Incomplete

A Bed of Thorns (Belle/Rumpelstiltskin)

Regularly updated AU in which Rumpelstiltskin’s price was that Belle marry him. Very long.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/377718/chapters/616411

Complete

Land and the Sea (Emma/Regina)

AU in which Regina died in the fire and proceeds to haunt Emma. Focuses on family, forgivness, and falling in love.

http://archiveofourown.org/series/15898

Another Spell (Emma/Regina)

AU post-ep5; a spell causes everyone (but Henry) to believe that Emma and Regina are a couple trying again after separating. 

http://archiveofourown.org/works/292432

Charmed Life (Rumpelstiltskin/Belle; Snow/Charming)

AU Regina made Mr. Gold and Mary Margaret believe they were married. This is really well written and develops a great friendship between Gold and MM. It also answers the question of what season one would have been like if Emma had not distrusted Gold quite as much. Canon ships.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/441627/chapters/753525

like a fish out of water (Hook; Ariel)

Hook accidentally brings Ariel to Neverland.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/543915

A Price to be Paid (Belle/Rumpelstiltskin)

Same premise as Bed of Thorns; different execution.

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/8508349/1/A-Price-To-Be-Paid

The Darling Buds of May (B/R)

In which Rumpelstiltskin made a rather desperate last-minute deal that results in him losing his memories in Storybrooke. And that’s not the worst of it.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/385670

Starbucks series (B/R, Snow/Charming, Emma/Jefferson, Ruby/Archie)

NonMagic!AU; Gold works on Wall Street. Belle is a student working part-time at Starbucks.

http://archiveofourown.org/series/19414

Skeptics and True Believers (Emma/Jefferson)

In which Jefferson cannot leave Emma’s house for good.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/391470/chapters/642523

All the Bright Pieces (B/R)

Another Belle marries Rumpelstiltskin story, only this is an AU in which Izzy French marries Mr. Gold to settle her father’s debts. Magic/etc still applies.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/398945

A Shared Purpose (Snow/Charming; Emma/Jefferson)

Charming and Jefferson join forces to save Emma and Snow.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/537881

Not a Bad Life (B/R; Snow/Charming; Emma/Jefferson)

Belle and Rumpelstiltskin grow old together.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/437676

(The better Swan Queen fics, by the way, are all on ff.n.)

True Love’s Kiss (Emma/Regina)

Henry decides that the only way to break the curse is to get Emma and Regina to fall in love.

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/8315212/1/True-Love-s-Kiss

Henry’s Gift (Emma/Regina)

AU, Emma and Regina separated. Henry wants to bring them back together.

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/8489039/1/Henry-s-Gift

Realm of Shadows (Emma/Regina)

Gold demands that Emma be nice to Regina. Long!fic.

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/8039404/1/Realm-of-Shadows

This Budding Rose (B/R)

Emma overhears Regina and Rumpelstiltskin talking while he is in jail after beating Maurice. Emma then discovers Belle. (This fic has some fun one-liners here and there).

http://archiveofourown.org/works/419335/chapters/698369

Big Smile for the Camera (E/R)

A silly little fic in which Sidney does some photoshopping.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/493434

And then fics on my to-read list:

Insanity

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/8618701/1/Insanity

The Snow Queen

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7819431/1/The-Snow-Queen

Camping Trip

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/8280796/1/Camping-Trip

DealMaker and TruthSpeaker

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7939073/1/DealMaker-and-TruthSpeaker

“Did you try True Love’s Kiss?”

“Until my lips bled.”

~James & Abigail, 1x13

I think, for a long time, curses were not something that could broken. Then someone gave their beloved one last kiss and the curse broke. Word spread, and people started to discover that many curses had the same vulnerability.

(I bet, before the Kiss was discovered, everyone swore by tears (ala Rapunzel). Tears couldn’t reverse a death or break a curse, but they had remarkable healing properties under certain circumstances.)

