Stolen: the Broken Curse

by sydman24

Birds of a feather flock together. He lost his family to war, She lost them to betrayal. In the Enchanted Forest, Robin is a young girl attempting to survive. In Storybrooke, Sara Lark is trying to protect her family. The last thing either of them needs is to make a deal with the Devil, so to speak. NOT a Rumplestiltskin (Mr. Gold) / OC story.

Authors Note: this is AU. Part of this will be Rumplestiltskin/oc the other part will be Rumplestiltskin/Belle. I own all of the unrecognizable characters (at least the Storybrooke counterparts) this should be updated weekly (like episodes) and though I have a plot line worked out it might change based on what the show is doing. This idea was started before episode 12 so information that is completely wrong due to that episode (though I don't think there is any) will be left alone to be taken in stride. Also this will be partially bated by a friend of mine. So without further ado I give you episode 1 of Stolen: the Broken Curse.

Episode 1: Lost in Time

"And they all lived happily ever after," the small classroom was filled with applause as Anna finished off her short story. It had been the last assignment from Professor Emrys second/third grade class. Each student had been given a Fairy Tale to research and design a new version of the tale to read to the class. Professor Emrys had been attempting to prove a point about society with the assignment but the idea he was trying to get across had been lost on the nine and ten year olds.

Anna smiled at Professor Emrys and walked back to her seat next to a younger girl in the back of the room. Professor Emrys clapped one more time and a wide grin spread across his face. The professor appeared to be in his mid-thirties, he had shoulder length brown hair and sapphire blue eyes. He wore a grey t-shirt and a pair of khaki pants most of the time. Though he didn't have it on right now he usually wore a light brown leather jacket with a (fake) fur lining. He sighed and looked around the room. "Thank you very much, Anna for that wonderful story. Our next minstrel for today will be Sara,"

The young girl looked up from the paper she was doodling on in surprise. She had shoulder length dark brown hair and grey eyes, and was six months younger than most of her classmates. But seeing as Storybrooke Elementary had so few students, most kids were lumped together in a group as part of several grades at once. Sara sunk low in her seat hoping to become invisible and not wanting to read her paper to the rest of the class.

Sara had a tendency to procrastinate her work until the last possible second and this paper had been no different. She had quickly read through one of the versions of the story and had attempted to come up with a new spin. When nothing came to mind she had let the paper slide and had forgotten about it until this morning when her mother had found her assignment sheet and had made her write it. Truthfully she would have been in deep trouble if she hadn't had a weird dream about the story that night. But she still wasn't proud of it; it was nothing like Anna's interpretation of 'The Princess and the Pea.'

Professor Emrys motioned her forward with another chuckle. Sara sighed and climbed out of her chair and slowly shuffled up to the front of the room. No one in Storybrooke could refuse Professor Emrys when he smiled like that, something about his demeanor when he did that was so calming that he could probably convince someone to lie in front of a lawnmower and let it run them over without getting a fight from them. Sara opened her mouth to begin reading the paper when the bell rang. Sara smiled, threw her paper onto Professor Emrys desk and ran out of the room after collecting her bag.

It was a Friday, and it was also the end of the school day so everyone was racing to get home as fast as possible. But Sara had a different reason to be running to her locker. She was trying to dodge Anna. Sara spun her combination in and was opening her locker door when she heard a voice behind her.

"Ready to hang out this weekend?" Anna asked. Sara stopped and dropped her backpack. Anna was out of breath from fighting with the crowd to get to her friends locker. She was ten years old, four foot six, with shoulder length bleach blonde hair and brown eyes. She was short for her age, even shorter then Sara, but still managed to be slower. Anna was smiling as she attempted to catch her breath but when she saw Sara's eyes widen she frowned. "You can't, can you." Sara didn't answer and Anna threw her arms in the air in exasperation. "Every time we plan to hang out your parents plan another trip, a vacation, a family get together. What is it this week? You going to go visit your grandmother in Boston again?"

Sara looked down at her green backpack. She knew Anna would be upset, she always was, and she had good reason. Her father really didn't like Sara hanging out with her, something about her being the daughter of Damon Johnson, but that had no meaning to Sara. And every time the two meant to hang out he would intersect them and tell a fake story to get her to leave. But this time it wasn't another fake story, this time she really couldn't hang out with Anna. "We're moving." She spoke under her breath.

