The Other Side.
Chapter One: Achy Breaky Heart.
She couldn't quite believe this was really happening. She had been best friends with Jareth since she was five years old. She'd developed a crush when she was fifteen, and now at the age of twenty eight she knew she was undoubtedly in love with him.
She had thought it had been an entirely hopeless thing, her love for him. After all she was only half fae, and although her mother was best friends with Jareth's mother - the High Queen - she knew she wasn't what a Fae was known for. She wasn't a slim, ethereal beauty that could ensnare a heart with one look, or sing like a songbird, with all the grace of a Swan.
She was tall though, although she was pretty sure that didn't mean much in the long run. She had piercing cobalt blue eyes as well which were beautiful, something she had inherited from her mother as well as the clear complexion. However it seemed she took after her father more. It got clearer as she grew up. She could not eat anything she wanted and still stay slim. Infact she was rather chubby, although she wore it well which she knew was mostly due to her height. She had a bit of extra weight on her tummy, maybe her thighs were a bit bigger then they had to be, and she had small breasts, but she did have nice legs - her pure Fae cousin said so - and well, she was particularly happy with the infamous maternal line large bottom as well her caramel coloured hair. Well, the colour anyway. Unfortunately her hair was fine and straight. Not the thick, beautiful curls her mother had. Not only that but despite her physical maturity she was still extremely young - so much so she was called a child frequently - by Fae standards.
Due to all of this she had been sure she'd never have a chance with Jareth.
Yet just yesterday his parents, the High King and Queen, had stopped by with his proposal. She knew it was, perhaps, irregular that his parents asked her for him but she put it down to him either being shy in this new territory or perhaps concerned he'd ruin their friendship by asking. Now she was here - at the palace! - waiting for Jareth to arrive so they could have dinner to plan their engagement ceremony.
Biting her bottom lip, she took a deep breath before heading down the corridor towards the family dining room where her mother and Jareth's parents were currently talking.
Saffie had needed a moment before entering to calm herself. She didn't want to seem like one of those women at court who simpered, flirted, and clung to him indecently. She loved him unlike those women who only loved the promise of the High Queen's crown when he, eventually, took over for his father.
Her hope to be with him and inevitably crashed and burned when Sarah entered Jareth's life. Not only had The Witch predicted the girl, before she was born, as his destined mate but the second Jareth had first seen her as a small toddler he had been enraptured. All he had ever been able to talk about since he first saw her was her. It was always Sarah this and Sarah that. She had grinned and bared it, knowing it was extremely unlikely Sarah would ever be an actual part of Jareth's life. After all Sarah was all mortal, all human, and despite being a believer as a child of fantasy most humans lost it as they grew older. Not only that but those that didn't would not end up in the Underground anyway. The most that happened is the rare few could see what few 'fantasy' creatures still lived in the Aboveground. Nothing more and nothing less.
Then Sarah wished her brother away and Saffie had felt as if the ground beneath her feet had suddenly disappeared. He'd told her straight away of course saying he just had to tell his best friend. He even went out of his way to say he was going to court the girl by not only giving her Fae fruit, but taking her into a fairy circle, sing to her, and then propose! Propose. Marriage. Those next hours had felt unbearable, consisting of a lot of stuffed animal throwing, before out of the blue Jareth had turned up early the next morning in his owl form. Then he'd told her Sarah had rejected him, and she'd done the best friend thing of comforting him.
She was furious at Sarah for not realising what she had lost, for treating Jareth so badly, and she also felt sorry for Jareth for having to feel this pain. She also, naturally, felt supremely relieved. He was still unwed. She knew it was selfish and perhaps cruel, but she still had a chance. A chance was enough to calm her spirits and give her a boost. She'd be clearer this time. She'd try to catch his eye as a woman this time...
At least that was the promises she had made herself that night. However despite how happy with who she was as a person she hadn't the confidence to even find a book on how to flirt, to seduce, let alone do it and so things seemed to go back to the way they were.
He had given her flowers lately from his own garden, and conjured chocolate when she'd had a particular craving for them. Now that she looked back on it she could see how it could have been signs, tentative gestures, into furthering their relationship to more then just friends.
Blushing, she bit her lip as she forced such thoughts to the back of her mind. Saffie knew she'd have to focus to be able to get through this evening without acting like a lovesick fool. She was not about to embarass herself or Jareth. It would do no good to have him change his mind. She knew it was unlikely, he was a man of his word if nothing else, but there was always that fear in the back of her mind that she just wasn't good enough in his eyes.
He had proven her wrong and she wanted it to stay that way.
She smoothed down the skirt of the simple, modest, traditional gown as typical of the Fae. At least, it used to be. Now there was a more revealing take on the traditional dress but Saffie refused to wear it. She knew she wouldn't feel comfortable in something like that and as far as she was concerned comfort was what should be considered when dressing.
