Chapter 15: One or The Other

Description of Crystal for readers who have no clue who she is... Thank you to RosettaQueen20 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 the town. Right now she's in the area to help their friends and keep an eye on her father.

The bell leading into a very familiar shop rings as someone enters with much intent. Gold is in the back of his shop when he hears it while spinning some gold to pass the time.

"I bought that sign for a reason," the Dark One mutters angrily. "But it seems that no one wants to acknowledge it…"

He stands up.

"We're closed," he calls from behind the curtain.

However, the intruder either does not hear him or ignores the statement completely because Gold hears the person rummaging through the shop in search of something. He can hear objects being moved around on shelves.

For a moment, Gold grins, thinking that it is the pirate in search of the Sorcerer's hat or his heart. The hat would be a valuable trade for his precious organ, but both were locked in his vault, protected by dark magic. It might be time to have a little fun with his old enemy.

He appears out from behind a curtain to see a shadowy figure lurking behind a stack of shelves. He or she does not appear to notice him. He quietly goes to his vault and pulls out the pirate's heart and gives it a gentle squeeze, expecting the figure to hunch over in pain. When the shadow continues their searching without any reaction, he squeezes a little harder and still nothing.

Suddenly, a vase comes flying at his head, he barely has time to dodge it before it smashes against the wall, making the pictures and clocks that hung there shudder slightly. It comes with such power that Gold knows that this is not the pirate.

"If you kill Hook now, so help me I will personally make your life a living hell," the shadow hisses. "Like the Joker, but with more chaos… and death."

Gold rolls his eyes knowing exactly who would make such metaphors. "Back again for another session of father-daughter fighting, are we?" Gold grimaces as he makes the heart vanish and his daughter comes from behind a set of shelves to show her angry face to him. "Because it can surely wait until we are open."

"I'm your daughter and through no fault of our own, your family, I have a right to come here whenever I want," Crystal says firmly. She gives him a smirk. "Because when you die, I inherit it."

"How can I die if I'm immortal?"

"That dagger can't stay hidden forever," she snaps angrily. "I will personally do it myself if I have to…"

Gold gives a confident smirk. "You wouldn't dare, you're too much like Lily, filled with human kindness. Besides, I thought you were a hero?"

"I can be whatever I want to be," Crystal glowers at her father. "I have that darkness from you… they always say that parent should go before their child in death."

"You underestimate me," he growls in response. "I'm starting to see why animals eat their young."

"You almost did do that, didn't you? And you lost Mom because of it," she snarls back. "You wouldn't dare, not with Belle around, if she finds out, you'll be left as the bitter old troll that you are. I'll make sure she sees it. And you know, in packs of wild animals, they will often kill the weak and old of their packs."

Using her hand, she causes her father's limp to come back and lets him fall to the ground in a face plant. He groans in pain and uses his own magic to restore his body to perfect health. He holds his hand out to teach her a lesson, but she snaps her fingers and vanishes before he can do anything. She reappears behind the counter.

"You've taught me well," she smirks.

Rumpel attempts to get his daughter into a chokehold, but nothing happens. He tries squeezing a little harder, but still, nothing happens. He realizes that there's some sort of field of energy surrounding his daughter.

"Too well if you ask me… actually, you know what, Belle found me this charm in the library and with Regina's help, I perfected it. A protective charm, which is only activated when I'm near you, reinforced by that shield spell you taught me…"

She begins searching behind the counter, going through the shelves looking for what she needed. She knew she had to focus as time was limited, she should have spent less time taunting her father.

Finally, she finds the candle… the exact one she needed. The same one Emma tried to use before with the Snow Queen until Ingrid caused her powers to go out of control, plus one could easily assume that the cold-hearted villain let Emma catch her that time. But this time, the witch would not be expecting it, not by a long shot. One might've assumed that her father had gone to retrieve the candle after everyone else went in search of Emma.

"That is my property," her father hisses as she walks around him towards the door. She puts the candle in a shoulder bag.

"None of this is your property and you know it. And besides, even if it is yours, it will certainly be mine when Belle kills you when she finds out about the fake dagger and Hook's heart,"

She then goes out the door without a second thought to the treacherous man she was forced to call her father.

…

While Crystal was fighting with her so-called father, Robin Hood enters the cemetery, armed with his bow and arrow. He knew exactly where he was going considering both he and Regina had… spent the night in her vault not long ago. Guilt overwhelms his stomach immediately, knowing that it was a terrible thing to do… in fact, it was downright treacherous. He was a man of honour. His wife was alive again… frozen, but alive and he could never betray her like that again. She was the mother of Roland after all and his first love… but according to Regina, the former Evil Queen was his true love. The one he was meant to be with. He felt so remorseful for what he had done. The betrayal of Marian should be unthinkable, and she could very well curse him for an eternity in hell. But… Regina was so complicated; she was flawed but doing her best to redeem herself. She was a relatively sweet woman, so beautiful, passionate, and made his heart soar with hope. He felt so conflicted about what to do, the duty to his wife and son or the duty to his heart.

