Malice drinks one half it's own poison.
-Seneca
1986
Jareth stared into the crystal orb with a lazy, satisfied expression.
Inside the crystal was an irate young woman with dark, chocolate hair. That hair was very frizzy at the moment. There had been some recent oddities with her hairspray, namely that it had been replaced with bug spray, unbeknownst to her. As she had rushed out of the door of the William's household to catch her bus, a bus that she had in actual fact already missed, she had dowsed her hair quickly and unknowingly. Now she stood scowling in the crystal reflection, and even though she spoke in low, angry tones, he could hear every word with a crystal clear clarity through the device.
"What do you mean I'm fired?" She growled.
The middle aged woman hanging over the counter, which stood between them, chewed a stick of gum noisily. "Well firstly we got all these complaints from the other patrons about you, and now you're late, Sarah? Honestly hun, what did you expect?"
"But I've never had any complaints, I don't understand why you're suddenly telling me that there have been complaints!"
The older woman eyed her with disdain and ran a hand through her faded red, threadbare perm. "Yeah but there have been oodles in the past week," she drawled. Thoughtfully she started counting them off on her red, lacquered nails. "Improper use of the facilities, improper personal conduct. Mistreatment of library assets, rude behaviour towards patrons-"
"That's a lie!" Yelled Sarah. "I've never done any of those things."
The aged librarian sniffed noisily. "What, it's all some great conspiracy?"
Sarah gave the woman a helpless grimace. "Yes, well... Maybe. I honestly don't know what's going on but the past couple of weeks have been really weird for me. Please, I haven't done anything wrong, and I really love this job. Besides, you aren't even paying me, I just need this for the work experience credits, I'm struggling for grades right now."
"Sorry sweetly," she replied, looking a little sympathetic. "This is not my call. The boss has spoken, you can't come in anymore."
Sarah balled her fists by her sides and ground her teeth. "Fine, can I at least speak to the boss about this then?"
"Oh no," said the woman, shaking her head sadly. "He's just gone off for a holiday in Bali, won't be back for a month or so."
"Of course," muttered Sarah with growing irritation. "That's just the state of my current luck in a nutshell. Can you at least tell me when he's back so I can try and catch him here to discuss this?"
The older woman wrung her hands, looking distressed. "Sweety, I don't think you get it. It's not just that you're fired, but that you're not allowed to come in here at all. You've been banned from the library completely, all your privileges ate revoked."
Jareth chuckled, admiring the distraught look on Sarah Williams face over this news. He had known it would be a rather brilliant addition to the situation when he had first thought of it, seeing her reaction now had made it all worth while.
Spoik waddled into the throne room with a large cup of brown liquid and placed it carefully at the kings side.
"Ah, well done Spoik," he complimented the goblin, not looking away from the surface of the orb, where Sarah was now fighting back tears. He picked up the teacup carelessly, raising it to his lips.
The aging librarian was frowning now, leaning in to say something to Sarah in confidence.
"Can you smell that?" She asked. "Something smells horrible, like chemicals or something."
Sarah patted her hair nervously, her mouth a thin line.
It was a combination of this comment and the contents of the cup which caused Jareth to spit the liquid in an inelegant, and rather out of character, display. Staring into his cup he looked down at Spoik, who was sitting at his feet with a silly look all over his face.
"What's is this muck, it tastes like-"
"Dirty water!" Offered the goblin.
"Exactly. It tastes like..." Jareth paused, giving the goblin a considering look and sighing deeply. "Forget it," he grumbled, holding out the cup to Spoik. "I've had enough dirty water for now, take it back to the kitchens."
"Yes king!" Cried the little creature happily, sipping the remainder of the cups contents as it hurried out of the door.
It was his own fault, he knew better than to accept food or drink from the little cretins usually. He'd just been distracted by his new favourite pastime: making Sarah Williams life miserable. Getting even with Sarah was far easier than he had ever imagined it might have been.
1998
The damn snake was enormous.
It wasn't like he was afraid of it, not really… fine, maybe a little bit. That was only sensible though, wasn't it? He'd thought it was just some huge decorative piece before it had started baring its teeth at him, fangs which were bigger than his damn castle. But what could he do about it? No magic, no control over the Labyrinth, and even less control over Sarah Williams.
She smiles up at him, as if reading his mind. "Welcome home Goblin King, I hope you'll like it here."
Of course he doesn't like it, what's to like? What the hell has she twisted his Labyrinth into? It's only now that he can see the evidence of her instability that he can actually accept it.
"You really are mad, aren't you?" he asks.
