AN: Well, my first Fable fic. I'm writing this, mostly due to replaying Fable II...something I tend to avoid because the game depresses the heck out of me :(

Namely, I have difficulties getting past the Rose death...no problems with Scarlet Robe in the first one, or with Elliot/Elise in the Third...probably because of the gut punch of it being:

A. Your only family

B. You're both little kids

It doesn't help that you have that 'Perfect Day' bit later on. Thus, plot bunnies have been driving me up the wall to write a 'Rose lives!' fic. This one to be specific. It's as much an experiment as anything else...with the amount of time that my SG/Halo fic is taking up, I would need some real interest to continue it past the intro. So let's see how this goes!

In a darkened room, backlit by a magnificent stained-glass window, a circle of light grew from the floor. The blue light surrounded two young girls, dressed in rags and looking terrified at the circle. The older one couldn't be older than twelve or thirteen, while the younger probably hadn't even hit ten yet. Pacing outside the circle was a much older man, something of an insane glint in his eyes as he muttered under his breath, before putting a finger on the blue light. The light turned red...seemingly protecting the children, if the man's hiss of pain was any indication.

"M'lord, what's happening?!" the older girl, a child named Rose, asked fearfully.

"What are you?!" the man shouted, ignoring Rose as he moved to a table and began frantically flipping through a book, "There was something here..."

Rose and her sister began to panic even more at the difference in the man's actions. He had been friendly up to this point...but now he acted positively crazed, like something had snapped in him. The man continued to mutter under his breath, saying something about three Heroes...and one of the girls being the fourth? But they were just orphans...not Heroes! The man seemed to disagree, pulling an ornate pistol from his desk, turning back to the girls.

"Lord Lucien, what's wrong?!" Rose shouted again.

Lucien frowned, seemingly pained as he cocked the pistol, "I'm sorry. This isn't what I wanted, but I can't have anything stand in my way."

Before either sister could react, a bullet was lodged in Rose's stomach, sending her to the floor. The younger sister screamed and grabbed her sister, trying to get her to move. Tears were running down her face...and even Lucien's eyes looked wet. A cocking sound announced the pistol being reloaded, making the younger sister get back to her feet and fearfully back away from the man, staring at him wide-eyed.

Lucien sighed, "I'm sorry."

Another bullet slammed into the small child, sending her flying through the stained-glass window, far down to the streets below. The older sister watched as this happened...before the pain finally knocked her out. Lucien dropped his pistol from shaking hands, before gathering his materials and fleeing his castle, not looking back once. A lone guard, having heard the gun-shots and seen Lucien fleeing, rushed to the room.

"Oh no...no no no..." the man muttered, finding the shattered window and a barely alive Rose on the circle. The man carefully picked the injured girl up, filing her mutters of 'Sparrow' in the back of his mind as he carried her to the guard barracks...the medic there would have to heal her.

Years Later

That dream again...

Rose, Guard of Old Bowerstone, sighed as she touched a scar on her stomach...the spot where Lucien had shot and nearly killed her. She still felt phantom pain to this day, though it paled in comparison to the constant pain in her heart. She was the older sister...but she had failed to protect her little Sparrow. The image of the small girl being flung out the window of Castle Fairfax was something Rose saw every night...for the last ten years. She knew that if it hadn't have been for Derek the guard she herself would have been dead too...though there was part of Rose that wouldn't have complained if she had been left to die...at least then she wouldn't be going on with life on her own.

On the other hand, as the woman swung out of her bed and grabbed her augmented Longsword, by surviving she had a chance of paying Lucien back. Rose wasn't the vindictive type...she may have hated Arfur, the creep, but she wouldn't have ever deliberately hurt the man. Lucien though...the very thought of him made Rose's grip on her sword go white.

"I'll never forgive him...never," she growled under her breath, before a sad look came over her face as she looked up to the roof, "enough of that. Happy birthday Sparrow. I'm sorry."

Rose had long-since marked down her beloved sister's birthday. She celebrated each and every year, in memory of a life cut short. Derek, by now the Guard Captain of Bowerstone, allowed her this day off. The man had become something of a surrogate uncle for Rose ever since saving her from Castle Fairfax, and seemed to understand what she went through every year on this day. Something she was forever thankful for, as she left the barracks and blinked away the spring sun.

Bowerstone Old Town had changed tremendously since Rose's childhood. Thanks to breaking up the gang by finding those warrants (Rose ignored a twinge of pain at thinking of that day), the Old Town had begun to clean itself up. Now? The district was possibly the best in Bowerstone, as a proud Derek never ceased to enjoy reminding people of.

