Snow White sighed as she looked across the camp site at all the people that were relying on Regina breaking the protection spell that someone had put on her mother's old palace. She spotted one girl who stood out from everyone else, she was never in storybrooke, she didn't look like a merry man and she defiantly was at the camp when they arrived, yet she recognised her, there was something about the child that made her familiar. She got off the log of wood she was sitting on and smiled at her Charming as she wondered over to the girl, she sat down by her and looked at the small ring she was fiddling around with in her hands.
"That's a lovely necklace" Snow smiled as her eyes glimmered,
The girl looked up at her as if she was going to talk then gasped and fell off the log she was sitting on, Snow tried to grab the child before she fell but she couldn't reach that far. The Girl flicked her dark brown hair off her face and looked wide eyed up at the woman.
"Snow… White?" She asked quietly, Snow nodded slowly as they heard a manly chuckle
"Oh wow! You finally got Lils to be quiet! Nobody's been able to do that in a while" Little John chuckled as the girl whacked him round the ankles with her hand and laughed too,
"Your name is … Lils?" Snow asked wondering where she'd seen this Lils from before.
"Well Lily but nobody calls me that anymore" She said getting up and sitting back on the log
"Anymore…. Who used to call you that?" She questioned intrigued, she'd forgotten the fact that Lily knew her name, she was more interested in why she recognised the girl,
"My Mom, but she left me so she doesn't matter anymore" Lily grumbled thinking about the mother who abandoned her, "hang on, if you went with the curse… how are you back here?" Lily asked as fear struck her.
Snow looked at Lily, she looked deep into her eyes noticing the fear that ran through them, it was then she realised…
Snow white walked through the gardens her eyes searched the ground in front of her as her tears dampened the warm cobbled floor, she wondered what she had done to deserve her parent's being taken from her; especially her father who was taken by a man who he saved. Snow would never speak to a Genie again in her life, since a child she'd always imagined Genie's to be good people who were helpful and kind but she was wrong. Genie's were evil people who got jealous of things that other people had, who took lives because they were unhappy with their own; A larger tear fell to the ground as she remembered her father introducing the Genie to her,
"Snow, meet my friend … The Genie of Agrabah he is our guest now" Her father called him a friend, he didn't deserve that pleasure. Her thoughts were broken when she looked up and saw a small child sitting by the Lily Flowers, she'd seen the girl around the castle before, she'd never looked at her face properly but the way she dressed was different from anyone else in castle so it was obvious when it was the same girl. Snow walked up to the girl and lightly placed her hand the child's shoulder,
"What are you doing?" She tried to be soothing and nice but her teary face and sorrowful mood expressed otherwise, Lily jumped from her seat and walked quickly backwards before stumbling over the trunk of a small tree. The young girl fell to the floor squinting as her head hit the floor, Snow gasped as watched the small figure of the girl hit the hard cobbles on the floor she immediately knelt down and brushed the hair and consequently the hood away from Lily's face. Lily opened her eyes she felt a tear drop from the corner of her eye as she looked around her; she couldn't see much as she vision was blurred, but she could feel a smooth hand caressing her cheek,
"Who are you?" Lily asked in fear, her eyes started to become clear again and she pushed away from the girl as her identity became clear, "Snow white"
"You know me?" The older girl asked, looking at the tears falling from the young girl's eyes
"Err, Yes. I have to go" Lily pushed herself off the ground and started to quickly pace away from the princess, she imagined what would happen if her mother ever found out about this encounter
"No please, I've only just met you" Snow shouted quickly running after her and grabbing her arm,
"Please you can't tell my Momma, you need to let me go" Lily pleaded, looking back towards the castle to make sure that no-one was there and then back to Snow who smiling weakly,
"Who's your Mom?" The princess asked,
"Nobody please, let me go" Lily cried, trying to pull her arm away. Snow white looked into the eyes of the distressed child and let go,
"Oh no, she's gunna kill me" the girl muttered under her breath as she tucked her wavy hair behind her ear. She then ran off, leaving snow gazing at her small figure in the distance still wondering who she was.
"It's you!" Snow exclaimed as she came back from her flashback, "Hang on, who's your Mom?" Snow asked again, feeling like this time she may actually get an answer,
"You'll hate me" She said backing away quickly, Snow got up from the log and followed after the girl,
"No I won't, now please just tell me!" She shouted as Lily started to walk faster,
"Why do you need to know? I told you she doesn't matter! She abandoned me and if she's back here then she can just go and continue living her evil life without me because I'm not ready to be hurt again!" Lily shouted as a tear dropped to her cheek and she ran into the woods.
Snow white stopped and gasped a little,
"Evil…" She said thinking out loud, "The only person I know who would take the name evil is…"
"Regina" Charming added, snow turned on her heel to face him with a surprised expression as she didn't know he was there
"But Regina couldn't have a daughter" Snow commented, "I would've known!"
"Maybe she was hidden?" Charming suggested looking down at Snow then at the bushed that the girl had just disappeared through.
"We should just talk to Regina; she'll have the truth" Snow said shaking her head and looking behind her, "Should we go after her?" She asked
"No, leave her be, she'll come back when she's ready" Charming smiled weakly looking down at his wife; his eyes were still a little wide. He put his arm around snow and ushered her back toward the camp site.
