The Evil Prince

𝕋ℍ𝔼 𝔻𝕆ℂ𝕋𝕆ℝ ℙ𝔸ℝ𝕋 𝟙

THE ENCHANTED FOREST. They remained in the nursery.

The reactions of the reveal was different. Mulan seemed to have composed herself, Aurora looked shocked, Emma seemed confused, and Mary Margaret was filled with glee.

"I can't- I can't believe you're alive and here," Mary Margaret says, "After news came out of your birth no one knew where you went. Not a single person knew where Regina sent you to."

William looks at Mary Margaret.

Mary Margaret kept the smile and she rested her hand on the side of his face, stroking it almost like a mother would.

"Where have you been all this time?" Emma spoke up, "With them?"

Emma gestured towards Aurora and Mulan.

William shakes his head, "N- N- No. Uh- actually I just somehow ended up at Safe Haven because of well- the curse."

Mulan nods adding, "William showed up to the haven one night wounded by some creature of the night," She says, "Phillip and I helped him recover for those wounds and it was then that Lancelot- uh erm technically it was Cora, who suggested William be trained properly."

William nods glancing from Mulan to Mary Margaret, "I knew how to defend myself, a bit before, but I learned more."

Mary Margaret smiles, "Like a true prince," She says and then her smile fades, "Wait? Who told you that Regina was your mother? Did you know that your whole life?"

William shrugs, "I- I was told from the Sisters in the orphanage when I was a child that my mother and father just couldn't take care of me," He awkwardly rubs the back of his neck, "So I believed it until I met-,"

Mary Margaret had an idea, "Rumpelstiltskin?"

William locks eyes with his sister and nods.

Mary Margaret looks from her half brother and then to Emma.

"Why would the Rumpelstiltskin tell you the truth?" Mary Margaret asks.

William shrugs again, "He said he knew my mother and thought it would be me justice to know the truth."

{ONCE}

THE ENCHANTED FOREST. Before the curse, before everything changed.

William was chopping wood outside of his home, his childhood home. He had been adopted when he turned eight, and had been with the happy couple who adopted him ever since.

William swings his axe down and it makes the log cut in half.

"My, you're good with an axe, dearie." Spoke a voice.

William held the axe tightly in his hands and turned around.

Once William turned around standing before him was none other than Rumpelstiltskin, or better yet as William had heard The Dark One.

"You're- You're," William took a step back in utter shock, "You're the Dark One?"

"You don't sound to certain, my boy." The Dark One grins, "Don't be alarmed, I'm not here to harm you."

William hesitatingly lowers his axe, "O- O- Okay," He says, "Then what are you doing here?"

The man standing before William had a great big smile on his face. The smile was so off putting, it made William's skin crawl. He was afraid of what brought the Dark One to him.

"Well, I've come to see you, my boy." The Dark One says.

"Me- Me?" William asks.

The Dark One vanished and then reappeared behind William, but when The Dark One vanished William was searching around.