Chapter 3: Life As Usual
Storybrooke, Maine (Post-season 6 and into Season 7 where Regina came back with Emma and Hook instead of staying with Henry)
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 town. After The Final Battle, she is now living comfortably with her family and friends in town but still does not know where Mason has gone. She's avoiding the subject because of the pain and we find out in this chapter how she is going to be messing around with travelling between realms.
"You know she's going to hate it right?" Crystal says on the phone as she heads towards Granny's diner.
Rumpelstiltskin's daughter walks through the quiet streets of the tiny Maine town on her way to get coffee and doughnuts before taking care of her baby brother for the day. The new mother, Belle had agreed that she couldn't keep Gideon with her all the time and allowed some breaks where her step-daughter would take over. After all, nothing had happened to Storybrooke in almost a year and Gideon's half-sister was a qualified Early Childhood Educator and caregiver, so there was no reason for panic. She's on the phone with Mary Margret who wants to throw her newly pregnant daughter a baby shower. It didn't make sense to the young adult to start planning so early. Emma was barely two months pregnant and since baby showers usually occurred towards the end of the pregnancy, Crystal was befuddled as anyone. Plus, Emma was not one to particularly like parties or being the centre of attention.
"All the more reason to do it," the teacher says.
"Why don't we just give her a gift card and call it a day? You know she won't like it," the younger girl groans as she pushes the door open into the diner. A few people are already inside, but the restaurant was just opening for the day. A sleepy waitress sits behind the counter, waiting for her customer to get off the phone and place an order. Despite how nice this waitress is, Crystal missed Ruby. She missed Ruby's spunk and her snappy one-liners as well as exchanging the usual gossip between friends. Instead, the beloved werewolf waitress was out having adventures in Oz with her true love Dorothy, and while she was happy for the two of them, the daughter of the Dark One missed her friend and confidante.
"Because I missed her first pregnancy and I'm not going to miss out on celebrating the birth of a new grandchild. Besides we've never actually thrown anyone in Storybrooke a baby shower before."
Which was very true. Ella never got one because everyone was still cursed at the time, it didn't happen for Aurora because she was in the Enchanted Forest and a flying monkey for awhile and Snow herself never got one because of Zelena's threats. They didn't throw one for Wicked Witch either because she was still very evil and had cruelly taken advantage of Robin Hood to get pregnant, which gave no one a reason to celebrate. They could've thrown one for Belle, but since the Evil Queen half of Regina had sped up her pregnancy, they never got the chance. So in turn, it made sense to give the Saviour one.
"Okay, I understand," Crystals says. "Look, I've got to go, I'll talk to you later."
"Okay, bye."
Once she's off the phone, the young adult turns to the waitress to order. "Two teas, two coffees, two Bear-Claws, two Danishes, and one fritter please,"
"Coming right up," the woman says. As the waitress goes about getting her order together, Granny comes out from the back kitchen.
"Oh Crystal, just the person I want to see,"
"That's a first," she jokes as the elderly restaurant owner comes over to her. The woman smelled of kitchen grease and a hint of cinnamon, probably from making apple pies.
"You're going to your father's shop, today aren't you?"
"Would you expect his daughter and son to be anywhere else?"
"I was wondering if you could ask him if there's a way to communicate with some of the other realms…"
"How come?"
The woman adjusts her glasses, stares down at the floor for a few moments before looking up again.
"It's just that… Ruby's birthday is coming up really soon and… I'd like to wish it to her either in person or through some other way…"
Crystal tilts her head to the side and gives a sympathetic smile. She knew that Granny missed her granddaughter, after all, this tough old woman had raised Ruby since she was a little pup, and they had a complicated, but strong bond that would be hard to break. One could assume that the distance was taking its toll on the older werewolf.
"Sure, I can look around the place if you'd like,"
"That would be so wonderful."
"Just keep in mind, that place is full of junk, so it might take awhile,"
"Understood. Thank you, Crystal."
"No problem."
"Order up," the waitress calls. "That'll be 16.50." Crystal pulls out her wallet to pay.
"Uh uh," Granny says. "This one's on me."
"Thank you, Granny,"
"Just this once," the restaurant owner warns. "You and your families seriously run up a tab here."
"Understood," she nods, grabbing her things to head out.
"Hey Floyd, how are those onion rings coming?" the old woman says, getting right back to work, as Crystal exits the diner.
…
"Who ordered the Bear Claws?" Rumpel's daughter asks, coming into the sheriff's station.
She finds Emma at one of the desks, sorting through what it probably just boring paperwork. The blonde sheriff looks up happily to see her friend toss the bag of pastries to her. She catches them and begins to wolf them down.
"And tea for Mommy dearest," Crystal says, placing the warm beverage down on the desk. "Where's Captain Hubby?"
"I do wish you'd stop calling me that, Crisi," Killian teases as he turns the corner into the room.
"I should have spit in your coffee when I had the chance," the sassy girl snaps back, handing him his morning beverage.
"Much appreciated that you did not," the captain of the Jolly Roger smirks. He goes towards the bag that Emma has with the other Bear Claw inside when Crystal slaps his hand away.
"Bloody hell what was that for?!"
"Who said the Claws were for you? You have a pregnant wife now, you have to do your best to satisfy her cravings."
"She does have a point," Emma adds, finishing off the first one and going for the second.
"I got you a Danish to change it up," Crystal says, handing him one of the other bags in her arms.
"Many thanks, Love,"
"How's the morning sickness?"
"Off and on, but when it does happen, it's pretty bad."
"Aye, not a pretty sight," Killian agrees.
"First true test of your marriage," Crystal teases. "Can one partner tolerate the other's vomiting."
Killian frowns and puts his half-eaten Danish back in his bag. "That will kill your appetite rather quickly."