Hours later Lily still hadn't arrived back at the campsite and Snow had started to worry about the girl; she looked at the castle then walked over to Charming,
"Maybe I should go and find her, the shield will be down any minute and I don't want to have to leave without her" She said as she rubbed her hands in a circled motion, Charming looked down at his wife and noticed her nervous hand movements,
"Do whatever you think is best, love" he muttered as she smiled at him and disappeared into the greenery around them. She searched behind every bush and around very tree but the small girl was no-where to be found, she sighed and shook her head before heading back to the campsite. Whilst walking through a clearing Snow looked around and smiled a little remembering it from one of her many journeys when she was forced into hiding, only then did she see a skinny girl with dark brown hair emerge from the bushes, her head was leant down so her hair covered her face. Snow ran over to her and knelt down to the girl pushing the stray hair that covered her features behind her ear, the girl's beautiful face was tear stricken, Snow didn't know what to say but before long Lily collapsed to the floor and leant her head into Snow's chest, crying.
"Shh, shh it's alright" Snow cooed stroking the girls thick hair, "It'll be alright, I'm here I'll look after you"
"I'm Sorry" Lily cried looking down at her hands,
"It's ok. Lily… is you're mother Regina?" The woman asked nervously hoping not to make the girl worse. In Return she finally got an answer; Lily nodded slowly wiping a tear from under her eye. She pushed herself off the woman,
"My Name is Lily Mills, my mother is Regina otherwise known as the Evil Queen and my father is Daniel" She said sucking in her tears as the memories of her mother and father flooded back.
"Daniel…" Snow muttered,
"You knew him?" Lily asked raising an eyebrow in confusion
"No, not really. You're upset because of your mom?" The woman asked clearing off her dress and getting off the floor,
"I'm upset because of the memory of my mother" Lily said wiping her face and standing up clearing off her knee length dress, she offered out her hand with a sweet smile as Lily took it they started to walk back in the direction of the camp, "She abandoned me when the curse hit, she left me behind with no family and nowhere to go, she left me when we were in an argument and she never came back. I had to fend for myself which is something I never had to do before, when she left me it was the first time I'd ever been outside let alone all on my own outside. I was lucky that Robin and his men found me, without them I would be dead" Lily explained as Snow nodded taking in all the information that Lily was telling her, "I'd pushed her away, put her behind me, I convinced myself that she isn't worth my thought she isn't worth all that pain. Today, with everyone coming back reminded me of her leaving me, I was alright until I hand to talk about it. I hate her" Lily grumbled, snapping at the end.
Snow nodded, and bit her lip keeping her opinion to herself; she didn't know the other side of the story and she knew interfering with something like Regina's relationship with her daughter would not end well.
"Will you not speak to her just once?" She asked out of interest,
"Why would I? So I can hear a bunch of excuses, I'm better off without her" Lily said looking at her step-sister, Snow turned to the girl and pulled her so they were facing each other,
"Before we go back into the campsite" snow started looking at the bushes, "Your mother is about to break the protection spell that sits around her castle which means we will be going to live there, I think you should maybe decide what you want to do once your there before we get there" Snow advised before letting go of Lily's hands and walking through the bushes to be greeted again by Charming. Lily looked at the bushes and inhaled heavily knowing that she would soon have to face her mother, she looked down at the small ring that sat on her chest and sighed,
"I'm coming to see you Papa" She murmured before pushing her way through the bushes. She looked at Charming and Snow who were talking and smiled at them before taking herself off to a tree at the corner of the campsite to sit behind a tree. She took her father's ring in her hand and slowly fell into slumber.
Snow sighed looking down at her hands then over at the tree that she witnessed Lily sit behind, "I don't know what to think" Snow muttered as her gaze turned to Charming,
"Don't worry yourself; if Emma can forgive us I'm sure Lily can forgive Regina" he smiled comfortably, "Just go and sit down" he suggested pointing at a stool in the middle of the camp.
Grumpy stood watch, he glared through his telescope watching the protection spell that lay around the palace that he used to be so fearful of, suddenly after hours of watching he saw the green dome split at the middle of sink off leaving the castle open. He smirked and turned to Charming who was stood not far behind him,
"It's down!" he shouted, the whole camp smiled and looked at Charming
"We move on the castle, now!" He ordered as the camp came alive with everyone gathering their belongings ready to leave. Snow looked at the tree but there was no movement from behind it, Lily hadn't moved, she wondered over to the tree and peered behind it seeing a sleeping girl. She knelt down and lightly shook her, Lily's eyes fluttered open and slowly they adjusted to look up at Snow,
"Honey, we're leaving to go to the castle now" She whispered smiling a little,
"Come on Lils" Little John smiled peering over the two of them,
"I'm coming" Lily said as her eyes slowly opened and closed as she felt her tired state tempt her eyes back to sleep, she shook her head and pushed herself off the floor.
She sighed, knowing she would have to talk to her mom.
I haven't actually decided on the name for the story I'm writing about Lily's life after the curse but I will post the name on the next chapter so you can have a little read of that if you like too !
Thank you for reading!
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