This story is almost at an end; I would estimate there to be one, possibly two more chapters after this one. Right now it's looking more along the lines of one more. I HOPE to be writing more Fairy Godmother fanfics after this one, but I can almost guarantee that they will be one-shots instead of chapter fics. I've pretty much written the major ideas I've had about her history and future. We'll see!
If any of you are still out there reading this...please please PLEASE review! I just want to make sure I still have readers so I will be motivated to finish this!
The night of Shrek and Fiona's wedding ball had spurned a flurry of activity in Far Far Away. While the guest list wasn't quite as extensive as the one for the first ball had been, there was still a great deal of hoopla and excitement surrounding the event; everyone in the kingdom always made a huge fuss over balls of any kind, especially the press. It was the nature of their culture.
Most days, the Fairy Godmother was very glad that the people were so enamoured with glamour and glitz; it made them all the more susceptible to covet a life of fancy, which meant they were always eager to fork over whatever price she asked in order to get what they wanted. However, this was not most days. Her public failure made her slightly self-conscious about appearing at the ball, although she would never admit those feelings to anyone. More and more, she was beginning to wish she had never taken the job of fairy godmother in the first place. Sure, it had been a very lucrative business for her, but in the past few days, she had begun to realize just how lonely a job it was. Her darling son had only returned to her a short while ago, and already he was leaving her and going out almost every night with a mystery woman whose identity he refused to reveal yet. He was no longer a little boy content to spend nights sitting at home with his mother.
To top everything else off, she couldn't get Frederick out of her thoughts no matter how hard she tried. She hadn't heard another word concerning him since he unexpectedly showed up at her cottage door; she wasn't sure if he had even remained in Far Far Away after that night. Some small part of her hoped that he would appear at Shrek and Fiona's wedding ball; another part of her hoped she would never have to set eyes on him again.
As she leaned towards the mirror to apply the finishing touches to her makeup, she forced all thoughts of Frederick, Charming, and the citizens of Far Far Away out of her head. She had a show to do.
"Just stick with me, doll," Lillian's sister, Rose, murmured under her breath as she looped her arm, dangling with bracelets, through Frederick's. "All she has to do is see us together, and she'll be so jealous, she won't care who I am as long as I'm away from you so she can have her shot."
"I'm really not sure this is going to work," Frederick replied hesitantly, following Rose's lead as she led him out into the courtyard. The place was already filled with people waiting for Shrek and Fiona to be officially presented to the kingdom, although there was no sign of the Fairy Godmother. "She has quite a temper, and with the power she has...angering her wouldn't really be a good idea."
"Nonsense. Trust me, I know exactly what I'm doing," the red haired woman replied with a smirk. Sighing, Frederick nodded obediently and followed her to the punch table.
In a darker corner of the courtyard, Charming sat at a patio table with Doris, glancing up every now and then to make sure his mother was nowhere to be seen.
"You're going to have to tell her sometime," Doris snapped in her gruff voice. Charming reached across the table to absently pat her hand, which was almost the same size as his own...not at all like the dainty, tapering fingers of the princesses his mother had always tried to set him up with.
"Now, darling, I promised I would tell her tonight, didn't I?" he asked, flashing his legendary white smile at her out of habit. "But we must wait for the right moment."
At that particular moment, Charming caught sight of his mother's elaborate pink carriage swooping over the courtyard and disappearing over the wall, undoubtedly so she could make a proper entrance down the stairs. His smile faltered, and he cringed slightly.
"Whatsamatter?" Doris asked suspiciously, pulling her hand away from his and crossing her arms over her chest.
"Nothing at all, darling, nothing at all!" Charming reassured, planting that grin back on his face. "But...let's sit out the first few dances, hmm? It isn't good for the digestion to dance so soon after drinking punch." With that, he raised his nearly-full glass in a silent toast to his ladyfriend, and she, still enamoured by him in spite of everything, smiled in return.
"Kyle, go in through the servant's passage and make sure you get to the stage before I do. I want to start this show off right," the Fairy Godmother ordered through the window of her limosene as it landed. To her disappointment, there was not nearly as large of a crowd waiting along the red carpet as there had been for Charming and Fiona's fake wedding ball; apparently the excitement that the press had been trying to spurn for the wedding ball hadn't had quite the effect that it had seemed to. No doubt the thought of a bonafide ogre being welcomed into the royal family with open arms turned the star-crazed people of Far Far Away off a little bit. Besides, the crowds had gotten a glimpse of most of their local celebrities the week before; the excitement of the last ball hadn't worn off enough for them to be excited about this one.
"Poor planning on Harold's part," the Fairy Godmother muttered to herself, then plastered on a smile guaranteed to dazzle the crowd. When she opened the door, a flood of relief washed through her when she was greeted with cheers and not jeers. The people of the kingdom still loved her; she would have them eating out of the palm of her hand in no time at all. Waving and smiling, she fluttered down the red carpet and through the doors that would eventually lead her to the inner courtyard, not bothering with her disappearing trick; once again, it was something too fresh in the minds of the people to be exciting.
As she flew through the nearly-empty halls, ignoring the guards who nodded politely as she passed, a slight twinge of doubt pricked at her mind. The red-carpet crowd was easy enough to please; they would fawn over anyone with a small amount of glitter and power. The crowd in the courtyard was what she really had to worry about. If she couldn't prove to them that all was forgiven between herself and the royal family...well, it would certainly be damaging to her already devastated business.
Perhaps she should try a different approach than what she had been planning for her entrance. She had considered flying in through the doors at the top of the stairs and breaking out into song before the crowd even noticed her there, but now, in her last-minute reflection, she realized that might be a little too reminiscent of Shrek's bold entrance on horseback to win the crowd over. No, she was going to need something a little subtler...something that would make her look somewhat humble without causing her to lose any of her glamour. After all, she was determined to see that the evening was more about her than about Shrek and Fiona. If she just came through the doors quietly, made her way over to the stage without much fuss...she could test out her audience with the first song and decide what they would be most receptive to. It would work so much better than her original plan!
It was going to have to suffice, at any rate; she had already reached the big double doors to the courtyard. Nodding firmly to herself, she pushed the door open and fluttered out to the top of the stairs...and then she made the mistake of glancing down them.
The scene was painfully reminiscent of another ball more than two decades before: there stood Frederick at the bottom of the stairs, his brilliant blue eyes suddenly locked into her pale green ones. Only tonight, instead of feeling her heart soar at the sight of him waiting for her, she felt her heart crumble. Frederick was standing at the bottom of the staircase with a beautiful, giggling redheaded woman on his arm.
Not even caring if anyone had spotted her entrance or not, the Fairy Godmother turned quickly and flew out the door she had just entered, hot tears blinding her sight.