A/N: Wooo another chapter. I'm on a roll! I'm gonna try to write as much as I can and maybe finish the story in about a week or two and then post a chapter per day! on with it!

Once long ago before King Leopold and Queen Eva ever took the throne, before they were even a thought, On the throne of the White Kingdom sat King Connor and Queen Oriella. The kingdom thrived under their rule, and one blessed day the king and queen were blessed with a little golden haired daughter named Odette. They raised her to fair and just; kind and stalwart; smart and strong. She was the jewel of the kingdom, loved by all. A sweet child, Odette would take to the lake by the castle and often sing to the swans that resided there. They would swim closer and closer to the child as she sang, and soon she earned the nickname "The Swan Princess."

The time soon came to find a husband for their princess, and both Connor and Oriella wanted to give their daughter a chance to fall in love with her intended before marrying. And so they sent out the invitation to all the available young princes in the surrounding kingdoms, they would come to stay at the castle and get to know odette over the course of a month and afterward Odette would either extend an additional invitation or she would kindly decline and wish her suitor good fortune.

Until one day, one of the princes who had been invited by her parents arrived, earlier than anticipated and so instead of a formal introduction to the princess, the prince had wandered the castle grounds awaiting his audience with the royal family of the White Kingdom. Prince Derek of the Southern Summer Kingdom happened upon the the lake where the Princess Odette would often go to visit her feathered friends and sing among them. There he saw her, hair as golden as the rays of the sun, eyes as green as emeralds, and the grace of her precious feathered friends. He quickly fell under the spell of her lilting voice as she sang a soft song that drifted on the wind. And not only were the swans entranced by her voice but the animals of the forest had come to sit rapt with attention to their princess. As she rose to leave, Derek couldn't help but stop her from leaving. The animals scattered, and swans however remained and watched as a new love story unfolded before them.

After the designated month had concluded and it was time for Prince Derek to return to his kingdom, he received a note from Odette asking him to meet her at the lake. There they exchanged words of everlasting love. He loved her spirit and kindness, and her tenacity. Because while the princess moved with grace and an underlying gentleness there was also a fierceness in her. During his visit at the castle he was the only prince to ever spar with the princess. Both parents encouraged her study in swordplay and other fighting tactics should she ever need to defend herself, as well as being the heir apparent she would be in charge of the safety of the kingdom.

And so he waited for her at the lake, he ran his fingers over the throwing dagger she'd gifted him with. A swan head in ivory graced the handle. She'd shown him how adept she was at using them, besting him many times during his stay with the royal family. He was drawn from his thoughts when suddenly a dark cloud moved towards the lake, it moved to quickly for it to be any kind of natural. He stood and brandished his sword along with the dagger. Shortly after the cloud stilled he was joined by the princess. She too wielded weapons, her daggers strapped around her waist like a belt, and a bow and quiver at her back. Soon the cloud materialized and revealed a dark sorcerer.

The sorcerer had once been good and kind and had worked for the kingdom for many years. Helping to strengthen the kingdoms crops and magical protections from many things, until one day he saw fit to take the kingdom for himself. He was powerful and well learned, taking power from other witches and wizards to feed his own power to take the kingdom at any cost. And during this time the Odette had been a very young girl, riding with her family to seek aid from others with magical abilities when they came upon the Dark One. The King and Queen pleaded with him, to help save countless lives. To no avail, it wasn't until the sorcerer called upon the Dark One himself, and threatened to take his powers by extracting the magic from the dagger making Rumpelstiltskin nothing more than a spinner once again. Enraged, Rumpelstiltskin agreed to help the White Kingdom in exchange for one of Odette's hairs.

The Sorcerer attacked the young couple at the lake, determined to take the heir to the White Kingdom as his own bride. They fought valiantly holding the sorcerer off, but to no avail, his magic was stronger than their weapons, no matter how determined they were, they we no match. Odette, remembering her families deal with the Dark One called for help, screaming for his aid. Then there standing in the middle of the battle, completely calm, stood Rumpelstiltskin. However, he arrived a few seconds too late, the young couple lay at his feet minutes from their end. And so he took a strand of Odette's hair and one from Derek's head and created two feathers. From those feathers he transformed the lovers to swans, while simultaneously banishing the sorcerer to a far off island, with little magic left. And taking the residual magic to create a portal to a far off land...

The sorcerer, while banished did not give up. The swan princess would be his one day and the White Kingdom would fall.

Emma woke from her dream, sweating and crying. She clung to Killian, and effectively waking him up.

"My love? What's wrong? Was it a nightmare?"

"I don't know, I dreamt of the legend of my family of the swan princess. It was probably nothing. Come, we're awake now and I won't be able to sleep now we might as well get moving. Henry needs us."

"Aye, as you wish."