Now it was Anna's turn to go wide-eyed she began speaking under her breath and Sara was only able to catch, "And you didn't tell me," before Anna stormed off in a huff. Sara watched her friend walk off and then crouched down to load up her backpack. All of her textbooks had been returned and she had cleared out most of her stuff, so her bag would be light. As she stood she tried to discreetly wipe the tears from her eyes. She slammed her locker shut and began the walk home.

Sara and her parents lived in a small apartment flat, one floor up from Mary Margret, located near the center of town. It was one block away from Granny's dinner and less than a ten minute walk to the school. She had lived there for as long as she could remember and now they would be leaving for Boston. Her father had found a job with far better pay, but seeing as he was a volunteer firefighter here anywhere had better pay.

They were leaving today to get settled in and start a new life on Monday. She didn't want to go, really she didn't, but she had little to no say in the matter because she was nine. As she reached the top of the stairs she glared at the faded red door that led to the apartment. It would be the last time she would ever see it. With a sigh she pushed open the door and walked in to see her mother taping up one of the last boxes. The last five or six boxes that the family had to move would be transported to the new home via the family car this evening, the rest had been taken earlier today in a moving van rented by her father.

The furniture would all stay in the apartment, the new one was fully furnished, and it all belonged to Mr. Gold anyway. The main living area was empty. A large couch dominated most of the space and a coffee table sat across from it. That is where Sara's mother sat. She was 5'7" with sandy blond hair and light brown eyes. She had a very demure personality and was very quiet. She worked with Mr. French at his flower shop, or at least she had. Her father on the other hand was cocky and outgoing. He was a solider at one point but had quit the service to marry and have a family. He was 6'2" with dark brown hair and eyes, part of which Sara had inherited.

"Honey have you seen my sunglasses anywhere?" Justin asked. He walked into the living room, checking every surface in the area for them. Sara looked at her father questioningly; his glasses were on top of his head. Amelia looked up and laughed. Her husband looked at her with a joking glare on his face. Amelia tapped her forehead and Justin reached up.

He closed his eyes and laughed at his own stupidity when his hand came in contact with the glasses. "I should have known," he muttered to himself as he walked back to the kitchen.

"Your just anxious dear, it's your nerves," Amelia said folding a towel and dropping it in a box marked kitchen. She grabbed the packing tap and sealed the box, "And we are done," She stated, beaming proudly.

Sara looked from her mother to her father, who had reemerged from the kitchen, jacket on and car keys in hand, "but aren't we going to eat dinner or anything before we go?"

Justin smiled and picked up the last box to take down to the car. He ruffled his daughter's hair and said, "That's why we are stopping by Granny's diner before we leave town."

Sara glared at her father; she hated it when he played with her hair like that. She stomped over to the couch her mother was sitting on and sat down with a pout. Amelia cocked an eyebrow at her daughter before shrugging and going into their bedroom to get her bag for the trip.

"Well come on," Amelia said when she came back into the room. Sara looked at her mother, forlorn, she didn't want to move, they had lived here for nine years, and couldn't they just stay here? Of course the answer was no, but Sara didn't understand why, and her mother's reasoning made no sense to her.

"Amelia, Sara, are you two almost ready?" Justin's voice echoed up the stairs to the apartments and through the open window. Amelia called back an affirmative to her husband then ushered her daughter out the door and down the stairs. Sara stood next to their car, an older Dodge, while Amelia dropped the keys to the apartment keys in the drop box for the landlord (Mr. Gold). Justin shut the trunk and waited next to his daughter when Amelia joined them they began the short walk to Granny's.

They made the trip in silence, and there were very few people in the diner. Granny, of course, was there to wish them well, as well as to help her daughter take care of Ruby (who was running around a set of tables). Normally Sara would have joined her, since she was only a year older then Ruby, but she wasn't feeling up to it today. So instead she sat quietly at her booth with her parents and ate in silence. The diner was slow at 4 O'clock, too early for dinner and too late for lunch, so there was very little conversation between the adults and none between the two kids. Truly no one spoke until the family went to leave and Ruby's mother said a tearful good bye to Amelia.

It was five when they piled into the car to leave, and it was getting dark due to a storm. Sara was curled up in the backseat and had fallen asleep when Justin drove past the sign reading "Welcome to Storybrooke" and by that point it had started raining. Justin turned on the windshield wipers, when the lights in the car and on the dash flickered on and off.

