Note : This was written before Lily was revealed to be Maleficent's child.
Once upon a time in the Enchanted Forest, long before the Dark Curse was cast, there lived Will Scarlet and Anastasia.
Will and Ana, young as they are, had a daughter named Lily.
The young couple, burdened by poverty and the lack of relative support, could not fulfill their duties as parents, and as a result, the child was neglected.
In the night, pipe music streamed in young Lily's ears as the sound lured her to the Pied Piper who brought her to Neverland.
Will and Ana searched everywhere for their daughter, fearing only the worst as the days passed, not even having so much as a trail to track. Overtime they grew closer to depression until one day, Anastasia found a flicker of hope behind the hushed tones of the village maids.
What if they had a second chance? A chance to start over and move on from their injuries?
There was rumor of a place somewhere far only few have come to witness. A land in another realm they call Wonderland. Sounds curious, isn't it? Must be wonderful. To get there, a magical mirror was required to create a portal. But they were poor and without magic – they could never get their hands on such thing.
Until the day Will found the Merry Men: a band of thieves, and good ones at that. Will was welcomed into their troop after passing a test, wherein he learned that this group weren't all thieves are; they steal from the rich and give to the poor. But that's not why Will joined at all, is it? He's set his sight on one thing: steal a magic mirror, the Looking Glass – there's said to be one in the Forbidden Fortress.
Will returned to Anastasia, mirror in hand, hearts on their sleeves, ready to jump in head-on, and nothing, not even her deprecative mother could stop them... Except for themselves.
After spending a brief period in Wonderland, the couple became antsy, their resolve weakening. How do you start a new life if you can't even support yourselves? What were they thinking running off to a new land in hopes of their lives becoming better? Her mother was right: they cannot live only on love. They had to leave, for even in the Enchanted Forest, their lives were better than this.
Their plan: steal the Crown Jewels and leap back into the Looking Glass where no one could chase them; start anew with their smuggled treasure.
Unfortunately for Will, the Red King caught Anastasia in the process and offered her not condemnation, but the Crown itself and the King as hers to wed.
During the wedding preparation, Will paid Ana a visit asking her to come back with him to the Enchanted Forest; resume their plan with a promise of an even better future than what they had. He was willing to do everything to make them happy, but more importantly, to make her happy. He gave her until dawn to think about his offer; if she doesn't show up, he'll leave alone.
In the moment, Ana was too weak to think about all the possibilities she could have lost with Will, and gave in to the King's temptation instead. But she remembered she loved Will dearly, and decided to pack the jewels with her before it's too late.
But indeed, it was too late. Cora, the Queen of Hearts and Ana's new friend, had to interfere: she came to Will while Ana was getting ready. Having a heart is a liability, is it not? The Queen enticed him to give up his heart for her collection; she wanted him gone so that she could have Ana all to herself: the daughter she always wanted. And to think she'd used the same tactic that drove her own daughter away...
Anastasia believed the lie as soon as Cora showed her their abandoned wagon. Ana knew that Will would never lie to her – she was so devastated at the thought that it never occurred to her that her new friend might; so devastated that she'd agree to anything to lift her spirit... Even agreeing to be taught magic knowing the King wouldn't approve.
Ana was alone now; her true love left her behind with nothing but her stupid little crown and the Queen of Hearts as her only friends. The King wasn't such – his was a mysterious death that occurred after the wedding.
Not quite what Cora taught her, Anastasia confused anger with pain to fuel her magic. Her pain was her own doing, and if there were any anger within her, it'd be towards herself.
On the other side of Wonderland, however, in the Queen of Hearts' domain, Will Scarlet became her Knave; his heart imprisoned within her grasp.
Will, along with a few soldiers were tasked to find a criminal who turned out to be Alice. You know, from Wonderland. Alice insisted on taking back Will's heart so that he would stop trying to kill her, and no longer be under the Queen's command. Long story short: they became best friends; Will offered to help her get proof of Wonderland's existence for her father; and sometime later, Will returned to the Enchanted Forest and got swept up by the Evil Queen's Dark Curse.
His secret: he never put his heart back in his chest.
Why? Keep reading, buddy.
But hey, welcome to Storybrooke!
MEANWHILE IN NEVERLAND...
Young Lily meets teenage Baelfire.
The two became as inseparable as siblings, and escaped Neverland together.
