Either Regina was an avid hiker or she was walking twice as fast so Emma and Aurelia couldn't keep up with her.

"Is this a locator spell? Aren't we supposed to be following some floaty object or something?" Aurelia asked.

"Oh, now you're a magic expert" Regina scoffed.

"Not exactly. But I've seen-"

"There are many enchantments you have yet to be exposed to. If you bothered to study your craft, you'd know that" Regina said.

"Well, my craft is pretty new. I mean not the healing part but everything else. Maybe you could teach me?" Aurelia asked.

"I don't have time for lessons," Regina said.

"I know. You're busy trying to help Marian. And it's really great what you're doing. I know it must be really difficult" Aurelia said.

"Oh, so I've impressed you? Well, it makes it all worthwile, then, doesn't it?" Regina chuckled.

"Why are you doing that? She's just trying to be nice" Emma said, trying to defend Aurelia.

"And then, what? Complimenting my outfits? Giving me a makeover? Braiding my hair? Calling Robin Hood and hanging up? You're trying to win me over, so I can assuage your guilt for what you've done, but I won't. Intentionally or not, you two brought Marian back. You ruined my life, and there is no coming back from that. Because I know you think you didn't mean to. But you hurt someone. So, do as I do. Learn to live with it. Welcome to my world" Regina said, as she kept walking not caring if they caught up with her or not.

Aurelia stood there, hating how deep Regina's words cut. She knew she was right. She hated how much she was right and how there really wasn't anything she could do to fix it.

"Lia, you can't let what she said get to you," Emma said.

"I know I shouldn't. But it doesn't mean it still doesn't hurt. She's right. I hurt her in a way that I can't fix. I guess I just got to used to fixing things" she said.

"Lia-"

"We should keep walking. We need to find Elsa" she said, not wanting to talk about it for fear she might just start crying or having a breakdown over all the guilt she faced.

Emma nodded as they kept going, following Regina in silence. Eventually, they made it to the cliff that was deep in the forest splitting the land into two, this time connected by a giant staircase made of ice.

"Looks like Elsa was here," Emma said. "Thanks Ms. Swan. Please, continue to point out the obvious" Regina said.

"Then, obviously, we're not gonna step on it till we know it's safe," Emma said.

"It's safe," Regina said as she started walking across. Emma and Aurelia glanced at each other before deciding to follow her over.

Halfway through, as Aurelia glanced down she shivered as the wind blew past her. "This is probably a terrible time to mention that I don't really like heights," she said.

"Something's not right," Emma said, sensing that something else was nearby. "Maybe your sparkly blue dresssed friend is closer than you think," Regina said.

"No. This is not Elsa" Emma said, as another even stronger gust of wind nearly blew them over. "The Snow Queen! She found us!"

"Sidney" Regina said as if she realized something terrible.

"Sidney? What does Sidney have to do with any of this?" Aurelia asked.

"Sidney was the one who told me where the Snow Queen's lair was," Regina said, pulling out a pocket mirror.

"You lied to us! You said you didn't have a clue where Sidney was. He was in your mirror the whole time?" Emma shouted.

"Maybe I did! So what? I don't have to tell you everything I'm doing" Regina said, opening up the mirror to reveal Sidney's face inside.

"Nor do I, Your Majesty," he said.

"You led us here. You're working for the Snow Queen? Traitor!" Regina shouted.

"I'm the traitor? I think Your Majesty should take a look in the mirror. And as you contemplate what you've done, know that she has a present for you that I'd say is well deserved" he said.

Turning her head, Aurelia's eyes grew wide as she saw the ice on the other side of the bridge starting to melt.

"Guys!" she called out.

"Oh, save your moral judgements" Regina scoffed.

"No, look!" she shouted, as the bridge began falling apart. The three of them began running to the other side, barely making it before it completely melted.

"Everyone okay?" Emma asked.

"I think we have a bigger problem," Regina said, looking up at another 20-foot-tall, ice monster. This one was seemingly all dressed up for battle.

Regina tried shooting a fireball at it, successfully taking off its arm, but it quickly grew back. "Well that's a problem," Emma said.

"Let's try again. Together" Aurelia suggested. Regina agreed, possibly hating them but hating the thought of losing her life even more.

Together, the three of them blasted their magic at the creature as it roared at them. "It's working" Emma shouted, as it slowly grew smaller as the ice it was made of began to melt.

They kept going, blasting it with magic until it was completely gone, reduced to a giant puddle.

"We did it!" Aurelia exclaimed.

"What a welcome visit ladies."

They all turned to see the Snow Queen standing opposite of them. "Thank you for bringing me what I needed," she said.