"Must be faulty wiring," Justin muttered to himself as he hit his fist on the dash to get the gages to turn back on. The car lurched, and Sara was thrown into the back of Amelia's chair. Justin growled and hit the steering wheel while shouting, "What is going on with this car?"

Justin applied more pressure to the gas pedal to get it moving, when he did they passed over a slick patch in the road and hydroplaned just as they were approaching a sharp turn. Justin yanked the wheel to the side while slamming on the breaks, Amelia screamed in fright and Sara was frozen holding on to the headrest of her mother's seat while leaning against the passengers' window. She saw the guard rail quickly approaching on her side, seconds before she was thrown through the window on impact and the car flipped behind her.

Sara blinked in pain up at the night sky. It hurt to breath and moving was out of the question heck even blinking was painful. The rain was falling still, hitting her in the face and running in her eyes. But she didn't want to close them for fear of never opening them again. She was attempting to find constellations in the stars above her, the only one she could remember where Orion and his belt was, and just as she found the three stars in a line a face blocked her vision.

Shaggy brown hair, dark brown eyes clouded by worry and a day's worth of scruff on his face, it could only be one person, Graham. "I found her," he yelled over his shoulder to someone who Sara could now hear crashing through the bushes. The sound of a dog barking, she assumed Pongo, filled the silence. "It's going to be okay, Sara. Just hold on and stay with me."

Sara nodded slowly, though it hurt like hell, to show that she understood. But the action took too much energy and she slid into unconsciousness soon after.

Enchanted Forest:

Sheraleaf was a small town located on the very edge of the Enchanted Forest that dominated the five kingdoms. It was separated by a ring of young trees from the rest of the world and was easily overlooked by war or tax collectors. It had fallen into legend for those of the Ogre wars. Sheraleaf was still part of the forest due to the small number of inhabitance and the woods being incorporated into their lives.

Located in the center of town was a large old oak tree, which many of the older civilians believed was the embodiment of their god, Deku, the protector of the forest and watchman of the land. It was said that the Great Deku was once a wandering wizard who grew tired of the ways of war that mankind had inhabited. So he left in search of a land where he could return to nature. He settled in the clearing and was soon joined by members of neighboring villages who had lost their homes to war.

Soon the Great Deku had gathered a small village to his lands, and members of the Royal family and were looking to amass taxes. The Great Deku began to fear for the safety of his people. So to protect them from the eyes of those who wished to harm them he cast a spell over himself and the lands, turning him into a tree under whose limbs (which sheltered the entire village) the villages would be safe from any who would ever think to cause them harm. Many years have passed since then and the villages have since spread out from the shadow of their protector, exposing themselves to their enemies.

Nobles and kings are now searching for Sheraleaf, hoping to gain the land and extend their kingdoms. But none covet it more so than the Evil Queen. Her very life seems to be depending on it for there is rumor that she is aging (her magic killing her) and she needs the help of the wizard who lies within the Enchanted Forest, close to the boarders of Sheraleaf.

But for a time all of them failed. Word reached the village in the summer that one of the Queens patrols had found one of the hunter's paths to Sheraleaf. The town's people placed their lives in the hands of the huntsman who had for years protected them, carefully guarding the secret to Sheraleaf. In less than a months' time the families had gathered all that they could take with them and had followed their protectors into the woods.

One such family consisted of a huntsman, his wife and their six year old daughter. They traveled light, expecting to travel back to Sheraleaf when the danger had passed. But that was never to happen, for anyone of Sheraleaf. Because along the way they were ambushed by the Queens guard.

The people of Sheraleaf, having been betrayed by the huntsman, fought back, but they stood no chance against the battle hardened soldiers. And in the span of a hour they were all killed, butchered for living in a free location. All, it seemed, except for the young girl, who had learned the trails from her father and had blindly run off into the night.

Deep in the heart of the Enchanted Forest a young man stalks his prey. He's 5'4" and he thinks he is twelve years old, his age is unknown considering he was abandoned to the wild at a young age and raised by wolves. But living in the forest can change a person. He may appear to be twelve but he acts older. His hair is long, dark brown and thick. His eyes are sharp, keen, primed for hunting small game on the forest floor like rabbit and deer. He wore a green tunic with brown trousers, both were stolen from a local town years ago that he has finally grown into. He carries a bow, arrow nocked, ready to fire when he enters the clearing up ahead.