She snorts, clearly unimpressed that he's so late to the party. "As I've been telling you, I have mentioned it about three of four times now."
It just doesn't make sense. "But how is that possible?" he asks. "I placed you somewhere the mentally ill go to get better, not worse, and certainly not to contract psychosis."
"Perhaps you should have tried somewhere not so full of crazy people then, less padding on the walls and all that. I'm surprised you didn't consider a straight out maximum security prison."
"That would have been dangerous to your wellbeing," he replies dryly. "I didn't necessarily want you injured, Sarah, just out of the way."
She grins. "Well, as luck would have it I'm fit and healthy in body thanks to you, if a little stinky, but that will probably wash off, unlike my current mental disposition. How nice that we can both reap the rewards of your hard work: spilling straight out of my head and into your path."
This is worse than he imagined. He thought that with the link gone there would be issues with the functioning of the Labyrinth, but this is something altogether alarming. Now the Labyrinth is worse than useless, it's dangerous; runners will be in far too much danger to use it. He glances up at the pissed off looking snake, it seems to be following his movements with a keen intelligence. Okay, that's the first thing that needs to go.
"We need to fix this Sarah," he mutters.
She grins at him wildly. "We? Goblin King. We? Oh, there is nowe. This is your mess, and since I'm quite mad I personally can't see the problem." She gives him a look of false pity. "Try not to think of the Labyrinth as broken, Goblin King, think of it as under new management. Learn to embrace change."
"This isn't change, this is ruin!" he yells furiously. "Do you have any idea what you've done?"
Sarah yawns, rubbing a hand down the side of her face. "And you keep saying that like it should mean something to me, which it obviously doesn't. I've beaten you. I'm currently ahead in this game of revenge, do try not to cry about it."
Jareth gives a frustrated growl. "You think you've won? You've-" he stops. She's not listening, instead she is marching towards a large brass weathervane off to one side of the twisted, jagged path. "Where are you going?" he asks.
She doesn't break stride to reply. "I'm going to look for my brother, obviously," she shoots back over her shoulder, rudely, not even bothering to turn her face towards him.
"Wait! We haven't sorted this mess out yet, Sarah, you can't just leave."
She stops before the weathervane, pushing the tail of the large, metal rooster until it spins in a quick circle. "All evidence to the contrary."
"You can't be serious. Stop so we can discuss this."
"I can be whatever I want, thank you very much." She replies. "Not always by choice, of course; but I'm sure it's in the mix there somewhere."
He watches as the brass rooster comes to a stop, pointing towards some rather shifty looking trees, which seem to be… melting.
"North!" cries Sarah gleefully, patting the metal bird on the head.
He watches in horror as she begins to move in that direction, as if the guidance of a metallic fowl has always been considered as reliable as a compass. How can he stop her? No matter what he needs to return the Labyrinth to normal... or at least more normal than this. Whether it means tricking, pleading or seducing he has to make Sarah return his connection to the Labyrinth. Until this moment he has never been without magic, or rather, he can no longer remember a time before it. He feels so… weak, useless. How does one get anything done in this state? How do you reason with a mad woman without the convenience of oubliette teleportation?
"Sarah!" he yells after her, talking a few strides towards the weathervane. "You are forgetting that I know where your brother is."
She smirks, tossing her hair. A puddle of the nearby, rapidly liquefying tree, laps against her white canvas shoe. "I'm crazy Goblin King, not an amnesiac," she reminds him. "I haven't forgotten anything. I just don't want your help."
His stance is that of a predator as he starts to stalk forward angrily. "Even if you don't want it you might n-"
He is cut short as the metallic rooster by his side explodes in a shower of sharp, scrap fragments, hitting the ground instinctively. Above him hovers the snake, swaying as if in a rhythmic dance. Its mouth is open wide, fangs at the ready and tongue lashing back and forth. He did not even see it move, but there is now nothing where the weathervane stood but a giant crater. With a hiss of pain he glances down, realising that there is now a slash up the side of his leg.
At least it wasn't iron this time...
After a short, shocked silence he hears Sarah begin to laugh.
"What did I tell you, Goblin King? Don't point, it's terribly discourteous."
As he raises himself on shaking hands he wishes for a pithy reply. He'd settle for a furious tirade if he had one, but his heart is hammering so hard in his chest it seems to have disabled all other bodily functions to power that single function. He's weak as a kitten, and he's about to be eaten by a giant, flying reptile whose name consists of half of the human's known alphabet. Just as he opens his mouth to frame some sort of reply, the words are wiped out as the -less than solid- tree to Sarah's left explodes. He watches her eyes go wide as a light rain of sawdust starts to fleck her hair.
