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Belle tried again and again to start the stalled car. But after several tries she realized that she and young Henry would have to leave the safety of the car and head into the icy blizzard outside.
"I think we are not far from the town line Henry and once we cross it, there won't be any of this cold storm." She laid her hand on his shoulder, trying to reassure him, trying to give him a half hopeful smile.
"But what will happen to you when we cross the town line? What if you lose your memories? What will I do?" Henry desperately asked. He had been so quiet as she drove towards Storybrooke's town line, towards safety, but now he seemed close to weeping and panicking. She held both his hands in hers.
"I don't know Henry, but it's our only chance. You are a smart and brave boy. One day we will return and make this all better. We must hope." Hope was all they had left now. no one had ever tried crossing the town line after this second curse had brought them to this land from the Enchanted Forest. One could lose their memories if they crossed the town line. Yet, magic ceased to exist once that line was crossed. And that was their chance to escape this horrible magic-raging storm.
Belle was not sure what had happened, the people of Storybrooke had been happy here for a little while. It always seemed like happiness came in fleeting moments here. She had married her true love, Rumplestiltskin, in this new land. She had been happy.
And then something terrible happened, a sudden winter storm befell magical little Storybrooke. Many persons disappeared or became frozen statues. She knew magic was the cause. She knew it was the work of Elsa, the Snow Queen, who had somehow arrived into this new land. Rumplestiltskin did not have much time to explain what was happening. He made her leave with Henry, his grandson.
It was not fair that so much pain had befallen Henry, he had lost so many loved ones, and now if she lost her memories, he would be burdened with watching over her and his well being.
Henry did not let any tears fall. He slowly nodded and they both braced themselves for the storm as they made their way out of the car. She held Henry close to her, to protect him from the storm, they had not been able to take anything with them in their haste. She had to give Henry some hope.
"You have the heart of the truest believer Henry, you'll see, we'll make it somehow."
"Hahaha...and what good will that do you?" snapped a woman's voice from amidst the storm. Belle and Henry looked every which way and could not see anyone nearby. They shivered with panic and cold now.
"Let me calm this storm a bit so we can properly introduce ourselves," suddenly the storm stopped, but there was still snow and ice in every direction. And now, only a few paces away from them, they could see the Snow Queen.
She was beautiful, near-white colored hair, but a young woman, with a beautiful blue dress. She walked closer to them with a wicked smile.
"I am Queen Elsa and you must be Rumplestiltskin's wife Belle? Aren't you a pretty young lady...Ah, and his little grandson Henry...heart of the truest believer indeed...well, do you believe you can cross the town line now?" she giggled and pointed towards the town line.
Belle and Henry now realized that they had been so close to escaping Storybrooke. However, a thick wall of ice now rose from where the town line separated Storybrooke from the non-magical world. It stretched endlessly from left to right and rose high into the sky creating a dome.
"Trapped inside a Storybrooke snow globe," Belle angrily said as she stared into Elsa's eyes while holding Henry even more closely.
"Such strange sense of humor, no wonder you were the Dark One's true love...or were you?" Elsa smirked as she held up Rumplestiltskin's dagger. Belle and Henry could hardly hide their shock. Suddenly she threw the dagger towards Belle and Henry's feet.
"It's okay, pick it up, call out his name, let's see what happens...do it!" Belle flinched a bit and picked up the dagger. She called Rumplestiltskin's name.
Nothing happened.
"I can assure you, this is the real dagger, unlike that little fake one he gave you. I wonder, is that really true love? Lies and deception? Was it really true love you both shared? Perhaps, in this world, things changed and it was not true love anymore..." at that moment Elsa saw how Belle's shoulders slumped a little. Her words were having the effect she intended and slowly breaking Belle's heart.
"Oh but don't worry, he's not dead, but still, it's hard to summon the Dark One when he's a frozen statue and all...and soon you will both join him!" Elsa held out her hands and magic blasted forth from them. The blast went thru Belle's and Henry's heart. They seemed unchanged, but felt a pain in their hearts.
"Belle!" Henry shouted as Belle's legs became weak and she slumped onto the cold snowy ground while clutching at her heart, "Belle, are you okay?"
"I....I..." were the only words Belle could say for the time, as fear and sadness filled her heart.
"I really don't understand Belle why you kept fighting for a man who claimed to love you, but betrayed you...do you know what he did to me? My powers were uncontrollable and beautifully freezing away so many lands. And he stopped me. Not to help those lands, but to stop me from freezing over King Leopold's lands, that's when Leopold's daughter Snow White was born.
Of course, he couldn't have little Snow White die, it would ruin his future plans. So, he bottled me away in some magical vessel as if I were some sort of genie to be enslaved because of my magic!" Elsa spewed her words with such hatred and with them the winds grew fierce once more.
"See, he only really cares about himself, always choosing power over the ones he supposedly loves...but I'm sure you know that by now" laughed Elsa at Belle.
And with those words, Belle's heart broke a bit more. Streaks of white began to form in her hair. Her hands and heart began turning to ice, adding to her despair.
