Many years ago, Wonderland

Maleficent just arrived in Wonderland through a very windy portal. She checked that her dress and signature black horns were still in place. They were except for a minor catch on the hem of her dress. She straightened it and looked around with a contemptuous and arrogant air.

She really did not want to come here, but she was left with no choice. She needed to find Cora and find out how to outwit Rumpelstiltskin in a deal he'd trapped her with. Cora was the only one who had yet to get out of a deal made with the Dark One.

Maleficent had arrived in the palace gardens, only she quickly realized it was the White Queen's palace and the Queen of Hearts' palace, Cora's, was a two day's walk from here.

She really wanted to fly, but she didn't think it would be a good idea to draw attention to herself. Speaking of which…

She waved her hand and her attire quickly transformed into one that allowed her to blend in. Even though she had modified the realm's wardrobe to suit her taste, she still sneered at it. Lots of bright colors with sharp, bold shapes and lines. She wore purple, green, and black with a little white decorated with medium sized circles and squares. Instead of her preferred form fitting dress, this one accentuated her hips. At least it went down to the ground. Most of the female inhabitants of the land wore shorter skirts that fell around their knees.

She stepped out from the bushes she was hidden in and seamlessly blended in with those wandering around. She left the gardens and decided to head to the village in hopes of finding some form of transportation that might expedite her journey. She had heard stories about this place. It was like all of the crazy creatures from people's dreams resided in this realm and strange things happened to you.

It was a colorful town. The buildings were lopsided which was strange given the traditional looking palace right next to it.

In the village she found an older man tending to his merchant cart. "Could you tell me where I might find a horse? I have a long journey."

The old man raised his eyebrows and held out his hand. He clearly wasn't going to talk without something in return.

Maleficent rolled her eyes and pulled out a few copper coins.

The old man carefully inspected them and put them in his coin pouch. He turned, walking a few steps and waved her closer. Maleficent came up beside him and he pointed down the next road where she saw a horseshoe sign.

The man turned and walked to the other side of his cart where a young woman had come to purchase some vegetables.

Annoyed that she had to pay for him to point, Maleficent swiped some sort of green root looking vegetable and tucked it in her pocket and headed to where the man pointed.

When she turned in to the large stable (which was huge considering the small looking exterior), there was a man passing out hay to the five horses.

"Hello? Excuse me."

The man turned and looked at her smiling. "Hello." He put his things down and brushed his hands off on his dark green pants. "What can I do for you my lady?"

Maleficent was taken aback by how handsome he was. He had hair so dark that it was almost black. His eyes were a bright and oddly fiery green. He was tall and strong, but not overly muscular.

She had to close her eyes to bring herself out of the trance she felt when she looked at him.

"I need a horse. I have a long journey. I was told you could help me."

"Most certainly. I've got five, you can pick any one you'd like."

She began to look at each of the horses. Each looked strong and durable. "They all look perfectly suitable. Is there one you would recommend?"

He smiled and approached her. "This one my lady is actually the fastest steed in all the land." He rubbed the nose of the calico horse just behind her.

"Excellent. How much?"

He smiled. Considering her for a moment. "The price of your company for the journey."

Maleficent pulled back confused. "Excuse me?"

"Allow me to accompany you on your journey."

"Alright." Maleficent was surprised at what she said so quickly. She had no idea why she'd even said it. Normally she'd prefer the solitude but she didn't regret what she said.

The man smiled. "I'll prepared the steeds then. I'm Chronos." He said giving her a small bow.

She wasn't quite sure she wanted to tell him her name. But she didn't want to lie to him for some odd reason she couldn't quite explain either. "Mal." She said giving him a nod. It wasn't a lie, but it didn't give away her identity.

They set out and chatted along the way. He was right. Their horses were faster than any she'd seen.

Chronos told Mal all about Wonderland and its strange inhabitants. The White Rabbit hopped alongside them for some time. He was an insufferable creature but apparently Chronos had a friendly relationship with the rabbit and often fixed some treasured possession that frequently malfunctioned.

As they neared Cora's palace a sense of sadness began to take root in her growing with each moment. The closer they got, the sooner she would have to part from Chronos. She realized she was falling in love with him, yet she didn't care.

Chronos noticed her grow increasingly somber. "Mal? Is everything alright?"

