It felt like an eternity that she had waited to hold a child of her own in her arms once more. It was a longing that lay deep in her soul, restless and unyielding, one that she had tried to shake over the years to no avail. Her heart still ached with sorrow when she thought about her first son and the way she had been so violently ripped away from him, banished into the empty chasm that was the Dark Realm. How cruel did one have to be to take a mother from her child when her child was so young? Especially when her only crime had been to love him so much that she wished to save him from his ultimate fate. She had spent her first few decades in the Dark Realm trying to remember those few short weeks she had spent around her son, trying to commit his face to memory. How many times had she seen those bright blue eyes staring up at her in her mind, or thought about the way his nose had crinkled slightly when he drifted off to sleep while she sang softly? With each passing decade, the memories became less vivid, until it became a struggle to pull them to the forefront of her mind, but the love that she felt, the unbroken bond between herself and her son, lingered on, fuelling her existence, giving her a reason to live in the millennia of isolation she suffered before the Darkling stepped into her life.

He had brought many things to her realm when he had made the decision to stay. Friendship. An end to her loneliness. Eventually, love. But perhaps the most important thing he had brought with him when he stepped through those shadows into the Dark Forest was hope. Just by the simple act of entering her realm, he had sparked hope within the lonely fairy. Hope that she might eventually find a way to be free of the shackles of the realm. Hope that she might never again have to be alone. He drew away the shadows that fogged her mind and soul, chasing away the depression that had eaten away at her for the last thousand years. He brought life back to her, the hope he had sparked helped to control the dark power that raged its way through her and eased away the years of emptiness that had come before. Everything fell into a nice rhythm. Her realm no longer felt like a prison but became a home as she fell into a satisfying life, full of love. The Realm continued to grow around her as she and the Darkling brought people in and she styled herself as it's Queen. It seems as though she had everything she desired, yet within her core, there was that constant desire, the constant need to mother.

The happiness she had felt when she had fallen pregnant with Adryk had been beyond anything she had ever felt. She had been happy enough with just her husband at her side, but her son was like the cherry on the top of a perfect cake, a gift she had waited millennia for. The promise of him had been the drive she had needed to fight to gain her freedom, to try everything she could to free herself from the hold of the Dark Realm. Worry and anxiety were ever-present throughout her pregnancy, but even they couldn't dim the light Adryk had fuelled within her. Each passing day, she found the love within her building, growing so intense that it surprised her. Each movement, each kick, each slight flutter that she felt just made her love him more and even the moments where he moved so much that he kept her from sleep, or the times she spent crippled over with sickness, every second of them was worth it. Her pregnancy felt different from her first, there were no threats from her body, no moments when she was certain she was going to lose him. He first pregnancy had felt like a constant battle between her body and her child, but her body seemed to embrace Adryk perfectly.

When her son was finally placed into her arms months later, she couldn't help but stare at him in silence for a few moments, drinking him in. Adryk stared back at her, those big blue eyes that would eventually fade to brown staring into her very soul, and a deep connection between mother and son was created. Every moment of his life, Fiona's love for him only grew, surrounding him completely, embracing him, likely smothering him in ways she did not intend. Along with his sister and his father, Adryk became her life, there was nothing she wouldn't do for him. Even after his magic began to show, and light burst from her son like a flame, her love for him only grew. He wasn't like her, nor was he like his father. He was a symbol of the love that existed between the Fairy and the Shadow Summoner. The Product of True Love.

That power, however, became the reason that her son felt out of place within the Dark Realm. The very nature of the realm could be oppressive, snuffing out light where it found it, keeping it restrained. It had been the reason that Gideon hadn't been able to reach his full heroic potential, and why the darkness had grown within Odette during her time there, but Fiona had never wanted it to hurt her son or stop him from becoming who he wanted to be. She had done all that she could to protect him from the oppression of his light, but the Dark Realm had always been stronger than her and Adryk's spirit was slowly being overpowered. The summer following his 14th birthday, she had noticed a change in her son, as though the realm's ability to overwhelm had come crashing down on him. He became withdrawn and isolated, and she could see the same loneliness she had once felt in his eyes.

She made her way slowly to his room, pausing in the doorway. Inside, she could hear the breaking of wood and the shattering of glass, followed by a loud sob that chilled her very core. She slowly stepped inside, greeted by the sight of her son on his knees, his body shaking as he cried. Moving across the room, she sank down beside him, ignoring the broken furniture and the smashed mirror, ignoring the rage that had clearly been unleashed by her usually cheerful son. It was nothing that couldn't be repaired by a simple wave of her hand.
"I hate being different" he had said softly, allowing himself to be pulled into his mother's arms. Fiona brushed her fingers through his dark curls, pressing her lips to his temple.
"You're not different. You just have a unique power.." Fiona's fingers continued to stroke his hair. It had calmed him when he was younger when he woke in terror in the night and she soothed him back to sleep. She just hope it worked the same now.
"I want to disappear. I don't belong here, with you and Papachka."
"Please don't hurt me like this... You belong here. You're my son, I love you. Your father loves you." Fiona felt as though the breath had left her chest. She wanted to take away everything that hurt her son, take away his pain and his insecurities, but she felt helpless. "I promise, you won't feel this way forever.."