This is nearly the hardest chapter I've written. Hope it works. thanks for you support! (yes, Blue gets defeated ;) )
Regina held her hand the whole time they talked. Henry sit on her other side, basking in having his mothers back. They sat up long into the night, drinking coffee and speaking in low voices about what they'd have to do.
Lily's charade wouldn't hold long, and the full moon, which would be Red's strongest point and Blue's weakest was only two nights away. Few people went near Lily, so unless Blue had a reason to check on her, or one of her brainwashed dwarves got too close, Lily should be able to remain hidden. Emma and Regina could cloak the house easily enough.
Henry went to bed not long before midnight, kissing his mothers and lingering in Regina's arms because she hadn't been able to hold him in weeks.
"You've been so brave," she whispered.
"We have a town to protect," he replied. His smile was not quite a man protecting his family and not quite a son relieved to has his mother back, but something in between.
"Thank you," she finished, hugging him again. "Now get to bed."
Emma squeezed him and he hugged her back harder than he had in awhile, probably because she no longer looked like she was dying.
Lily's arm healed while they watched fire knit her skin back together. "I'm pretty good at that now," she said, studying her arm. "Don't know how that will help in a fight."
Reaching forward to touch her shoulder, Regina put her faith in her voice, her tone warm and proud. "It'll be useful afterwards. When we've defeated Blue, we'll have much to repair.
Sitting on the sofa together, while her parents plotted and everyone tried to reassure Lily that their lives, and the safety town, would not come down to her ability to defeat her mother. (though, she had to know what they did, if she couldn't stop Maleficent, they'd die facing her until Blue decided that she'd had enough slaughter.)
Regina's hand tightened, her fingers holding Emma's so tightly that her knuckles were pale. It hurt, a little, but everything had been so numb with the shackle on that Emma almost relished it. Regina was back. Snow got up to make more tea, and Henry finally agreed that he should probably go to bed.
Regina nuzzled her shoulder, then rested her forehead against Emma's cheek. "I know I should feel like I'll never need to sleep again, but I'm still tired."
"I know that feeling," Emma said. Regina's hand squeezed hers, this time to remind her that they're okay, at least for the moment. She dragged Emma's hand over to her belly and held it there.
"You can't feel that, can you?"
"No." Emma had to smile, however tired. "Probably not for a few weeks. You put the pause button on little baby fish here."
Regina kissed her cheek. "I'm sorry."
Shuddering, Emma reached for her hot chocolate with her free hand. "Don't be, you were safe. I hate to think about what that horrible shackle might have done to you or the baby."
Regina's expression softened, and she snuggled closer, which must have meant that she still worried about what it had done to Emma.
Leaning into her, Emma breathed the air between them and she could almost feel the life that radiated from Regina. Maybe it was their magic, and that deprived of that connection, she'd been worse than alone. "It was like not being able to get enough air, or enough food, no matter what I did. I've never felt like that, but it's gone now."
"We missed you," Regina said, letting Emma take the opportunity to change the subject.
Letting her forehead rest against Regina, Emma smiled before she sat up and forced herself to drink her hot chocolate. She needed to eat, and drink, a lot to make up for the weight she'd lost. Her jeans were going to fit all weird until then. Might as well start with hot chocolate with extra cream.
"Are you using the royal we?" Emma teased, and Regina smirked because the next kiss tasted of hot chocolate.
"She's part of you," Regina said. She squeezed the hand resting on her belly and her smile turned shy. "I don't think she's aware of anything yet, but even in the netherworld, I had part of you with me."
Emma's heart melted in her chest and she shook her head again. "You're not going to make me feel romantic about a sleeping curse."
"Not about a sleeping curse," Regina corrected, pulling Emma closer. "About me, and our baby, and how we're all connected, no matter where we are."
Kissing her was too much temptation after weeks of not even being able to speak to her, Emma shivered and rolled her eyes at her parents. "Are they done scaring Lily yet?"
Turning her focus, Regina looked past Snow and Charming and straight at her daughter. "Lily?"
Holding her arms crossed over her chest, Lily pushed off the wall and took a step towards them. "Yeah, Mom?"
