Truths and Lies

"I am here because of Gothel?" Rachel asked. "What, did she have me delivered via two day shipping?"

"Look, she was never supposed to find out about you. But, she managed to get some information on me. It led to her learning everything."

"Huh. So, she knows more than I do," Rachel said, with a pointed look on her face. Henry raised an eyebrow, and glanced over at her. She'd already picked up on his family's sarcastic nature. Great.

"So, do you know Gothel's intentions?" Emma asked. "Like, why did she take Lily's heart?"

"Because it was easy," Mulan responded. "She could use Lily as her own personal kill squad."

"Oh, wonderful," Hook muttered to Emma.

"Will you just shh?" she asked. He sighed, and fell silent.

"This is a dark day. Killian Jones being commanded by a woman." Emma elbowed him in the ribs, and redirected the conversation.

"Is there anyway we could find Rapunzel?" Regina asked.

"Actually, yes there is," Belle said.

"Belle?" Snow asked.

"I met one of her daughters. She's here. In Storybrooke."

"Really?" David asked. "Where?"

"I'll take Henry and Rachel with me to find her. The rest of you try to work on Gothel. From what I've read, she's going to be a powerful opponent." Emma nodded in agreement.

"C'mon. We'll go and try to find Lily. We can give her her heart back." They all nodded, then broke apart.

Mulan silently followed the group to the forest.

"Hey," Snow offered, hanging back with her.

"Hi," Mulan said quietly. She turned away, clearly disturbed.

"Are you okay?" Snow asked. Mulan raised an eyebrow.

"Well, okay. You're not, but… I can't even imagine what this is like for you. Do you wanna talk about it?"

"I never meant for it to turn out like this," Mulan muttered, focusing on the trail.

"Back at the diner," Snow said cautiously. "You said that she was here because of Gothel. What did that mean?" Mulan blinked once, twice.

"I took the job protecting Rapunzel after I'd just had my heart broken. But… that's not the whole story. I was enlisted by a man named Flynn Rider to help him find her. We searched for weeks, before I caught onto Gothel's trail. Eventually, we tracked her to the tower."

"When did you get pregnant?" Snow asked.

"A few weeks before we found the tower," Mulan said. "It was absolutely meaningless. I was hurting."

"So… you…" Mulan nodded.

"Gothel had almost been ready to kill Rapunzel. For her magic. We saved her, and took her away from Gothel. But, Gothel saw me during the escape. She vowed revenge. On Rapunzel and me. She found me a few months later, and realized I was pregnant. Then, she developed her master plan," Mulan broke off, and stopped.

"What's wrong?" Snow asked. Mulan glanced around.

"Someone's here," she whispered. She drew her sword, assuming a defensive position. Snow grabbed an arrow, nocking it on the string. A rustle in the bushes had them both turning sharply to the right.

Lily crashed through the bushes, this time in human form.

"Lily!" Snow exclaimed.

"Snow?" Lily asked. "What are you doing out here?"

"We were looking for you," Snow explained. "We, uh, we have your heart."

"Great," Lily responded. "Been looking forward to getting that back."

"Come on. We'll take you back to the others," said Snow. They began walking back towards the edge of the forest. Mulan resheathed her sword, looking incredibly relieved. The tension seemed to have left her for the time being. Snow got the feeling it was more than the tension of danger that left Mulan, She had escaped questioning. Snow got the feeling getting more information wasn't going to be easy to do.

"Mulan," she tried. "Who is Rachel's father?" Mulan closed her eyes, biting her lip. She took a deep breath, preparing herself. Snow's eyes were kind and understanding. This was it.

Henry followed Belle out the door, with Rachel on his heels.

"How do you know this girl?" he asked.

"I met her a few months ago. She came into the library. Hopefully, she can help us find Rapunzel."

"If she doesn't have her mother, who is she living with?" Rachel asked.

"I think she said something about having a single dad."

"At least she had one," Rachel muttered quietly to Henry. He gave her a look of sympathy and understanding. She certainly was a mystery. But, that was part of what intrigued him. He wanted to spend time with her. He didn't even know if that time would be of romantic reason or not. He didn't really care at the time.

"She generally stops by the library after school. We can go and talk to her."

"Speaking of school," Rachel said. "Henry, when do you go?"

"I'm the assistant sheriff," Henry answered, not missing a beat. "It requires a lot of time out of class."

"Sure," Rachel said, nudging him good naturedly.

"I can get you a badge too if you're jealous," Henry teased.

"How about handcuffs?" Rachel asked. "Those would be significantly more useful." Henry grinned.

"Anyone you wanna handcuff?" he asked. "People who have wronged you in the past?" he teased. Rachel rolled her eyes.

"No actually. Just you." She raised her eyebrow, and entered the library. She began to wander through, followed by Henry.

She almost jumped out of fright when Belle's phone rang.

"Sorry," the brunette apologized, grabbing her phone. "It's Snow. I'll take this, you guys hang for a sec." Rachel began to search the aisles, looking for Rapunzel's daughter.

"You wanna get a book?" Henry asked. "Perhaps the original storybook? It was even written by yours truly." He paused for a second. "Well, some of it."

"Yeah, I think I'll pass," Rachel answered. "I was never a huge reader. I always found the plots to be to unrealistic. Then of course, so is my story right now."

"Where did your story start?" Henry asked, curiously.

"Really?" Rachel asked. "That's your way to ask me about my past?"

"Hey, I'm a writer," Henry defended. "It's what I do for a living. A guy's gotta eat you know."

"What happened to 'assistant sheriff'?" Rachel asked. Henry chuckled, leading them further back into the fiction section. Rachel stopped by a bookshelf, examining the titles. Henry leaned against one of the shelves with an arm, and studied her. Her features weren't exactly feminine persay. Dark brown eyes, and medium hair cut gave her a tougher look. He was pretty sure that she could hold her own in battle, despite having a slimmer form.

Rachel noticed him looking at her, and smiled softly. She grabbed a book from the shelf, and began skimming the pages.

"Hmm, classic romance novel," she said, putting it back.

"You don't like romance?" Henry asked. Rachel shrugged.

"I never saw the greatness of love. All it's done is hurt me." She shrugged, moving out of the beam of sunlight.

"What about you?" she asked.

"I had a girlfriend," Henry answered.

"What happened?' Rachel asked, her curiosity piqued. Henry shrugged, no bitterness in his eyes.

"She decided to leave. Go back to her home. I don't blame her. Besides…" he trailed off. He stared into her eyes, memorizing the depths of brown. He leaned in, almost hesitantly. Rachel almost just stood there, not really knowing what to do. Henry moved closer, studying her face.

"Hey guys, there's something-" Belle broke off as she saw the two of them. "Am I interrupting something?" she asked. Henry cleared his throat, and moved away with a frustrated look.

"Normally, I would be teasing. But, there's something more important. Rachel, it's about you. Ivy, Rapunzel's daughter…" she paused. "I guess there's no easy way to put this." she paused again.

"She's your half-sister."

I'm gonna start a new Once Upon a Time story, so keep an eye out for that.

Next time… Ivy is brought in to try and help the heroes. But, her own backstory is just as complicated as everyone else's, and problems will arise. Starting with her shared blood with Rachel.

Thanks as always.

R&R You guys are amazing

NightLightning21