"Snow and Charming are packing to leave for Camelot." Maleficent as she strode into her daughter's new lair. It was a cave, hidden behind a waterfall and currently filled with silver coins, with a dark throne resting in the middle. "It won't be long now, Lily." There were several braziers and torches and pits, filled with dragon fire, giving light to the dark room.

Lily was seated on her throne, face hidden behind her hood. "I...I don't think I can fight it, Mom." She said weakly. The whispers had been unceasing since creating her new home. Most of them had been geared towards destroying Storybrooke, but the others, the more subtle ones, were steadily trying to convince her to get rid of Mal. The darkness wanted no allies. Needed none. She shook as she leaned over the side of the throne and vomited black bile onto the floor.

Mal frowned in confusion. Rumpelstiltskin had never had such symptoms as this and it concerned her just how much pain her daughter was going through. It hurt knowing that there was absolutely nothing she could do to help. "Would you like for me to talk to Regina?"

"Can she be trusted?" Lily asked, tilting her head while looking down at her vomit. It bubbled and she quickly leaned the other way.

Mal cleaned the room and walked towards her daughter to gently stroke her head. "Yes, she can."

"Then I don't have much of a choice, do I?" Lily sighed. "I thought I was strong enough, Mom. But now, I don't know."

"The darkness is trying to weaken you." Mal realized. "Because it wants to be free. It's trying to kill you. We have to get it out of you."

"So it can kill someone else?"

"Better them than you."

"Mother!" Lily exclaimed.

"What?" Mal asked. "Dragons don't worry about the survival of anyone else. They're irrelevant to our own. I'm going to go talk to Regina and see if she has any leads on what to do. If she doesn't, then we're getting the darkness out of you. Tonight." She poofed herself away to the queen's mansion. "Anything?"

"Not a damn thing." Regina replied, angrily shoving a bunch of books off the couch. Emma, who'd been asleep, jumped awake. Belle nearly fell out of the chair she'd been sitting in.

"What time is it?" The blonde asked.

Mal rolled her eyes. "It doesn't matter. The darkness is killing Lily. We need to get it out of her." She growled when Emma started to speak, effectively shutting her up. "I don't give a damn about anyone else getting possessed. I couldn't protect my baby before but I damn well will this time. Now get it out of her."

Xxxxx

She will betray us

She is our weakness

We can not have a weakness

We must be strong

She must be destroyed

"No!" Lily hissed. "My mom is the only one we can trust."

Then everyone else...must die

"No, I won't become a murderer."

They are all murderers

But they are heroes

If left with no choice

They will kill us

All of us

They are a threat

We are all powerful

Destroy them, Princess

"No, I-I'm no killer. I won't hurt my friends." Lily insisted, but her control was wavering. She was already weak.

Friends?

What friends?

Friends would curse us

Friends would seek to control us

Friends would destroy us

We have no friends

We need none

"No!" Lily rose to her feet and dug her hands into her hair. "Just stop! I won't betray them. My mom will find a solution. Just shut up already!"

Mother?

You believe her love is true?

Her grief is pure?

Why did she not take vengeance on the heroes when we were stolen and cursed and banished?

Why did she wait?

She could raze the kingdom with no effort

But she did not

Did she really love us?

Does she really care?

"Of course she does." Lily said. "She's all I have. She said she-"

Didn't mind a little darkness

She has become weak

A pet for the heroes

The great dragon queen

Bowing to their likeness

Chained to their desires

Tied to their tree of goodness

She is not like us

Not anymore

We are darkness

And we burn with dragon fire

Let us bathe the world in it

No one should remain

But us

Let us take the vengeance that our mother failed to

Lily growled and felt a familiar anger rage inside of her. Snow and Charming hadn't gotten what they deserved, and even though she'd tried to look past it, she hadn't forgotten it. Hearing it again only served to bring back that anger once again. They deserved to burn. She poofed herself straight to the idiots' home, feeling that anger threaten to overtake her. Feeling the darkness begin to conquer her. Her body twitched and spasmed as she dug one hand into her hair, trying desperately to stay in control. But she was weak...so weak...and so angry.

"Lily, hi-" Snow said cheerfully, but Lily sent her flying backwards with a wave of her hand and stepped into the apartment.

"Lily?" Charming came out of the back room, only to be bound with magical coils.

"Don't speak." Lily said, sitting on the couch, resting her elbows on her knees. She nodded to Snow. "Don't move." She took a deep breath and grabbed the sides of her head, trying to silence the whispers. "You have no idea how badly I want to snap your necks right now. How badly I want to rip you apart and see if your hearts are as black as the darkness you cursed me with. You have no idea."

"Lily." Snow said cautiously. "We're so sorry-"

Lily grabbed her by the throat and squeezed hard. "It will not erase the pain of what you did, the terrible life I had to live! Believing that my mother didn't want me. Believing like I had no place in the world. You took everything from me...and you think sorry can change anything. Sorry isn't good enough. You deserve to burn." She threw Snow to the ground and walked towards the door. "I should've done this the second I saw you two." She flicked her wrist, binding both Charmings back to back. Inhaling a deep breath, Lily breathed dragon fire all around the room and sealed it as she stepped out into the street.

Good, Princess

Very good

Let them burn in the flames of their hypocrisy

Let them burn

Feel our strength

Feel our power

Feel-

"Lily!" Mal, Regina and Emma came running down the street. Her mother took one look at the fire. "What have you done?"

"I've taken my vengeance." Lily growled. Emma poofed herself away, no doubt to save her parents, but Lily's anger was on someone else. "Something you failed to do!"

"What?"

