DISCLAIMERS: I don't own Jareth. Period. Jim Henson has one heck of an imagination! The song I included in this chapter is called "Heroes," and it's by the wonderful, amazing David Bowie, yay!
Four chapters! I need to call technical support now, seriously, I tried fixing my comp. by my own, but I don't know what the hell is wrong. It's getting on my nerves. Enjoy guys! So sorry. So VERY sorry, I know you guys were probably wondering, 'what gives? She says she's gonna have a comeback and after two or three chapters, she thinks she can take off another year?' No way, I would never do something like that, it's just this STUPID FUCKING COMOUTER WON'T FUCKING WORK!! STUPIDASS INTERNET USB CONNECTION CONCOCTION!
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As the leaves rustled and the trees swayed with each blow of the wind, Jareth found himself thinking about Sarah, her accusing eyes glaring at him through her long beautiful lashes. She had figured out that he blocked her memory from remembering the life he took her away from. It was a shameful act, but he was desperate at that time. He would've had told her in time, when she was ready, he would've told her everything about him. They were some things he held from her, because Sarah was still too innocent, too pure to take the tale. He wanted to save her from his suffering, he didn't want her to suffer too and he didn't want her to pity him, although he knew she wouldn't. Would she? He thought of her nonstop now, as he made his way through winding pathways embedded in the dirt. He paused in his footsteps when he heard leaves rustling, crunching under heavy feet. The faeries that lurked in Dravenswood were solitary fey, meaning they weren't part of any court, but they are on Unseelie land. These fey are the evil ones in the Unseelie Court, the solitary fey on Unseelie land. Those within the Unseelie Court weren't evil, they were grim and miserable, delighting in cruel tasks and unholy punishments. The fey in Dravenswood thirsted blood more than redcaps, who stain their hats with blood and repaint with blood with the color dulled, they would punish innocent travelers for no reason and then eat them until no trace is left. Jareth knew these fey were hungry, he could feel their heartbeats, bouncing in their chests, and taste their anticipation on the air they breathed. Silently, Jareth whispered words of enchantment, using a lot of his strength, making the fey that hid come out of hiding and start dancing in circles. Most of the fey around him were trolls and phookas, some redcaps and nixies scattered here and there. They all looked at him through narrowed eyes, their teeth gritted together. When Jareth continued walking down the worn pathway, he had to dodge snapping and biting teeth, growls that rippled the air and shook shrubs on the earth. He took pity on the poor fey, not many innocent faeries have walked through Dravenswood forest in many years. They have to be starving, he thought. Then an idea formed in his head. Turning around to face the horde of faeries that wanted to kill him, Jareth approached a young nixie whose black beady eyes glared furiously at him. Jareth raised his hands, showing he meant no harm. That made the nixie writhe in exasperation and desperation as she continued dancing in a circle. Jareth froze her in mid twirl, her long green hair dropping lightly against her back. Her brown skin darkened with rage, turning it into a muddy brown. She reminded Jareth of long grass torn from the ground, roots and dirt still clinging.
"I need to ask you something." He told her.
She hissed, "I'll tell you nothing." Her voice sounded like crunching leaves.
"I will reward you with one of your dreams come true." At that she laughed, soft but rough.
"There is nothing you can offer." Jareth raised an eyebrow.
"Well, in exchange for information I need, I will give you anything you want." The nixie stopped, and just looked at him. For a while nothing was said, except the occasional growls coming from the other exasperated fey, watching Jareth and the nixie. Jareth cleared his throat. "Do you know anything about a human girl being taken prisoner in the Seelie lands?" The nixie said nothing, just stared at him with those alien black eyes. Her eyes seemed glazed for a moment and then she licked her lips.
"Yummy human girl was taken prisoner." Jareth ignored the way the nixie's eyes seemed glazed over, opening her mouth as if in ecstasy. "In Seelie lands."
"Why?" The nixie raised an eyebrow.
"Goblin king has liking to human girl." Jareth suppressed the urge to growl like them. Through gritted teeth he asked again,
"Why nixie. Why did they take her prisoner in Seelie lands."
"Who?"
"THE HUMAN GIRL!" He roared. His goblins would've scurried away, fearing for their lives. The fey laughed at him instead. The nixie had her head thrown back, sharp teeth stained red, the inside of her mouth, not pink, but black. Rage coursed through his veins and Jareth used his magic to twirl them round and round, their screams tearing throughout the woods, screams that would've left any mortal human deaf and almost blind. Jareth steeled himself against their ear-piercing screams, watching them twirl round, then he stopped them in mid-air by raising his hand. "Will you tell me why?" The fey groaned and some even convulsed, which, oddly, worried Jareth. His rage got the best of him yet again. All the fey turned towards the nixie, the fey that were conscious, and pleaded her with their eyes.
"They took her prisoner to give her to the Lord of the Night Court as a present, a truce between the Seelie and Unseelie. A sign of peace."
"What?!" It came out as a growl, barely understandable, but the nixie understood.
"I know, why would they do that? The Lord of the Night Court will get suspicious, of course."
"He'll kill her!" Jareth yelled helplessly. The nixie curled up defensively in the air.
