Fable III: Retold Chapter 28

==1 Day to go: Do the Ends Justify the Means?==
"Happy anniversary, your majesty one year as King of Albion doesn't time just fly? To celebrate this momentous day, I have prepared some fantastic events, first you will stand still for several hours while a local artists paints your portrait, then you will chose the forty-seven varieties of flowers you wish to cast at your feet as your parade through the city, oh and you will need to sign thousands of autographs of course, let's see...you will also be fitted for a new pair of shoes and of course you will need a new suit, and perhaps a ring to..." Hobson said as time froze and a portal opened.
"Thank god! Thank you Theresa" Adam said entering the portal.
"On the road Adam said Anna had joined him as Theresa appeared.
"The day has come, king it is time for you to face the darkness, but you will do so in your true form over the past year, you have made decisions that reveal your nature, and which have affected the lives of all your subjects you have done what many would have thought impossible not only have you raised an army to protect your people, but have accomplished this while acting as a noble benevolent and popular ruler but you are more than a king, you are a hero" Theresa said as Anna stepped away from Adam as wings grew, "you are Albion champion, its protector, this coming battle is the reason you had to take Logan's place, only you can defeat the creature that dwells in the shadows if you do not, all your efforts will have been in vain, now go, do what you were born to do." Theresa said vanishing as Adam wings vanished.
"Amazing" Anna said still memorized by how Adam looked.
"Come on Anna we must go" Adam said as they left and appeared in the war room where Walter, Ben, Page, Sabine, Kalin and Logan all stood around the map table.
"It's here, the darkness has reached Bowerstone, reports indicate that our defenses were able to hold off the worst of the attack, but if we don't act quickly even the armies we prepared for this day will not be enough" Walter said.
"We have to get out on the streets now!" Ben said.
"Today we fight for Albion!" Walter yelled.
"For Albion!" everyone in the room yelled holding up a fist as Xander barked and held up a paw.
Outside the castle they all ran to see a dark haze over the enter city and Shadows beginning to appear as it rained down hard.
"Charge!" Adam yelled drawing his sword as all his allies drew their weapons and ran to attack.
"Defend the city with you lives!" Walter yelled.
"Ya!" Anna yelled slamming her hammer into several shadows.
"Force Push Inferno!" Adam yelled taking out all the Shadows.
"It's here, it's here!" Walter yelled as they heard the Crawler growl.
"Where are you hiding you coward!" Anna yelled slamming her hammer onto another Shadow.
"Does that thing ever shut up?!" Ben yelled.
"We have to find it and we have to save our people!" Walter yelled as the ground shook.
"The light bringers have come but this kingdom of unlight now, this is the kingdom of death!"
"I can't take that voice anymore!" Ben yelled.
"Don't listen to it! It will drive you insane, don't listen!" Walter yelled.
"Death beats it's wings for you."
"These things are tough!" Ben yelled.
"Down here!" Anna yelled as they ran down an alley chasing the Crawler as they saw Page reading a book sitting on a barricade.
"Page!" Walter yelled as Anna approached and Page vanished.
"Their illusions! Don't fall for them no matter what they say! They're not the real thing!" Anna yelled.
"This isn't real...it isn't real" Walter said as they heard the Crawler laugh.
"That way!" Adam yelled as they chased the Crawler into another area filled with Shadow and the bird statues.
"This is a nightmare right? Someone please tell me this is just a nightmare" Ben said.
"Defend the people! Keep fighting men!" Adam yelled slashing his sword across a Shadow as the Crawler laughed.
"Leave us alone!" Walter yelled.
"We have to find that bastard and kill it!" Ben yelled.
Adam then ran down an alley as the ground shook again and fog hit.
"I can barely see! What are they?" Walter asked.
"Dead fingers talk, dead fingers whisper, dead fingers claws at one million eyes."
The shops then began to explode with crows as the windows showed people burning and scratching at the windows.
"You have done such hurtful things, the people you know shall rejoice in your death!"
"Don't look at it! It's not real!" Anna yelled.
"Can you see the others?" Walter asked.
"No! I don't know where Page and the others went!" Adam yelled.
"We drink the sounds you give us, the cries of your young, the gurgle of freshly ripped throat, we give thanks for your desperation!"
"I am going to kill that thing!" Anna yelled.
"They're dying out there!" Walter yelled.
"We have to kill the Crawler quick!" Adam yelled.
"You can never escape darkness, it flocks to you always!"
Adam and Anna then ran across a bridge as a Sentinel appeared.
"Blade-Vortex!" Ada, yelled hitting the large enemy with the blast sending it flying off the bridge.
"Do not provoke us with the bonegleam from your broken bodies, it is a transgression against the night."
"Stick together! We have to stick together!" Walter yelled.
"Come on! We can't let these things win!" Ben yelled.
"They're everywhere! They're blood everywhere!" Ben yelled.
"We need to find the Crawler now!" Anna yelled.
"You shall be sightless for that is the most blessed state of being it is our gift to you our protector, our Sentinel he engine in the darkness"
"Inferno-Blade!" Adam yelled hitting another Sentinel.
"Excellent! Magic is the best solution against these things!" Walter yelled.
