Disclaimer: I do not own any of the following nor the setting in which they are placed. They belong to the people who made the movie and the wonderful author who wrote the book.
This is another spin off One Shot from my story New Crystals, Old Dreams, might want to check that out before you read this or you might be a bit confused.
Toby was tired of listening to his mother and father fighting downstairs. It was the same fight every time Friday came around. That's when Sarah had disappeared, on a Friday. He missed his sister and had often wondered where she had up and disappeared to. She had just eaten, or tried to, breakfast with him and then she was gone. All because of his mother, he thought sadly.
He wasn't a stupid child. Toby was sure that was why Sarah had left. Who would want to live somewhere with someone treating them the way his mother treated Sarah? He couldn't blame her for leaving. But that didn't mean that he couldn't miss her. He might only be seven, but he didn't live under a rock.
"She isn't coming back, so just get over it and stop talking about her!" His mother's voice was clear as crystal, even from downstairs. It took on a shrill, annoyed tone anytime his dad tried to bring up his daughter. When Toby heard it, he just shuffled up the steps to his room…or hers. That's where he was now, clinging to Lancelot as a tear tripped over his cheek.
"She wouldn't have left if…"
Toby shut the door quietly, not wanting to hear any more. He felt one of his tears slip off his cheek and hit Lancelot's furry head. "Sarah…where are you?" The change in the air was instant and shocking.
"Toby…" he heard from behind him, it was…
"Sawah!" But he stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the woman standing behind him. She was so beautiful she almost glowed, her long raven hair falling in waves across her shoulders, but it was her eyes…it was Sarah. "Awe you dead? Awe you an angel?" Sarah chuckled and crossed to him, sitting next to him on her bed.
"No silly, could an angel do this?" She tickled him ruthlessly until he shouted 'uncle'.
"I don't know, can they?" She shook her head and his eyes lit up as he hugged her tight. 'She's here, she's really here,' his mind shouted, though he made sure not to let it out. He didn't want his parents up here and it would have come out without the r's anyways.
"You wanted to know where I was Toby, that's why I came back."
"How did you know I wanted to see you?" She smiled as one of her hands rubbed his cheek.
"I heard you." His little brow creased.
"How could you have heard me?" She sat back as she told him of where she had gone. His eyes grew wide as she told him of the land he'd seen only as a baby. He didn't truly remember it, but it always came back to him in bits and flashes. Then she leaned forward, gripping his hands and looking a bit wary.
"Now what I am going to tell you next is going to confuse you quite a bit, but you have to trust in me that I am not completely loony." He smiled, she always had the best choice of words with him.
"I pwomise I won't think you'we loony Sawah." She bit her lip and told him.
"I am getting married to the King." His hand jerked back before he could control it.
"The one who took me fwom you?" She nodded, telling him that he was a nice man, his name was Jareth and she loved him very, very much.
"He is the one who brought me here to you. He told me he would as soon as you asked for me." Toby looked around, not quite as frightened of his memories as he had been before. It was true that this Jareth, had never been cruel to him in any dream. He had been rather nice to him actually, what had frightened Toby so in the dreams then? The goblins? Probably, he decided.
"Is he hewe?" Sarah nodded towards a corner. "Why is he hiding?" It was a perfectly simple question, but Sarah chuckled at it.
"He wasn't sure if you would want to see him." Toby frowned again, but then looked back up at Sarah.
"If you love him then I want to thank him for taking cawe of you." He'd said it so seriously, it had brought tears to his sister's eyes, though that confused his seven year old mind. From the corner Sarah had nodded to, Jareth appeared, like shadows come to life.
"Hello Toby, you still have my eyes." He said it like he did in his dreams, it gave Toby a sense of calm around him.
"How has it been here Toby?" Sarah asked, taking his attention away from the King who was wandering around the room, looking at its treasures. He refused to meet his sister's eyes as he answered her.
"It's been okay Sawah, I have just missed you."
"You little liar," she teased. She had always known when he was lying. "Tell me seriously, Toby, has it been bad?" He nodded, really not wanting to talk to her about it. She would only feel bad for having left him there.
"I am so sorry Toby, if there was something I could do…"
"There is something that I could do," Jareth's voice sounded from beside her old vanity. "If the boy wishes me to." Toby looked up at the man, he was so mysterious and fantastical looking.
"What could you do?" He asked, his voice filled with wonder at the possibilities of what the man COULDN'T do. The very air around him seemed to suggest that nothing was impossible.
"I could make them stop arguing about your sister." Toby's eyes shot wide open and his eyes filled with such hope that it brought his sister's hand to her eye again.
"Could you weally!?" Jareth nodded solemnly.
"If you wish it." Toby nodded vehemently and he watched Jareth wave his hand. When a bar of chocolate appeared, Toby frowned in confusion.
"What is that supposed to do?" Sarah knew, she touched Toby's shoulder.
"Break it in half and give them each a piece. They will never fight about me again." Toby's smile was pleased, but a bit weak. "What's wrong?"
"It's just," he paused, not knowing how to tell his sister this without sounding like a total dweeb. He gave up trying to find the words, knowing Sarah always understood him, "The only time I evew get to come in youw woom anymore is when they awe too busy fighting with each othew to notice." Sarah pulled him to her with such force, he thought he was going to choke. "Sawah, gwoss!" He pushed back from her with some effort, it had felt good to be so close to her again.
"I know, you are getting too old for that stuff," she teased as she ruffled his hair. Jareth clearing his throat caught her attention and she looked almost panicked as he nodded towards the door. Toby didn't understand, but Sarah obviously did. "Toby, I don't have much time, so there are things that must be said and things I have to give to you." She waved her hands and two crystals appeared in the air before her.
