John, I'm only dancing
Author's notes: Well, I'm sorry it took me so long to post another story, I honestly didn't think I ever would, but never say never… I just want to thank anyone who took their time reviewing my first fanfic, and if you are wondering, no, this is not a sequel to "What comes first".
Disclaimers: Since nothing happened the last time I wished for it, I guess the copyright of the Labyrinth still doesn't belong to me….
1)
It was sunset, the sky was a strange palette of violet and orange. A girl, by the name of Sarah Willliams, was looking at her reflection in the mirror on her vanity.
She let a little smile grace her features as she examined the results of her hard work of two hours.
Her long, silken brown hair was tied up in an elaborate bun, with some apparently untamed curls dangling at the side of her head. Her make up was very light , but a little touch of kohl over her eyelids and some mascara made her green eyes look even more sparkling than usual, and had her looking like a diva of the old days.
Her silken dress was dark green, composed of two pieces: a corset, embroidered with little glass pearls, and a long skirt, very tight, with a slit going up to her knee.
She truly was a sight to behold.
Satisfied with herself, the girl called her friends to get their opinion about her looks.
They appeared on the other side of her vanity mirror; they were a fox, a dwarf, and an odd creature I'm not sure I am able to describe.
The dwarf, who we will call Hoggle, was mumbling something about Sarah interrupting his work, he had better to do after all, when he lift his head and widened his already big eyes, staring at the girl with his mouth agape. Neither of her three friends were able to speak, even the fox, Sir Didymus, seemed to have lost his proverbial eloquence, until Ludo scrunched up his face in what Sarah had learnt to recognize as a smile and said: "Sawah beautiful."
"Well, thank you Ludo", Sarah answered, laughing, "I was beginning to think that I look awful."
Sir Didymus quickly regained his speech: "Milady, thou most certainly look exquisite. May I inquire what the occasion is?"
The girl sat on her bed, fidgeting with her gown. She was feeling regretful all of a sudden.
"I'm going to the prom tonight," she said, a tinge of sadness in her voice.
Hoggle stepped out of the mirror, sitting by her side. "What is a 'prom', Sarah?" he asked.
She had to remind herself for the hundredth time that her friends knew very little of the ways of the Aboveground.
"Well, it is kind of a ball, that most schools here arrange once a year. This is the first time I've been invited to one, and, being this my last year in high school I figured I had to attend to it. But I'm not really sure if I made the right choice."
Hoggle stood up. "Of course yeh made the right choice, yeh silly girl! Go there and have fun, understand?" Sarah nodded her head, and just in that moment the doorbell rang.
"Oh, this must be my date, John. I gotta go. I will call you when I come home to let you know how it went. Bye." She left the room and her friends, who stood there bewildered, and suddenly scared.
Hoggle turned to Sir Dydimus, sadly shaking his head . "She has a date. Bet he won't like it one bit."
"Thou art right, my friend. Let us hope he doth not do anything harsh," Sir Dydimus answered, before the three of them disappeared on the other side of the mirror.
Meanwhile, Sarah was slowly descending the stairs. She had a sense of anticipation about the incoming evening, but she wasn't sure if it was just related to the excitement of going to the ball with John, or if it was a deeper sense of foreboding.
She wrinkled her nose at the thought of her date. John was charming, handsome, and he was one of the best catches her school had to offer. All of her girl friends had been envious when he had asked her to the prom , and they wouldn't stop telling her how lucky she was that he had chosen her.
But she didn't feel as enthusiastic as her friends, she didn't know why, and this made her feel furious with herself: after all, the whole cheerleaders team would have killed to get just one little smile from him, and he seemed to like Sarah a lot, so why couldn't she be just happy for herself and just let herself enjoying the night?
Her train of thoughts was interrupted by a yelp of her stepmother, who was at the bottom of the stairs, looking completely astonished at her appearance. She smiled at Sarah, and told her she was beautiful, as they both entered the living room where her father and John were talking.