Speaking of whom...

"Rose!" the old guard shouted, walking up to the younger woman.

Derek had aged well, still fully able to hold his own in a fight. His cheerful attitude hadn't changed either, though he was rather more subdued on this day, just as Rose was. The old guard had a soft spot for both of the orphans, and he was possibly the only other person hurt by Sparrows death nearly as much as Rose herself was. He seemed unusually excited about something though.

"What's up Derek?"

"Thag's dead," the older man replied.

Now that was a surprise. Rose had heard of the bandit, capturing traders along the road to Bower Lake. Said road had been closed, and was currently being guarded by Andy, one of the few guards that Rose knew from her own training days. And he was under strict orders not to engage the bandits, so who could have killed Thag? Surely not a random civilian...right? Albion wasn't as harsh as it used to be, so few people knew how to use a weapon well enough to fend off regular bandits, leave alone a chief like Thag.

"Who did it?" she asked, as the pair walked along the road.

"Not sure. Andy said she, and ain't that a surprise, didn't really talk. When he asked her name all he got was Spar or something like that," Derek replied with a shrug, "Andy never was the best at paying attention. He probably misheard something."

Rose felt a pang in her heart when Derek said 'Spar' because of Sparrow. Shaking that off, she said goodbye to her old friend as he moved off to wake the rest of the days guard patrols from the barracks. Continuing to walk along the street, Rose headed for a specific destination. While not as prolific a market as the Town Square, Old Town did have some shops. One of those was open with a man sweeping outside it.

"Hey Rose!" the man waved as the young woman walked up to him.

"Hey James," Rose replied, smiling slightly at the cheerful man.

The young man was one of her better friends, constantly offering her a discount on his stock. Rose would have declined, but she instead took advantage of the discount to buy more food for the poor orphan children who still wandered through Bowerstone. If James knew she did this, he didn't say anything about it. Most people in the Old District knew her story by now, and while Rose didn't really want their pity, she knew that it was largely that reason that she was allowed to feed the orphans the way she did.

I won't let anyone else suffer like I did.

Shaking those thoughts from her head, Rose walked into the young man's shop, James already going into the backroom. He knew why the young guard was here, considering the date. The average Albion citizen didn't pay much attention to the calendar other than to mark crop seasons or sales down, but since when was Rose ever the 'average' citizen? Wandering around the shop, the young woman fingered a piece of cloth tied to her sword. An old brown stain marred the pink cloth...the only thing she had left of Sparrow, something that Derek had found hanging from the broken window when he 'investigated' Lucien's office.

"Here you are Rose," James broke into her thoughts, coming out of his storeroom with a vase of lilies.

Rose smiled, "Thank you James."

After paying the five gold (and getting another pang of sadness at that) Rose left the store. Sparrow had always loved lilies, so it had become just as much of a tradition for Rose to bring a vase of them to their old home, if one could call it that, every year on her sister's birthday. As Rose walked along the winding streets, she sighed and looked at the sky. Old Town was beautiful in spring, with all the flowers blooming. Of course, looking at the sky required looking at the imposing shape of Castle Fairfax in the distance.

"I wished we could have lived there little Sparrow," Rose said sadly, "I never wished for what happened."

That music box...Rose regretted ever buying it, or listening to that stupid woman. She had never believed in magic before, and shouldn't have started just because one woman who somehow knew her name said so. So what if the box was magic, all it had done was get her sister killed, and her nearly killed. Really, that woman was only barely under Lucien in Rose's mind...both had gotten her beloved sister killed, and she would never forgive either. But, it was pointless thinking about that.

This was supposed to be a day for happy memories. Sparrow wouldn't want her having such dark thoughts on her birthday, regardless of the reason. So Rose looked down from the castle in the distance, and turned down the side-path to her old 'home'. One of the most noticeable changes to Old Bowerstone was the flower-lined path that used to just be cobblestones and dirt. Rose had planted many of those flowers herself, making a memorial for her sister even if no one else would. But as she walked down the path, the sound of...crying...came to her.

"Who could that be?" Rose wondered, as she picked up the pace.

When she rounded the last corner, the young woman saw another woman, slightly younger than herself. The woman was dressed in lower-class clothing, patched together and obviously well-used. Her long black hair was tied back with a pink ribbon, and hanging over...a rusty longsword and old crossbow. Seeing a woman carrying weapons was odd enough. Seeing a woman carrying weapons and crying between the two bee-hives that marked where the old shanty used to be was even odder. Was this the woman who had killed Thag?

