A very long time ago in the Enchanted Forest
A teenage boy (imagine Robbie Kay) was playing make-believe in a meadow. He had no desire to grow up, he just wanted to play forever. He ran, jumped, and howled. He wondered if he could find fairies and be whisked away to some world with no responsibilities.
"I belive in fairies!" He shouted "Come find me!"
A light appeared in front of him, which grew to the size of a young woman. She was a fairy with raven-black hair and a dress of sparkling white. The boy was enamoured with her beauty.
"You called for a fairy?" She said "The name's Fiona, I'm the white fairy. I stand for childhood innocence, like you've got".
"Good to meet you" the boy said, shaking her hand "I'm Malcom, forever a child at heart".
A few days later
Fiona was in her flower, singing a happy tune, thinking of Malcom, when her friend and mentor, Tiger Lily, came to visit.
"I've had the most wonderful few days!" Fiona said enthusiastically "I think I'm in love".
"Fairies don't fall in love" Tiger Lily said "are you serious?"
"I am" Fiona said "I've been seeing a boy named Malcom".
"A human boy?" Asked Tiger Lily.
"Yes indeed!" Said Fiona "he's sweet and cheerful, a true believer in magic and innocence".
"But surely you know he will grow up" said Tiger Lily "What then?"
"He will always be young at heart" said Fiona "I will help him stay that way".
"The Blue Fairy will not approve" Tiger Lily said, feeling worried.
"There is no rule against fairies dating humans" Fiona said matter-of-factly.
"It could cause problems" Tiger Lily said "you say this boy intends to never truly grow up, what will happen when he starts having responsibilities thrust upon him? It's our job as fairies to guide people to do the right thing, not cater to their wishes to avoid responsibilities of life. But because you say you love him, your personal attachment will make you do anything to please him. Soon you will be choosing him ahead of your responsibilities as a fairy".
"You worry too much" Fiona said "I can love Malcom and still keep to my responsibilities".
"I don't think Blue will see it your way" said Tiger Lily.
"Then let's just keep it between us" said Fiona "Don't tell Blue".
"Okay" Tiger Lily said reluctantly "I hope you know what you're getting into".
A few years later
Fiona's dress now had some black feathers on it. Fiona and Malcom (now looking like Stephen Lord) were having a picnic in the meadow where they met. They shared a kiss.
"I wish we could just stay in this meadow forever" Fiona said.
"Well why don't we?" Malcom asked.
"Cause I've got fairy responsibilities" Fiona said "and I've already broken a lot of the rules for you".
"And I love you for it" said Malcom "for your dedication to being a fairy but also for following your heart ahead of some arbitrary rules".
"Yes" said Fiona "the other fairies would have me take away your childlike innocence. Well innocence is what I live to protect. So what if I have to steal some fairy dust so you can get your blacksmith work done without having to work. So what if I make your life easier so there's more time for fun and for us to spend together".
"Exactly" said Malcom "A good fairy knows when rules need to be broken".
Later that day
Fiona returned to the home of the fairies and was greeted with an angry Blue Fairy.
"White!" Blue said sternly "Where have you been?"
"Oh you know, out spreading good cheer, doing fairy things" Fiona lied. Another feather on her dress turned black.
"You're lying" Blue accused "I should have seen it sooner. I should have stopped you. You're in a secret relationship and it's corrupting the both of you".
Tiger Lily suddenly appeared next to Blue.
"You traitor" Fiona accused Tiger Lily.
"Things were going too far" Tiger Lily said defensively.
"Neglecting your fairy responsibilities" Blue said, beginning to list Fiona's sins "stealing pixie dust, helping him neglect his responsibilities so he has no clue how to take care of his own life. You ensured he didn't have to bother learning his trade. If it weren't enough that you're ruining his life, you're slowly corrupting your own soul, every time you break our moral code for him you lose a bit of what makes you pure and become dark. This has to stop. You will break up with him tomorrow".
"I can't" Fiona said.
"You can and you will" Blue said firmly.
"I can't because I'm pregnant" said Fiona.
Blue got a look of horror on her face.
"Pregnant?" She asked "with a human baby? And you think you and Malcom can handle the responsibility of a child?"
"Yes, I do" Fiona said defiantly "and you will not stop us".
Fiona sent a blast of combative magic towards Blue and Tiger Lily, sending them flying.
Fiona went back to her flower and looked down at her dress. The skirt part was all black now.
