Thank you for reading the second chapter of this story and thank you guys for reviewing. You guys rock my socks. I apologize in advanced if the words together seem a little old English; I was writing this in class while watching the Scarlet Letter.
Rating: T-M, changeable at any time throughout the story.
Last Chapter:
"Just fear me…"
Sarah shook her head once and turned, "Turn me into a goblin then."
"Is that what you think I should do?"
"It's what you were going to do to Toby."
"…Love me…"
"But not what I shall do to you." And in a blink of an eye he had disappeared from her sight.
"Do as I say and I will be your slave."
"Jareth!" she screamed, her voice resonating through the castle walls. "Get back here!"
"No need to shout, my dear," he responded. She wildly turned to stare at him sitting, with his legs propped, on the throne. "I'm right here."
"You have no right to keep me here!" she shouted. "It has been three years since I was here, and it ruined my life."
"Dear Sarah," he said, turning to sit properly in his throne. "It was not the Labyrinth that ruined your life. It was simply the fact that you liked it here that ruined your life. Do not think I planned for your time to haunt you your entire existence."
"Your voice has been in my head," she whispered, stepping closer to him. "Ever since I left. Your words have always haunted me. You knew it would happen. You knew."
"How could I know that?" he smiled, standing and taking the steps down until he was two steps above her.
"Because…Because you're you! Because you knew everything about me and my life. Because you're sick!"
This made Jareth laugh, loud and cruelly. "Sick? My dear, I am as old as the universe itself. Older. I am not sick – I invented sick." He stepped down another step, towering over her. Sarah, being as she was, stepped up two steps for their eyes to meet.
"You invented it and you are it."
"I," he said, his eyes rung with fury. "Am not sick. I am overwhelmed. I am plagued with your face, with your smell, with you."
Sarah laughed, just as cruelly as he had. "Plagued then, are we both. Except I have a heart to break, and you only an empty crate in your chest that you pretend is a heart."
Jareth grabbed her wrist and pulled her down to his step. "Little girl. You will learn that insulting me is an offense not taken lightly." Sarah attempted pulling away from him but his grip was iron.
"Jareth –"
"You torture me, Sarah," he glared, staring her down hard.
"Jareth you're hurting me –"
He let go suddenly, pushing her backwards. She gasped as she fell backwards, closing her eyes as she hit the ground.
The soft ground.
Slowly, she opened her eyes to grassy shrubs all around, rising high into the sky. In front of her Jareth stood with his hands on his hips, hair flared around his head and his pants as tight as ever. "Jareth." It was not a plea. It was not a request.
"No more games, Sarah," he said. "Not between you and me. We've gotten older; we are much more mature now."
"Jareth."
"Would you like me to stop, Sarah?" he questioned, stepping closer and holding a hand out to her. "Would you like to come back to the castle and obey my command?"
Sarah stared up at him, stared at his hand. "Do you remember…" she asked as pushed herself to her feet, "…what I told you the first time you asked me how I was enjoying your Labyrinth?"
Jareth folded his arms. "I do."
"It was a piece of cake then. It'll be a piece of cake now."
Jareth grinned. "You will find that my Labyrinth has changed as you have changed."
She smiled. "It changed along with me."
"Actually," he stepped backwards, his back almost against the shrubs. "It has changed with me. It has become a danger, a threat, to all who dwell within its sharp grasp. You'll find it is not the same as you have seen – it is deadly."
"It was deadly before."
He laughed at her words. "It was hardly the death trap it is today. Do you know how many times I intervened so you would remain alive and unharmed? How many things you casually stepped across that would have killed you? I allowed those friends of yours to guide you along. But they cannot come to your rescue, because I will not allow it."
"Is this supposed to be a threat to me?"
He smiled and stepped up to her. "You may call upon me at any time to come and save you from this," he responded, ignoring her question. "But do remember, dear Sarah…everything comes with a cost."
And he was gone once more.
She sat there for less than a moment before she was up, glancing down both ways she could walk.
To her left it was foggy and the ground had little mushrooms ground out of the grass. To her right…it was foggy…and there were mushrooms…growing out of the grass.
She shook her head, thinking about what she could do. Not everything was as it seemed. She knew that. In her very first hour in the Labyrinth a very nice blue caterpillar had told her that. But she was alone now, with no one to hold her hand along the way – or for her to hold theirs.
Making a quick decision, she turned to her right and began to walk along, putting her hand against the shrubs for any sign of a sudden break.
" Everything that you wanted I have done!"
His words ran through her mind. She hated thinking about their conversations, his facial expressions, and his sad eyes.
"I have turned the world upside down, and I have done it all for you!"
It was true. All of his words…not a single one had been a lie. It was one of the reasons she hated him so much – because he was able to twist the truth into a bad thing, something she had to regret. He couldn't be blamed for taking Toby. He couldn't be blamed for the horrors she had met. And he couldn't be blamed for how her heart felt whenever she saw him.
However. He could be blamed for the very beginning of it. For choosing her. For obeying her wishes.
It was the only thing she could hold on to in all of the madness.
"Isn't that generous?"
Sorry for ending in another quote. I just love Jareth and his words.
Reviews are loved and appreciated.
