Transformation - Part 3

Henry's first instinct was to run after Rachel. He took a few steps forward, before Regina grabbed his arm, and yanked him back. She was just in time. Another blast of fire erupted around them, catching a few small trees on fire.

Henry gasped, ducking even further. Lily veered sharply to the right, her powerful wings casting a shadow on the small group. Regina pushed Henry towards Zelena, creating a fireball in her hand.

"Wait," Maleficent said, looking up at Lily. "How do you know you won't hurt her?" she demanded. Regina sighed, extinguishing the fire.

"She's a flaming fire pit right now. Fire won't hurt her," Regina remarked dryly.

"I think that Belle and I should see what's causing this," Gold said, glancing at his wife. She nodded in agreement.

"I think that we'll be more helpful finding out what this will mean long term." Regina nodded in agreement. Gold and Belle suddenly disappeared in a could of smoke.

"That was quick," Zelena remarked. Regina nodded, then made another fireball. Zelena joined Regina, creating her own green fire. The two sisters exchanged a glance, nodding at each other. Maleficent stepped out, leaving Henry alone in the tree cover.

"Aim for her belly," Maleficent explained. "It will unbalance her, but it won't hurt her. If you hit her wings… you could do permanent damage." Regina gave her a brisk nod, narrowing her eyes to look at Lily. Regina took a few moments to judge the distance, trying to follow Maleficent's instructions.

However, just as she threw, Lily shot away, her black wings just a blur. Zelena's also missed, instead crashing into a tall pine tree. Henry glanced around, the hair on the back of his neck bristling. The group of Zelena, Regina, and Maleficent moved further away, looking for the young dragon. Henry started the other way, following the path that Rachel had taken.

His heart told him that Rachel could do it. Something about him knew that Rachel just needed to have some encouragement. Regina turned around, and saw her son heading off into the forest.

"Henry," she called out, heading towards him.

"Mom. It's okay," he reassured her. "I know that Rachel can do this. She just needs to learn that herself."

"Zelena, would you go with him? I'll stay here with Maleficent and look for Lily." Regina looked at her older sister, trust in her eyes. Zelena saw it too, and took a deep breath.

"Of course," she said earnestly. "And I'll protect him with my life." Regina nodded, giving her a small smile.

"Let's go," Zelena said, leading Henry away.

Emma slammed the door on her car, racing into the forest. She knew without a doubt that Hook and her parents were right on her tail. She spotted Regina and Maleficent, staring at the sky.

"Guys, where's Lily?" she asked quickly. Hook came up behind her, standing in a defensive posture.

"We don't know," Regina admitted. "We had her, but then she sped away."

"What's going on with Lily?" Hook asked. "Did she just go dragon for some reason?" Regina and Maleficent shared a glance.

"Basically, light magic coupled with trauma made her dragon counterpart spin out of control," Regina explained.

"Where's Henry?" Emma asked. She looked around for her son, panic entering her gaze.

"Emma relax. He's with Zelena," Regina said. "They're looking for Rachel."

"You let Zelena take him alone?" Emma asked, her panic rising even more.

"And, why is that a problem?" Regina shot back.

"It's just that… Zelena might…" Regina narrowed her eyes.

"I thought you guys trusted Zelena."

"We do," Snow quickly said. "But Emma's Henry's mother. It's understandable." Her comment seemed to rile Regina up even more.

"I trust Zelena with Henry's life. She's a mother now too. But maybe she's not welcome in the hero crew."

Emma took a step back, startled by Regina's defensiveness.

"I'm sorry," she said, offering a peace truce. Regina just shrugged.

"Guys," Maleficent broke in. "We kind of need to find Lily before she does anything bad."

"Why don't we use a tracker spell?" Regina suggested. "Do we have anything of Lily's?" David stepped away from the group, studying a burnt tree.

"Found something," he called out. He picked up a small shiny almost metallic looking object. "I think it's a scale." Maleficent stepped forward, and he handed the object to her.

"That's an adolescent dragon scale," she confirmed.

"Here," Regina said, grabbing the scale. She circled her hand over the scale, making a golden outline. It flew up into the air, lingering for a few seconds.

"Why isn't it moving?" Snow asked, examining the scale.

"Well, it technically is a possession of her's. But I'm not sure it will work," Regina said uncertainly. They all watched the softly glowing scale, just drifting in the air. It floated for a moment longer, before shooting off into the distance. Everyone exchanged a community glance, before running off after the scale.

Henry finally spotted the young savior in the trees. She was sitting by a tree trunk, her head in her arms. There was something about that scene, that awakened a longing in Henry to protect her.

"Rachel?" he called out, running over. He was there before she could run away again. She looked at him, and the fear in her eyes was all to evident.

"You shouldn't have come here," she muttered. "You should go and stop Lily."

"Hey," Henry said softly. He pushed a strand of hair from her face, lifting her chin up.

"Rachel?" Zelena said hesitantly. The girl looked up, seeing Zelena walking towards her.

"I'm fine," she said, looking away.

"No your not," Zelena said. "But Henry and I can help you."

"How?" Rachel asked. "You guys aren't saviors. You can't relate." Zelena and Henry shared a glance. Zelena motioned for Henry to go first.

"We may not be saviors, but we know what it's like to want to be a hero." Rachel glanced up at him.

"But you are a hero," she said in a small voice.

"But I wasn't when I was younger. And I wanted to be so badly. My mothers were heros. My grandparents are Snow White and Prince Charming for cryin out loud. And I was just a boy. It seemed like because I was in a heroic family, I had to be a hero from the beginning."

"It feels like that for me too," Rachel said. She smiled softly.

"Yeah, right? And it didn't seem like I could ever be the hero that I wanted to be. But the truth was, I had what it took. All I needed to do… was believe."

"It was like that for me too," Zelena said. "Being a hero means to believe in yourself. You have faith in yourself. And that's the only part that you don't have. And magic is the same way. You need to believe Rachel."

Rachel stared at the ground, closing her eyes.

"Okay," she said. "I'll try to believe."

First of all, so sorry for not updating. Really busy. Second, the scene between Emma and Regina about Zelena was about the way the heroes act on the show. I don't know if you guys feel the same, but personally, I feel the heroes are slightly hypocritical on the show. This was my way of showing it.

Next time… As Rachel grows in strength of her self confidence, Lily's childhood comes to Storybrooke.

You guys are awesome

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