A/N: Yay, Once Upon A Time!
I didn't get into this show until about two months ago (thanks to my brother for saving all the episodes on DVR!), but once I did, I totally fell in love with Dr. Archie "Jiminy" Hopper. He's the show's nerd (a trait I love), he's morally sound (duh), and he's just so damn cute! (Quickly after I started watching OUAT I scoured YouTube for as many movie clips featuring Raphael Sbarge as possible. He's older than my parents but at this point I don't think I care).)
Anyway. I have read and loved almost every Archie-centric fic on this website. There's some really great writing for him, but I'm not really feeling the pairings that people have put him on board with. I don't mean to bash anyone's favorite pairing. My feelings are just that we haven't seen Jiminy Cricket's true love on the show yet.
So I decided I would do something I hate and write an OC-centric fic. Well, actually, does it really count as an OC if I'm adapting a preestablished fairy tale into the show's style? Because that's what I did. I thought through fairy tales that haven't been used until I found a girl whom I thought made sense with Jiminy Cricket: Thumbelina! Honestly, I initially chose her because Jiminy has an insect's body and I thought it would be less creepy if she was his size. But now I think I have a pretty nice plot in my head that weaves Thumbelina and her Storybrooke counterpart into canon believably.
Blargh. Long Author's Note is long. How about we get on to the story? I really hope you like it. Please R&R!
She ran forward and there was a tree. She turned to the left, and there was a tree. This entire forest was nothing but trees, and her head was beginning to hurt. She'd searched for hours, and although the day had started out sunny and promising, it was now dark and the wind was freezing her to the bone. The girl was starting to think that the woman she'd met outside the castle walls had lied to her – she had seemed rather smug. But it was too late for regrets. If she didn't find this cabin soon, she would be lost in the deep part of the forest forever.
Soon she found herself out of breath. She let instinct take over and fell to her knees, searching around with her hands for a nice mossy patch, which she found under a large tree. She felt a mouse-sized hole in the knot right above her head and smiled. There would be some acorns in the hole for her breakfast the next morning.
The girl gave a ragged sigh as she settled in between the roots of the tree. Her feral lifestyle made her comfortable sleeping in the woods. But she'd kind of been hoping that tonight would be different.
"Oh, Rumpelstiltskin, whoever you are, let me find you," she prayed as her eyes began to droop.
What she hadn't expected was an answer.
"Looking for me, are you, dearie?" tittered a voice.
"How did you know I would be looking for you?" the girl asked as she looked around in wonder. So maybe Rumpelstiltskin did exist, but that lady had really lied. Rumpelstiltskin didn't live in a tiny wooden cabin in the middle of the woods. This whole time, what she'd been looking for was the huge mansion at the forest's edge that she'd blindly walked past so many times that day.
"I have my informants," said Rumpelstiltskin. "Please, have a seat." He pulled a fluffy chair away from the table, and the girl sat graciously. She felt as though she would melt, it was so soft. "Care for a cup of tea?"
"Oh, yes, thank you." The girl smiled at the strange little man. True, his impish grin was disquieting. And he was filthy, but so was she. He was nowhere near as terrifying as she'd been warned.
Rumpelstiltskin went into the next room, strutting back in only moments later with two fine china teacups in hand. They were still piping hot and steaming. The girl reached out eagerly for her cup, but Rumpelstiltskin yanked it away from her just as she was beginning to feel its warmth.
"What is your name, dearie? I never extend my hospitality to someone if I don't know her name."
The girl bit her lip. "I don't have a name," she whispered.
Rumpelstiltskin tilted his head. "An orphan, I see," he said, and for a moment the girl feared that she would be kicked out to be on her own again. To her relief, he let out a disjointed chuckle and slowly handed her the cup of tea. "I have rules, dearie, but as I made them, I can break them. Lucky for you, you've gained my pity."
The girl grinned. She gently took the hot teacup from his hand and inhaled. She smelled sweet cloves. She never had cloves.
She was just about to take a sip when Rumpelstiltskin spoke again. "But of course, I need something to call you – how else am I to speak to you? As you are now in my debt, I feel it's only fair that I am the one to name you."
The girl wrinkled her brow and set the teacup on the table. "Oh?" she said hoarsely. That wasn't what she'd expected when she'd gone on her search. To have a near stranger give her a name seemed far too impersonal.
"Yes," Rumpelstiltskin said. He took a step back and looked her painstakingly up and down. Under the scrutiny of his gilt eyes, she felt oddly exposed for a girl who wore a dress of leaves. "I've got it," he said after a moment. "Your name shall be Thumbelina."
"Thumbelina?" The girl couldn't help but laugh. "That's unusual."
"I believe it suits you, dearie. Now drink your tea and we'll talk business."
