A/N: I'm so glad I finally got this up. I've had it in my head for months. Ever since I played Fable 2 for the first time, I've wanted to write this scene as a semi-romantic one. Plus, I needed practice action scenes. Please feel free to review!
Just Another Day
This seems to happen on a regular basis. -Sparrow
Sparrow grinned widely as she stretched her stiff, blood-covered limbs in the glaring light. It was the first time she'd seen the sun for a while.
She had spent the past two weeks in Bloodstone- which was under a near-constant cover of clouds and shadow- trying to impress Reaver, the oh-so stunning Hero of Skill. While Sparrow did respect Reaver for his marksman abilities, she absolutely despised his attitude, vanity, habits, and, well, him. She'd much rather have spent those two weeks with Garth or Hammer, but the damn Cullis Gate didn't agree with that plan.
Sparrow opened her eyes to see the two other Hero's backs. She grinned to herself as she crept quietly up behind Garth.
"Garth!" she shouted as she swung her arms around him in a big hug.
Garth jumped away in surprise while crying out incomprehensibly. He spun around and glared at her innocent expression for a moment, then calmed reasonably fast.
"Sparrow!" Hammer called in excitement.
"Hammer!" Sparrow and Hammer then sprinted across the sand in a hilarious imitation of a clichéd love scene and threw their arms around each other. "I missed you! What the heck happened?"
"Cullis Gate went mental," Hammer shook her head. "Garth and I got sent back to the Guild and you got taken to Wraithmarsh."
Sparrow laughed and put a hand behind her head. "Yeah, told you I didn't want to go first."
Reaver was approaching the group now, a curious expression overshadowing the usual dominant smug one. Sparrow chose to ignore him for now.
"Why didn't Theresa just teleport you to Bloodstone like she does everywhere else?" Really, the "seer" was starting to irritate her.
"She wouldn't tell us," Garth answered this time. She noticed him shooting furtive glances at Reaver's every step. It was comforting to know that Garth seemed to trust the pirate about as much as she did.
Which is to say… not at all.
"I apologize for sending you off on your own," Garth said quietly. That was surprising.
"Oh, I wasn't entirely alone," Sparrow chirped brightly, wanting to comfort Garth somehow, and turned to indicate Reaver, but his expression had returned to its regular conceited look, so she kept turning to point at her dog, Dusty. "Dusty was with me." He barked happily.
Hammer laughed exuberantly and Garth even managed to chuckle. Reaver looked shocked and angry, and his hand twitched toward his Dragonstomper, and Sparrow was glad Garth hadn't seen it.
After a few moments, their laughter finally died down.
"Yes, yes," Reaver said rather suddenly, still irate, "this has all been very interesting. I'm touched. I'm also leaving." He tried to push past the Heroes, but Hammer blocked his path. And there's really no way of getting around her.
While the all-too expected argument rose up, Sparrow sidled over to the shoreline and squinted out into the bay. She had the oddest feeling that something was going to go real wrong real fast.
"You have to help!" Sparrow could still hear Hammer's raised voice echoing off the stones.
"I do not. And you shouldn't tell me what I 'have' to do." Contrastingly, Reaver's voice had lowered, but the threat was very much there.
Abruptly, a heavy, pointed shadow appeared from behind the rocks out in the sea. It literally floated across the water, stopping just beside the Narcissus.
"Uh, Reaver?" Sparrow called over her shoulder, not daring to take her eyes off the Shard. "I don't think you can leave."
"What-" his sharp retort was immediately cut off by a huge shockwave as the Shard released its powerful energy, knocking all four Hero's down. The Narcissus went up in flames almost instantly. They all watched in stunned silence as the ship went under the dark waves.
Sparrow clasped her hands together tightly. Don't come this way. Don't come over here…
The Shard began to move towards the shoreline.
Damn.
Sparrow hauled herself to her feet, drawing her katana. Oh, this would be fun. As if she hadn't had enough of Lucien's men not ten minutes ago. It just wasn't enough.
"That's a Great Shard…" Garth's voice trailed off in a mix of shock and wonder. Sparrow moaned quietly. A Great Shard? Well, things just got a whole hell of a lot more interesting.
The Great Shard shot out a familiar white beam and Spire guards rose from the circle. Some were lucky enough to be picked off by Sparrow's and Reaver's pistols before they could draw their own weapons. At least they wouldn't have to go up against all four Heroes. Hammer charged at full speed and took out three of them with one good swing. Garth already had his Blades spell around him as he stared intently at the floating thing.
Once the first wave was out of the way, Garth sprinted back across the sand and up an incline. "Defend me while I try to find its weakness! I know it has one."
Sparrow, of course, trailed after him, trying to enjoy the small peace between waves. She always went berserk during a fight, and she always needed a breather in between. "I'll help, Garth."
They both stopped at the edge of a cliff that towered over the ocean, giving them a perfect angle of the Shard, and a clear target. Sparrow smirked to herself, feeling the heat of battle returning, rushing through her veins. Her will lines glowered sinisterly.