They both stopped speaking as soon as they spotted her, and she took advantage of her father's lack of speech. "Shall we go?" she asked John, then kissed her father on the cheek and said: "Bye, dad, we're going to be late." She winked at John, adding: "Let's go, or my father will take pictures of us for the next three hours." With a last wave to her parents, she was out of the house.
John and her friends had rent a limo; they wanted to impress their dates, no doubt. She could feel that John was a little disappointed about her lack of emotion at seeing the car, but Sarah had seen such oddities that anything hardly impressed her nowadays, and a limo was surely out of her list of impressive things.
The small trip towards the school was rather uneventful, except from the fact that John was being so sweet to her, and held her hand the whole time.
He even offered her his arm to escort her to the gymnasium where the ball was taking place.
And the gym, it was like a ballroom come out from a fairy tale!
The theme of this year was the Baroque age, and, thanks to Martha Bridgestone's father, who had generously lent the furniture, paintings and carpets from his antiques shop, Sarah truly had the sensation she had stepped into the past. She couldn't help comparing this ballroom to the one from her dream in the Labyrinth, and her thoughts inevitably ran to the Goblin King. How he had held her, how he had sung to her, how Sarah herself had been dangerously attracted to him. He was so beautiful, and, young as she was, she hadn't quite grasped the feeling that was making her body burn like fire.
She had not danced anymore, with anyone, since that night. She had adamantly refused to take part in the proms held in her junior years, the wounds of her journey still fresh in her memories. She didn't want to remember how tempted she had been to give in, to surrender herself to the Goblin King, and forget her brother, leaving him to become a Goblin. That had been the closer she had come to failure in her life, and she could picture herself being the heroine of the adventure all she wanted, but the knowledge of how fragile she was in reality would never leave her.
John brought her back to focus by asking her if she wanted something to drink. He smiled and pointed at Sarah's friends, who were desperately trying to get her attention by waving their hands like mad. She walked towards them, while John went to the buffet. Her classmates complimented her on her looks, and seemed more excited than her about John. "What a beautiful couple you are…" "How handsome he is in that tuxedo…" "How can you resist? If it was me I would have pounced him as soon as I saw him…"
Sarah shook her head, amused. She liked John, but not in that way. He was nice, and she could admit he was very attractive, but he just was not her type. She had not had any boyfriend yet, but she knew in her heart that she wouldn't want John o be the first.
While she was trying to explain this to her friends, the doors of the gym opened quite dramatically with a loud 'clank'. Sarah was not facing the doors, but her heart suddenly began to beat furiously in her chest, a sensation she had not experienced in a very long time.
"Oh. My. Gosh," Sarah heard one of her classmates say in a dreamlike voice, "Who is that? He's the most beautiful man I've ever seen."
"Yes", another one chorused, "He looks like a prince."
The whole gym had gone silent at the entrance of the newcomer, except for the murmuring of the girls and the annoyed 'huffs' of the boys who had been neglected by their dates, all set to look at that handsome man traversing the gym.
Sarah was the only one who hadn't taken a look at him yet, but she was too afraid to turn.
The newcomer stopped just behind her, she could feel his eyes on her. "Hello Sarah," he just said, but that silky voice sent shivers running through her body. She gulped, and slowly turned to discover that everything she had feared about this night had come true. She quickly recomposed herself and regained that false mask of confidence she always wore when confronted with him.
"What brings you here, Goblin King?" she asked him, the usual defiance in her tone. She looked at him from head to toe, and she couldn't help but notice how beautiful he looked in the white tuxedo he was wearing. It seemed he had not lost his charms, and he hadn't aged a day in the three years they had spent apart.
"No child was taken away in this gym, I'm afraid to say," Sarah casually continued, "so your presence is not required here."
