I OWN NOTHING BUT ELLE GOLD!

Frantic was the only word that could be used to describe Elle Gold as she tore through her father's shop on Sunday morning. She had spent all morning searching through all of the trinkets and bobbles that decorated her father's store, but couldn't find what she was looking for. With her eighteenth birthday approaching, she knew her father had something special that he planned to give her. With only twenty more minutes until her father was due to arrive and open the shop for the day, she grew more and more panicked that she wouldn't find what she was looking for. It was then that she became truly desperate and decided to venture into the back of the store-the only place her father ordered her never to enter. She could never understand why he was so secretive of what was in the back room. She and her father were so close, and Elle adored him. She hated that she kept things from her, but he always warned her that it was, "for her own good", or "to keep her safe".

"Safe from what?" She wondered.

Elle knew her father was not the most well liked man in Storybrooke, but she couldn't imagine anyone trying to hurt him or her, or Belle. She knew her beloved papa had a tendency to be a little overprotective. Well…perhaps a little more than overprotective. But Elle knew his heart was always in the right place. If she knew one thing, she knew her father was a good man who loved her more than anything. Elle owed everything good in her life to the man that so many feared and despised.

You see, Elle didn't know who her biological parents were. When Regina cast the curse and Storybrooke was created, Elle was found in the woods, bundled in a small, pink blanket. It was Mr. Gold who found her and decided to take the helpless baby girl and raise her as his daughter. There was nothing Elle wanted, or needed that she didn't have. No expense was spared when it came to Rumplestilskin's tiny princess. Even as an infant, she was beautiful. She had a full head of soft, dark hair, and big brown eyes surrounded by thick, long black eyelashes. He couldn't say no to her, he was wrapped around her tiny fingers since he laid his eyes on her.

As Elle blossomed into a young woman, Mr. Gold grew more and more protective of his "princess as pure as gold". But, he couldn't help but to be proud of the way she had grown up. Elle was selfless, always thinking of others before herself. She valued kindness and generosity over wit and vanity. She was also impossibly modest. In short, it was impossible not to love her. Many people in Storybrooke said that Elle was Mr. Gold's only redeeming quality. Many wondered how a man who once was so dark, could raise someone who was nothing short of wonderful.

Elle knew of her father's checkered past. He had tried to shield her from it as a child, but Storybrooke was a small town. So as she grew, she heard bits and pieces, and eventually put the pieces together for herself. But to Elle, it didn't matter. She knew the man her papa truly was: kind, loving, and gentle. And that was all that mattered to her. And when Belle came into the picture, Elle couldn't be happier that Papa was with someone he loved, and that loved him in return. Together, the three of them became a cozy, happy family.

But today, Elle needed to know what her dear Papa was hiding from her. So silently, she crept into the back room of the store. As she tiptoed around, she stumbled across an object that caught her eye. There, on the windowsill, was a long gold necklace, with a star-shaped diamond pendant. It was the most beautiful thing Elle had ever seen. It glistened in the sunlight shining through the curtains of the dusty old window.

"That must be it!" she thought. She couldn't believe her Papa and Belle had gotten her something so beautiful. Now that she had found what she was looking for, and only felt slightly guilty for snooping, Elle made her way to the front of the store. But before Elle could reach the threshold to leave the back room, an old book caught her eye. The cover and binding of the book was a dark mossy green and the pages looked like they were made of pure gold. The front of the book read ,"The Little White Bird" by J.M. Barrie.

"Isn't that the story of Peter Pan?" Elle wondered. Elle knew that Storybrooke was made up of characters from fairytales from the Enchanted Forest. But Elle didn't recall Peter Pan being someone in Storybrooke.

"I guess they missed this one." Elle said aloud.

As she opened the book she discovered that the pages had been hollowed out, and in the center of the book was a bundle of cloth. Elle couldn't help but wonder what was in the cloth so she put down the book, and began to unravel the soft bundle of fabric. When the cloth was unfolded, all that Elle saw was a bean.

What happened next happened too quickly for Elle to comprehend. As her fingers wrapped around the bean, she heard the chime of her father entering the store, and all of a sudden there was a burst of light that knocked Elle off of her feet. She screamed, and fell onto her back, and all of a sudden she felt something dragging her into the blinding light.

"Papa!" she screamed.

She heard her father's footsteps, and the last thing she saw was his horrified face as he screamed, "Elle! No!"

All that came after that was deafening silence and utter blackness.