I read a new story called Whole by Oparu and this gave me the idea for this story. It's sort of a DragonQueen...Queen fic? Or Split QueenDragon? Whatever you want to call it.
Lily closed her eyes as she stepped out of the horrid yellow bug. The air was cold and she was shaking, but not from the weather. She could hear Emma and her family rejoicing in being together again, even though she'd only been gone a few days. She rolled her eyes beneath her closed lids and took a deep breath. She could feel her. Her mother. Something just told her she was near, a warm feeling in her chest. She wanted to follow it, and finally meet the woman she'd dreamed about all these years.
"Hey." Emma touched her shoulder, intruding on her private moment. "You okay?"
"Do you honestly think I'm okay?" Lily growled back, fighting the urge to just smack the annoying blonde. She pushed Emma's hand away and took another deep breath, feigning confidence. She stepped forward, passing Snow and Charming, those that had caused all of this, that had taken her from her mother and cursed her with Emma's darkness.
"Hey. Come on." Emma gave her a nudge to keep going, but Lily stopped and glared at them, letting the growl slip out of her throat.
"Lily, we are so sorry." Snow whispered.
"Sorry doesn't cut it, you monsters." Lily hissed. "You destroyed my life."
"Lily." Emma said sharply, trying to pull her away, but Lily pushed her off. Something in her just wanted attack them and destroy them for everything they'd done. She managed to push that desire away as a new one made its presence known, the desire to meet her only family. They could plot the idiots' demise later. "Maleficent. Meet your daughter, Lily."
Lily swallowed hard when she saw her mother. Maleficent. The Dragon Queen. Mistress of All Evil. Evilest of them all. There was nothing but love and affection shining out of warm blue eyes. Her mother was radiant, she had a certain glow to her, just like fire. Wild and breathtaking. Powerful and elegant. She stepped forward. Maleficent continued almost staring at her, eyes sparkling with unshed tears. "Hi...Mom."
"You can call me Mal if that's easier." Her mother said in a soft voice that shocked her. She expected something...imposing.
"I know I'm probably not what you expected." Lily shrugged.
"No." Mal agreed. "You are more than I ever could've hoped for."
"You don't care about my darkness? Everything I touch I destroy." She gestured to the Charmings. "Because of what they did to me."
Mal smiled. "I don't mind a little darkness." She held up her wrist and revealed the star birthmark that matched Lily's. "Do you know what this means?"
"No." Lily whispered.
"It means you are my daughter. And it means I am never letting you go again." Her mother was clearly shocked when Lily suddenly hugged her but the brunette couldn't find it in her to wait any longer. She had a mom, a family. Maleficent wrapped both arms around her tightly, releasing a loud purr. It was the most wonderful sound Lily had ever heard.
/
The reunited mother and daughter eventually sat down at Granny's and Lily was loathsome to reveal her dark past. Her mother was very patient but very excited for some reason. She couldn't seem to stop staring at Lily.
"I'm sorry, it's just...you're even more beautiful than I imagined you would be." Maleficent blushed even harder than Lily when she said those words.
"So we're just going to let Snow and Charming get away with what they did to me?" Lily growled, her anger reigniting.
"Relax, my dear. We are dragons, we have plenty of time for that." Mal waved her hand dismissively. "Rest assured, I have not forgotten, but my main priority right now is getting to know you, my dear." She smiled. She was nothing like Lily had anticipated and she told her mother so, which didn't surprise the blonde.
"I expected some raging scary dragon bitch and...you're not. You're just a person."
Mal arched an eyebrow. "Human?"
"No, dragon obviously."
"Good." Mal smirked. "And yes, I am. I've had more than 30 years to sit and stew about what the Charmings did. 30 years to realize that dragons can hold grudges for their entire lives, eternities spent on hatred and I decided...that I will hate them until the day I die, but I will not let it consume me." Lily slowly nodded, seeing the wisdom in her words. "Have you spoken to Regina?" Her mother asked offhandedly as she ate a piece of fruit.
"About her being my other mother? Yeah." Lily nearly jumped out of her seat when Mal spat the fruit across the table and quickly wiped her mouth, magically cleaning everything up.
"She told you that already?"
"Um, yeah." Lily shrugged. "It doesn't really bother me. She seems a bit boring and like the heroes, but she's okay, I guess."
"You took that better than I thought you would."
"One thing you don't do is underestimate Lilith Page." Lily beamed.
Mal smiled back. "I shall never do so again. So...would you like me to teach you about being a scary dragon bitch?"
"Hell yeah."
