Author's Note: Well, here's the reason I have been slacking on my Kakashi story. =3 I'm real bad about writing a million different stories at once, it seems. Anyways, this story is finished outside of FF, so I'll just be updating this one often while I'm writing the Kakashi one in the background. Anyways, this was a spur of the moment idea I just had to turn into a story and I chose Fable in the end. This is post Fable III, and the main character is one of ill-repute, as you will come to learn. Of course, does she change in the end? Or does she die? What happens? Oh, we'll see. =D
I will update as I can. I have been working on my next cosplay. I am going as... DUN DUN DUN... REAVER! And my friend will be attending as the Queen from Fable III but in a wedding theme, as if the two of us are marrying. =3 It's going to be cute.
I might be creating an Oban Star Racers story with an OC for Aikka. I have an idea for it I really wanna try out. We'll see.
Oops, I'm rambling. Enjoy the new story!

Chapter One: Alouette

The walls were closing in, I could feel their dank texture pressing against my very bones. It was maddening, this place and I had lost all touch of reality within this dark prison. Time, how quaint a thing those never come to appreciate when on the outside, yet once you are put into a place a person with the highest of I.Q.s would go mad, you come to appreciate such little things such as the light of day, the taste of a cold beer on your tongue. The smell of the wide open seas. . .

I believe I had been in this dungeon for nearly five years now, no thanks to that desolate mother of mine, and had never come to terms with the wrongs she had done to me. Had I been so terrible of a person? So vicious of a madman? I had sailed the seas since before I could remember, righting the wrongs I believed were done in the name of justice. And yet, I had wound up here. . .

Is there so little hope for one with blood such as mine? Either you take the road of a hero, or one of a malevolent, deceitful demon, never able to turn back even if what you have done is something you have been told is only right? Justice does not exist in such a world, and I am living proof of the crimes against mankind. I would never forgive her, and I am sure the feelings were shared.

The groaning of a door brings me from the silent spew of hatred, the idea of torture reigning across my thoughts. Though, I doubted I could ever act against the only parent I had ever known, despite the rejection given and how everything I had come to love had been given to my damned brother. A set of deep, ocean blue eyes peer up at the figure as the guard steps through the threshold, my strength depleted to a point of inability to strike against him. The massive amounts of chains kept on my figure were probably of no help, though.

"Alouette, you have been summoned," he murmurs, the voice deep and scratching against my sensitive ears. Had I been so long without the voice of another human being? His hand roughly pulls against my forearm, leading me from my own personal hell and dragging me through the corridors. I could see the many other doors leading to the similar six-by-eight cells, a sight I had not witnessed since I had first been thrown within my own new abode.

I am dragged into a carriage, a guard for every one of my digits surrounding on both horseback and pressed against me within the confining space. One would think I would be used to such small places, but even now, I felt the air trying to leave me, heart racing. Where in the hell were they taking me? Was I heading to the guillotine?

The ride was arduous, bumpy, and grueling on my fatigued, wearied body. Bones were evident beneath thin layers of flesh, and I took to the brief glimpses of sunlight to gaze upon the blood and dirt caked beneath my jagged nails. My hair, from further touch, was obviously ratted and in a horrid mess one might very well take days to sort out. A simple brown tunic and a set of matching pants adorned my form, hanging loosely from what was once a full-figure, not a thing on my feet. I did not even want to discuss just how awful they looked upon further inspection.

At last, our ride comes to a halt, though I was once again unaware of the length of the ride. It could have taken minutes, or it might have possibly been days. I was well fed throughout my journey, or had it been scarce and over a multitude of moons? The world had been turned upside down during my stay, at least my own was.

When I am dragged from the carriage, I notice it was dark, the moon unable to peek from the overhanging shadows casted by the thick arrangement of clouds. No, this was not what caught my attention, but instead the very place I was being dragged. A grand structure, unlike anything in all of Albion, or the very world from what I had seen, and decorated in the image of the finest hero Albion had ever seen.

"Keep moving!" I hiss as a hand slams against my back, propelling me into the last place on earth I wished to be. Take me back to that damned cell, for all I cared, just not to this particular residence, not the grandeur of the castle that held a queen who cared only for her people, and not at all for her family.

Unfortunately, I am not allowed the luxury of opinion, for my small frame is dragged into a room filled with ungodly amounts of books and records, unchained and thrown into a plush chair beside a fireplace. I knew this room all too well, and before I could scream in protest, the very woman I loathed to see entered, ushering all of the guards from the room.

"Alouette," the lush, beautiful voice calls, music to the ears of one as plagued as I. Disgust rose in my stomach, the bile from the stale bread and cheese trying to rise from my throat. She appeared then, a withered face with eyes as green as the forests and lightly hued golden hair graying from age. Despite her obvious years, she was still the loveliest woman to walk these lands, unparalleled in strength, brains, and figure. "I have called you for a reason, my child."

"Do not refer to me as such. You are not worth calling my mother," I snarl, yearning to leap forward and seize her throat, though my fatigued limbs and weary stature would not allow such acts just yet. It would take a long time to finally make myself able to even walk, let alone attack someone as strong as her. "What the hell could you possible need me for when you have such a prodigy right under your nose?"

She narrows her eyes at me, sitting in her own chair and glancing at the fire. It took a few moments to give forth an answer, eyes training back to my own. "There is a job that must be done, and one that only you have the prowess to do. That is why I summoned you, and I would like to see how you are doing, considering you have not allowed a single one of my visits over the seven years you have been incarcerated."

'Seven years? Hmm, that would mean I'm about twenty-five by now.' The rueful smile that slithered across my lips might very well chill a balverine to its core, though the woman was not phased. I snatch up a bottle from the table between us, the cold liquid burning my throat as I recognize the familiar taste of The Gangreen Fairy, a personal favorite beer of mine. How ironic that she would remember such a minor detail, though I doubted that the woman forgot anything.

