Rec List: The Fairies of OUaT
Feb. 18th, 2023 06:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thisbluespiritI made this rec list focusing on OUaT's fairies for my ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
genprompt_bingo square "Elves, Fairies, Pixies and Brownies," and I thought I'd post it here as well, where it might be useful to somebody else. Warnings + descriptions are minimal, so please heed all authors' warnings, notes & tags at the original place of posting (AO3 for all but one fanwork). There are 16 works - 15 fanfic + 1 fanart. Enjoy!
The Fairies of Once Upon a Time: A Rec List
Recs featuring the Blue Fairy, Nova | Astrid, Tinker Bell & the Black Fairy, plus a couple of other more generally fairy-related works. (Sadly, I could not find any real Tiger Lily centric pieces at all.)
Backstory/History
1. Alone in This Story's Pages by![[archiveofourown.org profile]](https://p.dreamwidth.org/b164c54b26e4/-/archiveofourown.org/favicon.ico)
medie (G, 1801 words. Hook/Tinker Bell, Blue Fairy.) All things change. The worlds will go on. However much time she has left, Tinker Bell will spend making sure this place survives it. The rest of the realms may fall to dust, but she will spend every last iota of magic she has ensuring Neverland survives. She can't stop all of it, but she can do this one thing.
Beautifully written look at Tinker Bell and her long past, and her concern for the Lost Boys, at odds with the other fairies, including that most ancient, Blue or Reul Ghorm. This was written fairly early, so may now diverge at some points from later canon, but it's a lovely and darkly fascinating fic.
2. Unto Heavens Unspanned byTaisch (Teen, 5428 words. Blue Fairy, Black Fairy, Original Characters.) A wooden soldier swept up in the Blue Fairy's crusade is cast aside for his flaws. He is helpless to change his fate; she makes her own. Because destiny is a fickle beast, their paths eventually cross once more.
Brilliant exploration of a possible, dark history for Blue and the creation of the Enchanted Forest - because dreams can so easily turn into nightmares. It's also a very OUaT take on the Anderson tale "The Steadfast Tin Soldier," and it's the soldier who provides the outsider POV/narratorial voice for it. Unusual and well worth a read - for a really creative dark take on the Blue Fairy's history.
3. A Fairy's Tale byAnnieVH (G, 1977 words. Rumplestiltskin, the spinsters.) Aunt Flora comforts Rumpel with a story.
One of the two spinsters who brought up Rumple tells him a fairy story that comes with a very typically OUaT twist. This is sweet and fun and a suitably ironic choice of identity for these two, given Rumple's opinion of fairies.
4. constellations bycastellia (Teen, 1844 words. Hook/Tinker Bell, Baelfire.) You are: a fairy without wings, a girl without a purpose, a believer no one believes in anymore. You are lost, so your destination for chosen exile is only fitting. [Tink considers stars, scars and life in Neverland.]
Bittersweet, well done and compelling look at Tink and her history. Really lovely, and everything I'd been looking for in a Tinker Bell fic - it went straight into the personal headcanon file!
Ships (of various kinds)
5. No Other Version of Me bycaitlinrose923 (G, 861 words. Nova/Grumpy.) Leroy is really over being Grumpy, okay?
Post-the curse breaking, Leroy takes the chance to try and start again with Nova. Short, sweet, and perfectly in-character for everyone.
6. Best Friends bynizah (G, Art. Regina Mills & Tinker Bell. AU.) Regina the Evil Queen and Tinkerbell having a couple drinks at a swanky bar. :)
Great, vibrant fanart of an AU Evil Queen and Green Fairy who managed to stay friends, with really nifty bits of detail, like their respective drinks and requisite sparkles, postures, and full-on Evil Queen costuming.
7. After the Curse byTanyaReed (Teen, 441 words. Nova/Grumpy.) Things are different now. They aren't in Fairy Tale Land, but Storybrooke isn't the same either.
A different take on a post-Curse-breaking meet-up for Nova and Grumpy; this one is a more low-key, thoughtful approach, but also sweet, as they realise that if nothing else, Storybrooke, unlike the Enchanted Forest, might at least allow for the possibility of friendship.
8. To Stay The Morning Star byThreadwhistle (Teen, 2146 words. Blue Fairy & Rumplestiltskin.) Fairies do not feel love, not the way that humans do. Which isn’t to say that fairies cannot love. Every creature, however poor, however wicked, is capable of loving another—every creature save one, and that is an existence so dark, so cold and hideous as to be unthinkable—and fairies love wholly and more purely than any other being. Love is in their very nature, their very being; a fundamental facet of their existence. A fairy who cannot love is not a fairy at all.
Written early enough that we now know Rumple's parents are entirely different people, but this is still an unexpectedly sweet moment for two characters who have otherwise always been at odds, and told in an aptly fairy-tale style.
