Disclaimer: The only thing I claim to own is the insane idea that formed this story. Everything else is borrowed.
A/N: (updated: 5-5-10) This is an old post that isn't exactly one of my best. I've revised it a little bit, hopefully making it more readable and self explanatory. Thanks for popping in to check it out.
EXPLORING DREAMS
Cat And Mouse
Sarah walked steadily down the dank and dark corridor. Her skirts swished around her legs as she made her way to the far end, her green eyes accustomed to the dimness of the sublevel, her footing sure and silent on the rough stone passage.
She reached between her bosom to remove the skeleton key that nestled there on the end of a delicate chain, and fingered its intricate design as she continued onward. She paused at the solid door only long enough to insert the key in the lock and turn it.
The door swung open wide of its own accord, silently on well oiled hinges. No sound was made as she entered the even darker room, but she didn't need any light to know where he was, to know that he knelt on his royal knees while chained to the low ceiling with his arms shackled and limp over his head.
She felt an inner remorse for him, nagging at her to let him free. But, it had taken her far too long to finally beat him at his own games. To bring him down to his knees, literally, after all the haunting dreams, the sarcastic taunting, the seductive teasing. No, this was her revenge, and she planned to relish every moment of it.
"Still dreaming of things that never were, I see," she stated evenly with contempt, noticing how his breathing had changed just by the sight of her. How he diverted his eyes so she wouldn't see his reaction to her. "It's okay, Jareth, you keep dreaming of holding me in your arms if that's what makes your heart continue to beat."
She could see his eyes reflecting the light from the torches behind her, though having them meet hers still made her catch her breath, despite everything. She chuckled without humor, regaining control of herself immediately. "You've played your cat and mouse games for years, Jareth. Now let's see how you like being the mouse."
She stepped closer to him. He was no threat to her in this state, with iron bands around his wrists and ankles to ward off his magic. "You should have listened to me when I told you that I didn't want to be your queen." She sneered at him. Lowering herself on bent knees, she took his chin in her fingertips to purposely meet his mismatched gaze. "But you went on tormenting me, anyway."
She leaned her face closer to his, ignoring the churning of her stomach at being so close to him, ignoring the heated expression in his eyes as he unblinkingly held her gaze. "So, now I'm your queen. How do you like it, love? Are you comfy? Is the pillow beneath your knees to your liking as you kneel before me as my slave?"
His eyes flashed dangerously for a brief second, then returned to their former steady gazing.
She smirked sardonically. "Not exactly what you had planned, I know. But, consider this: because of you I am the queen of an entire kingdom. Because of you I have all my dreams being fulfilled as you kneel before me. And, because of you I have become the very nightmare that you turned me into with your persistence to make me be your equal."
She flicked his chin from her fingertips, wiping them on her skirts as though they were soiled. Standing to her full height she peered down her nose at him for a minute, and felt pity nagging at her insides. She quickly turned on her heels to leave with her chin held high.
"By morning I will be free," he told her, his voice strong and even. "And then, you will know true fear, my Queen."
She stopped dead in her tracks in the doorway, her back tensing visibly as his voice washed over her with a tingling sensation. "I've taken every precaution to safe guard against you ever escaping without my consent," she stated unmoving.
"Then give me your consent now, and save yourself the agony of what I will do to you in retribution for your cold heart."
She half turned and looked back at him with a half smile on her lips. "Those are the exact words you used to make me your queen in the first place. Don't you ever give up?"
"Never!" he hissed, his eyes flashing with sudden rage. He pulled fiercely against the chains that bound him, creating a terrible ruckus that echoed back upon itself along the stone corridors. He tilted his head back and let loose and incredible sound from his throat. It was full of agony, rage, and determination.
When silence finally enveloped the darkness once more, Sarah realized that she was trembling through and through. A coldness had seeped into her veins that no fire could warm, and the impending dread, that started at the base of her spine, slowly crept its way to the back of her neck. Everything she had planned was crashing down around her. Years of learning how to turn his trickery against him, of how to overcome the feelings that he stirred within her, of accepting a life she didn't want. It all washed away like the tide on a beach with that single, heart-wrenching sound.
She moved, ever so slowly, to fully face him once more. She thought she had finally won, that she had finally beat him, had him exactly were she wanted him, only to realize that she had been the mouse all along. "Release him," she whispered, her voice carrying eerily along the walls. The command broke the spell of magic that held him in place. The bands of iron magically fell from his limbs, the chains clanked to the floor around him. He rubbed his wrists with an exaggerated gesture, though his skin bore no marks. He held her transfixed with his steely gaze as he regally rose to his feet, viciously kicked the pillow out of his way before treading purposely towards his queen.
He roughly grabbed her by the arm, just above her elbow, and ushered her into the corridor. A heavy glimmer of magic washed over them as they passed through the doorway causing both of them to pause momentarily with brief light headedness and disorientation. After regaining their equilibrium they gazed at each other and sighed heavily.
"I grow weary of these futile attempts, Sarah," Jareth told her in a most congenial tone as he led her further down the corridor. "You really must try harder next time."
"You need to stop cursing my food!" she retorted pleadingly, trying to pull her arm from his grasp. "I didn't like this dream much at all," she admitted with a lowered voice, both of them pausing to face one another. "I knew what you wanted me to do to you, Jareth," she continued, meeting his exotic gaze. "But, even with the magic, I couldn't hurt you like that. I can't do it! Don't you understand that by now?"
He nodded minutely as he looked away from her, continuing to walk along being appeased inwardly that she still, in fact, did love him. Sarah had proved many times over the years that she was simply incapable of actually hurting him in any way, even in anger she could only go so far, as she'd just proved once more. After their massive argument of that morning, Jareth had slipped a cursed piece of fruit in her breakfast, creating this dream scenario to allow her to vent all her rage and anger upon him.
"I'm running out of ideas of how to amuse you, Jareth," she fretted with worry in her voice.
Was she really disappointing him by not being able to do unto him as he wanted? What if he truly wished for her to cause him harm? There was a very deviant side to him after all. Or, was he merely testing her, making her prove beyond all doubt, that she would never do anything against him? Making her prove over and over again that she was truly loyal to him?
He stopped suddenly and looked at her affronted, holding her at full arms length by the shoulders. "Do you honestly believe that?" he asked curiously, then a coy smile graced his elegant features. "Sarah, we've barely skimmed the surface of all the dreams you have in that head of yours."
She felt her face flush in response to his statement, a warmth filled her insides as it always did when he looked at her like that. "Well, you could at least pick something more pleasant next time," she grumbled as he moved to lead her up the stone steps with his hand gently at the small of her back.
"Then, I suppose you aren't interested in saving me from the jaws of an ice dragon?"
"An ice dragon?" she voiced with trepidation, stopping to look at him fully. "I've never dreamt of an ice dragon in my life."
"That would be another one of mine, then," he replied with a thoughtful frown, then his features cleared, and his eyes sparkled with renewed excitement. "Come, you'll definitely need heavier clothing."
"Jareth, wait!" she exclaimed as he rushed ahead of her up the winding steps. "I don't know how to fight dragons!"
The End
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