With a soft smile at the Brownie Guards at the large double doors, she stepped forward. The doors swung open smoothly as Saffie managed to walk inside and up to the dining room table without making a fool of herself. A quick glance told her that Jareth wasn't here yet.
It was mere seconds though after she sat down beside her mother that another pair of double doors flew open of their own accord. Jareth strode in with a fierce, majestic anger vibrating from every muscle in his body as his mismatched eyes locked upon the forms of his mother and father.
Saffie was confused, briefly, over why he seemed so angry. She parted her lips to speak, to ask what was wrong, only she was cut off by Jareth speaking.
"How could you do this?! I told you I shall marry no other then Sarah! Why would you be so cruel?!"
He snapped, magic sparking and crackling around him. He briefly spotted Saffie in the room before continuing his tirade.
"You would be so cruel as to force the pair of us into marriage?! Its ridiculous! We're best friends and that is all we'll ever be. I am not her type and she is definitely not mine."
The High Queen narrowed her eyes at her son until his gaze left his father and met her own.
"And your type would be?"
"Beautiful. Intelligent. Full of fire. With a good, pure heart full of compassion. This is why I shall only marry Sarah and no other."
With that Jareth disappeared in a poof of glitter leaving a horrid silence in his wake.
She wasn't beautiful. She wasn't intelligent. She wasn't full of fire. She didn't have a good, pure heart full of compassion.
At least she wasn't any of that to Jareth... Had the rumours he'd merely been pitying her, pretending to be her friend, true then? Was she really just that disfigured puppy that you couldn't get rid of due to a bloodline but you had to keep it around just to be seen as doing the right thing?
"He... doesn't want me? He... didn't propose?"
Saffie whispered brokenly, her gaze finally leaving the spot where Jareth had been to her mother and his parents. One look at them told her they knew of her feelings for the Goblin King. They had probably even organised this whole thing so she'd have a chance to be with him in a misguided way of helping. Before anyone could offer their sympathy she spun on the spot, her hand creating a diamond heart that had once been blood red - the colour of love - but was now dark burgundy and quickly fading to black - a clear sign of heartbreak - which she promptly smashed onto the ground at her feet.
She disappeared before their eyes and then later reappeared in her private bedchambers. It was only then she truly let herself break down, ripping the dress from her body, her hair out of its precise design, and then proceeded to create as well as smash more diamond hearts against various points of her room.
How could this be happening? Maybe she was over-reacting a little but she'd been there for him for her entire life. She had helped him with everything. She'd always gotten him out of trouble. She'd done anything and everything for him, anything and everything he asked, and god she had been in love with him so long she couldn't even remember when it had begun. Whilst Jareth was no stranger to women he had never been serious about them. She had never felt threatened. Now that Jareth was obsessed with this mortal girl Sarah everything was crumbling to ruins.
What was wrong with her?
She knew what was wrong with her. She wasn't a pure Fae or pure Mortal. She wasn't beautiful either. She didn't have a flat stomach and generous curves in all the right places.
Sarah was what he wanted.
"Sarah..."
Saffie whispered, and as much as her heart felt guilty, a plan began to brew in her mind. Jareth would never forgive her if he found out but then again, he didn't have to find out, did he? It wasn't as if she'd kill Sarah. She wasn't that far gone. However, if she could just trade places with Sarah, make Sarah forget everything, then she could just pretend to be Sarah and be with Jareth. It would be better then nothing, right? Jareth didn't want her. He wanted Sarah. He probably wouldn't even care when he was told that she had memory loss - she who was really Sarah inside her body - and would never be the same again. He'd probably do the right period of grief and then focus on Sarah again.
For a moment Saffie just stared at herself in her cracked mirror on her dresser, tears pouring down her red face as her dark side and pure heart warred with each other.
On one hand she could continue to suffer. She could let Jareth be with Sarah, a girl that clearly didn't deserve him, and suffer from a broken heart as well as watch on with envy as Sarah had everything she ever dreamed of - a love with Jareth, a life with Jareth, a marriage with Jareth, and a family with Jareth.
Or she could do something about it and trade places. Sarah would be alive and well. She would be taken care of. She'd never want for anything. All inexchange for her memories and body. Plus, Sarah would get to explore all of the Underground whilst being admired and having her dreams become reality. Then she, Saffie, could take Sarah's place and have her own dreams become reality, in a way.
Put that way it was clear the second option was best. After all, it allowed them both to have their dreams become reality.
Yet even as she convinced herself of this she found herself staring back into her mirror as she spoke two last words before she put her plan into action;
"I'm sorry."