Regina's smile then could have lit a bonfire. "Don't think you have to defeat her, you just have to hold her back, keep Blue from being able to use her to hurt anyone. Take her out over the sea, or into the forest, fight defensively. You're the biggest threat, so she'll go after you. If you can keep her away from the town-"
Lily's little laugh echoed hollow through the room. "You'll somehow defeat the leader of the fairies who's been feeding off the magic of everyone in Storybrooke who has it, in the thirty seconds I'll be able to distract my mother?"
"You know what she does," Emma reminded her, searching for as much warmth and hope and she could. "It's in your blood, all the memories of the dragons. I've felt that, I mean, not for very long or with any kind of understanding, but it's all in you. Even what Maleficent knows, every fight she was ever in, they're inside of you."
Sinking to the floor in front of sofa, Lily sighed. Staring at the the carpet beneath her crossed legs, she nodded. "I know kung fu?"
Chuckling, Emma patted her shoulder while everyone else stared at them without understanding. "You do. You know dragon kung fu, whatever that looks like. I know how hard it is to be the person everyone needs to save the whole town and I know how horrible that is, how much pressure that puts on you. Fuck up and we all die."
"Emma-" Regina interrupted but Lily turned around to face them, and she finally had a grim sort of smile, even if her eyes were cold.
"How do you do with it, savior?" The years could have turned to dust then, and they could be sitting behind the theater after they'd snuck in to see the Matrix, two orphans, alone in the world. Now they had family, and their family needed them to defend them. Sure, it was weird and her best friend was also her step-daughter, but all that meant was they both loved Regina, and no matter what happened, Regina would survive this. Lily would understand that. She'd have to.
Emma slipped off the couch, sitting on the floor next to Lily at Regina's feet. Across the room, her parents sleepily passed the little prince between them so he could rest on David's lap while Snow made more tea. Regina's knee was behind her head, and Emma wrapped her arm around Lily's shoulders, pulling her in close.
"Remember when we didn't have anyone? It was you and me and no one else cared what happened to us, but we cared, and we fucked things up, but we had each other. Now it's a bigger each other. My parents aren't perfect, and maybe I wanted them to be for so long that it's hard when they fail me. Fail you-"
Regina's hand squeezed her shoulder and Emma's chest ached, because forgiveness had never been as easy for her as it was Regina.
"We have parents now, and siblings and people we have to protect. We're needed, we belong, we're part of this, we've made this and we keep it safe. Even my parents," she added the last in a whisper, because she knew how hard that was for Lily, for her, it was all such a mess, but their mess. Their family.
"We're forgiving the misguided theft of babies now, and mass murder, and whatever it is Maleficent did to be the mistress of all evil," Lily replied, only partially joking. It had to be funny, because that way they went on. This was their tangled lives, and knots were tough. They'd have to be.
"It's complicated," Regina said from above them. "It's a assigned title."
"She's crazy," Lily said, wrapping her arms around her knees. "I keep thinking she'll walk in the door, free of the Blue Fairy and be so pleased with herself that we're all so surprised. I- I guess I keep thinking she'll save me."
"You'll save her," Emma insisted. Clinging to her own foolish hope made it easier to share with Lily. "And me, and your other mom, the whole damn town. We save it together, and it's the most terrifying thing, but we can do this. We used to think we could do anything when we were just us, but we have backup now. The cavalry's kind of peasants, werewolves and the smartest librarian on the planet, and they're all here for us."
Lily turned her head, and her dark hair fell down over her shoulder, so much like Regina's. "Thanks."
"You can do this. It's a chase, make 'em too tired to catch you."
That faraway smile was Lily from more than a decade ago, and she'd been so tough then. They both had, and now they were exposed, surrounded by love and affection, so soft instead of armored and alone.
"Love is strength," Emma reminded her. "And we love you, and your mom, and I don't know if that's enough. My parents would say it is, and they haven't lost so far. So, maybe there's something to that."
They were the last in bed, after Lily had a bedroom (because she wasn't spending the night alone in Maleficent's house) and Snow and Charming did, then Regina returned to their room. Emma watched her undress, as if it had been yesterday that they'd been so hopeful about the summer, about Lily fitting in, finally.
