Author's note: Title is a play on the multiple definitions of the word ransom, as in redemption from sin, title is subject to change, however. My first fanfic, no beta but i don't think there are too many mistakes. Eventually m/m romance if you don't like it, don't read it and certainly don't whine about it. Constructive criticism always appreciated . please don't be too mean. Most chapters will have a song accompanying them with lyrics, but the most appropriate one for this was Moon Trance by Lindsey Stirling which unfortunately has no lyrics. I don't own Fable 1, 2 or 3 sadly, all rights and characters to respective owners, etc. Rating subject to change as I update chapters.
CH. 1
As long as he lived, Arren would never forget the the day he met Ben Finn. It was seared into his memory just as soundly as his last day at the castle before he left, and his last words to his brother before he did so. Partly because that was the day it really occurred to him just what he was attempting to do, and partly because of the man himself.
He wasn't entirely sure just when it hit him, but the day he and Walter spent weaving through the blighted Hole beneath the ruined monorail tracks he found himself thinking about his brother. As he and Walter trekked and slew Hobbes in what was predominantly a companionable silence, his mind wandered from the past to his potential futures.
He had been so focused on his ultimate goal of bettering things for his people that it hadn't really clicked in his mind until he really focused on it, that he was going to dethrone a king. His brother. He was going to be once he was, he imagined he would be expected to pass judgment on his brother, among a great many other things. Something about that just didn't sit right with him, especially since Theresa had shown him a vision of his brother the day before, what she termed "the truth."
He thought back to his childhood, to Logan's childhood. His brother wasn't a bad person. That was the hardest part of this whole ordeal. When they were younger they played with the servant's children. Their father, being a man from humble roots had no care for the propriety, or rather lack of, of that. He could recall multiple occasions when Logan gave his toys to the other children and didn't utter a word when he was taken to task for "losing" or breaking them himself. His rather unorthodox youthful rebellion involved giving various decorative valuables to local beggars and one occasion where he let all of the horses out of the stables insisting they should be allowed to roam freely. Memories of his brother's stubborn frown and clenched jaw on these occasions brought a faint smirk to his face even as the stench of Hobbes and putrid water assaulted his senses and burned his eyes.
His reverie halted momentarily as he and Walter approached a cliff parallel to one riddled with Hobbes and old explosives. They dispatched the hobbes quickly. Arren swinging the Moon King's Hammer about with practiced ease. Walter jabbed and swung his trusted blade about with a spry agility belying his outward façade of an aging soldier, all the while commentating their battle.
Some of his compliments had Arren's heart swelling with a pride he would deny to his dying breath, others had him fighting an eye roll. The commentary ended as soon as the last of the Hobbes were downed by an explosion some twenty paces away. Arren sheathed his father's pistol with a twirl and turned to face the old soldier behind him.
"Do you think it's true? What they say about Hobbes, I mean."
"I'm not sure," Walter replied, stroking his beard, "Your father mentioned something about it once, but he refused to speak more of it, just got this far away look in his eye."
After that they walked a bit longer in a relative silence only broken by the sound of dripping water. Arren became once more absorbed in his thoughts, trailing a ways behind Walter, his normally sharp eyes and keen sense unfocused. He startled as the sound of his own voice as words formed from idle thoughts came unbidden from his mouth.
"Do you remember the day Logan got that scar on his lip?" He asked, his tone indicating just how far away his thoughts were. As soon as the words left his mouth unbidden, however, he inwardly cursed himself for his lapse.
"Aye. It was a right scandal, that. You boys never did say what caused that scuffle; what made you hit him."
"Oi! He got me good too, don't make it sound like a one sided fight!" His false outrage came as a desperate attempt to change the topic. He had certainly stepped in it big this time; he really needed to remember not to space off around other people.
He never did find out if his attempt would have come to fruition as he was saved by the bell, as it were, when they battled their way through yet another group of Hobbes in what appeared to be the ruins of an old colosseum. After that they made their way out swiftly, Arren focusing on keeping his mind in the present.
They slogged through the muggy marsh with comparative ease, Walter slightly more grateful to be in the humid swamp than in a dank cave. Arren took deep lungfuls of the warm air, taking in the more pleasant scents of damp earth and forest growth.
He found a more advanced pistol in a rotting chest as they rounded the gully to see what appeared to be a rather dilapidated ruin of a fort. In fact, the only thing that gave it away as a fort at all was the soldier standing in the open archway above the gate and the battered flags to either side of him.
Arren followed his mentor into the fort with some trepidation at seeing his brother's soldiers within. His apprehension quickly melted away, however, upon seeing the interaction between Walter and the man he referred to as Major Swift. He stood silently beside Walter watching the exchange and looking over the men in front of them, especially the rough young soldier nearest him.