"Jörmungandr!" she shouts up at the furious snake. "Err… down? There, there boy. Who's a good boy? Don't attack your master now!"
The snakes head whips out again, lightning fast, and rips apart the ground to the right of her. Sarah is splattered by the remnants of one of the runny, former trees in the process. Jareth hears her swear furiously.
He chuckles darkly. "Right, so now who is demeaning Norse mythology? It's not a dog, Sarah. Down? Honestly."
Even with the distance between them he can see her glare.
"Yeah, well I'd like to see you do any better. I don't have a lot of experience with snakes. Some prat threw one at me once, but seriously, that's about all the contact I've ever had with one. Not surprising since I'VE BEEN LOCKED IN A MENTAL INSTITUTION FOR NINE YEARS!"
"And you keep saying that like it should mean something to me," he returns dryly, rolling his eyes. "Everyone knows that the rule with snakes is that you just need to stay still, stop moving Sarah."
Funnily enough, the snake is now managing to accomplish exactly what he's wanted from her since they first arrived.
"But I am staying still," she growls through clenched teeth.
They both flinch at the loud hissing which fills the air, just before Jörmungandr dives towards Sarah again. It is a near miss this time, as if the reptile is playing with her. Jareth watches as a thin line of blood appears on her cheek and begins to trickle down her chin. She is now parchment white, yet she hasn't moved an inch. Neither of them have moved but the snake still seems to be enraged. Something isn't right, standing still is the best way to diffuse an angry snake situation. They clearly weren't provoking him or making any threatening movements, but then, what could be counted as threatening to a snake big enough to encircle the world? Jareth pauses; this is no trifling issue, what happens if Sarah is killed? Would the Labyrinth remain this way? It is possible it may revert to its last iteration, or become leaderless so he can reclaim his position. It is also possible it will be forever infected with this madness and he will not be able to regain his place. It isn't worth the risk; besides, he hasn't yet acquired the mark to bond the Labyrinth to his will, which will be required for the power transfer.
Suddenly he realises his own folly, of course, this is Sarah's snake. She herself just said she didn't know much about snakes, and since her mind isn't working normally, normal rules do not apply. He looks up at her, still unmoving, her eyes locked on the swaying snake.
"Sarah, run!" he yells.
Startled, she opens her mouth and closes it again, blinking at him helplessly.
"Don't just stand there, this is a crazy person snake, the same rules don't apply. Run the hell away!" He moves backwards as he shouts this, eager to put some distance between himself and the creature.
Is this madness, this thing encircles the world, how far can I get from it exactly? He knows for now he'll settle for being a clear distance from its mouth, at least.
He frowns as he realises the girl still has not moved. "What are you hesitating for? Get out of there!" he yells.
"I can't!" she screams.
He can see she is squirming on the spot, performing a strange dance of her own in parallel to the snake's metrical sway.
"You need to run," he roars, "Stop being a loony for a moment and consider self-preservation, would you."
Her voice is a cadence of hysteria on her reply. "I can't," she repeats. "My foot is stuck in this freaky tree goo!"
He sees now that she is not dancing, but struggling to free her foot, one shoe thickly coated with the remains of what once was a rather sickly looking tree.
There is another flash of scales and the ground bursts in a cascade of soil and foliage, metres from Jareth's flight path. It is a sobering reminder that Sarah is not the snake's sole focus, they are both in danger.
"Oh for-" He drops into a run towards her, cursing himself, and her, and the whole situation. His long confident strides seem a lie when compared to his current state of mind.
She is fighting doggedly to free herself from the snare; sharp nail imprints stand out on her calf, where she has pulled strips of skin away in her battle. The sticky substance seems to have only reached one shoe. With an impending dread he turns his head sharply to where Jörmungandr waits, poised to strike, and then thoughtfully glances back at Sarah's restriction.
It's just her shoe. Not her foot, but her shoe.
Eyes narrowed, he leans in, trying to quench the anger in his voice. "Just take it off," he whispers dangerously, eyes flicking back to the serpent above.
"What?"
He closes his eyes, trying to find the centuries of patience he has acquired. "Just take your bedevilled shoe off, girl!" he snarls.
As she looks down at her own shoe, clearly still failing to comprehend his meaning, he furiously crouches to rip at one of the trailing laces. As he pulls the knot free, the footwear loosens, and he pushes her backward, watching as she falls and her foot slips free. She lands hard on her backside with a rush of air to indicate her surprise; it clearly hadn't occurred to her that the item of clothing might be holding her back.