Days Later
Blue and Tiger Lily were inside Blue's flower, discussing what to do about Fiona.
"She has been dabbling in dark magic" said Blue "she is losing her identity, becoming less the White Fairy and more a black fairy".
"Yes" said Tiger Lily "she and Malcom have had a more dangerous influence on each other than I could have foreseen, I wish I had intervened before too late. But now they are going to be parents, what can we do?"
"There is more" said Blue "the real reason I am concerned about them having a baby. There is a prophecy. A child born of fairy blood will be the first saviour, destined to fight a battle with a great evil that began with good intentions. I fear Fiona's destiny and her child's are to collide if she continues down her dark path".
Fiona suddenly flew in, having been listening outside the flower. Her dress was now mostly black.
"You've been keeping this a secret from me!" She said angrily "that some evil will try to destroy my child!"
"White…" Blue began, trying to find a way to cool Fiona's anger.
"It's Black now!" Fiona declared, as she rushed away. Tiger Lily followed Fiona back to her flower.
"Fiona, I'm sure she would have told you once we figured out how to handle it" Tiger Lily said.
"There is only one way to handle it" said Fiona "I've been studying dark magic. There is a way to pause destiny forever".
"How?" Asked Tiger Lily "As sleeping curse?"
"More than that" Fiona explained "A dark curse to send everyone to a land without magic, trapped in a time loop for all eternity. I can create one".
"But Fiona, casting such a curse would require an act of great evil" gasped Tiger Lily.
"I can live with that" said Fiona.
Later
Fiona told Malcom her plan.
"There may be an easier way" he said "I know of a relic that can cut someone off from their destiny. The shears of destiny. If we can find those, our child won't have to be the saviour and you won't have to sacrifice so much".
"Okay" said Fiona "We'll give that a try, but in case it doesn't work I will create my dark curse as a fallback plan".
Months later
Malcom and Fiona arrived at the place they had been questing for for months. A statue of the three fates, one of them held a golden pair of shears.
"Here they are" he said "I knew I could find them for you. They say stealing them will have a price though".
Fiona grabbed the shears, then winced in pain, a crescent shaped scar appeared on her wrist.
"Well this isn't such a terrible price" she said.
Fiona held the shears, then suddenly went into labour. Malcom prepared himself to help deliver the baby, but Fiona disappeared into a puff of smoke.
Many Years Later
Rumplestiltskin, Emma Swan, and Gideon, were inside Rumple's dream. Gideon had explained that the Black Fairy was afraid of Rumplestiltskin finding out her darkest secret, the reasons he had abandoned him as a baby. They all needed to find out the Black Fairy's weakness, Rumplestltskin needed to save his son from her clutches and Emma, as the current saviour, needed a way to defeat her. Emma and Rumplestiltskin, who she usually called Mr. Gold, had a weird relationship. Sometimes they were enemies and sometimes they were allies. There was a chance once this quest was over, they would be enemies again, depending on where he stood on letting her defeat his mother, but right now they were allies. To some extent, they were also friends. Gold was the father of Emma's first love, Neal, and their mutual strong love for him connected them. They also had some things in common themselves. Emma and Gold were both vulnerable and tried to hide their vulnerabilities from the world. Right now, he needed more than ever for her to connect with him on that level. He was afraid of finding out why he was abandoned. Emma talked him through it.
"Gold, I get it. It's okay to be scared" Emma said.
"Miss Swan, you are treading where few who have dared tread survive" Gold replied, defensively.
"We're past threats" Emma said. She was rarely intimidated by him. "I know what you're going through. This is bigger than anything you've ever faced. No curse, no monster is ever going to be as terrifying as finding out why you were abandoned".
"You think I'm afraid of the truth?" Gold asked.
" Yeah. I think it means being vulnerable, and you and I are people who are really bad at being vulnerable. If you won't do it or you, then do it for your son. This is his story, too." Emma said.
"You've come this far, Father" said Gideon "Just let the rest in".
This pep talk gave Rumple the courage he needed and the three were transported to a round room where they could see the past play out. Where they saw Tiger Lily having just delivered Fiona's baby. Gideon recognized where they were, he had heard stories of it in the dark realm, the vault of the fairies. Rumplestiltskin knew, of course, that the baby was himself.
"Something tells me you didn't come here just for me to deliver your baby" Tiger Lily said "What's the real reason you transported here right when it was time to give birth?"
