Chapter 89: Dancing of the Dragons
While still scanning for Evie, Mal is secretly enjoying the cool air between her scales. It's not very often that she gets to fly like this. Normally, it's for battle only, like at the Cotillion or the fight that brought all of them here in the first place. It was so freeing and thrilling to just be herself and use her gifts to help. She was always going to be a VK and a rebel, Mal knows she is a good person and would do anything for anyone.
Her eyes suddenly narrow in on a spot where there could be some movement. With her gaze captured, she is only vaguely aware in her peripheral vision of a large object barreling towards her. She has no time to turn or react when Lily barrels into her side, causing her entire form to explode in pain. If she did not have tough, scaly skin, the damage could have been a lot worse.
Mal roars in agony, struggling to breathe and she's completely knocked off balance. Her wings desperately try to keep her in the air, but the weight of her body is causing her to plummet downwards. She growls and wails in pain as she falls towards the trees, which could hurt even more. She's trying to work through the throbbing pain in her side from where the other dragon had hit her and she's ready to confront the attacker.
Finally, her wings come through and manage to prevent her from being further injured or even impaled by the trees. She manages to hover above the trees, and her green eyes look up to fully understand what happened.
A grayish, almost black scaled dragon is glaring down at her, its golden eyes narrowed but also appearing to look pleased with itself. It lets out a roar and one could see the glowing in its throat, warming up for another attack, this time by fire.
Mal's mind is still reeling, she shakes her head trying to recover. She sees the two dragons and she knows the more purple and bigger one is Maleficent. The Mistress of all Evil is roaring loud enough to shake the surrounding landscape, the sorceress likely confused and angry by the entire thing. When Mal looks at the other dragon again sees the gold eyes… it finally clicks.
It's Lily!
Lily attacked her and she had obviously inherited the more reptile side of the family. Both daughters of Maleficent could turn into dragons. Now all the times that Mal swore she saw Lily's eyes glow gold it was because she was suppressing the urge to transform, just as she had done before.
The younger of the daughters wants to confront Lily and ask what the hell was wrong with her, but of course, being a dragon, it only came out in a snarl followed by a roar.
Lily opens her mouth and Mal can see the flames brewing inside. It was obvious that the "big sister" took the roar as a threat or a reason to continue, so without a second thought, Mal begins to conjure up a fireball too.
She does so just in time as both streams of fire meet halfway with a loud explosive boom and flames begin to spew in different directions, raining down on whoever might be below. Mal worries that Evie might be there, or they could both start some kind of forest fire that could destroy the town.
As the fire continues emitting out of her mouth, she can feel the pressure and the power. Obviously, Lily was as powerful she was, if not more so due to her age and level of current aggression. But as they continue, the younger daughter can sense that the fire isn't as direct or focused and there were irregular amounts of pressure in the fire blast, one minute it was strong, the next a little weak. It was like water pressure in a sink while someone is taking a shower. It was fluctuating. To Mal, this told her that Lily was inexperienced in dragon form and wasn't as comfortable in her scaley skin. She wasn't aware of the power she could have in this form and at this moment, probably didn't care.
When the two finally need to stop, Mal decides that she needs to escape or turn human to hide. She's hoping that Maleficent can reason with Lilith and stop this before it gets worse.
Sure enough, the queen of darkness flies between her two daughters and turns to face Lily, using her wings to shield the younger dragon sister from the older one. She continues to roar, the dragon's version of yelling or scolding one's child.
Mal looks for an opening in the trees where she could land and transform back to normal. She didn't want to do any more damage to the town or hurt anyone… even Lily. Despite the woman's attempt to attack her, Mal knew better and had to exercise maturity and level-headed thinking. Also, she is still in a lot of pain and needs to get on solid ground. She begins to wonder if Crystal or someone else could help heal her in case she had any broken ribs or something.
The road leading towards the town line and the magical barrier is the only place with enough room for her to land and turn back.
She settles on the pavement, being mindful of her claws when suddenly, there's another loud roar.
Mal looks up to see Lily again barreling towards her at top speed!
Somehow, the elder dragon daughter had somehow been able to navigate around her mother and come in for a second attack.
Mal can only let out a vague sound before the two collide again and are forced through what feels like a wall. But this wall bends inwards, like a sheet of rubber and as the two dragons pierce through it, the purple-haired teen can feel herself getting smaller and back to normal size.
In a flash, both girls are deposited onto the road outside of Storybrooke.
Mal's entire body explodes in pain when she looks up to see that Lily has basically landed on top of her. She gasps and bites her lip, trying to fight the urge to scream out. However, at this point, she's so angry, hurt, and confused that all she can do is say:
"GET OFF ME!" she says and with a big push, she shoves the dark-haired woman off her.
