Chapter Text
Elsa didn’t need to be told. The moment the staff had started emitting a heartbeat, she’d known exactly whose it was – that much had been obvious by the look in her eyes. So it really wasn’t that surprising to see that same look show up again, even if it was like a bolt from the blue and Emma ended up having to practically vault over the table as the other woman just shot to her feet and ran.
“Hey!” She stopped short just beyond the door and cursed the fact that she’d helped the woman find clothes that let her fit in better, because at least the shimmering, blue dress Elsa arrived in stood out – jeans and a leather jacket were a good deal less distinctive, and picking Elsa from a crowd just got a whole lot harder. “Aw, hell,” she groaned, and tore off when she caught a glimpse of a pale braid snapping around a corner. “Wait up!”
Of course, the sight of the sheriff sprinting through the streets (and alleys – where was Elsa going?!) of downtown Storybrooke drew some attention, and while Emma ignored it – she had to, or she was going to lose sight of her because damn, Elsa was fast – it took all of maybe two blocks total before Hook showed up at the edge of her vision and settled into a brisk run beside her.
“Swan,” he greeted, and gave her a curious look. “Bit of a sharp pace for a jog, innit?”
“I’m not— jogging.” Emma cursed, and grabbed onto a lamppost to steady herself through a sharp turn. “Our latest and greatest shot up like something bit her, and took off.”
“Huh.” He jumped the hood of a car with remarkable aplomb for a man who still couldn’t remember what a cell phone was called. “So you found Dairy Queen?”
“Wrong queen.” A low-hanging branch almost slapped her in the face, but she ducked it and reminded herself to spend some more time on cardio. She wasn’t supposed to be beaten in a footrace, and certainly not by someone who’d yet to show any interest in a physical fitness regimen. But now that they were apparently leaving Storybrooke behind in favor of the forest… “Elsa!”
“Ah,” Hook murmured. “That queen. Y’know, for such a small town there’s an awful lot of those around. Where is she going?”
“If I knew that, I’d have taken the car. Elsa!”
“Bloody hell, she’s fast!”
“Then save your breath and run faster!”
It was sheer luck that they managed to keep up – or at least keep within range of sight – because Elsa was ducking and weaving with remarkable skill, and very clearly knew exactly where she was going. At one point - when Emma’s lungs had been burning for far too long and her legs were threatening to give out on her – she swore they’d lost her completely when she just vanished for several long moments. It was only a chance glimpse out the corner of her eye that made her turn her head, and she released a breath when she recognized Elsa, who was standing in a small clearing with her arms wrapped tightly around a young woman clad in a blue dress and a thick, pink cloak.
“Ah.” Emma set her hands on her hips as she jogged to a halt a respectful distance away, and tried to steady her breathing. “I’m guessing this is Anna.”
“Uh…” To say that Hook sounded skeptical would be an understatement. “I dunno, luv. I ain’t got any sisters, I’ll give you that, but if I did, that’s not how I’d be sayin’ hello to them.”
Well, maybe he had a point, Emma considered, and took deliberate, slow breaths as she felt her heart rate even out and studied the two women. They were curled together like pieces of a wooden puzzle – close enough that she doubted she could fit even a silk thread between them, with first their cheeks and then their foreheads pressing together, and she’d never even thought that Elsa could smile the way she was right now.
“That looks more like how I’d say hello to you,” Hook noted.
“What are you wearing?” the newcomer asked of Elsa with a warm, slightly teary laugh, and brought up a hand to brush the wind-whipped, blonde hair back. “Never thought I’d see the day where you wore pants! And what kind of shoes are those?”
Elsa was laughing too, and maybe also crying a little. “Things are… different here,” she said, and then hugged the other woman until their bodies were meeting from head to toe. “Oh, Anna, I’m so glad to see you again.”
“… then again, maybe not,” Hook muttered. “Arendelle custom?”
“Maybe,” Emma agreed, but watched the two women with a keen eye even as the newcomer turned her head, spotted the two of them and freed one hand to wave enough that she felt comfortable in approaching them. Even if Elsa was blushing noticeably. “Hello.”
“Hi.” Anna was smiling warmly, and while the two sisters did extract themselves from each other, their fingers twined tightly. “Oh! You’re wearing pants, too! Does that mean I need to find a pair? Because I lost my pack… somewhere, and this is really all I have.”
“We’ll figure something out,” Elsa told her softly. “This is Emma Swan – she’s the sheriff here.”
“Hi!” Anna greeted again, and sent her a bright smile before frowning and turning to her sister. “Where is ‘here’?” she muttered, and then a glance at Hook made her eyes sharpen and her frame shift until she was effectively shielding the blonde with her own body. “And why does it include pirates?”
“Bright lass,” the object of her study commented, and folded his arms with a smirk. “Retired, though, luv. Not much pillaging to be done ‘round these parts, see?”
“And pillaging is against the law – even in Storybrooke,” Emma reminded him dryly, and patted the pocket that held her badge.
“Well, that too.”
“This,” Elsa spoke up again. “Is Killian Jones – also known as Hook, for…” she hesitated, and then rolled her eyes when Hook helpfully raised his left arm. “… obvious reasons. He’s a friend.”
“Storybrooke is a small, coastal town in a state called Maine, which is a part of a country called the United States of America, or just America,” Emma explained, as simply as she could. “We seem to attract a lot of people from other worlds or even times, and if you and Elsa come from the same time and place, there’s going to be a lot of strange things here.”
“I doubt you have anything stranger than what I’ve seen,” Anna remarked with a surprisingly wry look in her eyes. “But lead on – I’m sure the two of you know the way better than we do.”
Emma wondered, as their little quartet started off back towards town at a far more languid pace, if that had been a deliberate move on Anna’s part – a way of getting her and Hook to turn their backs on the Arendelle sisters and give them some privacy. She wondered even more whenever she glanced back and saw the distinct lack of distance between the two women as they walked and the little glances they’d exchange – the way they’d sometimes fall a little further behind and disappear from view for only a few seconds. A thousand, tiny things that could be totally innocent – could be no more than coincidence, and evidence of a very close, sisterly relationship.
Or of something that went a lot deeper than that.
Huh.