Chapter 1: No One's Fault
This story takes place during Season 4, starting in the middle of Smash the Mirror and further on into Shattered Sight. Including my character Crystal again, but things will not go entirely as planned. She is not just a Mary Sue. Please Read and Review.
Description of Crystal for readers who have no clue who she is... Thank you to RosettaQueen20 and Taxedelia for the suggestion.
Just so readers know, this is merely a spin-off featuring my character which means the details are going to be slightly different. If you want the "canon" story of Crystal find Once Upon Another Time on my page.
Crystal Lillian Miller is the daughter of Rumpelstiltskin and Lillian Miller. She possesses light and dark abilities, striking a rare balance between her father's darkness and her mother's love.
Much like the fairy tale, Lillian Miller was forced to spin straw into gold but had help from a sinister imp known as the Dark One. However, instead of him wanting her child, the two fell in love with one another. They began a secret affair, despite Lillian being married to the king of a kingdom.
When her mother, Lillian Miller became pregnant with his child, the Dark One feared he would lose his powers by passing it through the blood. He planned to consume the infant's heart to regain that power. He also feared the prophecy of a boy being his undoing would come true. He attempted to convince his secret lover to give up the baby because the infant would have magic that could endanger all of them. Lillian decided to find a place where magic didn't exist and procured a bean for the trip, wanting to take Rumpel with her. When she overheard his true plan, she screamed at him and threw herself and the unborn baby into the portal.
Lillian and her unborn baby ended up in Wonderland for a long time, approximately 10-20 years (the exact time is not known). Since time was frozen, Lillian remained pregnant and remained a handmaiden for the White Queen during that time. For reasons unclear, Lillian eventually ended up in The Land Without Magic and finally gave birth to her child, having hope that her lover's darkness had not followed them. She named the child Crystal, with the hope of purity and goodness would be inside her daughter.
Crystal, however, was tormented by the darkness of her father, manifesting itself as a wicked voice in her head, for most of her life and often obeyed its demands. She was rebellious, hot-tempered and ended up involved in gang culture, drugs, alcohol, arson, felony and other crimes. Lillian knew that her daughter had not escaped the darkness, but she knew that as long they remained in this land, her dark magic would never manifest.
However, this changed after Emma Swan, the Saviour broke the first curse and her father regained his own magic. For reasons unknown, Crystal's magic began to manifest outside of Storybrooke.
When she was sixteen, Lillian had finally had enough and confronted her daughter about her behaviour. A fight broke out between mother and daughter and things became dangerous when Crystal's powers appeared and she grabbed hold of her mother in anger. The darkness was attempting to coerce her into killing her mother, but something inside of her still was good, likely the light and love Lillian had always provided her daughter with. Crystal couldn't do it and rebelled, causing a seismic explosion when both light and dark magic collided. It destroyed the family's home and Lillian was mortally wounded by some dark weapon that her daughter had unknowingly created. Clinging to her mother, Crystal begged for her to stay, but Lillian passed away in her daughter's arms after telling her little girl that she loved her.
This caused a dramatic shift in Crystal's life. She completely changed her life to honour her mother's memory and always wore a golden heart-shaped locket to remind her of Lillian Miller's love and sacrifice. She went to college, got a job, and even fell in love. The one problem was that she tried to suppress her powers and she'd fight the voice in her head. This caused some destruction and created conflict in the girl's life.
Crystal started dating Mason Phelps, who seemed to understand her the best and made her feel accepted. After fighting and making up, Mason told her that he knew who she really was and that he was from that world too. Confused, Crystal found her mother's diary and learned about who she really was. Confused, the girl was pushed over the edge when Mason abruptly broke up with her and she nearly harmed the children she worked with. The girl ran until she knowingly broke through the barrier of Storybrooke and arrived where she truly belonged.
