Welcome to a Nightmare

Chapter 5: When Darkness Comes Back

Crystal drives her car into a secluded part of the forest, away from the main road. She then tests to see if her magic is working. Sure enough, it is, and it allows Crystal to conceal her car in an invisibility spell. She then uses magic to change out of her wedding outfit into a t-shirt, jeans, and her infamous jean jacket. Much like how Emma had her signature red leather jacket, which she described as her armour to protect herself from getting hurt by others, Crystal wore a similar type jacket, but for different reasons. While Emma put the red jacket to protect herself from others, the daughter of the Dark One put on her jacket to protect others from her. In this casual clothing, the young adult felt normal, it made her feel comfortable and relaxed, allowing her powers to remain in check. She knew all too well that if she became too emotional or uncomfortable, the dark side of her powers would act up and cause chaos wherever she was. But in this jacket, she felt safe and protected people from seeing the truth behind her "ordinary" façade.

The girl tucks her phone into her pocket. She's already tried calling her family and friends and no one has picked up. She's not sure what this curse has done, but it seems to prevent her from talking with the people she loves. She then begins to walk towards the street leading into this strange city, her mind is still processing the conversation she had with August.

She couldn't believe that he hadn't recognized her; sure, the two were not the closest of friends, but he'd taken her on motorcycle rides before, that should be enough to warrant being on a first-name basis and remembering one another. She becomes increasingly nervous as she approaches the entrance to this weird city.

A large sign is lit next to the street, saying Welcome to Stygian, Maine and underneath is the caption Where you make it or break it... A piece of irony flashes in the girl's mind. The format of the brightly lit sign vaguely resembled the one from Las Vegas... What was with the Black Fairy? Did she have some sort of obsession with the City of Sins in the desert?

As soon as Crystal steps past the sign and onto the Main Street, she's practically blinded by the bright neon lights flashing, blinking, glowing, radiating, shimmering, and blazing all around her. She could barely see the gray Maine sky that was almost completely concealed by the towering buildings. Also, as soon as the daughter of Rumpelstiltskin is on the main strip of the city, she is overwhelmed by the sheer number of people in the place.

There are crowds walking, running, stumbling, standing, and generally mingling about the streets and in front of the buildings. Crystal can see people lining up for stage shows and concerts, lining up to get into bars, strip clubs, casinos, and hotels. She sees advertising everywhere, many of the products or events are things she recognizes. She also sees women and a few teenage girls dressed in provocative and scantily clothing; she knew immediately that they were street-walkers, waiting to be picked up by people looking for a good time. However, as she passes the escorts, a familiar individual with blue eyes and thick, fiery red hair who is dressed in demeaning clothing including an emerald bikini, black heels and a black overcoat (to give herself some decency) gets out of a car, tucking money into the pocket of the coat. Unfortunately, neither women see each other, but it would never have made a difference. Rumple's daughter could see bikers all clad in leather and metal, smoking by their bikes or joyriding through the streets causing chaos wherever they could. Despite the overwhelming number of people in this once quiet town. Crystal is scanning every single face, looking for someone she knew; someone from Storybrooke and not this cesspool of sinners and drunken people.

She shoves her hands in her pockets and continues down the streets, keeping her eyes peeled for a person she remembered and who could remember her. She feels so strange, almost exposed in a way from feeling out of place in this massive and dirty looking city, which was ironic since she used to live in New York, which could be just as bad as Las Vegas. She hates all this noise and madness; she'd grown to love Storybrooke for the quiet aesthetic and passive environment. Everything in the town went at its own pace and actually had more action than the average big city considering it was a place filled with magic and fairy tale characters. She wanted to move here because it was where she belonged, and she could finally move on with her life. She would no longer be haunted by her past in crime, the death of her mother, and the heartbreak she felt over her break up with Mason. She shakes the thought of him from her head, not wanting to deal with it right now or activate the dark side of her powers. Her boyfriend, whom she thought was her one true love and apparently knew all about her past and where she was truly from... he dumped her via text message and basically broke her heart. The one positive thing that came from this break up was that she ended up driving here to Maine and finding her father and her family. But now, that fresh start was gone in the mess of her grandmother's curse.