End of a Hero

She's kneeling in the sand, and the sun is beating down her warm brown back. Beaded sweat all over her face, she bites back a cough from the dust-choked air suffocating her. But right now she can't think of any of that, because there's a throbbing red gash in her side. And the man who put it there is standing right over her.

It's all she can do to cough out, "Please, Farmboy. Please… we had a deal!" A cough chokes her and she doubles over, eyeing her spear, just out of reach. "Please…" she manages to whisper. "You don't have to… kill me."

She wonders if he can even hear her. The crowd's roar is surging around them like a wave of blood. And even if he can, will he listen?

"We had a deal…"

She says that, but she wonders if it's even true. At the beginning, to be sure, she agreed not to kill him. At the beginning, when they were calm and collected, brothers-in-arms against the scorpion king. At the beginning, when they were told to battle each other, she swore she would not kill him. Alan was her rival, her foil, her thorn in the flesh, but never her enemy. Going into battle, she'd been determined to make a good show of defeating him, nothing more.

But that was the beginning, before the fight began, before all the memories came rushing back. Suddenly she wasn't in the arena. She was in Orchard Farms. In the Guild. In the Training Ring, bobbing and weaving and fighting the dark-haired farmboy in front of her. She was there again, under the eyes of her master and brother, fighting with Farmboy.

And again he was humiliating her right in front of them.

It was the Hobbes all over again. The Assasin's Guild all over again. The stones at the farm, all over again. Every single battle she'd ever had with Farmboy, all over again. Again and Again and Again. Farmboy. Defeating her. Humiliating her. And as she leapt and dodged and thrust, the thought throbbed in her brain. "I will not lose. Not again."

She forgot all about putting on a show, about pulling punches, about being careful. She forgot everything except fighting him, and defeating him. Even if she had to kill him. In her mind echoed the words. One day, brother, I will triumph in the arena. One day, I will defeat Farmboy. And she felt in the pounding of her heart and the strain of her arms that today was the day.

It almost was. That's what scares and fascinates her at once, was how close she came to actually killing him. It was the chance of a moment that had placed her, instead of him, where she now was.

No, not chance. It had been skill. But it had only been a moment.

He had been knocked back by one of her rushes and fell onto the sand, his sword flying from his grasp. Whisper had leapt high in the air, spear in hand. She remembered the blood pounding in her ears and the lion roaring in her throat as she bore down toward him. She remembered the white of his wide eye as he rolled to face her, looking straight at the spear shooting down at him.

And then lightning had leapt from his fingers and she was blown backward. She hadn't expected that. Farmboy had never been good at magic.

How could she have been so stupid? How could she have forgotten their deal, forgotten her code, forgotten everything and anything in that thoughtless moment? What was she thinking? She didn't even think about it, really, she's killed hundreds in the exact same way she was about to kill Farmboy. What had she been trying to accomplish by being so thoughtless? What end did she have in mind?

But it doesn't matter. None of it matters because now she is kneeling in the sand, with her life leaking through her fingers to the sand. And all around her, the crowd is roaring for her death. All she can do, with her will spent and her life ebbing, is to gasp, "We had a deal." Even though she knows she was about to break it.

"Please, just… walk away. You don't have to kill me."

He's not even looking at her. He's staring off at the stands, at the gate, at Jack of Blades, at anything except her face. He's just standing there, as if in some kind of trance, sweat dripping onto his armor, and his own breath coming in gasping heaves. His long black sword hangs from his limp, weary hand. It's close. Too close. But he's not looking at her, and he probably can't even hear her.

"Please," she gasps again, "Please don't…"

"Whisper," he says suddenly. "You know that quest I did? To the bandit camp?"

"Yes," She whispers. "Yes."

"I killed them all, you know," he says, shifting his weight. The sword glitters with his movement, and Whisper tries not to flinch. "I killed them all, and I got to Twinblade. Do you know what he said?"

"What did he say?" She murmurs tonelessly. The stands are starting to look a little blurry.

"Do you know what he said?" He repeats, as if he hadn't heard her. Maybe he hadn't. "He said he was a hero once. Just like us." He laughs, and to her it sounds strained. "Can you believe that, Whisper? Twinblade, leader of the bandits, a hero once. Can you believe that?"

"No, no." She cries, despite the fact that it was common knowledge through the Guild. "No."

"He begged for mercy, too." He continues. "Said didn't have to, after all it was punishment enough to remove him as leader, because no one would accept him anymore. Glory all gone and all that."

"Oh, did he?" There's no need for her to say this. They both know how the story ends.

"I killed him, of course." He says. "Put my sword right through his skull. Funny, you'd think a man as big as that wouldn't have a head like everyone else. But it cracked open just like all the others. Eggs, y'know. That's what I always think of when they go." He laughs again, and this time she knows it's strained. "He deserved it, the slimy bastard. For what he did to Theresa. He deserved it."

"Oh of course, of course…" She moans, completely ignorant as to who 'Theresa' is.

"But he said he was a hero once, like us." Farmboy's still not looking at her. "I didn't understand that, right then, how that was possible. How does a man who lives to be a hero become a villain? How do you start out with love and end up with hate?" "

"I don't know, Alan, I don't know." She's sobbing full out now, and she doesn't even care that she's crying in front of two thousand people, still roaring for her blood. "I don't know. Oh, God, Alan…"

"I mean, people have reasons for what they do." He continues, utterly lost in thought. "Always. Reasons. Reasons reasons reasons. They have reasons to become heroes, and they must have reasons to stop being heroes. A purpose, y'know, or an end to pursue. But how would trying to follow one end lead into a completely different end? How could you forget about one and change it for another?" Wiping the sweat from his brow and coughing a little, he wheezes out. "But then... villians have their own purposes too, y'know. Ends. So what makes a hero's end different from a villain's?" He suddenly looks down and his voice grows louder. "What is it, Whisper? What is the end of a hero? Do you know? Can you tell me?"

"No, Alan, no, I don't know." The world's going black around her already, and she can only whisper through the sobs racking her dry. "No I can't tell you... Alan, please, for the love of..."

"I think I do, Whisper." He interrupts her as he grips his sword. "I think I do understand, now."

The sword flips up and she flinches. The crowd's roar swells like a sea in expectation. She should be able to look up and face her death, but she can't she can't look…

Something thuds into the ground next to her head.

"I understand, Whisper."

Sword on his shoulder, he turns and walks out through the arena gates, accompanied by the booing of a disappointed mob, and finally she dares to collapse to the ground. As the blackness closes her eyes she turns her head so slightly to see what landed in the sand…

It's the amulet.

A/N: Ha! I'll bet you thought "end" referred to death, didn't you. Out of curiousity, how many of you thought she was going to die when you were reading through this? I tried to make it a real decision that Farmboy is struggling with at this point in the story. Do please let me know if it worked. In fact, drop a line and tell me so! Tell me what you thought of the story! REVIEW!

Yeah, this chapter breaks the "Whisper" motif, but it was too fun a title to pass up, and I don't think anybody was really caring about the funny titles anyway.

We're nearing the end of Whisper's public involvement in the story, so we're going to do some behind-the-scenes stuff coming up, and also a little AU. Obviously, AU's can go anywhere, so anybody with ideas are welcome.