A wide eyed Toby exclaimed, "You wewen't lying!" before taking them in his hands gently. One dissolved into shiny glitter at his touch, leaving folded pieces of paper in his hand. "That was kind of a let down, Sawah." She laughed gaily at his humor before dissolving the other crystal the same way and handing the OTHER folded up piece of paper to him.
"THIS one needs to go to dad. The one you opened is for you and you alone." Her eyes flitted to the door again with a sort of urgency. "I don't have much longer before I have to leave Toby, but know that I love you very much and I will always be there when you need me." His response was simple.
"How?" Jareth stepped forward again, his presence commanding.
"I will charm something of yours to be a summoner." Those eyes settled on Lancelot in his arms. "That would do." Toby nearly tossed the bear at Sarah, having just remembered he was holding it.
"NO!" he shouted, startling both of them. "This is Sawah's, not mine." He offered the bear to his sister, befuddled when she urged it back into his arms.
"No Toby, it's not mine. I gave this to you when we came back from the Labyrinth, when I saved you." She stared down at the bear with a loving smile. "That bear was and is yours." His fingers clutched at the bear reflexively while he stared at his sister. He refused to cry in front of her, he was going to be strong to show her that everything she had done for him was worth it.
"Thank you," he managed before Jareth asked for the bear. A few strange words and flourishes of his hand later, he handed back Lancelot. Toby looked him over and his brow furrowed. "But he doesn't look any diffewent." Jareth smiled, that delightful one that made Sarah grin, and sat on the other side of Toby.
"True, but now, if you hold it close and think of Sarah, it will summon her to you." His fingers clenched over the bears arm.
"It will?" Jareth nodded before his head snapped around to the door. There was a knock on it not a second later.
"We have to go Toby." Sarah's voice told him that they really did. "Everything I tell you in that letter is one-hundred percent true!" she said as she stood back up and took Jareth's hand. "I love you, Toby!"
His last impression of the two was that they were so beautiful together, like a fairy tale king and queen. His seven year old mind couldn't process much more than that, but oh they were beautiful. The knock sounded again before the door opened and his father walked in.
"Oh am I glad that I found you." And he did indeed sound relieved. "You know that your mother doesn't like you in here." Toby nodded before remembering the paper that was curled in his hand.
"Dad…" he held out the paper to his father, making sure to keep his (far longer letter, he mused) hidden behind him. His father looked at the paper with a strange curiosity that Toby was sure was an adult thing, before taking it in his hand. Toby didn't feel the need to tell his father who it was from or how he got it, just watched him read it.
"Oh Sarah…" he sighed a moment later as he settled himself down on the bed, one hand covering eyes that Toby didn't want to imagine filled with tears. Toby let him calm down, merely sat there, patting his back while he (Toby shivered at the thought) cried next to him.
"Awe you done?" He didn't ask it in a mean way, only the curious nature of any seven year old. His father's red rimmed eyes looked up into his and he nodded. Toby really didn't want his father to tell him all he was feeling, he could see it etched on his face and that made him sad enough.
"Leave that and we will go…somewhere…today," his father told him vacantly in an attempt to take his attention away from his sorrow. At that moment, Lancelot could not have been pried from him with a crowbar.
"No, it's mine!" His father turned to him, shocked by the outburst. "Sawah said she gave it to me, so it's mine." His father didn't seem to know what to say so dropped his son's hand. He looked down at Toby as though he were a different person. Perhaps he was, Toby thought, perhaps Sarah's visit had given him some hope that things wouldn't be so terrible without her always here.
"Very well," it was simply said as his father left him in Sarah's room. Toby didn't know what was to come of his family, but he instantly regretted the harsh tone he'd taken. He would apologize for it later. For now, he wanted to read his letter. Clutching Lancelot close to his heart, Toby unfolded the letter from Sarah.
Dear Toby,
I know that none of this will truly make sense to you, but I simply hope that you can trust me and believe that it is true. You told me, on the day I left, that you remembered the Underground (that's what it's called where Jareth took you). I need to tell you now that is where I am. Hopefully I have been able to tell you most of this story to your face, but if time was short, I wanted it written here, where you could always read my words and know that I love you.
Her note went on to tell him of the magic she found within herself, how she became engaged to Jareth and told him of the evil woman trying to tear them apart. It was all things she'd already told him, but Toby read every word, absorbing the story once over and watching the sloping curve of his sister's writing.
I want you to know that you can always call on me. Anytime you need me, you simply call for me…
He pulled Lancelot closer, knowing that he was the link he would always have with his sister.
…and I will be there for you. Just make sure you are alone, I don't think that anyone would be able to handle me appearing out of no where.
There is one more thing that I have to tell you, one that isn't part of my happy tale. There is always sacrifice for the fairy tale, Toby…and mine is immortality.
His eyes stopped, reading that one word over and over, his brain knowing what it meant, but his heart not wanting to believe it.
No matter what happens, I will have to watch you grow older, but I will always be there. I know that, if you are reading this letter, I have seen you and you have felt my magic. Know that if you ever feel that, though you may not see me, I am there watching you. I will be there for every important event in your life, though you may not be able to see me…feel my magic and know I love you.
The tears that he had refused to shed while she was here, tumbled from his eyes and trailed down his cheeks. His fingers brushed over her name where she had signed the letter before he folded it up and shoved the letter in his pocket. He crossed to the window, Lancelot in his grip, and looked out at the dark sky above him, wondering when he would need his sister next.
"I love you to Sarah," he whispered out into the night, his lisping r's forgotten.