/
Later that night, Maleficent found Regina in her kitchen, cleaning up after dinner. "Why did you tell her so soon?" She asked calmly, watching the woman with interest.
"Because she deserved to know."
"You had no right." She growled.
Regina whipped around. "I'm her mother too."
"Yes, who is best friends with the very people that tried to destroy her."
"I got over that little feud. You should learn to move on."
"The hell I should. Lily most certainly won't." Mal returned. She stepped forward and was suddenly slammed against the fridge as Regina kissed her. The dragon, as angry as she was, simply couldn't resist. Regina had always had a powerful effect on her and this time was no different. "Regina, stop." She moaned. Regina ignored her.
"I've missed you." The queen sighed after a while. She licked her lips and leaned her forehead against Mal's chin. Both of them were out of breath, the sounds of their passion loud in the quiet, empty house.
"I've missed you too." Maleficent whispered, kissing the thick black hair of her long time lover. "There's a lot we need to catch up on."
"There's a perfectly good bed upstairs." Regina suggested nonchalantly.
Maleficent smirked. "No."
"Fine." Regina sighed. She flashed a rare genuine smile and the sight of it was so beautiful that Mal just had to do it. She picked up the queen and easily carried her upstairs so they could 'catch up'.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
1 week later...
Maleficent knew when she approached that this was not Regina. Well, it was...and it wasn't. This woman was darker, and yet seemed to burn brighter. Garbed in black leather and hair much longer than Regina's currently was, diamonds glittered in the setting light around her neck and a cape of black swan feathers trailed the ground behind her. This was not Regina, but someone far different, and yet, still very much the same. "Evil Queen." Mal said. "Long time, no see." The dragon turned to face the familiar woman, standing before them at the town hall. The Evil Queen did not shy from looking her in the eye. She held no fear when staring down the Great Beast. Her audacity was one of the things Mal had first come to love about her.
"I've missed you, my dear Maleficent."
"How are you here?" Mal asked, ignoring her comment. She tilted her head and felt a hand squeeze her arm. Lily peered around the blonde, confusion and curiosity evident on her face and she quickly attracted the attention of the Queen. A genuine smile lit up her face as she stepped around the dragon to get a look at her daughter.
"She's mine, isn't she, Maleficent?" The Evil Queen touched Lily's face, tenderly drawing her thumb along her jaw. "Born of my blood, of my fire, of my darkness. My daughter. I've always wanted a daughter."
Everything about the Evil Queen was different. It brought back overwhelming memories for Maleficent. Of constant fighting but never actually hurting each other. Of rather mind blowing lovemaking, and fighting again. The Regina that she had come to know was soft, heroic, whereas her counterpart was hard, unstable and very unconcerned with the rest of the world. Her very voice made Mal shudder, it was deeper and raspier and always made her feel strange. Lily allowed the Queen to touch her, even smiling.
"I don't feel like her, do I? I feel more like you." The Queen smiled.
"You're not Regina." Lily said. "Who are you?"
"I am better than she is." The Evil Queen replied, touching Lily's hair, seemingly infatuated with her. "My, you are beautiful, but so…" She started to scowl. "Why is there so much darkness in you? It's not yours, is it?"
Lily swallowed and looked at Mal. "Enough, Queen. We have to go." Mal stepped in front of her child and bared her teeth, daring the other woman to make a move.
"What happened to our child, Maleficent? Why can't I remember it?" She stepped back, rubbing her temples. "She ripped me from her, thinking it would get rid of me. I did not...harm our daughter, did I?"
"I thought Love was a Weakness." Mal replied. The Evil Queen seemed conflicted for some reason, as though she was torn between trying to figure out what happened to their child and trying to remain loyal to her lifelong mantra that Cora had drilled into her very being. "Regina?"
"That's her name."
"You are her."
"I am not!" The Evil Queen roared, suddenly causing a ring of fire to ignite around them and making every car along the street explode. "I am not her!"
"There can be no you without her." The dragon hissed. She cocked an eyebrow, hearing the heroes start to come. The Evil Queen quickly vanished in a cloud of black smoke, but she left her carnage where it was.
"Mal?!" Regina dispersed the flames and ran into the blonde's arms. "Lily? Are you two alright?"
"You split yourself in half?" Maleficent growled. "Did you really think that would work?" She closed her eyes, picturing those dark eyes, alight with flames, burning with a dark intensity that the dragon had never seen in anyone else. The Evil Queen's eyes. Why couldn't she forget those eyes? Regina touched her arm and she opened her eyes. The eyes she stared into now were soft and warm. They were sad. Mal pulled the woman close and held her.
