A/N: Hello to anybody who is reading. I hope you enjoy the first chapter of this story. It is not absolutely necessary to have read 'The Chicken Reform' but it may help orientate you in this AU.

CHAPTER 1: The Unexpected Visitor

The day after her fifth birthday, found Emma holed up in her bedchamber, hugging her puppy, Leo, and sobbing. She'd been so excited when she found out she was going to Aendelle. It would be her first journey beyond Misthaven's borders and, her first time on a ship, and she couldn't wait. But then she had misunderstood something her father had said and now she had the mistaken impression that she was being forced to go to Arendelle without both Killian and Leo. Not prepared to be parted from either one, she had locked herself in her chambers and promptly dissolved into hysterics.

Her parents were standing on the other side of the door, desperately trying to coax their little girl to come out. Having a child in such distress was bad enough, but adding to the problem was Emma's magic. The anguish of thinking she was going to be kept apart from Killian, had set it to sparking through her veins, and it was beginning to manifest as tendrils of magical essence snaking all about her. This upset Leo, who was trying to protect Emma from the magical swirls by barking and snarling at it.

Many, many miles away the Dark One felt the emanation of White Magic. He had felt it seven nights ago, but it had taken him by surprise and he'd failed to locate the source. He did have his suspicions, however, and had set in place, tracers, in case it showed itself again. This time it called to him like a siren and he appeared on the balcony of Emma's bedchamber.

"Hello there, Your Highness," the imp said, and giggled.

Emma's response was to immediately stop her sobbing and her mouth dropped open in shock, as she stared at the curious individual with the reptilian eyes and the bizarre skin.

"Don't talk much, do you? I like that in a child." He giggled again, as he walked over and circled around Emma. "That, however, needs to shut up." He waved a finger and stole the sound from Leo's throat. The puppy tilted his head to the side, unhurt but confused as to where all his noise had gone.

"Much better," Rumpelstiltskin said, and plopped himself on Emma's bed. "Now, we can chat."

"Who . . . who are you?" Emma stammered out. "What did you do to, Leo?"

"Oh, he'll be fine. It's you I've come to see," He said, narrowing his peculiar eyes as he studied the small princess.

"Emma? Duckling? Please open the door, Sweetheart," Snow pleaded, unaware her daughter had a dangerous visitor.

Emma did understand that something was very wrong with this strange man being in her chamber and reached to open the door, but Rumpelstiltskin wasn't in the mood to deal with parents.

"We'll have no interference from them!" He gestured towards the door and all pleas from her parent were blocked; no sound passing through the door from either side. "Now, come here." Emma squealed as she felt herself dragged towards him until she stood right next to him. "You have very powerful magic, but it hasn't yet fully developed. Like you," he said, and giggled again.

"I don't understand," Emma said, and she clutched Leo closer to her chest.

"You're like a cake. You have all the ingredients, but you're not cooked, yet," the imp said.

Emma looked terrified. "Are you going to put me in a oven? I don't want to be cooked!" She started to cry and Leo, unable to bark, struggled to get down so he could go on the attack.

"No, no, no. None of that," he said, and with a flourish he produced a large white handkerchief and passed it to Emma. She blew her nose noisily and wiped her eyes. "I need someone with White Magic. I thought it might turn out to be you, what with your parents being Twue Wuv, but I'd thought I'd have to wait a while longer to find out if I was right." His expression turned calculating, then he leaned a little closer and inhaled deeply, obviously smelling Emma.

"You found your soul mate, and he? She? Must have been in danger. That's why your magic has woken up. Well, now, isn't that handy," he said, and grinned. "Who might this soul mate be?"

"Go 'way. You leave me alone or my Mama and Papa will be cross," Emma said. She tried to back away but her feet were stuck fast.

"Maybe, maybe not. If it weren't for me, your Papa would never have married your Mama. And then we wouldn't have you, would we?" The imp smiled in a truly disturbing fashion. "You wouldn't have all that lovely White magic." He clapped his hands. "Answer me, Your Highness, who's your soul mate?"

"What's a soul mate?" Emma asked, curious despite herself.

