Present day. Storybrooke Library.

Lily kept her face buried into her arms. She could never understand why Neal Nolan made her feel so conflicted inside, or why the hammering headaches of a voice calling out her name followed so quickly after. None of it made any sense to her. For as long as she could remember, the voice that was calling out to her had always been much stronger in the library than anywhere else.

…LIIIIIILLLYYYY…

Lily grasped the sides of her head as if the pressure that was building inside was difficult to contain. Her own name pounded within her skull when suddenly an actual voice disturbed her.

"Lily? Are you alright?" This voice was much kinder and gentler, so Lily looked up to discover her mother hovering over her with concern. Somehow, her mother managed to not have gained any grey in her hair despite Lily's constant rebellion, and her appearances were as they were when they first moved to Storybrooke. Belle still had her youthful beautiful looks. Her long flowing locks still maintained buoyancy with each toss of her head and her skin remained consistently smooth like porcelain with the minor exception of some dark circles beneath her eyes, but Lily chalked it up as having had to deal with her teenager ways for quite some time. "What happened, love?"

The pounding halted for the time being and Lily snapped back into reality. She was grateful for her mother's interruption, but because she was so conflicted in her own emotions and was suffering from a slight headache she replied back more harshly than she had intended, "I'm fine! Let's just… Can we go home? This place is giving me a headache."

"You're never fine when you come into the library's children section in tears," pointed out Belle bluntly to her daughter.

"Look, I don't want to talk about it. I do enough of that already with Dr. Hopper," spat Lily as she quickly got up from the floor of the children's section and rudely pushed past her mother to leave. Belle seemed disappointed and she rolled her eyes as she sighed in frustration. She pulled out her keys and said defeatedly, "I'll just lock up the library then."

By the time Belle had locked the front doors to the library, Lily was already in her mother's RAV-4 sulking gloomily through the passenger window. It pained Belle to see her daughter this way and knew there was a good reason for her tears. Belle knew Lily to be an extremely resilient young woman, but nothing ever affected her like this except whenever she interacted with Neal Nolan. In Belle's mind, Neal Nolan was bad news. All he ever did was try to get Lily to remember her magic, and for the safety and well-being of her family as well as everyone in Storybrooke Belle just couldn't allow that to happen.

As Belle stared at her daughter, she bit her bottom lip and moved forward bravely to her car. She needed to be strong for her daughter and knew that what she was about to ask would not be taken well. Belle got to the car and slid into the driver's seat. She placed the keys into the ignition, but didn't turn the car on. She turned to Lily and asked directly, "Was it Neal Nolan?"

"No," lied Lily. Lily answered too quickly and briefly which led Belle to believe that her intuition was correct.

"Honey, if there's anything I can do-"

"-you can drive us home," cut off Lily harshly. Lily didn't mean to be so rude to her mother, but she wanted to get away from the library quickly. Just being within proximity of Neal worsened her headache.

Belle was hurt by Lily's abrupt response, but knew full well that she was also her father's daughter. They were so similar at times that it made her often wonder what exactly Lily had inherited from her. Like any wounded animal trying to protect itself, the only reason why a creature would react so harshly would be if it were in pain. Lily was hurting and Belle didn't know how to help or heal what ailed her daughter. The only thing Belle could say in response to the unkind words was her reminder. Belle quickly backed down from her questioning and said gently, "I love you, Lily."

Belle hoped for a response back, but she knew she wasn't going to get one. Instead, the car was filled with an awkward silence. She finally turned the keys in the ignition and drove them both home. The car ride there was silent but it was to be expected. She also expected Lily to fly out of the car the moment she parked in their driveway so she said right before pulling into their driveway, "Your father will hear about this."

The words didn't come out right as she said them. It sounded more like a threat than Belle simply trying to be informative and even she winced slightly at the delivery. Lily ignored the comment and instead took it with great satisfaction.

"Good. Maybe we'll actually see him for a change," murmured Lily under her breath. Belle barely heard her, but she knew it was something cheeky. As if right on cue, the moment Belle parked in the driveway Lily sprung out of the car and dashed quickly into the pink Victorian home.

Ever since Rumplestiltskin had absorbed the power of transportation from the Oz silver slippers, he had managed to conveniently slip away to other worlds while Belle and Lily continued living normal lives in Storybrooke. Despite claiming retirement, his so-called 'business trips' over the past few years proved otherwise. Belle knew why he spent more time elsewhere in other worlds; it was because of magic. He was free to brandish it in other worlds, but in Storybrooke it was a source of conflict. So to separate his two loves, he visited both worlds. He often left Storybrooke to practice magic, spending most of his time in his Dark Castle or in the Enchanted Forest to finish out or following through on deals he made long ago. Despite his 'retired' appearances, his dealmaking was still very much alive.

At first it made Belle jealous to see her husband go off galivanting to other worlds without her, but then again, that had always been their relationship since its inception. Belle sighed heavily again. No matter what she did for Lily, nothing was working. She needed backup. She needed his support and couldn't wait to see him later tonight.

Belle was busy cooking dinner while Lily was upstairs reading her leisure book. Lily contemplated writing some more in her journal when suddenly she heard a few pebbles knock delicately against her window. She turned at the curious sound and when she came to the window she recognized the person below and beamed. She lifted the window to poke her head outside and spoke, "Sir Locksley. I did not expect you to be arriving at my window pane and at this late hour. You know how my parents feel about that."