The Goblin King only smirked insolently, before answering: "Sarah, my little Sarah, after all this time do you really think I need a lame excuse like a wished away child to come into your world? Don't you know that my powers are far greater than that?" He looked into her eyes. "I've come for you."
Sarah violently shook her head.
"No, this is impossible. You can't do anything to me. You have no power over me." But this sentence seemed somehow less convincing than the other time she pronounced it.
"True," Jareth casually answered "I have no power over you," he got nearer to her until his lips were only a few millimetres apart from her ear, his voice low, serious. "But you are mine. What were you thinking when you got yourself a date? That I would just stand there and do nothing? I cannot let you dance with anyone, not after you danced with me."
Sarah widened her eyes. She thought the Goblin King was there to get a revenge on her for besting him at the Labyrinth, while he was simply jealous? And jealous of John, of all people.
Sarah wanted to laugh hard at this, but a horrible thought occurred to her: "How did you know about the prom? Have you been spying on me?"
Jareth evilly smirked. "My child, I do not need to spy on you. It just happens that your friends are also my subjects, and they report to me every single thing you say during your encounters." His grin widened at her outraged expression. "But do not fear, my love, they aren't doing it by their free will. You see, a simple threat does wonders on a coward subject's mind. Take Higgle, for example…"
"Hoggle" Sarah automatically corrected him.
"Yes, as I was saying, take Hogwart: the thought of spending his whole life in the Bog is making him spill out details of your personal life you would be ashamed of."
The girl shook her head. "You liar! Hoggle is my best friend! He would never betray me like that." But she was not so sure about it, and he seemed to notice, because he said, with mock surprise: "No? Who gave you that peach? Who took you out of the oubliette just to bring you to the gates of the Labyrinth and make you start all over again? Shall I continue, Sarah?"
She looked down. Hoggle, Ludo and Sir Dydimus were her best friends, they knew her better than anyone, why would they do that to her? No, it wasn't possible.
"How do you know they are not lying to you, telling you just what you want to hear?" She was in complete denial.
"Were they lying when they told me about this ball? Were they lying when they spoke about your date?" Jareth's voice held a dangerous tone to it, like he was pissed off at Sarah's stubbornness and complete trust in her friends. "Believe me, little one, they know better than lying to their King." Sarah had been defeated in this little mind game, but to hell if she wasn't going to win in the end. It hurt that their friends would sell her confidences for so little, but she could ask for explanations to them later. She was not going to look weak to Jareth, and she would not cry in front of him.
"Well," she said while admiring her nails like they were the most interesting thing in the world, "Let's say it is true, and my friends told you everything about me. That doesn't explain why you are here. Do you really expect me to believe that crap about you coming all the way up here just to dance with me? And what makes you think, supposing it is true, that I would dance with you, when I already have John?"
The Goblin King's eyes narrowed until they were barely slices. He was royally pissed off, this she could tell. "I'm warning you, Sarah, do not make fun of me. I could be very dangerous." As if reading her thoughts, he added: "I can do nothing to you, but the ones you love can suffer. A lot. Think about it."
Sarah was afraid now, would he really be able to hurt her friends, or her family? And would it really do something that awful just because he didn't want her to dance with John?
Sarah turned towards her schoolmates just to discover that the whole gym had gone completely stiff, her friends looked like statues. "What did you do to them, Jareth?" she asked, in a warning tone.
"This is what I like best about you, my precious, you never give up a fight. Now, don't worry, I didn't harm your companions, or your precious date," he said the last word like it was venom in his mouth, "They have been still since I got near you. I've stopped time so that we could have our 'conversation' in private. Or would you have preferred them to know that I'm the Goblin King and that you are so lonely that your best friend are a fox, a beast, and a useless dwarf?"
Sarah was biting back her tears. Why was he being so mean to her? It looked like he was doing everything in his power to hurt her. And to think that, as soon as she saw him again, she would have dropped everything and followed him everywhere he wanted. How stupid she was. Jareth was no prince charming, and there would never be a happily ever after for them.
