Hey guys. I promise I'm not dead, haha. I have been with my good friend operaghost517...playing Fable 3... XD

We are in love with it haha. Aaaanyways...here is a story I thought up. I like writing off of Logan! But it follows the Hero...so don't worry.

Thanks so much!

"Walter," the small voice asked, "teach me." The older man sitting on the edge of the bed chuckled, waiting for the second part of the question to be said.

"Teach you what, child?" he said with a smile. Looking into the young princess's eyes, he could just make out the ghost of her father; the king who was away on an adventure and could not tuck his child into bed.

In a defiant voice she finished, "teach me to be a hero."

Walter sighed, rubbing his hands over his eyes, thinking about simpler days and easier times. The sword in his hands felt ten times heavier than it ever had, which had nothing to do with his increasing age. Times in Albion were tough, worse than they had been in years. The old king's health was failing. A not well-known fact throughout the country. For anyone else the age Sparrow had reached would have killed him or her years ago. Being a Hero, though, had special perks. Walter knew that sometimes when things got especially rough around the castle, the old king would talk about going to his sanctuary, a place no one considered to actually exist. Perhaps it was just an escape for the ruler, somewhere around the castle no one knew about. But by any means, it kept him sane and that was what mattered.

Bringing himself back to the present, Walter looked at the young boy in front of him. Spitting orders at the maid about his lunch, he ignored his mentor behind him.

"Logan…" Walter started.

"I said white bread, woman! With turkey, do you understand? T-U-R-K-E-Y!"

"Logan, stop that now…"

"Don't tell me what to do, Walter. I stated for her loud and clear." The prince turned back to the girl who was cowering away from the boy who must have been four of five years younger than her.

"Logan! I sad stop! For God's sake, boy, it's a bloody sandwich. Just drop it." After staring at the maid for a minute, he added, "and this is the maid who doesn't speak English, so for all the yelling in the world she will not know a word you say."

A small flush filled the prince's cheeks, and he quietly muttered, "oh." He gave an apologetic smile to the maid, and she scurried off as he turned to face Walter.

"Don't look at me like that, boy. You know you were too hard on her. The people will soon look up to you, so you better start giving them a reason to look forward to it." Poor Logan knew of his father's disease, an incurable thing that racked his body with aches and a cough that sounded as if his lungs were slowly flooding with water. In the old books, all Hero's died this way. Fate, it seemed, had inevitably taken one last dance with King Sparrow, and was slowly waltzing him into Death's awaiting hold.

Logan's face hardened as it did whenever he thought of his father these days. Becoming a king at fifteen was hardly an appealing thought. In fact, it was one that filled his stomach with dread and fear when he thought about it for too long. To be honest it scared him. Losing so much in a short time was taking its toll; at least he still had Walter and his sister.

Turning back to Walter, he took a deep breath and said, "You're right. I'm sorry Walter. There's just been…a lot going on lately and I keep coming up short tempered. Honest, I didn't mean it."

Walter gave Logan a long look, and then said, "You know, boy, as king, things like that won't be let go so easily. People will look to you for answers, good call or not. So just be careful who you truest. Many people out there will be ready to use you for your power. Taking the throne is not easy. Especially at a young age. Your father, I know you don't want to talk about it, but just hear me out, isn't going to be around for much longer. We are both going to have to start working towards plans together." Walter walked over to the prince and knelt down to eye level, wiping a tear off his cheek with his thumb. "Your mother would have been so proud." He whispered. Logan's eyes shone with the past, and he started to cry openly. Walter stayed where he was for a moment before standing up, resolved to give Logan a bit of privacy.

"We can be done practicing sword fighting for today. You're bloody marvellous with that thing by now, I'll have to ask new recruits to start training with you!" and smiled down at him. As he was leaving, he rested his sword up against the wall by the door and told Logan he would see him at dinner, shutting the thick wooden door softly behind him.

Logan remained in the middle of the training room kneeling on his knees. He had a sudden rush of emotion in front of Water, and was glad no one else was there to see. Looking around the broad room, he took it all in. The two sets of wooden doors, one leading to the hall and the other to his father's sacred War Room, the racks of practice swords below the windows, and the Albion seal painted on the ground below him. He knew that one day shortly he would be ruler of all of this. It would all be his.

Tears flowed heavily down his face now as a thought occurred to him. Something that scared him, yes, but it was so true it ran around inside his head, mocking him for all he was worth.