His first thought when the blond spoke was how much his voice reminded him of the smooth yet rough sound of river rocks scraping together. His second thought followed quickly on the heels of the first as the man finished speaking. I'd certainly like to proposition you. Some part of his mind whispered. He very nearly tripped over his own feet as the words almost left his mouth. He hadn't even realized he was moving until then. He could've kicked himself just then. At least his second wayward thought of the day remained safely contained within his head. His word before thought process has reasserted itself with a vengeance since he had left the castle. As it was he simply dug his jagged nails into his palms and focused on the conversation as they came to a stop.
He blushed faintly when Walter told them just who he was so nonchalantly, but sighed internally with relief when neither of them visibly reacted to the news or seemed fazed by it. He nodded to Walter and Swift when he was dismissed. He did as he was bid and briefly spoke with and observed each of the soldiers in the fleet. He wondered in passing at the limited number of soldiers in the rag-tag section of the brigade and why there were only seventeen soldiers there, and that was generously counting the three fresh graves to one side of the fort.
He cringed to think of what his brother expected of this situation. He shook his head to banish the thought and made his way up the stairs Ben had disappeared up to the mortar, idly wondering when he had picked up the man's name while lost in his thoughts.
What followed, or rather intersected, his practice with the mortar was something he would later term a night in hell. Between Private Jammy's practiced loading and Ben's encouragement behind him they wiped out dozens upon dozens of hollow men but the hordes kept coming. When they finally stopped appearing he thought for a moment that it was over, at least until Major Swift began shouting below them.
Arren vaulted from the wall quickly, leaving Ben and Jammy to follow. He was in full adrenaline fueled battle mode by the time he sprinted to the front line and pulled his massive crystal hammer from his back. He flexed his fingers around the handle and shifted his stance, poised to swing and sling the spell he could feel itching to escape his icy and tingling fingertips. When the gate finally broke, sending the soldiers holding it shut to the ground as the wisps hit the earth, Arren flew into a well practiced dance of turns and swings.
He dispatched dozens of hollow men, switching between hammer and pistol with expert ease. He kept his body between the bulk of their enemies and the foot soldiers fighting alongside him, sticking especially close to the private he had thought he'd heard referred to as Lips, who was unwisely fighting with the lute he had been playing. Arren wasn't certain if it was because he lacked a proper weapon or if there was some reason behind it, but he didn't have time to ponder it just then.
He picked off the handful of hollow men straggling at the front of the fort and turned about in a mighty swing just in time to draw his pistol and get a head-shot in on a hollow man poised to deliver a likely fatal blow to the back of Captain Finn's head. The soldier had not noticed it creep up behind him as he picked undead off from the small group battling Swift, Walter and several soldiers in the back corner.
Ben froze for a moment and looked to the ground at his heels with a sudden dread he had not felt previously. Upon seeing the pile of bones that had been a hollow man still settling after they fell, he turned to stare at Arren for what seemed like a long moment as their eyes met across the courtyard.
It was Arren who broke the contact, much to his own remorse. Grinning like a maniac at the wide-eyed Ben as he turned back to the battle waging around threw a spell at a wayward hollow man fighting Trevor in the front corner as he turned only to come face to face with the skeletal face and glowing eye sockets of a hollow man. Before he could even blink he heard a whistle just inches from his ear and the hollow man's raised blade clattered to the ground as it fell to pieces. He blinked several times and smirked at the tell-tale whooping of the young captain behind him.
He frowned briefly when he realized only two of the soldiers he had been fighting with were still at the front end of the fort. The other three had moved off into a group by the steps. He quickly became too preoccupied to worry about them much, however, as he, Grove and Trevor faced off another wave of undead. After only minutes of chaos the battle ended abruptly as Arren whipped out his pistol and shot the last two hollow men Gould was fighting off by the steps.
A chorus of whoops and hollers and victory shouts rang out but was quickly silenced when one last wisp planted itself in the center mound in the row of graves. Everyone else had gathered by the stairs and were mostly breathless and exhausted from the previous battle. Arren stood alone by the gate and smiled at Major Swift and Ben's comments as the deceased lieutenant's corpse rose from the ground. It summoned more wisps as it charged him and Arren was grateful for his uninhibited sword arm as he casted a powerful electrified ice storm about him as a shield and swung at the large hollow man with a twist and a flourish tossing his great hammer straight up. He obliterated more powerful hollow men in great sweeps as the Simmon's wisp disappeared and popped up again. The battle was over in only minutes as the soldiers looked on stunned and frozen in shock and exhaustion alike.
The memorial for the fallen soldiers that followed was a rather short and somber affair. Grove and Gould were clearly fighting tears as the others laid Tick's body in the row. Arren fought back a sense of guilt that thrummed through him as they laid out the bodies of Digger and Lips who he had tried to protect. Someone handed him the young soldier's lute, likely expecting him to set it on the table he was standing nearest to, but he held on to it.
He and Walter decided to stay through what remained of the night and rest before continuing through the treacherous woods. Arren readily agreed, glad to see Walter so happy catching up with his old friend, and thrilled at the prospect of getting a chance to get to better know Captain Ben Finn.