A Tango, Nothing More
A/N This is my first Labyrinth fanfic, though I've loved the characters and read others fan fiction for as long as I can remember. I was struck for the inspiration with this one when I was listening to the Moulin Rouge soundtrack. So this is a song fic based off El Tango de Roxanne. It also has some Phantom of the Opera leanings. So buckle down and be kind to me, I'm new. Review if you like!
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Jim Henson's Labyrinth the Moulin Rouge or Phantom of the Opera. I do not gain financially from any of this writing or those sources. I'm simply just borrowing while my muse is all fired up.
Ewan sucked in a breath as he wandered to the open bar of a massive ballroom. As he walked up a staircase to the exposed landing where the bar sat, he tilted his nose up, in a motion of slight disgust. Ever since he had met Sarah Williams his life had become full of strange gatherings. You see Sarah was the golden girl of Chicago's theatre scene. A statement which couldn't have been more lost on him as she reminded him more of the moon than gold, nevertheless she is how he ended up at this masquerade. He normally had no such tastes for these events, but it was serving as the cast party for the close of not only the show but also the season. Sarah had been divine as Christine in Phantom of the Opera it eerily fit her yet, didn't at all.
Ewan marveled as he thought back to the feeling of Sarah in his arms during the last waltz. She was spectacularly beautiful and the feeling of everyone's jealous eyes upon him as he danced with her made his ego soar. 'These events might not be so bad he', he thought as he smirked. He ordered two vodka tonics he turned and walked toward the landing railing looking down below, he could here the swell of the music starting. 'A tango' he thought, 'The one from the Movie Moulin Rouge.' He shook his head and inwardly raves that theatre folk were the worst.
There he saw her, having finished her last dance with her makeup artist, her hair still done in the massive amount of curls that her character had required. Her dress a modified version what her character had worn during "Past the Point of No Return". Black lace straps draped off her shoulders and tacked under her corset just off the sides of her breasts. The black corset gave her cleavage yet somehow she still managed to make it look classy. It was laced incredibly tight, he didn't know how she was breathing. She seemed fine however, as if she was made for it. The skirt attached just over the hips of the corset so they blended together and feel long to her feet like a black, satin waterfall. Yet the feature that had made is heart pound when he had first seen her was the slit clean up to the higher part of her thigh. Every once in a while you could see the creamy expanse or her leg slip through the slip to reveal her favorite pair of black stilettos.
The monochromatic element of her dress and the sleek, raven black color of her hair only sought to enhance her most defining feature. Hidden under a delicately crafted metal black mask sat the emerald, haunting eyes of one Sarah Williams.
Ewan lips curved into a grin as he gazed upon the stark ruby red lips upon her pale skin and delicately feminine facial features of the woman that was his. She made him look good, and he intended to keep her for that reason.
The piano keys started and he could hear the light ribbing of the violins start. That's when he saw him originally, a pale figure behind his Sarah. Platinum blonde hair Wild around a golden mask, was it a skull? The man stood confident if not arrogantly in-front of Sarah. Ewan saw her head drop slightly as she slinked into the man's arms in the most appropriate distance one could tango from. Ewan took a mild breath of relief, though something still felt wrong as the man that held Sarah in his arms started an almost menacingly, perfect tango.
Ewan watched the couple as they danced, his eyes darkened as he actually took in the appearance of this blonde mystery man. Dressed what appeared other worldly, large expanse of pale chest exposed under a black peasant shirt, a gold, tailored jacket with delicate black embroidery sat over it. The man had finished the look with what looked like a period set of pants in black that were entirely too tight and black leather boots. The man had sharp, regal features and he seemed to be gazing upon Sarah as though she was something to eat. Not that Ewan could blame him for that. The man was holding Ewan's moon and looked very much the part of the Sun.
Ewan let out a low growl as the man leaned down to speak into Sarah's ear. The man's lips seemed to graze the top of it as Sarah's skin flushed. His smirk taunted Ewan. Ewan's eyes readjusted to look at the scene as a whole, Sarah still held at an appropriate, well mostly appropriate length away. He settled on where the couples hands connected, he could see the man's black, gloved thumb as it stroked the top of Sarah's hand as he held it for the dance. Ewan wondered how their movements seemed so synchronized. The dance was an intimate one, all tangos are yet there seemed to be an energy sparking in the air.
Ewan left the drinks on the railing to move down to the middle of the stair case, he felt his heart thundering. He wanted to stop the dance, to grab Sarah's arm and pull her back to his chest. Some invisible force held him frozen in place. He wanted to know who this man was, Sarah didn't take too kindly to being ordered about either. He stood beginning to feel helpless as the music softened and the man singing began speaking in Spanish.
The couple had slowed their tango and the man appeared to be whispering something into Sarah's ear again. Ewan could see her head tilt slightly to the side as if she were contemplating something. Something monumental. Ewan couldn't see her eyes behind hair that had fallen in her face, he needed to though. He needed to be able to see her eyes to tell him what she was thinking. The man dropped his hand, the one that had held Sarah's almost impatiently. Though he noticed a hand still on her waist almost possessively. He had definitely asked a question Ewan thought, and he wanted an answer.
The violins began their ticking again, the aggressiveness of the strumming distracted Ewan for a second but only briefly as he noticed the man had held his leather covered hand back out to Sarah. He saw her face come up for the first time, emerald eyes burning with a fire behind them. She only turned her gaze to the man's offered hand and she seemed to hesitate for only a second before firmly attaching her hand to the man's and Ewan felt his heart in time to every jerk of the bow across the violin and that's when he saw his Sarah's eyes fall upon the man's for the first time.
The golden masked man's lips curled into a cruel grin. Ewan felt he looked feral and predatory. Sarah stood there transfixed as she gazed into his eyes and it stabbed Ewan in the heart. His Sarah standing there clear as day like a witch before the devil. Like she had signed his black book. Ewan raced the rest of the way down the steps and as he hit the bottom step the singer growled out Roxanne and the music abruptly began again, he watched as right on the beat the man roughly slid his hand from Sarah's waist to her thigh, attaching it around his hip and brought her colliding into his chest. The man's golden hair mingling with Sarah's as he drew his lips down her neck and drew her into a passionate, rapid tango again. Effortlessly tossing her between the sides of his body.
The Man and Sarah moved about the room in the most explicit tango that Ewan had been privy to in his life, and they did so with amazing ease. Ewan felt hot, his face burning, his heart crumbling inside of him. The choir behind the singer began vocalizing, their high notes sending Ewan's mind into sensory overload. He watched the man remove his mask and turn his mismatched eyes upon him. The man's lips turned up into a sneer as he led a willing Sarah away. Ewan couldn't move he couldn't breathe. The couple had made it to the other side of the cathedral doors by the time Ewan's mind had allowed him to run toward Sarah again. The man was taking off her mask as he hooked one arm around her waist holding her tightly to him.
The music's crescendo was coming to an end, and as the last few notes held true Ewan watched Sarah's unmasked face turn toward his, her emerald eyes locked with his. He saw her lips curl into a small smile. The regal man pulled her face away from having its sight set on Ewan. His hand pulling her by the chin before moving to behind her neck so his lips could roughly attach to hers. The final note of the song broke through Ewan's mind as he watched Sarah dissolve into thin air before his very eyes and the cathedral doors slam shut though no one was there to push them.