Sarah woke up with the taste of bile rising in her throat. Her eyes flashed open, but before she could even take in her surroundings, Sarah knew what was coming. All she could do was quickly lean over the side of the bed she lay in before vomiting. Into a bucket.
Wiping her mouth slightly with the back of her hand, Sarah blinked. A bucket? The last thing Sarah remembered was sitting down for lunch and... Biting that peach. As suddenly as the memory had hit her, Sarah's green eyes flashed upward to the figure holding the bucket.
"Oh," Sarah whispered, catching the sideways grin on the Goblin King's face.
"You're not an orderly..." Sarah mumbled in shocked confusion.
"No," Jareth smirked back.
"And... you just saw me throw up into a bucket... Nice," Sarah said, realising what had happened.
Jareth rolled his eyes at Sarah for a moment and withdrew the bucket. Waving his hand slightly, the distinctly out of place, purple plastic bucket disappeared. Sarah blinked, watching as Jareth straightened and took a step back from her.
He said nothing, but merely stood there as if waiting for Sarah to speak first. But Sarah had no words to articulate how utterly confused she was in that moment. Her brows arched into a frown as she tore her eyes away from an all together too-pleased-looking Goblin King to the room she now found herself in.
The room was not huge- not that it was small in any way. It was... comfortably proportioned in Sarah's opinion. The walls were carved of a stone that looked as if it should almost be smooth to the touch; yet, to Sarah, the most distinguishing thing about them was that they looked warm- a striking contrast to the white, coldness that she had gotten so used to.
Very little actually occupied the room, aside from Jareth and herself, but what did was beautiful. Made of the same dark, and lusciously varnished wood, was a tall wardrobe and a vanity table; both of which had swirling and ornate patterns carved into them.
The only other object in the room was the bed she lay in. And what a bed! She had not quite realised how much she had missed a comfortable bed. It's like a cloud, she thought absentmindedly as she leaned closer into the feather-soft bed. As she did, a cough that was intended to catch her attention drew Sarah from her thoughts.
"What are you doing?" he asked.
"Memorising another dream," Sarah answered with what she thought was honesty.
For a moment, a flicker of anger passed over Jareth's face; but the expression was gone in the instant before he replied.
"This is not a dream, Sarah."
Large, green eyes blinked up at him almost uncomprehendingly.
"What?" she said blankly.
"You are not dreaming. This is as real as it always has been."
Sarah's eyebrow rose at the comment as she shot him a doubtful look, to which Jareth returned only with a small smirk.
"Perhaps I should have phrased that in a better way-"
"Considering I'm banged up in a mental ward for believing in an imaginary Underground, I'd have to agree."
"But you're free now," Jareth observed pointedly.
"Only in my dreams..."
"Sarah, you ate the peach in your world; and now you belong in mine," Jareth said, a hint of annoyance ebbing into his tone.
Why it was taking her so long to believe him, he could only put down to the transition she was going through combined with the multiple doses of drugs the humans had put her on. Jareth had, of course, omitted mentioning that Sarah had belonged in his world for a very long time. This is not the time to share such information with her, Jareth thought seriously.
Sarah paused, a frown creeping creases into her features. More memories swarmed her mind quickly then as if the veil they had been hidden behind had suddenly been lifted. It didn't take long for Sarah's frown to turn into a hopeful expression of awe as she looked to the Goblin King.
"I'm really here...? Really?" she asked.
Jareth answered her with a small nod, reaffirming what he had already confirmed. Reiterating it for her sake. Suddenly Sarah sat up in the bed, quickly looking down at her hands, Sarah noticed a difference immediately. Aside from the fact that her skin was several shades paler than she assumed was humanly possible, her fingernails- which had been filed down as far as they could have been- had now grown out perfectly-shaped and polished.
Blinking, as though she could not quite understand what had happened, Sarah pushed her legs out from under the silky bed sheet that covered her body and slowly stood, only then noticing that she wore a knee-length satin shift that was neither too revealing or too sheer.
Another memory hit her as she stared at obvious and obviously magical changes made to her body. Jareth had told her that this would happen; he had explained it, for the most part.
"You would simply take on a new form. You will still have your mind, your memories- your appearance, even. The only difference will be your body. To remain here, you must leave your human form behind, so that when you return here, you may do so to the body of the fae you were obviously meant to be."
"So... how is this possible?" Sarah questioned, looking up from her body, her fingernails still mesmerising her.
It had been a long time since she'd had nice nails.
"Magic, Sarah," was Jareth's simple reply, along with that amused smirk of his.
"Oooookay, well that sounds to me like a convenient way out of a giant real-life plot hole," Sarah frowned.
