Has anyone ever stopped to wonder just WHY the Hero from the last game would name their first born child Logan... a name so close to Lucien's it's painful? Not to mention Logan's close resemblance to Lucien? Well, I've wondered, and I've come up with this dark twist to Sparrow's raise to power and her children's births. Sparrow's trails and tests didn't end when Lucien died.
Disclaimer: FABLE BE NOT MINE! All Lionhead's.
From Hero to Queen
Chapter 1
When her beloved and loyal dog Bud was shot, Sparrow had been completely frozen and in shock. She was overwhelmed with the same disbelief and emptiness she had felt when her sister had been taken from her all those years ago. From the same man who had taken yet another part of her life away. Sparrow's blue eyes shot from Bud's still furry body to Lucien's evil deranged face. He was a mad man. Completely and utterly mad! He had changed from a desperate and sorrowful widower to a man who craved power, no matter the cost. Any and all pity and sorrow she had ever felt for him vanished in that moment. All she felt for him now was rage and vengeance.
And then he shot her.
Sparrow could do nothing as the bullet went right through her, knocking her back to the ground, her strength gone and consciousness slowly leaving her. However she clung on, determined to survive this and kill Lucien for all he had done, to her and so many others. But her mind was becoming cloudy, it was becoming harder and harder to think and be aware of her surroundings. Before her sight faded into black she witnessed Lucien hovering above her dying form, the deranged look still on his face. And his hand reaching for the belt around her waist.
"Death is not your destiny today little Sparrow,"
When she'd later awake, she would wish that it had been.
She was sure she had died, seeing as she had been with Rose once again. She had died and gone to some form of heaven, where she was once again a child and able to enjoy her life with Rose, with everything they could have wanted when they were children. Heaven had given them all they'd wished for. However something had called out to her and she felt she had to answer that call. The call of the music box. As soon as she laid her small hands upon the little box, all went to black and Rose's voice had filled her mind.
"You have passed the test and now possess the power needed to defeat Lucien,"
And then she awoke.
Sparrow awake from her dream like state with a fright, as if she really had awoken from death. She gasped for air and sat up in alarm, looking around herself like a frightened animal. She was alone, had been left to die on top of Hero Hill. Left with nothing but the body of her fallen furry friend, and with something else Lucien had left behind; evidence of what he had done to her in her dying state.
The hero looked down at herself when realising just how cold she was and screamed in fury and anguish when seeing her state. She had been stripped of her clothing; they discarded carelessly in a pile else were, and it was clear that her body had been violated due to the marks and bruises on her thighs and hips. And there was pain. The pain she felt below, it made her feel sick to her stomach. If the marks on her body were not evident enough of what Lucien had done to her, the pain made it perfectly clear.
This was the final insult, the final way he could hurt her. It wasn't enough for him to kill everyone she loved and treasured, take away what little family she had. No, he had to take away the last thing she had to hold on to. Her virginity and her body.
Sparrow let out a heart wrenching sob, unable to control the intense emotion that she felt. She felt so sick and disgusting, the very thought hat Lucien had touched her made her close to vomit. She felt so much rage and anger, even more so than before, but she also felt hatred and anger towards herself. Blame towards herself. She knew it wasn't logical, but that didn't change the fact she felt a strange hatred and anger towards herself for letting this happen. She should have fought harder to stay awake, try to push him off, tried... anything!
Her body continued to shake as she cried, though some of the shaking was due to the cold as well. Her arms hugged her body and Sparrow wished for a brief moment that she hadn't woken up. Hadn't passed that test in her dreams. Hadn't found that music box.
At remembering the music box she almost instantly halted her tears and looked around herself a second time, looking for something. She was a little startled when her suspicions were confirmed and the mysterious and magically music box really was there beside her. She sat there in silence for a moment or two, her pure blue eyes, reddened and puffy from tears, glued to the small golden box. Having the box actually here with her reminded her of what she had to do.
Lucien.
The thought of him made her blood run cold but knowing that she would finally get the chance to end his life filled her with new found strength and will. She forced her body to move, despite its protests with aches and pains, some of which in regions that she'd never felt before. It made her feel all the more sick, but she forced herself to ignore it. Sparrow dressed in her clothes, though stopped when she grabbed hold of her coat. She looked down at Bud's body, and back to her coat. She honestly wished to put it on and cover herself up as much as possible before facing Lucien again, put as many barriers up between them as possible. But she couldn't just leave Bud like that. He was more than just an animal to her, he was a fallen friend and so deserved for her to show some sort of respect.
Sparrow laid the coat over her dog, carefully, as if merely tucking him in for slumber. She felt fresh tears fill her eyes but she sniffled and blinked them away. She had to be strong. There was no way she would have Lucien or the other Heroes see her crying. There was no way she was going to show weakness.
"I'll be back boy, I promise. I'll give you a proper burial, just as you deserve," she whispered into his furry ear. She patted his fur gently for a few seconds and even planted a small kiss atop his head before standing and walking over to the music box. She picked it up and it began to vibrate in her hands, as if responding to her touch. Sparrow didn't know why, but knew that it had the power to take her to where she needed to go. As if touching it had told her of its ability. She decided to trust her instincts.
