AN: Here is the next chapter. Guess who finished her term paper! Oh yeah! Boy do I feel better about that! That means I have more time to write now. I want to thank everyone again for reviewing. Again I want to thank Xeli who inspires me with her friendly rivelry and our late night chats. For those who have been waiting for action…it's on it's way!
Disclaimers: Please see chapter 1.
"I didn't do it!"
The slap stung his face and he reached to touch his cheek where she had hit him. He looked at her in shock. He had just returned to her from his recovery, overjoyed with merely the thought of seeing her again and this was what he got? A slap across the face?
"You bastard!" She cried out at him.
His brows furrowed. "Sarah…"
"Don't Sarah me! You left me! Just like Adam left me! How can I ever trust you again?"
He advanced toward her and she stepped away. "Sarah…I've returned now. My injuries are healed." He pushed up his sleeve revealing the smooth white skin of his arm, fully healed. "I didn't leave you Sarah."
"You didn't return either. Get out!" She pointed at the nearest door.
He could hear his heart pounding fiercely in his chest. "Sarah…" he couldn't even recognize his own voice. It was a desperate plea.
'GET OUT! I don't want to see you ever again! And you're not to go anywhere near my daughter!"
"Sarah, you're being unreasonable."
"Unreasonable? Unreasonable Goblin King? I don't think so! Not when it comes to my welfare and that of my daughter"
He advanced toward her and she stepped away again. "Sarah I am here to help you, not to hurt you."
"I don't need a protectorate, Goblin King." She spat.
"Ah yes. You see, she has one already. So sorry, but your loss." The voice seemed to come from all directions. And then a figure was suddenly beside Sarah. Draped in a dark cloak, a hood hiding his face.
"Who the hell are you?" Jareth asked angrily, gloved fists clenched by his side.
"Your worst nightmare."
Jareth looked confused. Who was this man? Where had he come from? Sarah didn't seem surprised of his presence in the least. "Sarah, who is this man?" His heart began to ache in his chest. "Were you seeing someone else? Someone I didn't know about?"
She smiled and it was very cruel. The man beside her laughed. "Aw, is the poor Goblin King confused?" she chided.
"So gullible when it comes to mortal women…" The man said in a deep voice.
Jareth ignored him and concentrated on Sarah. She was standing with her hands on her hips. "You don't actually mean to tell me that you loved me, do you Jareth?" she purred. "Such a pity, but let me tell you something." She walked to him and leaned over. "You have no power over me." She whispered into his ear. His eyes widened. She was laughing at him, she thought he was a joke.
"You don't feel the same…?" His voice held caution and hope at the same time.
Sarah laughed and the man beside her stepped forward and grabbed her, placing a hard kiss on her mouth.
"She is mine Goblin King. You had your chance with her."
"Sarah…"
"Jareth you are so pathetic…I never loved you and I never will. You're nothing but a loser. Bested by a teenager, how pathetic. Do you think I would ever want to be with a loser?"
Jareth felt his heart shattering within his chest. "Sarah, you don't mean that…"
"Of course I do." She rested her head against the man's shoulder. Jareth still had not seen his face.
"So trusting…"The man was doing something within the folds of his cape and suddenly Sarah cried out. He pushed her to the ground and Jareth gasped when she saw a dagger protruding from her back. She was wheezing as she tried to breathe.
Jareth was on his knees in an instant , cradling her form in his arms. Regardless of her harsh words, he still loved her, he always had. "Sarah! Sarah don't you die on me!"
"Such a pity…" The man's voice echoed and Jareth looked up to see that he was gone. All that remained was the dagger, bloodied on the floor where he had once stood.
"Sarah!"
"Jareth, I'm sorry…he made me betray you…"
"Hush…" he tried to still her.
'No…I..have to tell you…before I go…"
"Ssshhh, don't talk like that…we'll have you better in no time."
She reached up, one hand touching his face. "I…love…you. I..always..have.."
The tears were pouring down his cheeks as he held her. Her eyes rolled back and the rise and fall of her chest ceased. Her form no longer moving in his arms.
"NO!!! Sarah!!!" He buried his face into her neck, sobs wracking his slender body. No it wasn't supposed to be like this…they would marry one day, she would be his queen…she would the mother of his children… it wasn't fair!
"Mommy!"
The startled cry made Jareth jerk his head up and away from Sarah.
"You monster!!" Ary cried out as she rushed into the room. "You killed my mommy!"
Jareth shook his head in misbelief, his mismatched eyes wide with fear. "No…I.."