"You know, saving the town is a great way to fit in," Emma joked.
Slipping her dress off to hang it back up, Regina's reply was dry and quick. "It's a little abrupt. She went to sleep only barely comfortable with helping Mal with the fireworks and woke up our last hope in a battle to the death with Reul Ghorm. That's a little intense." She took off her bra and sighed, holding her breasts with one arm while she chose pajamas.
"She had you in there, and Henry and Snow. Those two are kind of the hope brigade," Emma said, studying the gentle curve of Regina's spine. "And you've gotten much optimistic."
"I live with you and Henry," Regina reminded her, slipping her nightgown on lazily over her head. Moving to the bed, she stood before Emma reaching for her hands. "I'm not tired."
"Side effects of a sleeping curse."
Regina's fingers warmed Emma's and magic reached out, tentative at first, then stronger, filling the void Emma hadn't been able to name.
"Careful," Emma said. The last thing either of them needed was Regina drained. She was better in a fight than Emma was anyway. "I'm okay."
"How many times have you ignored me when I've said that?" Regina teased. The flow slowed between them, something warm and comforting instead of a rush.
"I ignore you a lot," Emma replied, then stood, wrapping her arms around Regina's back. "At least, I try to, and I can't. I can't focus. Having you here and not here was harder than I imagined."
"Snow said you slept next to me." Regina's hands wandered across Emma's chest, and her dark eyes met Emma's, full of apology and something Emma couldn't put her finger on. She and David thought it would be strange for you, having me there and knowing you shouldn't wake me."
"Couldn't," Emma corrected, because true love's kiss wasn't something they shared. At least, she didn't think so. "That's not something we do."
Regina's lips brushed hers, then kissed harder, warm and demanding more than she yielded. "You didn't even try?"
"No," Emma said, shaking her head. "You went under the sleeping curse to help Lily, me waking you wouldn't have done that, and I probably can't."
"And Snow was so convinced you could." Regina's hands ran across Emma's breasts, warm through her thin t-shirt, and they headed down, brushing her stomach. "She thought it was a mark of willpower."
"I'll have to tell her it's low self-esteem."
Regina took her face in her hands, holding it close so she could look into her eyes. "Emma, no. You're everything. You're enough. True Love's kiss is an arbitrary, ridiculous thing that makes no sense at all."
"Says the woman who spend weeks beating herself up because she couldn't wake Lily." Emma pulled her in closer, and the familiar hardness of the child between them made her smile. "I think we're even."
"I can't believe you didn't try to wake me," Regina muttered as Emma kissed her neck. "I would have tried to wake you, and I have impulse control."
Chuckling as she turned Regina towards the bed, Emma slipped the strap of her nightgown off her shoulder. "You needed to be with Lily, and you wouldn't have forgiven me if I took you away from her. The kids come first." She bent down to kiss Regina's belly, relief washing over her like warm rain. "Especially you, little fish."
"It's not a contest," Regina said above her head. Her fingers ran through Emma's hair and when she came back up, Regina waited to kiss her again. "Or a competition. It's you and me and our children, we're family. You don't come second, Emma, you never will."
The hand on the back of her head pulled Emma closer and they stopped, wrapped in each other, centimeters from each other's lips.
"Okay."
Regina's smile made weeks without her melt away, because she was back. She was here, and her nightgown slid from her shoulders so easily. Without her t-shirt, the bones of Emma's ribs were too visible and her collarbones too sharp. She had never thought of herself as ugly, but now she was so boney, so exposed.
Regina kissed her collarbone, then her cheek. "Don't worry about it. You've been ill, Emma."
"I didn't say-"
"You didn't have to." Pulling her down to the bed beside her, Regina sat, holding Emma's hand. "My breasts have never been this heavy, and I keep looking in the mirror and trying to guess what else is going to change because it's odd."
"You're beautiful," Emma said. She caught herself grinning even though she'd just missed Regina's point.
Regina lifted her chin with a finger and studied her face. "As are you, I assure you."
