I have a new idea based on The Scarlet Letter. I'm inclined to blame @standbyyourmantis. Basically instead of being about sin, this is about racism. There is a race of magical, scaled beings that Rumple is a part of. These people are not trusted, and treated poorly, and it's against the law for humans to engage in relationships with them. Rumple has glamoured himself so he appears like a human, and works as sort of a Doctor, secretly using magic for his remedies to help those in need. Belle discovers the truth and instead of being repulsed, she is curious. The two fall in love. He goes off to tend during a war and when he returns, he finds that he had left Belle pregnant and it is apparent to all that her son's father is not an ordinary man. Since she refuses to reveal who the father is and insists she was not put under a spell, she is forced to wear a dagger patch on her bosom as a symbol that she has betrayed her people. Rumple longs to reveal the truth, but to do so would be his death for sure and Belle won't let him do it. So there it is. I'm debating whether I should have Gaston be like Chillingsworth, perhaps a fiancée of Belle's she thought died in the war.