The Stiltskin Bride

Chapter One

A peasant woman sighed heavily as she carried her basket of herbs through the thick forest that was her home. The wind blew tendrils of her wicked black hair around her aged, yet beautiful face, carrying with it a man's sweet baritone. Surprised, she looked around herself, but saw nothing but trees and no other living thing but a scurrying brown mouse on the forest floor. Entranced by the lovely singing, she closed her eyes and listened to the unseen singer's words.

"Today I brew, tomorrow I bake;

And then the Prince child I will take;

For no one knows my little game

That Rumpelstiltskin is my name!"

The woman jumped at the closeness of the voice and the feeling of hot breath on her throat. Her dark eyes popped open in fear to gaze upon a creature unlike any she had seen before, sitting cross legged on a fallen log not three feet from her. The creature was shaped like a man, although a little short for one. His head only reached the tip of her nose. His skin was a milky white and was unblemished, aside from the dark shadows under his eyes and in the hollows of his sunken cheeks. Long, slightly droopy ears jutted out from his hair, which was a the color of a raven's wing and like the bird, it shone with a blue or purple hue in the sunlight. His eyes were an amber gold and they pierced strait though her body like golden knives. However, what truly had the woman backing away in fright was the terrible grin he was beaming at her. It was too wide for any mortal's face. It seemed to tear his face in half. And most disturbing of all was the rows of crowded, needle sharp teeth within that horrid expanse.

The woman shrieked at the very sight of the creature and fumbled backwards, stumbling over a fallen tree limb. But before she could make contact with the hard ground, she stopped falling all together, supported by nothing, and was set back on her feet.

"Now, now. That's enough of that screeching." Said the creature in a velvety voice. The peasant woman recognized the voice as the singer. "I'm surprised at you, Katrina. You're usually such a brave little spit fire." He chuckled darkly, his golden eyes narrowing at her as he smiled even wider.

"W-what do you want of me?" Katrina asked him, her voice quivering in her fright. This thing knew her name? Either it had been watching her or it had been sent from the devil himself!

"I have come to a ask a little favor." He said, rising gracefully to stand upon his log. She could see now how unearthly long his limbs were. This was no human before her, she was certain of that. He closed his lips to hide his teeth, but continued to smile grotesquely as he hopped down.

"I will do nothing for you, demon!" She screamed at the top of her lungs.

The creature touched a long finger to his lips, "Shush," He warned. "You'll wake the babe." His eyes shifted to the bag he had slung over his back.

"Babe?" Katrina inquired. Gawking on in both awe and horror, as she watched the odd man take the bag from his back and lift a newborn, wrapped tightly in finely made blankets of purest white out of it. He held the baby in his arms and bounced the child around as if it were his own. However, anyone could see that this was not this creature's young. The baby was a beautiful one, all pink and chubby with rosy cheeks and fine, yellow curls all over it's head. "Where did you get that child?" She demanded, disgust biting at her belly. What would this creature want with a human child? Was he going to eat it?

"Oh the poor little thing." The man sighed. "She's an orphan. I found her while walking through the forest one afternoon. Poor, poor, precious thing."

"I highly doubt that that's the truth." Said Katrina, eying the little man with distrust.

At this the man simply grinned widely and let out a wicked cackle. "Believe what you will. It doesn't matter how I got her. She's mine now. That's why I've come to you, Katrina. I know that you were widowed a couple of weeks ago. Your dear husband went off and got himself killed in a pointless war without leaving you any children to help mend your broken heart." He said in a mocking tone.

"How do you know so much about me? Are you truly a minion of the devil?" She asked, becoming more and more anxious the more he spoke.

"Of course not!" He hissed. "I'm no devil! I'm a Fae, dear one, and these woods, everything and everyone in them belongs to us! I've watched you since the day your husband, the wood cutter, brought you to his little cottage on your wedding night."

Katrina's eyebrows furrowed. "If you are a Fae and not a demon, then tell me, want kind of fairy person are you?"

"That doesn't matter!" He boomed, his eyes and teeth flashing in warning.

The baby was startled by his voice and began to cry.