Lily is forced onto her side, her ribs and elbows take the brunt of it, not expecting to be thrown off by a tiny teenager. She gasps for breath too and lays back, trying to gather her thoughts.
Both of them being forced over the town line and suddenly changed back to normal was a lot on their bodies that they just lay there for several minutes. The sisters seem to embrace the sounds of the woods; birds chirping, squirrels chittering, a woodpecker pecking and the wind rustling leaves. The only other things they hear are their breathing and blood rushing through their bodies.
A new sound enters… the sound of someone who is extremely angry.
"LILITH! MAL!" the sharp voice of Maleficent shouts.
The two girls manage to sit up just enough to see the human form of their mother standing at the town line. Both her hands are on the barrier, like she wants to come on through, but something is holding her back.
"Mal, Lily are you all, right?"
Lily looks at her mother like she's insane, so says nothing and Mal is in too much pain to answer.
"I think you broke something," Mal mutters.
"Good," Lily snaps, no emotion or concern to be heard. "That'll teach you a lesson."
"What lesson?" the teen asks. "What are you talking about? You attacked me!"
"Damn right I did," the dark-haired woman growls.
"WHY?! Why the hell would you do that? What did I ever do to you?"
Before Lily can answer, Maleficent speaks again.
"LILITH! What were you thinking? What the hell were you doing? You could have killed Mal and destroyed the town."
"Good," the girl repeats. "Good riddance to that crummy little town and the people in it! All they do is treat us like villains and the Charmings are the reason I was an orphan for so long and have this poison inside of me."
Maleficent is shocked, but at the same time not completely surprised. Lily carried so much resentment and hatred towards Emma and Snow and David and while the Mistress of All Evil cannot blame her daughter for her anger, it had been years since they'd had this conversation and resolved to move forward as mother and daughter. It was clear that the anger still festered inside Lilith Page and made her the most hostile person. While Maleficent still hadn't fully forgiven them yet either and it was likely that she never would completely forgive them for separating her from her child, there was civility between her, and the heroes and they didn't go attacking each other on a daily basis. Lily was obviously a different story and that could partially be blamed on the darkness that was forced inside her. She could not control her rage and hatred when she was pushed too far. Maleficent now wondered if she should have tried to get her daughter in to see Archie to help her heal a little and not make her so bitter and cruel. Little late it seemed.
But why had she attacked Mal? Why would she take her anger out on someone younger than her and who had nothing to do with any of this? The teen was simply a house guest for the time being. It didn't make any sense.
"Well, this crummy little town is the only reason I can remain alive, and you and I can be together, so remember that"
"Because Emma killed you the first time," Lily points out.
"Lily I'm not getting into this with you," Maleficent says firmly. "Regardless of what's happened in the past, I want to talk about it right now. I want you both to come over the town line. It's clear we need to have a talk."
"There's nothing to say," the older daughter says, staring daggers at Mal who's struggling to get up.
While most of this conversation is going over Mal's head, she is shocked to hear that her alternate mother had been killed before. How could she be alive now? What kind of magic did that entail? The teen continues to try and get back to where it was safe. She wants to get as far away from Lily as she possibly can, but every time to she moves, her body protests.
"Yes, there is. Lilith, why would you do this? What could you possibly have to gain from hurting Mal?"
"Because she's a brat and needs to be taught a lesson," Lily snarls.
Mal tries to walk a few steps to put some distance between them, but her body aches and she winces heavily. Her mother figure the other side of the barrier gives deep looks of concern and wants to just help the poor child as soon as possible. The teen turns towards the dark-haired girl in anger.
"What did I ever do to you? I don't even know you and I sure as hell don't care what you think of me!"
"You exist!" is the response. "The fact that you're here and living in our house, eating our food, sleeping in our beds, spending time with my mother, bringing more problems with your weirdo friends."
The VK lets out a growl and can feel tears welling in her eyes. A spike of anger courses through her body, but there's not well of power or spark of magic. She begins to realize that Storybrooke was truly a source of magic, but outside the bubble, it didn't exist… hence the label of the Land Without Magic. While it is a slight relief that neither could turn into a dragon and continue the fight, she knows she's going to need magic to be healed and find her friend. Evie was more important than this obvious family drama.
"YOU THINK I WANT TO BE HERE?" she screams at Lily. "YOU THINK I LIKE BEING AWAY FROM MY HOME AND LIVING WITH STRANGERS? STRANGERS, WHO TRY TO KILL ME FOR NO REASON?"
"I think you do," Lily smirks, even though she's still fuming with rage. "Because that place you call your 'home' still treats you like a villain and a freak. Sounds pretty familiar huh? You're suspended for something you didn't do, something that your precious boyfwiend had to do; people still see you as dangerous, you have to suppress your magic and you're constantly battling that octopus freak. I think you like being here because you can turn into a dragon as many times as you want, you can learn magic without being judged, people don't look down on you as a freak or villain, you have your friends around, the Ursula clone is not bugging you, you have time to kiss and make up with your boyfriend and you can have the mother you've always wanted. You like it here because you can have the perfect little life. Well, news flash, no one wants you here. You need to get the hell out Grape Head."
