Hello, curious reader.
This is an idea that suddenly popped into my head a few days ago and wouldn't leave me until it felt satisfied. Hopefully, I gave my idea justice.
As a bit of background, I really love "Rise of the Guardians" (easily within my top 10 movies) and always pick up something new each time I watch it. I've also read the books series up until 4, but I'll be rereading everything since I've finally got book 5! While the books and movie don't completely match, I like taking elements from both and figuring out how to blend them together.
In the books, Tooth is a fierce warrior with a great heart for children and has the ability to create mini-versions of herself (can't remember other specifics at the moment). While I find that awesome, I also wondered if that could be sustaining. After all, she's gotta reach a limit at some point, right? So that's where I got the idea that the memories themselves along with magic could play a role in creating tooth fairies as well.
This also ties into some of my ideas and general theories about Baby Tooth, which actually was the basis for this idea. I'm currently working on that part but in the meantime, here's what I have so far. Enjoy!
Note: Tooth's full name is Toothiana and she is the child of a human and Sister of Flight. Her book introduction is "Toothiana: Queen of the Tooth Fairy Armies," so I like to alternate a bit with her titles to keep from being too repetitive.
Disclaimer: I do not own "Rise of the Guardians" or "The Guardians of Childhood." Those rights belong to DreamWorks and William Joyce, respectively.
As the world settled itself following the battles between the Guardians and their allies against Pitch Black, Toothiana wasted no time in continuing her duty in collecting the children's teeth. Her army of tooth fairies, though slightly worn from battle, followed her que and resumed their important mission.
However, they were still weary of Nightmares suddenly appearing so they took several precautions when they went out into the field. No fairy went on their own, including Tooth herself, and always traveled in 3's. Contact with Tooth and other groups were continually maintained until the child's tooth was safely extracted from the child's pillow and placed in their memory vaults.
Tooth created many new tiny versions of herself to accommodate the new protocols, each as strong and capable as those created before them. Children who awakened during the night often gazed in wonder at the many, tiny bird-like creatures zipping around their room. This also made the fairies' jobs much easier, as one fairy had the natural ability to sooth a child back to sleep. With 3, the child would doze back so quickly they would awaken in the morning wondering if they even dreamed of the small birds visiting them.
A quick glance under their pillow and the gleam of a shiny gift reaffirmed them quickly, though.
After a while, the worry of Nightmares returning lessened until each fairy felt safe traveling out on their own again. It soon became common to only catch a glimpse of one fairy instead of several, but the children still believed in the Tooth Fairy.
Stories passed of the kind fairy leaving gifts for children in exchange for their teeth, and more children were born and grew to believe in those tales. Tooth and her fairies remained delighted at the new memories they collected and children they visited. As the children grew, they could always count on them to remind them of childhood memories whenever they needed it the most.
One day, though, as Tooth was personally placing the last baby tooth of a child in its container, something strange happened. The tube in her hands let out a soft glow, startling the fierce Queen.
"What is this?" she asked, lifting the object to eye level so her eyes met those of the child's painted on the side.
Suddenly, the child's face dazzled so brightly that Tooth and the surrounding fairies had to turn their heads away. The moment everything dimmed and they looked once again, none of them could hold back a small gasp of surprise.
A tiny orb of green light swirled in front of them over the tube in Tooth's hand, which was still letting off its own glow but much more subdued. One of the fairies chirped, "What is going on?"
"I am not sure," Tooth answered, her gaze lowering to the opening.
The tiny orb quietly pulsed, a tiny light shining much more brightly on a certain spot of the surface. A spot which she began realizing contained one of the child's teeth.
When nothing else began happening, Tooth took in a deep breath and waved her hand over the tube. The contraption opened and they could all see every tooth glowing. It took several seconds for one tooth to catch their attention, simply because it was shining different from the others. The odd one out glowed the same as the orb, which still pulsed over the now exposed tooth.
While the tooth fairies remained memorized by the light, a strange sensation that Tooth could only describe as a pull took her over. Her eyes glowed as they remained fixated between the tooth and orb. Slowly, she placed her finger over the orb and gently pushed it towards the tooth.
