"Maleficent." Regina cautioned her, seeing black clouds gathering in the sky. Mal was shaking, staring at her daughter as she collapsed to the ground, before rushing to her side. Lightning split the heavens, a physical representation of Maleficent's magic when she was extremely emotional.
Maleficent pulled her daughter into her lap, wiping her hair off her face. Lily looked up at her. Her eyes were bright red and her skin was cracked, with black tendrils surging through them. "Why Lily?" She whispered.
Lily smiled. "I don't know. Are you angry with me? Do you still want a-" She broke off in a coughing fit, the coughs racking her entire body. "Family?" Lily finished, swallowing painfully.
"Of course I do. I told you I didn't mind a little darkness." Maleficent said, attempting to smile at her brave child.
"What about a lot of darkness?" Lily asked.
"That too. I love you, Lily. You are my daughter and I will always love you, no matter what."
Lily nodded, closing her eyes.
"No, Lily, stay awake. Don't go to sleep." Maleficent looked up at Regina. "What do we do? How do we save her?" The dragon pleaded.
"We need to get her back to the apprentice." Emma said. "Dad, Killian, can you carry...her?" She trailed off as Maleficent easily hefted her daughter into her arms. Lily was mostly limp, but one hand still caressed her necklace, a piece of her dragon egg. Her eyes looked straight up into the sky, open but unseeing.
"Are you in pain, Lily?" Mal asked, following as quickly as she could behind the savior as they walked to Gold's shop.
"No, it doesn't hurt, Mom." Lily whispered.
Maleficent's heart swelled with happiness at the last word, happiness streaking through her at finally being acknowledged as her mother, but her heart threatened to break as well at seeing the state her daughter was in. She was getting worse by the second. Soon, there would be nothing left of her.
She magically blew open the door and stepped inside, placing her daughter on the counter and folding a blanket underneath her head to try and make her comfortable.
"That's unnecessary." Lily said softly with a small smile.
"No, it's not. I can't help it." Maleficent took her hand and kissed it. "We're going to save you."
"I can't be saved. The darkness will destroy me. It's too much." A few tears managed to escape her eyes and Mal quickly dabbed them away.
"Stop talking like that. I will save you. I couldn't before, but I will this time. Now, just try to stay awake." The blonde turned to the others. "Help her please."
Emma turned to the apprentice. The old man was incredibly weak after his ordeal of nearly being possessed by the darkness and was barely alive. There was no way he was going to be able to help them at this point. "He's out of it. Is there a way to separate the darkness from her without having to kill her or anyone else becoming the Dark One?"
"The only way to kill the Dark One is with their dagger." Regina said. "Otherwise, they can't be killed."
"Gold was nearly killed by Killian's poison." Emma pointed out.
"He wasn't in Storybrooke at the time." The brunette retorted.
"What about the hat?"
"It can't contain the dark magic." Regina said.
"So there's nothing we can do?"
"Lily needs to fight." The brunette walked over to Lily and took her hand. Lily slightly turned her head but didn't look at her. "Lily, dear, we don't know how to help you. This Merlin guy is the only one who can help and we need time to get him. You need to fight this darkness as long as you can. You need to give us a little bit of time. Just a little bit, dear."
Lily nodded weakly. "I'll try."
Regina dipped her head and turned to Belle. "Bookworm, we need to find this Merlin guy ASAP."
Maleficent blinked back tears and turned her head as Lily reached up to wipe them away. "Please fight it, Lily."
"They whisper to me." Lily said, caressing the soft skin of her mother's cheek that she could no longer feel beneath blackened fingers. "The darkness. It wants me to...destroy. It wants to consume everything."
"Fight it. Use me if you need to." Mal said.
"I can't." She breathed heavily. "There's so much of it. Everything is growing dark and cold. You know what you have to do."
Mal gasped and surprised them all by reaching into her daughter's chest and ripping out her heart.
"What are you doing?" Emma demanded.
"I didn't become the Mistress of All Evil by not being strategic. This darkness chose a powerful being. Lily's magic is very strong, the opposite of yours but still very strong. If it consumes Lily, it will take control of her magic, including her dragon form. That is something no one wants. But without the heart, it can't kill Lily, the Lily we know." She looked over the small red organ, already laced with quite a bit of darkness, the product of the Uncharmings' treachery. "It should slow it down, but you're going to have to hurry. I'll stay with Lily." Maleficent looked down at her daughter and took her hand, giving it a squeeze. Lily weakly returned it.
"Alright, let's get to work." Emma said.
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