A/N: I have been really excited to write this story. I got the idea a couple of months ago, but I'm finally posting it! Thank you so much for reading. Feedback will be much appreciated. :D
Prologue
The rage and shouts of the bloodthirsty war filled the castle walls in a murderous frenzy. The enemies had not reached the castle yet but already Snow White and Prince James were hurried off to the passage underground to hide in. Even though Prince James was expected to lead his army, no one argued when he wouldn't leave Snow White's side, who was eight months pregnant with their first child. A baby princess that the whole kingdom was excited to meet, especially considering she would be the next heir to the throne.
The guards lead them through the passage. A small room was waiting for them at the end of it, heavily guarded with locks, bolts, weapons, and protectors. It was made for this exact reason and only the royals were allowed in. There was food, blankets, and any other essentials they needed were piled up on one side of the room. These goods could help them survive for months if the circumstances forced them to.
They had been threatened many times by King John and his army from the Kingdom of Melidien. Years had gone by but only words were being said, not action. Nevertheless, they had still prepared their armies for a surprise attack.
"Of course they choose to attack so close to my due date," Snow was exasperated with this sudden turn of events. Doc had very specifically told her that relaxing for the next few weeks was her best option for a smooth labour.
"It will be alright, my dear. We still have some time." James gave her words of encouragement, more to calm down his nerves than hers.
He would allow the enemies to stab him with their agonizing torches of fire than let them touch even one hair on Snow's head. His greatest priority was to protect his family first before anything else. If something ever happened to them he would never forgive himself. He also had his kingdom to think about and protect. Thousands of innocent lives could be taken away with this battle and he would do anything to make it stop.
"Sir they have reached the castle grounds," the guard urgently warned them as he locked the doors behind him, "I was appointed to stay in here just in case."
"We appreciate all that you are doing for us, Lancelot." Snow explained, as she gave her old time friend and protector a hug. A few tears trickled down her face as she let go, James reached out for her arm as he carefully guided her to a chair to take a seat on.
"Do you know how long-" Prince James was cut off when the screams and roars of the servants, guards, and enemies were heard.
"They are here!" Lancelot drew his sword, as did James.
"They can't break through this door, right?" Snow's panicked voice asked.
"Snow, they are a powerful army. I wouldn't put it past them to be able to break down the door. Stay back," James turned around to face his wife, his eyes filled with unshed tears, "for the sake of the baby."
"Yes, for the sake of your precious baby." A giggly voice replied from behind them.
James and Lancelot turned abruptly as Snow gasped. Their swords were now pointing at the dark one, who didn't even flinch at the threat of their weapons.
"Rumpelstiltskin," Snow said as she slowly backed away, "what do you want?"
"What do I want? No, no. The real question is what do you want, dearie?" Rumpelstiltskin walked towards the trio in a confident manner.
"Snow, get behind me now." James hissed, heaving the sword steadier.
"I want to know what he wants. I have dealt with him before Charming." Snow argued. She hoped by using his nickname he would reason with her.
His face softened but he still would not give in.
"Absolutely not," he said, "this thing is dangerous."
"You know I'm standing right here." The dark one said, using his hands dramatically to make his point.
"Fine," Prince James spoke up, "whatever it is you want just spit it out, but leave my wife out of it."
"Is this really how you repay me Prince James? I gave you this life, this kingdom, this… family. You owe me, both of you."
Lancelot stepped in front of his King and Queen. "You will have to go through me first."
"Well, if you insist."
Lancelot moved forward, his sword plunged into the dark one's chest. The dark one disappeared in a cloud of purple smoke, looking amused.
"Over here, dearie," Lancelot turned around to see the dark one casually standing behind him, the sword no longer in his chest, "killing me is going to take more than that."
Before Lancelot could make his next move, the same sword that was meant to kill Rumpelstiltskin got buried into his chest instead.
"Lancelot," Snow screamed, "What did you do?"
"Well he asked for it. You should know by now to never stand in my way, if he was smart he wouldn't have threatened me."
"Lancelot, stay with me." Snow said, sobbing. She cradled his head in her lap, the tears falling freely.
"I'm sorry Sn-" His last breath was drawn in a gasp before he died.
"Snow?" Prince James stood behind his wife, placing one hand on her shoulder.
She ignored him, gently placing Lancelot's head on the ground and slowly rising to her feet.
"Enough stalling, just tell us what you are here for and then please leave us alone." Snow's face was filled with fury and sadness. James went to stand beside his wife, supporting her fragile body.
"Leave you here to die?" He asked.
"We are well guarded in here without your assistance, thank you." Snow hissed.
"No you aren't well guarded, you fool."