He makes his way through the tombstones, his mind a whirlwind of emotion until he sees the Mill's family vault. His heart drops to his stomach. The entire mausoleum is covered in a thick layer of ice.

"REGINA!" Robin shouts as loudly as he can as he rushes toward the stone crypt. He nearly slips on his way there. He puts his hands on what should be the door and shouts her name again. "REGINA!"

From within the vault, a shivering queen curls up in a ball to stay warm. She's tried everything to escape, everything in her repertoire including potions and spells, but with her powers somehow not working, her options were now very limited. Frost was forming on her magic mirror and the tomb in which her father was buried had the formations of icicles on it. She even tried lighting papers on fire to keep her warmth and her strength up, but the cold extinguished it, nothing was working. That is until she heard someone calling her name.

She hurries up the steps with all her mustered strength and goes to the ice-covered wall that was supposed to be the exit.

"REGINA ARE YOU IN THERE?!" the voice of her beloved Robin calls to her. It was faded and weak behind the stone and ice walls separating them, but she could hear him. Her cheeks flush with the sound of his voice. She tries to focus on this situation could be life and death for her.

"ROBIN IS THAT YOU?!" she shouts back with all her strength.

"REGINA, ARE YOU OKAY? WHAT HAPPENED?!"

"I DON'T KNOW, I CAME TO GET MY SPELL BOOKS WHEN THE MAUSOLEUM BEGAN FEELING LIKE A FREEZER. MY POWERS AREN'T WORKING ROBIN!"

"DON'T WORRY, I WILL TRY AND GET YOU OUT!" he calls.

Regina just smiles. "H-Hurry," she whispers. She hated the feeling of being helpless, that is not what a queen should be doing, but the thought of being rescued by Robin brought out the helpless princess in her. Her dream of being rescued by a knight in shining armour, or rather an outlaw with shining arrows instead.

He grabs his dagger from his boot and begins to hack away at the ice as best he can. The problem is, the ice is extremely thick, and his dagger does very little in an attempt to break it. Nevertheless, he continues to hack as best he can. He prays that Crystal will come and help as soon as possible.

His fruitless effort only becomes a bigger problem when he stabs the ice so deeply, that it gets stuck, but before the outlaw can remove it, the ice, as if with a mind of its own, consumes the dagger completely, encasing it in the growing crypt ice sculpture. Robin steps back in horror. Once again, this wretched snow queen as made ice a living element, a sentient thing that could only consume and get bigger and bigger. His heart pounds in his chest as he tries to think of something.

Fortunately, Crystal comes running up to him in a frenzy.

"What the hell?!" she gasps at the horrific sight.

"Regina's in there and her powers are not working," Robin explains. He wipes the sweat from his brow.

"REGINA?!" Crystal calls.

"CRYSTAL, IS THAT YOU?"

"YES. ARE YOU OKAY?"

"I COULD BE A LOT BETTER."

"I'LL TRY AND GET YOU OUT. INGRID TOOK HENRY AND ELSA. EMMA'S IN A FLYING RAGE GOING TO FIGHT HER. WE NEED TO STOP HER!"

"AGREED, BUT FIRST I'M GOING TO NEED SOME ASSISTANCE."

"WAY AHEAD OF YOU!" the teen calls out. She hands her supply bag to Robin and takes a stance. She can feel the heat beginning to radiate from her hands. She puts all her anger towards her father into this blast of heat and launches a large stream of fire at the ice wall.

The fire hits the wall and little flecks of ice begin to go flying as the Dark One's daughter hits it with her pyrokinesis. A puddle begins to form on the grass as the heat melts through like a literal hot knife through butter. Once the door of the mausoleum can be seen. She stops to rest.

Robin, relieved, rushes towards the door to open it when to both heroes' horror, the ice begins to reform, this time encasing Robin's feet in it as well. The door disappears behind the wall of ice, and this time, it appears thicker and more aggressive than before. It was almost like cancer, trying to destroy its host.

"You've got to be kidding me," Rumpel's daughter mutters angrily.

Robin tries to run, but the sentient ice covers his feet, keeping him frozen to the spot. Crystal tries to grab his hand, but she can see the ice spreading across the grass towards her.

"Stay away!" Robin says.

Crystal takes a step back. Meanwhile, inside Regina briefly felt the heat, a welcome change, but suddenly the ice comes back again, with much more aggression than before. The temperature drops even faster and the ice even thicker than before, spreading further into the stone tomb. The former Evil Queen can feel her body becoming number with the cold and she wonders if she will be joining the Mill's family in the tomb... Although she opted to be cremated when the time did come, not frozen. She does her best to stay warm, but curling into a ball, but inside she's beginning to panic.