CRUNCH

Dried leaves behind him alerted him to an adversary approaching from behind. He stops and draws the arrow back and in one fluid motion turns and aims at the sound. But when he sees who it is he relaxes, slowly releasing the tension on the bow without firing.

"Snowfall," he called out. Standing in front of him was a pure white wolf, large for its size and female. The wolves tongue was hanging out as it panted, large yellow eyes surveying the boy expectantly. It was one of the boys "siblings" a younger female of the group that he had only recently named. She would grow to twice her size before she was matured, but right now she was still and eager pup looking for adventure, and he was tasked with keeping an eye on her while he hunted. Snowfall remained where she was standing. The boy shrugged of this peculiar behavior, she was still young not adapt to her name and head strong.

He turned to resume the hunting of his deer when Snowfall let out an anguished howl. The boy cringed and could hear the distinct sounds of his prey scampering off from his clearing. The boy threw his bow to the ground, furious at the young pup, and stalked over to Snowfall. As he advanced she turned and ran.

"You better run," He yelled after the wolf as she ran. He now stood on the small hill she had been perched upon and looked down into the dip after her. Snowfall was sitting, waiting patiently for him, at the bottom of the slope looking back at him. He sighed, of course she would want him to follow her. Snowfall howled again, and the boy followed her down the dip and deeper into the forest.

The path they were following would lead to the small river, that connected up to the large river (which spanned the entire breadth of the kingdoms) and ended in the roaring falls that dropped off into the pool of the ancients. It was where his pack gathered once a year for feasting and celebration, they used this path for that occasion alone. "Snowfall?" the boy asked as he ran after the wolf, "How far am I going to have to…"

He stopped, frozen. Snowfall was crouched next to a girl, a young one, with shoulder length brown hair. She looked hurt, and was passed out next to the small river. Her clothing didn't look wet, so she didn't float down the stream to get here. The boy slowly approached and crouched next to her. He reached out and shook her shoulder in an attempt to wake her.

"Hey, are you okay?" the boy asked shaking her shoulder again. She looked beat up but nothing seemed broken and as he was studying her, she groaned and shifted. Slowly she opened her eyes and stared at him. She had grey eyes, he realized. She attempted to sit up but he pushed her gently back to the ground. "Careful, don't want you to hurt yourself."

The girl glared at him and tried to pull away. Again he wouldn't let her, she relaxed and the boy released his grip on her shoulders some. She blinked up at him, watching him carefully and then looked over at Snowfall. Her eyes widened and she jumped away with a yelp. The boy had no time to react and she fell partially in the small river.

"You're a…you're a huntsmen," she gasped. She shuffled back farther away from him in terror, allowing herself to move deeper into the river forgetting that she was not a very strong swimmer. Not every huntsman was accompanied by a wolf, in truth very few were nowadays, but the fact that this boy had a wolf accompanying him made him a huntsman, they only followed huntsmen like dogs. But the boy's face showed no malicious intent and when neither he nor the wolf advanced or attacked when the girl let her guard down. "Who are you?"

The boy leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest. He studied her and then looked from Snowfall to the girl. The poor girl looked lost and alone, and standing in the small river like that would only be detrimental to her condition for she would get sick. The boy sighed and let his arms drop to his side; he had nothing to fear from this girl. "Graham," he answered in almost a whisper. "Graham Huntsman, at least that's what the villagers call me. You…you should probably step out of the small river, you could get sick."

The girl's eyes widened and she looked down at her feet realizing for the first time that she really was standing in the river. When she stepped out she walked over to Graham he realized she couldn't have been any older than six or seven if he was any judge of age (which he wasn't). She held out her hand to him. Graham took it and she spoke again, "Robin."

Authors note part 2: yay chapter one. So Review please, sorry there was very little of cannon characters (those included (Graham, Ruby and Granny) I hope I kept in relative character) a lot more gold/rumple in the next chapter and the ball starts really rolling. On another note, if you have magically figure out which fairy tale/legend this is based upon keep your mouth shut please. This chapter does not make it obvious at all but the next few will be riddled with hints and teasers. But let everyone have there "holy crap its _" moment at their own pace. Hope you enjoyed. Sydman.