Garth tried several spells, and none but shock seemed to really have an effect. He, of course, understood the situation quickly.
"That's it! Long, sustained attacks!" He then began launching strong shock spells that Sparrow knew she probably would never learn. She did aid in what way she could- shooting shorter, less powerful bursts of shock energy at the thing. She admired the way Garth could hold a spell for as long as he liked, and that really came in handy during a fight.
More guards appeared, and Sparrow's shock spell faltered. She got distracted too easily sometimes. She quickly dispatched the ones that were trying to go up the slope, only getting hit a couple of times.
A bright, red light suddenly bloomed at the edge of her vision. She could still see, but everything had a pink tint. Just when she began to wonder if there was blood in her eyes, she heard Hammer screaming something up to her. Something exploded just to her left and she was literally thrown like a rag doll into the cliff face at her right.
So the Great Shard was actually fighting back now. She should have known it would be stronger than an average Shard. Fully aware that her left arm was now rendered inert, she leapt back up to her feet to examine the scene.
She recognized two things right away.
One, Garth had done serious damage to the Great Shard. The thing was actually buzzing and vibrating, little remnants of the shock spell still racing across the smooth black surface. Only a few more of Sparrow's own hits would be enough to bring it down.
And then two- Garth had been hit directly by the beam. He lay dangerously close to the edge where the cliff met the ocean. Blood was streaming out of a thankfully shallow-looking cut on his forehead, but she knew he must be paralyzed at the moment.
Looks like she would have to handle things on her own.
As Sparrow raced back to Garth's place, she also saw, much to her relief, that Hammer and Reaver were more or less unharmed. They were still pushing back the enemy's forces.
Sparrow withdrew from conscious thought, focusing everything, everything on her next spell. Judging by the sounds the Shard was making, it would be ready to unleash a final, devastating blast at her very soon. She held her right hand in front of her, making a half- circle in front of her chest. The tiny lightning bolts that jolted around in the shape grew and became clearer as the spell became stronger. Wind whipped her hair across her face, but she didn't care. She only really cared about how much damage she could do.
Just as another red beam shot out from the top of the Shard, she released her spell and hurled it at her target. The Shard exploded into tiny pieces, but the beam managed to escape in time.
Sparrow's vision was entirely engulfed in deep red, and she was unable to see anything now. Crippling agony ripped across her chest and she let out a loud cry. Her knees did not break her fall. She automatically fell, face first, into the dirt. She bled heavily out of the deep wound in her chest, and her will lines disappeared all at once. She let in raspy gasps for air, but it did not seem to be enough. Her sight was foggy and unclear now, with dark, shadowy edges that seemed to get larger way too fast.
Garth's body twitched in the distance, and he groaned as he sat up. He gingerly touched his forehead and winced. He lay his hand on the last health potion he had, ready to drink from it if no one else needed it. He could still hear the sounds of battle around him, but it was lighter and steadily becoming quieter. As far as he could tell, Sparrow had successfully wiped out the Great Shard, as he had hoped, and was helping the others take care of the few Spire guards that remained.
He was very surprised and more than a little frightened to see Sparrow lying nearby in an almost-unconscious state. He crawled over to her as quickly as he could and flipped over her body. Needless to say, her injuries were awful. Her eyes weren't open and he wasn't entirely sure if she was breathing or not. He unhooked the health potion from his belt and held it up to her mouth.
"Drink this," he mumbled. She gulped it down subconsciously, and then there was silence. Absolute silence. The fighting had stopped, and even though Garth knew that the other two had no idea what had happened, he was also sure they were aware that something had happened. It was enough to keep them quiet, and that was all Garth wanted them to do.
Suddenly, Sparrow coughed loudly, her eyes snapping open. She slid herself up into a sitting position, incredibly glad that she could move her left arm again. It still ached, but at least she could move.
Sparrow breathed a sigh of relief, and Garth let out the breath he'd secretly been holding in.
"Did we win?" Her question was so sudden, random, and so very Sparrow that Garth had to laugh out loud. She looked at him in confusion, but laughed too, assuming that they had indeed won.
Garth put his hand on Sparrow's shoulder for a moment in a display of friendship and trust, then rose to his feet. She gratefully accepted his outstretched hand and she also stood up. Garth turned his back to her and began to make his way down the slope to rejoin the other two.
Sparrow smiled to herself, and she threw her arms around him from behind again.
"Thank you very much, Garth!" she chirped, and skipped over to Hammer. She ruffled Dusty's fur and laughed happily as he barked.
"This seems to happen on a regular basis," Sparrow pointed out.
Garth stood frozen on the incline in surprise. He did not appear to blush because of his natural skin tone, but his face actually was burning with embarrassment.
Seeing Sparrow's happy, healthy face, however, cleared away enough confusion for him to smile. He joined the other three, who were joking about how long it took, and if Reaver were really the marksman he thought he was, why didn't he destroy the Shard in one shot?
The four Heroes were finally together in one place, with danger nowhere in sight.
Though for how long that would last, none of them knew.