'OUAT' Answers What Happened Between Belle & Anna

Must Once Upon A Time always force me to decide between what's right and what someone really needs? During last Sunday's promo for "Family Business," OUAT revealed that Belle knows Frozen 's Anna from a crazy trek through the woods. And, during the episode, the series revealed that it's Belle's fault that Anna is missing on OUAT . I guess that explains why the Storybrooke librarian has been keeping from Elsa the fact that she knows her sister. So, what happened between Belle and Anna? It's a tale as old as time on OUAT, they met as travelers on a journey for answers, but their road took a tragic turn.

Was anyone else totally distracted by the fact that OUAT's Oaken was perfect, all the way down to his "yoo-hoo!" — because I absolutely was. But anyway, Sunday night's episode opened on Belle's backstory and the fact that she couldn't remember the circumstances that led to her mother's death (who was killed by an ogre, by the way), which is what landed her in Arendelle. According to sources around The Enchanted Forest, the Rock Trolls can restore your lost memories. Belle was on the road to finding the Rock Trolls when she came across Anna at Oaken's Trading Post (yes, there was a sauna), who, unsurprisingly, was on her way to the Trolls as well to ask questions about her new aunt, the Snow Queen.

The rest of their quick friendship flew by — the pair went to the trolls and got the answers they were looking for. Belle was gifted with a stone that she could use to make tea to get her memories back and Anna was told about her family's hidden history (also, the Queen of Arendelle's name is Gerta — yoo-hoo!). And all seemed well in the world, even though Anna was obviously sticking her nose into dangerous territory. Well, all was actually very far from well.

The Snow Queen — aka Ingrid — is, in addition to having chilly powers, extremely talented in surveillance because she followed Anna all the way to the Rock Trolls and then thwarted her return to Arendelle to relay the information to Elsa. On their way back to the castle, Ingrid created a storm that knocked Anna and Belle almost entirely off the cliff face they were walking along. And here comes the big, metaphorical decision that OUAT is so good at presenting — Belle had to choose between her memories of her mother and Anna's life and, because she hesitated, Ingrid captured Anna.

So Belle's been living with this guilt and this mistake ever since and she's clearly embarrassed by it, which is why she hasn't told anyone that she knows what happened to Anna. Well, that changed at the end of the episode when she came barreling into the police station to spill her guts. But Belle's difficulty making that decision speaks a lot to what OUAT is trying to teach us in this storyline — is family more important than other people's lives? OUAT doesn't seem so sure.

Image: Jack Rowand/ABC