9. Having/Holding byFreshBrains (Teen, 246 words. Ruby/Astrid.) “There are many reasons why our coupling should give me shame, Ruby. I made an oath to God and I’m breaking it. I’m lying to my sisters and having a forbidden affair. But I am not ashamed of what we share in this bed.”
A taste of forbidden love for cursed Ruby and Astrid. This packs a lot into its tiny word count, selling the unexpected ship and sharply painting the moment.
10. The Boy That Got Away bythoughtsofanonymous (G, 2123 words. Black Fairy/Peter Pan.) The Black Fairy is thwarted in her attempt to steal the newborn son of spinster by a surprise appearance from an old acquaintance.
The Black Fairy and Peter Pan run into each other when they're both trying to steal a child - this is a great look at the two of them together in a way we couldn't have in canon, their thoroughly messed up dynamic - and, of course, in proper OUaT style, there's a twist at the end. It's nicely inevitable in all the right kinds of ways. (There are a few slight typos, but it was too good to miss off this list.)
Character Studies/Missing Moments
11. all the way back home byfairytalefix (G, 5827 words. Roland Hood, Nova, Robin Hood.) His dad says staying with the fairies will be like his very own adventure. His dad says, “Watch over your sister,” and, “You’re a good boy, Roland,” and, “I’ll be back soon. I love you.” // Roland says I love you back and his voice is so so small because what he’s really thinking is please please please don’t leave me, daddy. Because Mama had left and she hadn’t come back, and now there are more scary people in black hoods in the town and he knows his dad is going to go fight them because that’s what his dad does. He fights the bad guys. He always beats them. He always comes back. (Mama fought bad guys, too. Mama didn’t come back.)
One of the pleasures of putting together rec lists like this is that it leads me to read things I'd never have even dreamed existed but which I definitely needed in my life, and this fic a perfect example. It's an excellent use of Roland's POV with some wonderful touches in the language used to show how a boy who grew up in a forest thinks - and a lovely look at Nova outside of the context of her relationship with Grumpy, as she tries to take care of Roland in the midst of a canon crisis - and finally gets a chance to earn her fairy godmother wings.
12. A Thousand Times byKrisEleven (G, 498 words. Blue Fairy, Rumplestiltskin.) Neither as the Blue Fairy nor as Mother Superior had she been afraid of speaking the truth, making the hard decisions, or standing her ground. But she wondered, as she walked towards Rumpelstiltskin's shop, if her bravery wasn't tinged with stupidity.
Sharply done missing scene as Blue confronts the Dark One after the first curse is broken. The character voices and intensity rings true, and it's very easy to imagine this little encounter slotting satisfyingly into canon.
13. Friends With Benefits byscapeartist (Teen, 980 words. Hook/Tinker Bell.) The prompt for this story was "Killian" and "Venture." Killian needs some help keeping an eye on Bae while in Neverland the first time around. He knows just the fairy.
Hook tries to make amends to Baelfire via Tinker Bell - this is really well done and a perfect missing moment as implied by their interactions in s3.
14. Duality byariestess (G, 141 words. Poetry. Blue Fairy.) Blue Fairy's thoughts on her existence and the state of affairs.
Clever little exploration of the two natures of Blue - the ancient fairy, and for twenty-eight years, a human nun - in poetry format.
It's the end, but...
15. The Whisper of Dried Voices byTaisch (Teen, 5965 words. Rumplestiltskin/Belle, Henry Mills, Gideon, Peter Pan, Black Fairy.) "This is the way the world ends, not with a bang but with a whimper." Rumplestiltskin saves his son Baelfire from Neverland, but at what cost?
Rumple breaks time and kills Tinker Bell to bring Bae back from the dead, but there are reasons you don't meddle with time, magic, or fairies. Fantastically tangled timey-wimey apocalypse piece in which every attempt by Rumple and his family (including the Black Fairy) to fix the original mistake keep making things worse until there's nothing left but the end of the world.
16. Roll Call by Miran-chan (K, 469 words. Blue Fairy, Nova.) After the Saviour broke the curse, it was important for the fairies to find out if they were all present. Haberdashery inspired madness.
... and from one extreme to the another, this is a slight piece of (worryingly plausible) pure crack - but I think the laugh rule applies to rec lists as well as elsewhere, so please enjoy this bit of fairy dessert to finish with, as post-the first Curse, Blue finds it's a lot harder to do a roll call when all your fairies are wearing an identical uniform.
genprompt_bingo square "Elves, Fairies, Pixies and Brownies," and I thought I'd post it here as well, where it might be useful to somebody else. Warnings + descriptions are minimal, so please heed all authors' warnings, notes & tags at the original place of posting (AO3 for all but one fanwork). There are 16 works - 15 fanfic + 1 fanart. Enjoy!The Fairies of Once Upon a Time: A Rec List
Recs featuring the Blue Fairy, Nova | Astrid, Tinker Bell & the Black Fairy, plus a couple of other more generally fairy-related works. (Sadly, I could not find any real Tiger Lily centric pieces at all.)
