Nova

Nova is a character on ABC's Once Upon a Time. She is portrayed by guest star Amy Acker, and her counterpart is Astrid.

Nova is a fairy whose greatest wish is to become a fairy godmother. She runs an errand for the Blue Fairy; carrying a large bag of fairy dust to meet up with her in the clouds. The Blue Fairy warns her to be careful, as fairy dust is part of the magic that runs the world, and thus a year's supply of it was very precious. Nova says she hopes to be a fairy godmother by this time next year. The Blue Fairy laughs, calls Nova a dreamer, and flies away, leaving her dejected.

She flies back down to the mines to get some more fairy dust. However, the machine that is filling her bag malfunctions and threatens to spill fairy dust everywhere. When she cannot turn it off, she calls for help, and a dwarf by the name of Dreamy comes to her aid. She thanks him for his help, but before she can fly away, the bag of fairy dust is scooped up and put on the assembly line heading for the furnace.

After some quick thinking, Dreamy jumps up to the assembly line and barely manages to save the bag of fairy dust from being incinerated. Nova thanks him again and calls him her hero. She introduces herself and, after a short pause, subtly invites Dreamy to accompany her to Firefly Hill that night. However, Dreamy does not understand it, says that he wants her to have fun, and walks away. Nova leaves, albeit a little disheartened.

That night, she is waiting on Firefly Hill when Dreamy suddenly runs up. She admits that she was afraid that he wouldn't come, and the two proceed to have a discussion about seeing the world. Suddenly, the fireflies light up and she becomes so excited at the sight of them that she kisses him. The two are in love, and agree to meet the next night after Nova has delivered the fairy dust and then sail away and travel the world together. The next evening, Dreamy packs his things and leaves his brothers, the seven dwarves, but is stopped by the Blue Fairy and another dwarf, Bossy, on his way to Firefly Hill.

The Blue Fairy points out Nova's dream to become a fairy godmother, and Bossy claims that dwarves cannot fall in love. They convince Dreamy that his relationship with Nova wasn't the real thing, that it was an illusion, a dream. Dreamy goes to Firefly Hill, where Nova is waiting. She gives him a spyglass, where he sees the large sailing ship that the two would use to travel the world.

Dreamy tells Nova that they cannot be together, and Nova figures out very quickly that he has spoken with the Blue Fairy. She becomes upset and demands to know what she said to him, but Dreamy firmly replies that they needed to stick with their own kind, and walks away, leaving Nova in tears.

Nova is not seen again, but was mentioned again after Dreamy becomes Grumpy. He describes to Snow White what took place after his separation from Nova as he was lamenting his "lost love". He tells Snow White he lost the woman he loved, but tried to win her back by buying a diamond with all his wages in order to propose to her. But, Grumpy was tricked and the diamond given to him was a stolen one. Thus, he took the blame (though he was no thief) and ended up locked in the King's dungeon thereafter for the theft.

During the Curse, Astrid is first introduced while she is hanging up lights for Storybrooke's annual Miner's Day festival, a festival where the nuns make their money by selling candles, when some of the glitter she was using to decorate falls on a man below. She apologizes and finds that the man was Leroy, the infamous town drunk. Leroy brushes her apologies off and helps her with the lights. He discovers that she was setting them up incorrectly, and fixes it. Astrid thanks him for his efforts.

At the church, Leroy goes in to volunteer as Astrid is having a conversation with Mother Superior. Mother Superior reveals that Astrid had accidentally spent all of the nuns' money, including their rent to Mr. Gold. Leroy goes up to a distraught Astrid and vows that he will sell all of the candles, to her delight.

During the first day of the festival, no one buys the nuns' candles. Thus, Leroy and Mary Margaret Blanchard, his coworker, go door-to-door to sell them. That strategy fails, and Leroy ends up hiding the candles by the docks, near his boat. Astrid brings him food as thanks, but discovers the candles underneath the tarp.

Astrid calls him out for lying and leaves. The second night of the festival, Leroy takes out the town's power and manages to sell all of the candles that way. He goes to Astrid personally and gives her the entire amount - five thousand dollars - which renews her trust and admiration in him.