And then...Rose saw something in the woman's hands. Her old journal!

"Who are you?" Rose asked, carefully moving a hand to be ready to grab her sword if need be.

The woman flinched, and turned around slowly as she got to her feet. Slowly lifting her head up, both Rose and the woman gasped at the same time. For they had identical eyes, and extremely similar facial features. While Rose dropped her lilies, the woman put a hand over her heart and shakily spoke one simple word.

"Rose?"

Earlier

A woman looked up at Bowerstone. The town was impressive, if one had lived somewhere else their whole life. At first glance, one would think this woman had lived somewhere else, as her clothing was patched and frayed, and the weapons on her back were something usually seen out on the fringes of Albion society, certainly not in Bowerstone. Looks can be deceiving however, as this woman was familiar with Bowerstone, even if the memories were fuzzy with the long years that had gone by. She absently fingered a scar, barely hidden under an old necklace given to her by one of the Gypsies she had been staying with for the last two years.

I never really thought I would come back here...Sparrow thought, looking up at her former home as she walked into the city with a group of traders.

Logically she knew that coming back to Bowerstone would be needed at some point, especially if she was to fulfill the mission Theresa had given her...and her own personal vendetta against Lord Lucien. That didn't mean it didn't hurt to come back to the city where her sister had died. To be fair she had never actually been in the Markets before, as Old Town was mostly cut-off from Bowerstone at large back then. And she was determined to keep it that way...not go to Old Town unless absolutely necessary.

Sparrow had even forgotten that it was her birthday...so focused she was on her mission, and not thinking of her childhood. At any rate, a strange man ran up to her and brought her back to the present rather easily.

"Hey, are you the Hero who killed Thag?!" the man shouted excitedly.

Part of Sparrow almost wanted to punch the man to keep him quiet...Lucien could still have agents in the city, and she did not want her status as a Hero being spread around. On the other hand though, the man seemed harmless enough. So she'd put up with him, at least until she could meet Theresa in the market and ditch the strange man.

That being said, she would have to give him an answer or he probably wouldn't stop hovering around her asking rapid-fire questions. So turning her head slightly as she walked, Sparrow nodded at the man. She wasn't a mute by any means, but she didn't talk much anymore either. For what its worth, the man didn't seem to care that she wasn't talking.

"You don't know me yet, but I'll be a famous bard one day," the man said, striking a fairly ridiculous pose, "name's Roland y'see. Can I show you around Bowerstone for...inspiration?"

Now Sparrow had to hold back giggles at the man's enthusiasm. Kind of reminded her of that man with the picture thi...no, do not think about that day. Shaking her head slightly, Sparrow listened to the man go on about Bowerstone Bridge, leading her to file him away as 'Bard Obvious' mentally. He wasn't very good at singing either. When she reached the town square, the ramblings of Bard Obvious were cut out by the sight of Theresa standing by the center of the square. Oddly, people seemed to ignore her, with only Sparrow noticing the red-clad woman.

Waving Roland off, Sparrow walked up to her mentor. The blind seer turned her head slightly and nodded at Sparrow. The two women walked out of the market, towards a small shop in the distance, with a view out to sea. When the pair reached their destination, they stood next to the wall at the end, looking out at a structure...large enough to be seen even from this large of a distance.

"Look little Sparrow, and see where Lucien has gone," Theresa stated, pointing at the structure, "that is the Tattered Spire. A structure originally built by the last Archon of the Old Kingdom. It serves as a focal point for all the Will power of the world...such power is able to grant any wish its master may desire. However, that power was the end of the Old Kingdom...some say that was even the Archon's wish, to wipe away a corrupt world and replace it with a new, pure, world. That is the power Lucien is attempting to restore."

"Is that why he tried to kill me?" Sparrow asked softly.

Theresa nodded, "Indeed. There is a prophecy...three Heroes are needed to power the Spire, as it runs on the very lifeblood of a Hero...Will energy. There, however, is also supposed to be a fourth, who would stop Lucien's plans. Whatever he found in the tower that night convinced him you or your sister are that hero...and that is why he tried to kill you."