"You were trying to say that we have little control over what happens and we should be grateful we're together?" Emma slipped her nightgown lower, exposing her breasts and cupping one with a hand. Regina's flesh sat heavy in her palm, warm and swollen with life.
Glacing down, Regina returned her smile before she leaned close and whispered: "I was trying to say that I love you, and your body, no matter what it looks like."
Emma shivered when her lips brushed her neck. "I like yours better."
Kissing her way down Emma's shoulder, Regina ran a hand up her thigh. "I missed you."
Fabric rustled and Emma's pajamas slid down, then off. The bed creaked; Regina chased her up, kissing her as they moved back towards the pillows. They should sleep, but this was as important. This was healing; magic began to creep, building between them like static. Straddling her, Regina kissed down her chest, running her tongue over the too-sharp ribs beneath Emma's skin. Emma sighed, rocking up towards her, ghosting her hands over Regina's legs.
Life welled within her, seeping out into Emma, like a spring turning the desert to flowers. She's rarely been short on life, on energy, but in this moment, she needed Regina, and her magic. Maybe sex was just part of that, or magic was strengthened by the bond between them, because they were connected, so many times over.
Regina's skin shared a warmth Emma hadn't known for weeks, and their hands wandered, taking their time. She almost expected the swell of Regina's belly to have changed, because time has passed, but not for their baby fish, and she's the same size. What she had loathed happening to herself, was beautiful in Regina and her thumbs slid down towards Regina's hips, starting to remove her underwear.
Just that touch made her groan and Emma looked up, grinning. "What?"
"Don't stop."
Obeying, Emma continued to slip Regina's underwear down her butt, then her thighs and they shifted, making space for Emma to remove them.
"Don't stop, what?"
Taking her hand, Regina brought it to her sex, rubbing it against the wetness there. "Emma."
Her heavy-lidded eyes and the hitch in her voice pushed the warmth in Emma's stomach past pleasant to vibrant, vivid, almost painful. She turned her hand within Regina's, gliding her fingers across her clit. Her little moan was shivered through Emma's spine. Her fingers circled, then pressed. Regina sucked on her neck, then her breast and they sit against the headboard, Regina straddling her lap.
Emma kept her touch light, maddening instead of satisfying, and Regina rocked above her, pushing her hips closer. Her moaning grew deeper, full of more desire, more need, and she fought back, using her strong fingers to taunt Emma in return.
They had to keep looking at each other, as if breaking their gaze would destroying something precious. Regina's eyes dilate, growing darker as her pupils grow. Emma kissed her and Regina's tongue caressed hers, then her lips and their breathing rose together. Touching Regina was the closest to praying that Emma had experienced since her last brush with death, and sharing her mouth was sacrement.
"Deeper," Regina demanded, her mouth so close that her lips moved against Emma's.
Licking her top lip, Emma complied, bringing her fingers in and upwards, curving gently back. Somehow between them desire sated was magic recharged, regained, and the more she touched, the more Regina writhed against her, and power hummed like Emma's aroused nerves. Perhaps it was part of the bonding of their magic, but the teasing, taunting, and fulfilment brought sensation to Emma's numb fingers. She shed the greyness, the fog that held her senses, while Regina orgasmed around her hand.
She's beautiful in the moment, all breath and life, condensed in a tightening of muscles. Her knowing fingers send Emma over the edge, and the rushing fireworks of her own orgasm bring life where there was weakness. Regina's head rested on her chest, and they caught their breath together, sweat damp on their skin.
"I missed you too," Emma said, kissing Regina's cheek. She held her face, soaking in her eyes.
Rain started as a mist, then fell heavier until it drummed on her scales. That would be Ursula, and the thunder that followed made her certain they were coming. Maleficent suspected their attack would come with the moon, which was smart, because Ruel Ghorm would be at her weakest and the wolves at their strongest.
If they'd found a way to remove the horrible shackles. Lily could, of course, if they had her, but she'd been asleep in the yard beside the town hall on the last patrol Ruel Ghorm had made her fly.
The rain steamed off her hide and the same itch on her right flank maddened her, because she couldn't scratch it, couldn't move without permission. Being without a heart was becoming a prisoner of her own flesh, unable to shift any part of herself.