The fairies barely had time to let out loud chirps of 'What are you doing?' before something completely strange happened. In one breath, the orb disappeared into the tooth and the tube and other teeth stopped glowing immediately.
In the next, the spot where Tooth's finger remained touching shone once more and a darker green orb shot up until it reached her eye level. In several more breaths, the orb morphed into a vague shape of two circles stacked on top of each other. Some of the light stretched from behind it in two directions, fading until the fill was nearly transparent. In front, a sliver of light reached forward and solidified in what Tooth could only describe as a humming bird's beak.
At the same time, the light moved and settled into what looked like feathers matching Tooth's and her army's. The lower circle's bottom half split in two as well. One part broke further until two tiny legs formed. The other part elongated into a tail that ended just over the being's newly created feet.
This strange transformation continued for several moments, the former orb now resembling a bird like creature with tiny wings, two legs, and a pair of arms growing quickly after. The top circle became covered in feathers, which curiously halted until a clear, pale area arching above the beak remained. A small line appeared below the beak, which also remained clear, the same moment two similar lines appeared within the arches
Finally, however, the feathers adopted the colors and patterns of Toothiana like her mini-selves until it could have passed for any of its fellow sisters. Sluggishly, the two lines above the beak each separated themselves and Tooth found herself gazing into a pair of vibrant eyes that popped out more as a purplish-pink color circled around them. The line below the beak also loosened, a small chirp escaping from the being's now formed mouth. On its head, a green feather bloomed out.
"Greetings, my Queen," it called in a quiet voice.
Around it, the other fairies began chirping out as well. Questions such as 'What happened?', 'What is this?', 'How is this possible?', 'What does this mean?' filled the air.
The only one to remain silent was Toothiana, who carefully lifted her empty hand up until the creature calmly kneeled in her palm. The pair stared at each other for what seemed like a long time, one in curiosity and one in excitement.
Finally, voice cutting through everyone else's and silencing them, Tooth began, "Greetings, little tooth being. Can you explain what you are and why this happened?"
"Certainly, my Queen." She gave the large being a soft bow. "I am a tooth fairy, quite literally in this instance. While my sisters are created from your magic, I form from a strong childhood memory contained within a child's tooth. Once all of a child's teeth are collected, some memories are so strong that the magic here can form them into new life. For instance, my child-"
They pointed to the tube in Tooth's other hand, the child's face no longer glowing and staring back at her with a happy expression.
"Was so happy to receive a special doll from her parents that she hardly let it out of her sight. Whenever company was around, she gleefully showed the doll to others and offered it whenever anyone appeared sad. The doll was well taken care of and helped her create such great memories."
Tooth glanced at the other teeth and sure enough, she could make out images of a little girl cheerfully holding a doll. The pair were always together and the girl honestly believed her doll could cure anyone's sadness.
"A few years ago, her father passed away and the family were thrown into grief. My child was very sad, but the doll reminded her of the happy times she spent with him and helped her cope without him. Even now, though my connection to her is now faint, I still sense her happiness on the day she and the doll met."
"That is amazing." Around them, the other fairies chirped in absolute agreement. "A memory so powerful that the child never forgets. What about other types of memories? Such as sadness or fear?"
The little tooth fairy let out a tiny shrug, answering, "I am not sure. I only know the memory must be strong to create another like me."
"Then it's possible there could be more like you later," Tooth said with a smile. "You are the first, but I have a feeling more will follow. In the meantime, are you ready to help us collect the memories of other children and keep them safe?"
The fairy stood up and gave a salute, saying, "Of course, my Queen. There is nothing I would rather do."
Sure enough, as time went on, more fairies were created from those strong childhood memories. Tooth and the others were thankful most formed from very cheerful and bright circumstances. A wonderful holiday experience, the gift of something deemed precious, a spark from seeing something wonderful, becoming great friends with someone, and many more.
Of the fairies created from sad and miserable memories, however, Tooth and they never let that stop them from welcoming their new sister. Tears from a particularly bad sprain, nearly getting lost in a scary forest at night, worrying over a loved one, and saying goodbye to someone special were transformed to something that could help other children. The moments the now grown children would not want to remember still managed to help them find peace in their adult years.
