Disclaimer: I do not own Once Upon a Time or any of it's characters.

Belle was never meant to be a princess. She never felt like she fit in and others would always call her odd. She hated having everything decided for her. It was her life and she was going to be the one to decide her own fate.

She rarely was allowed to leave the castle and it drove her crazy. When she was twelve she discovered a secret passageway in her room that led to other parts of the castle. Apparently the castle was full of them. It was as if there was an unknown maze. The passageway would lead to almost every room in the castle, plus outside to the grounds. There was also a secret passage that lead beyond the castle wall. This is how she would escape the confines of palace life at least for a few hours.

She spent several years mapping out the passages and learning where all of them went. By the time she was eighteen she knew by heart where all the tunnels led. She could sneak around the castle without being noticed. She assumed her father never knew of the tunnels, but if he did, he never mentioned them. She did well to keep from getting caught. Getting caught meant she would be forever again confined to the palace.

On one beautiful fall day, Belle was out in the castle gardens reading a book underneath a tree. Books were her passion. They were her way of seeing the world and having adventures. People thought it wasn't right for a princess to read, but she didn't care.

She was in the middle of an incredible love scene when two knights approached her. "Princess Belle, I have orders from the king to escort you to your quarters," one of the knights said rather forcefully.

Belle leaned up from the tree aggravated she had been interrupted. The girl in the story had just found her prince charming and they were about to share true love's kiss. "Why? I haven't done anything wrong. I'm allowed to be in the gardens."

"It's nonnegotiable. You need to get to your quarters or I will have to drag you there myself."

Belle stood up and brushed the grass and dirt off her dress, "Fine, have it your way."

The two knights escorted Belle to her room. Once she was inside, and the door was shut, Belle rushed to the passageway entrance. She grabbed a torch opened it and went inside. She hurried her way through the corridors. She was not going to stay inside on such a nice day.

As she was passing by one of the corridors, which led to the main hall of the castle where her father's, King Maurice's, throne was, she could hear raised voices. Her curiosity got the best of her, so she decided to investigate. She came to the end of the hall and peeked through to see what was going on.

Her father was standing there anxiously as if he was waiting for someone. All of a sudden, she saw at least ten knights enter the room. They were dragging a man by his arms…at least she thought it was a man….behind them. The man looked defeated. He was collapsed on his knees being held up by two of the knights. He had shoulder length curly hair and his skin looked to be some sort of greenish gray golden color, which glistened in the light. His clothing was rather eccentric. He was wearing black leather pants, with knee high boots to match. He had a long sleeved yellow silk shirt on underneath what looked to be a red dragon hide vest.

"Kneel beast, before your king," one of the knights bellowed and shoved the man forward.

The man looked up at her father and appeared to growl at him. The man was definitely angry.

King Maurice stepped forward and addressed one of the knights. Belle realized the knight he was talking to was the head knight, Sir Lucan, "I'm assuming you got it?"

"Yes sir," Sir Lucan stepped closer and handed Belle's father something wrapped in brown paper. Belle watched as her father unwrapped it to reveal a funny looking dagger. She couldn't see it very well, but she could tell it was curvy shaped, and had words etched across it.

Her father held up the dagger, "Submit, O Dark One! I control you now!"

Belle was confused, 'Why would my father want to control someone? It's not his nature,' she thought.

The man looked up at King Maurice, "Yes, you do. And I hope you are planning to wield the powers wisely," he said through gritted teeth.

"Oh, I'll do what I will, but first to the dungeon with him!" Belle had never heard her father sound so…evil.

The man screamed at Maurice as he was being dragged towards the dungeon by the guards, "You don't have to lock me in the dungeon! I can't escape! Not while you have that, but I'm sure you already know that!" The man let out a howlish laugh.

Maurice chuckled, "Why take a chance?"

Belle watched as the man disappeared. Her father turned and left the room.

Belle began to trek back to her room; she had a feeling her father would be looking for her soon and she did not want to get caught. Belle was curious about the man she had just seen. She had never seen anyone like him. Something, which she couldn't put her finger on it, just seemed to draw her to him. Maybe it was her thirst for adventure. She really wanted to meet this man. He intrigued her. She also wanted to know why her fathered wanted to control him, and what power he had that was so valuable. As she was walking she made plans to visit the dungeon after dark.

Belle made it to her room just in time to hear the knock on her door. She ran over to the windowsill seat, picked up a book, and pretended to be reading, "Yes, come in."

King Maurice strolled through the door, "Belle, I am here to tell you that you are not to leave your room without an escort for the next few days."

Belle set the book down and sat up, she had to pretend like she didn't know anything, "Have I done something wrong?"

"No, it's just not…safe. Until I tell you otherwise you are to stay here."

"But Papa!"

"No buts! You will do as I say!"

Belle sighed and leaned back into the pillow, "Can you at least tell me why?"

"All will be revealed soon enough, but please know it is nothing you have done. I'll send Lucan up for you when it is time for dinner."

"Yes, Papa."

Belle went back to reading her book, and Maurice left the room. The excitement was building up now as she waited for the day to be over when she could visit this mysterious man in the dungeon.