Welcome back readers ~ Ice here. I hope you have time to read 'cause this is a much longer chapter than usual. It is roughly 4,300 words (before A.N.) while most I write are about 1,000 – 1,500 words. I wanted to add detail to show how Jet is learning, improving, and most of all growing. This chapter got intense for me and I hope you guys feel the same way. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Fable or any of its characters. I do however own Jet, her family, and named filler characters.

Chapter 13: Blood, Dust, and Sweat

Early rays of sunshine glittered across the mossy forest surrounding the wood and stone building. A young woman lay still asleep amongst waking peers. The dark skinned woman turned her attention to the sleeping girl who began to grunt. Cocking an eyebrow she watched her newfound friend struggled against something in her dreams. She was about to go to the girl and wake her when the black haired female bolted upright.

The sun glistened on her skin and it surprised Aviela. Jet had been in a nightmare so bad it left the girl in a cold sweat. She watched closely as a few beads fell down her light toned cheeks. Jet's piercing pale green eyes were wide with apprehension and fright. What was on the girls mind, Aviela wondered.

Jet sat there hands firmly to either side of her body clenching the sheets tightly. That dream…no nightmare, had shaken her to her core. Her little brother, Jack, was there pleading her with terrified eyes to save him. By his collar, Ruler had him in his grasp who chuckled mockingly at the helpless teenager. Before Jet could even move, Ruler had let go of Jack. Her younger sibling fell down deep into the never ending blackness below them. Tendrils of darkness came up and began to drag him further down into a fiery pit that seemed out of their world.

Ruler's mocking chuckle transitioned into a full blown laugh as Jet screamed helplessly. She turned up and glared. His golden eyes reappeared as he opened his lids. That stare of his felt like a knife through her soul. In that moment she felt her bones chilled and blood frozen. There's was also another face…haunting her like a faint memory. Jet knew that face from somewhere. It was a young boy with soft blue eyes and sandy blonde hair…much like her father.

"jet…Jet…JET!" Aviela's voice slowly became audible to Jet as the woman pulled her out of her reverie. Jet snapped her eyes to Aviela who sighed in light relief.

"Jet, are you alright?" Jet did not know how to answer to that question. Was she alright? The dream...was it a warning from Avo or was it just a result of stress? With no response from the girl, Aviela just about placed her hand on Jet's shoulder when the teenager shrugged her shoulders and looked away.

Looking down Aviela felt awkward. She was no mother and in all honesty she was hardly older than Jet. Maybe by about five years but no more. Aviela sat next to Jet and playfully shoved her shoulder against Jet's.

"Look, kid, it'll be alright. Dreams can't hurt ya." Jet turned her face to the dark woman. Aviela did the same and smiled, white teeth contrasting nicely against her cacao colored skin. Jet could not help but relax and nod back. Aviela nodded and stood up going over to her stuff.

The teenager stood up and stretched out her tired muscles. She felt her back pop a few times before relaxing once again. All the other women were sitting back down on the beds chatting, waiting for Aviela to move out. A wood drawer closed and Jet looked over to find said woman coming back with a piece of green ribbon. She twirled her finger in circles and Jet cocked her head. Aviela nodded and Jet turned her back to the older woman.

The dark skinned woman held the ribbon between her teeth as she took Jet's hair into her hand and pulled it up. Fiddling with the smooth hair Aviela readied her friend's mane into a clean ponytail. Taking the ribbon from her teeth she tied the cloth into a knot and let go of the ebony locks. She stepped back and admired her work. The woman nodded in approval as Jet turned back around.

"Hehe, you're still wearing that mask? You're adorable. Well, now, you have something to remember me by. Take it as a gift of our friendship." Jet's eyes glittered up at the woman before her and she smiled back. That smile soon faded away with a serious face. The teenage fighter knitted her eyebrows together in confusion.

"Jet, I want you to live…I want to fight you myself. When we meet out there, we'll be enemies. The only mercy I'll show you is not killing you." Jet's eyes widened with surprise but they narrowed in expectance. She nodded and said back to the woman,

"Same here. Hopefully we'll both live long enough to face one another." Nothing else was exchanged as they turned back to getting ready.