Something they all learned, though, was those fairies' ability to provide more guidance for those going through similar memories to them. A young adult trying to recall a favorite item from their youth would have their memories reawakened by a fairy created from another child's joy at a well-received present and find they could recall a lot more than they realize. Someone feeling fearful of the future would be reminded by a being formed from a particularly nasty experience that things can still turn out alright.
Oddly, if their abilities weren't already, the tooth fairy didn't always provide a complete memory. Sometimes it was just a sensation that person's mind picked up on and uncovered the memory itself. Other times they would see the events of the fairy's creator's memories, but changed in a way that matched up with the afflicted person's.
There was one such incident where a young boy had recently lost part of his leg. The cause of his injury was a car accident, but his memory somehow added in the sensation of something biting down around it. That later idea came from the fairy's influence in that instance, and fortunately that boy also recovered.
Another curious thing is that the fairy couldn't always follow the memory all the way through. The fairies could sense when they were needed and enhance the memory, but they didn't always 'see' how it played out. They just knew what the person remembered what they needed to remember in that instance, and that was that.
It was quite strange how all of that worked. Strange, but effective.
Despite the gift these fairies possessed, no one at the Tooth Palace felt any resentment towards them. All of them had the grand mission of helping children, and each realized they could contribute in their own way.
During a long stretch of time, even as the number of children losing teeth increased, Tooth found she didn't need to split herself off. So many children's memories created many new helpers and the ones already present were enough to keep up with the increase.
However, having so many teeth needing to be collected resulted in Tooth going out into the field less often. Without any of them noticing, she ceased going out altogether and remained in the Palace directing swarms of them out to where they needed to go.
At some point, the creation of new tooth fairies from the memories became so common that little fanfare was given. Each was still given a proper welcome and reception, but there was hardly any time to take a break. Which suited the new fairies just fine since they were just as eager to help fellow sisters in collecting teeth.
This is why, when Tooth witnessed another tooth memory creation taking place, she didn't notice the tooth fairy's golden plume, mismatched eyes, or the small beauty mark under her right eye. What she did notice was the reason for her new helper's creation. The loss of her older brother from a skating accident.
A very traumatic experience for anyone, most especially for someone young. Tooth gave herself a few moments to think of the children, hoping they would find peace somehow.
"Welcome to the chaos, Baby Tooth," Toothiana greeted with a smile, subconsciously running her finger down the smaller fairy's head. The smaller being smiled back, immediately flying out of Tooth's hands, chirping, 'Where do you need me?'
Thus, the years went on. Toothiana and her fairies guarded the children's memories, her other Guardian friends remained steadfast in their tasks, and the allies she once fought and relaxed with went their own ways. Each one protecting and helping the world's children in their own way.
About 300 years after a girl's grief of losing her brother created a slightly abnormal tooth fairy, Toothiana felt Manny call her and the Guardians for an important mission. The news of the children being in danger once more called to mind the last time she and her friends had fought. It's been many years since, but the memory of their first time fighting as a group stirred up the warrior spirit in the Queen.
No matter what, she would fight Pitch Black once more and protect the children's memories. After all, memories can be quite powerful.
And that's the end! Like I said, I just couldn't see Tooth's replication in the books lasting very long given just how many fairies we saw in the movie.
I definitely focused her entire appearance on the movie version instead of in the books, mainly cause she has some features I wouldn't be able to describe well in a story like this. I also based this idea off Baby Tooth's appearance, so it was better for me to stick with movie for visuals and add book elements for world building.
With that, the next part I plan on working on is pretty much Baby Tooth's perspective from the moment she's created to some events in the movie. I feel weird letting uploading this before I completed both parts, but I figure some of y'all may have your own ideas or can point out where I should elaborate.
Also, I feel obvious reference is too obvious, but it popped into my head and matched with what I was trying to describe. If you spotted it right away, hello fellow fan! If not, I still like you for reading this fic!
Anywho, thanks for reading and feel free to leave comments, especially if there's any spelling/grammar errors!