Her breath was taken away from her body when she felt his arms encircling her waist, and his breath tingling her hear as he softly murmured to her: "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you. Do you see what you make me do? You make me crueller, I have no more heart, because I gave it all to you. It is broken now, Sarah, my heart, I don't know how to mend it. It is not true what I told you. Your friends never betrayed your trust. But you have to understand that they are my subjects, and I can see within them, if I want to. They never said a word to me, but I knew just by looking at them."
Sarah was speechless for a moment. Had Jareth in his unique, twisted way, just apologized to her?
"But why…" She started, but never got to end the sentence, for Jareth finished it for her.
"Why did I tell you that lie? I was angry, Sarah. I just discovered that you had willingly chosen to attend a ball with a human boy. You had refused me once, and now you were going so readily into the arms of another. I was hurt, mad at you for hurting me, and I wanted you to suffer as well. I said very spiteful things."
Sarah just detached her body from him. It took a moment for the Goblin King to release her from his embrace.
"Yes, you did say very spiteful things, and I've been hurt by your words. See? You have reached your goal." He began to retort, but she silenced him by putting her hand on his mouth. "Let me finish. I'm tired, Jareth. I'm sick of all these mind games you like playing. They make me go mad. I don't want to play anymore. One moment you are cruel, the other you pour your heart out to me, I… I don't know what to believe anymore. I've spent the best part of the last three years wondering if it was my perception of you that was wrong; I kept saying myself that you weren't as uncaring as I believed, that maybe it really was you reacting to my expectations of your personality." She turned away from him, her head bent low. "The truth is, Jareth, that I don't know you at all; I probably never will. And I don't know what you want from me."
He took one of Sarah's hands, gently forcing her to turn. He looked deeply into her eyes.
"Dance with me tonight, Sarah." He caressed her cheek with the back of his gloved hand, and Sarah felt herself shiver. She closed her eyes.
"That is all I want from you, that is what I came here for. Dance with me, like you did once. And after that, if you decide you still don't want to have anything to do with me, I wont be bothering you anymore, I promise."
Sarah was in a kind of trance, she had lost any coherent thought. And she suddenly knew this was all she was waiting for, she didn't want anything else. She didn't answer him; instead, she raised her hand to cover the one he was still resting on her cheek and took it, placing it on her waist.
Then she smiled at him and nodded. In a moment, the gym came to life again, while a soft music began playing.
As Sarah was dancing, she could barely register the bewildered comments of her schoolmates. She could only focus on the Goblin King who was leading her, sweeping off her feet. And she felt she was lost. Again.
She shook her head. No. This was just a dance . She wouldn't let herself be fooled again by him. After this dance she would adamantly say to Jareth that she didn't want to see him again.
But was that what she really wanted? Hadn't she craved to see him again for the past three years? No, he had to mean nothing to her. It just had been a teenage crush; after all, Jareth was the first man who had showed some kind of romantic interest in her, it was just logical that she would fall for him.
But she was more mature now, more rational: she had overcome those silly romantic dreams and she was not falling for those mesmerizing eyes that were locked with hers. And she didn't feel the skin on her hips burn where his hands were resting. No, nothing of that.
Sarah took a look in her surroundings, and almost immediately spotted John, standing alone in a corner. Gentle, sweet John. She should have really considered dating him seriously. He was handsome, of course, caring and funny, and he had held her hand so sweetly, like it was made of fine porcelain. He was a good boy.
She turned again to face Jareth, and wrinkled her nose.
The Goblin King was, on the contrary, self-absorbed, scheming, manipulative, sarcastic and all in all an arrogant bastard. He didn't care about anything except himself, and he was not holding her like she was made of porcelain.
His touch was possessive, passionate, almost violent.
She let her head rest on his chest. He tightened his arms around her. Then why wasn't she attracted by John? Why was she letting Jareth lead her outside the gym and into the garden? Why was she blushing when he told her she was beautiful like anything he had never seen?
