Once upon a time there was an enchanted land called Fiore filled with all the classic characters we know. Or think we know. One day they found themselves trapped in a place where all their happy endings were stolen. Our world.

This is how it happened...

Erza looked at her reflection in the mirror of her bedchamber. She was dressed in a gown of purest silk while adorned with only the most precious of jewels and stones. She really did look like a real princess and in a few moments she would be a real princess. It had almost been an entire year since her one true love Prince Jellal had awakened her from the sleeping spell of the cursed spinning wheel which she had been tricked into pricking her finger upon. After that her beloved proposed marriage and now here they were on her wedding day. The happiest day of her entire life. In all the years she had been alive she never once thought that she would end up falling in love and getting married.

"You look breath taking."

At the sound of a voice from behind her, she turned from the mirror to see Natsu standing in the doorway. A hero well known throughout all of Fiore, Prince Jellal's most loyal knight, and Erza's dearest friend. Neither she or her fiance would even be here to celebrate this day had it not been for this man's heroic deeds and undying friendship. Which is why it was only natural that he be chosen to escort the bride when the couple realized that they had no living male relatives.

"Do you really think so?" She asked him.

"I know so and I can already picture the look on his majesty's face when he sees you."

"I'm trembling." She said looking down at her hands. "I wonder if all brides feel their hearts beating so."

"Well I've never been a bride so I can't say." He grinned.

She chuckled.

"It's almost time." He told her. "Are you ready?"

"Yes."

With her arm and his connected, they left the bedchamber with the royal ladies in waiting following behind. Upon entering the room where the ceremony was being held, all eyes turned toward the scarlet haired bride and they could not help but marvel at her radiance. Her prince who stood at the alter almost lost himself completely when he saw her. Until now he never thought that he could be more in love with her than he already was.

The salmon haired knight escorted her down the isle and when they reached the alter her hands joined with those of her bride groom. All became silent save for the minister and the royal couple who spoke their wedding vows.

"And do you Erza promise take this man to be your husband and love him for all eternity?" The minister asked her.

"I do." She vowed without the slightest hint of hesitation.

"I now pronounce you husband and wife."

At that declaration Erza and Jellal sealed their marriage vows with a kiss and everyone applauded them joyfully. It was truly a beautiful sight to behold and in that moment the two lovers thought that all would be happy and peaceful from now on. If only fate could have been kind.

At the exact moment their lips released their hold on each other a powerful wind blew open all the doors and windows, there was a bang. a crash, and a lighting flash. They all became stiff with fear and confusion over what was taking place. Then when it all cleared a figure appeared in the room. A woman. A young woman wearing regal attire that was quite dark, in fact every thing about her was dark save for her golden hair. They all knew who she was and what she was capable of. She was Lucy the Princess of Darkness.

It was she who had tricked Erza into pricking her finger on the cursed spindle of the spinning wheel and that wasn't her only sin. She had committed countless wicked deeds throughout the last three years but no one really knew why she had committed these acts or what her reasons were for being such a dark woman.

"Well quite a glittering assemblage Prince Jellal." She said with a darkened smile.

She proceeded to take a look at all the wedding guests.

"Royalty, nobility, the gentry, and..." Her eyes turned toward the large number of peasants who were here. "How quaint even the rabble."

"What are you doing here?!" Erza demanded as she drew her husband's sword from his belt and pointed it toward the evil blonde.

"I heard there was a royal wedding." She replied calmly. "And I really felt quite distressed at not receiving an invitation."

"You weren't wanted." Jellal said with his arms protectively around his wife.

"Oh dear what an awkward situation." Lucy said feigning embarrassment. "I thought that surely you would want me here Erza, after all we were good friends once."

"That friendship is long gone and it's your fault." Erza said.

"Really? Because I believe that's up for debate. Don't forget that it was you who stole my kingdom from me."

"It was a kingdom of misery and slaves! You mistreated every one your subjects! And you ruined lives!"

"Don't stoop to her level." Jellal warned her. "Leave now Lucy before we change the penalty for your crimes from banishment to immediate execution!"

"Calm yourself princie. I'm not here to cause any trouble. I only wanted to give you my congratulations and to inform you of what kind of future you're going to have with your new bride. In fact I'm going to inform all of you of what kind of future waits for you."

The royal guards moved to attack her but she knocked them all back with a powerful force that came from just a flick of her wrist.

"Listen well all of you." She said. "Today you are all celebrating the success of obtaining the one thing that has always been denied of me. Happiness. Once upon a time I was so close to reaching my well deserved happiness but then it was ripped away from me by the betrayal of someone I cared for."

