Welcome to chapter 10!

I hope you all enjoy this. It's slightly different but I think we need it.

Thank you for all the reviews last chapter and follows. You are all amazing people!

As usual I don't own anything related to this legally I just own a lot of merchandise!

Also, thank you for my amazing beta!

When I began this, I only intended to tell my side of the story. A story to ensure that the past never repeats itself. As I come to this turning of the tides, I find that I need to show another voice. The voice of a man; a man who I have stood beside for many years now.

He burned many journals for fear of being found out. However, a few entries have survived by my own hand. Ones that I saved from the embers of the fire because we must never forget where we came from, and how far we have come.

Our children need to know what we fought for.

Our children must know the mistakes of our nation.

An Interlude — Excerpt of Jareth's Journal, around a similar time.

January-10th

Lutin Townhouse

Sarah is pregnant.

My mind is still adjusting to this news. After all these years, I might be a father. Such a strange notion to consider once more in my life. I had long given up on the idea of being a father.

I find it strange to think this has become my life, supporting this movement because I have no choice in the matter. When they asked for the use of my building as a school for young ladies, I let them have it. It wasn't until the talks in parliament began taking strange turns that I decided to visit the school I owned.

I was appalled at what I saw. Young girls being groomed for older men who were widows or men with money. If they weren't pretty enough to be married, I learned they would be used as surrogates. 'Handmaids' they were to be called by society.

I realized then I had no way out.

To go back on my word and pull the use of my building would be political treason. Two or three non-supporters have already disappeared without a trace. I had my wife to think about, which led to the realization of my own predicament with my own childless home. I would be expected, at some point or another, to obtain a handmaid. I put it off as long as I could.

Of course, Dinah heard of them. I could never deny her anything. We both know the inevitable. I thought I was sparing her feelings by hiding what I did, initially. Instead, she saw it as a way for me to be happy, and for a child to have a stable home once she is gone.

It's hard to read Sarah's mind, not just about the child, but about everything. She spent the last weeks completely exhausted after being ill every moment of the day. Some nights, when I looked in on her, I just watched her sleep. Dinah had never been this ill when she carried our children. She complained of feeling ill, but it was never this constant. I don't like her to be in that room, the one my sister inhabited. Some days I feel like I will wake up, and Sarah will be gone as well.

It was a strange afternoon when I saw Sarah standing there in her uniform. That dark hair and those mossy eyes. There was no denying who she was, even as I asked the Mistress to look over the records of the girls. I knew it was her. No, there had been no mistake who she was when I looked through her records. Her birth certificate, her mortal mother. I placed the old photo next to the newer one. It had been close to ten years since that day, but I was sure it was her. Daughter of the magistrate and barrister of the town, she'd disappeared the day before. She spouted off things about fairies in the forest showing her the way home as I spoke to her father, who only heard of a young woman camping about near the riverbank the other night.

Getting directions, I found the abandoned camp, the fire pit only a few days old. My sister had been here; I could smell it in the air. I could smell her presence. It was on my way out that I stopped by the fair, my camera in my hands as I snapped photos of the festivities. It was that day that I snapped the photo of Sarah prancing about the maypole with the other girls. Something about her stood out as I watched. It wasn't until I developed the photographs that I took notice of the ribbon that tied her hair back. It had tiny moons embroidered on it. One strikingly similar to the one my sister had. I will only find the truth if I ask, but what if her answer is not what I am hoping for?

I wanted to go back. I almost did until Dinah informed me she was expecting once more. But I wrote this all before, of the anxiety and uncertainty that consumed our lives those days. The small child whose life ended too early. A small and waxen child who we buried with pale blonde hair and blue eyes. Two weeks she lived in this world, but again you know this already. Once more we tried, but the disease was already showing itself slowly. We were forced to save Dinah rather than continuing on with the pregnancy. We both decided to let it be.

Of course, once the guild came into play, it only made Dinah feel like a failure as a woman—even myself, as a man—who couldn't help populate this world. Husband and wife, yet incompatible to have children. A certain generation who was failing their duties. It was when doctors began to notice that the younger the age of the mother, the more able she was able to have children that the Academy came to life.

It was in the Scriptures. It was condonable in these instances. Condonable. The bile rose in my throat as I heard them speak those words in the house of commons. How could they believe it right to rape young women for the sake of children? Children who they will never raise. Children who will never know their true mother in most cases. It was condonable to them. I am starting to wonder if I should burn this after writing what I just wrote. Heavens forbid they ever read what I actually think of this whole movement.

It was rather relieving when Sarah began to creep about the house after weeks of being in her room. I called the doctor more than once, but they said it was common for some women. Make sure she gets fluids and eats whatever she can stomach for the time being. The only time they would be worried is if she begins fainting from dehydration. She was always so pale, and the small amount of weight she had gained since her arrival here disappeared. I caught snippets of conversations as she spent her afternoons with Dinah, trying to make sense of what was to come and happening to her. Things the Academy probably would have never told her about. Pregnancy was not strictly textbook she learned.

Finally, when she reached her second trimester, I stood by the door of the doctor's office and I heard the rapid heartbeat of our child. Something so precious and dear to my heart, yet my mind reminds me how this child came to be. Sarah looked up at me. I could see the amazement in her eyes with the underlying fear that stayed with her most days. The rapid thumps from the machine, a part of me and of her joined and growing each moment it was inside of her. I can't help wondering how they will look in my mind. They will have her colouring, that I am certain of. Her dark tresses will win out over my fair. Still, I stood there listening to the rapid thumps that filled the room. I prayed for the first time in a long while.

I prayed for my child.

I prayed for Sarah to be strong enough when the time came to be my wife.

Thank you, I hope you enjoyed this foray into Jareth's mind. They may pop up time to time as this story progresses for insight and depth to what I have planned.

Let me know what you all thought, if you liked this foray or if you didn't like it wasn't rather just stick to Sarah.

Tina