"And what makes you say that?" James's voice was confident, but Snow could feel how he tensed up beside her.
"It might be the fact that I'm the one who gave them the idea, weapons, and strong army to attack your kingdom," Rumpelstiltskin was now roaming around them, amused by their shocked reactions, "you see I made a deal with Kind John a long time ago. He already paid his half of the bargain and now it's my turn."
"And what?" Snow asked, "Your half of the bargain was to destroy our kingdom with his army?"
"Well that was half of it, yes." The dark one giggled.
"Then what was the other half?" The Prince asked, his hand clutching his sword.
"You see, King John and his wife, Queen Annika, can't have… children." Rumpelstiltskin emphasized the last word, making it a point to stare at Snow's growing belly.
"Absolutely not, I know where you are going with this. You are wasting your time, get out." Prince James yelled.
"But that's where the first half of our deal comes into play. This army will not stop until every last inch of your precious little kingdom is incinerated to ash. No one will survive this, not unless you can help it." Rumpelstiltskin knew that the royal couple would refuse without any logical thoughts. He just had to show them what was at stake for their kingdom.
He faced the palm of his hands upwards as a magical mirror materialized into midair. He grasped the handle and an image appeared in a swirl of colours.
"This," He pointed at the mirror, as Snow and James's eyes widened, "is what your kingdom looks like right now."
They couldn't hear what was going on, but they could definitely imagine that the air was filled with the screams of their dying subjects and the shouts of the army as they made their kill. Dust, ash, and fire surrounded the victims in the streets, and in their homes. They could just barely make out the blood and dead bodies.
Snow gasped, placing a hand over her mouth. She turned around to rest her head on James's shoulder. James himself had paled from the sight that was being shown to him.
"Stop this now!" James shouted.
"You know I can't dearie. A deal's a deal."
"This is sick," James said, "I will give you anything but my child. That is out of the question."
"But you see it can't be anything but your baby that will save all these people. Let's just call her the saviour then, shall we?"
"Her? how did you-" James started.
"Please James, you insult me. I know everything." Rumpelstiltskin placed his hand on his chest to show the "hurt" he was feeling.
"Why did you choose us? Why did you choose our baby?" James asked in a small voice.
"Well, the King and Queen want a girl, someone of the royal blood and someone that could possess magical properties. Yes, I know. They were very specific in their request." He explained.
"My daughter couldn't possibly have magic." James was flustered; all this new information was overwhelming him.
"Of course she does, dearie. She is the product of true love."
James gaped at him, his head filled with all the possibilities that could happen if he didn't accept this deal. But no way in hell was he giving up his daughter like that.
"Tick tock dearie. The longer you take the more destruction will happen to your kingdom."
"Okay fine, we take your deal." Snow, who had been in James's embrace that whole time finally, spoke up.
"What?" James stared at his wife in disbelief, "no this is our child. We can't give her up so easily."
"We can and we will." Snow stepped away from her husband, turning around to face the creature that was going to take everything that mattered away from her. "Now, stop the army."
Rumpelstiltskin clapped his hands together, "Already done, dearie."
As if to prove his point, he once again showed the couple the mirror.
The army was retreating, but the damage they caused was still disastrous.
The dark one took out a scroll and quill from his coat pocket, handing it to Snow.
"This is our contract, for you to confirm our deal." He explained.
"Yes, of course." Snow grabbed the contract and quill out of his hand. She wrote her signature at the bottom. Once it was done the scroll and quill vanished into thin air.
"Pleasure doing business with you, dearie," He cheerfully said, "I will see you in a month or so when your baby is born."
With that the dark one disappeared in his cloud of purple smoke.
"Snow, what have you done?"
Snow prepared herself for his anger, but it never came. He was just utterly confused.
"Charming, I'm not just giving our daughter away without a fight. I did this to save all those innocent people. The army is gone, we are safe. I will figure something out."
"You don't understand Snow. We just made a deal with Rumpelstiltskin, the dark one. No one breaks deals with him. We have no chance to win this."
Snow grabbed his hand, forcing him to look at her. "We can try. I can't imagine giving her up, it's not what I'm planning to do. Charming we will come up with a plan together. It's what we always do."
He gave her one small nod; everything that could go wrong when their child is born is all he thought about over the next month.
ONE MONTH LATER:
Snow was clutching James's hand, screaming as her contractions started up again. She had been in labour for five hours until Doc finally told them it was time.
The guards, dwarves, fairies, and every loyal subject in the kingdom was standing guard, ready for an attack. Everyone's task was to save this baby, no one, not even Rumpelstiltskin was getting his hands on her.