The girl has lost her sanity and her common sense.
As she scrambles to her feet he rushes past her, running full tilt with no particular direction in mind.
Forward, just forward is fine, it's not like any one place is safer than another in this lunacy. He can hear her beating an awkward path behind him, one shoe on one off.
"Looks like your own mind is out to get you!" He yells, wondering why he's trying to make conversation when their lives are at stake.
"I never said I liked myself very much!" Is her laboured return.
He knows his strength will flag soon, the cut on his legs is aching and leaking an alarming amount of blood.
There is no way in hell I'm going to be killed by Sarah Williams inner demons.
He glances back over his shoulder, knowing it's not a very good idea. The position of the snake makes it appear as if they've made no progress in their flight at all.
"Can't you go swallow your tail like a good. Ouroboros?" He shouts. Perhaps he has contracted a little bit of insanity, his panic has made him especially conversational.
Looking backwards proves itself to be the worst of ideas when this foot hits something outside of his vision and he stumbles forwards, losing his balance. The snake becomes less of a concern than gravity, which seems to be strangely lacking all of a sudden. He does not fall and hit the ground, but rather, keeps falling, endlessly. It's only as he comes to his senses for long enough to turn back and see where he's falling that his decent stops. Something has grabbed him rather roughly. He feels Sarah barrel into him, also tumbling as he has, and slip further down the passage. In the dark it seems to be hands which have caught him, helping hands.
Solace in this madness.
The hands to this left form a face from their combined shapes, like the preparation for shadow puppetry. "Which way, up or down?" They ask.
"Down!" Yells Sarah, somewhere below him.
"No," he yells back. "Not down, definitely not down!"
"She said down," call the hands, completely ignoring him.
"She said down!" Is the echo all along the drop.
Everything securing him suddenly lets go and he starts to freefall again, slowed only by the occasional fondle from an errant pair of hands along the way. A few of which grapple him in rather improper, and sensitive, areas.
"Stop that," he snarls, wondering how sensible that is since they are slowing his decent. When he hears a squeak from Sarah below he allows himself a grin, at least they're giving her the same treatment.
Finally the drop curves slightly and they are slowed slightly before falling from a ledge to hit the ground.
He falls heavily on Sarah, and his elbow, hitting the funny bone hard enough to make him grind his teeth. She is gasping under him clearly winded, both hands clutching at him weakly in an awkward attempt to push him off. Unmoving, he lounges, taking in their surroundings. An oubliette, a cave? Somewhere dark, the blackness is broken only by one long ray of light which slashes across Sarah's angry face as she struggles to draw breath.
He looks down at her, finally moving away in a slow and obvious effort, as if doing her a considerable favour.
"You know, now that I'm really looking , Sarah, I cannot help but realise. After all this time, with the passing of years... You've really let yourself go, haven't you?"
The spark in her eyes is nothing less than glorious, really, but he takes some self satisfaction at the indignant burn he's put in her cheeks.
A/N: Please forgive if the quality on this one is a bit... Meh. Currently housesitting for a friend with no computer, this was written and uploaded by phne simply because I like to keep deadlines.
Getsunohime: Luckily I'm actually mad, so writing this is a breeze! Hmm those beans, you bring the product, I'll do the marketing. ? Profit.
Bee-cee-Kay: We like our Jareth off kilter, but hey, I like my Sarah off kilter too...
Smiles1998: She warned him, he did not believe, now he'll live to regret it!
Kaytori: To clarify- he didn't directly lie, but he misdirected her into intentionally believing something which was a lie, therefore making the same outcome. Thus his words at the end of chapter 2. I like to think he's not an idiot, but I think he's got a lot to learn when it comes to the human world.
Jetredgirl: You ain't seen nothing yet.
Sarah Rose 29: Now they're both trapped!
J Luc Pitard: I think everyone's felt like that at some point, it human to want others to fully understand the pain you experience. As for current events, her, her sad. Sad for victims and culprit alike. It must be a very sad and twisted mind that feels the need to act out in such a way, but I also pity anyone who feels themselves pushed to a point where they think that's a logical course of action.
TheRealEatsShootsAndLeaves: Homework is sacred!
Xx-Veggie-Vamp-xx: Glad you're enjoying, nice to have you along fir the ride.
AletaWolff: They're both in trouble now.
Zenobia2: Consider this the amendment to the ending, where everyone is mad (even me)
Morefindiel: He's going to suffer the consequences of what he's done!
