A/N: In this story, there is no curse. Emma grows up in "Aragon," which is my version of The Enchanted Forest.

I'll also be incorporating most of the main characters from ONCE, giving them a new backstory.

Just FYI: I based the beginning on A Princess Bride. Emma tells her daughter, Arianna, the story of how she defeated Rasputin and saved her family and how she found love along the way: in Killian Jones. So, this story is Emma and Hook's story, as told by Emma.

Disclaimer: I like mixing all my favourite fairytales and creating a new one, but I do not own any of them. Nor do I own any of the Once Upon a Time characters.

Please read and review!

Prologue

There once was a girl with hair of fire

who knew but little of desire,

until she heard her mother's tale

of how she met her perfect male

whom she wed in white dress and veil

to seal the bond for better or worse,

after they overcame an evil curse.

xxx

This girl was yet to meet her prince

and experience her first true kiss,

for she was still of tender age

and had not yet reached that blissful stage.

Someday, though, it would arrive

and fill her heart with happiness.

xxx

But until that moment was nigh,

her mother's tale would get her by.

She spun this story every night

to satiate her daughter's appetite...

The young girl sat bolt upright in bed, hardly able to contain her excitement. Tonight was the night her mother would tell her the story once again.

It was a story her mother had begun telling her when she was ten years old. Now, a year later, she was still telling it, but as she had ceased to do so for a few weeks, her daughter was so much longing to hear her favourite bedtime story again that she couldn't help twiddling her thumbs in anticipation.

Before the girl, known by the name of Arianna, had reached her tenth year, the girl's mother had always told her she was too young to understand, but since Arianna had begun attending school, her mother had thought her to be ready to understand the story a little better. That was why she was in the habit of telling Arianna this story as often as she possibly could.

And so, it had become a tradition in their household that Arianna was told this bedtime story every single night, except if her mother was taken ill, of course.

It was a fairytale only her mother knew. She would sometimes write stories in her free time.

This tale, however, was one of the stories she hadn't written down yet, but she told it as if it were a part of her. She knew every word of it off by heart. So, as she did every night, the loving mother tucked her little daughter up in bed, but this time she felt the need to do some explaining before starting her story. She sat down by her daughter's bedside and asked her:

"Are you ready?"

"Yes! Yes! Yes! Tell me the story, Mummy, do!" the impatient little girl replied, jumping up and down on her bed with excitement.

"OK, OK, love. Calm down and snuggle up under those sheets. I need your full attention," the mother said with a hint of seriousness her daughter knew to obey.

After Arianna had made herself comfortable, tucked up securely beneath her blankets, her mother went on:

"Alright then. Now, listen carefully. There are a few things you need to know before I begin. They will help you understand the story," she explained, laughing heartily as she saw her daughter had begun fidgeting again.

After waiting briefly to collect her thoughts, the mother launched herself into her tale, her eyes sparkling with joy:

"Many people believe that life is made up of coincidences and chance events, and although coincidences are a part of life, there is much more to life than that. It is, of course, up to us to shape our own lives. Your life lies in your own hands, in your conduct and in the decisions you make. They lead you onto the next path, the next journey and so on and so on. Hopefully, we will make the right decisions, but sometimes it simply comes down to being in the right place at the right time."

The mother gazed out of the window briefly, a longing look in her eyes, then she added:

"So, there are coincidences, yes, but some chance meetings only seem to be coincidental when they really aren't. You see, I believe that some people meet because they are meant to, because they are destined for each other, destined to spend the rest of their lives together. This kind of meeting of two souls is what we call 'fate' or 'Providence'. I am sure there are many other words for it. The two kindred spirits that meet in this story are one such couple. Their meeting was fated from the moment they came into this world. They were meant to be together from the very beginning. They were a perfect match, really. Simply put, they were just two people who completed each other. And this is the story of how they met."

A/N: I hope you enjoyed this little prologue. Please leave a review! :)