Rumpelstiltskin gave Emma a long searching look, obviously trying to discern if she was trying to be deceptive, but after a few moments he decided she was not lying. He tried to see a glimpse of Emma's future, hoping there would a clue there, but he could see nothing in relation to the Princess.

"Tell me who was with you when you realised you had magic," the imp demanded. His impatience was beginning to leak through into his tone, and he made the mistake of grabbing Emma by the shoulders and shaking her.

Unable to retain her hold on Leo, the puppy dropped to the floor. Emma put her hands on Rumpelstiltskin's chest and tried with all her small strength to push him away. "NO!" She cried and, with her magic amped up by her distress, the imp flew across the room and slammed into the wall.

Rumpelstiltskin dragged himself back to his feet. He wore a very satisfied smile. He giggled and clapped his hands. "My, you are strong. Keep that soul mate of yours close and you'll get even stronger. Oh yes, Dearie, you will do quite nicely." He danced an odd sort of jig back over to Emma, who was staring at her hands in surprise. "I'll be seeing you, in a few years." She looked up at him warily, as he booped her nose with his index finger and made her blink. The smile he wore would give many a soul, nightmares, then he vanished.

Leo's voice returned immediately the imp disappeared. He barked furiously at the spot in which the Dark One had been standing only seconds beforehand. It was a bit too much for Emma. She threw open her door and launched herself at her mother.

It took nearly an hour to get Emma to calm down enough to tell her parents about her strange visitor. Once she described him, Snow and David knew exactly who had come calling on their daughter. They were more convinced than ever that getting out of Misthaven right away was the best course of action. Even if they didn't find any helpful counsel in Arendelle, at least it would get Emma out of Rumpelstiltskin's immediate reach, and give them time to come up with some sort of plan.

The efficient staff had the family packed and smuggled onboard the merchant ship, Wanderer, in time to catch the evening tide. The royal flagship, Queen Eva, would leave port in the morning and take a different heading, in case the Dark One had set spies to watch Emma. It was doubtful that any Dark One agents would be fooled for long, but by then, it would be difficult to find them at sea.

Once the ship was on the open water, the First Mate was employed to give all of the children a thorough tour of the ship. The Wanderer was especially equipped to transport ice and this was a source of fascination to Liam. He peppered the First Mate with all manner of questions.

Emma and Killian were more interested in places to play games and were immensely pleased to be allowed to play hopscotch in the hallway that ran between the two smaller holds. Not an easy undertaking with two puppies trying to steal the markers and the rolling of the ship. These additional challenges to the ordinary game did serve the purpose of distracting Emma from thinking about the Dark One, and kept Killian from getting too stressed at being on a ship, once again. They didn't get to play for very long before Snow rounded up all of the children for dinner.

Emma and Killian were given early bed times as they nearly fell asleep in their stew.

"I'm very proud of how you are handling all this, little brother, but if it starts to get too much for you, then you must tell me," Liam said, as they both got ready for bed.

"I'm alright, Liam. It feels kind of good to be on the water, again," Killian said. He yawned and plopped himself under his covers. "Did you see how much Emma likes it? Being on the ship. She wants to climb to the crow's nest, but I guessed that Snow and David wouldn't be pleased, so I wouldn't let her."

Liam smirked at his brother, who'd only managed to go barely ten minutes without talking about Emma. "She is very brave, but you are correct. Little girls should not be climbing the rigging. Just see that she doesn't talk her way around you and up to the crow's nest."

"I'm not completely daft, Liam," Killian retorted; rolling onto his side and eyes closing.

"No, just completely besotted," Liam muttered under his breath, as he bent to rub Jib's ears. There wasn't room for the pup to sleep on Killian's cot, so he surreptitiously removed her collar. Like Emma's stuffed duckling, the fairies had placed a spell upon the collar and, as long it was in close proximity to Killian, he wouldn't have bad dreams. When his little brother was asleep, Liam slipped the collar under Killian's pillow.

"Sleep well, little brother, who knows what awaits us in Arendelle," Liam whispered. After climbing into his bunk, he turned down the lamp. He watched the stars winking at him through the porthole before sleep pulled him to far off places, all of which seemed to have an awful lot of ice and snow.