"I wanted to get this journey over with as quickly as possible, but now I'm sad we are so near my destination and we'll be heading our own ways." Had she really just said that? Admitted that to him? What was going on? She'd heard love can change people but she was beginning to not even recognize herself.

Chronos' heart warmed at that. He'd immediately knew there was something about her and all he wanted was to be near her. "We could always stop for the night. I have a luxurious tent in my saddlebag. Finish the trip in the morning."

Without realizing it, they had both pulled their horses to a stop.

Mal smiled and nodded. A tent? Well no matter how luxurious it was she planned to use her magic to spruce it up a bit. She still had standards and she could trust him with magic. Didn't seem like it was a rare commodity here.

Once the tent was set up and all, Chronos said he was going to head off to a nearby town for some food.

Mal was already quite hungry and had no idea how long he'd be. She decided to pull out her root vegetable she'd swiped from the old man and snack on it while she waited.

She awoke leaning against a tree. She was quite dirty and very groggy. She felt like she'd just transformed back from dragon formed while being drugged.

"Maleficent. Isn't it?"

She looked up and her blurry vision began to clear. Chronos stood in front of her. His arms crossed. He was obviously quite annoyed.

"What?" She asked confused.

He dropped his arms and stepped forward. Anger burned in his eyes. "You're Maleficent. I just saw you as a dragon. Why didn't you just tell?"

She didn't know what to say. She just stared at him.

"You know, I'm not even mad at you for not being completely honest with me. Although I must admit, Mal was a good alternative. But to think that you feel it's okay to do whatever you want as a dragon when I'm not around is okay…I just…I saw YOU!"

Mal got to her feet and rushed to him. "Please. I don't" He cut her off but she just wanted to tell him she had no idea she'd even been a dragon and she doesn't remember what happens when she is in dragon form.

"No don't!" He turned and walked a few steps away. She remained frozen. He quickly spun back around. "You're going to be stuck here for a long time, yet no time at all." His left hand was raised and when he finished speaking a black pocket watched dropped from it swinging as he held the top of the chain.

"Guess you should probably know, they call me Time in Wonderland."

With that he disappeared with the tent and their horses. She had no idea what she had done and what had happened. She just knew she was now trapped in time and had to figure out how to break it and get the heck out of Wonderland.

Wonderland a few months ago

"So you think Time is my father?" Lily asked stunned.

Maleficent rolled her eyes. "Haven't you been listening? No. The root I must have eaten transformed me unknowingly into my dragon form and while I was in that form that I must have met your father and Time must have witnessed it."

Lily realized just how complicated this had gotten but she wasn't quite sure how her mother didn't put the timeline together.

"But how did you not realize that it must have been in Wonderland that I was created?"

"First of all, I tried to push that visit from my mind. Second. I was trapped in time for a very very long time. When I finally managed to escape as a small dormouse ran through my path thus breaking the spell, it had felt like it had happened so long ago that by the time I realized I was pregnant, I had already taken on the dragon form many times leaving too many possibilities."

This was a lot for Lily to take on all at once and it still didn't even bring her closer to learning who her father was if her mother had every intention of avoiding the only man who knew who he was, Time.

"So the only person who knows who my father is, isn't likely to tell either of us anything. Great. So what's the plan?"

Maleficent thought about it for a moment. "We somehow need to get that memory from him without him knowing."

The dormouse ran up to Time in his fortress of numbers.

"Sir?" The dormouse timidly squeaked, it was a wonder that Time even heard. "She has returned."

Time continued to stare out his window over the great landscape that was Wonderland as the sun set. "I thought I felt her presence return to Wonderland." He turned and saw the dormouse shaking. "What else?"

"She…she has someone with her. A daughter. They are looking for the girl's father."

"WHAT?!" Time roared and began pacing. "He impregnated her?!" He suddenly sat down in his throne putting his head in his hands. He still loved her, yet hated her. He was amazed that after one brief day with her that after all these years he felt her presence return to this realm the same way he felt her leave it all those years ago. Even though he hadn't met her yet, the day she appeared at his stable he had an overwhelming sensation come over him just an hour before he saw her.

He had an idea. He straightened up and glared at the terrified little creature before him. The dormouse was under his servitude for as long as he deemed fit after freeing Mal from her time prison. Even if it was an accident.