Chapter 3 -Fractured Heart- (Inspired by Duran Duran's "Come undone", Katy Perry's "Wide Awake" and Lindsey Sterling's "Shatter Me")
As the owl dreamed, the magic from the memories buried inside Sarah and Jareth fought to come to the surface. It struggled against year gone past strengthed walls but it would find away to break thru them so it could heal and restore the goblin King back to the way he should be.
The blonde fae man was trapped in the dark, a weird light seemed to immulate from inside his gloves. As the man looked at his hand he took off his gloves and staring at his bare hands as they started to crack, the cracking ran all over his body as magic poured out of him spiroling him into a great unknown. The great face of a clock appeared chiming loudly 13 times and then the clock exploded, showering and cutting him with shards of glass. Looking down on his body he realized he couldn't move his arms they had turned into wings that were bound in gauze. A small glowing light floated around him and became very bright and he saw he was inside a crystal hovering in the gloved hands of a big version of himself.
The big version of himself was offering the crystal he was trapped in to someone else, he attempted to drag himself to the edge of the crystal but one of his legs wouldn't respond. Squinting he could barely make out the the figure of a woman with a defiant stance and long dark hair, but her eyes bored into him, firey green emeralds that he wouldnt soon forget, those eyes burned him to the core and it felt like he was being shattered from the inside out. The big version of himself stepped closer to the woman and circled her informing her of what all he'd done for her, giving her every dream and turning back time, evening turning the world upside down. But the woman would here nothing of it even when the big version of himself said he was tired of living up to her expectations. Who was this green eyed woman to exert so much power over the his bigger version of himself, what right did she have to not accept what had been so freely given.
Suddenly the energy around the 3 of them changed, Every word that poured from her mouth was full of passion and willful strength, there was no turning back, no time left. He could feel the realization dawn on the bigger version of himself they had run out of time. She'd won but there was something nagging at the back of his mind and the moment he heard his big self tell her to fear him, love him, do as he says, he hated those words. He started to scream, the words cut thru him like hot glass, "No, No, Nooooooooooooooooooooo!" He yelled at them both to stop talking, he watched her say the words that would undo every part of his being. The bigger version of him crumpled inside and on the outside turned into an owl as the crystal he was in was thrown up in the air. Then it fell back down and touched her fingers for and instant before exploding. The last thing he saw was her face staring in shock. Blackness consumed him.
The first thing he saw was her face, she was talking to a short looking squat man, a big hairy thing, and a fox like creature. Thier discussion seemed intense and sad. It looked like she was saying goodbye. The short man seemed sad too. She seemed so far away and he felt he should go to her and comfort her but he seemed once again trapped by his surroundings this time being stuck in yet another infernal crystal. He attempted to hit the crystal and got confused by still having wings, anger rose in him and he grabbed attempted to chair that was in the crystal with him. His wings having no hands made him angrier and he started down at his wings and willed with all his being to have hands at the end of his wings painfully his wish was granted as the magic boiled up with in him and shifted and rearranged the and of his wings. Screaming in agony as the knitting of bones shook his entire body, once the burning was a dull roar he picked up the chair willing himself to stand on both legs and hit the inside of the crystal til it shattered. The blow of the explosion knocked him over the edge and he fell, panick rolled up inside of him because his wings wouldnt work. Frozen with fear, yet fighting to overcome it he turned towards the impending ground and braced himself for impact. He closed his eyes and took on last breath, sure that this was the end.
And opened them to Sarah's face being ash white and drenched in sweat. The look in her eyes was one of disbelief and confusion. Sarah had woken up to an owlish man sleeping very close to her 1/2 on and 1/2 off the couch in her living room, and her owl was gone. This wasn't supposed to be happening, none of this was real, she must still be sleeping, yah that was it. However she knew in her gut she was very much wide awake, and she was having a very hard time coping. She looked at him there feathered hair missing in patches, wings with fingers on the end of them like a bat. His body was battered and bruised more then the little owls had been. There was a rather hazy look in his eyes like he wasn't all there. But that face she knew that face, with out a doubt. Even with all his physical damage, Jareth was most definately the owl man on her couch. And all she could do was stare in shock.
The woman was there again but he didnt know wether he was in another dream, nothing made sense. Attempting to move cause agonizing pain, still he struggled to sit up and look at himself. What ever he was he didn't like it, he still had wings but at least there was hands too. He wasnt stuck in a crystal, but he was very wary. He watched her watch him and felt that he should reach out and touch her but fear gnawed at his gut. Trying to talk all he managed was a strangled sounding scree, shock and confusion covered his face at the noise. Nothing made sense, despair welled up in his being and tears started flowing. Finally Sarah shook her head out of her shock and rolled her eyes, "of course you would have to have some sort of larger then life apperance that no one can top. That's so typical of you Jareth! Honestly!"
He looked at her eyes full of tears and confusion, she talked to him as tho she knew who he was but he didn't know who he was. He felt like he'd crashed and had broken into a million pieces. And yet there wasn't another place he thought he was supposed to be, better here where someone knew him then trapped in a crystal ball agian. But what if he was still just dreaming. That thought completely broke the last of his resolve and rather miserable mewl like sobbing escaped from him. Sarah was confused the Jareth she knew was far from this miserable fae on her couch. She walked into the kitchen and took a couple of breaths, at least she wouldn't have to use the dropper to feed him any more. She to regroup and figure out a new plan needed to look at the upsides. Yes, there was a Jareth in her living room, and yes it had been 10 years. My goodness he still knew how to get her attention. But there was something very wrong with him, and it would be cruel to not help him, besides she had to admit to herself she'd grown rather attatched to the barn owl.