Sparrow unconscionably clenched her fist, a bit of fire gathering around it. What kind of man tried to kill two children just because they may be a future threat? She may have pitied Lucien, much as Rose (the fire went out as grief overtook anger) had...but that pity was long gone. The man may have lost his wife and child, but that gave him no right to do...whatever he was planning on doing with the Spire. For her part, Theresa smiled grimly under her hood. Sparrow had the determination she would need to survive her coming tasks.

Both women turned to the other once more, leaving the Spire in their thoughts. Theresa looked down on Sparrow, blind eyes examining the much younger woman, somehow. Sparrow still had yet to figure out exactly how her mentor could see and read her despite the blindness, but had given up questioning it years ago. Turning away from Theresa's face, she felt something pressed into her hand. Looking down, Sparrow saw a deck of cards, the type a psychic would be expected to read the future on.

"The cards have shown my your future, little Sparrow," the old woman said softly, "there are three other Heroes you must find, before Lucien can use their power to fuel the Spire. A Hero of Strength, a Hero of Will, and a Hero of Skill. You will find the first in Oakfield, far from Bowerstone. I am sorry, but you will have to go through the Old Town to reach the Bower Road to Oakfield."

Sparrow grimaced, but nodded nonetheless, "I don't like it, but I will."

"Good. Now, I must say goodbye for now Hero. I will contact you on the Guild Seal if I find anything new," with that said, Theresa walked off back towards the market, leaving Sparrow alone to look out at the Spire and Fairfax Castle.

Clenching her fist once again, Sparrow let out a sigh and turned away from the ocean view to head to her old home. She certainly didn't want to go back to the Old Town, or enjoy the idea of doing so. But by the same token, she didn't have much real choice in the matter either. If this was the only path she could take to continue her quest...well, she would take it. If nothing else, she might find something Rose had left behind at their old shack...maybe.

Walking into Old Town, Sparrow was somewhat surprised at the state of the area. She remembered it as being run-down, the laughing stock of Bowerstone. That was nothing like the Old Town she remembered...it was beautiful. Flowers lined every street, and the houses were arguably in better shape than the ones in the market had been. Did finding those warrants (do not think about that day Sparrow!) really help that much? It didn't seem possible, but that was the only real explanation.

Oddly though, while people had given her curious looks back in the market, the looks in Old Town seemed more...confused? Maybe people were recognizing her, even if she didn't recognize any of them. Electing to ignore the looks, Sparrow walked down that familiar paths towards the end of the district. The drop-off was the same as ever, as she looked out at the hated shape of Castle Fairfax. What wasn't the same was what she saw as the young Hero walked down the side-path towards her old home. The area had been fenced off, and...flowers planted along the path?

Why would someone care for this place?

Curious now, Sparrow walked along the familiar path, and saw a pair of large beehives had replaced the old shelter. She hadn't really expected any remnants to still be there, but it still hurt somewhat seeing nothing left of the place she and her sister had called home. Walking up to the hives, Sparrow got on her knees and...prayed. She wasn't sure what she was praying to, but was certain she didn't care. If Rose were anywhere, she would hopefully hear Sparrow begging for her forgiveness...especially for not visiting their old home for so long.

However, as she was looking at the ground, Sparrow saw something unnatural in the dirt. Reaching down, she retrieved a...book? The old tome was covered in dirt and yellowing slightly, but still legible. And when the young woman opened it, she almost dropped it as tears began to spill from her eyes. Written on the front page was 'Rose's Diary'. This was her sister's...and it had been sitting here for ten years?

Wiping the tears away, Sparrow opened the diary to the last page that had any writing on it. The yellowed page had a crude drawing of Castle Fairfax on it, with Rose's surprisingly neat writing under it.

I managed to find a nice piece of charcoal this morning, so I can finally start writing again. I still haven't finished putting down the story about the warrior girl who fights snow monsters. Sparrow always likes listening to that one-sends her right to sleep! It's not so easy for me. Winter is getting colder, and soon our shelter won't be anywhere near enough. We'll freeze to death if we don't find something better.

And the family of travelers who let us stay in their caravan last winter haven't come back this year. It was nice having someone to look after us for a change. If only we could find some secret passage into the castle...we're small enough that no one would notice us. We'd be like ghosts, or like mice hiding in the walls. We'd tip-toe out when everyone goes to bed and raid the larder. I bet they have so much food in there, they'd never even notice. Bah, day-dreaming isn't going to get us anywhere. You have to think of something, Rose. You're the big sister, remember?

