Neither let go of each other. Jareth kept a steady grip on Sarah's hips, careful to be gentler than he would be on a fae to not bruise her again. Sarah also kept her arms on his waist and moved closer to his protective embrace.
It was tall, maybe about 7 feet high and its feet were floating off the ground. Calling it a shadow was probably inaccurate, for while it moved like a shadow and blended in with the dark, Sarah could very much see that it was red and faceless. Its hands seemed to have horns on its fingers.
Goblin King and Champion. Enough games. Which of you will die?
"Neither." Sarah tried to be as brave sounding as she could. If she was to die, she would die with a fight. "We did not come here to produce casualties. Where is my brother?"
"What use do you have of the boy?" Jareth interjected. "What business do you have with him?"
He holds magic in him. Magic that your realm and kingdom has bestowed upon him. He can rule the Overground as king. As one of us.
"I won't let you!" Jareth reached over and took Sarah's sword in his hand, pushing her behind him for safety. "He will die!"
That's because the king of the Overground must be dead, Your Majesty. He crooned. And you will be powerless to stop him when your queen steps down from the throne.
Jareth made a confused face. Queen? He looked over at Sarah, who looked at him as if demanding an explanation from him.
"I'm no queen." Sarah frowned. "We are not here to discuss anything else but my brother. Let. Him. Go." She said through clenched teeth.
Jareth had to admit that though this was a terrifying situation, he had never seen her look more beautiful. Her hair was starting to come apart, her green eyes were ablaze, and her face was set with determination. She was brave and smart and this was why she had not only won his labyrinth but his heart.
You are. The shadow said. Many have won the Labyrinth, but not many remember to say the last words, do they, Goblin King?
Jareth felt an ache in his chest at the memory of Sarah rejecting him. When she told him she had no power over him.
"What?" Sarah looked at the shadow.
By declaring that he has no power over you, you declared yourself his equal. Not just his champion, but worthy enough to be queen regnant and not just queen consort. Your powers have been hidden until last night, when you wished for him and once again connected yourself to his world. You may not be acting queen, but you are a queen.
Jareth's mind was working like gears. Things started to make sense now, pieces of a missing puzzle were starting to fall into place. Everything he had learned about the Overground had to do with creatures that were selfish, that refused to move on. Evil demons and monsters grew from that selfishness and hatred. Because of that, religious people from Aboveground along with witch doctors of sorts learned that faith in most anything would shoo them away. Some still stayed but it was mostly just lingering spirits and not for a very long time.
As for the Underground, magicians could only do so much. They decided to create a whole new world for the demons to stay. So long as no one opened the gates, little harm would be done and most spirits were annoying rather than evil.
Somehow, these spirits were able to be in the Aboveground with enough energy to get Toby to open that gate. With the amount of magic in Toby, if he becomes one of them, he would be able to take over their world. When he was with Jareth during his and Sarah's time during the Underground, Jareth had been so sure that Sarah would lose that he prematurely named Toby his heir. Toby would have claim in both the Over and Undergrounds.
And since Jareth had connections to the Underground and Aboveground as keeper of the realms and Lord of the Labyrinth, Toby would be able to take over the Aboveground as well.
And as for Sarah… If she truly was Jareth's equal, then with powers, then together, she and Jareth could stop the Overground creatures and Toby. Not just one of them, both of them.
Well, shit.
"We ask to know the boy and of his condition." Jareth said evenly. "We have no use for information from you that is irrelevant to us."
He hoped that by deflecting the conversation away from Sarah, he could keep her safe. This was why they wanted to kill either him or her, because with only one of them, they would be powerless. Together, they would win.
If it should convince your queen to step down, then we will show you.
The shadow drew a circle with its hands. Inside the circle, was Toby in a cage.
"TOBY!" Sarah barely restrained herself from shoving Jareth aside and running after him.
He looked awful. He had bruises and green cuts all over him, just like Sarah had. He was sleeping and singing to himself.
Then, he opened his eyes. They were completely black, full of evil. Sarah and Jareth could see that there was not one ounce of himself. He began to snarl and wail with an unearthly voice. Then, he fell back asleep whimpering.
A creature leaned over him. It crouched down like a person but it had matted fur like a wolf's. It turned around to face Jareth and Sarah.
Its eyes were bright orange, just like the ones that Sarah saw when she first was hurled away from the house.
"My baby brother." Sarah choked out. "No."
Then she and Jareth saw something interesting. The girl, the one that had been a ghost to appear to Jareth and the same one who Sarah had seen freshly dead appeared between Toby and the creature. The creature slashed forward to swipe at Toby but the girl stood in his stead. Sarah covered her mouth when she heard the girl whimper at being hurt, protecting Toby.
He is stronger than we have expected. He has no memory of anything that's happening to him but we WILL break him. If you abdicate from the throne now, we will spare your lives and his. The shadow said. It glided over to Sarah and held its had out to her. Join us, be our queen and we will spare the king and your brother.
Sarah looked at the vision of her baby brother. Deep, deep anger filled her. Hatred of the deepest kind filled her soul.
But also the greatest love and the greatest determination.
Jareth only a millisecond of warning when he saw her eyes glow purple.
She yanked the sword from Jareth and plunged it onto the floor with a warrior's cry.
The sword created a surge of energy akin to an earthquake. Cracks from the sword was expanding, light seeping through it. Jareth's pendant was latching itself onto her skin as the shadow tried to yank it away from her, burning her chest through her shirt and leaving a searing red mark.
Jareth held Sarah from behind through the magic coursing through her. "Sarah, focus on me!" He opened up his magical reservoir to absorb the energy from her.
Sarah couldn't stop screaming, as if someone had stabbed her and cut her heart out. Everything was gone from her mind, only the pain stayed. She was like a bomb and could hurt anyone who was close to her in this unstable state. Her world was falling down.
But somewhere, she could feel a pair of strong arms holding onto her. Arms that was fearless in being close to her. Arms that would risk anything for her.
"My world is falling!" She screamed to no one and everyone.
"I said I'll be here when it does, and I promise you, Sarah!" Jareth buried his face in the crook of her neck. "Focus on me, Precious!"
And then, the world did fall away from under them.
I can't bare to have Toby remember the torture that's been put on him so I decided to make it so maybe he remembers being kidnapped but after this whole ordeal is over, he won't remember the details. Idk maybe it's because I'm really sensitive to children but god I can't have him be that hurt! I prefer to have him kind of knowing what's happening is bad but again not deep details.
This isn't done yet, there's still some stuff to get through. That would've been too easy for me
Thank you all for reviewing my story! I appreciate Margot for reading even if you must use Google Translate. That's dedication and means a lot! I know my story has been creepy and I'M SO GLAD that it came out that way. Raven, I will check out the creepy pasta sometime! Bexi Lexi, glad that you're liking my story! Sorry if I missed anyone but I do read all the reviews!
As always please let me know how you like this chapter. Not sure how many chapters this will be, maybe a few more? Thanks again everyone!