Elsa smirked as she slowly watched Belle turn into an statue of ice. This was the beauty in her mysterious powers. Only she herself knew how they truly worked. She couldn't really kill people with her powers, at least not quickly. Once she blasted someone with her unique magic, it would intertwine with their negative emotions such as fear and sadness. Then the person would slowly begin to become ice. The fear of watching oneself turn to ice would feed the magic as well.
"Those persons killed themselves," Elsa would tell herself. And even then, they weren't really dead, just frozen. Unless she decided to crush her little ice trophies. Not many things existed that could defeat her power, except True Love.
Which is why she had to act quickly when she had escaped her prison and she had found herself in this strange new land and town of Storybrooke. Luckily, she had come across some fairies and their leader, the Blue Fairy. They were known as nuns here. She said she was seeking protection from the Dark One, Rumplestiltskin. Soon, they had explained to her how a powerful curse was cast over the Enchanted Forest that ripped everyone away from their land and brought them to this new one. The curse had been broken, but surprisingly, a second curse had been cast and they again found themselves in Storybrooke. She was able to ascertain the key people responsible for the curse and those who could break it.
Rumplestiltskin and Regina, the Evil Queen, were responsible for the curse. Snow White and Prince Charming had a child, Emma, who was considered the savior. Since she was the product of Snow White and Charming's true love, she had great magic within her. Snow White and Charming had a second baby child, Neal, it was not known if that child was also powerful. Henry was Emma's son and Rumplestiltskin's grandson, but he had no magic within him.
She had been able to gather a great portion of Storybrooke's inhabitants and trap them inside the same vessel Rumplestiltskin had used to trap her while she conjured a nasty blizzard to cause havoc in Storybrooke. She had snatched and thrown baby Neal into the vessel as well, and Emma had thrown herself after the baby to rescue him. She had laughed when she closed the vessel, effectively trapping almost all of Storybrooke inside it.
She then sent a magic blast against Snow, Charming, Regina, and Rumplestiltskin. Snow and Charming only had half a heart each, they were too weak to withstand her magic. She had expected Regina and Rumplestiltskin to be the greater challenge, but their hearts were also full of so much sorrow and negative emotions that their hearts began to freeze as well.
Elsa had lied to Belle about Rumplestiltskin choosing power over those he loved. He did not always do this, not when he had to save their lives. He had used what little power he could to protect Belle and Henry. He had sent his dagger to the town line and was channeling all his power to that dagger to keep her ice wall at bay so that Belle and Henry could escape. His plan had almost succeeded, but not in time.
Perhaps she should have let them go, they were insignificant in the greater schemes of things, but she wanted to take no chances. So, she went looking for them. And she had her last two trophies to look forward to. By now, the ice had spread to Belle's neck, face, arms, and part of her torso.
"Henry be brave!" Belle whispered.
"And hope for what?" Elsa retorted, "Even if I let you go, you have already lost so many of your loved ones. Time and time again and they will never come back. Can hope bring back your father?"
Henry looked dejectedly at Belle, a single tear rolling down his face, frozen.
"I don't know..." a sharp pain in Henry's heart stopped him from saying more. Belle tried holding Henry's face best as she could. To give him strength, while she grew so weak.
"No, no...Henry, be brave, please, believe again..." she cried out in a panic. "Henry...please!"
The ice moved lower down Belle's torso. Suddenly, Belle felt a great heat from within her and all she saw was a great flash of blinding white light.
After a few seconds, when Henry and Belle opened their eyes, Elsa was nowhere to be seen. Belle was no longer turning into ice. She held up her hands, warm flesh, not frozen. The white gone from her hair.
"What happened?" Henry asked. "It was like the light from True Love"
"I don't know" Belle answered. She felt a warmth from within her womb and took a few moments to consider what had just happened. The ice had been invading almost all of body, but when it reached her womb, it was as if some sort of magical clash occurred. She still felt a warmth in her womb, but no pain. Henry had said it was like True Love's light. Could it be? Belle almost did not believe it.
"Henry...I think...I may be pregnant" Belle said, almost in disbelief herself and blushing a bit.
"Uh!?" was all Henry could utter with a confused face. At his dumbfounded expression, Belle could not help but laugh. A true laugh that she had not felt in what seemed like ages.
"I understand, your child is the product of True Love!" Henry exclaimed, now catching on. "The true love that you and grandpa Rumple share" he said those last words with such affirmation, as if it was an undeniable fact. He was fighting away those lies, fighting away the last feelings of fear and sadness.
Belle smiled and nodded as she watched hope, belief, and happiness return into both their hearts. "Are you okay now Henry?"
"Yeah, I think so" Henry nodded as they both stood up and noticed that the blizzard was gone and the snow and ice as well.
"I'm not sure what's going on Henry, but we will succeed! We will win!" Belle said as she picked up the magical dagger and held it close to her as if to speak to it, "Let's hope this works. "
"I believe it will" Henry affirmed.
And Belle said, "Rumplestiltskin."