The girl bonded with the heroes of the town, discovering new aspects of her powers, but was wary of finding her father. When she finally met him, she confronted him and brought all his memories to the surface. Her anger towards him fueled when she attacked with vengeance. She made a big spectacle and seemingly gave into her darkness, but once Mr. Gold/Rumpelstiltskin confessed that he did love her mother, she stopped. It's all she ever needed to hear and to make peace with herself and her father.
Both individuals reluctantly tried to form a relationship, while she experienced some alienation from the heroes of Storybrooke due to her powers. That is until Regina reached out to her and made a connection that the girl could accept.
At this point in the story, Crystal has been in and out of Storybrooke, dealing with work and other problems in New York before officially moving to Storybrooke.
"It's all my fault," Mary Margret weeps in the loft. "If I hadn't been so harsh with her, she wouldn't have run off."
"You can't blame yourself," her husband says, putting his arms around her.
"You definitely cannot," Elsa adds. "Controlling powers is difficult, that's why I needed Anna in my life. Love is what keeps it under control."
"Henry tried that and he got hurt," the former princess sighs.
Suddenly there's a knock at the door. David opens it to reveal Crystal standing there with a tray of hot chocolate and doughnuts.
"Hey, how's Henry doing?"
"How did you know that happened?" Prince Charming asks quizzically.
"News travels fast in small towns," she answers. "Plus, I saw the damage at the station. Are you okay?"
"Yes and so is Henry."
"Emma's been pushed over the edge I gather. A hole in the station and a hydro pole. The worst I did was a mailbox."
David, tolerant of Crystal's sarcasm, sighs heavily. "You tend to pop up when you aren't exactly needed," he says, not needing someone to point out the obvious.
"Bad habit I picked up from my dad," she shrugs before coming into the loft and putting everything down on the counter. "Still no sign of Emma huh?"
"We're not sure whether we should be worrying about her or the Snow Queen," he hisses quietly. "Family always comes first, but…"
"The whole town is in danger I know," Crystal nods as she hands hot chocolate with cinnamon to everyone. "And from the looks of it, Emma needs to get her powers under control soon."
"The Snow Queen played on her weakness of being alone and feeling abandoned, provoking the powers, to begin with," Snow points out, taking the warm cup from Rumpel's daughter.
"That's all it takes Snow, one shred of doubt and everything can go to hell. It happened to me when Mason dumped me…" She swallows hard, trying to push his image from her mind. Recovery from the break-up had been hard and she was just starting to get on with her life. "One text and I nearly destroyed an aquarium and hurt many people." The girl then goes to the cradle and lifts baby Neal up to spend some bonding time with him.
Elsa looks at her with wide eyes. "What is an aquarium?"
"It's where people can look at underwater life. It has places for fish and other sea creatures to live," she explains.
"Sound interesting. Do they have mermaids there?" the queen asks.
"No, but if Emma's going through what Elsa and I went through, she's become unstable. I can remember what happens when I try to suppress my powers for so long and let's just say I caused a lot of property damage."
"How did you get control of it…?" Elsa tries to ask.
There's a knock at the door, causing everyone to jump. Rumpel's daughter places the baby back down and lights her hands up in case Emma came back and her powers were still in the questionable state. David opens it to reveal Hook in a very panicked mode.
"Any luck?"
"Would I be here if there was?" the pirate snaps. He sighs. "Sorry mate, I'm just…"
"Upset, we know, we all are but that's no reason to scare everyone."
"Or swing that curved death stick around," Crystal adds sarcastically.
Everyone glares at the girl and she shuts up, knowing her comment was uncalled for. She guiltily sits on the kitchen island, out of everyone's way.
"I have every dwarf out, searching in the mines; the fairies are searching the east side of town; I even have the bloody werewolf trying to track her… and still nothing."
The one-handed pirate sits down on a chair, in which Crystal offers him a cup of hot chocolate as a peace offering for her earlier comment, but he pushes it away. "I appreciate it Crystal, but not now."
