All Magic Comes With A Price

Chapter 3: Worries

{Present}

Elsa woke up with a start. What woke her from her slumber she did not know, for her room was utterly quiet.

"Elsa! Are you awake?" came Anna's voice from her door, revealing what had woken her up. Anna knocked on her door several times before Elsa replied, "Yeah, I'll be there in a moment!"

She got up from the chair that she had fell asleep on the previous night after another encounter with Rumplestiltskin. She never really knew much about him except his deals even though they had met several times in the past.

Elsa groggily opened her door, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. "Yes, what is it, Anna?" she asked tiredly.

Anna glanced at a section of a wall in her sister's room that was covered in ice for a moment, before dismissing it.

"Well..." she said, dragging the word. "I was thinking... Well Kristoff and I were thinking..."

"Let me guess. You're going to get married and you want my blessing for it." Elsa had gone through a similar scenario before, only it ended up with her nearly getting killed by Hans. She really wasn't in the mood for these kind of things. They seemed trivial compared to the matter of her deal with Rumplestiltskin.

"What? No, of course not! " Anna laughed. " Well maybe not now but no, that wasn't what I came here to tell you."

"Then what is it?" Elsa asked, getting a little impatient.

" We were thinking maybe we should go on a sort of trip to your ice palace, " her sister replied, not seeming to notice her slight annoyance at having woken her up. " We haven't been there in a while, so it might be, well you know, good to check on it? See whether anything has changed? "

Elsa couldn't help but smile. Ever since they finally got back together, Anna had always given subtle hints that she wanted to see Elsa's magic and its creations.

" Sorry Anna, " she said, with a lighter tone than before," but I don't think Marshmallow would really like you there ever since... You know.. "

" Oh, " Anna said, dejected. " Well, I'll just go and see Olaf now. Bye! " With that, she walked off towards the courtyard, humming a tune.

Elsa's smile vanished as soon as her sister was out of sight. She knew she couldn't pay the Dark One's price. Before, she had no problem paying it, since her sister was unaware of her powers. Now, though she couldn't bear to think of it.

They were too close now. Much closer than ever.

All of a sudden, a scream came from far away, in the direction Anna had gone in. Elsa snapped out of her reverie and quickly ran off in the direction of the scream without hesitation, worry flowing through her.

Rumplestiltkin had warned her that there were consequences with not keeping to the deal, and she couldn't shake the feeling that this was the first of many.

But it was too soon. Hadn't he said until the spring equinox? She had no time for such thoughts as the she drew closer to the screams.