Sarah stood there in disbelief at what had just happened to her. The records Jacob Moreland gave to her, several of her best agents, and to top it all off, several fairies were possibly going to break away from their partners due to her fae association. Despite having some backups of Jacob's diaries, it paled in comparison to the full records.Sarah returned to her office and slumped back into her chair as she now looked up at Aoloa who looked concernedly at her.
"Well? Aren't you going to go too? I think I've broken your trust as well." Sarah groaned.
Aoloa got on her knee and put her face directly in front of Sarah as she gently held her hand.
"I'm not going anywhere. My place is here with you, it's not just because you are the princess and I'm your bodyguard. It's because I care for you, and you are my best friend. I want to help you anyway I can. You know I love you too much to see you hurt." Aoloa said as she gave Sarah a kiss on the cheek.
"Thanks, but I don't really know if you're the person who can help me right now." Sarah admitted as Aoloa looked down sadly then had a thought.
"Your mother! Or your mothers then? I'm sure either one of them could be a great help. Especially now that....several of our agents have left. Listen," Aoloa firmly held both of Sarah's hands now. "Visit your mothers and maybe take some time off until you've worked all this out. I'll try and keep things going here, okay?" Sarah nodded as she let go of Aoloa's hands and walked out of S.P.E.A.R..
Sarah noticed several remaining hunters who had yet to leave the premises, eyeing her as she was making her way out. If the hunters felt so critical about her, she could only imagine how the fairies felt. Sarah decided to see her human mother first as she thought her fae mother might scold her or something worse. Sarah was glad that her human mother recently moved. Annie only lived about an hour or so away from S.P.E.A.R.. She took several deep breaths as she drove up her mother's driveway and made her way to the front door. She was about to knock on the door, when she heard loud laughing from the other side. It surprised her because most of her mother's friends lived out of state and she hadn't talked to any of them in months. Sarah knocked on the door and it opened to not only Annie, but to Sarah's shock, her fairy mother, Glitter, in her human form 'Gale'.
"Sarah, what a pleasant surprise. My day just keeps getting brighter and brighter. First I was surprised to find Gale at my door earlier today having decided to pay her old friend a surprised visit and tell me all about how our daughter learned magic and made herself go from an adult to a baby to an adult again." Annie chuckled.
"Oh, she was the cutest little thing, Annie, I almost envy all those years you had with her." Gale said as she laughed alongside her.
"Now we have you here tonight, what a wonderful family reunion." Annie and Gale then noticed Sarah's face turn red as she began to cry hysterically.
"Sarah, what is it? What's wrong honey?" Annie asked.
"I'm a failure....I'm a failure as a daughter, I'm a failure, as a leader," Sarah then turned to Gale. "And I'm a failure as a princess." Sarah cried as her mothers looked worriedly at each other, then directed Sarah over to a chair for her to sit down in.
"Alright, dear, now, why don't you take a few deep breaths and tell us all about what's happened." Annie said as she put a hand on Sarah's shoulder.
Sarah took a few minutes to compose herself as best as she could. Her tears didn't go away, but she held them back. Sarah then recounted recent events to her mothers. Annie was shocked at what the Moreland boy did and how the young son of the vampire nation was scared for his father. Gale/Glitter sat patiently and listened closely to Sarah then tell her about how Nina Moreland and the church cut themselves off from S.P.E.A.R. and it seemed several fairies might be out of a job because of her actions.
"Sarah, I know this is going to be hard to hear, but..." Gale began to say before Sarah interrupted her.
"Just say it! I'm a terrible daughter, unworthy of being the princess, and no one will ever want me to lead anything again!" Sarah shouted at Gale as she then began to cry furiously and shifted into her fairy form and went into a fetal position on the chair as she rocked back and forth.
Annie and Gale looked at each other with a frown, neither of them had seen Sarah so low before. Gale transformed into her Glitter form and kneeled down next to Sarah stroking her hair.
"My sweet Sarathea, you have nothing to apologize to me for and I certainly don't blame you for what happened." Glitter said as Sarah sniffled her nose.
"You don't?" Sarah asked looking up at her fae mother.
"No, not at all. You're not the only one who's felt like you've let others down. I myself have done that too. When I was just starting out, my own mother, your grandmother, had me negotiate a peace treaty with the pixies which worked out perfectly I thought. But there were many in the court who couldn't stand the pixies and left their positions. I went to my mother on hands and knees and apologized for failing her. She told me: it's alright to fail, don't always expect to succeed." Glitter explained to her daughter as she wiped away her tears.
"Sarah, this may be a little hard to believe. But I felt like I failed someone once a long time ago too." Annie admitted rubbing her neck.
"What? But who mom? Everyone I've known likes you." Sarah said in disbelief.
"Well, you know that show that our friend made? Where we met Gale? There was another person in that show who's backstory wasn't really explained at all." Annie said.
"Oh, yes, Sheila." Glitter said shaking her head.
"Sheila?"
"Well, in the show there are these three cats that can walk and talk. There are probably others out there like that in the supernatural world I'm sure. But back then, there was another girl in our group who I tried my best to get along with, Sheila. Sheila would argue with me and Glitter about your father and she of course had a crush on him as well, but Jon never cared for Sheila's attitude." Annie explained.
"So what happened to her?" Sarah asked as Glitter and Annie looked at each other sadly.
"The Boss's ancestor happened to her. One day, Sheila had enough of Annie and myself and ran off in a bad mood. We searched everywhere we could for her, but unfortunately we didn't find her in time before the Boss's ancestor got to her first. He used a corruption of science and magic and transformed Sheila into an anthropomorphic cat and renamed herself 'She-Lion'. Not the most original name, but for a while she was our enemy." Glitter explained.
"So what did you do to her? Did you help her turn back to normal?" Sarah asked as Glitter shook her head. Annie took the answer on this one.
"Despite everything Gale could try, nothing could help Sheila turn back to normal. She had become that cat woman permanently. Sheila was ashamed of herself at what she had done to hurt and what she had become, but we forgave her for her actions. Gale helped her find the Nekomata, a kind of anthropomorphic cat community to live in and she's been there ever since. But I know Gale still feels ashamed that she couldn't do more to help our old friend." Annie explained.
"So, have you checked in on her?" Sarah asked Glitter.
"When I can, yes. I've made trips to see her whenever I get the chance. She became a totally different person the last time I saw her. She's much older, got married to a nice male Nekomata and they had six kittens to feed. You should have seen them, they were so adorable." Glitter giggled.
Sarah now seemed to calm completely down as she sat back up on the chair.
"Now, how about you turn back to human size and we can talk more?" Glitter suggested as Sarathea nodded and Glitter hovered off the chair for Sarah to have enough room to sit back in her human form.
"Now can I get you anything to eat? Or drink, honey?" Annie asked.
"Actually, I could use something to make me feel a little better. Do you think....both of you could sing 'over the rainbow' to me? I'd like to hear it right now." Sarah asked.
Annie and Gale looked at each other and smiled. They knew Sarah felt a little better, but she still had a long way to go before she felt like her old self. Annie and Gale got ready to sing their daughter her favorite song as the rest of the night would have them entertain each other as a family.