Married Life Chapter 1: In the Dark, a labyrinth fanfic

This is intended to be a series of one-shots, about Sarah dealing with her new life with Jareth, living in his castle and learning to use her magic (because she always seems to have magic in these, doesn't she?). It's not about how they got together and got married, but how they cope with married life. I hope you enjoy!

Jareth sighed, wondering where his young wife had gotten to now. Sarah managed to get herself lost at least once a day, and that was just in the castle alone. Not for the first time he wondered just how she'd managed to get through the Labyrinth. Then he remembered, as he always did, that she had help on that one. They had not been married long, but he was already beginning to consider keeping her on a retractable leash. He conjured a crystal so as to find her, but all he could see was darkness. He frowned into it, starting to worry a bit. Just where exactly was she?

Sarah slowly walked forward with her hands stretched out in front of her. Her eyes were wide open, trying to catch any glimpse of light in the darkness. She had no idea where she was, only that she had been exploring some region of the castle she didn't think she had visited before (or rather, she had taken a wrong turn somewhere and was forced to try and find a way back again), and opened a door, seeing only darkness within. She had been intrigued and wandered in, and the door had closed behind her, shutting her in. That had been her first mistake; walking in. She had been very surprised when she turned around to fumble for the door only to find she couldn't figure out where it was. No matter how many times she ran her hands over the walls, she couldn't find any indentation or rise to suggest a door, let alone a door knob. All that met her exploring hands was slightly cold smooth stone, much like the stone of the rest of the castle.

Her next mistake, she thought reflectively as she walked carefully forward, had been to walk away from the area where she thought the door was. She had walked along the wall to try and find another edge, but it just kept on going. Then came her biggest mistake; she stepped away from the wall. She had thought, rather stupidly, now she knew, that perhaps she would be able to find another wall and with it, a way out. She had walked away from her wall towards what she had hoped would be the centre of the room, with her arms out. After a while of finding nothing, she turned back to go back to her wall. Except… except she had been walking now for quite a while, and she still hadn't come into contact with the original wall. Panic was beginning to set in, but she pressed forward, because, well, what else could she do?

A voice in her mind answered that she could try calling her husband, but she scowled at that thought. He would either laugh at her again for getting lost, or ask once again just how had she managed to solve the Labyrinth, or quite possibly he would get angry with her for being so foolish. Then again he could get angry at her for not calling him in the first place. But, damn it, she wasn't a helpless child, she was his wife! She should be able to find her way through her own home, surely? She stubbornly decided she could get out of this on her own.

Perhaps she should get Jareth to make her something like a Marauder's Map when she got out of here, she contemplated. Though first she would have to explain exactly what one was.

After another twenty minutes, she stopped. Perhaps, she hoped, she would hear something that would lead to an exit. She kept still and breathed quietly in and out through her mouth, listening intently. Without her eyes, her ears had become supersensitive, and had picked up every rustle from her clothes, every light step upon the floor, but now that she had stopped, silence pressed in around her. There was absolutely no sound. She swallowed nervously, hearing her throat push down the saliva but nothing else. The complete lack of sound was terrifying her, and in desperation, she started humming. There, that was better. Things were not so scary with a bit of noise, she thought. She started to inch her way forward again, humming 'If You're Happy and You Know It.'

Jareth had searched every oubliette in the Labyrinth and had still not found Sarah. Just what exactly had happened to her? She had gone up to their room after breakfast to 'freshen up,' whatever that meant, and he had not seen her since. He had searched their room, and then surrounding rooms, and still nothing. He knew everything there was to know about this castle, so if she was here, he would find her.

He tried to think about it logically. She was in complete darkness, so that ruled out a lot of places already. A closet perhaps? It would just like his wife to get herself trapped in a closet and be too stubborn to call for help. He renewed his search.

He could, of course, just ask her through a crystal, but where was the fun in that?

It wasn't long before Sarah was frowning and stopping again. She hummed a bit louder, and then a bit louder. She couldn't hear an echo. In such a large space, she should be able to hear something of an echo, or something in the way her voice carried through the space that would signify a large area. Just what the hell had she walked into? She tried shouting, but achieved nothing except making her throat sore. She sighed and crumpled to the floor. There had to be something she could do, she just wasn't thinking about it right.

There was that smell, too, she thought distractedly. A smell she knew so well and couldn't place. What was it? It was so familiar she had barely noticed it at first, and she knew it so well she couldn't remember what it was. She frowned, and tried to focus on thinking of a way out.

After ten minutes of sitting there, she gave up. "Jareth!"

Well, she wasn't in a closet, Jareth knew that much. She was definitely still in the castle, though. He could feel her somewhere here, but not precisely where. He conjured up another crystal with her position, with the intention of making her tell him where she was, and to make her stop being so stubborn, when she called to him.