It wasn't an easy plan; one month was not enough time to come up with a defence strategy, especially when they were dealing with the dark one himself.
With the baby coming a little earlier than expected, last minute preparations had been made while Snow was in labour.
Even with the reassurance that everything was going to be okay, James was still worried. But he put on his best game face, not allowing Snow to see even a second of his hesitation.
She had to get through this, they both did.
He was finally going to meet his daughter. He felt joy deep inside his heart. But of course he didn't feel enthusiastic to bring this child into the dangers of the world.
Rumpelstiltskin was a dark beast that he had dealt with before, and he would go through hell to make sure his own child didn't have to go through it too.
"Charming…" Snow panted.
"I'm right here my love. Just hold on to my hand, you're almost there." James encouraged.
Her grip on his hand was almost painful. She twisted it until he didn't think it was possible that he would be able to move his hand again.
She bit her bottom lip, drawing blood, as she tried not to scream.
She was a tough one, which made him proud, but sometimes he just needed to remind her that it was okay to act and feel vulnerable at times.
"A few more pushes." Doc said.
Snow pushed at her next contraction and she finally allowed herself to scream.
After her next push though, she let out a gasp of relief when they heard the sounds of their child crying.
"You did it." James whispered in her ear before he gently placed his lips to her forehead.
"Can I see her?" Snow asked. Her excitement was radiating off her facial expression. James had never seen such a beautiful sight.
Doc had the baby girl cleaned up and wrapped in a white knit blanket Granny, one of Snow's dear friends, had woven together as a gift. He handed her to James, who draped her in his arms.
She had her mother's chin, an adorable little dent placed in the middle of it. He couldn't help but reach out and caress it with his thumb.
Her skin was smooth to the touch and he felt a little teary when her teeny fingers grasped onto his larger one.
His hand moved up to smooth out the small amount of hair sprawled on top of her head. Sunlit blonde hair, just like his once was. He knew in time it would turn darker, but she would have still been beautiful if she had inherited her mother's black hair instead.
James sat on his wife's bedside before he gently passed her over to her.
Snow was in tears when she set eyes on her daughter for the first time.
Her name had been sewn onto fabric, as requested by Snow herself. The precious cursive letters had been added to her blanket.
Emma.
Her eyes were open, bright green watching them. They had this fire inside them that James could only point out to be Snow's exact eyes.
She was the perfect combination of both of them.
The product of true love.
But that's when it went all downhill from there.
Snow and James had only managed five minutes with their daughter before she vanished into thin air.
"What the-" James was already pulling out his sword when he heard his voice.
"Oh, there won't be any need for that dearie." Rumpelstiltskin giggled.
One sudden whoosh of his hand sent James's sword plummeting to the ground. He was dumbfounded; everything that he was afraid of was coming true right in front of his eyes and for the first time he felt completely powerless.
"Where's my daughter?" Snow yelled. The tears were forming at the edges of her eyes again.
"Well you made a deal dearie; you signed on a contract and everything. Did you really think your little parade of army was going to keep me from fulfilling our bargain?"
"Give her back." James commanded, his voice sounded small to him though.
"You see, I can't do that. Your little girl, Emma, is already in the loving arms of her new parents."
"Rumplestil-" Snow never got a chance to beg, for he was already gone.
18 Years Later.
He was fighting in the grasp they had on his upper arms, struggling to breathe after a few punches in the gut, and still they had no mercy.
When they had found him there was no explanation, nothing to make him figure out where they were taking him.
Every time one word left his mouth he was left with another bruise.
They definitely had no idea as to who they were dealing with, which was fine as long as he gave back the favour.
Lots of gruesome thoughts filled his brain when he thought about how he was going to end their miserable lives.
His wasn't that great either, but at least he had something to live for.
All thoughts left his mind when he came face to face with the castle.
Why would they bring him here?
"To the throne room!" Someone ordered.
Less than five minutes later the heavy doors that lead to the throne room opened up for him.
He smirked at the guards who dragged him inside.
There were two silhouettes at the end of the room, clutching each other's hands.
It couldn't be…
When they finally made it to the other side, one guard dug his nails into his neck and pushed him down onto his knees.
"Bow before the King and Queen peasant."
"I could assure you I'm not a-"
He felt another blow to the side of his face.
"That won't be necessary." Spoke a small voice.
The guard bowed his head and stumbled backwards.
"Why am I here?" His rich accent filled the room.
"The real question is are you willing to do whatever it takes to receive all the riches we have to offer?" The same voice spoke as he now recognized could only be the queen's.
A smirk darkened his face as he bowed his head down again.
"I would do anything for that, milady."
"Then it's settled," the King said, "we have a quest for you Captain Hook."