"Get away from her, you monster!" She rushed at him beating his shoulder with her tiny fists. Her blows hurt far more then they should have. Jareth pulled away from Sarah, tears staining his pale cheeks. He cried out when he saw her blood all over his hands. "Mommy…mommy!" Aryanna was sobbing, her face buried in her mother's neck.
"I didn't do it…." He offered lamely when Ary gazed at him.
"I don't believe you!"
"I didn't do it! I didn't kill her!"
'yes you did! You killed my mommy! You killed my mommy!"
'I didn't do it!"
"Jareth, wake up!" Sarah's voice. Someone was grabbing his shoulders, pounding his chest, but all he could see was Sarah's blood on his hands when he looked down.
"NOOOOOOOOO!" he cried out in anguish. He heard a crash and a startled cry and his eyes flew open. They found darkness. Where was he? His body was lathered in sweat as if he had just run the Labyrinth from start to finish without stopping. His whole body was shaking so badly that the bed was creaking.
A soft moan caused him to crawl across the bed. Lying on the floor was…Sarah? No it couldn't be. He shook his head. The man had killed her. She was dead. Yet there she was, lying on her side, her stomach swollen. She was pregnant, but she had not been pregnant before. He didn't understand.
She turned her head to look up at him. His face glistening with his sweat, his hair in his eyes and face as he peered down at her. She sat up, gazing almost fearfully into his eyes.
His breathing was labored as he sat back on the bed, staring intently at her.
"This has got to stop." She told him.
"What?"
"These nightmares." Things came rushing back to him and he realized that he was in Sarah's room. The child she carried was his. Their wedding was supposed to be in the morning. Her brother and his girlfriend were visiting from the mortal world.
"What…what did I do? How did you end up on the floor?" She looked away from him and he sat back. "I pushed you…I hurt you.. didn't I?"
"No..no." She got up and sat beside him. He looked at her cautiously. "You didn't hurt me."
"But I pushed you off of the bed?" She looked leery. "Tell me Sarah."
She sighed and nodded slowly. "Yes. I tried to wake you and you screamed and pushed me away from you." She gazed into his eyes and then looked away. "You kept saying, 'I didn't do it, I didn't kill her.'"
He sighed heavily, his body still shaking. "A dream." A realization more then reassurance.
"Who did you kill?"
'I didn't kill anyone!" he roared at her. She pulled back slightly.
"Ok..ok." She told him. He looked back at her confused and heartbroken. She reached for him and he hesitated briefly before burying his face into her neck. She was surprised when he began to sob, but didn't say anything. She merely rocked him in her arms. He gripped her tightly, still somewhat unsure if this was real, if she was real.
He finally pulled away from her.
"Are you ok?" she asked wiping tears from his cheeks with one hand.
He shook his head miserably. "No.." he told her truthfully.
"Oh Jareth…this isn't normal. Something is wrong with this situation."
"I know…" He rubbed her shoulders gently, needing to feel her, to know she was real. Suddenly he gasped, pulling his hands away from her.
"Jareth?"
"No! I didn't do it! But the blood…" He looked at his hands, then squeezed his eyes shut, as he shook his head from side to side.
"Jareth…what blood?"
His eyes shot open and he revealed his hands to her. "The blood on my hands! Can't you see it!" He roared angrily.
Sarah shook her head. She saw his bare hands, pale with long slender fingers, devoid of scars or marks. Saw two perfect hands that were capable of making her feel things she had never imagined. She saw no blood. "There is no blood on your hands, Jareth."
"There is blood! I see it!" he gripped her with his hands, shaking her. "Don't lie to me! I see the blood! Don't you see it?" He released her. She was staring back at him with fear in her wide hazel eyes.
"Jareth there is no blood on your hands." She reached for his hands quickly before he could have another outburst. "Look closely." She turned his hands so that his palms faced up at him.
He looked closely. The blood faded revealing his pale bare hands. He let out a sob and collapsed onto the bed, burying his face into the blankets and sheets, in front of Sarah.
Sarah shivered for a moment. She had never been afraid of Jareth, yet at his moment she was. He had never been rough with her and he had certainly never lost control over his emotions or his grip on reality before. She gazed down at him. He was sobbing softly, and the sound broke her heart.
She felt so helpless as she gazed at him. She wanted to hold him, wanted to pull him into her arms and never let him go, but she was hesitant to. What if he had another waking dream? What if he became violent and hurt her or the baby, even though he didn't mean to?
She exhaled loudly and quickly got off the bed. She grabbed her robe and left the room without a backward glance as she rushed blindly down the hallway. She needed help….He needed help…
