Disclaimer: I do not own Once Upon A Time. If I did Belle and Rumpelstiltskin would have been together from the beginning.

Prologue

Today was the day. Today was the day she fulfilled a promise decades in the making. A promise made by her mother and father before she was even a twinkle in their eyes. Today was the day she married the Dark One.

Years ago when the ogres came the land was terrorised. People were dying. Young, old, male, female, the ogres didn't make an exception for any. The army couldn't hold them back. The Lord and Lady's only chance of keeping their people save was to deal with Rumpelstiltskin, the Dark One himself.

He promised to banish the ogres from their land and for them never to return, for a price. The young leaders were so desperate to help there people that they agreed to do or give anything they asked. His price was this: in two years' time the Lady would give birth to a young daughter, she would be kind and strong and beautiful. When she turned 18 he would come and take her, she was to be his wife. The couple desperately agreed thinking that they would find a way out of their agreement, forgetting no one breaks a deal with the Dark One.

The ogres were banished and peace came back over the land. Two years later, exactly like Rumpelstiltskin had said, they were gifted with a baby girl. They called Her Belle. She grew up to be kind to everyone she met, strong of heart and so beautiful. They never told Belle of the deal they had made. She never knew what was facing her until her 18th birthday. And this dear reader is where our tale begins.