Chapter 10

#33 Expectations

Sarah watched as he approached, his face daunting even though she was so close to winning. His white feather cloak seemed to float on the non-existent breeze and his matching garments enhanced his lean physique. She allowed her eyes to rove over his body as he came closer. "Give me the child," she said in a near whisper.

He halted for a moment, searching her face, before continuing his slow saunter towards her. "Sarah beware," he said in a low voice. "I have been generous up till now, but I can be cruel."

He moved even closer and started to circle her, but she refused to be intimidated. In fact, she was quite amazed at what he'd just said. "Generous?" she remarked. "What have you done that's generous?" sarcasm was evident in her voice as well as the slight tilt of her head.

"Everything!" he bit out, continuing to circle her. "Everything that you wanted, I have done. You asked that the child be taken; I took him. You cowered before me; I was frightening." His temper was starting to show in the way his boots hit the stone floor as well as his jerky movements. Sarah merely continued to follow him as he circled. "I have re-ordered time, I have turned the world upside down, and I have done it all for you!" He paused as he came to a stand still in front of her. "I'm exhausted from living up to your expectations… Isn't that generous?" the question sounded neither mocking nor sarcastic, but earnest.

"No! That's not generous! How is that generous?" she yelled back at him, her fists clenching. "You've put me through hell to get back my baby brother who I never actually meant to wish away in the first place, and you tell me you were being generous this entire time?"

He continued to study her, as though unbelieving that she could be so obstinate. "What's said is said…"

"DON'T!" she interrupted. "Don't you dare spout that crap! Don't you have any morals? How can you just take a child without consideration to the intent behind the words? Huh?"

"You're trying my patients, Sarah. Perhaps I did look at the intent behind your words. Perhaps in your subconscious you truly meant it?"

She shook her head, "No… I wouldn't do that."

"Oh, but we all have dark wishes. It's only those of us who're most true to ourselves who recognize that."

"I don't believe you!"

What was she doing arguing with him? She'd solved the labyrinth! She'd won! Why hadn't he given back her brother? He was cheating! He was breaking his own rules! Her eyes narrowed as she glared at him, her gaze settling on the pendant around his neck. She'd never seen him without it. Despite all of the changes in wardrobe he'd vainly done, he'd always had the pendant about his neck. In a sudden fit of inspiration and desperation, she reached out, quick as lightening, and grabbed the cool metal, snapping the cord as she pulled it away. Just as quickly, she jumped back out of his reach.

His eyes opened wide and his mouth dropped open slightly in shock. Just as quick as the emotion appeared, it was gone though. "You don't believe me?" he asked as though nothing had happened. He started to circle around behind her, but she remained steadfast. "Sarah, Sarah… you continue to surprise me… and annoy me."

Sarah turned to face him. "Well isn't that just too bad? Now give me back my brother and I'll give you back this," she held up the medallion.

Jareth smirked and continued to circle around her, one gloved hand rising to brush along her arm. Once he was behind her, he ran both hands up and down her arms. "Now, why would I do something like that in return for a mere trinket?" He pulled her roughly back against him and her breath caught in her throat as she hit his chest. "My dear, I think you're going to give that back to me now."

"N – No…" she stuttered as his arms wrapped around her middle.

His face lowered to her neck and he breathed in her scent deeply. "Yessss… admit it, Sarah, you do have dark wishes." He pressed his lips gently against her neck. "Deep dark desires that you keep locked up inside."

He kissed lower down on her neck, pulling her tighter against him. Sarah gasped and felt her breathing accelerate. "Stop…" she muttered.

"I don't think you really mean that. You forget, Sarah, that I can sense your desires." He nibbled along the edge of her ear. "And you desire this, Sarah."

"N-No I d-don't…"

"All you have to do is give me my pendant, Sarah. Give it to me and I'll stop."

Sarah tensed; she was not going to admit to having these dark wishes he spoke of, but she could tell that by holding on to his pendant, she had power over him. "What if I make a bargain with you, Sarah?" he whispered in her ear. "Just fear me, love me, do as I say, and I will be your slave."

