Once upon a time, in a faraway land, there lived a man named Rumpelstiltskin. He was a poor spinner who lived in a small village with his wife Milah and his son Baelfire. He loved them very much but, while the child adored his father, his wife almost hated him and always called him a coward like the other villagers did – in fact, a few years before, Rumpelstiltskin had hurt himself in order to leave a useless battle and return home, remaining forever lame in his left leg and becoming the clown of the village. He tried to save his marriage but Milah couldn't stand to be any longer the coward's wife and soon left him.
Rumpelstiltskin remained alone with his son, hoping that people would not be hard with him because of his father's actions but they didn't, and Baelfire was also covered by the shame to be the coward's son. The boy didn't seem to notice it, and loved his father with all his heart, but Rumpelstiltskin felt bad: he feared that, one day, Baelfire would have abandoned him too, and he didn't want his son be mocked because of him.
The only way to make the mocks stop and give the two of them a better life, in his thoughts, was to become a powerful man.
So, one night, when Baelfire was fourteen, Rumpelstiltskin listened to the stories of an old beggar man and decided to steal the Dark One's dagger. The Dark One was the name with whom was called the most powerful and fearful man of all the Enchanted Forest: they said that by holding his dagger you could control him and make him do everything you wanted him to, and by killing him with his dagger you would have become the new Dark One, receiving all his dark magic.
Rumpelstiltskin did so, and killed him, becoming the new Dark One.
At first, he was sure to be able to control the dark magic but soon, without him knowing it, he began to loose control: he took his vengeance to all who mocked him and his son by killing them, and used his power to become rich and wealthy. He and his son left their old house to live in a big castle, where Rumpelstiltskin kept jealously and secretly his dagger – which was the only thing that could kill him, by stabbing him to his heart.
Soon, his son began to become more and more worried about his father. Baelfire knew that he would never hurt him, but he feared his father and his power: he could see what Rumpelstiltskin couldn't, that that dark magic was taking control of his mind and his body – in fact, by becoming the Dark One, the man didn't seem no longer a man: his skin became a colour mixture of green and gray, his bad leg healed, his nails became dark and sharp. He was like a monster, a beast.
Baelfire looked at his father when he did something bad or evil and every time he prayed him to stop, to not be so evil anymore, to let his power go. At first, Rumpelstiltskin promised him to do so, the he began to say that he was doing it only for his sake, and finally he simply began to ignore his son's protest. Evil was taking control of him more and more, day by day…when, finally, one day, Rumpelstiltskin found his wife and killed her by ripping her heart from her chest.
That was enough and Baelfire, horrified by what his father had become, left him alone and never returned, making Rumpelstiltskin's worst nightmare become true.
Now, Rumpelstiltskin was all alone, and he began to understand what he had done: he had lost his humanity and his beloved son. He fell into despair, called Baelfire's name hoping he would return, he cried and said he was sorry, but nothing happened, and Rumpelstiltskin began to be more and more controlled by his magic and thirst of power.
Then, one winter's night, an enchanted being called the Blue Fairy came to the Dark Castle and offered Rumpelstiltskin a possibility to free himself: killing himself with his own dagger, she said, wasn't the only way to solve the problem and stop that grief. She gave him a beautiful magic red rose and said that, before the last petal fell, he must find someone who loved him and love her in return, and sharing a True Love's kiss in order to break the curse.
Then, the Blue Fairy left him a silver ring and a magic mirror as a window to the outside, and disappeared, leaving them again alone.
Time passed, and Rumpelstiltskin still stayed alone in his castle, with the only company of a few people who, by making deals with him, slowly began his servants. He waited for the one who could break the spell but, as time passed and the petals began to fall, he fell more and more into despair.
For who could ever learn to love the Dark One?
Hello everyone! I would like to thank you for reading this first chapter, I hope you would like to continue to follow this story. As I said in the summary, I'm Italian and obviously English isn't my first language, so I pray you to excuse me for my mistakes, I'll try to be better.
So, this is a retelling of the classic tale of Beauty and the Beast with OUAT characters and particularly Rumbelle – my OTP. This is a mixture of the Disney version, the original fairytale written by Jeanne-Marie LePrince De Beaumont, the TV movie of 1978 – I guess it's the right date… – and some of my ideas.
So, this is a small list of the characters:
Rumpelstiltskin – The Beast
Belle – The Beauty
Maurice – Belle's father
Regina and Jacqueline – Belle's sisters
Cora – Belle's stepmother (yeah, that' freak, I know…)
Killian Jones – Let's call him a sort of Gaston…
Marian – Belle's friend
David, Mary Margaret, Ruby, Archie and all – Rumpelstiltskin's servants
Other characters will be introduced later.
Thank you very much. See you to the next chapter (if you want)!
Bye!