A/N: Fiona's background and childhood are easily the most fascinating part of the series to me. I doubt we'll ever get any insight in film, even with this mysterious reboot, so here's my take on it.

The stories in this will jump around the timeline, just to keep you on your toes.

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A Child's Secret

Fiona had a secret. She had a big secret. A secret she would get in a lot of trouble for sharing. But also a secret she hated to keep. And she'd kept it for years already. The child stared at the pattern of the picnic blanket she was sat upon. She just didn't understand why she had to keep it. Her parents would dutifully tell her that it was because others wouldn't understand, they wouldn't see that it was still her, they would see her as ugly, grotesque, and terrifying. She didn't want to be seen that way by people, for she was a princess, a beautiful princess at that. She understood that much. She knew that maybe some people wouldn't understand. But her friends knew who she was. They understood other things. She looked back up to the girl who was sharing.

"I can speak to animals," Snow boasted, "They come to me when I sing."

The children around her cooed in awe at the 'secret'. Fiona looked down again, that was a nice secret. She'd tried singing to animals before and they'd only run away. A scowl flashed across the princess's dainty features. It was clearly the ogre inside of her, it scared them, they could sense it. Animals couldn't understand. Her friends weren't animals.

"My mother wants me to grow my hair out, but I don't want to," Rapunzel looked over both shoulders, "So I do this," the child grasped a lock of golden hair from behind her ear, twisted it around a finger and pulled. The children, even Fiona, gasped as the hair came loose from her head.

The girls sat around her shrieked as Rapunzel flicked the hair out of her hands onto the blanket they were sat upon. Fiona looked back and forth between the girl and the lock of blonde hair.

"Doesn't that hurt Rapunzel?" Beauty asked.

"Just a little," the child seemed proud.

That wasn't such a nice secret, Fiona deemed it as less than pleasant. She could see the skin flakes stuck to the roots of the hair. She picked up the hair from the blanket, looking closer.

"Ew! Fiona, put that down, that's disgusting!" her friends shouted at her.

Fiona's eyes widened, throwing the lock of hair onto the grass. She crossed her brow, "I'm not disgusting!" she defended herself. She wasn't, not in the daytime.

"What's your secret, Fiona?" they all peered questioningly at her.

Fiona tried to think of a different secret, a smaller secret. She would sneak out into the hallway and into a different room when the sun had set sometimes. Sometimes she would hide until after sunset to avoid a bath. Though, the princess realised that these secrets didn't make sense, not without her big one.

"Hurry."

Her thoughts were brought back to their understanding. She liked her friends, and she was sure they liked her. She could trust them. They told her things, well, at least they would tell the group. None of them confided in her exactly, but that was because she couldn't go to parties, or anything that went past sundown. Maybe they could know why. Maybe if they knew why, they would confide in her more. Maybe they would like her more if they could understand.

"I..." she paused, her friends stared at her, "At night..." she paused again, unsure of whether to continue. Her hands grew clammy, her heart pounding in her chest.

"Are you too scared to tell us your secret?" Rapunzel asked her, she snickered a little, mocking.

Fiona blinked at them, she took a breath, indignant, "I'll tell you. But it's a big secret. That you must keep a secret too," a smile slipped across her face. Excitement filled her body as they all leaned in closer. "At night..." Fiona fleetingly paused again, "At night I turn into an ogre," she whispered at them.

They all stared at her blankly. The nerves set in, the smile disappearing from her face.

"What?"

"I-I-" panic filled the young princess's body, "It's why I can't come out at night, or go to slumber parties," she tried to hurriedly explain herself, "I'm not allowed, because I turn-"

"You turn into an ogre?" Snow was loud. Fiona shushed her frantically.

Beauty snorted, laughing, joined by Rapunzel. Fiona looked between them all, brow creasing.

"Don't be silly," Rapunzel chastised her, "We want a real secret. Why can't you come to slumber parties really?"

"I am telling the truth," Fiona insisted, "I turn into an ogre at sunset and back to myself at sunrise, a witch cursed me when I was a little girl," she clasped her sweaty hands together, fiddling with her fingers. She surely thought they'd understand.