The daughter of the Dark One bites her lip, thinking about the easiest way to track down anyone and she hadn't thought about it until now. She knows that Emma is in serious danger, especially with the Snow Cone Queen running around, wanting all of Storybrooke to be destroyed so it's just her, Elsa and Emma as "sisters". But if the Saviour knew what she did about her abilities, there would no longer be a problem.
"I'm going to join the search," she lies as smoothly as she can, hopping off the counter. "I'll join Blue and the fairies in the east."
"Why not take a different direction to find Emma?" Mary Margret asks.
"An extra set of eyes in any direction is worth a lot and I'll cover more ground too. I'll head north east from there. I'll text David if I find anything."
"Please be careful," David warns. "We already have one unstable sorceress, we don't need two."
"I'll be careful," the girl nods before she snaps her finger and teleports.
…
Crystal appears in the forest, not far from the toll bridge. She sighs heavily, hating the next part.
"Alright… you, come out and play."
Miss me, dearie? The voice in her head asks with a high-pitched giggle.
The young adult groans. Why did the voice have to take on the persona of her father? His voice was annoying enough and it made her want to strangle herself. It nearly drove her to insanity every time she heard it. She would've taken Gilbert Godfrey's screechy voice or Chris Tucker's voice from The Fifth Element, or even Alvin from the Chipmunks, those she can tolerate, but this… just drives her over the edge. She launches a ball of light at a nearby tree, taking off a branch in frustration.
"Like the way I miss a tooth ache, I need your help finding Emma."
Ah yes, the Saviour is in need of saving, is she?
"From herself. I know Henry tried to talk to her and he got hurt, but I have magic so hopefully, I'll be safe."
You willing to take the risk?
"If I didn't would you be here?"
Point well taken
"So, Henry said he saw her in the foothills, just on the edge of the giant Snow Wall…" she mutters.
She closes her eyes and puts her hand on the ground. She needs her special vision to take over again; the one that allows her to see people for who they truly are and detect magic within their energies. She can feel the vibrations in the Earth, magic flowed under Storybrooke after all, but she is looking for Emma's light magic… her Saviour's magic.
She opens her eyes and her vision has blurred to a dark blue hue, allowing her to see trails of lighter magic. She begins hiking through the forest in search of a trail. She walks for what feels like an hour or more when she sees a faint trail of white energy. She looks up at a nearby tree and sees there are splotches of white magic everywhere… On the trees, on the ground and even some residue lingering in the air.
"This is getting worse," Crystal murmurs to herself.
She follows the "light" trail until she sees a yellow bug car parked on the top of a slope. Its lights are flashing constantly and she can see Emma's blonde hair just peeking over the hood of the vehicle. The scared woman is leaning against her car, shaking slightly and fearing for her safety.
Remembering what happened to Henry, Crystal decides to approach very carefully.
She sends a purple orb towards the patch of blonde hair. Her hand is glowing slightly, pleased with the magic lessons she'd taken from her father and Regina, now she could do all kinds of neat things with her powers. She then speaks to the light on her hand, almost like the mouthpiece of a telephone.
"Emma?"
The Saviour nearly jumps out of her skin, causing one of her headlights to explode in a flurry of light.
"It's okay, calm down,"
"C-Crystal, is that you?"
"Yeah, unless you were expecting John Wayne, in which case I'll wait with you…"
"How did you find me?" Emma asks, turning around to see Crystal standing several feet away and ignoring the sarcastic comment.
"I followed your trail of magic. It's part of my gift."
"Well, my gift nearly got my son killed. You need to leave before I hurt you or anyone else."
"You know it was an accident. That's why I opted to speak to you from a distance first."
"Crystal, I mean it, you have to get out of here!" The ground around them seems to shake slightly as Emma's energy levels continue to fluctuate with her emotions.
"Not until I talk to you first."
"We've talked, now leave!"