"Jareth!"

Ah, he thought, focusing on her call. There she was. But… what in the Underground was she doing in there?

He appeared right next to her, in the darkness without so much as a sound. "Jareth!" She shouted again, sounding mad this time rather than desperate.

"Yes?" He asked, making her scream.

"Don't do that!" Her voice sounded angry, and he felt her fingers brush his legs before they grabbed him and pulled him down.

He was pulled down to her and grasped so tightly the wind was knocked out of him with an, 'oof!' He smiled into her hair and held her, breathing her in. Sarah in turn breathed deeply into his chest, and she realised just what that smell had been; him.

Things hadn't turned out all that bad, Jareth thought. He was in a dark room alone with his wife clinging to him for dear life. He wondered if she would object to him taking her right there. Then she hit him, and he decided that yes, she probably would.

"Get me out of here!" She demanded. No sooner had the words come out of her mouth then they appeared in the corridor outside, leaving her to blink at the sudden light. She pulled back from him and said, "What took you so long?"

He frowned indignantly. "Now see here, you know I can't just find you if I don't know where you are and you don't call me. I couldn't tell where you were." She hit him again, then hugged him close.

"It was horrible," she moaned.

"What were you doing in there in the first place?" Jareth asked curiously.

"Well, I, um, kind of got lost again," Jareth suppressed the urge to roll his eyes, "and I was testing doorways and found that. It looked interesting, I wanted to see what it was." Her tone was defensive.

Jareth sighed. "I believe you humans have a saying, 'curiosity killed the cat'?"

She just glared at him as he stood up and helped her up.

"What is that room, anyway? And what is it doing in the castle?"

Jareth looked at her and said in a deadpan voice, "It's where I put the losers of the Labyrinth."

Her eyes widened in shock as she contemplated the horror of being stuck in that room forever. Jareth looked back at her in all seriousness before he broke out into laughter, unable to keep it in anymore. His wife's scowling face only made it harder to stop. "It's not funny," she said, crossing her arms. She had that look on her face, and Jareth managed to squash his laughter down. That look usually implied she would be having a 'headache' that night and was best not aggravated further.

"No, all right, it's not for that," he said, starting to move away to return to his throne room.

"So what is it for?" She asked, chasing after him.

"Hmm, oh, nothing important," he replied, waving the matter away with his hand.

She stopped and glared at him before running back up to his side and saying, "If it's nothing important then you can tell me, can't you?"

He glanced sideways at her and said, "Why do you want to know so much?"

"Why are you trying to keep it from me? I was just trapped in there for ages, it was terrifying, and I want to know what something like that is doing in my home!" She panted a little

He stopped and faced her, cocking his head on one side. A small smile reached his lips as he reached out a hand to gently brush her cheek. "I'm sorry," he said seriously, "if you thought I was keeping something from you. It really is nothing of great importance, just a failed idea."

Her skin tingled to his touch and without her even realising her lips had parted as soon as his hand touched her, gloves or no. "What idea?" She asked, noticing her voice sounded a little breathless, annoying her.

His smile turned into a smirk as his eyebrows rose and said, "Ah well, it seemed like really good one at the time." He dropped his hand and resumed his walk, Sarah stepping in beside him, staring at him curiously. "I was running out of room, and thought an endless room would be quite useful. I didn't think it through properly though, and lost several things in there, I'm afraid, but I have since modified the idea suitably." He chuckled to himself and staring straight ahead as he walked, said, "It was supposed to be my new wardrobe." He kept walking, fully aware that she had stopped and was staring at him. He suppressed the laughter, wishing he could see her expression but glad that she couldn't see his.

"You're not serious?" She said, coming up behind him. He made no reply. "Jareth?" He quickened his pace ever so slightly, wanting to laugh but wanting to escape his wife at the same time. "Jareth!"

He laughed as he started to run, fully aware of her pelting after him, especially as she started to curse him. He was sure he would be made to sleep elsewhere tonight, but right now, right now, it was so worth it.

Later, after she had finished not talking to him, she would ask him why she hadn't been able to find the door. He would reply, as though it was obvious, "Well, I wouldn't want anyone who was trying to steal my outfits to get out with them again, would I?"

And so begins my little stories of the life of Sarah and Jareth.

I just found this sitting waiting to be published, so I thought, meh, why not? According to my notes, I have the next chapter half way done, and at least four ideas after that. Yay. The characters will stay pretty much as they are now, although perhaps Sarah will become more enlightened as to the ways of the Underground as we go on. Maybe.

Anyway, let me know what you think of this chapter!