"I just wanted to be free of her." Regina whispered.
"Well, you are now. Only time will tell what will happen because of it." The dragon and her family returned to the mansion. Maleficent saw the queen off to bed and went back downstairs onto the back porch. Lily was laying on a hammock attached to Regina's apple tree. "Lilith?"
Lily didn't stir, just continued staring at the stars above. "I know her."
"Who?" Mal asked, coming to lay next to her child. Lily slid over and allowed her to take her hand.
"The Evil Queen. I looked into her eyes and I...knew her."
It was true that when Lily was conceived it was not exactly Regina, but the Evil Queen who had a bigger hand in it. Much of Lily's darkness had come from her mothers, and then even more from Snow and her foolish actions. Neither dragon could believe that Regina had forgiven them after everything that had happened and it was taking them both a great deal to accept it, although they would never forgive the Charmings despite their insipid pleading and groveling.
"Do you love her?"
"Regina? Of course."
"And the Evil Queen?"
"I love them both." Mal answered. "They are merely two sides of the same coin. Although...the Queen was less...destructive than she normally would be."
"She was confused." Lily said thoughtfully. "Without Regina, there could be no Evil Queen, right? Maybe without that missing piece, she isn't sure who or what she is."
"Sounds like you speak from experience." Mal said softly.
"Well, I haven't ripped myself in half but...I know what it's like to not know who you are." Maleficent started to growl but her daughter quickly amended herself. "I know now, Mom. Relax. I just didn't know then."
Maleficent gave her daughter's hand a squeeze. "You are my daughter and you are a dragon princess. Don't forget it."
Lily smirked and looked up at her mother. "Scary dragon bitches?"
"For life."
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
The next day, news had spread of the newest arrival to Storybrooke. Lily took no part in the arguing of her mothers or the riots of the town. After showering for the day, she got dressed in jeans, boots, a long sleeved shirt and her army green jacket. She tried to slip out the backdoor while her parents were talking in the kitchen.
"Lilith, where are you going?" Mal asked.
"Just out." Lily shrugged, not really wanting to tell them where she was going.
"I think we should talk, dear." Said Regina. "I know this seems like a strange...situation." Lily tilted her head when the queen and dragon looked at each other. It was in that moment, that fleeting little glimpse between them that she realized that Regina was afraid. Of what, she wasn't too sure. Perhaps she was afraid of her counterpart, of what she used to be, or she was afraid of losing them, Lily didn't really know.
"About what?" Lily asked, pausing in the doorway.
"Did she threaten you in any way?" Regina asked. "Did she harm you?"
"Mom was there."
"I told her that." Mal sighed.
"She...called me hers." Lily shrugged. "Is it true? That there's more of her in me than you?"
Regina lowered her head. "Yes."
Lily turned to leave. "I might be back tonight. I want to try night hunting."
"Watch out for thorn bushes." Her blonde mother called.
She frowned. "Thorns?"
"They feel like hell when they get under your scales."
Lily laughed. "See you guys later." She stepped outside, into the cold morning air. Her keen senses picked up on the commotion at the town hall, but she tuned it out and headed out into the forest. Only a minute later she found that she wasn't walking alone. A shadow followed at her side, this time in a long black dress and her hair falling about her shoulders. "That didn't take you long. Why are you so interested in me?" She asked without stopping.
"She doesn't deserve you." The Queen said. "She doesn't know how honored she should be to be the mother of such a woman."
Lily stopped and looked at her. "Clearly you have no idea who you're talking to."
"I know that she would rather spend her time chasing after some foolish boy who constantly walks all over her, breaks her heart, ignores her rules, when she should be spending time with you. Helping you hone your craft, become who you were always meant to be." The Evil Queen walked around her, circling her like a predator would its prey. "She would rather spend time with the idiots who ruined her happy ending more than once and tried to take said meddling idiotic boy from her, instead of with Maleficent and you. You and Maleficent both deserve better."
"Says the unstable...demon something- what the hell are you anyway? How do you even exist?" Lily asked, never taking her eyes off the Queen. She would be lying if she said she wasn't curious. Who wouldn't be? This was her mother's other half. She was intrigued. This Evil Queen was unlike any person she'd met before and she seemed to have some sort of vested interest in the dragons of Storybrooke.
"I exist because I am stronger than she thought I was. I am more powerful than her."
"...right." Lily smirked and kept walking. Only when The Evil Queen laughed did she stop and look back and allowed the woman to catch up.
"You have nerve. Just like your mother. Daring to smile when you should be scared."