During the time before they left the room all the ladies gossiped amongst one another. Aviela gave tips on how Jet should fight or at least how she and her girls fought. Jet kept a mental note on some that may save her butt later in the ring. A shiver started in her back and the teenager looked around. Finding nothing she dismissed the feeling.

All the women finished getting ready and poured out of the room. It felt good to Jet to have her long hair swing to and fro as she strolled down the hall. The lobby already was fuller than yesterday evening when she came to the Arena. They looked over to the girls and frowned. All they were to the guys was just another obstacle to get through.

Aviela found a nice little corner for them to relax and wait. Finally a well and wide built man took control of the lobby. He stood at an average height for any man around and he was rather tan himself. His torso was exposed showing off his well toned and bulging muscles with plenty of tattoos. Something that caught Jet's attention was his face, it was very scarred. His dark brown eyes did not help his overall appearance.

"Alright, its time for you whelps to go toe to toe out there in that blood ridden dirt! I will randomly pick one of you maggots to go out and fight! You can call me Avenger! All of you will tell me what name you go by as a fighter! Questions? None? Good! YOU!" A little scrapling with his buddy were already thrown out the doors of doom. Already they could hear the pounding screams and cheers from outside.

Anxiety kicked in and Jet worried about being out there…what the heck was she getting herself into?Suddenly she had a gut feeling about this place. Brushing it off for the time being Jet conversed with her small group.

Only a few minutes after the first two go out Avenger had another poor soul thrown out into the Arena. She furrowed her eyebrows and Aviela also seemed worried. The woman shook her head and Jet turned her head away from the door. There was something wrong with this Avenger guy. Even though he had the words down, Jet could see reluctance in his face. What was the man shy about?

The second man that went out lasted about ten minutes before the Arena took him out. Avenger began looking around before pointing to Jet.

"You, girl! You're up!" Jet looked over to find Avenger motioning over. Jet stood up and turned to Aviela. The older woman held out her hand and Jet took her hand. Their hands firmly gripped for a few moments while smirking.

"Don't let me down kid." Jet allowed a light giggle.

"It's you I'm worried about." Aviela chuckled and let go. Jet turned and headed to Avenger. Both women felt weird, a strange cross feeling overcame them as Jet headed off. One of the pale girls asked if things were okay with Aviela and she nodded.

Jet came up to Avenger and stopped a few feet from him. He looked her up and down and cocked an eyebrow at her.

"What do they call you girl?" Jet was really starting to get tired of being called "girl" all the time. Legally she was now an adult and could make her own choices, including marriage.

"My name's J-" she caught herself before blurting out her real name. Jet cleared her throat and started again. "The name's Sabre." Avenger looked at her strangely then turned to a little guy next to him. The little man bolted off and Avenger turned back to Jet.

"Alright Sabre, my little messenger is heading up to the announcer right now so that he can get you out there. When you hear the announcer calling your name, walk out to the middle of the Arena. You then will start fighting for your life." Jet nodded and headed off to the big wooden doors.

Calmly and smoothly Jet strolled past the waiting fighters, all who looked at her one way or another. She completely ignored them and began up the stairs to the doors. There was a large cage on either side of her and she noticed something moving in one of them. She took a couple of steps toward the one and heard growling…she knew that growling. In clear view before her Jet took a good look at a Balverine. It's dark fur helped it hide perfectly in the shadows up here and it's glowing yellow eyes bore deep into her green ones. Jet turned away and pushed her way through the doors.

Dust blew around her feet with every step. The iron bars before her stood tall and proud keeping her from entering the ring. Finally the announcer echoed through the Arena.

"Aaannndd nooowww I introduce our first woman warrior! Saaabbbrrrreee!" The iron bars lowered allowing her entrance to the ring. The crowd grew ear drum bursting loud as she closed in on the center of the ring.

Her hand went to the hilt of her blade. Electricity burned through the tips of her fingers, itching to start…or was she more scared than she thought? Jet tossed the thought aside after concluding it was a mixture of both.