She tried, often, raging against the control Ruel Ghorm maintained because it amused her to watch Ruel Ghorm squirm to hold her tighter. The burns on Ruel Ghorm's hands never truly healed, and Mal took her pleasure in that. Her thoughts were her own, and they remained with Lily, trapped alone in that netherworld. Henry and Snow would have helped her, tried to protect her sanity if they could not wake her.
She had to trust that her nest had the care of her daughter because she was not allowed to even scratch the itch on her flank. Perhaps the scale would do her a favor and fall off.
Ruel Ghorm prowled the mayor's office, pouring over parchment and spells so old they had been rubbed from rocks. From her vantage point, Mal could either watch her or the rain fall onto the roof. If she strained her eyes, she could look at the street, but the streets had been so quiet.
Not tonight, the lightning suggested.
The hail added a little sting to the rain, but she couldn't move, couldn't even shift her head so her horns took most of the brunt of it. She added that loathing to the many Ruel Ghorm had collected and waited for the assault.
Regina wasn't subtle, nor were Snow White and her prince. They'd come up main street, their army behind them. Would Lily be with them? Had they found a way? What plan could they have without Lily? Dragonfire was too intense. Unless they'd found a particularly talented blacksmith, they had no defense. Emma and Regina's shields could hold for awhile, but they'd be exhausted long before Mal ran out of flame.
After the storm reached a pitch that threatened the trees along the street, their army arrived. They did walk up the Main Street, a coordinated mob of bodies. Images of them dead, their flesh scorched and peeling from the black bones, flashed through her head, but they must have had a plan.
She trusted, clinging to that faith in the pit of her stomach. If Regina and Emma were wise, she would not be the instrument of their deaths. There were no gods left for dragons, but she prayed to the great cold nothing that could have her if her family lived.
They came, lining up like sheep, or soldiers, because she wasn't yet sure what they were. They held weapons, they made ranks, but they had no armor here.
Emma stood beside Regina, and her cheekbones were too sharp under her skin. Her wet hair was pulled back into a braid, like Regina's and Mal gave herself the moment of amusement, picturing them sharing the task of braiding their hair for battle.
Next to them came Snow, David, and the wolves. Shackles gleamed in the streetlights on their wrists, so they were still chained to Ruel Ghorm. That was a shame, they might have found a way to free them.
Ruel Ghorm had noticed, because Mal's legs brought her upright, and turned her to face the army. Her head rolled on her neck and fire bubbled in the back of her throat. First she would be Ruel Ghorm's threat, then her devastation.
Staring at their determined faces, Mal would have swallowed the fire if she had the strength. She was a puppet, a plaything, a cruel weapon of a power mad point of light and that was the greatest injustice. Ruel Ghorm was the light of a dying star, her time, and her strength were passing. Humans, brief and brilliant as they were, lived in change, in flux, but Ruel Ghorm was a thing that had already died.
Static. Unable to grow like all those she envied. She brought death, perhaps because that was all left within her.
Mal's feet thudded on the pavement, and Ruel Ghorm circled her to face the town she'd enslaved. Mal only needed a moment, an instant, and she could have closed her jaws around the sprite. She would have tolerated the taste long enough to make sure she was dead.
"And what's this?" Ruel Ghorm asked, holding Mal's heart like a talisman of fire. "Worried about the storm?"
"We're sick of your unelected rule," Snow said, her bow in hand. It was comforting to see her with a weapon again. It brought pride to the way she stood.
"And you brought back your former mayor," Ruel Ghorm purred, staring at Regina. "Welcome to the new Storybrooke. You'll need to be dampened, of course. We don't like things like you walk the streets without being humanized like the rest of the town."
Regina rolled up her sleeves and the glint of fire began in her palm. "I'm afraid I'll be declining that very generous offer."
"So you'll fight?" Ruel Ghorm squeezed the heart in her hand and the singular agony of having her entire being wracked with pain washed over her again. The trembling and the roar, she was allowed. "I hate to point out, it'll be a short rebellion if all you've brought is what's before me."