Her brown eyes filled with fury when they gazed upon Natsu who at the moment was completely stunned. But not with fear. No what he had him completely frozen was not fear but guilt. Guilt, regret, and heartbreak.

"And when I tried to avenge my stolen happiness you two stood in my way." She turned her gaze to Erza and Jellal. "You not only took my kingdom but you denied me my revenge and for that you're going to pay. You're all going to pay because if I can't have what's rightfully mine then neither can anyone else."

With each word she spoke Erza and Jellal felt anger and fear rise in their hearts.

"Everything you love, everything you all love will be taken from you forever and out of your suffering will rise my victory. I shall destroy your happiness just as you destroyed mine even if it's the last thing I do!" She vowed.

Then without another word she vanished in a mist. A month had passed since then and Erza had not had a restful night. All she could think about was the threat Lucy had made. How could she expect herself to begin a new life with her husband with one of her most dangerous enemies still trying to harm her and all she held dear? It was impossible.

"Erza please this isn't healthy." Jellal said as he watched her pace around the room nervously. "She only wants to get in your head. She can't hurt us anymore."

"You don't know that. If she wants something she always finds a way to get it. She's nothing if not determined."

"But what can she do? We destroyed her power."

"Her power can't be destroyed. She was born with that magic."

"I think you're overreacting."

"No I'm not Jellal. You haven't known her as long as I have."

"Or as long as I have." Natsu said. "She's got something. If she didn't she wouldn't have risked showing herself after being banished."

"Do you have any idea what she's planning?" Erza asked.

"Me? No. But...Someone else might know."

"Who?"

When they saw the anxious and slightly irritated look on his face the knew instantly who he was talking about.

"You don't mean him do you?" Jellal asked.

"If there's anyone in this land who knows how her mind works it's him." Natsu asked. "I can't guarantee that he knows anything but despite their complicated relationship he's always been the one person she's told everything to."

"Then we'll talk to him." Erza said.

"No." Jellal said. "It's too dangerous."

"He's locked up. How much danger can he be to us?"

"You know how he works. He can get a man to kill himself just by talking to him."

"Jellal I won't be able to rest until I know exactly what Lucy is planning and if he may know then we have to talk to him. Please Jellal. This my be our only chance of finding out how to stop her."

Jellal sighed. It was against his better judgement but he would do anything to put his wife's mind at ease. So when night fell the two of them followed Natsu into the deepest darkest part of the dudgeon where their most dangerous prisoner was kept. He was a long time adversary of Natsu and like Lucy he was a being born of darkness. Some said he was human, others said he was a beast, and then there were those who said he was both. His name was Gray and he was known as the Shadow Beast.

"Don't get too close." Natsu warned as they approached the bars of the prison. On the other side there stood a young man with black markings on his body and the coldest pair of eyes that ever been known to man. Just looking at him made you feel like an icy chill was going up your spine. When he saw the three of them coming he gave them a twisted smile.

"Well, well, if it isn't my old friends come to pay me a visit. How nice, it gets rather lonely down here. Sure I have the rats and the cockroaches to keep me company but they can't really carry on a conversation." He said. "I heard about the big royal wedding. Congratulations. Sorry I couldn't make it but as you can see I've been otherwise engaged."

"This is not a visit." Natsu said.

"Of course it isn't. It never is is it? I know why you're here. You have a problem and you think I have the solution. It's always because you need me to do something for you. Tell me would it kill you to stop by once in awhile just to say hello?"

"We're not friends Gray."

"Oh I'm deeply hurt. Especially considering all I've done for you three. I help you out with the royal pain and what's my reward? Locked up in a dudgeon. Ingrates."

"Enough Gray." Erza said. "We're not here to chat. We want to know if you know anything about what Lucy is planning."

"And what makes you think that she told me anything? After all she's still pretty pissed at me for what I did the last time she tried to destroy you two lovebirds."

"So you don't know anything?"

"Oh I didn't say that dearie. She didn't tell me anything but I know what she's up to. She's been toying with the notion of doing it for quite some time and after being defeated so many times, she sees it as a last resort to getting what she wants."

"Tell us what you know!" Erza demanded.

"Ooo tense aren't we? Fear not for I can ease your mind but it's going to cost you something in return."

"No." Jellal said. "No deals."

"What do you want?" Erza said.

"Nothing much. Just one lock of that beautiful red hair of yours." Gray said.

"What do you need of my hair?"

"I have my reasons, don't pry."

"Hold it! You're not going to construct some voodoo doll or something are you?" Jellal asked suspiciously.

"I can assure you that whatever I do with that hair, it will have no effect on your wife."