She came back out and brought him tea, then she reached out and stroked his head, "Shhhh, shhh Jareth it's ok, no matter what's happened I'll be there for you, you look and sound so sad and yes you and I didn't have a very good interaction the last time around but I don't care about that right now. I just want to help you get better. I promise I'm here for you no matter what, and I will find a way to help you heal and get better. So have some tea." She tasted it to make sure it was cool enough to drink and then offered it to him, he was able to lift his arms but it was agonizing, so she lifted the cup to his lips and told him to take a couple of sips. Jareth did as he was told and then Sarah look over his "new wings", there was definately more healing since he'd shifted, but he still was a ways from having full functions of his arms. She would need to get him in for x-rays as soon as the roads were clear for travel. His leg however was still broken, and honestly looked worse from the shifting. His magic seemed to be doing weird things and she needed to figure out that too. Sighing deeply she grumped a bit, this had been so much easier whe he'd been an owl. It was time to try to get ahold of an friend she had stopped talking to 8 years ago.
She went into her bedroom and brought out the mirrow she had in her old room at her father's house before she'd moved out and put it beside the fire place. Taking a deep breath then she looked into it and called for her friend "Hoggle I need you, this is not a request". Closing her eyes and feeling the ripples of the past memories struggle to flow with the present, this was all so unreal. The dwarfs face appeared with a look of sadness and relief. "I told yah little lady I'd always be here should yah need me. No need to act like him." Sarah scrunched up her face and then forced herself to relax. "Sorry Hoggle I should have been in touch with you guys sooner, do you know where Jareth is?" Hoggle looked over his shoulder and his voice dropped to a whisper. "It's funny you should ask sarah cause apparently his magesty has been away from the kingdom for almost a week, the last person to have seen him was his servant Squelpin." Sarah sighed so apparently he left to come see her, but how did he find her and why after 10 freaking years. She wanted to be upset at Jareth but his current state was putting a severe damper on her frustrations. "Sorry to hear that Hoggle er how is the kingdom doing in his abscence?" "Honestly little lady it hasnt been the same since you defeated him, he went from being nasty to just plain sulking up in his room and never coming out of the castle he even had the goblins do all the recieving of those wished away. Which between you and me aint the best idea, thankfully your knight sir Didymus took over and got things rolling properly not that Jareth even noticed."
Ugh it was going to be one of those moments with Hoggle she'd have to bite the bullet sooner or later, glanceing over at the miserable fae on her couch with no recoginition of the voice he was hearing was enought to make her decide sooner. Attempting to say it as tho in was an everyday thing Sarah braced herself and asked. "Say Hoggle uhm how do you fix someone that's kinda stuck between forms?" The look on Hoggles face showed interest and confusion. "Wadda yah mean stuck between forms little lady?" Sarah sighed "You need to see this to understand." Stepping thru the mirror Hoggle took in his surroundings and saw immidiately what Sarah had ment. There lied Jareth partial man partial bird but twisted somewhere in the middle. The dwarf stomped him foot in anger and frustration, Hoggle was always braver when Sarah was around. "Darn you Jareth, why did you have to go and do a thing like this. Sulking over the little lady for 10 years and practically abandoning the kingdom and your duties was bad enough, but this!?" Hoggle looked mad enough to shake Jareth.
Sarah looked at Hoggle in shock, "He's been sulking over me?!" Hoggle waved her off as he franticly tried to figure out what to do about Jareth. "I dont like this at all, what am I gonna tell Squelpin?" Jareth knew the dwarf wasn't gonna hurt him but he was making him very uncomfortable. Mean while Sarah was just starting to get some actual information on the man who had left her with some very mixed up feelings as a teenager. "Are you sure he's been sulking over me? I mean seriously think about what you just said and who your talking about, Jareth the goblin king has no love for anyone but himself." The dwarf continued to ignore her til she got in his face over it. "Hoggle answer me why would Jareth the Goblin King sulk over me?" Hoggle stressed to the max turned and yelled at Sarah "Of course he's been sulking over you, He proposed and you turned him down flat, in your own words Little Lady the goblin king had fallen in love with the girl, Jareths in love with yah!" Sarah stared at him in stunned shock, then blushed and then got angry and started to yell back. "What the hell Hoggle, I was 14, like I knew or was ready for a marrage proposal, besides Jareth hated me, remember when he sent the cleaners after us and forced you to give me a magicly drugged peach." Hoggle huffed back "I aint defending him little lady of that you can be sure, I'm a coward and Jareth scares me. But seeing him stuck like this just aint right.
(( Oh my goodness this was quite the turbulent chapter in my mind, nothing seemed to fit right but it all wanted to go together.
Got my first request for a beta reader that makes me so happy and now there are 5 folks following this story 3. Tho not sure how the beta thing works.
Per usual the next chapter is in the works i'm hoping to beable to squeeze out a few more chapters, thank you guys so much for reading, let me know if you like it.))