"To the spire," she ordered.
And with a glow of white light, she was engulfed and teleported to the front gates of the spire.
Pain. Oh the agonising pain! It was the worse he'd ever felt, and he'd felt quite a lot of pain in his unnaturally long life. Pain from being stabbed, slashed, shot, beaten, falling a great height, clawed at and bitten, though the biting he didn't really mind, depending on who was doing the biting.
But this pain, this pain was all those things combined and more. It was worst than any physical pain he'd ever felt. It was more close to the pain he had felt when he'd realised just what his immortality had cost him. Emotional pain, something he hadn't felt for centuries. Something he had learned to ignore to the point that he didn't experience it anymore. He'd almost forgotten what it was like.
Reaver would have preferred it had he not been reminded.
He was vaguely aware of someone talking, but he was in so much agony that he couldn't focus enough to know who was talking or what was being said. Wait; was that music he could hear? Reaver honestly didn't care; he just wanted the pain to stop! He wanted to stop being reminded of the pain he'd felt when Oakvale had been destroyed!
Surprisingly his wish had been granted. The power that had been engulfing him, draining him, torturing him suddenly vanished and dropped him to the pedestal underneath him. Reaver had never felt so relieved! But despite the pain being gone, he still felt very drained and weak and could barely keep himself upright. He however could finally make out what was being said, and that it was Lucien doing all the talking.
"Why? Why must you interfere? What are you fighting to protect?"
Oh good grief, what was the man going on about? Reaver reached for his pistol but didn't even have the strength to pull it out of its holster. How humiliating, for someone like him to be this weak! Reaver was determined that the second he had the strength to do so, he was going to shoot Lucien.
"You small minded fool! Do you think you're the only one ever to suffer loss?"
Reaver scoffed. Loss? Most people didn't know the meaning of the word. So the man lost his family, oh what a shame. They probably died from some illness or something equality uncontrollable. He should try being the REASON your family and loved ones are dead. That was true loss. That was true suffering. And Reaver hated the man even more for having reminded him of it all. It would take a lot of wine and a lot of exciting and sexual distractions before he'd be completely rid of the memory again. Would this man just shut up?
"I asked the world for nothing but a family, and even that trivial request was too excess-!"
A shot had been fired, and it hadn't come from Reaver. The man forced himself to lift his head up enough to see who it was who had fired the shot. It was the blasted woman that had gotten him involved in this whole thing in the first place. In one hand she held a small music box and the other a pistol that had smoke rising from its barrel. The pure hatred in her eyes was frightening, but exciting. Reaver's desire for her grew to new heights at seeing this more dangerous side to her. She really would be interesting to bed... Oh if only she'd accepted his advances and flirtations. They could have had such fun.
Lucien gave a final cry as he fell off the platform and fell to his death. The pirate king gave a sigh of relief as he stood, his strength finally returning to him.
"I thought he'd never shut up," he commented.
Sparrow didn't response to his comment, didn't even respond to Hammer. She barely even responded to Theresa, the woman who had found her close to death in her youth and was possibly the closest thing she had to a mother. All the hatred, all the rage, all the emotions and fire that had made her so interesting and exciting had suddenly vanished. Her lack of emotion and action after Lucien's death was rather... odd. Reaver watched with some curiosity as the fourth Hero took Theresa's hand, still looking lifeless. Why was she acting like that, shouldn't she be at least happy that he was dead? He sighed. There was no pleasing some women.
Sparrow had thought that with Lucien dead she would have felt some peace or some relief at him finally being gone from the world. She did feel some sort of relief... but it wasn't enough. She still felt disgusted and empty and alone. Everything he had done to her still hurt. Rose's and Bud's absence still hurt. When Theresa spoke of her having a wish, she was set that that would be her wish; to bring them back from death.
That is, until, she was presented with another wish that could be made.
The fourth hero had the possibility of three wishes. One wasn't really an option, since it was the wish for gold and she cared little for it when there was the possibility of having Rose and Bud back. The other wish however is what made her halt her original thought. The other wish possible was to wish all those that Lucien had killed during the construction of the spire. All the people he had kidnapped and forced to work, all those that had been killed because they'd been unable to obey, and all those that had merely gotten in his way. So many lives... but making that wish would not bring back Rose and Bud.
Despite all of her best efforts, she found herself crying once again at the impossible decision left before her. If she were to choose to bring back her sister and dog, the only two she wanted more than anything else in the world, she would condemn hundreds, maybe even thousands, to remain dead. But if she were to bring all those people back she would remain alone. A part of her, a very selfish part, was screaming out and saying that she should wish for her sister and dog. And gave many justifiable reasons as to why she should.
She had had to suffer most of her life, even in childhood when she and Rose had to live on the streets. She had had to live with the guilt and pain of her sister's murder, she went through countless battles just to stay alive, had to waste ten years of her life as a spy in this damned spire and then to top all the suffering off, Lucien had raped her as she lay dying. She deserved to be selfish damn it!