'This is it Jet. You got this far…no matter what goes down and what has happened, Jack is depending on you! You must save your little brother! This is only a short detour…he will be back home soon enough…'

Jet thought to herself as a shiver ran up her spine. She was being watched that was obvious by now since that was the second time that sensation tortured her. Hundreds of spectators sat ten feet up from her encasing the arena in chants and one of them had an eye on her. The teenager gripped tighter onto her blade when the announcer came back on.

"Round one is worth 200 gold! Ready…GO!" Suddenly in a loud bang ten wasps pop out of nowhere. Her blade was out in a flash pushing aside her dark grey cloak. Her eyes were narrow in confusion. Where did these things keep coming from? Even on the road they did that. Though then, she never paid close attention. Now with them just a few feet before her it hit her harder about their appearance.

The wasps came at her in random order and she used that to her advantage. First she stabbed forward killing off a couple in a swing and then she spun her body in a wide attack. A little more than half fell for it and she only needed to take care of a few more wasps. With a couple extra quick movements the last of them died and poofed off in an explosion.

Both their entrance and exit were much of the same. Was there another world that they came from? She glared at the disgusting creatures or at least where they were.

"WOW! What a quick round! Sabre has earned herself 200 gold! Does Sabre want to take a break? …No? Okay! Round two is worth 400 gold! Ready…Go!" Jet raised her blade again as the wasps appeared again. She raised an eyebrow, even if no one could see it, at the repetition of enemies.

Looking around she understood. There were double amount of wasps as the first round. This time more of them came at once instead of a random attack. She gritted her teeth and went at them with what she had.

Slowly Jet was reminding herself to move her body rather than just stay still. Two down here one down there…

"Ah!" She glared over to her right. A wasp managed a couple of cuts with its stinger. They were not big cuts but the shallow ones always seemed to sting the most. Shortly after the wasp was dead at her feet and she spun again killing a few more. Jet stumbled back trying to dodge another wasp swinging its butt at her. She thought that looked kind of awkward.

Now about ten were down and she sped up trying to kill of the last half. With a few swings another two were dead. Loud buzzing behind her made Jet aware of one trying to get to her. Which it did. On her soft patch right before her actual back a wasp bit her and another grabbed her upper side. With quick jabs those bugs were dead and twitching. Annoyed she quickly finished off the rest with the crowd cheering.

When the flying insects exploded out of her sight she rubbed her side. Those bites were already turning into bruises.

'Lovely…stupid bugs. No wonder people don't like you…' The announcer once again blared back on.

"Look at that folks! What a quick round! And with little injury! Sabre now has 600 gold!" Jet rolled her eyes. She wanted to get the done with as soon as possible.

"Round three is worth 800 gold! Does Sabre want to take a break? …No? Okay! Ready….GO!" This time those white creatures appeared before her. Another shiver ran up her spine. She made a quick look around and saw nothing.

Five monsters…not bad. It was her average when she was on the road. This would be easy…except for the fact that her body was already sore with bruises. The biggest threats for her were the creatures with a hammer and magic staff. Thankfully only two altogether. Ignoring the axe wielding ones she went after those two.

As she charged the axe wielders formed a line to which Jet jumped over. Using her hand for leverage, she placed it on a monster's head helping her over the beast. The axe grazed her lightly on her arm allowing a light stream of blood to trickle. All three of the axe wielders were confused long enough to make some distance between her and her targets before they realized what had happened.

Jet held her blade up as she swung at the magic user. It stepped back missing the tip of her blade and Jet ducked the ball of magic. While ducked low she shoved her blade forward while moving her feet a few steps forward. It pierced through the skin and she heard the death shriek of the monster. Using her whole body she spun to attack the hammer one just a few feet from the magic wielder. The blade disgustingly pushed through the tough skin of the monster to get to the other one.