"I – I…"

He kissed the skin behind her ear. "Just do as I say and you can have whatever you want, precious."

She trembled as his breath blew past her ear. His touch was so intoxicating and before she could examine what she was doing she spoke. "Yes…" she whispered.

The pendant fell from her numb fingers and he was suddenly gone. Cold air filled the space behind her where he'd been pressed intimately against her. Her eyes opened from the hazy half closed position they'd affected as he'd kissed her to see a smirking Goblin King in front of her, his pendant back around his neck. "Oh Sarah… whatever shall I do with you now?" The way he asked the question held some hint of what he'd like to do with her.

"What? What did you do?"

"I? I did nothing! You let your desires overwhelm your purpose and have given yourself to me."

"No…" she whispered as her knees gave out and she fell forward onto them, her legs tucked under her.

"However, I am generous, as I said before, and since you did make it through the labyrinth, I'd be willing to send your brother back as promised."

She barely heard him, but a soft 'thank you' escaped her lips, almost repulsively, before she asked, "And what about me?"
"What about you, Sarah?" he sneered half turning away from her.

"What will happen to me?"

He laughed, a malicious sounding outburst. "Yes, because everything is about you, isn't it?"

"No… I just…"

"You'll stay here seeing as you promised to obey me."

She stared at him, unwilling to believe what he was saying. "I just want to go home…"

He scoffed and created a crystal sphere. She watched apprehensively as he drew back his arm and sent the sphere hurling at the small child on the stair. "NO!" Sarah screamed as it shattered and Toby disappeared. She jumped to her feet, her head turning in a frantic search for him. "What did you do?" she cried frantically.

"I sent him back, as promised." She turned to him with wide desperate eyes. He rolled his own eyes and produced another crystal and held it out to her. She approached him hesitantly and peered into the sphere. Inside, she could see a slumbering Toby back in his crib at home. Her eyes rose to meet his; the look on his face was indecipherable and she found herself mesmerized by it. "Thank you…" she muttered.

He scoffed and turned his back on her, moving away towards the arch he'd entered from. Sarah stood still for a moment before rushing after him. As much as she disliked him at the moment, she really did not want to be left to find her own way out of this broken room. The moment she stepped through the arch, she found herself in a large stone corridor that definitely was not part of the broken Escher room. Jareth was ahead of her, still marching away. She wasn't sure what to do, so she continued to follow him.

He eventually led her to a thick wooden door where he stopped abruptly and turned to face her. "These will be your quarters," he said gesturing toward the door.

Sarah moved forward and opened the door to find a simple room on the other side, but one that looked comfortable. She entered and walked half way in before turning back to the Goblin King who was still watching her. "Thanks."

"You're welcome. I'll expect you'll want food. Dinner will be served in one hour. Be there on time or you won't get anything to eat until tomorrow morning," he said sternly.

She nodded and he walked away haughtily. As she watched him go, she wondered what was going to happen to her now. Would the Goblin King make her into some kind of servant? Would he leave her to her own affairs? She shook her head at that thought and her mind turned to the memory of his hand roaming over her and his lips pressed against her neck. She shivered and hoped he wouldn't expect anything of that sort from her. Perhaps after some time, she could convince him to just send her back home. Because what could he possibly want her for anyway? Tears slipped from the corner of her eyes where she'd been holding them in and slid down her cheeks when she thought of how long it would be until she could see her family again.

o O o O o O o

A/N: Wow, so I haven't written a chapter for this for a while. I'm kinda happy with how this turned out. However out of all the one shots I've done for this, this one is the only one that's just calling to me for more, so you might see more of this at a later date.

I hope you enjoyed! Please leave a review if you liked it, or if you didn't like it, or if you want to kick my butt into writing more for it!

Created for the jdbfangirlharem's 100 themes challenge, a link for which can be found on my profile page under this story's description.

Labyrinth (c) Henson & Co.