"Perhaps," Regina said. She nodded to Emma and a glance passed through the front line. In a clatter of metal, Emma, Red and Granny Lucas stripped their shackles off. If she could have moved her lips, Mal would have smiled. There was one way they could have taken those off, and it made her heart sing.
"Are you certain this is what you want? Hasn't this been better? Since I've taken charge, nothing has attacked the town, no wraith has looked for blood, no Pan or Snow Queen has threatened us all, it's been peaceful, and you've been safe." She clucked her tongue in mock sympathy and frowned at the werewolves in the front line. "Even the puppies have been good."
"We're not free," Snow reminded her. "We can handle a few monsters. We pull together, we look after each other. What you're doing is wrong."
"And yet, it's the safest you've ever been," Ruel Ghorm answered. Tilting her head, she shot a flare of blue light into the sky and the army surrounding Regina's little one came to the light.
Dwarves, all dressed in blue, stood in rows, behind the buildings, emerging from the alleys. Regina and Emma were outnumbered, and dangerously underpowered.
"Magic doesn't make you free," Ruel Ghorm explained as if they were all foolish children. "Magic makes you dangerous. You should know that, Snow White and Prince Charming. Magic made your daughter the savior and doomed her to so much of her life apart from you. Magic makes her capable of killing, of falling to darkness. You lost one person you loved to darkness for nearly a lifetime. You think she's redeemed now, but how can you be sure?"
Snow rolled her eyes, and Mal loved her in that moment. "We were sure you wouldn't betray us, but these shackles of yours take away what makes us strong, what makes us unique. Red's not who she is without the wolf. Emma and Regina are our protectors; their magic has saved the town. Magic brought me my granddaughter, and I will hold her someday. You will not take that from me, not even with a dragon."
"Magic creates," Emma added, smiling with a naked heart at her mother. "We don't cut ourselves off from the weather because of a storm, we build stronger."
The hail intensified, starting to batter those beneath it. Ursula must have been watching, she'd always enjoyed making the heavens into a weapon. Something rustled in the trees, and hooves trampled pavement. That would be Cruella's contribution. The fresh, earthly scent of deer hung in the wind, even through the storm.
"After this storm, I don't think there's going to be much left, do you?" Ruel Ghorm asked. She let Mal's heart float before her, wrapped in a tether of blue magic, like a fiendish leash. Using both hands, she brought the dwarves closer and their pickaxes gleamed in the lightning. "So this is your choice? A world of chaos and magic and death. Well, I imagine it will be mostly death, because there's nothing you can do against the dragon."
And Mal lunged forward, hating the breath in her chest as her lungs filled.
The enslaved dwarves yelled their battle fury into the storm, and it mixed with the wind, echoing off the buildings. Fire filled her chest, waiting to be freed, to burn, blacken and scar until nothing remained.
Regina raised her hands, as did Emma, and perhaps there was some sort of shield-
Ruel Ghorm's order had all the tenderness of a lover as she called for death. "Burn them."
Fire streamed from her mouth, racing towards Emma, Regina and the unprotected town. She couldn't stop it, couldn't pull it back, and dragonfire was the embodiment of death.
Yet it washed away, gliding off of purple-black wings like water off of Regina's precious car.
Mal knew those wings. That was Lily. They had Lily. Hope soared and imploded in the same moment, because Ruel Ghorm would send her to fight. She'd have to watch, helpless and impotent, as her own claws rent her daughter's scales.
"Your little half dragon will never defeat her mother." Ruel Ghorm screamed into the storm. Caressing Mal's heart, she lowered her voice. "Kill her."
Her body tightened, rising from the street, taking to the air. Did Lily know what was about to happen? Had she studied the ways of fighting? Had she listened to her blood when it whispered the secrets of her lineage?
Lily rose with her, turning and heading towards the sea. That was smart, get them away from the people they could hurt.
Below them in the street, the dwarves attacked, then the forest creatures Cruella controlled joined in and not even the thunder could cover the chaotic sounds of war. That swoosh was Regina's fireball, and the softer one had to be Emma. Willing them to stay alive, she let them fade from her ears and focused on Lily.