"Uff! I'm not sure I should block it again, nearly took my arm off!" Ben yelled.
"We cannot be stopped, have you not realized that yet? Are you thinking of your loved ones now? How you will never see them again?"
"Where are you!" Adam yelled as they ran into a courtyard.
"I can feel it, we're getting close to that thing, where are you? Show yourself!" Walter said as he looked over and the Crawler was in his face.
"The lost sheep returns to the flock no one ever leaves the darkness behind!" he said touching Walter face and roared as it grabbed Walter head and shoved it's hand into Walter mouth.
"Walter!" Adam yelled
"Walter!" Ben yelled.
"Let him go!" Anna yelled as the Crawler went into Walter body.
"Do you see? Do you see what you have allowed? We are all shadows now" Walter-Crawler said turning to Adam and Anna with his sword and gun out.
"Hey I can't get through!" Ben yelled stuck behind a barrier as he had to watch Adam and Anna fight the controlled Walter.
"Make it end!" Walter grunted.
"Let him go!" Anna yelled swinging her hammer as the Crawler caught her hammer and threw her back.
"Don't hold back! Don't...I'm ready!" Walter yelled.
"You have done terrible things, did you think I wouldn't know? Did you think I would allow it? Tainted! Tainted broken little toys!" Crawler-Walter said.
"Ya!" Anna yelled as Walter knocked the hammer out of her hand and grabbed her throat and slammed her onto the nearest wall chocking her as Anna gasped for air and clawed at the hand.
"Let her go!" Adam yelled swinging his sword as the Crawler-Walter teleported away and Anna hit the ground coughing.
"I have killed so many of you already, why fight me any longer?" Crawler-Walter said.
"Because life is worth fighting for!" Adam yelled hitting the creature with his sword.
"Kill it!" Walter yelled.
"Ya!" Anna yelled slamming her hammer into the creature back as Adam wings emerged as he stabbed his sword through the creature gut and out the back as they heard the Crawler screeching before dissolving out of Walter as the darkness over the land vanished and Adam removed his sword and caught Walter in his arm as the man wheezed as he breathed and tears filled Anna and Adam eyes.
"I'm sorry" Adam cried.
"We're so sorry Walter, we didn't want it to end like this" Anna cried.
"You took away the darkness, it's been inside me all this time, but it's light now, I can see the sky and it's light, I don't think I can fight anymore" Walter said.
"It's all over Walter, we won, we beat it together" Adam cried.
"Yeah we're all safe now, Albion safe we can keep it safe together" Anna cried.
"Do you remember the stories I'd tell you when you were a child? There was a great King once, the mightiest hero of them all; remember what you would say?" Walter asked.
" 'Teach me to be a hero'."
"You've done me proud, you both have, you've always done me proud" Walter said dying in Adam arms as Adam and Anna began to sob.
"Walter" Adam sobbed as Ben touched Adam shoulder as August touch Anna shoulder as she cried into her father chest as Xander whined as Page and their other allies joined.
Soon after the war Adam, Anna and all their allies stood in front of a new statue of Walter in a heroic pose.
"I think old Walter would have like it out here he was always a fan of looking...tall and stony I can imagine what he would say if he was here now" Ben said.
"Shut up Ben" Adam and Anna said as Ben laughed.
"Exactly!" Ben said.
"It's time I returned to my own castle if ever you need to save the world from another abomination, you know where to find me" Sabine said.
"My people shall never forget what you have done for them, we are proud to be part of Albion, I shall return to Aurora in the knowledge that we may at last enjoy peace, farewell you majesty" Kalin said bowing.
"Walter was right about you, you're a hero in every sense of the word the hero Albion needed" Page said.
"What will you do now?" Adam asked.
"I will continue to serve the best way I can, I belong down in the city the people there will always need help, goodbye my king" Page said bowing.
"You have done what I thought impossible, you are the ruler I could never be but you don't need me anymore and Albion will heal easier without me" Logan said.
"Well king, old chum, ruler supreme, pal, you did it you saved the kingdom and it's my turn to say goodbye I'm not cut out to be a general and I think I'd like to start travelling again, or maybe see if Page needs any help down in industrial but before I for, let's see off our friend in style, shall we?" Ben said.
"Go ahead Ben" Adam said.
"This one for you Walter" Ben said as the guards pointed their guns in the air and began firing as time froze and a portal emerged with Theresa stepping out.
"This is the world as it could have been, devoid of color, devoid of life, it is thanks to you that it isn't so and you did it without becoming a tyrant, the people love you and you have banished the shadow of your brother reign, you kept your promise to Sabine and his people when it would have been easier to turn your back on them, a noble gesture, you swore an oath to Page to better the lives of your people and you did so even in the face of great danger, you did for the Aurorans what your brother would not, he broke his promise nut you proved to be the better leader, without the strength to make those choices we would not be standing her now, perhaps we shall meet again one day, king" Theresa said.
"Aren't you going to tell us our future?" Adam asked.
"Yeah I want to know too" Anna said.
"The future will reveal itself when it is ready to do so and when love finally is realized" Theresa said disappearing as time started again with the guards firing as Adam and Anna smiled up at the statue.