interrupted. "You'll have to sneak out in the middle of the night. The guards think I had you arrested, remember?"

Ruby slowly sat back down. "We leave tonight."

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|The Fields of Punishment|
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"Ingrid?" Emma asked.

Mary Margaret glanced from Ingrid, back to her daughter and then to Ingrid again. Liam just stared at Ingrid, unsure whether or not they should take their chances outside with the dead or stay in the shop.

"Yes, it's me."

Emma's frown broke into a smile. "You're here! Wow, I'm really glad we ran into you and not someone else. Do you happen to know if there are any locator spells here?"

Mary Margaret glanced at Liam, who looked just as confused as she was. Emma walked over to Ingrid and began talking to her. It was nearly five minutes into the conversation that Emma realized Mary Margaret and Liam were still glued to the door. Emma looked back at them, "Ingrid is a friend. She said she'd help us look for a locator spell."

"Friend?" Mary Margaret repeated.

"...Did I not tell you that?"

"We were a little busy searching for a way to get Elsa, Anna, and Kristoff back to Arendelle..." Mary Margaret muttered. "And then there was the whole Robin thing and the whole Gold thing. You must have forgot to mention it."

"If she's a friend, why is she in the Fields of Punishment?" Liam asked.

"Unfortunately, my change of heart in the end did not cancel out my villainous past," Ingrid responded. "But I assure you I have no will to hurt any of you or prevent you from finding Hook."

"See? Friend," Emma assured them. "Now let's look for a locator spell."

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|Arendelle|
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It was nearly one in the morning when Ruby and Mulan crept out of the castle. Elsa and Anna watched them leave from the doorway and only went back inside when they were sure the two were off to a safe start.

"Do you think the wolves are really werewolves?" Elsa asked Anna as they walked down the hallways to where Kristoff was distracting the guards.

"I hope so. I mean, if the werewolves came here, why wouldn't they have just stayed in the woods?"

"I envy your ability to keep hope sometimes," was all Elsa said. When Kristoff saw the Queen and Princess of Arendelle walk past him, he knew Ruby and Mulan had left safely, so he bid an awkward farewell and followed them. None of them spoke again until they were out of earshot of the guard.

"Are they gone?" Kristoff asked.

"Yup!" Anna replied. "They're off to find the other werewolves!"

"You are way too excited about meeting a werewolf," Elsa muttered. "Now go get some sleep. No reason to alert the guards that we're wandering the palace after midnight."