Thumbelina took a sip and turned to face the table. But to her surprise, Rumpelstiltskin did not join her at the table, instead choosing to sit on a stool by the large spinning wheel in the corner. "Aren't you going to sit at the table?"
"I prefer to spin while I talk," he said plainly. He had already started working the thread – or what appeared to be thread. When Thumbelina looked more closely, she saw that it was going in straw and coming out pure gold.
"Thumbelina, I assume you wish for me to remedy your little parental problem for you," said Rumpelstiltskin.
"Oh, could you, please?" Thumbelina begged. "I want a real family."
"Is that so? I take it that you, a girl whose parents died so soon after her birth, would have found at least someone to fill the roles. Otherwise, how could you have survived?"
Thumbelina bit her lip as she thought. "Maybe I've had some friends," she said finally. As a young girl, she would sneak into town and talk to children her age. When they grew and began work, she formed bonds with animals she met – bears, squirrels, birds, and more, all of them quickly killed by huntsmen. "They're all gone now."
"How sad." Rumpelstiltskin chuckled again as he lifted his foot from the wheel's pedal. "Tell me, Thumbelina," he said, rising from his stool, "how did you get so good at hiding? When the Queen told me I should be expecting a guest, I went on a search for you. That took much longer than usual."
"The Queen?"
"Yes, dearie. The Evil Queen." He chuckled.
Thumbelina's throat went dry and she pushed away her tea. Only then did she realize what she could be getting herself into. An evil queen? How could she be so trusting? "I'm sorry," she said. "Someone made a mistake – I don't think I should be here."
Head ducked, she began to run for the door, but Rumpelstiltskin's chilling voice stopped her short. "I was only complimenting how marvelously sneaky you are. I must say, it's a talent!" She heard the clack of his boots as stepped towards her. "Could be put to good use." Two more clicks of his heels. "Have you, dearie, ever considered the gentleman's art of thievery?"
Such a suggestion! Fighting her instinct to run and hide, Thumbelina slowly pivoted to face him with a face as serious as stone. "Is that what you assume?" she said in a pained hush. "Just because I didn't have anyone to raise me, because I'm lonely and always have been, didn't make me a thief. I'm resourceful, but at least I have a conscience."
"You're a good girl, then," snickered Rumpelstiltskin. "In that case, I suggest you stop taking advice from evil queens and start listening to your new family." With a flick of his hand, he swiped something from his pocket – a tiny seed.
"What . . . so you'll do it?" Against her better judgement, Thumbelina let a nervous smile flicker across her face.
"But of course. You'll find I'm always keen to do favors, dearie," said Rumpelstiltskin. "And besides, I believe I have the perfect family for you. An old widower, desperate for a child to raise, who uses his hobbies to fill the void. He came to me when he realized that magic was the only way to get what he wanted."
"He wants a child to raise? I'm twenty-five years old."
"That's where this comes in," replied Rumpelstiltskin, gesturing to the seed between his fingers. He picked Thumbelina's discarded teacup up from the table and dropped it in. It dissolved in a sparkling steam. "Take this potion and your new daddy won't be able to tell you from a wee toddler."
Thumbelina's eyes were slowly widening in awe. Magic was something positively novel to her. "It will turn me into a little girl?"
"You could say that." Rumpelstiltskin chuckled.
To be young again! Thumbelina grinned and scurried before the little man. "Oh, thank you," she began as she reached out for the tea-turned-potion.
But before she could grab it, Rumpelstiltskin yanked the cup away. "Before you drink this, it is my obligation to make sure you know that all magic comes with a price. That price, of course, includes my fee."
Thumbelina withdrew. "I don't have money."
"It needn't be money, dearie, merely something of value – and I believe you have just what I need."
Thumbelina's eyebrows knit, her lips parting quietly in bafflement. Not only did she not have money, she had absolutely nothing that could be of monetary value to anyone. Nevertheless, Rumpelstiltskin was looking at her with an air of absolute certainty. She couldn't imagine what he might want, but whatever it was, it couldn't take so much away from her that she would refuse. Unless her life or virginity was at stake, she would make any trade.
Mustering as much confidence as she could, she swallowed and said, "What would that be?"
"You seem to be in possession of many leaves," Rumpelstiltskin said. His eyes moved up and down her body, and, full of dread, she let her eyes follow.
He was talking about her clothing. Thumbelina pressed her hands flat against the thigh of her dress, fearing that perhaps her virginity was a part of the deal.
Seeing this, Rumpelstiltskin chuckled. "Oh, no need to worry, dearie, it's just for a spell I wish to try. It would be so much more of a hassle to go out into the woods and gather the leaves individually, wouldn't it?"
Thumbelina didn't budge.
"If it's any consolation, I won't take the dress until you're already with your new family, when you'll have all the clothing you need. And I promise to leave you one leaf."
Slowly, Thumbelina nodded. Because she had nothing, he was literally taking the clothes off her back. It seemed fair enough. She just wanted to meet this father as soon as possible. "Okay."