Sparrow barely held onto the diary as she shut it...sobs wracked her body, as she let out ten years of bottled up grief. Rose had tried so hard to keep them both alive and healthy...and all it had done was get her killed. And now all that was left of her beloved sister was this old book, that Sparrow clutched to her chest as she cried. As tears flowed from her eyes and sobs from her lungs, Sparrow heard the sound of someone walking up behind her.

"Who are you?" a woman's voice asked.

It can't be...

Sparrow would recognize that voice anywhere. It was older and far more suspicious than she had ever heard before...but...

Getting to her feet shakily, Sparrow slowly turned around, not believing her ears, and thinking she was surely hallucinating in her grief. Raising her head from the ground...Sparrow saw a sight she never thought she would ever see. Standing in front of her was a slightly older woman, dressed in a female version of a guards uniform, with a stained piece of pink cloth tied around her longsword's hilt, flapping in the wind. That wasn't what got the Hero's attention though...this woman had the same eyes. And her face...it was older, but Sparrow would never forget that face.

"Rose?"

"Sparrow?"

The moment the shock wore off, both women wore identical looks of pure anger on their faces, as they dropped everything from their hands and pulled out their swords. Sparrow was cursing herself for not buying a new weapon in the market...her rusty excuse for a sword looking quite pitiful next to the imposters augmented Longsword.

For her part, Rose was glaring at the woman who dared to look so much like her sister. Sparrow was dead, so this had to be a trick by Lucien. But even so, there was a traitorous part of her that whispered why would an imposter be so sad?

"Who are you?!" both women shouted at the other.

The similarity in voices did little to dissuade either from the fact they were convinced the other was someone sent by Lucien specifically to get them to let their respective guards down. Both women were equally convinced their sister had died that horrible night. Rose because there was no way that Sparrow could have survived that fall. Sparrow because Theresa had made no mention of Rose being alive.

"Lucien sent you, didn't he?" Sparrow asked, flames starting to surround her hands again.

Rose didn't know what to make of the fire, but replied bitterly, "I was going to ask you the same thing. My sister is dead, so drop the act!"

And now Sparrow's inner voice was asking the very same question that Rose's had been. Why would an imposter sound so...pained? The grief in this Rose look-alike's voice was so similar to her own...but it couldn't be her. Why would Theresa have a reason to lie to her? Her mentor had always said Rose died that night...and with everything else she knew, surely she couldn't have missed something like this...could she?

Rose was still conflicted herself. While her little Sparrow had been so young when she died, this woman could easily pass for what she believed her beloved sister would have looked like at that age. Not to mention that had been real grief she had heard. And that fire around her hands...after what had happened that night, Rose had looked far and wide for any books on Heroes, to find out what Lucien had been so scared of to want to kill her and her sister. One of the common things she had found was that a Hero had something called 'Will' powers. The most common by far were lightning...and Inferno.

Surely Lucien wouldn't let a Hero work with him. And surely a Hero wouldn't work with the man, who killed a little girl just because she might one-day become a Hero. If, as the traitorous voice continued to whisper, he had indeed killed Sparrow.

"What day is it?" the Guard asked, hoping against hope that this woman could answer the question.

Sparrow was confused by that question, and wracked her brain for an answer. And the answer hit her like a Balverine over the head...it was her birthday. And only now, did the young Hero notice the discarded vase of lilies at the other woman's feet...and the empty vase next to the beehives.

"My birthday," the Hero whispered, not able to believe what she seemed to be seeing. No one but Rose knew it was her birthday. No one but Rose knew of her fondness for lilies. No one but Rose...would visit a place like this, "is it really you Rose?"

For her part, Rose felt her grip on her sword vanish, as she dropped the blade from suddenly shaking hands. Only Derek knew that today was Sparrow's birthday...not even James knew, he just knew that Rose always bought the lilies today. There was no way that Lucien could know...that could only mean that...

"Yes, little Sparrow," Rose replied, her voice breaking as tears came to her eyes.

The next thing either woman knew, they were in each other's arms, crying into the other's shoulder. The two sisters were reunited after ten years...and nothing would tear them apart again.

AN: Well, what do you think? Like I said, an experiment really...I'll need at least some interest, or I can't justify spending the time continuing it (unless my plot-bunnies from playing the game in question don't leave me alone). So please, review and let me know what you think! ;)

On a different note, I'm not sure of what pairings I could do. I know I won't pair either sister with Reaver (I expect at least someone to ask that considering his popularity. Personally, I've never liked the man, but that's just me).

I hope everyone enjoyed this little foray into Fable-verse and supports the story being continued! :D