Ruel Ghorm flew like a fairy, forgetting the time it took for Mal to corner and how much strength was in her wings. She'd relinquished control just enough for the instinct to rend and tear to be free. Her blood sang with the promise of the hunt, and it twisted her stomach, because that was Lily.
But her heart had been ordered to fight. And her body knew the dance.
The first strike came high, diving down into Lily's shoulder, and she dodged, late. (She lacked experience). Mal's claws rip into her flank but it's a flesh wound, glancing.
Lily whirled, turning so quickly that Mal couldn't help the flash of pride that came before her own wound. Her wing stings, and pain dashes through her like Ursula's lightning.
It's good. Lily's not holding back.
She's fought her own kind before, vile creatures who wanted her territory, and she had usually driven them off. Except the two who fought until their deaths. This fight will be one of those. Lily can't let herself be driven away, not with her family below, and Ruel Ghorm only wants Mal's bloodlust.
Lily caught her off-guard (perhaps Ruel Ghorm was distracted?) and they fall from the sky together, crashing into one of the wooden buildings along the pier. On the ground it was uglier, gnashing teeth and flailing claws. Lily even used her tail, throwing her into another building and she's never been more proud as her own blood drips from her daughter's claws.
Kill her. Ruel Ghorm demanded again, squeezing her heart until Mal's eyesight started to fail. Kill her. Lily threw her against the ground, pouncing and the pain she causes was so much less real than the agony Ruel Ghorm sent her through, over and over. Kill her. Lily turned too slowly, leaving her flank exposed and Mal's claws lashed outward, seeking flesh. Kill her. Ruel Ghorm's words reached deeper, threatening her very soul.
She started to slip. Kill her.
The snarl in her throat was her, not Ruel Ghorm's puppet, and the bloodlust sang louder, demanded more.
Kill her.
Lily pummeled her again, throwing her through yet another wooden wreck of a building. No one built things to last in this world. They smash their way through the waterfront, through warehouses and stores until they're nearly back to the mayor's office. The scent of death filled her nose and Lily tackled her from the sky. They smack hard against the street, rattling wood and smashing windows. Her claws raked over Mal's chest, showering scales and blood to the cement beneath them. Lily pressed the advantage.
Kill her.
She won't.
Lily's shoulder lay exposed. She hadn't pulled back her wings. She didn't know how much stronger that made her. How could she? Mal's jaws tensed, ready for the moment. The sweet spot between the shoulder and the neck always bled the most. Kill her.
She can't.
Kill her.
She will.
Lily coiled, starting to take off again, but Mal's tail flashed out towards her. She tripped Lily's take off, tugged her close, pulled her in with strength Lily did not know how to fight. Her teeth demand the flesh, and self-loathing and despair will carry her to hell, because she bit. Her jaws tighten and begin to tear, slicing into Lily's skin. Her flesh gave way and blood, rich with magic, rushed into her mouth.
Then, mercifully, Mal stopped. Ruel Ghorm's commands pulsed through her body, rich with agony and the promise of a even more painful death, but she did not move. The blood kept her still.
Her beautiful daughter bled on the pavement beneath her. That blood ran down her throat, filled her mouth, and finally that made her stop. The agony followed as Ruel Ghorm understood that she would not move again to harm her daughter. The blood would not lie, and the blood knew. Lily was her daughter, and that meant she was not prey. Her body writhed, shaking and smashing the buildings around her, but all of Ruel Ghorm's orders are whispers of a dead thing.
Blood spoke to blood, and not even Mal's own heart can override that. Her screams of pain carry over the din of pickaxes and swords. It'll be a long death, slow and rich with suffering, but Lily will survive. The bite was deep, but not impossibly so.
Lily shrank, and the bite went with her, but on a human it was deep and dark. Her left arm won't move.
With Mal still, the fighting stopped. Maybe it had stopped when Ruel Ghorm had made her scream. Ursula stood below her, and Cruella. Mal's eyes flick through faces until Emma and Regina meet her eyes. Blood stained them as well, but they stand.
They've lived this far.
"Dragons ate each other," Lily said, picking her way through the rubble and the bodies in the street on a steady path to Ruel Ghorm. "Did you know that? In the beginning, when there was nothing else to eat, they hunted each other, but there was one they would never eat, never dare, because the blood bond was so strong that not even the will of a dragon can penetrate it."
