Nothing, Nothing tra la la?
By Adrienne Valentine
Summary: The Labyrinth is engaged in war, the King is weak and there are few willing to ally with him. While his Labyrinth provides sufficient defenses, it can only do so for so long and the the King knows it, waiting for the only one who can assure victory- the only one who had defeated his Labyrinth.
Genre: Adventure/Romance
Rating: T to be safe.
Disclaimer: I do not own Jareth, Sarah, Hoggle, Sir Didymus, Ludo or any other of the characters you'd notice from the movie or the 'Return to the Labyrinth' Manga (not many of them will be in here, though, if any.)
Chapter Six:
I'm coming to find you if it takes me all night
(A Night Like This by The Cure)
Days were longer in the Underground and Sarah had never felt it so much as she had that day. When she had run the Labyrinth the first time, she had had a goal driving her, and, she now believed, help from Jareth himself, but the constant marching and the stress of her worry had taken it's toll. Maelle, who seemed to be quite used to such marches, was the only one who wasn't really tired when they stopped to set up camp. This made the girl wonder why it was that the dark haired fae was like she was. She understood it was war, but from what she knew, fae were often flighty and irresponsible, even in the best of circumstances. Mae, however, was different. She was almost always serious and sometimes even sad. She seemed even vastly different from the Goblin King she had known, who spoke quite poetically at times, was easily entertained (and easily angered), and unaffected by much of what surrounded him. His only vulnerable moment had been when she had denied him. The fae she was traveling with more closely resembled the worry fraught King she had seen oft in her dreams. She worried that it really was the war- the war that she had, indirectly, started. Another sigh as she helped Geoff lay everything out while Mae was collecting some nearby wood for a fire.
Sarah glanced at Geoff when he stopped and moved past her. For a moment, she was worried that they were perhaps under attack while Mae was gone, but as she turned to look, she found that Geoff had abandoned his work to help the fae woman, who was looking at him amused, smiling slightly, obviously not really needing the help, but too amused to stop him. She watched him help her set up a proper fire pit and he attempted to use two sticks to light it. The fae was watching his attempts looking as if she knew something he didn't, and, after awhile, pushed him gently aside, and stretched her hand out toward the wood pile. For a moment, Sarah wondered what she was doing before she saw it. Mae's hand begun to glow for a moment before a flame formed in it and jumped to the wood, the new fire flaring to life. Geoff gave the fire-starter a mock pout at the act, and that's when she realized what the other woman had done. She had been surprised by the action, but once she thought about it she chuckled at herself for not realizing initially. The woman was a fae, and fae held magic. Perhaps not the same magic that humans often imagined, but she recognized it. Fae held a more earthen magic, that was more a part of them than anything else. She didn't know how it worked, but she knew that it was different than any human could create.
Once everything was set up and the sun was beginning to set, the three of them sat around the fire, eating their rations that Ghillie had prepared. For food meant for traveling, it was good, but Sarah missed the meals actually prepared by the old dwarven woman. While the ingredients had seemed odd to her at first, she had found the food to be unusually tastey. She had grown used to it and thought of it on the same level as the old 'grandma's cooking' adage. Geoff had been the one to carry the food and right then he was busy trying to start a conversation with the fae woman, who remained silent, seemingly distracted by her thoughts. After a few moments the boy looked over at Sarah, who only shrugged.
"Mae, you alive over there?" Geoff asked her finally, poking her shoulder. She started slightly and turned towards him at the touch.
"Oh. Yes. My mind was elsewhere." She told him, her voice still seeming distracted.
"Oh? And where was that?" Geoff asked a bit teasingly. "Not off worrying about the King again?"
His words held a slight bit of jealousy, and it showed for a moment on his face when she nodded as well. Sarah didn't exactly know what the relationship between the fae and the king was, and she couldn't help but feel a twinge of jealousy herself. The other woman had often spoke highly of him, and had even scorned her for not taking him (again not knowing that she was speaking to the subject of her anger), she even had sent him a letter earlier that day, perhaps throughout her stay. The woman never actually defined her relationship with him and it could be assumed that they were lovers or merely friends. Perhaps something else, but without definition, it was left for the two humans to guess. Sarah shook her head, choosing not to think about it, even as the other woman begun to answer.
"Yes. I fear that the war is getting to him." She explained, "He's never dealt with war himself, and as a fae it can be quite difficult if to see war, much less wage it."
This Sarah found odd. She had never given it much thought, but she had never believed that Jareth had never fought a war. He was a king, after all. However, she reminded herself. He was also a fae, and fae were, for the most part, adverse to large scale acts of violence. Their magic usually held their place and such ambition was more of a human thing than any other race she knew of. Except, of course, the so called 'evil' races that existed. So, especially with how Mae spoke of him and his strength, perhaps he had never had anyone rise against him. She frowned in thought, wondering if he really was so powerful that no one had dared even try to battle his kingdom. It was a thought to ponder as she once again remembered that he had essentially offered her his power to control. Himself. She blushed a little at the thought, but quickly dismissed it, not wanting the other two to see and ask.
They went to sleep quickly after eating, all of them tired from the long march of the day. Mae had been the last to fall asleep, watching the other two with an almost pained expression. She had fallen into a light, fitful sleep that had not woken the others, but had either been awake they would have wondered perhaps what was disturbing her sleep. In her dreamscape, she was trapped inside a large cage, alone, yet knowing exactly where she was and afraid for herself in where she was. A voice was speaking from the darkness outside of the cage, the words not entirely understandable, though their meaning was easily conveyed. She was being threatened by this person. She was being hunted. She struggled violently against her cage bars as the figure begun taking shape in the darkness, approaching her, her weapons gone. The figure, a dark man in it's shape, stood next to her cage and, reaching through the bars, grabbed her arm harshly before pulling her towards itself. It's face was distorted, but sinister eyes and a malicious smile could be made out in the darkness as it spoke.