Rumpelstiltskin's mouth crept into a crafty grin. "You've made the right choice, Thumbelina. Now," he added, offering her the teacup, "drink up."
Graciously, she took it and brought it to her mouth. She let it rest there, grazing her upper lip, as she savored the moment and anticipated what would come after. The smell alone of the life-changing concoction had her dizzy with its magical potency. Soon it became so overwhelming that she couldn't stall any longer. She gulped down half of it.
The taste hadn't even reached the back of her throat before the headache began. Thumbelina felt as if her skull was trying to squeeze her brain until it burst. All over the rest of her body, her skin began to feel as if it were stretched too tight. Don't worry, it's just how magic works, she tried to reassure herself. But there was no denying the pain in her chest as her heart pumped blood faster and faster.
Through her growing, she attempted one final grateful smile in Rumpelstiltskin's direction. She never got to see his reaction. The girl's face was only inches from the floor when she blacked out, her last thought being how strange that was – she hadn't felt at all like she was falling.
When Jiminy arrived at the house, he found Gepetto in the same place where he'd left him, standing anxiously over the little makeshift garden. As he landed on the old man's shoulder, he examined the afternoon's progress. Fresh green buds had sprouted in patches around the dirt pile, but it was still essentially nothing but a dirt pile, with not a flower in sight.
"I told you, Gepetto, it's not going to happen right away," said the cricket into his friend's ear.
Gepetto turned his head, evidently startled to find someone else there. "Rumpelstiltskin told me that they were magic seeds. You do remember, don't you?"
Jiminy lowered his head and frowned at the no-good trickster's name. It was difficult to see how much Gepetto wanted a child. Even the story of how his parents were killed wasn't enough to eliminate the Dark One as a resource. It was too late for Jiminy to convince him otherwise, so the best he could do was try to quell Gepetto's impatience. "He did say that, but just because it's quicker doesn't mean it won't take time."
"I know, Jiminy. I know." Gepetto put his hand over his forehead in distress. "I... I simply don't think it's fair. When you stare at puppets all day, with their childlike faces, they start to look like real children. It's the most heartbreaking feeling when you wait for them to speak and realize that you're imagining it all, that they're lifeless dolls and can't replace the thing you always wanted but couldn't have . . . " Specks of tears were forming in the corners of his bloodshot eyes, an occurrence that had recently been happening more often than normal.
Jiminy sighed and fluttered his wings in sympathy. "A watched pot never boils, and yet you've been standing here all day. I think that what you need is to get some sleep."
"No, I can't do that! There's going to be a storm tonight. I can see it making its way over the forest. What if it happens tonight? The child could get hurt!"
"Listen to yourself, Gepetto! You're hysterical!" Gepetto began to open his mouth in protest, but Jiminy cut him off. "Why don't I watch the garden overnight?" he said. "I will do whatever I can to help it does grow – after all, I have an umbrella." He pulled his umbrella out from under his arm and opened it to back up his point.
Gepetto responded with silence.
"If this is meant to work, you'll know when it happens. There's no reason to wait."
Gepetto stared longingly at the little garden plot. Then, with a sigh, he blinked away his tears and turned away. Jiminy lifted himself off of his shoulder and watched to poor old man trod into his house.
As he settled onto a blade of grass, Jiminy heard thunder booming, closer than it had been all that day. "Don't worry, little flower. I won't let it get you," he chirped to himself. He huddled under his umbrella, not taking his eyes off the patch of dirt.
Over the next hour, the color of the sky faded into a dark blue-black. The air around Jiminy grew tepid, and finally, the rain started to fall. It started out as what a human would consider a nonthreatening drizzle, which to a cricket is about the width of his arm. But even as the raindrops grew until they were the size of his head, Jiminy didn't budge. Not only did he have his umbrella, but he was seeing something so mesmerizing that he couldn't look away.
The rain was causing the buds in the garden to grow at a rapid pace. From little green stems they sprouted leaves and soon towered over every neighboring blade of grass. Making out as much as he could in the dark, Jiminy watched as the plants became silhouettes of roses and azaleas and pansies, all surrounding one gigantic tulip whose colors were so bright, he could make out its orange and violet pattern through the shadows.
Jiminy buzzed off the blade of grass, forgetting that he needed to let Gepetto sleep. Fortunately, the wind kept him from getting very far before the tulip's petals folded away, revealing something that shocked Jiminy enough that he let himself fall to the ground.
Inside the tulip, there was a human girl sleeping. Her hair was neatly combed and she looked perfectly healthy besides the fact that she couldn't have been more than two inches tall. Wrapped around her like a dress was a single brown leaf.
A/N: The next chapter will take place in Storybrooke, and we'll meet Thumbelina's real life counterpart!
Reviews are appreciated!