Logan did not want to be king.

Walter exited the practice room and slowly walked down the hallway. Things were worse than they had first appeared with that boy. Losing his family had taken a rough toll on him, and he wasn't sure that he could help him much longer. Trying to clear his head of all thoughts of the like, he headed towards the back courtyard. This was a place where the life of court did not follow you. A simple garden filled with flowers and fountains helped keep the balance of power and the people in check, for many secret corners were meeting places for the stealthy minds. Looking out over the plaza, Walter spotted the princess Peyton playing in the ponds. She was attempting to learn to swim with a kitchen staff's son, who Walter did not know.

The princess was younger than Logan by seven years. Living in the mind of half child half teen was hard for the eight-year-old girl. She didn't understand that while the other children of the court ran around in the mud with no reprimanding from their parents, she had to yield by her father's side, staying clean and tidy. To her, princess was just another word, like flower or mud or castle. Taking the life she had for granted was not a trait of being vain for she had witnessed no other way of life. The garden boundaries were too high for her too see over, although her new friend told her the rest of the word was little dots, seen from afar and much too many. She was glad for her friend, although she did not know his name; he liked trying to swim as much as she did.

Strolling over to two children, Walter came to the edge of the pond and asked, "What are you two trying to do, drown yourselves?" he chuckled.

"Walter! Did you see what we found? A whole lake to ourselves!" the princess laughed from a rock three feet from the older man.

"Oh, why yes I did. Hmm…now the only question left is if you can swim all the way over here so that Jasper can clean you up for dinner? And who is we?" Walter directed the last part of the question at the boy in the water.

"Oh, hello! My name is Elliot." He informed them both with a smile. Of course the princess wouldn't tell him she did not know his name, she was glad to know her new friends name. "Walter, watch me swim!" she yelled excitedly, and began flouncing about in the water towards Walter. The water was only over a foot high, but she was so determined to swim it that Walter had to laugh. Peyton set her mouth in a line and kicked off from the rock, making back after Eliot went in one foot from the shore and pulled her. With Walter chuckling, she asked, "Walter, can Heros swim?"

He looked her in the eye and answered, "Well, that depends. If you are stuck on an island with balverines all around you, and you know they do not like water, do you swim?"

Peyton stood defiantly and told him, "Then teach me to be a Hero," as she had so many times before.

"Yes, yes princess of course. Just after dinner, alright? You need some meat on those bones if you want to be a Hero."

Peyton nodded at him and took Jasper's hand into the caste. Elliot waved good-bye to Walter and ran off to another part of the garden.

Walter sighed and took one last moment to admire the city bellow before turning to head in for dinner. Soon, very soon, he would head down to discuss with Page the upcoming events.

As Jasper led the princess Peyton into her chambers, she told him about her adventures with Elliot and the pond. "And I swam all the way across the lake, Jasper! It took for so long! And I placed a flower on the rock for mommy like I said I would if I reached it." At the last part, her face fell a little and she turned away, not wanting her butler to see her tears. The old man placed her dinner gown on the bed and told her to be ready in an hour, for her father was dinning with them tonight.

She beamed at the last part and let the maids who had entered clean her of the murky pond water and brush her tangled curls out into a reasonable mane. After her hair shone and her skin was clean, the little princess walked into the hallway adorning her new dress. A light pink gown with lace down the front, she liked the girly thing. "Jasper? Will I meet father in his room or at the table?"

"Your father requested that you meet him at his door, your highness," he responded, and Peyton danced down the hall to his room. The carpet under her feet was decorated with florals and the symbol of Albion across the floor. Once she approached the doors, she slowed to a stop and lightly knocked on the old king's door. A hacking cough greeter her as the barrier was slowly pulled back to reveal her father.

"Dad…" Peyton said as King Sparrow walked into the hall. The room behind him had no light, giving the illusion he had been all alone. He turned and faced his daughter, smiling at the sight of her. Once, the king had been extremely handsome. He cast hearts all over Albion into flutters as he walked by. But years of travelling, ruling a kingdom, and grief over the loss of his wife had cast shadows and scars that no amount of potion could erase.