They spent a few years in the Land Without Magic, thick as thieves, until Lily was taken by social services, brought into the system; an orphan at last. Bae followed her and promised to come back to take her, but when he was old enough to be able to adopt her, she was already gone. As Bae grew to be Neal, he never saw his sister again.
Teenage Lily runs away from her adoptive family to search for Baelfire, and encounters a thief: Emma Swan. Best thieves never work alone, right?
After she lost Bae, all Lily wanted was a friend who understood her, and somehow, Emma was that person. Unfortunately, Fate had a different plan for Emma, and thus had led Miss Distrustful jumping to conclusions: you're an orphan, and someone actually wanted to adopt you! Why would you run away from your family?! If you were like me at this age, you would never run from people who want you to be part of their home!
Emma left, never giving her a chance to explain. Lily didn't want to forget. She wanted her parents to be her only parents, much impossible as it seemed. The older she got, she knew the less chance there was in finding a new home; she knew. But even though it hurt to remember; even though at times, she wished to forget what little memory she had left, she only realized more and more that she didn't want to. Their image in her head gets blurry every day, she couldn't even see their faces anymore. But it will never go away, any of it.
She believed she would never replace her parents.
She didn't know why, but she wanted Emma to be her friend. Somehow, for some unfathomable reason, the force of the Fairytale World keeps putting together its former residents, as if to say that though they're in different worlds, the connection can never be broken.
A few years after Lily, Emma meets Neal. (Look at that: another former Fairytale World resident!) And we all know what happens next; the timeline continues until Emma broke the Curse, and Storybrooke residents reclaimed their memories. And Magic.
Will Scarlet's new life in Storybrooke was disturbed when the White Rabbit came to fetch him; to bring him back to his past.
What Will didn't know was that Rabbit was working for the Red Queen, Anastasia.
Anastasia had been tracking Will all along ever since she'd controlled her magic, and when she found the specifics about the Dark Curse, she cast a spell that would freeze time in Wonderland as she awaits Will's recovery (a.k.a. the breaking of the Curse). Now that it's broken, Ana can resume her quest – or rather, her servants' quest – to get Will back.
Unbeknownst to her new partner, Jafar's wishes, Ana used Alice as a ruse to lure Will back into Wonderland.
Will agreed to go back because of Alice, not of anything or anyone else.
Now let's go back to Lily. After Emma left, her adoptive father took her back.
Lily ran away again to search for either Baelfire or Emma. She later does find Emma, but it's suspected that Emma did not want to rekindle their oh-so-potential friendship as she's once "screwed her over" and broken her trust.
Her adoptive parents stopped trying to take her back. She was lost in this world, and felt so unwanted. Her memories were slipping away, leaving her lonelier by the minute. And who pays unwanted, lonely lost girls a visit in the night? That's right: the Shadow – and back to Neverland she goes.
Years later, Neverland had a new recruit – or rather, special guest: Henry. Along with him came the so-called "Nevengers", in which Emma Swan was a part of.
When the adults were looking for Peter Pan (with Henry's heart in his chest), they offered the Lost Ones passage home. As Lily was afraid Emma would deny her that privilege, she stayed out of sight.
They've returned to the Land Without Magic in a strange town called Storybrooke. It was quite familiar to Lily, and she discovered that its residents came from her land, the Enchanted Forest. It was the first time she smiled in a while.
But Emma was the sheriff – Lily could not be caught during her patrols, so she stayed in hiding. She couldn't risk being thrown out of town when there's a possibility her parents might be there, too. And although she couldn't remember them, she tried her search.
After Will accomplished his goal in Wonderland, it was time to go back to Storybrooke. But Anastasia's plan wasn't over yet – she, along with Jafar, were to be the most powerful sorcerers in all the lands. Unfortunately, Jafar was only using her to take all the power for himself.
Becoming the most powerful sorcerer gives one the potential to be unbound by the Laws of Magic – one of the four is being able to change the past – one that Anastasia was so desperate to perform. She's thought about this for a long while, and it is not some petty child's wish; it is the wish that would reverse the surging downfall of Will & Ana's tortured past; the wish that would prevent even wanting to go to Wonderland; the wish that would reverse them getting their naive hands on magic.
To reverse the magic will also reverse the pain – the pain that cost the both of them to lose everything they held dear.
Will & Ana were imprisoned by Jafar, thus having time to explain her side of the story. Will finally understood, but not entirely – his heart was still outside of his body. But why?