And, most of all, why wasn't she protesting when he put his lips on hers and stole her first kiss?
And that kiss! It was like, oh God, she didn't know how to describe it… like a warm breeze making her both cold and hot, and his lips were soft, yet demanding and, even though she wasn't sure she knew how to respond, she slightly opened her mouth, welcoming his more than eager tongue.
Sarah was tingling all over; she felt unstable all of a sudden, like her legs weren't supporting her anymore, so she tightened her arms, which, without her realizing, were desperately clutching his waist. She felt Jareth smile against her lips, while they slowly parted. She could only hope his smile was not a victory smirk, but she was afraid to look at him, afraid to see his eyes mocking her weakness.
He put a finger under her chin. "Sarah, look at me," he said, with the most serious tone she had ever heard him use. She could do nothing but raise her head.
He continued, "You kept your promise. You let me dance with you tonight. I will now keep mine. I'm going back to the Underground in a few minutes.
I don't want you to say that you love me, I don't want any vow of eternal faithfulness for now. But if you feel that tonight was important, as it has been for me, and if the kiss we just shared meant something to your heart, if you feel that you care just a little for me, then I would not be gone for long.
It takes just a word from you, and I will try to come to the Aboveground as often as I can, so that I can properly court you. What do you say?"
Sarah was speechless for a bit. She felt that her head was empty, but for two words echoing in her ears over and over: 'say yes, say yes, say yes…' It was just what she wanted, to be given a second chance and accept his offer without having to suffer the consequences of her irresponsibility. She looked into his eyes. He was nervous, unsure, so different from the smirking Goblin King she was accustomed to. Had she really this effect over him?
Sarah made up her mind. She was about to speak when a sound behind her made her turn around. John.
He had probably listened to every word they had said, and he was looking at her with wide eyes and a strange, very sad expression on his face.
When he realized that Sarah was watching him, he ran away, and she smiled sadly at his retreating back, thinking about what a pity it was that she couldn't find it in herself to care for him.
Meanwhile, Jareth seemed to have gone completely stiff, and Sarah took his hands.
"Jareth, I'm going to make this speech just once, so you will have to listen to me very carefully." She lowered her head. "I hope I'm making the right choice here, I don't know if I've definitely gone insane or what, but yes, this night was important to me. It made me understand many things." Explaining her feelings to the Goblin King was difficult, she never could be sure how he would take her confession, if he would twist her words to his benefit. He urged her to continue by squeezing her hands, with an impatience that betrayed a great emotion. She took a deep breath and started again: "Well, I understood that I care for you, maybe I always have, and that probably, with time, I could even love you, and accept your offer, but…"
Jareth didn't let her finish, he kissed her with so much passion that Sarah thought she would faint. When they parted, he started kissing her cheek and neck while tightening his arms around her waist.
But Sarah couldn't let him do that, she needed to remain lucid, and Jareth's lips on her neck made it impossible for her to focus on what she wanted to say. She gently pushed him away.
"I haven't finished yet. What I'm trying to say is that, no matter what I feel for you, I don't know if I want to start a relationship."
The Goblin King looked strangely hurt at this statement, and hurt was not a feeling Sarah could easily associate with him. He replied: "But you say that you do feel something for me…then why?"
Yes, why? Why was she pushing him away when all she wanted was to lose herself in his embrace? The only truth was that she was afraid. "Let's face it, Jareth. You live in a fantasy Kingdom in the Underground, and have goblin as servants, while I live here, on Earth, and I'm a normal teenager who goes to school and, as much as I always wanted to be one, I'm not a fairy princess. I don't believe in fairy tales, not anymore, the journey through the Labyrinth proved this much to me. There is no happily ever after, not for me."