"I will have you again, little fae." It spoke, it's voice dark and menacing, yet holding some sort of enchantment that others, under different circumstances, would find themselves attracted to. He pulled her harshly closer to him and his face leaned forward and pressed it's lips against hers hard.
The action woke the fae suddenly, leaving her in her own cold sweat and shaking with fear. She hurriedly looked about her to make sure of her surroundings and let out a sigh of relief as she recognized that she was where she had left herself. She raised her hand to her lips, horrified as she remembered her dream, even more horrified when she felt the familiar dust on her lips. Panicked, she rubbed it off of her lips and also off of her arm where he had grabbed her, wanting to get rid of the substance. It was much like the dust that had been on the other woman, except instead of the light, almost silver colour that had dusted the other, it was dark and held a bitter taste. Once she was satisfied she glanced at her companions and noticed that the other woman was also dreaming and, curious, stood and walked silently to her side. She noticed the dust forming on the other girl as well and wondered if she should wake her. A glance at Geoff confirmed that he was not affected by the dust.
Sarah, unaware of the other woman watching over her, found herself once again watching Jareth in his chambers. He was sitting in a large comfortable Victorian chair, watching her with an appraising eye. He had remained silent since she had arrived, only watching her. She had stood there for some time, but she had eventually sat across from him in a similiar chair, mostly watching him, occasionally watching her hands, unsure of what to say to him, waiting for him to say something. Eventually she chose to spoke, looking now at him directly. Her eyes trying not to focus on his, but found they drifted to his mouth, which elicited a smirk from him. She blushed and chose instead to look at his forehead as she spoke, trying to hide her blush.
"Why am I here?" She asked him. A question she had wanted to know since that morning, suspecting that he was the culprit. He raised an eyebrow at her question.
"I should be asking you that." He said, his voice holding amusement. "Elle said you were no where to be found, yet almost nightly you visit me with no other explanation."
She looked at him questioningly, she had been sure that he had been behind her dreams from the moment that Mae had mentioned the dust on her and she had realized that it had fallen right where he had touched her. She leaned forward slightly, hoping that he would explain it to her. Explain what the dust was and how she was communicating with him while she slept. Instead of speaking, however, he stood and walked towards her until he stood in front of her chair and leaned forward, laying his hands on the armrests, watching her once more intently. She pulled back slightly, unsure how to react of what he was doing. Like the night before, he once again reached his hand forward, resting his hand on the side of her face, his thumb gently brushing her cheek. She begun to relax and even leaned into it a little, comforted slightly by the feeling. It was almost ethereal, as his hand didn't entirely feel solid or entirely there. His other hand went to her other cheek and she raised a hand and laid it on his, gently closing her eyes.
She felt it as she begun to feel ripped away from him, her disappearance more sudden than the last time, leaving a fully waken Goblin King standing in saddened shock, the hand that she had touched dusted with a similar powder that she too woke with where he had touched. He was surprised, but she wasn't surprised by it, only by the face staring down at her, looking at her slightly worried. She sat up and looked around, seeing the dark and knowing that it was still night, also noticing that Geoff was still asleep. She frowned and looked at the other woman once again, wondering why the woman had woken her when there was no apparent danger.
"You need to be more careful." The other woman told her, bringing up her sleeve to brush off the dust on the other woman.
"What is it?" She asked her tentatively. The other woman paused, frowning, digging into her pocket for a moment and pulling out a small vial and extending it to her.
"I will explain in the morning, once Geoff is awake as well, as it seems that we may all need to be more careful." She told her matter-of-factly before handing the woman the vial, "Drink this and go back to sleep."
Sarah looked at the vial with it's dark green liquid, unsure if she even wanted to drink it. Did she even want to stop the dreams? They were... somewhat comforting. She had learned that he held no anger towards her. The look, however, on the other woman's face, however, told her that she needed to drink whatever concoction she had been handed. Despite her desire to see Jareth and perhaps understand what was happening, not only with the dreams, but the Labyrinth, and, most importantly, himself, she trusted the other woman and, opening the small vial, took one last glance at it before decided to drink it. It's taste was only like alcohol, sweet and bitter. Once she had drunk it she looked once more at Mae, who nodded, standing.
"Go to sleep now Linda." She whispered before walking past her to her own cot.
Sarah felt tired almost immediately, lying herself down and drifting back into sleep. She did not dream for the rest of the night, but her dreamless sleep was not unnoticed. Inside the castle in the goblin city the Goblin King sat in his familiar Victorian chair, resting his head against one hand, looking once again thoughtful. He didn't know why he kept seeing Sarah. He had known that she had entered his Labyrinth the moment she had arrived, and had asked Maelle who she had found. It had been a girl, but not Sarah. He feared that she was held captive and was being sent to him nightly to taunt him, remind him that she had denied him. He wondered if it was sent from his enemy, Azazel, and made note to remind himself to have his spies check to see if there were rumors of her. With a sigh, he stood and made his way to his bed, dressing with a wave of his hand into his nightclothes before falling to sleep himself.
A/N: So I begun explaining the dust, but I'll have a full explination in the next chapter. I've also given a small look into Maelle's past, as it will have some part to play in the story (though not a large one). For those who are wondering how long it will take to get to Jareth, I'm not entirely sure. Though when we do get to him, Maelle will be taking a back seat. As always, I love reviews! -