"But we're children, witches don't curse children. They curse babies," Beauty corrected her.

"When we get older a witch might curse us because we're princesses," Snow stated, matter of factly, "Why would a witch curse you now?" she spoke accusingly, "And why an ogre?"

Fiona shrugged silently, she looked down to the blanket.

"I think Fiona wants to be an ogre," Beauty snickered.

"What?" Fiona's head snapped up.

The group laughed.

"Fiona wants to be a smelly ogre!"

Tears burned in the child's eyes, she blinked them back, "I do not want to be an ogre," she folded her arms, defending herself.

"So why would you tell us that?" they laughed harder.

Fiona watched them all laughing, she swallowed down the knot in her throat. She shrugged, looking back down to the blanket. She wanted to run away and hide. She was so sure they would listen and understand. Maybe her parents were right.

"Tell us a real secret!" they all looked at her once more, grins on their faces.

Fiona frowned, "No," she spoke bluntly. She turned away from them, arms tightly folded.

"Oh no, Fiona's angry," Snow mocked her.

"She's being like an ogre," Rapunzel added.

"I am not!" Fiona shouted at them. They laughed in response. She stood, suddenly, and stormed off.

Fiona hurried away from them, hunching her shoulders. The tears spilled over her cheeks, she roughly wiped them away and continued until she got safely inside the castle walls. People within the castle greeted her and asked her what was wrong as she passed them, she ignored them all. No one would ever understand what was truly wrong. She didn't see the point in explaining herself.

She finally reached her bedroom. Slamming the door behind her, she stormed over to the window, looking out at her friends sat on the grass. They were laughing with each other, looking at Beauty for her secret. Fiona didn't know what was worse, that they didn't believe her and laughed at her, or that they didn't care and had moved on already. She wished they would go home, that they wouldn't always come to her gardens to play, that her mother wouldn't insist she be polite and go play with them. She liked them when they played with her and were fair. But when they picked on her or had secrets from her because she couldn't attend parties, that wasn't fair. And it wasn't her fault either.

"Fiona?" her mother's voice was in her doorway.

Fiona folded her arms again, she didn't respond, staring intently out the window.

"Darling? What happened?" her mother came closer.

Fiona pressed her head against the cool window. She couldn't tell her mom that she told her secret. She'd be in a lot of trouble, that she knew for sure, especially if her father found out. She remained silent.

"Did something happen?" her mother continued to enquire.

"Leave me alone," she mumbled in response.

"Fiona, I-" her mom paused, there was a long-drawn silence before she heard her step away, "That might be best," her mother resigned. She quietly left the room, though Fiona was aware of her hovering in the doorway. The princess sat obstinately where she was, refusing to turn around.

Finally, the door was closed. Fiona released the tense way she held her posture. She turned, looking at the door, her eyes filling with tears. It wasn't long ago that her mother would sit with her and wipe her tears despite her being angry. She liked it that way. Things were suddenly different now. Giving a last look to her friends, she carefully stood. She walked closer to the closed door, a tear spilled over her cheek. Fiona quietly approached the door, listening. She hadn't heard her mother walk away down the hall, she could vaguely hear her presence, still there outside the door. The princess backed away a couple of steps and sniffed loudly. She waited; nothing. Her brow creased, she let out a sob, perhaps a little louder than natural. She waited again. Her mother didn't re-enter the room. More tears fell over her cheeks. She listened at the door, her mother hadn't left, she was sure of it. But she still didn't come in. Fiona's face creased up, she backed away from the door once again, staring at it. Silently counting the seconds.

"Mom?" she dared whisper, sniffing again.

Her eyes didn't leave the door until she heard her mother's footsteps walking away. The princess frowned, letting out another sob, a genuine one. She finally retreated to her bed. She threw herself upon it, burying her face into the pillows.


. . .

I'm excited to start posting these! Now I've uploaded one, I've got to actually start fully finishing them. The woes of having a million different unfinished stories.

Thank you for reading! I hope you like :)