Mal opens her mouth but no words come out. Despite how angry Lily is making her with the insults, her "alternate" sister had spoken about some things that are true… well… maybe they were all true. She knew that her friends wanted to go home to Auradon, but she liked it here. Storybrooke was becoming a place worth staying in. The people in town were good people and they didn't see her as a villain. It was her second chance at a life… at a normal life.
She swallows and battles the tears in her eyes. As she processes Lily's words, the one phrase that stands out and it finally clicks as to why the girl who would be her sister hates her… because Maleficent was giving her attention… treating her like a daughter. And of course, Lily would be jealous of this. She'd been feeling threatened and was trying to get her out of the way.
Why hadn't she just said something? Mal could just go and live somewhere else if it made her happy.
"Lilith that's enough!" Maleficent scolds her. "I cannot believe how childish you are acting. You could've seriously hurt someone and all over the fact that she's living in the house. How petty can you be?"
Lily just growls under her breath.
"No," Mal says. "She's not mad because I'm living in the house… she's mad because you're giving me attention. She feels like she's being replaced and wants me gone."
Maleficent looks at Mal and then over at her other daughter. She can see it written all over Lily's face. It came from jealousy. From the fear of being forgotten or replaced or… abandoned. Like the girl had felt all her life. When she and Emma had been friends and the Saviour grew to hate her for causing problems and left. And when she had an adopted family, they turned their backs on her when she became too much. It was heartbreaking.
The woman places her hand on the barrier, careful not to go through it.
"Oh, my little Lilith… why didn't you say something?"
Lily looks indignant and just turns away.
Maleficent wishes that she could hug her daughter but can't. She inhales and knows the risk she's about to take.
She begins to step over the town line, pressing through the barrier to go to the little girl who needed her mother.
"Mom, what are you doing?" Lily asks in alarm.
The sorceress says nothing and steps forward. She feels herself becoming weaker as she fights to get through. She collapses to the ground as soon as she's over the line.
"MOM! NO!" Lily screams.
She gets up and runs to her mother.
Mal, despite her injuries, manages to be beside the woman too.
The woman's eyes are shut, and her entire body has begun to turn grey like she was going to turn to ash.
"What's happening?" the teen asks, extremely afraid.
"She can't go over the line or she dies again. It's the magic of Storybrooke that keeps her alive!" Lily explains. "Help me!"
The two daughters each grab one of Maleficent's arms and drag her back over the line.
"Mom! MOM!" Lily screams. She begins to shake her mother's shoulders, trying to get her to wake up. Tears stream down the girl's face as she's afraid she's going to lose the woman she loves so much. "MOM! PLEASE!"
The other daughter is at a loss of what to do, but she can feel the surge of magic coming back. She wishes that she knew how to heal or do something to help the woman who had treated her so well. Tears well up in her eyes.
She reaches out and grab's her mother's cold hand.
All of a sudden, her hands begin to glow blue. She's shocked and is unable to speak. Lily notices the glow as well and the soft light begins to spread and engulf Maleficent's entire body. Her form is outlined by this light, and something happens. The Mistress of evil's breathing returns, her skin becomes pink and no longer ash-coloured, and her blue eyes open again.
When this happens, the magic vanishes and the woman sits up. She sees Lily and Mal, she smiles.
"MOM!" Lily sobs, pulling her into her arms so tightly that it cuts off the woman's airway.
"It's okay Lily."
"No!" she shouts, still clinging on tightly. "It's not okay. You could have died! Why? WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?"
"I wanted to show you how much I loved you," Maleficent answers calmly. She returns the hug and just cradles her daughter's head. "And that I was sorry."
"By almost dying?" the poor girl squeaks in confusion.
"I'm sorry baby. I just needed for you to know that I love you and that you will never be replaced. Ever. I love you more than life itself and I wanted to prove that."
Lily just continues to cry and hold onto the woman she loved. The woman who she cannot bear to go on without. The woman who embraced her darkness and truly loved her… darkness and all.
Mal watches, happy that Lily had her mother back. She wipes the tears from her eyes and smiles at the scene. Deep down, she wishes she could've had a relationship like this with her own mom.
Maleficent looks over at the teen and gives her a smile, nodding as if acknowledging that the teen from another realm is also her daughter and that the girl had somehow saved her. There seemed to be a glimmer of hope that they would someday be seen as a family but right now, Lily deserved the attention.
A/N: Another chapter is here. Hope you enjoy it. Let me know your thoughts.