As the word spread, however, those who designed curses started to take the Kiss into account. They designed curses without that weakness. New curses did not break with a single Kiss. (Think of diseases and medications, in some sense).

That’s why Regina was so furious with Maleficent in that one episode. How dare Maleficent trade her an old-school curse with a Kiss weakness? 

At the same time, however, not all using curses are upgrading. For one, it probably takes additional effort. For two, true love isn’t that common. Yes, our hero(in)es are finding it, but there have been false occasions of it and arranged marriages as well. True Love is still something to celebrate and desire, not expect.

Also, the Kiss isn’t constant. Rather than rely on fate, a confirmation of some pre-determined bond, the Kiss seems to rely on emotion, knowledge/understanding, and acceptance (a combination of understanding mentally and giving yourself over emotionally).

For example, let’s jump out of OUaT for a moment and consider Disney’s version of Beauty and the Beast. Belle and the Beast/Adam are true loves. They are each other’s other half. They are bound by the red string. However you want to term it. However, suppose Belle had kissed the Beast prior to the ending of the film, do you think the kiss would have broken the spell? Doubtful. They were falling in love (we get songs letting us know this), but they weren’t there yet. The emotion was there, but the acceptance of love was not. Not yet. 

Now consider OUaT’s version with Rumpelstiltskin and Belle. When Belle kisses him, she does so loving him, knowing he loves her, and accepting that the love is real and true. What stops Rumpelstiltskin’s transformation is not his lack of love for Belle, but rather is lack of acceptance. He rejects the idea of true love existing between them. He refuses to give himself over to the kiss and the kiss ceases to be effective.

Some people wonder why David and Mary Margaret’s kissing is not working when Emma and Graham’s did. My answer is this: Neither is a True Love’s Kiss.

In the case of David and Mary Margaret, they have the emotion and they acknowledge the connection between them, but they are not yet giving into it. They do not yet recognize the connection as True Love, and they are both holding back a little. The emotion is there full-force, but the knowledge of what it is they share and the acceptance thereof are lacking.

There is also the possibility that Rumpelstiltskin designed the curse to be invulnerable against True Love’s Kiss.

In the case of Emma and Graham, I believe the Kiss worked only because Emma is the curse’s weakness. Graham was already on the verge of remembering, possibly due to his continued close proximity to Emma (though then one does wonder about Mary Margaret, unless the curse just has a tighter hold on her thanks to Regina’s personal hatred for her). Then, when he interacted with the counter-curse so intimately. When Emma lowered her defenses to him (lowering the walls, letting her inner counter-curse shine through?), he remembered more.

I could be entirely off-base on all of this, but it is what is making the most sense to me currently.

1. Rumpelstiltskin taught Regina magic.

(Note: We know Rumpelstiltskin doesn’t age (compare him and Geppetto), so this isn’t too far-fetched.)

2. Regina is the Miller’s Daughter in that her father got her into a difficult situation. His resulting guilt from that and deep love for her are why he goes along with so many of her schemes.

3. Rumpelstiltskin’s dealings with Jiminy were some of his earliest. That’s one reason he keeps the puppets with him wherever he goes. They are a reminder.

4. Regina is still redeemable. Her great flaws are her need to control and her inability to separate love and possession.

5. Rumpelstiltskin is still redeemable. His greatest flaws are his cowardice and fear of weakness. Becoming the Dark One did not change this, as Belle so astutely pointed out.

(Note: These flaws are what feed what I said was the key difference between the two.)

Rumpelstiltskin designed the curse knowing that Regina would eventually seek it out, that she’d eventually get it. He designed the curse requiring a heart precisely so that Regina would have to experience the same pain he’d felt when he’d lost Belle.

ETA: I forgot— he did give the curse to Regina first. Regina was the one who traded it away. I bet he was not pleased when he found that out.

They both chose power, but

Regina destroyed her heart;

Rumpelstiltskin set his free.