"Emma, you're not the only one to go through this..."
"I said leave!" Emma shouts, but a wave of magic emphasizes her answer too much. Crystal is blasted backward, but she uses her own magic to cushion the blow. She stands up again, not hurt at all and used to such things as she's created similar shock waves in the past.
"You see what's happening. I'm a danger to everyone. You have to go."
"It's harder to hurt someone with magic themselves," Crystal says. She takes a few cautious steps forward. "Look, Emma, I'm fine. Your magic can't hurt me. I can protect myself. Just listen to me, please. You and I both know that we were born with magic and for the longest time, we didn't want it."
"I don't want it now. I have to get rid of it!"
"I know the feeling but suppressing it won't help, trust me, I spent many hours a day with my veins burning with the power. It hurt like hell because it built up inside of me and I was extremely scared I'd hurt the kids I was working with… but by some miracle, it didn't happen."
"I know because love saved you, but it can't save me. Henry already tried that and I won't let it happen to anyone else."
"But it wasn't love, Emma. It was…"
Before she can finish, Emma gets into her car and speeds away, not wanting to hear any more. Her car vanishes in a cloud of smoke. Crystal sighs, she knows she could track Emma again, but what was the point if she was too scared to listen. She sighs and snaps her fingers, vanishing from the forest completely.
She appears on the eastern side of town and begins walking towards Granny's for a glass of water, or maybe something stronger.
Suddenly, there's a slight chill in the air, sending a shudder of the girl's spine. Her heart pounds anxiously and her hands glow with anticipation of a fight. She turns to see Elsa walking towards her.
"Oh God Elsa you scared me!"
"My apologies, although usually, the drop in temperature gives me away."
"I thought you were your aunt."
"Understandable," the queen of Arendelle says, her long blue dress sparkling in the afternoon sun.
"What are you doing all the way out here?"
"I came looking for you."
"Why me?"
"Because back at Snow White's home, I sensed that you were not telling us the whole truth when you said you were going to search with the fairies on the eastern side of town. And it turns out I was correct."
"How did you… okay fine, you got me, I managed to track Emma down."
"How?"
"You know I have magic, right?"
"Yes. You are Rumpelstiltskin's long-lost daughter?"
"Yes, well I have this special ability, something unique to only me. It's kind of hard to explain, but I can sense other people's energies, I can see their auras I guess. And then there's this special sight I can use to tell who people really are, as well as see their hearts."
"How is that possible?"
"I don't really know, anyway I decided to use this power to track down Emma."
"And did you find her?"
"I did."
"Is she all right?"
"Physically yes, but emotionally she's like Rose after she let Jack sink into the ocean."
"Who is this Rose and Jack? Are they friends of yours?"
"It's a movie or… uh… a moving picture on that magic box you've seen. Anyways, Emma is seconds away from levelling a town block. She's as fragile as a glass slipper."
"So, what did you intend to do once you found her?"
"I just wanted to talk to her, tell her that she needs more than love to control her powers she needs…"
"Acceptance," Elsa finishes.
"Exactly, self-acceptance. Once I knew who I was as a person and understood what was happening, my powers were under control."
"And you learned what you were capable of. I did the same thing, once I stopped hiding them, I created life and even made myself an ice castle. I created beautiful things once I had control."
"Wish I could've seen that, but the point is, you can't have one or the other, you need both. Emma needs to accept who she is and know that she is still loved, not feared and everything will be under control again."
"And we can go back to stopping my aunt and finding Anna," Elsa finishes.
"Right, the problem is that she won't listen. She ran away before I could tell her this. She's convinced that she needs to get rid of her powers. She's as stubborn as her parents are."
"But she can't get rid of her powers," Elsa says. "It's what makes her special."
"I know and we need to make her see that."
"But where would she go if she wanted to remove her powers?"
Crystal swallows. "The only person who knows more than anything about magic."
"Who?"
"My dad."