"Yes, Goblin King. But you have a chance to save her. They plan to give her away in 7 days time. You have plenty of time." Jareth shook his head, his rage spinning itself on a thin thread. The nixie probably hasn't been to the Seelie Court, it'll take Jareth approximately 7 days time, but what if they give her up early? A day early, maybe. He'll never get there in time, unless… the kelpies or mermaids, no they'll kill him. Maybe if he gives them a piece of meat they'll let him… maybe. Jareth frowned upon the nixie. "Here's your reward." Jareth walked away with a quick pace, without turning back, he gave them fresh meat he conjured and released them from the enchantment. He could hear them eat, even though he was far, far away, he could hear their tongues lapping over the blood, the redcaps scrubbing the hats in the blood, and teeth ripping the meat off the bones, a sickeningly liquid, squishy sound.
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The day was dying down, the wind growing stronger and colder, harsh and unforgiving like his mother. He could see the sun going down to shine on the other side of earth. The mechanisms of the earth and the underground are strange, they are of the same planet yet at the same time, it isn't. Explaining it to a mortal would be like explaining good manners to the goblins. Although, Jareth thought, Sarah might be one of those few who would get it, she's fond of riddles. Just thinking about Sarah made Jareth weak on his knees, wobbling a bit on his steady and strong strides. He's been walking for hours without water. Sidhe can go without food for days, but water was vital to both mortals and fey. Or some form of water, like blood, Jareth realized now, thinking back on the fey who devoured the flesh and blood of the meat he provided. A strong wind torn through the trees, making weak leaves fall off their branches and making Jareth slow down his walk and pull his cloak tighter. Usually, he never complained, but the weather in Dravenswood was horrible. Another reason why travelers usually stay out of Dravenswood.
"Now let's see, closest Seelie Court entrance should be located near the apple trees." Jareth said to no one in particular. "Now, the fastest way to them would be through Lake of Bones." Jareth considered the Lake of Bones, shuddering unconsciously thinking back on the stories he heard of the horrifying lake. There was one story, before all the horrible solitary fey made their homes in Dravenswood, when people flowed in and out of the forest without worry or fear, that haunted Jareth when he was young. He remembered his father telling him the story of Pif-Paf Poultie, the young innocent sidhe who took a nap near a mistmantle tree, when, suddenly, he disappears. For awhile, not many people noticed his absence for he was a shy thing, hardly says a word. A week goes by, and people start to speculate, for the sidhe are a harmless people and they do not take deaths lightly, They NEVER do, if a death occurs within their court, they freak. Well, now sidhe worried with fear for one of their own, come down to lake of Bones and start searching for Pif-Paf Poultie. At last, someone finds him, lying on the shores, Pif-Paf Poultie's eyes glassy with blue lips. When they find that he's alive, they try to sit him up, but what they find with be the end of them. On Pif-Paf Poultie's back, there is a big black hole, his skin black bumpy and swollen looking. The sidhe fetch a healer and bring him to the scene, but it is too late. The hole stretches once they've sat Pif-Paf Poultie, making it bigger. Pif-Paf Poultie gasps and turns to face his fellow sidhe. He says, 'It's all our faults, It's all our faults," over and over again. The sidhe are baffled, but no longer than Pif-Paf Poultie jerks and let's out one muffled scream, his back starts leaking out black blood and then… monsters, baby water fey, in the shape of centipedes, but deadlier than the harmless centipede. They start attacking on the sidhe, eating their flesh, blood, chewing on their bones. All that was left of the sidhe was blood stained shores. When Jareth was young, his mother decided to pay him an unpleasant visit and literally pick him up, transport him to the Lake of Bones' shores, same place where the infamous incident occurred and told him, 'I'll come to pick you up past midnight. I would like to enjoy the shores with you, but I cannot.' Those words, that face, those eyes, they have haunted him more than the fright of that night. She wanted him dead, she did so, putting his life in danger that night. He had no idea, that the innocent sidhe that died that night would arise from the blood-stained shores, seizing him and trying to drown him in their rough sandy embrace. He narrowed his eyes at the thought of his mother. He would have his revenge against her, taking Sarah was a mistake she would fatally regret. His thoughts wandered back to Sarah, his sweet smile, her big green hazel eyes. She was his salvation in this hell, he jokingly compared her to the drugs that the kids on earth try and get obsessed with. He smiled. Sarah's my drug, he said to himself mentally. "She'd probably make me end up a dead man too." He mused aloud. As he walked a while, he noticed that he was nearing the Lake of Bones. He shivered, trying to block out the horrendous memories of that one night, and tried concentrating on Sarah. In an attempt to cheer himself up, he started humming a song, and then, as he was next to the shores of the Lake of Bones, he sang the song aloud.
I, I wish you could swim
Like the dolphins, like dolphins can swim
Though nothing, nothing will keep us together
We can beat them, for ever and ever
Oh we can be Heroes, just for one day
I, I will be king
And you, you will be queen
Though nothing will drive them away
We can be Heroes, just for one day
We can be us, just for one day
I, I can remember, I remember
Standing, by the wall, by the wall
And the guns, shot above our heads, over our heads
And we kissed, as though nothing could fall, nothing could fall,
And the shame, was on the other side
Oh we can beat them, for ever and ever
Then we could be Heroes, just for one day