Roland Locksley, who was donned in a greased up grey t-shirt and dirty jeans, stared up at her hopefully. It was evident that he had just gotten off work from the mechanic's shop and decided to come by to her residence by means of his motorcycle. He knew the ritual for approaching the Gold residence stealthily. Ride to the end of the street and then walk the bike the rest of the way up to the house. Although the majority of his long hair was tied up in the back, he tossed his head to rid the loose strand of hair away from his face as he looked up to Lily's window. He replied back audibly but not too loudly, "We both know that it's your father who doesn't like me, and… I don't see his car."

He made a fair point and Lily found it amusing. "I'll be right down," Lily said happily as she gathered herself to escape outside her window. Fortunately, this wasn't the first time she escaped through her bedroom window and knew exactly what to do and where to place her feet. With the helpful combination of vines and rain gutter that flowed conveniently down to the ground, she was able to utilize the two and descend gracefully to the ground.

The moment her two feet hit the ground, Roland remarked, "You know, it's always quite impressive to see you have that much agility in combat boots."

"It's a gift. C'mon, let's get out of here," she said while taking his hand to navigate safely away from the premises.

… …

…Flashback… six years ago… Storybrooke…

"What a weirdo…"

"Murderer…"

"Freak…"

"Her whole family is evil…"

"Probably because darkness runs in the family…"

Lily tripped and the school books she was carrying jumbled loose in her arms and fell to the ground. The students nearby her seized the opportunity and immediately began kicking her books away from her and they skidded halfway down the hallway. She scrambled what she could to gather the remaining books in front of her to prevent them from being kicked away and found a tan combat boot on top of one of her books near her hand. She slowly looked up to look at her oppressor and saw one of her male classmates staring back down at her.

He had a mane of black hair with darkened skin and almond shaped eyes. Over one of his eyes had a distinctive scar that cut permanently through one of his eyebrows. His voiced seemed like poisonous silk as he spoke softly to her, "So… the most powerful man in town has a weak daughter. How pathetic. You represent him so poorly…"

"HEY! Scarface!" shouted Neal Nolan from down the hallway. He had the look of fierce anger as he carried one of Lily's discarded books back to give back to Lily. "Step away from her!"

"I don't need your help," claimed Lily stubbornly as she quickly got up to defend herself. She snatched her book away from Neal and the Scar-faced boy replied innocently, "We were just having a conversation."

"Uh-huh. Yeah, sure," Neal said skeptically. "Why don't you beat it, before I beat you?"

"Oooh! Threats!" The Scar-faced boy seemed more excited than fearful at Neal's comment. It was as if he looked forward to the opportunity of showing Neal his version of respect when he suddenly backed away coolly. "I thought acts of this kind were beyond people of your character."

"You're making the right choice in walking away," said Neal boldly as he turned to face Lily. Only, when he turned to face her she was nowhere in sight. He looked around the crowded halls and when he started making eye-contact with random people, they started scattering and scurrying to their classes. He looked above the crowd and spotted Lily further down the hallway. "Hey!" he shouted to her. He repeated his call again when he caught up to her and reached for her shoulder and tugged at it to face her. "HEY!"

"I told you I didn't need your help!" she shouted back at him, matching his volume. "I don't need you to save me." She looked up into his beautiful clear blue eyes and her heart started thumping uncontrollably. Through all the denial she could see plainly on his face his genuine attempt to care for her and it always resonated so much within her. Suddenly her head began to throb. At first she thought she was having an epiphanic moment, but then the throbbing worsened and it turned painful. She clutched the side of her head from the pain and she immediately distanced herself from him.

"Well, excuse me Princess. I saw that you were in distress, so I-"

She cringed when he said Princess and always perceived it as a kind of insult so she cut him off and said, "-You're better off not making friends with me. It will only make you unpopular and I know how much you love your Princely crown."

She meant for it to be a mocking jest toward Neal, but the comment caused him to stop chasing after her. She continued walking on without even bothering to see the hurt on his face, but she didn't care. With her head throbbing mysteriously and the cruel words mulling through her mind incessantly, she felt that she was the one that was hurting more. Then the voice in her head called out to her,

…LIIIIIILLLYYYY…

Lily carried her school books close to her as she passed the murmurs of fellow students whispering about her in the hallway at school. They couldn't see it, but tears were beginning to form and she fought with every fiber of her being to prevent one of them from falling. She ran to the closest girls' bathrooms and quickly hid inside a stall. She didn't like school anymore. It wasn't that she didn't enjoy learning, she just abhorred the people that interacted with her. The teasing, the rumors… she just couldn't take it anymore.

The last bell rang throughout the school, signaling that the next class was about to begin but Lily took advantage of the abandoned hallways and left the school building. She darted quickly outside into the cool refreshing air. She didn't realize how upset she was until she struggled to breathe from acute hyperventilation. Suddenly a crisp energizing wind blew in her direction, giving her the much-needed oxygen to breathe and keep moving forward. School hadn't finished and yet Lily had gone far beyond the school's premises.

Again, sorry everyone. I've been living in what seems like Distraction City. This time, I just settled into my new apartment and am trying to get back into my writing zone. How's everyone liking season 7 of OUAT so far? It's certainly different, that's for sure. Short chapter. Going to post another one soon. See ya next chapter!