"Why are they still alive? Someone steals your child and throws them in a fucking portal and you just lock yourself in your castle? They should be dead for what they did to us, to me!"

"Lily, I had no fire to take vengeance, no dragon form. Don't you think I wanted to?"

"It doesn't matter!" Lily screamed. "I thought you could be trusted. I can't trust anyone. Everything I touch, I destroy. The darkness is right. We are alone."

"You can trust me, Lily." Mal pleaded. "I am your mother, and I love you and I would do anything for you. Please, the darkness is trying to twist your mind. You know me. You know-"

"Just stop." Lily raised her hand, magically constricting her throat. "Just stop! You're lying!"

Don't listen to her

Kill her

Destroy her

She was always going to betray us

Betrayer

Traitor

Deceiver

Kill her

"Lily! Stop!" Emma appeared behind her, laying her smoke covered parents on the ground. She turned to Lily and approached cautiously. "Please, this isn't you-"

"How do you know who I am?" Lily asked, releasing her mother to face the Savior. "Who I was, who I could've been was taken from me, by your parents."

"Okay, I understand that. But you can't trust the darkness, it's trying to kill you."

Liar

Trickster

Fabricator

"Shut up!" Lily screamed, clutching at her head once again as the whispers began to grow louder, drowning out everything around her, drowning all that she was. She could barely see, couldn't hear anything but the whispers. Warm arms enveloped her and she inhaled her mother's sweet scent. "No, get away. Please!" Mal didn't move, just hugged her daughter closer and the darkness reacted violently, blasting her mother across the pavement. "Mom!"

Mal got back to her feet, the wards protecting her from damage. She immediately started back to her daughter, desperation shining in her eyes. The powerful need to comfort her little dragonling, protect from the world, protect her from herself.

Lily fell to her hands and knees, vomiting more of the black goo onto the ground. She stood back up and took a deep breath, trying to regain control of herself.

"Lily, my child, please. Let me help." Mal begged.

"Lily." Regina said sternly. "You need to calm down, regain control. We can talk-"

"Talk?" Lily asked, appearing almost eerily calm at the point, even though she was fighting a mental war. For a moment, the darkness ceased, and she was able to think clearly. "What will talking solve? I am the Dark One, the heart of darkness. The Darkness itself speaks to me day in and day out, whispers to me of great and terrible things. The power the likes of which you have never seen. Do you know how much darkness is inside me? Half of it...isn't even mine."

"I know." Regina said slowly. "But you have to let us help. Give us some more time."

Lily smiled wickedly. "Time's up." Emma suddenly fired a bolt of light magic at her back and she whipped around to block with a blast of her own that shook all of Storybrooke. "Stop playing with magic, Emma. We both know you suck at it. Regina's only taught you the basics, while I have been trained by a dragon queen as old as time itself. And I am also twice as strong as you will ever be." She turned around feeling a light tap on her shoulder and felt the full power of a dragon fist colliding with the side of her head.

xxxxxxx

When Lily came to, she was laying on the cot back in Gold's shop. Mal was sitting on the edge of the cot, gently caring for her newfound wound. "You have one hell of a right hook."

"I know." Mal smirked.

"I suppose I left you with no choice." Lily sighed as the cool cloth was pressed against her head.

"No, there was another choice. I could've kicked you, but I chose to punch you." Mal smiled.

Lily looked around. "I'm surprised I'm not in jail."

"I would never let them lock you up." Mal said. "Besides, what prison could hold you?" She leaned away and sighed. "Everything you said was true. I should've avenged you. I should've burned that kingdom to the ground, scorched the earth so hard nothing would ever grow there again. There are times when I think about what else I could've done. I've even had a few dreams. But none of it matters, because no matter what I could've done, I still wouldn't have you." She looked her daughter in the eye as she spoke. "It doesn't matter if I had devastated that entire realm. All of it would mean nothing if I didn't have you back in my arms. And I didn't. So I saw no reason to waste my energy." She looked down at her hands. "All of that was spent grieving."

"I'm sorry, Mom. I-"

"Don't." Mal said sternly. "Lillith, you are very weak right now. You haven't eaten or slept since the night we spent on the mountaintop. Not to mention the darkness gnawing away at you from the inside. It's trying to wear you down and destroy you. It can't take over completely, because you don't have your heart. But it needs to get out of you."

"Then what?"

"I don't know and I don't care. I just want to protect you, keep you alive."

Lily sighed. "I thought I was strong enough."

"You are very strong to have lived at all with all of this darkness, my dragonling. Don't underestimate your strength." They both looked up as Emma and Regina stepped into the room. "And now we have to get the darkness out of you before it kills you. Regina, do it."

"Are you sure?" Emma asked. "You're endangering lots of lives."

"The lives of people I could care less about vs the life of my daughter." Mal said, pretending to think that over. "That's such a hard decision."

"Mal-" Regina began.

Maleficent growled at her, eyes flashing with dragon fire. There was no more hesitation from the other women as they enacted the spell, drawing the darkness out of Lily...but it didn't go as expected. The darkness had a plan of its own. It swirled through the air for a moment, before suddenly attacking Mal, diving straight into her chest. The dragon queen looked confused as nothing seemed to happen, before she screamed. The darkness came out of her back, coiling around her. Lily covered her head as the wind whipped viciously against her. The darkness didn't possess the dragon queen as expected, it left the shop, disappearing into the night. Lily quickly got to her feet, finally feeling the full effects of hunger and fatigue now that the darkness wasn't inside of her. She and Regina rushed over to the stunned Mal and helped her sit down.

"Mal, are you alright?" Regina asked.

"Mom?"

Mal gulped visibly, both hands covering her chest. "My heart." She whispered. "It took my heart."

xxxxxx

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