"To cast my dark curse, of course" Fiona answered "all the ingredients are here".
"I'll not let you cast such a dark curse" Tiger Lily said "I will do all I can to stop you".
"Aren't fairies supposed to protect children?" Fiona asked.
"Yes, and so is your son" said Tiger Lily "he is destined to die so others will live, that is the fate of a saviour".
Emma, Rumplestiltskin, and Gideon all stood in awe at this revelation, that Rumplestiltskin was born to be a saviour.
"You expect me to let my son face some great evil?" Asked Fiona "when I can instead pause destiny and have us be together forever?" She ripped Tiger Lily's heart out.
"A curse that dark will require sacrificing the thing you love most" said Tiger Lily "Will you kill Malcom?"
"If that's what it takes" answered Fiona.
"That's what it would take to do it this instant" Tiger Lily said "It will otherwise take centuries to gather enough dark fairy dust".
Blue entered the vault "STOP!" She commanded.
"Black Fairy, can't you see what you're becoming? The prophecy says the evil will be a good soul who turns itself dark and…" she turned over Fiona's wrist to reveal a moon shaped scar "will bear a moon shaped scar forged of her dark deeds. If you continue down this path, you will be the great evil the saviour must destroy. It may already be too late".
Rumplstiltskin awoke from the revealing dream, along with Emma and Gideon. Belle, Regina, Snow White, and Prince Charming were there. They had found the other half of the wand needed to destroy the Black Fairy. They were ready for Emma to fight her.
"Actually" Emma said "I don't think I'm the saviour that is supposed to fight the Black Fairy. Gold, this is on you".
Everyone was surprised by this revelation.
"All these years I've known there was a good man behind the Beast" said Belle "Now you know it too".
"I don't know what I know" Rumple said "but I know I must do this".
Later
Rumplestiltskin went to confront his mother, with the wand meant to defeat her.
"I see you've mended that dreadful thing" the Black Fairy said.
"The wand was meant to destroy you" said Rumplestiltskin "as was I"
"You found out" the Black Fairy observed.
"In some ways I always knew" said Rumplestiltskin "I just needed to remember. I was meant to be the saviour, Mother, you were afraid I'd kill you and that's why you left me".
"That's what you think?" The Black Fairy said in disbelief "all that effort and you didn't even find what you were looking for".
"No, no, no" said Rumplestiltskin "your mind games won't work on me anymore".
"Don't you want the real answer to your question?" The Black Fairy asked.
"I have my answer" Rumplestiltskin insisted.
"You have AN answer" said the Black Fairy "you of all people should know there is always more. Why don't I show you what happened". She touched his head and showed him a vision of what else had happened in the fairy vault all those years ago.
"The shears of destiny that Malcom helped you find" Tiger Lily said "Fiona, you can use them to change your destiny so you don't become the great evil, that will solve everything"
"Until another great evil arises" Fiona said "I need my power. I will sever HIS destiny instead".
"No" said Tiger Lily "He is destined to be a great hero, you mustn't take that away from him".
"You have a chance to turn around" Blue said to Fiona "if you don't change your destiny now, you will be doomed to never be with your son until the prophecy is fulfilled".
"Then that is how it shall be" said Fiona, cutting her son's destiny with the shears.
Suddenly, a portal opened up, sucking Fiona into the dark realm.
"This is not over!" Fiona shouted as she got sucked in "I will not rest until my curse is fulfilled and my son is back in my arms again".
"You let me spend my whole life thinking you hated me" said Rumplestiltskin.
"It was easier that way" the Black Fairy said "until we could find a way to be together again. I spent centuries gathering dark fairy dust, so my curse can finally be fulfilled. Once I destroy Emma Swan, I will be free of this destiny".
"It didn't have to be this way" Rumplestiltskin said "you chose your power over mine and condemned me to a life of cowardice".
"Everything I did was to protect you" said Fiona.
"I made the same decision with my first son, Baelfire" said Rumplestiltskin "I know a lie when I hear it".
"Well then we understand each other" said the Black Fairy "once I win the final battle, we will be a family again…if you can forgive me".
Many centuries earlier
The Blue Fairy and Tiger Lily brought the baby to his father, Malcom and told him that she had died protecting the baby and that now the baby needed a father more than ever.
Malcom had never wanted the responsibility of a child, especially if Fiona was dead because of that child.
"Fiona was the light of my life" said Malcom "snuffed out by this child. I know a name perfect: Rumplestiltskin".