Her blade finally came out and the staff fell to the ground. Even with how quickly she was moving, Jet felt her other arm hit with the hammer. It hurt…a lot. She glared from behind her mask at the beast. It flinched but mocked her by pumping its weapon above its head. Jet growled and the little white creature got serious again. The black haired teenager swung her blade only to miss and get hit lightly on her shoulder. Jet thanked Avo that she kept enough distance from this guy not to have her bones smashed to bits.

While the creature was finishing its move Jet made the kill while it was vulnerable. Stabbing her blade through its head, the hammer fell with a loud thud and the creature slid out of the blades grasp dead.

'Always look for a weak spot. Usually its when your opponent is finishing a move. Its easier done on a monster than a person though. Keep that in mind.' With Jet's head in a buzz with all the adrenaline it was hard for her to remember any advice from her new friends.

With a smirk she felt a sharp pain in her leg. Hissing she turned around to find the last three coming on her quickly. Pulling herself back to reality she worked the last few against one another while killing them herself.

All five now lay dead and the crowd screamed its head off. She looked up and gazed over the crowd. Her confidence had been growing with each dead opponent and Jet felt confident enough to win the Arena. She waved her free hand and the crowd, however possible, screamed louder.

Sweat dripped down her face and neck. Jet did not pull off her mask but pulled it out enough to allow cool air to sweep through which felt like heaven to her. That annoying voice boomed again as he readied for the next round.

"What a round folks! Those Hobbes went down like…well easy! Sabre has now earned herself 1,400 gold! Does Sabre want to take a break? …No? Okay! Round four is worth 1,600 gold! Ready…..GO!"

Jet smiled to herself. She finally found out the name of those creatures. Lowering her head she waited for the bang of incoming monsters. Finally they did and Jet narrowed her eyes. This time she was surrounded by ten Hobbes. This certainly would be interesting.

She could not use the same tactic as last time. For one there were too many axe Hobbes and not only that but there were double the magic and hammer users. One magic user was hard enough, now two? She expected to get burned sometime during this round.

The axe Hobbes came at her first like usual. Jet only readied her blade and blocked them with her own blade. Her body was starting to work against her quickly losing energy and being sore. The wounds from the Balverine attacks not long ago still hurt a bit. Time seemed to slow down as she worked her way through the Hobbes.

When she was not paying attention, one Hobbe managed a nasty gash on her side. Jet gripped onto her side and the whole crowd gasped. A low guttural growl emanated from Jet furious that the creature would even have the guts to do such a thing. Somewhere in her subconscious she scolded herself for even thinking like that. Apparently it was also enough to scare the creature as it cringed away from her. She took the opportunity and struck it down.

As Jet began to turn around she felt an explosion on the nape of her neck. With the explosion her right ear went partially deaf and temporarily lost sight in her right eye. Or at least everything was a bit darker on that side for her. Another blast went off behind her and another Hobbe fell from the miss. She felt relieved now that the pipsqueaks were out of her way. Fear built up as she realized that half of her senses were dulled and would put her more at a risk.

After a few moments there was a nasty burning sensation on her lower face towards her jaw and neck. Jet assumed that the magic had burned her enough to leave a nice mark. She hoped that it would heal and no scar would be left behind.

Movement in her peripheral vision brought her back and she moved enough out of the way to avoid a hit from the hammer. Jet was now getting to weak to actually fight off the monsters before and decided to use her head instead of her sword.

These Hobbes were dumber than any bandit she would face. So anything that she would pull they would fall for. Jet smirked to herself and a quick plan came together.

She zipped off to the side and ran right next to the other hammer wielder. Another magic explosion happened behind her and to her side. Ignoring it she ran around until she had both hammers on either side of her. Behind her mask, she smirked.

The two came at her with their hammers raised and she felt adrenaline rush through her as she played chicken with them. They did not think of what she was doing but only saw her as a sitting duck while she stood still with their weapons raised. When they started swinging their hammers Jet ducked and rolled out of the way. She shivered when the mashing and crunching sound echoed through the ring.

Above her the crowd hollered and cheered for her success.

Jet stood back up and looked to the Hobbes. Both lay bloody and smashed up defeated by their own comrade. Confidence rising again she barely ducked in time to avoid a magic ball. This time she ran at them assured that she could kill them off with her blade.