"Should I be scared of you?"
The Queen smirked evilly. "Fear is a powerful emotion."
"Right. I forgot power was important to you. But I have to go, if you don't mind."
"Don't you have questions?"
"Of course I do, but forgive me if I don't really trust you."
The Queen appeared in front of her. "I have done some things."
"That's not creepy at all." Lily narrowed her eyes suspiciously.
"I merely meant that I created something. Something I think that you will want. It will answer all your questions."
She wanted answers. She wanted a direction to go in, but Lily didn't trust this woman. Still...she was curious.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"We need a plan to kill her." Regina said, looking at Mal. The dragon was leisurely drinking a cup of coffee, as if they didn't have a homicidal queen on the loose that could be plotting their demise this very second. "Maleficent?"
Mal arched an elegant eyebrow. "What do you want to me do, Regina?"
"I want you to help me. The two of us could easily defeat her."
"I can't hurt her, Regina." Mal sighed. Regina frowned in confusion. "A long time ago I placed a spell on you so my magic could never hurt you. She is still you so the spell is still in effect."
Regina sat regally in the chair across from her. "She wants Lily then."
"And me."
"And you?"
"She loves me as you do. A bit differently. But no less strongly. And I would not be surprised if she hasn't already found Lily."
"What?" Regina hissed. "We need to talk to her. The Evil Queen is dangerous and I will go crazy if she hurts our daughter."
"Lily is her daughter as well." The dragon replied, drinking her coffee. "The Evil Queen may like to scare children, but even she would never hurt them. That was one good thing about you at least."
"She is going to manipulate Lily, just like my mother did to me. We can't let it happen, Mal."
"It won't be up to us."
"Why the hell are you being so damn cryptic?!" Regina demanded. "Is there something you know that I don't?"
"Lilith is a grown woman and a young dragon. She is going to be defiant. She is going to do what she wants. We will not have a choice in the matter. That is a fact." The dragon shrugged. She stood up. "Anyways I must go prepare Lily's first dragon bitch lesson." She looked up at Regina. "I love you."
"Is there something you don't want to tell me, Mal?" Regina asked without looking up.
"Yes." The dragon answered simply. "But that is a discussion for another time. The baby snatchers are at the door." The blonde vanished in a cloud of black smoke just before the doorbell rang.
Regina picked herself up with a sigh and went to answer the door. It was the Charmings. "Are you alright, Regina?" Snow asked immediately. "Maleficent isn't here, is she?"
"She just left." Regina stepped aside so they could come in. "Any news?"
"The Evil Queen hasn't made contact, but we cleaned up her mess." David answered. "Any ideas?"
"She's patient." Regina said, leading the way into the living room. "And I don't think I'm her top priority anymore."
"What do you mean?"
Regina sat down on couch. "There's something about Lily. Something that the Evil Queen is drawn to for some reason."
"Maleficent isn't worried?"
"I'm sure she is, but Lily is not a child. And The Evil Queen will find a way to her. It's what she does."
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Lily looked around warily at the great castle built in the thickest part of the woods and covered in shadow. Only when they climbed up to the Queen's room did any light penetrate the thick canopy, shedding the room with brightness. "I can see you've been busy." She commented, dragging her boots across the thick dark carpet. The room, probably the study by the bookshelves and fireplace. The Queen opened a secret panel in the wall, leading down a flight of winding stairs. "Is this so no one can hear my screams?" Lily asked.
The Evil Queen chuckled. "If I wanted to kill you, my dear, you would already be dead."
True. Very true. The staircase ended and they came to an inner sanctum like room made only of stone. There was nothing in the room except for a golden mirror on the wall. "What is this?"
"The answers to your questions." The Queen replied. "Ask it anything you like."
"I thought Sydney was let out of the mirror a while ago."
"He was. This is a different mirror, powered not by a foolish genie, but pure magic. More pure than even Emma's."
"So should I even ask where you got this?"
The Queen smirked. "You could but you would never understand the answer."
"And if this mirror is just programmed to tell me what I want to hear or to fit whatever scheme you have planned? What then?" Lily asked, walking towards it and peering behind it suspiciously. Being near it made her skin tingle. She ran her fingertips over the smoother surface, looking at her reflection. She looked over her shoulder at the Evil Queen, who motioned for her to continue. "Does it have to rhyme? With mirror mirror on the wall?"
"Magic mirror." The Queen corrected. "And no."
Lily took a deep breath and stepped back. "Magic mirror, on the wall." The etchings around the border glowed to life. "Um…who am I?" She asked, deciding to ask the question that had been weighing since she was a kid after she found out she was adopted.