"What the hell am I going to do?" Crystal says, panicking herself. Robin is trapped, Regina is likely freezing to death inside, Emma is on her way to certain doom, Hook, Snow, and David are missing, and Elsa and Henry are being held against their will by the Snow Queen, she had no allies to help her. She knew she couldn't turn to her father either, not after what just happened between them, but she had to do something. Her mind races as she tries to think of a plan.

The thoughts take her back to the ice dragon and how it could reanimate itself, it was likely that Ingrid had done the same thing with this ice. She knew she couldn't hit it in just one spot, but surround it, forcing the threat to collapse in on itself, the only problem was Robin.

"I have an idea," she says. "I'm going to create a ring of fire around the mausoleum, meaning it can't regenerate as quickly. It will get you out first and once the door is thawed, you can grab Regina…The only problem is, how to do that without cremating both of you in the process. I'll only be able to hold off the ice so long… But if I don't do this now, Regina will be cryogenically frozen like Mr. Freeze. I'm wishing there was another way…"

Robin looks at the teen in confusion, but then fear forms in his eyes. He also did not want to be set on fire… but Regina was in there, possibly dying, he knew he might have to make the ultimate sacrifice for her... his true love.

"Do it."

"But Robin…"

"Get Regina out of there."

"But you'll probably get burned…"

"I swore to Regina that I would do everything I could to protect her heart and I intend to keep that promise, no matter what the cost. Now do it, there isn't much time left!"

Crystal swallows hard and not sure how this is going to work. She just had to do her best to try and save them both!

Spreading her hands and arms out, fire spews from Crystal's fingers, going in two separate directions, surrounding the outside of the mausoleum. Once the two lines meet, the girl begins bringing her hands together slowly, forcing the flames closer and closer to the ice. She does her best to avoid Robin.

The outlaw is starting to feel the heat, sweat forming on his brow and smoke beginning to get in his eyes. He focuses on his breathing as the flames get closer and closer. The ice is certainly melting, cracking loudly, and pooling on the grass. Robin knew he'd be the first to be free, but he would suffer the fires of hell if it meant saving Regina.

Once his feet were free, Robin hops out of the way, so Crystal can focus more heat on the door. She makes the flames bigger and bigger, taking down the iceberg created by the Snow Queen. It was still hard to battle, the Queen's magic was just as strong, fighting back as best as it could. Crystal is sweating as well because now the flames are practically licking the sides of the stone tomb, giving off an enormous amount of heat and she's straining herself to keep it burning.

Once the door is as clear as it can be, Crystal lowers the flames in front of them, just enough that Robin can jump over them.

"GO!" she screams. "WE DON'T HAVE MUCH TIME!"

With all his strength, Robin Hood jumps over the path left for him in the flames and runs for the door. He forces it open and can see Regina, curled up in the fetal position. There is still ice in the crypt and it's doing it's best to consume everything inside since flames were consuming it on the outside. The heat that Robin has let in causes the sentient element to slow just long enough for the outlaw to pull Regina up into his arms and rush to the door. The ice is sticking to his feet, trying to keep him within the confines of the stone building, but he fights it. With one brave jump, he leaps through the flames, as if his feet had grown wings and runs towards Rumpelstiltskin's daughter.

Crystal stops once both heroes are safe, the ice consumes the stone building once again, but it doesn't matter now that no one is in there. She kneels to help Robin and Regina. He's covered in ashes and soot, smelling like a barbecue, but it's Regina they are worried about.

Her face is pale, and her lips are slightly blue too. She's shivering constantly, teeth chattering and doing her best to stay conscious. Her body is trying to regain its heat. She looked like Emma after she'd come out of the ice wall. Crystal conjures up a thick wool blanket and wraps it around her friend. Robin keeps her in his arms to give her the warmth she needs. The youngest sorceress then finds some dried leaves, puts them in a pile and starts a small fire in the grass. Regina and Robin huddle together, taking in the heat.

"You sure you don't want to take a bath in anti-freeze," Crystal says in a joking manner.

Annoyed, Robin glares at him, but Regina cracks a small smile despite how weak she felt. The teen then grabs her bag from the ground and stands up.

"I have to go help Emma, I'll call Ruby to bring some coffees and to pick you guys up."

"N-no way!" Regina snaps, trying to get up from Robin's arms. "If that t-twisted ice witch has my s-son…"

"Regina you're in no shape to go anywhere. Rest for a little bit,"

"You t-two won't stand a chance against h-her."

"I swung by my dad's shop to pick up a few things, we'll be fine. Rest up and then come to help us."

Regina wants to protest, but the weakness in her body told her she couldn't go. She didn't have the strength yet. That wicked Ice Queen would pay for what she had done. There was only room for one Queen in this town and no cold-hearted woman was taking her son from her. She would help, when she was rested.

"Be safe," is all the former Evil Queen can say.

"I will," Crystal says before snapping her fingers and disappearing.

A/N: Here's a new chapter and thank you for the comments, especially PotterPop. I always love Rumpel and Crystal getting into a pissing contest, it's so much fun to write. Please review.