She winced, covering the wound on her shoulder with the hand she can still move. Blood seeped around her fingers, and it's a wonder she was standing at all. Someone would help her. Regina was close and-
"My mother will never destroy me," Lily continued, still moving forward towards Ruel Ghorm. "No matter what you do. Dragon blood has it's own magic, ancient magic, and you cannot change that."
Mal would have screamed at her to run, to take Emma and the rest of the nest and just fly away, but she can't. She sat like a stone statue, helpless and mute.
Ruel Ghorm leaned close to Mal's heart, caressing it. She exhaled, then began to breath it in. Power went with her breath, igniting a glame inside of her much like that tree had for Mal, so many years ago in another realm. Ruel Ghorm's eyes flash blue, and the power she took crackles within her.
"If the stupid beast won't destroy you, I will."
Her palms filled with blue flame, like oil burning in the darkness. Lily stood before her, unprotected, bleeding, and there's nothing, nothing Mal can do but watch.
The first blast of fire flashed out and a shield held it. Then another blast, another shield. Emma and Regina stand behind Lily, both battered by more than the hail. Emma limped, and Regina favored her left arm. They all reek of blood.
They're exhausted, spent from the fight, and even when it's diluted by Ruel Ghorm's own type of magic, dragon fire was strong.
The shields erode, the begin to fail. Ruel Ghorm tossed them both aside like feathers and turned to Lily.
"Why are you doing this?" she demanded. "You're the destroyer. I know your life. You bring pain and death. You always have. You're nothing to this town, to these people," Ruel Ghorm continued, and the flame grew brighter in her hands.
Lily had no shields, and Regina scrambled to her feet but she was too far.
Lily turned her eyes to Mal, then Regina, Emma, and all the faces looking to her. She stopped on Regina, on Snow and Charming. They took her, they sent her on this path, but Lily smiled at them.
"Your fight is futile. You're only half a dragon." Ruel Ghorm fired one crackling blue fireball and Lily stumbled aside.
"You're right," Lily answered, glancing back at Regina. "I am only half a dragon."
Ruel Ghorm retreated to Mal's heart, ready to draw more magic, but Lily-
Her hands blossom with fire of her own, bright, pale green, like the first flowers of spring. "Too bad for you."
One fireball impacted Ruel Ghorm, making her stumble. The next shoved her against the wall, and then fire flowed from Lily's hands, jets of destruction reaching outward.
Ruel Ghorm could hold the power of a dragon, but not the fire. Lily battered her, forcing her closer and closer to the wall, and Ruel Ghorm's blue habit smoked from the impacts. She kept it up, throwing light with her hands, even though one won't even move.
"But you're wrong about the town," Lily finished, pressing further forward. "The town is something to me. It's my home, and I won't let you take that."
Lily's hand reached for Ruel Ghorm, dripping with the blood of the dragon, and perhaps that was why it slipped so easily into her chest. Mal's never watched a fairy die.
Blue light erupts outward, blinding them all before Lily crushed that heart in her hand, and the light collapsed back in, turning to dust.
Falling to the ground, Lily smiled, cradling her hand to her chest. Regina rushed to her, and Emma, and the flurry of activity beneath Mal's head meant so little compared to Lily's bleeding shoulder and her own heart, floating without a tether.
"Lily?" Regina said, drawing her up to her feet. Emma needed to help her balance; her poor girl. "You can put it back. I think you might be the only one."
Lily's hands shook but they take Mal's heart from the air and she can breathe again, really breathe. Shoving her heart back into her chest, Lily collapsed against her, panting against her scales.
"Come back," she whispered. "Come back."
Her heart ached, then burned, and that damn itch on her flank reared again but this time, she can scratch it. Her paw moved, and she can bring it back, and Lily-
Mal dropped the dragon form, wrapping her arms around her daughter. Holding her close, she had life again. Hope and pride of a kind she'd never experienced burnt through her, leaving so much contentment in its wake.
"You did it," she murmured into her daughter's sodden, bloody hair. "You saved us all."