A Rose for Rose
Sparrow never knew what happened to Rose's body the night she died. He supposed it just got dumped into the river, but he never dwelled on where her body was. As soon as he became king, he held a small informal funeral for her. He later on found Derek, much to both their surprises, and explained what happened that night as well as apologizing for getting him fired. He also offered Derek another posting as a guard or a town's guard captain in any town if he felt up to it. He took a position in Old Town; nothing that he couldn't handle.
Slowly but surely, Sparrow moved on from visiting the banshee's to feel closer to Rose to visiting her grave as the years past. He always kept her up to date with his life, often telling stories from his Hero days, no matter if he's told it once or a thousand times before.
"…and you should have seen him go Rose! I know I've told you before, but he was fast. It was no wonder they called him Dash. He must have had some Hero blood in him…"
There were days when Sparrow would talk to her grave to sort through decisions that needed to be made, and days when he would just sit in comfortable silence. But most of all were the tears he shed over her grave. Whether it was for her or his actions, it never mattered.
He spoke of his broken promises to her, and pleaded for her forgiveness knowing that it wasn't possible. Sparrow would often fall asleep curled up next to her gravestone after these visits. No one had the heart to wake or move him.
His visits would eventually become less and less frequent until eventually they stopped all together. His kingly duties took up most of his time, and so did his family once was married.
Sparrow was old now and it was once again nearing Rose's birthday. There was a lull in the castle activity that day so Sparrow snuck out, heading towards Rose's grave. Along the path, there was a rose bush in full bloom. They were the most gorgeous roses he'd ever seen. Most were the bright red ones the stalls sold, but there were a few yellow ones and white ones mixed in. He smiled and cut a white one.
Arriving at her gravestone, he sat and stuck the rose in the ground next to it. "Happy early birthday Rose, it's been a long time. I'm sorry for being gone for so long. The people have a lot of questions and requests, and Logan is demanding more of my attention." Sparrow chuckled. "You would have loved him. He's ten now, can you believe it? And Marie is expecting another child very soon. We've decided if it's female, we'll name her Rose. Rose Black. We aren't sure what to name him if it's a boy."
Sparrow sighed and leaned back on the grass, watching the sky. "The castle is completely remodeled now. You would like it. The study has been moved. That area where… well, it's been sealed up. I know I shouldn't have, but I don't think I could stand that room. You might though, you've always been stronger than I have. Perhaps if things were different." He sighed heavily.
"I miss you so much, but I'm a lot better now. The people say I'm a benevolent king and most, if not all, either forgive my decision in that damned Spire or don't remember or know. They've not forgotten how far I had fallen, but they don't hold it against me I don't think."
Sparrow ran a hand through his hair, closing his eyes. "I've done good, Rose. I hope you're proud of me. The last I heard of Hammer was that she was pretty high up with the monks. I haven't heard from Garth since we split up all those years ago, and Reaver is still an arse. It will be a long time before that man dies though."
Sparrow fell silent for a while after that. He watched the clouds, and eventually he dozed off. He had a pleasant dream that day, something he hasn't truely had in years.
It was dusk when he woke up again feeling more refreshed and light than he had in ages. Logan came running up and attempted to jump onto his father, but Sparrow sat up and caught him.
"Father! There you are! We've been looking everywhere for you. I thought you went on another adventure, but it looks like you were just sleeping. That's boring."
Sparrow chuckled. "Where is your mother?"
"I'm right here," Marie said as she came into view.
"Father, why are you sleeping next to a grave stone?"
"I didn't mean to child, but come, let us have dinner. I might even convince the chef to let us have dessert first."
Logan smiled brightly and Marie laughed. "You'll spoil him if you do that."
Sparrow stood up and brushed himself off. "It's not often Marie, think of it as a treat. Now, let's hurry. We don't want him asleep when we get back do we?"
Logan shook his head and ran off, Marie shaking her head and walking back to the castle. Sparrow turned back to Rose's grave and smiled. "Thank you Rose," was all he said before catching up to his wife, feeling content.
It would be another five years before Sparrow could make another day trip to her grave before death claimed him. And in that time he still spoke as if she could hear him, keeping her up to date with his life and telling her stories just like he used to.
A/N: Thank you so much for reading this fic. I wrote this a while back and posted it on my tumblr, but I feel like it's time to post my short little fics (drabbles depending on which definition you believe in) other places. If you liked the story or think I could work on some things, feel free to leave a review. Thanks, and see you next story!