She held out her hand, Regina's pocket mirror appearing in her hand. "Give me back my mirror, you-" Regina was cut off as the Snow Queen held out her hand using her magic to, squeeze the air from her lungs.

"Wait, stop!" Aurelia shouted but soon she two couldn't breathe as both she and Emma began gasping for air.

But before the Snow Queen could truly hurt any of them, she blasted back my magic as Elsa appeared behind them. They all began coughing and gasping for the air they had been missing.

"You want a fight? Fight me" Elsa said. The Snow Queen stood up with a smile on her face.

"Well done, Elsa. You're losing your fear. There's hope for you yet" she said.

"Let's just finish this now," Regina said.

"No need. I have what I want" the Snow Queen said before she disappeared into a cloud of icy white smoke.

"Are you all okay?" Elsa asked.

"Yeah, thank you. Are you okay?" Aurelia asked her and Elsa nodded.

"Why didn't you tell us about Sidney?" Emma asked, looking at Regina.

"Because despite what you all wish we are not in here together. I didn't ask you two to tag along" Regina said.

"Well we did. And if you had told us, maybe you would have saved us some trouble" Emma said.

"Okay. Tell you what? That I threw Sidney in a mirror to help me kill Marian, but then I changed my mind? What's the point? You never would've believed me" Regina said.

"I would have," Aurelia said.

"Stop trying to get me to forgive you, because it'll never happen!" Regina sneered.

"Stop it! You all need to mend your differences, otherwise Storybrooke doesn't stand a chance" Elsa said.

Regina scoffed and shook her head. "We never will. For one simple reason. I don't want to" she said, before disappearing into a cloud of smoke.

Aurelia huffed and shook her head. "I'm not going to give up. I'm going to talk to her" she said, walking off back to Regina's vault.

Elsa let out a small laugh as she walked away. "She reminds me of Anna. They're both extremely stubborn. Unable to give up on people."

"Oh, you have no idea" Emma sighed, just hoping that in Aurelia's endless quest to be kind to everyone around her, she didn't get hurt.

─── · 。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

When Regina saw Aurelia walking into her vault she groaned, hoping it was a dream.

"What do I have to do to get you to leave me alone," Regina asked.

"I'm never going to. I understand that you're mad at me. And I know that I did something that I can't fix. But I am not giving up. Not on you or on the possibilty that you'll forgive me. It's just not who I am. I wans't looking for you to assuage my guilt. I just wanted us to be friends" Aurelia said.

"You thought we were friends?" Regina asked.

"I thought we could be. And I'm not going to stop trying even if you hate me or want to kill me" Aurelia said, as she turned to walk away.

"Aurelia, wait" Regina sighed. "I don't want to kill you."

Aurelia smiled, knowing she was getting through to her. "See. Progress."

─── · 。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Sitting in the art studio, Killian set up for her she sat on a stool, putting finishing touches of light blue strokes of paint on the sky she had been working on for days.

A knock on the door behind her made her turn around and she smiled, seeing Killian standing at the door.

"Something told me I'd find you here," he said, as he walked in.

"Well you did go through all the trouble of putting this together. Figured the least I could do was use it" she smiled.

"What are you working on?" he asked, walking over to her.

"My house. Well was my house, growing up" she said. Looking at the painting he was surprised at how detailed it was. It almost looked like a picture.

"You told me you painted. You didn't tell me how good you were" he said, taking a closer look.

"It's terrible. The lighting and perspective's off. Well, considering I'm a bit out of practice" she sighed.

"You're kidding? This is the best bloody thing I've ever seen" he said.

"Thank you" she laughed. "But something tells me you might be a bit biased."

"Now why would you say that?" he asked.

"Mmm. I don't know. Maybe because you kind of like me" she smiled.

"That's where your wrong. I more than kind of like you" he said, pulling her into a kiss.

Pulling away he glanced at the sketch on the table behind her that had yet to be painted. "Who's that?" he asked.

Turning around, Aurelia walked over to the drawing. "Oh. It's that woman I told you about, Adelaide. The first person I ever healed. I guess I've just been thinking about her a lot lately" she said.

Turning his head, he couldn't shake the feeling that he had seen that person before.

"She looks familiar," he said. Frowning, Aurelia picked up the drawing suddenly looking at it as if she had never seen it before.

"Oh my god" she gasped. "It's her. Ingrid, the Snow Queen."

"Bloody hell" he mumbled, staring at the drawing. "That's how she knows you."

"She was there. When I was a child. How is she here now?" Aurelia asked. She racked her brain trying to think of any memory of the person who was once her neighbor saying anything about having powers or even anything remotely suspicious.

But there was nothing. Unless what Emma said was true.

The Snow Queen had taken her memories.

authors note

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