I want to give everyone Crystal Miller's backstory. Yes, she is an OC and I've featured her a lot in my other fan fiction. She looks like me, but her personality is who I wish I could be. Her sarcasm is awesome to write, but I'm honestly too nice and struggle to be sarcastic. Her story is featured on my page, Once Upon Another Time, but I'll give you an abridged version for those who don't want to read it.
She is far from being a Mary Sue because as we can tell from this story, she causes the problem of this story rather than being there to solve all the problems.
Biography:
Crystal Lillian Miller is the illegitimate daughter of Rumpelstiltskin and Lillian Miller. Possessor of light and dark abilities, her magic strikes a rare balance between her father's darkness and her mother's love.
Her mother, Lillian Miller had a very hard life. She was born and raised in an impoverished part of The Enchanted Forest and was the daughter of a local miller, just like Cora. 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 plans for their child, 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 in this land, 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, long after The Evil Queen had cast her curse, and it was approximately six years before Henry Mills was born. The woman 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 that purity and goodness would be inside her daughter.
Crystal, however, was tormented by the darkness of her father for most of her youth and teen years, the evil manifesting itself as a wicked voice in her head that tempted her to do terrible things and she often obeyed its demands. She was rebellious, and 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 hoped that as long they remained in this land, her dark magic would never manifest.
However, unknown to the mother and daughter, this changed after Emma Swan, the Saviour broke the first curse and Rumpelstiltskin 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 manifested 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 with both light and dark magic colliding. 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 cleaned up her life, 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 that was difficult to manage.
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 her past, her father and who she was. Struggling with the truth and her magic, the girl was pushed over the edge when Mason abruptly broke up with her after the revelation and she nearly harmed the children she worked with from her emotions mixed with her powers. She ran from her life in New York until she unknowingly broke through the barrier of Storybrooke and arrived where she truly belonged. (She arrived approximately after the heroes had returned from the Underworld and Killian was returned to the land of the living).
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 her vengeful attack. She made a big spectacle and seemingly gave into her darkness, but once Mr. Gold/Rumpelstiltskin confessed that he did love her mother and regretted what he had done, the words broke through her darkness and she stopped. It was all she ever needed to hear and to make peace with herself and her father.
Both father and daughter 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. The darkness was a part of her, but she was a hero and deserved to be viewed as such.
Due to issues with her job and the desire to relocate to the town, Crystal ended up travelling back and forth between New York and Storybrooke frequently, narrowly missing the Black Fairy's (her grandmother's) curse. Once everyone had their happy endings and the Final Battle was won, the daughter of the Dark One moved to Storybrooke permanently, happy to have a fresh start and the family she always wanted.
But it's her willingness to help Granny that she opens the portal, causing worlds to collide.