Will loved Ana with his whole heart; loved everything she is and everything they once had; he'd go to the end of the world for her. But after she traded him for a little red crown, his whole world shattered. The pain was too much for him to bear; too much that he'd allowed the Queen of Hearts to rid him of the bloody beating thing and let him be. Once Alice got his heart back for him, he tried putting it aside, put it back in his chest tomorrow. He repeated the idea every day until he got used to the emptiness, and stored his heart away in Storybrooke.
He'd put it in place if only for the woman he fell in love with...but that woman had been corrupted by magic, and they will never be the same.
Alas, his heart was taken by Jafar and forcibly put it in its rightful place, allowing him for a few seconds to feel everything he's lost. After seeing Ana before him, he was willing to forget all the pain and start over, but at the same moment, Jafar had stabbed her in front of Will; all his hopes built up and crushed in a single blinding moment.
With his heart back in his chest, he was even more reckless than he already was. Jafar had given him hope of seeing Ana again: let him win, and he'll resurrect her. Will sought help from Alice, but once she disagreed, he carried out his own agenda.
True enough, Jafar brought Ana back from the dead, but he also broke the second Law of Magic and made her fall in love with him. Gross.
Will realized that Alice was right to disagree with letting Jafar win as he would never put up with his end of the bargain. They've devised a plan to defeat Jafar once and for all by his own hand: he stole water from the Well of Wonders that contained magical properties, and with that came a price – he was imprisoned as a genie in a bottle; all his spells were undone, including Ana's reviving.
Once again, Will had nothing left to live for; once again, he's lost everything, and there was no use in hoping. But there was hope left: water from the Guardian of the Well of Wonders herself – Ana was meant to live and move on. One taste of the water on her lips, and "wake up, Sleeping Beauty," ordered her true love.
Although they wanted to start anew – maybe back in Storybrooke this time – they weren't ready to leave Wonderland just yet.
During the time Anastasia had been Queen, her actions were enlaced with anger and hurt, all reflected in the way she'd treated her subjects. She was not a good queen. But now that she had Will by her side, they could rebuild a better Wonderland; to save it from total destruction and chaos.
They ruled the land together as the White King & Queen of Wonderland; as husband and wife.
Once Wonderland could stand on its own with little help needed from the Royals, Ana & Will could start a new family. Although they never forgot about their lost little girl – probably not so little anymore; the greatest wrong they needed to make right. They wanted to find her, and they'd do whatever it took to do so.
Who do you turn to when you need help with the impossible? Tragically, there's known to be only one – Rumplestiltskin.
Rumplestiltskin was in Storybrooke, and Will had to go back alone; needing Ana to stay and queen Wonderland.
Will had been in town for a while, now drinking ever so often: never knowing how to approach the Dark One; missing his wife worlds away; trying to recall his daughter's face; snow monsters on the lose; having a furtive pirate behind his back; getting a record with the sheriffs; the Spell of Shattered Sight; banishment of the Dark One; never one step closer to his goal until...
Until he had done what he would have despised, had he only more options.
Will needed to get close to magic: Gold's shop; to the only person left who could possibly help him.
Belle, the new shopkeeper, seemed like a good person, but considering she was watching the shop all day long, she's probably protective – or even afraid – of the magic in there. She might not even let Will touch anything in the antiquities. He was afraid of how she would react; he didn't know her. But he had good intentions and he needed her trust. He had to get close to her instead.
Now Will has been seen inside the shop; closer to whatever he was looking for: a locator spell; a globe; a portal opener; any way to find Lily. It's not his intention to break Belle's heart, but if this can help find his daughter, he'd count it as a right regret. And once he's found her, he can take her back to her mother, give her a home and all the love she's lost.
But what if Lily was already there? And she wasn't as old as they'd thought either – she was just a teenager.
Lily has her mother's spirit; she's a thief like her father; and a teenager, "age" appropriate to be Henry Mills' love interest, as stated so many times.
Plus, she's the spitting image of Will & Anastasia, and if there's one more thing we can count on Once Upon A Time, is that casting is always spot-on.
What do you think?
Notes :)
** Yes, Adam & Eddy had stated several times in interviews that Lily was supposedly Henry's love interest. I have no idea why they changed their minds and added Violet instead.
*** I still have doubts about Young Lily and Present Lily being the same person. Young Lily resembles Will & Ana perfectly; Present Lily resembles Maleficent perfectly. I stand by my theory.