Jareth frowned. He looked so angry. "Please Sarah, do not mock me. If you didn't believe in fairy tales, you wouldn't have summoned your friends through your mirror, or you wouldn't be speaking to me right now, and most certainly, you wouldn't have kissed me just some moments ago. It is true, we live in different worlds, and lead very different lives, but is that really an obstacle, when two people are pursuing their happiness? Because this is what is at stake, Sarah. Our mutual chance at happiness. There is no happily ever after only if we do not fight for it.
I wanted mine so much that I came all the way to here just to dance with you tonight. I wanted it so much that I disregarded my duties, and all the rules bestowed upon me. I should be mad at you, for destroying my Kingdom, for shattering my heart. But somehow I'm glad that you managed to win me, that you survived. I'm glad that you proved what a beautiful, proud and strong woman there was behind the spoiled brat who loved to act the princess at the park. I came here tonight because I wanted to find that woman again, and yet I only found the little girl full of herself, one that is too afraid of showing her feelings, of taking risks. I was only fooling myself. I'm sorry, Sarah."
This said, Jareth turned to leave.
Sarah was watching him with awe. He seemed somehow connected with her, the way he had understood her feelings was amazing. She suddenly felt that she needed to hear something, that she had to know. Before she could stop herself, four words and a question mark had already left her mouth: "Do you love me?" she asked.
Time seemed to stand still. The Goblin King stopped just before shifting into an owl. Even the tree branches stopped waving, it looked like even the wind was eager to hear what he would answer.
Sarah watched with trepidation as Jareth curled his hands into fists, then uncurled them, clearly debating whether he really should answer this question or not.
He slowly turned to face her, and it struck her how sad the Goblin King actually looked, longing clearly written on his face.
They stood there, in the school garden, in front of each other for what seemed an eternity before Jareth actually spoke, with a tinge of tiredness in his voice: "Have I not been clear enough on this point, Sarah? Is it that hard to read it in my face, in my actions? Do you really need to hear the actual words? I do love you. I always have, even before that night when you summoned me."
Sarah flung herself into his arms, embracing him tightly. "Do you really think I could be the one to mend your heart?" Jareth's face softened, and he encircled his arms around her. "Yes, Sarah. I believe you are the only one who could do that." He smiled fondly at the girl, "What are all these questions for?"
"You were right about me, Jareth, I am afraid of showing my feelings. But I want you to see inside of me. I can't promise you it will be immediate, but with time I will learn, if you are willing to teach me, and to be a little more patient." Sarah prepared herself for his refusal. After all, why would he accept what she had to offer? She had rejected him twice, after all. He had all the rights to be mad at her.
But what he did surprised her beyond words, and she understood that she should really brace herself for a lot more surprises in the future, for this Jareth was not the same she had met in the Labyrinth.
The Goblin King laughed. Not the maniacal laughter of a villain, but the joyful, merry sound of a happy heart. He tightened his embrace around her, holding her so tight, like he was afraid she would disappear if he let her go, then kissed her again, softly, just a touch of lips, and even though it was nothing passionate, Sarah felt that she could melt.
He smiled again after they parted. "Sarah, I am willing to wait all the time it takes, if it means that I could get to spend my days with you. You don't have to worry about this, I can be a very patient man, when it is convenient for me." He released her a bit, and seemed to be reluctant in letting her go. She sighed and pouted, suddenly aware that he was about to leave her. "You have to go, don't you?"
"Yes, but as I told you, I will come back as much as I can. You won't get the chance of missing me, I promise. I intend to court you mercilessly, so that your only option would be loving me for all eternity. See you soon, my love" He kissed her again, shifted into a owl, and flew away into the night.
As Sarah was watching him go, she couldn't help but smile and think that Jareth wouldn't have to make much of an effort in courting her, for she really never had any other option than to love him.
The End.
Author's notes: I intend to write a little epilogue to this story, I already have it in mind. Please, let me know what you think, so that I can decide if it is worth the effort of writing it. Thanks a lot…