When the woman realizes I was not going to speak, too engaged in my alcohol, she continues, "I have a mission for you, one that will allow you to be reinstated as a princess of Albion once more if you complete it successfully. If you try to run or fail, you will be put right back in that cell of yours, though with much smaller accommodations. I will give you money and provisions, but I warn you I will find you if you try anything stupid."

Though I did not really want my title back as princess of Albion, especially considering I would never rightfully own the throne as I should and that it would instead go to my younger brother, I did like the idea of freedom. "What is it that I would possibly have to do to earn such privileges, Your Majesty?" I sneer as the formality slides from my tongue, drenched in a thick layer of sarcasm that not even a hobbe would miss. "And why can't you handle it yourself, Oh Mighty Queen?"

She sighs, rubbing the bridge of her nose, a nervous habit she always had when thinking too hard. The woman was trying to find the perfect way to word something that was probably not even half as complicated as she was making it seem. "There is this man, one that I cannot get even close to anymore. He is more taken with the younger crop of women, despite his horrendous age. Apparently, with the way the years have aged me, I am unable to get close to him personally."

"As if I am anything to look at these days," I murmur, a bark of laughter rolling from my irritated throat. "Who could this person possibly be to have you so on edge? Why not barge in, guns blazing like the good old days of the Rebel Queen, eh? Are you too old to shoot a gun anymore?" The laughter continues, filling the room with a remarkable echo I did not ever remember.

The noise is cut short with a loud click, BANG! followed by a gunshot making its way directly through the neck of my narrow bottle, spilling the few remaining contents and the glass all across my lap. A set of ocean eyes narrow on the similar forest ones, both locked in a heated gaze in a severe fight to overcome the other. Unfortunately, I am the one to break that burning glare, brushing the shards off my skin and cutting my palms in the process. Minor wounds are nothing I was worried about as of right now, for they would heal shortly.

"I cannot go in 'guns blazing', as you so put it, because the man is nearly impossible to find," she whispers, eyes dancing in that fire once more. "You remember him well, I'm sure, from when you were a child. His name is Reaver, the man who used to head my industrial sectors until I finally found a grounds to fire him. Now, he is off roaming the world and incapable of being located."

"And you need my man-hunting expertise to track him down obviously," I snort, snatching up another bottle of the lovely drink and wolfing down some of the delicate pastries set out. It had been so long since such flavors exploded in my mouth, and I would savor every last morsel until I was ordered to stop or ran out. "But I do not realize how looks come in to this little equation? Obviously I understand I cannot fight him right now, considering my state," I gesture to the entire frailty of my form, "but trying to make friends sounds like a bit of a stretch. Why is he needed and why do I need to huddle up to him, eh?"

The elderly beauty raises a perfect brow at my eating habits, shaking her head. The years within the castle had ruined her, and she only knew the refinery of a queen by this point. Though, apparently she still possessed a trigger finger that could very well make its mark. "I need him to help me find an artifact I once believed lost in time. If any would know of its location, or even vague information, it would be him. I would give you all the paperwork on the adventure as well upon your departure, in case you happen upon information on your own."

The little pastries were gone and my belly was stuffed to the brim, yet I still had a plentiful appetite for beer. "And why is this artifact so important, I ask?" Another bottle was emptied, tossed aside for a servant to pick up later upon my leave. I figured a heavy amount of scented candles would need to be lit in my absence to mask the smell of deteriorating hygiene over the years without a bath.

"I have been told by a source that it is valuable and will be needed in the future, though I'm unaware for what exactly," she calls back, swiping the last brew from the table and downing it in a go. Spry old hag. . . Her body language and the look within her eyes signified she was telling the absolute truth, though I hated to believe her. "So, what do you say? Will you take the job? Your slate would be cleaned and I would allow you a ship of your own again to properly find him."

On one hand, I never wanted to help this pathetic excuse for a mother again in all my years, except by putting her in an early grave. On the other hand, I was being offered freedom, money, and a ship of my own to reassess my true love of the sea after seven years of being torn from it. My decision was made before I even heard the terms of the deal. . .

"I'll do it, but I want a ship just like my old one, fully stocked with all the beer, food, and goods I will need. This includes a crew of hearty men, all chosen by me. Any death, looting, or carnage that follows me will need to be overlooked, though I will try my best to avoid such happenings," I sneer, shaking my head. I would not create mass genocide, but if I needed to shoot someone, I very well would be allowed to do such. "Also, I need time to recover and build my strength back up before I can do anything."

"I can have you repaired personally in no time," she smiles a secretive one, standing from her chair and holding a hand out to me. "Alouette, I will accept these terms under the sole condition that you allow one of my men aboard your crew ship. Otherwise, we will not strike an accord."

"Agreed, old wretch," I growl, throwing my own boney hand into hers, shakily pulling myself to my feet. The motion took more out of me than I imagined, the quaking of my knees nearly unbearable, but I held a strong front. Though, I swear I glanced pity in those green eyes for a second.

"We have made a deal," Queen Valentina of Albion, Hero of Brightwall, commands in a voice that made the very room shudder. I feel an overwhelming pressure begin in my hand, the one possessed by the revered woman, that soon spreads across my entire body. What first began as a soothing tingle turned quickly to a tremendous push that made my body cry out in sheer torment. I allowed a single, lasting scream to pierce the silent air, crumpling to the floor unconscious not but a few moments afterwards, unable to hear the words of the great queen. "And so the Pirate Hero returns, my child."

Author's Note: First chapter is officially done! What do you think? Please, REVIEW or I'll send the crazy criminal Alouette out for your bones. . . After she can walk properly that is. XD