A deep, rumbling answer came from the mirror. Daughter of the Dragon Queen. Daughter of the Evil Queen. Child of darkness and bearer of dragon fire. Lost and found. You are a dragon, one of the last of your kind. You are a princess and a warrior. A dull blade, waiting to be sharpened and honed.
"Is my other mother Regina or the Evil Queen?" Lily asked. There was no answer. She turned to the Queen. "Why didn't it answer?"
She shrugged. "It will not answer questions that pertain to Regina splitting us apart. I do not know why."
Lily rolled her eyes. "Of course not!" She sighed and looked at herself again. A dull blade waiting to be sharpened and honed. Perhaps that meant she needed to spend time with her mother and learn how to be a dragon, how to be a dragon's daughter, how to be what she was always meant to be. Before the heroes worked their magic on her. Her hands slid into her pocket and touched the rattle her mother had given her. "I should go."
"I have a proposition, Lilith."
"Like?"
"Maleficent can teach you all about being a...scary dragon bitch, but I...can teach you-"
"That love is a weakness?" Lily interrupted. "To be manipulative, to take whatever I wanted from anyone because I am a queen?"
The Evil Queen sighed deeply, her breath shaky. In fact, everything was starting to shake. She was trembling. Lily narrowed her eyes. "My mother taught me that after she had been broken by the world, and she had been broken for a very long time. She gave birth to a child that was whole and, she could not teach what that child needed. So she tried to break that child so she would understand the lesson and...she didn't succeed, no. But, the child was cracking. There was no one to fix her. I tried so hard not to be like my mother and yet when I look in the mirror...I see no difference." The Queen swallowed and looked up at Lily. "You have every right to distrust me, and over the years I have not treated my family well, but even I would never try to break a child. Innocence is the world's greatest treasure and most scarce resource."
"I'm not a kid."
"I know." The Queen said. "I know you are far from a child, but you are still my child."
Lily rolled her eyes. "So you really expect me to believe that all of sudden that you care about something more than yourself and your happy ending?"
"Not something. Someone. Ones." The Queen replied. She turned to look up at the golden mirror. "Whatever story that is being written about me now will not be like the others. You're right, I don't know who I am, what I am meant to be now. Even my memories are twisted because Regina has some and I have some and half of them don't even go together. But I will learn to reach my full power again and I can do that with you."
"I'll think about it." Lily scoffed, turning to leave. The Evil Queen touched her shoulder and teleported them back to the forest. "Thanks."
"What happened to you, Lily? The darkness."
Lily sighed. "You don't need to know about that. I don't need you getting pissed and attacking the person that did it. Their blood is mine." She growled, letting her eyes glow.
The Queen nodded, with a slight smirk, and vanished in a cloud of black smoke.
/
Maleficent had just finished her plans for Lily and she was just going to go let Regina know that she wouldn't be home for a few days. Waiting on the steps was not Regina, but the Evil Queen. The dragon could easily tell the difference between them. The regality that bordered on being annoying, the smoldering eyes, the tight clothing, the obvious longer hair. Still, it made her uneasy seeing the Evil Queen just casually awaiting her return. "What do you want?"
"I just had a little talk with our daughter." The Queen said. "She seems like a wonderful girl."
"Right. Because you actually care."
"I happen to care about more than myself. I care about you. I care about Lilith. You really think Regina does?"
Maleficent snarled. "Do not insult Regina."
"Right. Because she would defend you so heroically. She is a soft little rabbit. You are a powerful dragon."
"And I suppose you think you could match my fire?"
The Queen shrugged. "Perhaps."
"You know, you're not what I expected. I expected you to go on a rampage, or better yet try to kill Regina. Instead, you're following my daughter around. Following me. I mean honestly, what do you hope to gain?"
"Everything I ever wanted." Came the firm reply. "Everything Regina does not deserve. She is weak now. She bends to heroes, to fools, who you despise. I have seen the way you react to them. What did they do?"
"You mean you don't know?" Mal glanced up as the door opened and Regina stepped onto the porch, scowling at her counterpart.
"What the hell are you doing here?"
The Evil Queen did not acknowledge her presence, did not even glance in her direction. Her eyes never left Mal's. They held each other's gazes for the longest minute before the Queen vanished.
"What was that about?" Regina demanded, looking at the blonde.
Maleficent said nothing as she teleported away.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Read and Review!
A/N: Just a small start to a story that would not get out of my head. Hopefully things will get better and a bit more interesting in the next chapter. Let me know what you guys think.