Sparrow patted the girl's head, asking about her day as the descended towards the dinning hall. Listening to her ramble about a lake, he had a sudden flash back to the blind seer telling him the future of his children. After that day he swore to not have a child, therefore dooming the fate of the world to no one. But his wife wanted kids so badly he had to agree. Logan had been a handful, but he loved him dearly. A son to be born first, what more could a king ask for. He knew Logan was having a hard time dealing with the times, hell, they all were. The queen had been particularly close with her son. They had done nearly everything together. She always took him to the market so he could see the way people felt the effects of every decision made high above in the castle. Gone fishing. Swimming. They read together in the library. The thought of his deceased wife suddenly overcame him and he had to stop, leaning on a table in the hallway for support. Sometimes he just missed her so much…then Peyton's voice broke through to him. "Father? We're almost there. It's diner time." His family…he had to keep on. Had to move and smile and laugh as though nothing were wrong. Just a little longer…

Everyone in the room rose when the King entered the dinning hall. Logan saw his sister run in ahead of their father and became a bit envious that he hadn't been called to walk the king in, but kept his face up and smiled at his father. Walter watched the king's movement and the forced expression on his face; they had travelled together for too long for him not to know him by now. "Hello everyone. Hope I haven't been keeping you for too long, eh?" many laughed at the king's addresses, giving him a familiar tone of comfort. "I just want to thank you all for coming tonight. As you know, things are not, ah, doing as well as we had planned. But it will work out, just like it always does, and the better Albion will emerge victorious once more. We are all so close…" the king finished his small speech with a nod of his head and took his seat at the top of the table.

As the king sat down, Walter swore under his breath when a look of pain crossed his old friend's face, for not many around him knew the amount that would cause him to break. He could only hope that he could recover, which was unlikely at this point, or go peacefully to join his wife and be released from the lashing chains that bound him to the mortal word.

Once the meal had been finished and the tables cleared, everyone headed out to their rooms. Logan walked his sister back to hers, and became the fourth person that day to listen to her great feat of the lake. He smiled and teased her at all the right moments for they were close siblings. Logan had always treated Peyton well.

Walter took Sparrow by the arm and supported him the whole way back to his chambers. "Come on, old friend…we're almost there…" he encouraged all the while. But the king coughed and wheezed to no end, raising an alarm throughout the castle for the doctor to be sent for and the children to be called.

When the doctor arrived, he took Walter and Jasper into a seclude corner to tell them the news. The old king was not going to improve, that much was determined. By the way he was looking things would be much worse by morning. If he managed to last that long. Jasper looked back at the man's children gathered on his bed, holding their father's hands and trying to keep him distracted. Logan. Tall, lean, headstrong, and caring Logan sat on his father's right side, telling a story from when the two of them had been out exploring the land and saw a hobbe for the first time. Something made the old king smile and the boy give a forced shaky laugh, bringing tears to Jasper's eyes. Looking away and off to the other corner he saw he was not alone. Others were suspended in watching Logan and his father, for Peyton was drifting in between sleep and awareness and had her head resting on the king's chest. Walter was staring at the scene, eye line unbroken and teary. The two men glanced at each other for a moment, both recognizing that this would be the end of a very dear friend, and a way of life would be slowly drifting to the past.

A few hours later, the wheezing from the king increased, drawing Walter and Jasper closer to the king. Logan had joined his sister and fallen asleep on his father's chest. The king looked at the men, one last burst of strength surging through him before his body would perish. "You two know how long I have waited for my time. Much longer than anyone around me has, and all I've seen is more death. The death of a time, the death of my people, and the death of my loved ones," the king looked away at this, overcome with emotion. "I can't continue to protect them the way I have been, and they will both take this so hard. Logan…watch after him. His mother passing was hard enough on the lad, I just hope this won't rip him apart. As king, he won't have time for mistakes, so please, Walter, become his head advisor." Walter bowed his head in acknowledgement of the role he was to undertake. "Jasper, you have always kept me one step ahead of organized, so I ask only the same for my son. And as for Peyton…" he moved to take the necklace he was wearing off his neck, handing it to Jasper for safe keeping. "This…this will be part of your future more than the three of you shall know. Guard it with you life, you hear?" Jasper stared transfixed at the object and the king repeated at him, "You here? You cannot lose it, you cannot trade it, it cannot fall into the hands of another. Please, Jasper, with your life…" This time, the servant responded with enthusiasm, emphasising his condition by putting in on. The king laid back down, muttering to himself. He looked each of the men in the eyes and thanked them again, and then slipped into the world of the afterlife. All observers in the room bowed their head in respect for the death of the king; the last Hero of Albion.

Thanks! R&R! :)