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CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
THE QUEST
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IT TOOK TERESA A FULL MONTH TO HAVE CONTROL OF HER MAGIC. A complete month where she grieved her mother. A complete month where she missed her friends, and Storybrooke. A complete month where got to get to know both of her cousins. But now it was time for her to go back to Storybrooke, and both Elsa and Anna understood her reasons for wanting to get back to Snow. Though, the archer did promise to find a way to visit whenever she could.

On the docks of Arendelle, Teresa stood with Elsa, Anna and Kristoff.

"Safe travels, cousin," Elsa said as she softly gripped her hands.

Teresa enveloped her in a hug. "I'll miss you."

Elsa hugged back, rather tightly, as she fought back tears. "I'll miss you too."

It was a few moments before they pulled apart. Teresa gave Elsa a smile before stepping onto the boat. Anna and Kristoff followed, and with a wave to Elsa, the captain began setting sail for the Enchanted Forest.

It was in the Enchanted Forest that Teresa was going to search through Rumplestiltskin's mansion for a way back to Storybrooke. Surely there had to be a way with all the artifacts he keeps. And since the Dark One was currently in Storybrooke, getting inside his castle was going to be quite easy.

Teresa planted herself down onto the deck, where she then rummaged through her bag for the novel she discovered in her mother's old trunk full of her belongings. She had taken a few things from it, including the Arendelle necklace that now rested around her neck.

"Why don't we do something to pass the time?" Anna suggested.

"Like what?" Kristoff asked his wife.

Anna thought on it for a moment before grinning with an idea in her cheerful mind. "How about a game?"

Teresa raised an eyebrow at her cousin. "You do realize we're on a boat right?"

Anna put her hands on her hips and gave the blonde a look. "I'm well aware."

"Fine," Teresa gave in. "Why don't we play 20 questions?"

"20 -- what?" Kristoff asked in confusion.

Teresa smiled as she recalled her being just as confused as him when Henry mentioned that they play 20 Questions. "It's a game, Henry taught me it."

"Henry?" Anna said questioningly. Her eyebrows knitted together as she thought to remember who Henry was. She then remembered there being a teenage boy around Teresa's age that seemed to be in the same places as Emma. "Emma's son?"

Teresa nodded. "Yea."

Anna then smirked. "So this Henry taught you how to play a game?"

Teresa gave her a weird look. "Yea..."

"Do you like this Henry?"

Teresa's eyes widened and a faint blush painted her cheeks. "What? No! Why -- Why would you ask that?" She cleared her throat uncomfortably and looked down.

Anna smirked. "You do like him! Awwwww Kristoff, it's young love."

"I do not like Henry Mills, nor will I ever like Henry Mills," Teresa declared. "He is just a friend."

"That's what they all say," Anna smirked.

Teresa rolled her eyes. "Are we playing a game are not?"

"Yes! Now, explain this 20 Questions game."

"Okay, so the objective is to choose something from an object, to an animal, to a person. After you've thought of something, your opponents must try and guess what you've chosen with only a limit of twenty questions. For instance, you could choose a leaf and we have to try and guess it."

"Sounds easy enough," Kristoff replied.

"I agree, though how does one win this game?" Anna asked.

"Henry told me that if after the twenty questions have been asked and they didn't guess what you've chosen you get one point, but whoever gets guessing it correctly first gets a point. We played to five points, though Henry said the amount of points to win is your choice to decide."

"Let's go with five," Anna said. She then clapped her hands together, excited to learn a new game from a different realm. "Who's going first?"

"I'll go," Kristoff volunteered.

"Fine, but if you choose ice I'll throw you over the railing." Anna and Kristoff laughed at her words.

"I wasn't going to choose ice," Kristoff confessed, but when Teresa gave him a look with one of her eyebrows arched, he sighed. "Alright, fine...I was going to choose ice."

Teresa smirked. "I knew it."

Kristoff rolled his eyes at the archer before thinking of something to choose. It didn't take him long to decide on his new word. "Alright, I'm ready."

"Is it an object?" Teresa asked.

"Yes."

"Is it blue?" Anna asked.

"Sometimes it can be. It depends the type," Kristoff replied.

After a moment of thinking, Teresa asked, "Is it a flower?"

Kristoff sighed. "Yes."

"Very good, Teri!" Anna beamed. "Okay, now my turn!"

➳

The docks for the Enchanted Forest were fastly approaching. The trio rose from where they had been sitting and eating a snack below deck and made their way above deck.

Teresa grabbed her bag as the captain steered them toward the docks. When there, Kristoff assisted him in anchoring the boat and tying a rope around a post of the dock.

"Okay, the castle isn't far from here," Anna said, then turning to face the Arendelle ship captain. "We'll be back before morning."

The trio began walking through the woods, and it was not long before they arrived at the Dark One's castle. As they walked in, they found cobwebs and dust covering some things, but that was to be expected since it had been quite some time since the Dark One had Belle cleaning.

"Alright, so what exactly are we looking for?" Kristoff asked.

"Well when I woke up at the hospital in Storybooke after being shot with an arrow, Emma mentioned that she used a wand to create a portal and to get back to Storybrooke. All we need to do is find it."

"Do we at least know what this wand looks like?"

Teresa frowned. "Emma didn't really explain what it looked like. Let's just split up and find a wand. Hopefully, there is only one in this place so it'll be much easier."

With that being said, the trio broke off into separate rooms in search for a wand.

It was not long before Teresa's eyes caught a bag of silver colored beans, something she easily reconized as magic beans. She smiled as she picked up the pouch.

"Guys!" Teresa called. "I found my way to Storybrooke!" She met Anna and Kristoff in the front all.

"You found the wand?" Anna asked.

"Even better," Teresa smirked and held up the black pouch.

"A bag?" Kristoff asked in confusion.

"Yes Kristoff, I'm going to use a bag to get myself to Storybrooke," Teresa sarcastically replied. "It's what's in the bag." Teresa re-opened the black pouch, revealing at least seven magic beans.

"What are they?" Anna asked.

"It's a magic bean. It opens at portal to anywhere you want to go. All I have to do is toss it, think to Storybrooke, and boom I'm there!"

"Well, alright then," Anna smiled. "Let's get you to Storybrooke."

The trio walked outside, where Teresa then was tackled in a tight hug by her cousin. Teresa stumbled, a laugh escaping her lips. She hugged back, "I'll miss you too, Anna."

"You have several magic beans, promise you'll come visit."

As they pulled apart, Teresa squeezed her hands. "I promise, as long as you promise that next time I visit you have a slight curve of a stomach."

Anna chuckled and looked to her husband with loving eyes. "That would be lovely."

"I imagine a little Anna, as fierce and kind as her mom," Teresa said.

"So do I," Kristoff agreed.

Teresa stepped toward the ice maker and wrapped him a quick hug. "Take care, ice boy," she said as she pulled back.

Kristoff smirked at the nickname she had given him a while ago. "Believe it or not, but I'm going to miss that sarcasm of yours, Teresa."

Teresa grinned. "I have that ability to grow on people." She then sighed. "Alright, I best be going."

Teresa shoved her hand into the pouch and pulled out a single magic bean. She tossed it onto the ground and almost immediately a large green portal opened up. A wind blew as the portal began to swirl.

Teresa shoved the pouch of magic beans into her bag. She gave Anna and Kristoff one last smile before turning and jumping into the portal with one thought on her mind.

Storybrooke, Maine