A/N: This is my third Garth/Sparrow fanfic! Please enjoy this tragic, different take on the final fight. I do not own Fable 2, or anything related to it.
Ultimate Sacrifice
She'd always known.
She had never been destined to enjoy her victory and vengeance with her friends. She had never been destined to reform Albion and watch over it as a silent guardian.
She had never been destined to outlive Fairfax's demise.
She'd always known.
But the reality of it had never hit her until she stands in the heart of the Tattered Spire, watching her friends', her family's', lives bleed away at the hands of the monster who threatens to destroy her entire world.
They are in pain; she can see it on their faces. She looks to the monster's glowing red eyes and every part of her screams for revenge. For retribution. For justice. For a way to save her friends. For a way out of this nightmare.
She slowly pulls out the cold music box—her past.
She ignores the monster's twisted madness and the bitter cynicism of his beliefs. She ignores the growing screams of her companions. She ignores her consciousness that warns her against this impulsive action. She even ignores the fear of what will follow.
She steadily raises the box as she would her gun, never taking her eyes off of the monster. The beam shoots him directly in the chest.
She closes her eyes as, one by one, the light and pain directed at her friends turn on her, almost killing her there. But the monster is fast losing his power, and she refuses to die before him.
Her friends are crumpled on the ground, slowly recovering, as she fights off their pain for them. She stands in silence as the monster tries to hide his despair behind madness, but he slowly loses his strength and will.
The monster, now a helpless, bitter man once more, falls to his knees. And, in the blaring blast of a single bullet to the chest, he falls into the abyss below, dead.
She finally allows the sheer magnitude of the light to overcome her. It is far too much to bear, and she, too, crumples to the ground.
As her vision fades at the edges, the Heroes of Strength and Will stumble to her side. She is shaken roughly by Hammer, who is already in tears, and Garth hovers over her still body.
They are distraught and she can not hear what they say. She hears only a faint musical hum in the distance. Garth leans down to whisper something in her ear, a single tear falling onto her cheek, but she can not find the will to guess what is said.
A blinding light then overwhelms her vision, completely clearing the Spire from her mind. Amidst the white stands a solitary figure. She takes the outstretched hand of Theresa, and everything fades.
The last thing she remembers is being a small child again, running to meet her sister Rose, who stands among a field of daisies, with Garth's final, deafened words to her forgotten.
"I love you, Sparrow."