"Deal. Now talk." Erza said.

Gray made another twisted smile before answering her.

"She's created a powerful curse. Soon you'll all be in a prison. Just like me only worse. Our prisons will be time. Time will stop and we will be trapped somewhere horrible. Where everything we hold dear, everything we love will be ripped away from us while we suffer for all eternity. We'll all be miserable, she'll be victorious, and there will be no more happy endings."

"Is there anyway to stop it?"

"No. This curse can't be stopped. It's coming and nothing will be able to stop it. But all curses can be broken."

"How do we break it?"

"We can't."

"What do you mean?"

"When I found out what she was up to I had a little conversation with the oracle."

"How did you do that?" Natsu asked. "You're trapped here."

"I have my ways and no I'm not going to tell you what they are. But I will tell you this. We will not be trapped forever, the curse will be broken one day."

"By who?"

"The answer lies within the children."

"Children?"

"Two children. Each born from a union of light and dark. Impossible that such children could exist but the oracle never lies. One day these two will find their way to us and they will break the curse and destroy the ultimate evil."

"So our fate rests in the hands of two kids?" Natsu said.

"Yes I know how it sounds but the oracle has never been wrong. So worry not you two, you won't be parted forever. I can't say when you'll be reunited but it will happen."

"Is that all you know?" Erza asked.

"Yes now remember your part of the deal dearie."

Erza pulled a knife from her satchel and used it to cut a lock of her hair which she handed to Gray.

"Thank you. Now if you'll excuse me I think I'm going to get some rest. I don't want to be tired when the time comes for my life to change entirely."

Then the knight and royal couple hurried out of the dudgeon.

...

Thirteen year old Nasha looked out the window of the bus she was riding. It was taking her to another foster home. This would be the 6th foster home she had been moved to this month. Ever since she was five she had a nasty habit of causing trouble weather it be intentional or not and apparently everything she did was too much for her foster parents to handle so they would ask the system to move her somewhere else. She didn't mean to cause trouble. She wasn't a bad kid she was just headstrong.

"Can I sit with you?"

She looked away from the window and saw a boy standing in the bus corridor. He was younger than she was, about ten or nine years old give or take and she could tell just by those big blue eyes that he was still innocent. Not yet educated on how the world worked. Unlike her.

"Sure." She said as she moved over to give him some room.

"Thank you." He said sitting next to her.

Once he sat down he pulled out a book from his backpack. It was medium sized with a hard brown leather cover and the front were big golden letters that read: Once Upon A Time.

He opened the book and started to read one of the pages. Nasha could tell just by the pictures what kind of book this was. It was one of those fairy tale books. The ones about made up stories of magic and fantasy and all that other stuff that doesn't exist. She had stopped reading fairy tales long ago because she believed all they did was give her false hope about things that can never be. Like a real family.

"Aren't you a little old to be reading a book like that?" She asked him.

"No." He said. "In fact this is my favorite book."

"Really? I didn't think boys liked stories like these. I thought they were more into books that told scary and violent stories."

"The stories in here are scary and violent."

"Well I guess you're right if you think about how some of them go. Like that one about the little girl in red that's almost eaten by a wolf."

"Little Red Riding Hood?"

"Yes."

"Trust me these stories are way darker than that."

"What could be darker than a little girl almost getting eaten alive?"

"You'd be surprised." He said with a smile.

"Do your parents ever read this to you?"

"No. I mean I don't know. I don't remember my parents. I was separated from them when I was a baby."

"Oh so you're an orphan too huh? Well join the club. I never knew my parents either."

"Are you going to Scarlet's Shelter in Edolas?" He asked.

"Yeah how did you know?"

"That's where I'm going."

"Looks like we're going to be foster siblings. I guess we should introduce ourselves. I'm Nasha."

"My name's Greige."

"So what's your story? Did your parents die or did they ditch you like mine did?"

"Neither. They're alive but they didn't give me up. Not willingly that is."

"How do you know that?"

"I just know. They wanted me. At least my mother did and as soon as I can I'm going to try to find her."

He was just like every other orphan kid who hadn't accepted reality yet. He thought that his parents loved him and wanted to keep him and that giving him up was something that had been forced upon them. Something they couldn't control. Now here he was trying to find the kind of parents that didn't exist. She knew that way of thinking all too well because that's what she thought when she was five to eight. That her mother and father wanted her and that they had no choice when they gave her away and that one day they were going to come back for her. But eventually she accepted the fact that none of it was true.

"Good luck with that." She said.

She then turned her attention back to the window of the bus and caught sight of the sign that read:

Now Entering Edolas.

Little did she know that entering this town would change her life forever.