But as she reached for the card that represented the wish of family, she froze and thought back to her last selfish act; back in Waithmarsh. She had been given the choice to exchange her beauty and youth for that of another, innocent, woman, who had happened to be there by some unfortunate accident. Sparrow had decided that she had given up more than enough and would not give up her youth on top. The scream from that woman as years of her life were drained from her... her scream still haunted her. As did the guilt. The second she had done it she felt ashamed of herself, wondering what Rose would think of her. So if she could barely live with the guilt of sacrificing one person... how were she to live with countless sacrifices?
Tears rounded down her face freely, as it became clear what she had to do. She could not have so many people orphaned and widowed and childless due to her own selfish needs. Despite what Lucien had done to her, she wasn't the only one he had been hurt. She wasn't the only one that he'd destroyed. She had made her decision.
"I choose the sacrifice," she said, quietly, regretfully. Theresa smiled knowingly and nodded her head.
And in a flash, the wish was made.
It had been a month since the day Lucien died. And so much had happened since then, and yet it felt like nothing at all had happened. When people who had long been dead suddenly appeared and returned to their families, word spread of Sparrow's selfless act. She was praised wherever she went, people cheering her name and showering her with love and affection for her heroic acts. Sparrow would smile and thank them, but she honestly felt hallow and empty. She had very little to live for now.
Hammer and Garth were gone, the only two she could call friends, especially Hammer. Sparrow had hoped at least Hammer would stay, that they'd be able to continue their adventures and travel a little. But Hammer had made it perfectly clear she was tired of fighting. As much as it had pained her, Sparrow had said nothing about her own needs and had merely wished Hammer luck with her training with the Northern warrior monks. Yet another selfless act that had left her alone.
The praises from townsfolk and villagers begun to get tiresome after a while, and Sparrow found herself even becoming bitter. She even bought and moved into Reaver's mansion, to be away from everyone, to hide from them and their joy. Everyone was happy with their families and loved ones brought back to them, and she was unable to experience that happiness. She knew she should just be happy that she'd brought so much joy, but it just wasn't enough. She had lost everything to make mere strangers happy. Even her virginity, which she'd been saving for a man she'd fall in love with and marry. Now none of that was possible, not even the love and marriage part. Lucien's actions had ruined her completely, made her unable and unwilling to allow another man to touch her. Even after death he tortured her. It sometimes brought her close to depression but then she'd remind herself that he was dead and that despite her inability to form relationships right now, she would get better, she would heal. Lucien couldn't hurt her anymore than he had.
She was wrong.
Not only had it been a month since Lucien's death, it had been about a month since her monthly blood. Sparrow hadn't thought much about it at first, since she was never really regular, due to the stress of her quests and injuries. Once she went two months without bleeding. But she couldn't help but feel some dread as each day went past and still no blood came.
Sparrow paced throughout the Bloodstone Manor, her steps echoing throughout the building as her mind raced with fearful thoughts. She had chewed her bottom lip raw with her nervous habit. It had now been close to a month and two weeks since she'd last bled. And she had begun to start having spells of nausea, some so strong she would actually vomit. She wondered on what to do. Should she just ignore this situation and pray that she bled soon, go and get medical help, get advice, what? She had never been so in need of a friend before and oh so alone.
After another week of nothing Sparrow couldn't take it anymore. She had to find out if what she feared was true. Despite the horrid state and reputation of the town, there were a few good people who classed themselves as doctors. With the amount of prostitution that happened in Bloodstone, disease and pregnancy were high. Sparrow felt even more disgusted at having to visit one of these doctors like the common whores around town who'd customers hadn't worn condoms. But Sparrow refused to let her disgust and shame be shown and so walked into the doctor's residence with a high head and a confident appearance.
The doctor was actually a woman, surprisingly. Women doctors were so rare still. She was very kind and tender, far too kind a soul for someone who lived in Bloodstone. The examination didn't take long, though for Sparrow it felt like an eternity of waiting. She continued to bite her lip nervously, which the doctor scowled her far and offered her herbs for her already sore and swollen lip.
"If you keep doing that you'll get it infected and possibly end up scarring your face. It would be a terribly shame if you did that," she said, before going back to her examination.
After another few minutes the examination was done and Sparrow was to be given her medical conclusion and advice. Sparrow stood there before her, waiting for the doctor to say something. Anything! She seemed hesitant though.
"I have to ask, seeing as you don't look like or seem the type to be a prostitute... do you have a husband at home? Are you trying to start a family?"
"No," Sparrow said, shakily. She hoped beyond hope that the doctor didn't say next what she already knew she would. It was written all over the woman's face.
"I'm sorry but... it does appear that you are pregnant,"
No sooner had she said that, Sparrow fell to her knees and vomited.
TBC
I'm so sorry Sparrow! But the plot bunnies wouldn't leave me alone! I had to write this! D:
And and all comments are welcomed, as well as corrections to spelling of names and such. First time being a Fable fic, and therefore first time doing any of these characters. So hopefully got people in character. Also, I don't have anyone to read through these before I submit there, therefore I have to proof read myself. But I'll be the first to admit, I miss things. If you see anything wrong, please tell me!
Thank you and hoped you enjoyed.