"Well, if you'd like for me to explain the complex inner workings of how it is indeed possible for your transition into this body from your other, then I'd be happy to," Jareth answered, raising an eyebrow.
Her frown deepening in response to his answer, Sarah replied, "Er, I'm okay... Not really sure I could take that much information in right now."
"Perhaps another time then..."
Sarah nodded before tentatively asking, "Does this mean I'm, you know.. dead, then?"
Jareth scowled. He had been hoping that she wouldn't ask that question, but he had always known that she would.
"Not quite," he answered.
Sarah's expression fluidly mimicked his.
"But you are gone in their world."
"How?
Jareth sighed. How he loathed explaining himself; even to Sarah.
"You're in a comatose state in their world."
Sarah blinked at him, confused.
"They put your condition down to the extra drugs that they decided to give you following your last meeting with your councillor."
Sarah was silent for a moment before letting a single word slip from her lips.
"Bitch."
Jareth raised an eyebrow at her, half out of curiosity, half in reprimand. Sarah would soon learn that swearing was not an acceptable part of her vocabulary.
"I always knew Laurie hated me," she answered as way of explanation.
"Not at all; she was just a misguided human who thought that you were mad," Jareth reasoned.
"Am I not? I was almost certain for a second there," Sarah joked dryly.
Taking a step closer to her and closing the gap that he had before created, Jareth bent his head down so that his eyes were just before Sarah's. The Goblin King brushed his hand across her cheek slowly, the sentiment as soft as the gesture.
"Never, Sarah. Never," Jareth said, his voice quiet.
She almost shivered at the light contact of his hand on her cheek; of any contact, in fact. She had been so long without any friendly touch that it didn't matter that Jareth and she had had their differences in the past. Sarah just wanted to keep the warmth of his touch against her.
And as he tried to withdraw his hand, Sarah found that she couldn't stop herself from pushing herself into the Goblin King's unsuspecting arms. As she wrapped herself around him in an impromptu embrace, Jareth found himself momentarily stunned. He would have said something, not that he minded Sarah's willingness to hold him; but Sarah spoke first.
"Sorry... Just, it's... It's been a long time since anyone's been this kind to me..."
His expression softening, Jareth ran a hand down her hair, gently stroking the long, dark locks that her new body had made eternally silky-smooth.
"And isn't it funny that such kindness comes from your once adversary?" Jareth murmured with a smirk.
Sarah's head lifted from where she'd buried it in his chest and her eyes flickered up to his.
"So you don't... You're not angry anymore that I...?" she started, not wanting to have to finish that sentence.
Jareth saved her from having to do such a thing, however, by interrupting with, "Things have changed since then."
"No kidding," she smiled wryly.
"Hopefully, we won't end up on opposing sides of anything this time," she added in jest.
"Never again," Jareth began.
"Because this time you are my subject," Jareth said, mentioning something that Sarah had totally forgotten about.
It almost sounded sinister when he said it like that; as if the word meant so much more than she could possibly comprehend.
"It's... pleasant to have you back in the Underground," he continued before Sarah could even query him.
Sarah was given no time to dwell on either of the statements because she found herself shortly gasping in pain. As it hit her, she crumpled over herself, swiftly dropping her arms from Jareth to clutch at the invisible pulls tearing at her chest. She slipped back onto the bed but didn't even notice; the sudden ache was too great. The Goblin King's expression quickly became a grimace as he realised what was happening. Sarah, however, did not.
"What's... going on?" she asked, between pained breaths.
"You're only half here right now," Jareth admitted reluctantly.
"What?"
"You're only here as a sort of phantom... You'll drift between both worlds quickly. The pain is a side effect that I hoped you would not feel," he explained.
"Will I wake up there?" she asked after a while.
"No; you're gone there... And you won't be returning there for long either. Your stepmother will take you off life support in less than a week... their time."
Struggling briefly to keep her thoughts coherent, Sarah paused and then asked, "How do you... know?"
"It's a guess based on how she's reacted to you in the past."
"Touché," she answered with a smile that ended up looking more like a contorted frown than what she had been aiming for.
The pain seemed to grow worse too quickly; the invisible chain linking her to her human body ripping at her insides until it became too much.
"I'll be here when you wake," was all that Sarah heard Jareth say before her eyes closed to the Underground once more.
Author's Note: Hi guys, soooo I was going to leave you with a cliffhanger for a while, but it was eating me up inside- already- so you get another update much quicker than I presume you were expecting. :)
Anyway, I'm far more pleased with this chapter than the last, for some reason that one just didn't sit right... :/ I like this one though. :)
I also like 80s tunes... I was having a bit of a jam to them as I wrote this chapter. :P Not that you needed, or cared, to know that snippet of information. :P
Kit xx