"Coming from the man who's never gotten seasick, anyways, I have a brother to pick up and a Dad to annoy so I bid you three adieu," the girl smirks, taking a bow before walking towards the exit.
"Adieu, to you as well," Emma calls back.
…
Crystal walks up to the infamous clock tower of Storybrooke, knowing that underneath it was the library where her step-mother worked. The place was going to be abuzz with activity very soon considering Snow was bringing her class over for a field trip. Belle is inside busily trying to straighten up in preparation for this visit, all while trying to keep her son happy.
Gideon sits in his baby bucket, watching his mother run around while sucking on a rattle that looks like a rose.
"Who ordered the herbal tea with a cream-filled Danish?"
When Gideon hears his sister's voice, he turns his head in recognition. Seven months old and very smart for his age, the young boy that was once fated to kill Emma was now the picture of innocence. He gurgles when he sees his sister.
"Hi Crystal," Belle says, hurrying past her with a cart full of books. "How are you?"
"I would be better if I could speak to you at a slower pace."
"Can't talk," the librarian says. "Gideon had croup last week, so I didn't get the chance to get everything organized for the field trip."
"Well, why don't you drink your tea and let me handle it,"
"Don't be ridiculous, you have no idea how this system works anyways, and I don't have time to teach you..." she pants, hurriedly putting books on shelves.
"Is it really this hard when you can do this?" Crystal asks. She allows her hands to glow and very slowly, the books spring into the air on their own and float to their appropriate places. Another stack of volumes checks themselves back into the system and join the others in the shelf sorting. A broom begins to sweep the floor, a rag dusts the shelves and the elevator locks itself and disappears into the ground to avoid any curious children trying to activate it.
Belle leans against the main counter of the library, looking utterly exhausted. She gives a stern frown but says nothing. Gideon, however, is delighted and claps his hands in amusement at seeing the normally inanimate objects moving around by themselves.
"Housekeeping spells, wouldn't want to live without them. Regina says it cuts her workload at home in half."
"You know I don't like casual magic, especially in front of Gideon, but this is the one time I'll let you use it," Belle says, reaching over to take a sip of her tea, while Crystal drinks her coffee.
"Why are you so worried about him seeing magic?"
"Because I want him to grow up as normal as possible… He's already been exposed to enough magic for one lifetime thanks to his grandmother…"
"Right, I'm sorry, I keep forgetting. But you know that's going to be hard considering his father is the Dark One and he likely also has magic, right?"
"I know, I know," Belle sighs in annoyance. "But I just want him to have as normal of a childhood as possible before we worry about that."
"You're right, I'm sorry Belle,"
"It's all right. So where are you going to take your brother today?"
"I was planning for a walk in the park and then stop by dad's shop. Granny asked me to look for something there."
"Really?"
"Yeah, she wants to find a way to communicate with Ruby in Oz, with her birthday coming up."
"I see, I can understand how hard that could be," the librarian says, taking a bite of her Danish. "Being separated from the one you raised… Which reminds me, how are Regina and Emma holding up after Henry left?"
"Okay I guess, but it's hard not to worry and wonder where he is considering he could literally be anywhere. I miss him too, but unlike me, he's been confined to the tiny town for most of his life, I can't blame him for wanting to find his own adventure."
Belle bites her lip. She knows she wants to bring up the fact that Crystal still hasn't gone out in search of her true love, Mason. He was her entire world and he knew all about The Enchanted Forest and who she was, but it seemed that her step-daughter was avoiding it. It had been awhile since they'd broken up, but clearly, the pain was still there. Both women knew that either Crystal had to find him or move on, but neither seemed like an option at the moment.
Just then, the two hear kids' voices coming up the street.
"Oh god, they're here," Belle gasps. "Quick and shut the magic down,"
Crystal nods and snaps her fingers, the objects become inanimate again. "And that's our cue to skidoo eh Giddy?"
The tot coos from his carrier.
"The stroller is in the corner, I love you, little buddy," the mother says, kissing her son's cheeks and forehead before handing the bucket over to her step-daughter.
Crystal puts the carrier in the stroller and waves to Belle before heading down to the park.
…
The infamous bells of Gold's shop ring as both his children enter it.
"We're closed for lunch," a voice calls from the back.
"That's fine, I'll just steal all the cash from the register and go to Vegas," Crystal calls.
Gold appears from behind the curtain of his shop. He rolls his eyes when he sees his sarcastic daughter, but smiles nonetheless. He goes over to greet them. He scoops his son out of the bucket to hold him.
Rumpel's life had improved significantly since he'd finally made peace with his darkness and defeated his mother. He now had the loving wife and happy family he'd always wanted. He and Crystal had long since buried the hatchet she'd held against him, how he wanted to kill her and basically abandoned her mother to be lost in the other realms. The two were working on forming a strong relationship of trust and love, something that had been all too scarce in both their lives.
"To what do I owe the pleasure?"
"I need to find something here and I figured Giddy could see his Daddy."
"You know I don't like it when you call him that," Rumpel says sternly, cringing at the nickname.
"Well, as long as you keep calling me Crisi, I'll keep calling him Giddy," she says. "You're choice."
"Well, the shop is free for you to roam, might I ask what you are looking for?"
"Are you going to try and stop me?"
"That will depend on what you're looking for,"
"Then no, you can go play with your son. I'm doing this as a favour to someone and she'd prefer to keep it private."
"Will it jeopardize the town's safety?"
"Absolutely not."
"Then you may carry on," The Dark One says before taking his son to the back of the shop.
Once she's alone, Crystal turns to examine all the objects in the shop.
"Okay… inter-realm cell phone here I come,"
A/N: Please Follow and Review. Shout out to RosettaQueen20 for the comment and Panther4Life for their comment as well.