"See what you've done." He grumbled. He bounced the child more and trailed his sharp nailed fingers across the baby's tiny forehead. At the mere touch of his hand, the baby was soothed back to sleep. With the child settled, the man's attention was returned to Katrina. "Now then, back to the business at hand, I have come to ask that you look after the child for me for a time."

"I do not mind raising the child, but may I ask why you do not wish to raise her yourself?" Asked Katrina, in as polite a voice as she could muster.

"I have no need for an infant. For the plans I have in store for her, she must be much bigger." He chuckled. He handed the baby over to the woman. "I will help to watch over her throughout the years and will come to fetch her on her sixteenth birthday. Then I will keep her with me permanently."

"What kind of "plan" do you have in mind for her, Fae?" Katrina narrowed her eyes fiercely at the man.

He smirked at her and wagged his finger in front of her nose. "That is only for me to know, my dear." He reached down and petted the baby's golden curls. "Take good care of the child." He said in a oddly loving voice. Then his golden eyes lifted to blaze straight into Katrina's soul. "Remember, I'll be watching to see that you do."

He turned on his heel began to stride away. Katrina called out to him. "Wait! What is your name, Fae?"

He turned his head and glowered at her for a moment, then finally answered. " I am Rumple of the Stiltskin." He said, bowing his head with a flourish of a long fingered hand."

"That is an…odd name." She could not hide the little laugh that broke through her lips.

Rumple smirked at her. "By mortal standards it may be, but it has served me well enough."

"Does the child have a name?" She asked.

Rumple pulled the hood of his wolf fur cloak over his head as he looked back at the woman and baby. "I have been calling her Sunshine, but you may call her whatever stupid mortal name you like. It makes no difference to me. However, do choose carefully." He warned, the color of his eyes seeming to grow even more intense until his eyes looked like tangible gold rings. "A name can hold far more power than you may realize." With that, he turned and walked away, slowly fading into the beams of sunlight that poured through the canopy of trees.

And so Katrina took the baby home to her small cottage to be raised as her own. She named the child Juliet, for her hair was as golden as the sunshine her Fae guardian had first named her for. Rumple Stiltskin did indeed keep his promise to look after the girl as she grew. He seemed to be everywhere and nowhere at all times. When she was sick, he made her feel better. When she scraped her knee, he healed it. When she had nightmares, he took them away. When she was lonely, he gave her company.

However, the older Juliet got, and the prettier she became, so too did Katrina's distrust of the Fae man grow. For she could see it in his horridly unnatural eyes, the very reason her skin crawled when she saw him and the girl together. Desire. It was not quite lust, but it was want. He wanted something from this child he had given her, something she could not quite place. Rumple never did make much sense to her. He still refused to tell her exactly what he was, and that alone was reason enough to fear him.

Her fear grew still further when Juliet first reached puberty at the age of twelve. It was late and she had already sent Juliet to bed to rest. While, clearing the table of their dinner dishes, the sound of the chair sliding against the floor startled her. She whirled around to find Rumple sitting in a chair, nonchalantly resting his feet on the table. "My, my how time flies." He said smoothly, piercing through Juliet's bedroom door at her sleeping face. "To think my little Sunshine is already a women. It seems like just yesterday I found her lying on the forest floor."

"How did you really get your hands on her, Rumple? I know you didn't just find her. Those blankets she was wrapped in when you first gave her to me were the finest I have ever seen. She came from a wealthy family. She had to have." Said Katrina, sitting down in the chair across from him, blocking his view of the sleeping girl.

Rumple glared at her, annoyed by her accusations. "I cannot tell you that. If I did, I'd have to kill you. Believe me, Katrina, I can stop your heart just as easily as I lull that girl to sleep every night." He threatened, venom drenching his voice. He reached across the table and ran a sharp finger nail along her face, from temple to chin. "With a single thought or gentle touch, I can make you burst into flames." His fierce eyes narrowed to tight slits. "Do not test me." He growled. With Katrina trembling in fear, he rose from the table and whipped the tail of his fur cloak around, vanishing as the folds passed over his flesh, until nothing remained.