Backstory/History
1. Alone in This Story's Pages by
Beautifully written look at Tinker Bell and her long past, and her concern for the Lost Boys, at odds with the other fairies, including that most ancient, Blue or Reul Ghorm. This was written fairly early, so may now diverge at some points from later canon, but it's a lovely and darkly fascinating fic.
2. Unto Heavens Unspanned by
Brilliant exploration of a possible, dark history for Blue and the creation of the Enchanted Forest - because dreams can so easily turn into nightmares. It's also a very OUaT take on the Anderson tale "The Steadfast Tin Soldier," and it's the soldier who provides the outsider POV/narratorial voice for it. Unusual and well worth a read - for a really creative dark take on the Blue Fairy's history.
3. A Fairy's Tale by
One of the two spinsters who brought up Rumple tells him a fairy story that comes with a very typically OUaT twist. This is sweet and fun and a suitably ironic choice of identity for these two, given Rumple's opinion of fairies.
4. constellations by
Bittersweet, well done and compelling look at Tink and her history. Really lovely, and everything I'd been looking for in a Tinker Bell fic - it went straight into the personal headcanon file!
Ships (of various kinds)
5. No Other Version of Me by
Post-the curse breaking, Leroy takes the chance to try and start again with Nova. Short, sweet, and perfectly in-character for everyone.
6. Best Friends by
Great, vibrant fanart of an AU Evil Queen and Green Fairy who managed to stay friends, with really nifty bits of detail, like their respective drinks and requisite sparkles, postures, and full-on Evil Queen costuming.
7. After the Curse by
A different take on a post-Curse-breaking meet-up for Nova and Grumpy; this one is a more low-key, thoughtful approach, but also sweet, as they realise that if nothing else, Storybrooke, unlike the Enchanted Forest, might at least allow for the possibility of friendship.
8. To Stay The Morning Star by
Written early enough that we now know Rumple's parents are entirely different people, but this is still an unexpectedly sweet moment for two characters who have otherwise always been at odds, and told in an aptly fairy-tale style.
9. Having/Holding by
A taste of forbidden love for cursed Ruby and Astrid. This packs a lot into its tiny word count, selling the unexpected ship and sharply painting the moment.
10. The Boy That Got Away by
The Black Fairy and Peter Pan run into each other when they're both trying to steal a child - this is a great look at the two of them together in a way we couldn't have in canon, their thoroughly messed up dynamic - and, of course, in proper OUaT style, there's a twist at the end. It's nicely inevitable in all the right kinds of ways. (There are a few slight typos, but it was too good to miss off this list.)
Character Studies/Missing Moments
11. all the way back home by
One of the pleasures of putting together rec lists like this is that it leads me to read things I'd never have even dreamed existed but which I definitely needed in my life, and this fic a perfect example. It's an excellent use of Roland's POV with some wonderful touches in the language used to show how a boy who grew up in a forest thinks - and a lovely look at Nova outside of the context of her relationship with Grumpy, as she tries to take care of Roland in the midst of a canon crisis - and finally gets a chance to earn her fairy godmother wings.
12. A Thousand Times by
Sharply done missing scene as Blue confronts the Dark One after the first curse is broken. The character voices and intensity rings true, and it's very easy to imagine this little encounter slotting satisfyingly into canon.
13. Friends With Benefits by
Hook tries to make amends to Baelfire via Tinker Bell - this is really well done and a perfect missing moment as implied by their interactions in s3.
14. Duality by
Clever little exploration of the two natures of Blue - the ancient fairy, and for twenty-eight years, a human nun - in poetry format.
It's the end, but...
15. The Whisper of Dried Voices by
Rumple breaks time and kills Tinker Bell to bring Bae back from the dead, but there are reasons you don't meddle with time, magic, or fairies. Fantastically tangled timey-wimey apocalypse piece in which every attempt by Rumple and his family (including the Black Fairy) to fix the original mistake keep making things worse until there's nothing left but the end of the world.
16. Roll Call by Miran-chan (K, 469 words. Blue Fairy, Nova.) After the Saviour broke the curse, it was important for the fairies to find out if they were all present. Haberdashery inspired madness.
... and from one extreme to the another, this is a slight piece of (worryingly plausible) pure crack - but I think the laugh rule applies to rec lists as well as elsewhere, so please enjoy this bit of fairy dessert to finish with, as post-the first Curse, Blue finds it's a lot harder to do a roll call when all your fairies are wearing an identical uniform.
