A few months ago in another realm…

Lilly and Maleficent stepped through the portal and were completely unaware of where they were. They were in a forest but Maleficent knew it wasn't the Enchanted Forest. All they knew was that this had to be where Lilly's father was as that is what they thought of as they passed through.

"So what now?" Lilly asked her mother.

Maleficent looked around trying to assess where they were. "I have no idea. We're at least in a land with magic, otherwise I'd be dust. But your father's a dragon too and needs magic so I'm not surprised he stayed in a land with magic."

"There isn't some dragon thing we can do to find another dragon."

"No. There aren't many of us." Maleficent said looking at Lilly empathetically. Lilly rolled her eyes annoyed and looked away. "Other than you I don't know any other dragon."

"Big creatures keeping a low profile. What do you all never actually change?"

"Lilly, there is much to being a dragon that you've yet to understand. You've only changed once. I'm sorry I wasn't there to teach you. I wanted to be." Maleficent held back tears.

"So teach me now. I didn't do quite so great a job last time. Didn't even mean to." Lilly tucked her hair behind her ear. "Maybe we'll even figure out a way to find him through it."

Maleficent smiled. "Too many trees here. Let's go find a large field."

They began to walk away. Lilly folded her arms across her chest as her mother put her arm around her shoulders.

Present day Storybrooke…

Belle, Henry, Emma, and Killian went to the library to scour the books for clues, anything that might help them find Lilly's father with whatever clue Rumple had left them.

Emma and Killian weren't going to leave each other's sides for quite some time after everything they had been through, particularly recent events and Belle needed as much help in the little time they had. Killian and Henry had become quite familiar with the layout of the library spending so much time there researching for various reasons.

Belle couldn't help but notice that even though they were in separate stacks now that Killian and Emma shared a heart that they moved, like magnets. He adjusted, she moved to balance it. The closer they were, the stronger and more obvious it became. She would ask them about it later.

"Hey guys!" Henry called after quite some time had passed and they joined him around a table he had placed two books at. "So I found one book that mentions a dragon who's not Maleficent from a century ago, but doesn't say where or who it is, only that it's a male dragon. This other book mentions a man who can change form, into anything he wants. Perhaps one of these men might be Lilly's father."

"Good job kid" Emma smiled.

Emma sent David a text.

COME TO THE LIBRARY. WE MIGHT HAVE FOUND SOMETHING.

Lilly, Snow, David, and Regina entered Gold's shop. Regina headed straight for the back.

Snow approached Lilly placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry we're going to do all we can to help you. You have no idea how sorry we are."

Lilly pulled away and began looking around the shop, picking up things here and there.

David grabbed Snow's hand. "We're gonna help her, Snow. As much as we can."

"But David, even if we do find her father, will she ever be happy? We filled her with Emma's potential for darkness. You saw what it took to free Emma and Hook of the darkness. I'm not sure how we can free Lilly of it."

Suddenly it clicked and David smiled. "That's it Snow! We filled her with Emma's potential for darkness. We didn't fill Emma with Lilly's potential for goodness. The light has to be in there. We just need to find it and help her light grow and fight. It won't be easy, but…I think we it's possible!"

"What are you two smiling about?" Regina waltzed back in the main room of the shop holding a small velvet bag.

"Hope." Snow stated smiling at David.

Lilly turned around and immediately spotted the bag Regina held. "Is that…?"

"Your clue? Yes."

Lilly took the bag, opened it and pulled out a chain that held a talon on the end.

"Well this is about as helpful as the piece of the egg I was hatched from."

"What?" Regina asked confused.

"Before the Apprentice found me and told me who I was and everything I had a piece of the shell from my egg. After years of trying to use it to find my mother, it never worked."

Regina rolled her eyes. Was she the only one in the group of heroes who really understood magic? "We can use a locator spell on this because it belonged to your father. A locator spell would have never worked on your egg shell because it was yours. Also because you were in a land without magic."

David's phone beeped and he pulled it out and saw the text message from Emma. "Emma thinks they might have found something in the library."

Snow perked up. "Great. Let's go!"

Lilly put the chain with the talon around her neck and left the bag on a nearby counter as they exited.

Before Regina left, she looked back at the bag. She was pretty sure that what was inside it was the clue, but she'd rather be sure the bag didn't have a part to play in this all as well. It was unlike any bag she'd ever seen before even though it was a simple velvet bag. She put it in her pocket and headed out.

Leroy still struggled with his feelings for Astrid. He knew they couldn't be together, but that didn't make it easier to deal with. He was wandering the streets alone missing the days of helping Snow and Charming take back the kingdom and fight the Evil Queen as it offered him a fulfilling distraction.

He looked up and saw Regina, David, Snow, and Lilly race into the library. What was going on? Why were they with Lilly? Whatever it was, it was likely to be interesting. He ran across the street and followed them in.

Snow turned when she heard him open the door, unaware that anyone was behind her. "Leroy? Is everything alright?"

"I was going to ask you the same thing sister. You all ran in here with her." He pointed at Lilly.

David smiled. "We're going to help Lilly find her father. We just don't know who he is yet."

"Want me to get the rest of the dwarfs? We're happy to help."

Snow was touched. "Oh Leroy. We can't ask you all to do this. It's likely to be dangerous and you've done too much for us already. It's time you each find and enjoy your happy endings. We are to blame here, we need to fix this."

Leroy approached Snow and looked her dead in the eyes with a no nonsense look. "Don't you know? My happy ending is helping the two of you." He looked around at the rest of them adding, "you're my family."