Before she knew it the two magic Hobbes were dead and she was done with the strenuous round. Jet felt her wound again and reassured herself that she would be fine. It would explain where she was feeling tired. Panting she raised her blade to the crowd who cheered with anticipation and excitement.

"What a comeback people! Sabre managed to use her wits and brawn to take down all ten Hobbes! We've got someone special here folks! Round fi-…" The announcer's voice grew quiet and Jet jerked her head up. Her gut wrenched in fear.

'I've been hearing about a secret round…' Aviela's voice rang through Jet's head. Was this going to be it? She just happened to get the secret round?

"Hold on folks! There is a change in plans! To all that have been listening to those rumors, here's your answer! Here's our secret round! Ready…GO!" Wait, was the announcer supposed to ask her if she wanted a break? Not that she wanted one but it made her all the more apprehensive. Plus no amount of money announced for this round…

Suddenly a burst of red magic appeared before her. It looked pretty but it reminded her a bit of those horrid hags back in the cemetery.

Jet's heart dropped completely to the other side of the world. Her eyes widened in fear. She almost let go of her weapon. Floating in midair before her was Ruler himself. Those golden eyes dug deep into hers daring her to make a move. She did not. Fear gripped her tightly and she could hardly breathe. He finally lands gracefully making his entrance all the more dreading.

The crowd actually grew quiet afraid for their own lives. Not even a child, if there was one, cried out. Animals quieted their calls as the pressure of his presence burdened them.

Jet shook slightly. Why…HOW! The teenager understood that he knew a lot…but this? THIS! She felt her hair stand straight and a cold sweat coated her tired body. Jet visibly cringed when he began to chuckle.

"What's the matter girl? You're shaking. Are you afraid?" Jet says nothing or rather could not say anything but involuntarily tightens her grip on her blade. His head lowers slightly in a mocking and threatening manner.

"You're not afraid; you're terrified. And guess what, there's no escape. The doors will not open if you try to run," his voice grew darker than normal and his eyes glowed brighter, "you're stuck with me." Jet took a step back and Ruler pulled out his blade.

His sanguine cloak fluttered in the breeze that dared to move through the ring. Ruler made one step and Jet flinched her blade into defense. It did no good when her mind could not comprehend what to do next.

Suddenly he blurred out of her vision. Within a second he reappeared mask to mask. Jet gasped. She could feel his body head and see the detail in his iris. Her eyes widened and in a swift motion his blade raked itself across her abdomen.

The teenager flew across the arena and landed harshly on the dirt. She flipped once and slid a few feet on her belly. When she stopped a groan escaped her throat. Getting up into a crouching position Jet grabbed at her new wound.

She managed to calm herself down a bit and allowed her hand to move. Her hand surveyed the mask which had taken good damage. It had a large crack running up at an angled and the lower left hand side had a decent hole.

Jet was losing and she was losing badly.

Her hair flowed freely again and that's when she noticed the torn ribbon. She picked it up and placed it in a pocket for later. Footsteps caught her attention as she searched for her blade. It landed not far from her this time. Jet picked it up and rose clutching her gut.

As soon as she was on her feet Ruler already was swinging his blade at her. Jet stumbled around and managed a little distance between them, enough to where his blade could not graze her.

A thought struck her and despair wrenched wildly in her stomach. Ruler was toying with her. Anything that she would throw at him would only be child's play. Jack, her little brother, came to mind as his pleading eyes tormented her. She gripped at her blade and rushes Ruler.

The ancient man just sidesteps the girl and bends back to avoid her blade. He smirked behind his mask as she glared at him. She had to know by now that she was fighting a losing battle.

His blade made contact with her face as she turned to face him.

Her mask shattered as she flew again. Jet did not go too far this time and only slid a couple of feet. When her body stopped moving she propped herself on her hands and knees. Her long black hair matted with sweat, blood, and dirt hung loosely around her face. After a few moments of catching her breath she turned slightly and glared at her Ruler.

Jet no longer was Sabre.